More than just building wing for VL Myrsky II

Lauantai 4.3.2017 - Member of Tuesday Club


Suomeksi

In the restauration of the VL Myrsky II (MY-14) the majority of the work done during the past couple of years has been on the wing. This might lead one to believe that the Tuesday Clubs part the whole project is only doing woodwork to make the wing. However, a lot of other types of work has also been done, as I have told you in earlier blog entries. This time I will cover some of the work on the following sub-assemblies; bomb-racks, the propeller-blade openings in the spinner and the landing-gear.

Originally the Myrsky-fighter was not equipped with bomb-racks, but in 1944 a bomb-rack for a 50-100 kg bomb was fitted under each wing. These racks were also suitable for drop-tanks. For these there was a connector to connect the drop-tank to the planes fuel-system.

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Fortunately parts for many racks have survived in the collections of various museums, so with some reconditioning done, we can fit the MY-14 with original racks. However, the racks found were partly disassembled, had broken parts, partly corroded or otherwise in need of reconditioning. So a selection of the best rack-parts were inspected, reconditioned and combined into complete racks to be fitted to the Myrsky´s wing in the Tuesday Club.

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The spinner for the Myrsky has cut-outs for each propeller-blade and its regulator mechanism. At the base of the spinner the cut-outs are open so that the spinner can be fitted over the propeller hub and around the propeller-blades and fastened to the spinner’s back-plate.

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On the spinner’s back-plate there is a protective sleeve made of aluminium that closes the back-part of the cut-out, thus creating a round cut-out hole and a closed back-edge on the spinner. No original sleeve has survived, so new ones have to be made. The missing spinner back-plate has already been made earlier in the Tuesday Club.

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The making of the sleeves begun by cutting blanks out of aluminium sheet, according to the drawings. Then they were test-fitted to the openings. A wooden mould was made for the making of the profiled, bent edge of the cover-plate, and then the blank was fastened to the mould and beaten into shape. We still have to drill the holes needed for fastening the cover-plates to back-plate and then the cover-plates can be fit into position. The finishing work on the cover-plates is now ongoing.

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No complete Myrsky landing-gear has survived to be fitted to the MY-14. Thus most of the landing –gear has to be made. Fortunately original wheels have survived and can in due time be fitted to our Myrsky. The reconditioning of their hubs and brakes has been covered in earlier Myrsky blog-entries.

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The Tuesday Club has neither the tools nor the skills necessary to make the needed new landing-gear oleo-struts. Patria, who is the major sponsor of the Myrsky restoration-project has taken the responsibility for getting them done. However, some landing-gear parts can be made by the Tuesday Club. Work on the landing-gear retraction-fork that connects to the oleo-strut is ongoing in the Tuesday Club. The hollow forks (one for each strut) consist of steel-ribs that are covered with steel-plates.

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The work on the fork was started by making a full-size model to plans. In addition to this a metal jig was made for the assembly of the final forks. The wooden model makes interpreting the drawings easier and without a jig, the necessary dimensional precision of the retraction-fork cannot be achieved.

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Work on the fork itself begun by cutting steel-plate blanks to measure to form the parts that will become the sides of the forks. Holes were drilled at both ends of the blanks after which they were bent to form and measure. Assembling the forks in the jig is ongoing.

Avainsanat: aviation history, restoring, old aircraft, VL Myrsky II, MY-14