Wing of Kurki to Tuesday Club

Suomeksi

Since the spring 2016 the Tuesday-Club has been doing conservation work on Kurki Fuselage. Until now it has not been possible to start work on its wings, stored at the Päijät-Tavastia Aviation Museum in Vesivehmaa, because the other ongoing projects have taken up so much space in the workshop at the Finnish Aviation Museum.

However, now that the Kurki fuselage has been moved to the museums hall for changing exhibitions, there is enough space in the workshop for the Kurki wing. Well, not for the whole wing, but for one of the halves. Compared to the size of the Kurki, the wing is rather big – with a total span of 12.3 m (including the width of the fuselage) each wing is 5.75 m long and 2.32 m wide – quite a kite!

On January 24th, the Kurki fuselage was moved to the changing exhibitions hall, were conservation/restoration work on it is continuing. At the moment work on the aluminium engine installation cover-plates is ongoing. The top one is fixed but the side-covers can be opened to allow access to the engine mount area. The covers are made of 1,2 mm thick aluminium-plate.

On Monday January 30^th, a Defence Forces interchangeable-platform lorry performed a conscript driver’s special-transport training mission. Coming from Tikkakoski it arrived at the Vesivehmaa airfield where it unloaded its enclosed platform to the ground in front of the back doors of the museum hangar at Vesivehmaa. The right wing of the Kurki was loaded and securely tied-down into the enclosed platform. It was a close fit. The enclosed platform was lifted back onto the lorry and the trip to Vantaa could begin.

After a couple of hours the precious cargo was at the door of the restoration workshop at the Finnish Aviation Museum at Vantaa and the wing was moved into the workshop. Mission completed – with benefits for all parties – the War Museum (owner of the Kurki), the aviation museums and the Defence Forces. Many thanks to all parties taking part in this operation.

Both halves of the wing have been damaged, both mechanically and by rot during their 90 years in storage. The Kurki was stricken off the books and put into storage in 1927. There are about 30 holes of different sizes in the plywood surfaces of the right wing. In places the plywood has rotted to a degree requiring its replacement.

However, the wing is in better condition than the upper wings of the I.V.L. D. 26 Haukka I. But plenty of hard work and elbow-grease will be needed before the work is done. We can begin the actual work after finishing the “current condition check” and the thorough cleaning of the surfaces. The cleaning has already begun.