Suomeksi
The restoration project of the I.V.L.K.1 Kurki plane has been completed at the Tuesday Club. The Kurki was designed and built by the Air Force Airplane Factory in the 1920’s and its restoration work began in spring 2016. Kurki has been on display in the mid-hall of the Finnish Aviation Museum since December but some small items have been missing: the new seat belt in the passengers’ seat and the ribbons around the window edges.
The leather seat belt for the passengers’ seat
The restoration team didn’t find the original seat belt but fortunately there is a good photograph from 1927 of Kurki’s cabin, where the seatbelt and its buckle are clearly visible. For the new belt a similar metal buckle was made and shoemaker Tuhattaituri prepared the leather seat belt according to the given instructions. The cabin seats two passengers but there is only one seatbelt, reaching from wall to wall. This means that the passengers share the seat belt.
The new belt, prepared by the shoemaker, was cut to a suitable length and fastened into the Kurki cabin in the place where the original belt had been. The location of the seatbelt and its fastening can be seen on the photograph. The ends of the original leather belt with metal insets were left on the wall of the cabin when the belt had been cut off. The original metal insets and screws were used when fastening the new belt to the cabin wall.
The decoration ribbon around the cabin windows
In the picture of Kurki’s cabin, taken in 1927, a decorative sawtooth-patterned ribbon can be seen under the thin wood frame around the oval cabin windows. Some shreds of the original ribbon fabric were still under the frame. It could be seen that the decorative ribbon had been dark brown.
A length of brown ribbon was bought from a fabric store. It was cut lengthwise into two, using zigzag-bladed scissors. Now the team had a suitable piece of zigzag-edge ribbon for both windows. The ribbon was fastened on the wooden window frame and the frame was nailed into place using the original nails.
The final works were now completed: the seatbelt was in place and the decorative ribbons around the windows had been installed. Now the Kurki was ready to be returned and placed on display at the Päijänne-Tavastia Aviation Museum in Vesivehmaa. The restored I.V.L.D.26 Haukka I destroyer has also been returned there after the restoration by the Tuesday Club. The Kurki will be transported to Vesivehmaa on May 14th.
Photos: Lassi Karivalo.
Translation from Finnish to English: Erja Reinikainen.
