Parts of Caudron C.59 were transported from Vesivehmaa

Maanantai 4.11.2019 - Member of Tuesday Club


Suomeksi

The Tuesday Club has been working on the Caudron c.59’s (CA-50) horizontal stabilizer, both elevators, the wing struts and one lower wing. As there is no major work to be done on these parts of the plane, the team decided to go and fetch some more parts of the Caudron’s fuselage, which is still in the Päijänne-Tavastia Aviation Museum at Vesivehmaa. The Vesivehmaa museum was visited by about ten Tuesday Club members.

Blogi_2019-27-01.jpg

Blogi_2019-27-02-03.jpg

As soon as the team arrived in Vesivehmaa, the work was started and the vertical stabilizer, rudder and the bracing wires were unfastened and carried into the car in no time. All the parts fitted well into the spacious boot of the Skoda Octavia.

Blogi_2019-27-04-05.jpg

It took much longer to dismantle the wing struts which were on top of the front fuselage. Each strut bracing had rusted badly. CRC was used to unfasten the rusty bolts and fortunately the team managed to unfasten without damages all the bolts, three on each strut. Also the bracing wires fastened on the bracings were taken along. Furthermore, the aluminum sheet cowling on the engine mounting, the front cockpit seat and the badly damaged windscreen frame were dismantled to be taken to the Tuesday Club work space.

Blogi_2019-27-06-07.jpg

Left photo: Ari Aho.

The engine cowling came off easily, as did the front cockpit seat, fastened on the frame with four bolts. More effort was needed to unfasten the damaged front windscreen frame. The frame had been fastened through the plywood covering using eight bolts, which had rusted badly. The nuts below the plywood covering were easy to unfasten, but to maneuver the rusty bolts through the plywood and the frame was challenging. The frame is very bent and there are still some remains of the original celluloid plexiglass on it.

There are still several other pieced to be dismantled from the Caudron’s cockpit, e.g. the rear cockpit seat, the control column and the rudder pedals, but more time is needed to do all this.

Blogi_2019-27-09.jpg

While the rest of the team was working on the Caudron, a couple of Tuesday Club members installed the securing pins on the bolts of the I.V.L.K.1 Kurki landing gear and wing struts. The Kurki restoration work has been completed and the plane was returned to the Vesivehmaa hall in June.

Blogi_2019-27-08.jpg

The following parts of the Caudron C.59 (CA-59) were dismantled and transported from Vesivehmaa to the Tuesday Club hall:

  • the tailfin
  • the rudder
  • bracing wires of the tailfin
  • all four wing struts of the upper wing which were fastened on the front fuselage
  • bracing wires on the wing struts
  • front cockpit seat
  • bent frame of the front cockpit windscreen
  • engine cowling

Blogi_2019-27-10.jpg

When the team returned to the Aviation Museum in Vantaa, all items were carefully labelled and the smaller parts (such as the nuts and bolts of the wing struts) were stored in plastic bags to wait for cleaning.

Photos: Lassi Karivalo except one separately credited

Translation: Erja Reinikainen.

Avainsanat: aviation history, restoring, old aircraft, Caudron C.59, CA-50