Busy day at Turku Airport

Suomeksi

On Wednesday, June 7th, there were about a dozen volunteers at work to prepare “the Bluebird” for public display. The work started at about 10 am and was continued until 6 pm. Now the weather was nicer than last week, the sun was shining, and it was almost warm.

Photo by Ismo Matinlauri

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

The aim is to take down the scaffolding before the end of this week, so the work in the tail has been prioritized. The stencil stickers for painting the “AERO” text on the fuselage below the horizontal stabilizer were fastened into place and the text was painted in blue. In the tail fin there are several fillets and panels and the last of them were fastened into place. When the others were leaving, two men remained on the scaffolding finishing the panel sealings.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

Photo by Erja Reinikainen

There was activity on ground level as well. The right-hand side main landing gear was being cleaned. The result was surprisingly good although there was no water available. Under the aircraft the panels under the wing to fuselage joint were installed into place. Polishing was under way, too, on the wings and in the nose section. Furthermore, the blue paint on the window line had been slightly damaged by the crane slings when the fuselage was lifted. The damaged areas were sanded and re-painted.

Photo by Erja Reinikainen

Photo by Jouko Tarponen

Photo by Erja Reinikainen

The cleaning of the cabin, started the day before, was continued. Now the cabin, flight deck, toilets, and aft upper cargo department have been vacuumed and cleared. The wall panels and overhead shelves have also been wiped with a damp cloth. This was a quick tidying of the appearance so that the inside of the aircraft can be presented to the public on the Turku airshow days. The restoration of the interior will be a project for the future.

Photo by Curt Oksa

There were several visitors during the day. Maybe the Caravelle article on Helsingin Sanomat website today and the beautiful weather encouraged people to come and see “the Bluebird”. There were also visitors from Turku customs office, four officials and a dog. No traces of old smuggled goods were detected.