The story of the Caravelle's Avon engines

Suomeksi

No engines came with the Caravelle from Arlanda. Understandably, they are valuable and had already been removed for use as spare parts.

The aircraft’s engine nacelles were empty of equipment and fittings when they arrived with the aircraft at the Pansio hall in autumn 2022. Something had to be devised, since there was nothing to display inside the empty nacelles, and leaving them that way was not an option.

For reasons of schedule and cost, we decided to paint the engine nacelles, the lower part of the fuselage, and the undersides of the wings with silver paint instead of polishing them. Developing the working methods for both painting and polishing the other parts also took time.

Of the engine nacelles, we polished only the air intake lip ring, while the rest received a silver-coloured painted surface.

Because the engine nacelles were empty, plywood cover plates were designed for both ends. Two rear-end plates had come with the aircraft; although they were not from a Caravelle, by combining them with bird netting we were able to create a suitable cover for the rear of the engine. The Aviation Museum Society’s logo was painted on the plate, and it works well.

For the plywood plate at the front of the engine, we looked for a suitable photograph of an Avon engine that could be made into a sticker image and attached on the plywood plate. Finding the image turned out to be surprisingly difficult. Front-on photographs of an Avon engine seemed impossible to find, but eventually one was found among the images of an aviation-related organisation. Since the copy rights for the image were fairly unrestricted, two sticker copies of the correct size could be produced from it.

Photo: Wikipedia common

The sticker image was naturally flat and two-dimensional. A spinner cone belonging to the engine would add a three-dimensional effect to the installation; based on measurements taken from the image, it should have a diameter of 21 cm. Original spinner cones would probably have been difficult to find, and at the time we did not make much effort to inquire about them.

Fortunately a solution was found in IKEA’s kitchenware department. They had round metal kitchen bowls for sale, one of which was exactly 21 cm in diameter. Two bowls were picked up, and after going through the cashier we headed back to the aircraft to install them.

The result is quite good and, looking from a distance, several aviation history enthusiasts have asked questions about the origin of the Caravelle’s “Avon engines”.

Photos: Ismo Matinlauri, unless otherwise mentioned

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen