Caravelle III OH-LEA "Sinilintu" ("Bluebird")

Keskiviikko 29.3.2023 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

The Caravelle III, which was brought from Arlanda to Finland by Aviation Museum Society Finland, served in the SAS fleet with registration SE-DAF and name Sven Viking. In Pansio the aircraft is being restored to Finnair colours as its first Caravelle OH-LEA, Sinilintu (Bluebird). This blog tells about the long and colourful history of this aircraft.

Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Ilmailu magazine

In 1958 the Finnish airline Aero Oy (later Finnair) ordered three Caravelle IA passenger jets from the French Sud Aviation aircraft factory. The Finnish airline was one of the forerunners of air travel and was the fourth airline to order the new passenger jet type, after Air France, SAS and the Brazilian Varig.

Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Börje Hielm.

The first jet aircraft in Finnish civil aviation was Sud Aviation Caravelle IA, which got the registration OH-LEA and was named Sinilintu (Bluebird). It was handed over in Toulouse on February 21st, 1960, and it arrived in Finland on February 22nd, 1960. The aircraft was flown to Finland by Olli Puhakka, who was a former fighter pilot and Knight of the Mannerheim Cross. The co-pilot on the flight was Olavi Siirilä, also a former war pilot. Among the guests of honor on the flight were minister of transport Arvo Korsimo, Aero Oy’s managing director Leonard Grandell, chief editor of the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper Yrjö Niiniluoto and maritime counsellor Antti Wihuri.

Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Börje Hielm.

During the spring 1960 the Bluebird was followed by Sinisiipi (Bluewing, OH-LEB) and Sininuoli (Blue Arrow, OH-LEC). These three aircraft were later modified to type Caravelle III. The fourth aircraft was already a Caravelle III when it was purchased in 1962. It was named Sinipiika (Blue Maid, OH-LED).

Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Ilmailu magazine

Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Ilmailu magazine

During its service in the Aero fleet the Bluebird appeared in three different paint schemes. It was delivered in its first appearance, where the rudder was blue, and the name Aero was written in large on the upper part of the vertical stabilizer. In the second paint scheme the rudder was blue and a blue cross on the vertical stabilizer replaced the text. Otherwise the paint scheme was identical to the first one. The third painting was done when the aircraft was updated to type Caravelle III.  This is the appearance into which the former SAS SE-DAF will now be restored. The paint scheme can be seen in the visualization image on the front page of the Caravelle-project. When Finnair celebrated its 40th anniversary, a special anniversary logo and text were added on the aircraft.

OH-LEB. Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Finnair Oyj

In the Finnair fleet the Caravelle had 16 seats in the first class and 75 in the tourist class. Starting from April 1960, the Caravelles operated on routes to European cities. In the beginning the destinations were Stockholm, Copenhagen and Frankfurt, followed by several other cities during the coming years. The Caravelles replaced the Convair 440 Metropolitan piston engine aircraft in Europe, and they were transferred to domestic routes. In late 1961 Oulu was the first domestic route operated with passenger jets.

Olli Puhakka and Olavi Siirilä in the cockpit of Eskil Viking (SAS). Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Ilmailu magazine

A Finnish speciality was flying the Caravelles with only two pilots, when other airlines had two pilots and a mechanic in the cockpit. Another remarkable difference was the surrounding and existing environment, which was why the Aero Caravelles had a brake parachute installed. The Caravelle III had Rolls Royce Avon engines and there was no reverse thrust in them to assist in the braking. The brake parachutes were only used when the friction conditions on the runway were really poor. The pilot opened the brake parachute by pulling a handle during the landing run. When the aircraft left the runway, the parachute was released by pulling the same handle. The technical ground crew then collected the parachute for reassembly.

OH-LEB “Sinisiipi” (“Bluewing”) uses drag chute. Photo by Finnish Aviation Museum photo archive / Ilmailu magazine.

The OH-LEA Bluebird flew its first flight on February 11th, 1960. It belonged to the Finnair fleet in 1960–61 and logged 9091 hours. The aircraft was sold back to Sud Aviation on December 4th, 1962, and it was flown to France on September 20th, 1964.

The following user of the Caravelle was the German LTU, which got the aircraft on February 12th, 1965. It was registered as D-ABAF and named Nordrhein-Westfalen. The next user was Transavia Holland. It rented the aircraft between January 30th, 1969, and April 16th, 1970, as PH-TRM.

F-BSSR in August 1978. Photo by Michel Gilliand via Wikimedia Commons.

From the Netherlands the aircraft returned to France, where it was registered as F-BSRR in Air Inter’s fleet where it flew from March 19th, 1971, until December 1980. During this time the Caravelle was rented to Royal Air Maroc and SNIAS, among others, having different registrations.

Air Inter sold the aircraft to Altair in Italy, where it was registered I-GISA. It was removed from service in September 1983 with 37 532 hours on its log. But the story doesn’t end here.

From Italy the aircraft was bought to Congo by IAC Airlines. In Congo it was registered 9Q-CPS and it was named Santeny. The last airline to use the Caravelle was Air Transport Service, which flew it until 1994. The Caravelle was scrapped in 1996 at the N’djili international airport in Kinshasa, Congo.

As we can see, OH-LEA was an individual with a long history. It served for 36 years, and it had more user airlines and operators than any other first generation Caravelle.

Following sources have been used for this blog:

• www.caravelle-projekti.fi
• www.lentoposti.fi news on 31.02.2020
• www.wikipedia.fi/Sud_Aviation_Caravelle
• www.issuu.com/aviatorlehti/docs/2013_aviator_nr2, artikkeli Finnairin Caravelle-laivaston vaiheet
• Juha Klemettinen has provided technical comments.

Caravelle Sanding Closing to the End

Maanantai 27.3.2023 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

During the past week we have been climbing on the top of the fuselage in Pansio. The aim is to sand the last area on top of the fuselage which we have not been able to reach from the ladders. We also cleaned the bolt and rivet holes in the stabilizer.

We rented industrial ladders which allow us to step easily on the fuselage. However, working safety issues required some thinking. How could we step on the fuselage and safely sand and do other repairs as needed? The issue was solved by using the overhead crane’s hook as a fixing point for the personal safety harness. The harness would safely prevent the possible falling.

The vertical stabilizer’s leading edge will be polished and in the autumn we installed protective tape on it for the future painting work. However, the painting wasn’t done due to the cold weather. The tape was left on the stabilizer to wait better times but now it had to be removed due to the changes in the work process. This turned out to be a burdensome job. In addition to hard work it required both mechanical scraping and use of chemical solvents to be removed.

Many thanks to Martti Peräaho, who did the main part of the climbing and grinding work on top of the fuselage while others helped on the ladders as needed.

This week we also started polishing smaller parts. When the weather warms up, hopefully after Easter, we can focus on polishing work.

We also intend to organise a polishing workshop on a couple of days where volunteers from outside the Turku area can join us in the polishing work. At the same time they can get acquainted with the project and contribute in realizing the project.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen.

Translation by Ismo Matinlauri and Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's inside works

Maanantai 20.3.2023 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

Last week the Caravelle’s sanding work progressed in Pansio, but also new work areas were started. The preliminary preparations inside the aircraft were started and the first experiments in painting are also under way.

Panels were dismantled from the wall between the cabin and cockpit. They were taken to the Tuesday Club in Vantaa to be cleaned and restored. In the cockpit the shading cover above the instrument panel proved very difficult to unfasten. A small part, but very tightly fastened.

The torn insulation material and its plastic covers hanging from the cabin ceiling were removed together with some tubes and wires hanging above the aisle. Some old and dry tape lines were removed from the cabin floor. A couple of kilos of small bolts, nuts and washers were vacuumed from the cabin floor. They have probably been used for fastening either the passenger seats or the cabin panels on the walls and ceiling.

Photo by Erja Reinikainen.

Two maintenance panels in the cabin floor were opened to allow future work on the aircraft’s doors.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen except if otherwise mentioned.

Caravelle SE-DAF

Sunnuntai 19.3.2023 - Jan Forsgren

Suomeksi

These blogs talk about the Sud Aviation Caravellle III SE-DAF. We think it is appropriate to tell something about what has happened to the SE-DAF before it arrived in Pansio to be restored.

The original article “SE-DAF to Finland” about SE-DAF was written in English by Jan Forsgren / Arlanda Flygsamlingars Vänner, the summary has been edited by Erja Reinikainen. The whole article was published in Aviation Museum Society Finland’s aviation history magazine Feeniks, 3/2022.

One of the first operators, and, in fact, the first airline to use the Caravelle in regular service was Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS). In SAS service, the Caravelle proved to be extremely popular among crews and passengers alike. Between 1959 and 1974, SAS operated on the European and Near East routes a total of 21 Caravelle I, IA and III variants. The Caravelle I and IAs were later modified to Caravelle III standard.

The fifteenth Caravelle III SAS purchased has the serial number c/n 112. After roll-out from the Sud Est factory at Toulouse, Caravelle III c/n 112 was temporarily registered as F-WJAO prior to the first flight on February 8th, 1962. On February 17th, 1962 the Caravelle was flown to Arlanda airport just north of Stockholm.

On March 5th, 1962, it was registered as SE-DAF for AB Aerotransport (ie the Swedish part of SAS). Later the same month, the aircraft was named Sven Viking. Most of the SAS Viking names used were of historical individuals from the Viking era. Sven was Sven Haraldsson, better known as Sven Tveskägg (in English; Sweyn Forkbeard). He ruled Denmark, southern Norway and England around year 1000 AD.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons. Taken in December 1964.

Photo by Lars Söderström via Wikimedia Commons. Taken in 1966. 

When Flygvapnet (the Swedish Air Force) bought two Caravelles from SAS in 1971, it had originally been planned to buy a third aircraft as well for use in the personnel transport, and as (later on) a source for spares. As it was only possible to take Swedish-registered Caravelles into consideration, this third Flygvapnet Caravelle was to have been SE-DAF. However, for various reasons, SE-DAF remained with SAS.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons. Taken in 1971 on Oslo Fornebu Airport.

The 1973 oil crisis saw a rapid increase in fuel prices. With the Avon engines being very ’thirsty’, the SAS Caravelle fleet was withdrawn from use earlier than originally planned.    

The last flight of SE-DAF, between Copenhagen and Arlanda, took place on September 23rd, 1974, with the registration SE-DAF being cancelled on December 3rd, 1974. A total of 27 321 hours were logged.

Photo by Peter Bakema via Wkimedia Commons. Taken in 2004.  

After being withdrawn from use, SE-DAF was donated to Luftfartsverkets historiska samlingar (The Swedish CAA Historical Collection). The engines were removed, with the cabin seats and interior also being largely removed. Some of the cockpit instruments were also removed. A preservative coat of Tectyl was then applied to the fuselage to prevent corrosion. Originally parked at Ramp Kalle, the Caravelle was later towed to Ramp Ivar, which was located outside the security area. It is believed that the damage to the right wingtip was sustained when towed to Ramp Ivar. Members of AFV  took care of filling air in the tires every sixth month, as well as moving about 30 cabin seat frames (mainly from Caravelle 10B1R SE-DEC) into the cabin. However, a multitude of other projects, as well as a constant lack of resources, meant that no proper work in restoring the Caravelle to her former glory could be accomplished.

Photo by Juha Klemettinen. Taken in 2011.

Due to Ramp Ivar being located near a taxi runway, literally thousands of airline passengers could see the Caravelle. Due to the rather worn and tatty SAS colour scheme, SAS paid for over-painting this in white. SE-DAF appeared briefly in the 2013 movie Monica Z, about the singer Monica Zetterlund. In the movie, SAS colours were applied digitally to SE-DAF during postproduction, but not painted on the actual aircraft.  

Shortly afterwards, the aircraft was towed back to Ramp Kalle. It was to remain there for the next eight years.

Photo by Ulf Nyström. Taken in 2020.

After SMTM took ownership of Arlanda Flygsamlingar in January 2018, Le Caravelle Club, following negotiations, received permission in late 2019 to remove certain parts of the interior from SE-DAF, including some of the overhead luggage shelves, and the galley in order to restore SE-DAI back to SAS colours.

In the spring of 2020, the owners of Arlanda Flygsamlingar, Statens Maritima och Transporthistoriska Museer (National Maritime and Transport Historical Museums, SMTM), decided to dispose of the Caravelle due to lack of resources, and the onslaught of the Corona Pandemic. To scrap the aircraft would have cost SEK 200,000. It was obvious that an alternative solution had to be sought. A volunteer member of Arlanda Flygsamlingars Vänner (Friends of Arlanda Flygsamlingar, AFV), Jan Forsgren, contacted Janne Salonen, tentatively asking if IMY would be interested in acquiring the Caravelle. Janne Salonen responded quickly to Jan Forsgren’s e-mail, saying that IMY were indeed interested in obtaining the Caravelle for preservation in Finland.

And the rest is history.

Blog was shortened by Erje Reinikainen from Jane Forsgren's article.

About Caravelle's sanding

Maanantai 6.3.2023 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

Caravelle’s sanding work is progressing well in the port hall in Pansio. During the autumn season work methods were developed and now the best practices are producing results.

The first phase in cleaning the Caravelle’s surfaces was to remove the black tar streaks and blotches left by rainwater and air pollutants during the decades when the aircraft stood outside at Arlanda airport. After some experimenting it was noticed that persistent scratching was the best work method. Different chemicals for removing graffiti and even oven cleaner foam were tested, but the results were not mentionable.

Angle grinders have been used in the sanding work, starting with coarse sanding discs, and progressing to finer ones. Sanding discs P240 grit have been used for removing old paint. The surfaces which will be painted are left to this sanded coarseness, which is sufficient for the new paint to cover the surface well. The surfaces which will be polished have been sanded first using discs with P500 grit and then with P1000 grit.

The most burdensome areas for sanding have been the round head riveted painted areas on the rear fuselage and flaps. There the first grinding phase has been to use a steel-wire brush before moving to sanding discs.

The sanding work was started on the left side of the fuselage and on the lower side of the right side. After the transportation from Sweden, for some time the fuselage was resting tilted 45 degrees to the left, and this made it possible to restore the bottom on the right side and sand the left side at the top of the fuselage. The fuselage was lifted upright in the beginning of November.

Before the Christmas break the 18 cm wide white strip of SAS-paint scheme white paint under the windows was sanded away on the left side, below the window line. It has been agreed that the aircraft will be painted to the 1960s Finnair paint scheme used on the Caravelle OH-LEA. There the lower side of the fuselage is polished up to the window level and the top part of the fuselage and the vertical stabilizer are painted white. The window area is painted blue with a narrow white line below. On the other side of the fuselage the paint-removing work was finished in the beginning of February. Also the sanding of the horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer and engine nacelles was finished in early February.

Now also on the upper sides of the wings the middle sections have been sanded. The wings’ middle sections will be painted, and the leading edges and flaps will be polished. There the sanding work is under way. The lower sides of the wings were cleaned with dry-ice blasting, and they are ready for painting.

Before polishing, the finer grit discs (P3000 or P4000) are used at the final phases of sanding, when necessary, to remove the scratches caused by sanding. On a surface which is in poor condition, or which hasn’t been polished before, there are microscopic “hills” and “valleys” and these differences on the surface are smoothed out by moving material from the high points to the low ones (this is called compounding). This surface processing requires a lot of polishing power and therefore a rotary polisher and a wool disc are used. After using a rotary polisher the surface has a bright finish, but the wool disc has left thin spiralling scratches on it. To remove these the final polishing must be done using a double-disc random orbital polisher, “cyclo”.

As you can see, there is a lot of polishing ahead before all Caravelle’s surfaces are shining bright. The use of polishing abrasives requires a temperature of +5…+10°C, so polishing work in Pansio will have to wait for spring weather.

Translation with help of Martti Saarinen.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

The Caravelle's cockpit is missing instruments and equipment

Keskiviikko 1.3.2023 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

At the moment, the Caravelle SE-DAF’s cockpit looks rather bare and stark. There are a lot of instruments missing and the surfaces and fittings are shabby. The decades of being stored outdoors at Arlanda have left their mark.

Photo by Ismo Matinlauri.

We will not let this discourage us, instead we take this as a challenge. Our aim is to find the missing instruments and equipment and restore the cockpit and its surfaces as well as we can.

Now we are looking for analogue instruments which were used in the 1960s’ and 1970s’ aircraft and we turn to our readers for help. The instruments don’t have to be original ones which were used in the Caravelles, a similar style is sufficient. A list of the missing instruments is below, we need two of each.

Flight monitoring instruments

The size of the flight monitoring instruments varies. Some have a rectangular housing 82 x 82 mm, others a round housing with a diameter of 80 mm. The housing for the Flight Director Indicator / Attitude indicator is rectangular 100 x 100 mm. A round instrument can be installed instead, using a reducer plate.

• Airspeed indicator (display in knots)
• Flight Director indicator (HZ4)
• Altimeter (display preferably in feet)
• Rate of climb indicator
• Pictorial Deviation Indicator PDI
• Gyrosyn compass C6B (preferably with ADF)
• Gyrosyn compass C6B (preferably with VOR)
• Radio Altimeter
• DME indicator Collins 339D

Engine monitoring instruments

The engine monitoring instruments have a diameter of 49 mm. A different size can be used but will be difficult. Instruments with the original displays will probably not be found but the dial face can be changed. The following instruments are missing.

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri.

• Fuel Qty Indicator Main Tank (the original display 0-7000 kg)
• Fuel Qty Indicator Outer Tank (the original display 0-1200 kg)
• Fuel Flow Indicator
• Fuel Used Indicator
• Fuel Pressure Dual Indicator
• Nozzle Temp Indicators (the original display 0-1000)
• RPM Indicators (the original on resembles a clock with two hands, one for hundreds of rpm, the other for thousands)

Radio control panels

The following items are missing:

• Control panel of the VHF radio, Com and Nav
• Control panel of the HF radio
• Control panel of the ADF

If you happen to know anything about the items listed above or if you know where they could be found, please contact Caravelle project manager Janne Salonen, mobile +358 50 5291135 or email janne.salonen@imy.fi

Translation with help of Martti Saarinen.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen except if otherwise separately mentioned.

The restoration of the Caravelle III towbar is progressing

Keskiviikko 1.3.2023 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

During Tuesday Club’s autumn season the Caravelle III towbar restoration work reached the point where the majority of the towbar parts had been painted with Isotrol primer, which prevents rusting. Half of them were painted with dark grey Isotrol and the other half with pale grey. We could see that the paint made the corrosion marks on the towbar surface clearly visible.

Photos by Juha Veijalainen.

We made a test where a small area of the towbar was painted with Teknos adhesive primer to see whether it would cover the corrosion. It did, indeed, but the corrosion marks were still visible. The next step would have been to spackle the whole towbar to make the corrosion marks disappear. However, we decided not to. We shall let the corrosion spots show and prove that the Caravelle III towbar has been rusting under the open sky for fifty years at Arlanda airport.

The towbar will be painted to the same paint scheme we used for the Finnair Super Caravelle towbar when it was restored last year. Just to refresh your memory, the towbar now under restoration was brought from Sweden together with the Sud Aviation Caravelle III (SE-DAF), which was acquired by Aviation Museum Society Finland. This towbar has been used by SAS, but we will restore it to Finnair colours. After restoration the towbar will be placed on display at Turku airport together with the Caravelle III, which will be restored to the Finnair 1963 paint scheme as OH-LEA “Sinilintu” (Bluebird).

The main colour on the towbar is the Finnair blue, with 50 cm of the towbar’s pull loop end and 73 cm of the aircraft towhead end painted yellow. The blue paint is Unica outdoor furniture paint NSC S 6030-B and the blue paint Unica outdoor furniture paint RAL 1023.

Photos by Juha Veijalainen.

The top coat painting was started from the smaller parts of the towbar. The towbar wheel rack with its fastening flange was the first part to be painted blue. The paint was applied with brushes. After the first layer we noticed that the covering wasn’t sufficient yet. The surfaces were sanded manually with sandpaper and painted with another layer of blue paint. The result was fairly good. We don’t think the wheel rack needs to be painted a third time.

The bar section of the towbar had been dismantled into two parts. The painting with finishing paint was started with the yellow paint. It was soon noticed that already the first layer of yellow paint covered well the bar which had been painted with pale grey Isotrol primer. However, the yellow paint didn’t cover so well the other half of the bar which had been painted with dark grey Isotrol. It would have been better if both halves of the bar had been painted with the pale grey primer. Well, this means only that we will have to apply several yellow layers on the half which was painted with the dark grey. At this point two layers of yellow paint have been applied.

In addition to painting, also other restoration work has been done. Both ends of the towbar lack the rectangular handlebars made of round metal rods. The Super Caravelle towbar we restored earlier has similar handlebars. We unfastened one of them to use it as a model when building the missing handlebars for the Caravelle III towbar. This Caravelle III towbar is the first version of the towbars manufactured by Sud Aviation, its model number is S.09.107 and the Super Caravelle towbar we restored last year is the factory’s last and third towbar version with model number S.09.107 2.

First we started making the fastening plates for the handlebars, using the Super Caravelle towbar handle as a model. There is a fastener plate welded to both ends of the handlebar. There is a 10 mm hole in the plate for a bolt, which fastens the handle on the towbar.

We found a suitable piece of 4 mm thick and 10 cm wide flat bar iron in the metal storage of the Finnish Aviation Museum’s hot work container. Rust was sanded off the flat bar iron and then four 8 cm pieces were cut from it with an angle grinder. The shape of the Super Caravelle towbar handle fastener was drawn on all of them. The extra material was cut off and their corners and edges were shaped round using an emery and an abrasive band. The fastener plates are now ready to be welded on the handlebar, but the holes for the bolts are missing. The following phase will be to make the actual handles for the handlebars.

On the surface of the Caravelle III towbar there are the remains of the broken handlebar fastening bolts. The bolts were drilled out, first using an 8 mm drill bit. Then a hole was made for a M10 bolt using a larger drill bit. A thread was made into the hole for a 10 mm hexagon head bolt, using a threading tap. The bolt holes are now ready for fastening the handlebars on the towbar.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if othewise separately mentioned.

Caravelle restoration - a Week of Lifts

Lauantai 4.2.2023 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

During last week we performed several lifts using the bridge cranes in the hall where the Caravelle III (SE-DAF) is under restoration. First we turned around the horizontal stabilizer and then we installed the left side engine nacelle. Finally we lifted the rudder to the working area.

The horizontal stabilizer was turned around because we completed the grinding work on the upper side, and it is now waiting for the temperature to rise to a level where polishing and painting is possible. After the turn we can now do the same work phases to the lower side as well. Then we will polish and paint it before the next lift and turn, after which we can polish and paint the upper side. Then the horizontal stabilizer is ready and the right side up for the installation work.

The engine nacelle required some sheet metal work before it could be installed. Some corroded plates needed to be changed or repaired. Time was also needed to fix some screw holes on the fuselage so that they would be ready when the nacelle was in place and the fairings are assembled into place. Finally the nacelles were ground on the outside, now they are ready for painting. Then everything was ready for the nacelle lift.

The left side engine nacelle was lifted back to its place under the supervision of Markku Ahokoski. We used lifting chains tailored for the purpose and connected to the original lifting holes on the nacelle. Fitting and tightening the nacelle’s four fastening bolts took more time than estimated but with some adjustments we managed to do it.

It has been decided that the engine nacelles will be painted with silver colour paint and not polished. This is because the surfaces are worn and there are marks of use. Polishing would lead to an uneven surface and would not look right.

The other engine nacelle will be lifted to its place in about two weeks’ time, when the same preparation work as with first one has been completed.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen

Translation by Erja Reinikainen

The repairs of the Caravelle radome are almost finished

Lauantai 4.2.2023 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The repairs of the damaged parts of the Caravelle III (SE-DAF), which was brought to Finland from Sweden, have been continued at the Aviation Museum Society Finland’s Tuesday Club. The repairs of the radome, the bulkhead rim under the radome, the wing tips and the tip of the starboard side horizontal stabilizer are all under way.

Photos by Reijo Siirtola

The collision damage, which made a hole in the radome, has been repaired. There was a hole of about 30 x 20 cm on the edge of the radome and this was covered with laminated fibreglass. The collision has occurred right at one of the radome’s three fastening bolts and the hatch above it. In the collision the bolt and its cover frame have been damaged beyond repair, but we managed to straighten the badly bent bolt hatch and it can be reused. The radome is fastened on the outer rim of the nose bulkhead with three bolts.

When the hole on the radome had been laminated and the radome’s crackled surface had been repaired, a base layer of black spray paint was applied. The surface was spackled and sanded to smooth the uneven areas. A final layer of paint will be added when the reparation of the damaged area has been completed.

Photos by Reijo Siirtola

Now it was time to make an opening on the radome for the fastening bolt’s hatch. The shape of the opening was drawn on the radome surface, using the original hatch as stencil. Then the opening was sawn along the drawn line, using a compass saw. The edges of the sawing line were ground smooth with a file. The opening edge needs also a collar against which the hatch is pressed, and which will have holes for the two quick-lock screws on the hatch. The locking springs of the two locking screws will be fastened inside the collar under the screw holes.

Photos by Reijo Siirtola

The collar for the opening was made by laminating. Pieces of fibreglass mat were cut for the collar, with a hole in the middle. Then the bolt hatch was taped onto the edges of the opening and supported on it with two strips of plywood. The inner surface of the hatch was protected with plastic foil so that the hatch doesn’t get glued on the layers of fibreglass which are laminated under it. This way the hatch worked as a supporting wall for the laminating work. The fibreglass pieces were soaked in epoxy, and they were laminated with a roller, layer by layer, to cover the hatch opening.

Photo by Reijo Siirtola

When the laminated area had dried, the hatch was unfastened and the opening with its collar could be seen. The edges of the collar opening were smoothed. Then the holes were drilled on the collar for the two fastener screws of the hatch. The original locking springs of the screws were fastened on the lower edge of the collar, under the holes.

Left photo by Reijo Siirtola

The functioning of the hatch was tested by pressing the hatch against the collar so that the lock screws were pushed into their holes. Then the hatch was locked by pressing the screws inwards and simultaneously turning them 90 degrees. The nick at the end of the screw locked on the spring under the collar. This functioned well so we had managed to assemble the hatch of the fastening bolt on the repaired radome.

Photos by Reijo Siirtola

The following task will be to build a new bolt fastening into the damaged area so that the edge of the radome can be fastened on the rim of the Caravelle’s nose bulkhead below. The original bolt fastening was destroyed in the collision which hit the radome.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise separately mentioned.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's restoration work is continued in Pansio

Perjantai 20.1.2023 - Reino Myllymäki

The restoration work of the Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle III SE-DAF continues in Pansio after the short Christmas break.

Photo by Ismo Matinlauri.

A workshop has been established in the cold port hall’s heated staff rooms. Even the old shower room has now got a new purpose as a workspace.

In the unheated large hall area some work can be done during the winter. Grinding and polishing of the aircraft fuselage is possible, but it can’t be painted during the cold season. Some grinding is necessary to remove a section of the white paint which in the former SAS paint scheme reaches down the sides of the fuselage. In the spring the aircraft will be painted to the Aero Oy paint scheme. The section which needs to be removed by grinding gets wider towards the tail of the aircraft.

Some dismantling and assembling will be done during the winter. The Pansio restoration teams aims to work every week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Photos: Jouko Tarponen if not mentioned otherwise.

Caravelle - Dry-Ice in the Air

Torstai 15.12.2022 - Ismo Matinlauri

At the end of the restoration team’s autumn session we managed to clean the lower surfaces of the wings using dry-ice blasting method. This method was selected for cleaning the worst (i.e. dirtiest) areas fast, and in a safe and clean way. The achieved time saving was also considerable, shortening the overall project time. This means that when spring arrives, our volunteers can continue grinding and polishing the fuselage and wings, and we can also start installing the engine nacelles.

The dry-ice blasting was done professionally by Dry Ice Finland in a few days. The methodology in brief:

Dry-ice (carbon dioxide) is pure carbon dioxide in solid form, the temperature is about -79 °C. In dry-ice blasting the dry-ice pellets are blown with high pressure to the surface to be cleaned. Once the pellets hit the surface, they evaporate (sublimate) into the air and the dirt removed will fall down for easy cleaning as needed. Dry-ice blasting is a totally dry, chemical-free and almost wasteless method.

The photos of the aircraft’s wing surface before and after cleaning show the results of dry-ice blasting.

While the dry-ice cleaning was going on, the Pansio volunteers managed to grind from one side of the fuselage under the windows an 18 cm wide belt of white paint, which originates from the SAS paint scheme. The aim is to follow Finnair’s OH-LEA paint instructions, and we shall polish the lower part of the fuselage, up to the lower edge of the windows. The other side will have to wait until the weather warms up – it is a good starting point when our work continues next spring.

Photos: Ismo Matinlauri.

Caravelle's radome is repaired and repainted

Keskiviikko 7.12.2022 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The radome, disassembled from the nose of the Caravelle III (SE-DAF) which is now owned by Aviation Museum Society Finland, is being repaired at the Tuesday Club. Its painted surface has cracked, and it has been also badly damaged in a collision.

The radome is made of Kevlar and its surface has originally been puttied and painted with matt black paint. The black paint surface has cracked and peeled off in several places. The white putty and the Kevlar surface under it are visible in the damaged areas.

The cracked paint and the white putty on the radome surface were chiseled off down to the Kevlar surface. This caused grooves and holes on the radome’s surface. The Tuesday Club team decided to fill the grooves and holes with epoxy filler. This material was also a good choice for smoothing and levelling the radome’s damaged area which had been patched with glass fibre fabric.

Light epoxy filler (Lightweight Epoxy Filler) and hardening agent were purchased from Biltema. Following the product instructions, a portion of filler was mixed. The filler was spread with metal spatulas on the holes on the radome’s surface and on the damaged area, which had been laminated with glass fibre fabric. A thin flexible plywood veneer was also used when spreading the filler, pulling it on the radome’s surface, following its curved shape. The filler followed well the curved shape of the radome. Several portions of filler had to be mixed before all the grooves had been filled and smoothed.

When the filler had dried, it was sanded, mainly manually. Sanding by hand gives a better touch on the radome’s curved surface than working with a grinder. After sanding the filler treatment was repeated and sanded again to get a smooth surface, matching the radome’s curved shape as accurately as possible.

After two rounds of filling and sanding, the team decided to paint the surface with a primer. Spray MAX Primer filler was chosen, and it was purchased from the Pintaväri store. This primer fills well the small roughness on the sanded surface and it can be re-sanded and re-painted.

Two layers of Sprey primer were spread on the sanded radome surface. Before applying the paint, the cover holes of the radome’s fastening bolts were protected. Although the result after the primer paint looked quite good, the smooth mat black paint surface revealed some uneven areas, and we will still have to fill and sand the radome’s surface in some areas before it is completely smooth and ready for the finishing paint.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

The repairing of the Caravelle's right wingtip

Maanantai 21.11.2022 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The right wingtip of the Caravelle III (SE-DAF), which was acquired from Sweden by Aviation Museum Society Finland and is now in a hall in the Pansio port area in Turku, has been badly damaged at its leading edge. The damage has been caused by some airport vehicle which has hit the Caravelle’s wingtip during the decades when the aircraft stood on the side of the airfield. There is a dent also in the middle of the tip of the left wing. Furthermore, the trailing edge of the horizontal stabilizer tip and the radome at the nose of the aircraft have been damaged in collisions. The wings, the horizontal stabilizer and the radome will be repaired at the Tuesday Club.

Fortunately, the tips of the Caravelle’s wings and the horizontal stabilizer can be detached. The Aviation Museum Society’s volunteer team in Turku detached the wing tips, the damaged tip of the horizontal stabilizer and the radome to be taken to Vantaa. These parts were brought from Pansio in the boot of a car and on a trailer to Vantaa, to be repaired at the Tuesday Club.

The leading edge of the right wingtip is broken along a distance of 40 cm. The navigation light and its uniquely shaped lamp shade are broken too. The navigation light shade on the left wing is unbroken. When repairing the right wingtip, the left wing will be used as a model. 

The navigation light is badly broken. It may be possible to make a new lamp socket for the light bulb, but it will probably be impossible to make the navigation light shade which has a complicated shape. It can hardly be found as a spare part, either. Well, we can surely ask Le Caravelle Club in Sweden, they have restored a former SAS Caravelle.

The repair of the right wingtip was started by drilling out the rivets which fastened the crumpled aluminium sheets on the wingtip. After this the sheets could be bent open, and we could get a better view of the damaged tip’s structure.

We tried to mould the damaged aluminium sheets and see if they could be bent into their original shape. However, the duralumin sheets on the wingtip are made of such hard aluminium that they broke when they were bent back into their original shape. We had to admit that the damaged wingtip can’t be repaired by using the original sheets. The wingtip and its supporting structures will have to be rebuilt from new aluminium sheets. Fortunately, we have the unbroken tip of the left wing to use as a model. We dismantled the whole damaged area of the right wingtip.

We analysed different alternatives for building the right wingtip and concluded that the broken part will be rebuilt from several sheets of aluminium, which are moulded into the shape of the wingtip and riveted together. For this purpose, a wooden last will be made, shaped as the unbroken left wingtip, but its mirror image. Each sheet of aluminium will be bent into shape against this last and then riveted to each other to form the new wingtip. Before riveting, a new supporting structure for the wingtip will have to be built.

We started to build the wooden last by gluing together some pieces of plank to make a piece of wood, larger than the wingtip. This piece of wood will be gradually shaped by sawing, carving, planing, and grinding to match the shape of the wingtip’s leading edge. To make the piece of wood exactly match the shape of the wingtip, profile jigs, made of plywood and shaped as the unbroken wingtip, will be used. When the shaping progresses, the profile jigs will be used for testing where the wooden last still needs to be shaped.

When the glue had dried, we could start shaping the chunk of wood into the wooden last. First the curved side profile of the wingtip was drawn on the piece of wood. A band saw was used for sawing along the drawn line and almost one half of the piece of wood was cut off. Then the shaping continued with a hand milling machine and a plane. When the shaping work is continued, the shape of the last will be checked with the profile jigs. There is still a lot of work ahead before the wooden blank matches the shape of the wingtip’s leading edge and can be used as a last for moulding the aluminium sheets for the broken wing.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

The repair of the Caravelle III (SE-DAF) radome has been started

Lauantai 12.11.2022 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The Caravelle III, owned and brought from Sweden by Aviation Museum Society Finland, is stored in a hall in Pansio port area near Turku. There it is being restored before placing it on display at Turku airport. In Turku the local volunteer team is working on the restoration, which started with cleaning the aircraft’s surfaces before painting. The Tuesday Club has been given the task to repair the damages which have been caused on the aircraft during its long storage period. There is damage on e.g. the right wing-tip, the left tip of the horizontal stabilizer and the radome on the aircraft’s nose. We just can’t help wondering which airport vehicle at Arlanda has managed to bump into the Caravelle so many times.

Annoyingly, the damage caused by the collision on the radome happens to be right on one of the hatches which cover the fastening bolts of the radome. The radome, made of glass fibre, has bent inwards at an area of about 20x15 cm. The collision has also broken the edge ring of the radome and damaged the rim of the bulkhead on the aircraft’s nose, under the radome. There is also damage on the aircraft’s nose under the bulkhead edge, the metal edge of the nose is bent, and the aluminium covering is creased. The painted surface of the glass fibre radome is also badly flaking.

The Turku team disassembled the damaged tips of the right wing and the left horizontal stabilizer and the nose bulkhead, with its radar and radome. We fetched the bulkhead and the tips of the wing and horizontal stabilizer from Pansio to be repaired at the Finnish Aviation Museum in Vantaa. The repair of the radome and the wing tip are well under way, the tip of the stabilizer will be repaired later.

Before repairing the radome, it had to be disassembled from the nose bulkhead. The radome is fastened on the bulkhead rim with three fastening bolts and three guide pins. The bolts can be seen when the hatches on the radome, one above each bolt, are opened.

First the hatches above the two unbroken fastening bolts were opened. Under each hatch a supporting frame could be seen, it is fastened on the radome glass fibre and on the radome’s metal edge. There is a crown-headed fastening bolt in the middle of the frame. The two bolts on the edge could be easily opened and unfastened from the threaded sleeve on the metal rim of the bulkhead. Fortunately also the bolt under the damaged hatch could be opened and after this the radome could be lifted from the bulkhead. We could now see that the radar space under the radome was empty. The radar had been disassembled at some point during the Caravelle’s storing period, but obviously before the radome was damaged.

When the radome had been disassembled, we could see the damage on the bulkhead’s metal rim, under the radome’s edge. The bulkhead rim is badly bent inwards and broken. It must be repaired before the radome can be assembled back into its place after repair.

Photo: Reijo Siirtola

As a preparatory task before repairing the glass fibre radome, the damaged metal frame of the fastening bolt was disassembled. The metal frame has been tightly riveted on the damaged edge of the radome, we didn’t even try to unfasten it in other ways than just by cutting through the radome’s metal edge on either side of the bolt’s frame. The broken area of the radome could now be removed together with the bolt frame.

Photo: Reijo Siirtola.

The repair plan is to first build a replacing piece for the removed section of the radome’s metal edge. The broken metal frame for the bolt can’t be used any more, so we came up with a solution where a bridge between the radome’s cut edges will be made from strong plywood. The third radome bolt can be fastened on the threaded sleeve on the bulkhead’s rim through the plywood bridge. A metal collar for the bolt will be inserted on the hole on the plywood. This repaired joint of the third bolt will not be as strong as the original, but it will be quite ok for the radome of a non-flying display aircraft. From outside the difference won’t be seen.

Photo: Reijo Siirtola.

When the radome’s cut edge has been repaired in the way described above, a sufficient number of glass fibre fabric layers will be laminated with epoxy resin on the collision hole on the radome. The laminated area will be ground to match the level of the dome’s original surface. A hole for the bolt hatch will be made into the laminated surface.

We started to build the piece missing from the radome’s metal edge. A piece of strong plywood was cut, imitating the shape of the missing edge piece. The piece of plywood was glued with epoxy glue as a bridge between the ends of the metal edge. There is still some work needed before the bridge is ready. After that we will laminate the hole in the radome. The edges of the damaged area in the glass fibre dome have already been ground thin for the laminating work.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.