Home Straight

摘要

Visitors to Old Warden aerodrome in Bedfordshire always make sure they visit the workshop hangar. There, there can get an close-up look at maintenance on the Shuttleworth Collection's exceptional fleet of classic aircraft. Regular attenders have got used to the long-term restoration of Spitfire V AR501 (G-AWII) lying dismantled, surrounded by neatly arranged components and sub-assemblies. In mid-May the wings were reunited with the fuselage, and AR501 once again sports camouflage and is looking very much like a Spitfire. (See the March 2015 FlyPast for our last report on this project.) Aided by a small team of volunteers and other full-time engineers, Shuttleworth engineer Ian Laraman has been responsible for AR501 since it came in back in 2007 for a strip-down rebuild. One could justifiably describe the aircraft as now being on the home straight, although there is undoubtedly still a lot to do.