Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

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TyphoonLegacy
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Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by TyphoonLegacy »

Hello All,

We are restoring what will be only the second complete example of a Hawker Typhoon in the world out of 3,330 built, and are seeking to raise awareness from the aviation community in an effort to locate parts and documentation that is still needed. The project is located in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island B.C.

Canadians served in three dedicated Canadian Typhoon Squadrons during the war, 438, 439, and 440 Squadrons, in addition to these units, most RAF Squadrons had Canadian airmen and technicians throughout their ranks. These crews operated in some of the most dangerous missions of the war and suffered very high losses, Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd. is seeking to complete the restoration of Hawker Typhoon JP843 as a living legacy to all pilots and maintainers of all nationalities who supported and took part in Typhoon operations throughout the war.

To date, we have a significant volume of manufacturing drawings, manuals and surviving components, but there are still parts and drawings missing that will be needed to complete the project. As JP843 is being rebuilt to airworthy condition, we are seeking to find parts that may be in private collections so that we can measure them for reproduction; all borrowed parts will be returned to their owners, documentation will be scanned and returned as well.

Key items needed include forged steel fittings from the cockpit section and wing, and Napier Sabre engines, parts and accessories. While we have one engine for the aircraft, it is not suitable to rebuild so we are seeking additional engines and information to help bring the heart of the Typhoon back to life. There are currently three known Napier Sabre engines in Canada, one in Ottawa, one in Montreal, and the one in our collection. We are searching for a 4th Napier Sabre which is believed to still be in central Canada, and are offering a $2000 reward for any information leading to it's successful acquisition for use in JP843.

We have found components critical to the project through social media; many people throughout the world have parts and drawings and don't realise how important they are to our goals; sharing information about our project could be all it takes to advance our work by years!

While we have a dedicated team of professionals working on the project, we are also seeking specialised service sponsors that would be interested in providing services we cannot do in-house. Examples of these services include CNC machining, metrology, NDT and foundry work. Typhoon Legacy has a growing international presence, and we would be happy to market corporate brands in exchange for service support.

For further information on the project please see the following links:

http://typhoonlegacy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
https://www.gofundme.com/HawkerTyphoon

If you are able to help with missing parts and information, or would like to discuss the project; please send us and e-mail info@typhoonlegacy.com

Best regards,

Ian Slater
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Napier Sabre Engine
Napier Sabre Engine
Sabre Resize.jpg (95.93 KiB) Viewed 3983 times
Best regards,

Ian Slater
Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd.
http://www.typhoonlegacy.com
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
pelmet
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by pelmet »

Sounds like a very exciting project. I think it will be difficult to find your engine as you already know but I wish you the best of luck and thank you for preserving our history.

This must be a very complicated undertaking and I see that you have some quite experienced people working on it. Has your organization restored any previous aircraft?
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TyphoonLegacy
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by TyphoonLegacy »

Hi Pelmet,

It's a difficult task trying to find this engine, but we have to use every option available given how rare they are.

Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd. was set up solely for the restoration of JP843, so the company has not done other restorations. The engineers working on JP843 have all worked on other projects though.

Thank you for your kind words, please follow along!

Best regards,

Ian
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Best regards,

Ian Slater
Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd.
http://www.typhoonlegacy.com
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
pelmet
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by pelmet »

Thanks,

We all appreciate your dedication. There was a Spitfire restoration in Comox a while back and I had been curious if it was the same group but I guess not.
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TyphoonLegacy
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by TyphoonLegacy »

The Y2K Spitfire was being built by the Comox Air Force Museum. I helped out with some of the metal work after their structures lead left, but only to the extent of forming parts beyond their shop capabilities. Y2K is now with Vintage Wings.
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Best regards,

Ian Slater
Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd.
http://www.typhoonlegacy.com
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
Mick G
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by Mick G »

Wasn't there a freshly rebuilt spare for sale at the Smithsonian in Washington earlier this year?

Barring that, there are bound to be some on the sea floor whose blocks could probably be saved as corrosion shouldn't really affect the heavy casting. Would be expensive, but fun! Just a thought
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TyphoonLegacy
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by TyphoonLegacy »

Hi Mick,

The Smithsonian has the 0 time spare Sabre that was sent along with MN235 for evaluation in 1944, when the Typhoon returned to the UK in 1968, the engine stayed. We've been in touch, but not heard of it being offered for sale.

We have one recovered Sabre that is in remarkable condition considering it was in water for about 70 years; even original paint stencils are visible. Unfortunately because the main castings are aluminum, and mated to many steel parts, some areas cannot be saved for measurements to be taken. Additional recovered engines would also be great, more changes of getting the data we need.

Best regards,

Ian
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Best regards,

Ian Slater
Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd.
http://www.typhoonlegacy.com
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
Mick G
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by Mick G »

Can you post some pictures of the engine you have. Can you go into a little more about the reasons you have deemed it non salvageable? Even siezed or rusted pistons could be machined out to save the block if you really wanted. I heard that there are ~10 of the Napier Sabre engines extant, so it might be your only hope to try and work with it.
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TyphoonLegacy
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by TyphoonLegacy »

Hi Mick,

There are options available to save some components from our engine, but not all. Our preferred path is to locate some of the "missing" engines that are rebuildable, but we have other options available as well; build complete from new (reverse engineer with available information), or partially build from new.

If we were to partially build from new, our main castings could be annealed, built back up with weld, re-machined and finally heat treated back to original spec. Saving these castings would be expensive, but nowhere near the cost of new castings.

New build is an excellent option because it would allow for full spares support; just very expensive. It would also involve engineering and likely certification of a new engine because many changes to the design could be made.

We've yet to choose our engine path, and want to continue the hunt for a few more years before we commit to any major new construction. We are pressing to recover as much data as we can in the meantime.

There are currently between 30 and 40 Napier Sabre engines known to have survived, many are Sea or crash recoveries, and I would say 6 are rebuildable in their current state. With the above-mentioned practice, some of the cut-away engines could also be rebuilt to run again.

One way or another, this will be an expensive journey!

Best regards,

Ian
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Attachments
DSCN0735-1.jpg
DSCN0735-1.jpg (672.46 KiB) Viewed 3332 times
Best regards,

Ian Slater
Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd.
http://www.typhoonlegacy.com
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
TyphoonLegacy
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by TyphoonLegacy »

One more of the front, this shows the crash damage.
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DSCN0308 resize2.jpg
DSCN0308 resize2.jpg (991.83 KiB) Viewed 3330 times
Best regards,

Ian Slater
Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd.
http://www.typhoonlegacy.com
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
rolly117
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by rolly117 »

Hello Ian
Is that a smoke or a eddy in the pic
probably a pistola Ha!
this is one hell of a venture your on
24 cyl H Oh my god its the Holy Grail of Engines
You may want to CNC it if you have the data!
Sleeve valves are a better way of making power but are unreliable
1 hour of flight 4 hours of maintenance just checking the engine
It is a unbelievable design and requires diligence
I wish i could help you
Your looking for a barn find
and i wish you the best
you have come a long way since ASC!
R0lly
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TyphoonLegacy
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by TyphoonLegacy »

Rolly,

Great to hear from you, I hope all is well.

CNC will be a big part of airframe fittings and engine components for this project. Given some of the original test requirements for material specifications when the aircraft and engine were designed, we can substitute machined wrought materials for the original forged components, there are exceptions to this where we simply must stick with forgings; crankshafts for example.

Most castings can also be produced from wrought materials, but components with water and oil passages (cylinder blocks on the Sabre) will still need to be cast. CNC will still be an enormous asset for the finish machine work for all components regardless of initial production process.

Did you ever find yourself working on the Freighter?
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Best regards,

Ian Slater
Typhoon Legacy Co. Ltd.
http://www.typhoonlegacy.com
https://www.facebook.com/hawkertyphoonjp843/
rolly117
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Re: Hawker Typhoon JP843 Restoration

Post by rolly117 »

hello Ian,
Nope no cargo stuff I sell my soul to the devils, Contract bs, the buffs went back to the dark continent
Back in the 80s, I went to the Belgian air museum in Brussels and they had a bunch of radical engines on display from the second war.
I was not a AC fix nut then but I remember the stuff they had on the floor and one was imposed german diesel aircraft engine, No heads.
They had a lot of stuff, and I can't recall a H24 but you never know, I thought wow these mills are awesome,
Belgium was on the flight path to the bad guys
So give them a email
Brussels Air Museum
If you can speak Flemish it would help Ha!
keep the dream alive
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