PROJECT NEWS

Projects which inspire others to build their own aircraft Compiled by Mike Slaughter

Project News

While the human cost and our collective wellbeing is far more important than mere aircraft in these troubled times, those that are quarantined at home with projects to hand do have something of a silver lining, while those unable to get to their aircraft must really be feeling the frustration.

The crisis certainly seems to have impacted New Projects registrations with just two listed, whilst a solitary RV-14 – the first of the type to be completed in the UK and featured in a Projects News Special (starts on page 20) – is the only build Cleared to Fly this month, and its first flight is, of course, also on hold for the duration.

If you thought that incarceration was going to give you the opportunity to progress that project you have been involved in for decades and were feeling a little sensitive about the time it’s taking, then excuse yourself from self-admonishment – Jim Copeman’s restoration has been 80 years in progress!

Of course, he and Tony Palmer are just the latest custodians of the project and, until recent events, had hoped to pass the finish post this coming season. But you could say, to use a word that has recently seen a surge in the vernacular, that the project may have to be somewhat furloughed in the final furlong. Their aircraft, just 14 years from receiving its royal birthday card, is a British Klemm L25c Swallow and Jim’s account provides a fascinating overview of its history with people, places and manufacturers from a bygone era, familiar now to just a few.

Why not take some time, during this period of restricted activity, to research some of our aviation heritage mentioned in his story? As a Londoner, I grew up with Heathrow Airport, but what became of Hendon, Heston and Hanworth Air Park? What is the story behind the Pobjoy engine, and are there many still flying? The sales flyer for Jim and Tony’s Swallow proclaims, ‘Will not spin’, ‘Will not stall’, ‘Running cost less than one penny per mile’ and all for a purchase price of £695. I’ll take two please.

And you might also think about telling Project News what’s happening with your project. It doesn’t have to be flying or anywhere near finished.

Get in touch and tell your story, report a milestone or just send a picture, email: projectnews@laa-archive.org.uk.

Please share your story, we all have time now and really want to read it!

G-ACXE (PFA 846-13177) British Klemm L25c ‘Swallow’ (s/n 21)

By Jim Copeman

This project has basically been awaiting completion since 1939. The aircraft was originally built in 1934 and was stored in premises in Birmingham from the outbreak of the war. Despite various efforts and ownership changes, it hasn't flown since but hopefully we are not too far from seeing that change.

The British Klemm

In the late 1920s, when Hans Klemm of Stuttgart designed the Klemm L25, it became very popular not just in Germany but also in the UK. As a result of this popularity, a Major Stephen and others formed the ‘British Klemm Co’ (BK) to build a slightly modified L25 under licence in this country. This was the British Klemm L25c Swallow. They managed to build 28 aircraft by April 1935, then due to disagreements with Herr Klemm over more modifications, the licence ended.

As a result, the company changed its name to ‘British Aircraft Co’ (BA) and the yet further modified BA L25c Swallow 2 was born.

Of the 28 original aircraft built, G-ACXE is the sole known surviving British Klemm L25c. She was built as construction No. 21 in the British Klemm works at Hanworth, Middlesex and was first registered in October 1934. Starting life on the books of the Aberdeen Flying School, having been bought from new by the school’s proprietor, Eric Gander-Dower, she remained in

Aberdeen for a year before returning to Hanworth and being sold on to the Goodby brothers of The Birmingham Garages firm in May 1936.

Carrying the then Lord Mayor of Birmingham, ’XE is believed to be the first aircraft to land at the city’s new Elmdon airport in July 1939. On the 50th anniversary of this historic event, she was invited back to help celebrate the occasion, but unfortunately circumstances prevented this. It would, however, be good to return once she is flying again… you never know!

It's also thought that her main undercarriage could well be the first independent design from Dowty, now of course Messier-Dowty. It's rather over large and stout, especially compared to an original Klemm L25 and the later BA Swallow 2’s but comes from a typically 1930s British mistrust of ‘flimsy’ foreign designs.

Stored away over the war years, she suffered some smoke and water damage when a nearby building was bombed. Then from 1945 various reports have ’XE moving around a bit before the Goodbys sold her on to Don Ellis in 1960. So, off to Sandown on the Isle of Wight she went, with further confusing changes of ownership and storage premises.

John Wakeford

Stepping forward in our brief history of ’XE, we reach 1980 and a former Miles Aviation drawing office graduate comes into view. John Wakeford was looking for a retirement project, he researched ’XE, spoke to the PFA, then bit the bullet and purchased her remains.

Included was a fairly decent looking Pobjoy Cataract series III, an engine mount and a prop. However, all was not as it seemed. Later examination showed the Cataract to be a mix of Pobjoy R, Cataract and Niagara parts, incorporating both hand and electric starting. The engine mount didn't match, and the prop hub was for an Top G-ACXE pictured in Aberdeen May 1935 after ‘Another joy flip’. Photo: AJ Jackson Collection

Above left G-ACXE in storage in a hangar at Sandown on the Isle of Wight, when owned by Don Ellis between 1960 and 1980. Photo: AJ Jackson Collection

Above right G-ACXE in November 2014 when Jim was left as the sole restorer after John Wakeford’s death. Photo: Jim Copeman ‘R’ engine, while the engine front cover is a Cataract. More on these interesting points later.

On top of these problems, sometime between purchase and serious work starting, ’XE broke her back. Then, doubt arose as to the true ownership of the project, it emerged from the murk of history that Don Ellis still held a part share. Fortunately, this was soon resolved, and Don agreed to transfer sole ownership to John, happily John and Don remaining friends until Don’s passing.

The rebuild commences

John soon realised a complete restoration was required, so he set out to obtain a set of drawings. Unsurprisingly, none were available. Not to be daunted, he used his experience from Miles, and a later job with Vickers working on their Vanguard/Merchantman aircraft, to create a complete set of drawings, reverse engineered if you like, from ’XE. These were approved by the PFA, they issued project No. 846-13177 and ’XE continues to move forward under this reference. Initially this was under the inspectorship of Peter Harrison, now under Phil Trangmar, who has also become our engine inspector.

Restoration eventually commenced with the usual basics, small appendages and a few trial parts. The centre section and basic fuselage followed, being rebuilt in a domestic garage. Having started in the garage, the project moved premises a few times, as seems usual in these ‘hobbies’, until ’XE eventually settled in a barn not far from Hailsham. Work stepped up with John's retirement from the family business in 1997 and, with both space and time now available, progress improved.

The rebuild is all John’s work. He sourced the wood, glue, screws, pins, cables, hoses and all the other

various parts required for a full airworthy restoration. All parts are to approved specifications, while the homebuilt sections, glued joints etc. have been tested to a high standard.

After checks and treatment, as much of the original structure as possible has been incorporated into the restoration, the vast majority of the metalwork is 1934 and stamped with the original part Nos. With modern safety in mind, the original lap strap has been replaced with a four-point harness. Designed by John the required mod and fittings now have an official PFA No.

This all began in 1980, before the use of the internet and emails that we enjoy today. John was never very confident with computers but persevered with hard work, and ’XE as she is today is testament to his endeavours. The exception is the outer wing sections. The two spars and inter spar ribs for both wings, were rebuilt to John's drawings by The Newbury Aircraft Co. A sort of coming home really as John lived in Newbury as a boy, only leaving for Miles Aviation, National Service in the RAF and flying with BEA, and Vickers etc.

When John purchased ’XE back in 1980, I accompanied him – the reason why is now lost in the mists of time. I’d known John for many years, we had shared interests in both old aviation and dinghy sailing – so that could have been why! Time passed, as it does, and we often met and chatted about ‘his aircraft’ and then in 2007, I retired. By Easter 2008 my best beloved was looking for things for me to do, retirement was obviously dragging… John and I then met at a fellow dinghy sailor’s untimely funeral, “Want a hand with your Klemm?” I asked, somewhat innocently. “Engine or aircraft?” was the reply. Easy, I thought, and replied, “Engine.” All these years later I'm still there. What we thought of as a retirement filler became our retirement jobs. A lot of you have been there I am sure!

That ‘mix-and-match’ engine

From the engine logbook and data plate we know our Cataract is No.734 and was built in 1936. It was installed on BA Swallow II, G-AFCL, until 1961. With 312 hours on the clock problems arose, and it was swapped for a Niagara. As far as is known it hasn't run since, and Below left G-ACXE looking well on the way to completion in her current home. Photo: Tony Palmer

Below right The Pobjoy on its mount and with most of the work finished. Photo: Tony Palmer when we dismantled it, we found that con rod five was bent. Over the next few years, we catalogued all the engine parts, not easy as having been partly dismantled, it was returned unlabelled in 14 unmarked boxes. I don't know how many parts there are but it’s lots, and I'm not going to count them! Phil Trangmar became a great help with advice and assistance with further dismantling, before becoming our engine inspector.

John was very keen to have everything documented and to this end the rather basic and misleading original 1936 handbook has been re-written, pretty much down to the last nut and bolt. Not surprisingly, as the engine rebuild has progressed this new edition of the handbook is being re-edited continually, we learn from our mistakes. Thank goodness for computers… Between us, John and I almost finished the woodwork, we became quite good at shaping, bending and gluing ply – centre section, wing leading and trailing edges, ailerons, rear fuselage top. And of course, re-arranging workshops – how many of us have found that the space we have never seems to be enough. All this whilst working on the Pobjoy and trying to plan its rebuild to flying condition.

Unfortunately, John fell ill in 2012 with serious kidney and liver problems. Despite much treatment and hospital stays, things got worse and after moving into a hospice John passed away in November 2014.

This reduced the staff to just one, me, and with the support of John’s family I carried on as best I could, keeping an eye on the Klemm and making slow progress on the Pobjoy. At the end of 2017, the family decided to move on. It was decided I would take on the project providing I could sort some help and respect John’ s ambition for ‘his’ project. The respect bit was easy, but what do I do about the ‘help’? I knew I didn’t have the knowledge, so ‘help’ was a major question that needed addressing.

Another move

Luckily over the horizon came Tony Palmer, aircraft importer and restorer who was just finishing a Tiger Moth. By the end of January 2018, it was all arranged. Tony and I became joint owners with John’s son having a minor interest, for family and continuity’s sake.

X-ray Echo was on the move again, this time to Tony’s premises, but only a short distance, three miles down the road. Once established at Palmer’s Farm, we have been busy, progress has been pleasingly rapid. We spent most of 2018 sorting the woodwork, doing some repairs – how do these things get damaged – and re-engineering some inspection hatches for ease of future maintenance. And we did a lot of sealing and rubbing down, a 13-metre wingspan is a lot of wood, and the fuselage isn’t exactly small! The final paint scheme has been decided, the original scheme idea was a bit speculative and somewhat complicated. I think we’re on scheme three and method six. The aileron operating rods have been updated to help maintenance, the original connections being rather crude. We have taken a lot of the ironmongery off to be cleaned, checked and repainted, with the oil and both fuel tanks having the same treatment. Come the winter and we moved to a warmer engine room and overall, engine restoration has gone well and to a major level, almost zero timed.

The steel rotating and reciprocating engine components have been crack tested and new Hoffmann bearings fitted throughout, as per the original. As they were out of tolerance, we have fitted new gudgeon pins and piston rings, with the pistons machined to suit both.

The mags have been completely rebuilt by The Magneto Guys in Hailsham. And as the exhaust valves and guides were out of tolerance, new valves and guides have been manufactured and fitted. All of the exhaust stubs were missing, new ones had to be created, and as no one appeared to have a spare for a pattern, we re-engineered them from photographs. They will be mated to a newly formed exhaust collector ring, luckily in this case we had the original as a pattern.

The engine mount, although purchased as correct all those years ago, was clearly wrong, we think it’s possibly from a Pobjoy R. It had no room for fuel pumps, there were problems with carburettor connections and the engine mounting studs were welded into the top arms. On a Cataract these studs are mounted on the engine’s rear cover. It has now been modified to a ‘R/ Cataract’ mixture with an under-slung oil tank, appropriate for our Cataract/British Klemm combination. The mount as on the BA Swallow 2 was a guide but has no provision for an under-slung oil tank. With no other known examples of this type around we’ve had to learn as we went along. LAA Engineering has been a great help with this and the various other mods required.

Hand/electric starts have, not surprisingly, different rear crankshaft parts but both are part of the timing adjustment and breather. This engine had parts for both on its crankshaft, including the hand-starter shaft incorporating the engine breather. Things have been engineered to enable adequate engine breathing without the starter but keeping the original ‘look’.

We were pleasantly surprised when the timing fell into place almost immediately, nearly as easily the handbook said! For an engine stripped to basic parts and with a rather imprecise manual, she went together very well. I can’t remember the number of times we wondered why the engine was designed in such a way, it often seemed so over complicated. But you have to admire their overall skill, after all they didn't have today’s instant records, drawings and photography etc. to hand. Very clever people!

Making good progress

So, we’ve learned a lot, updated a lot, replaced a lot and rebuilt a lot, all the time trying to understand that wonderful 1936 manual and re-writing it for future use. We are, after all, only temporary custodians of these lovely machines, so help for future custodians isn’t a bad idea. We’ll see how good we are when she starts!

Once the weather improved and it warmed up, we got back to the Klemm itself. Much filling and rubbing down followed to get the fuselage ready for spraying.

Having started spraying things went wrong, the top decking wouldn’t dry, due to us buying cellulose paint but finding that it was two-pack in the tin, but sprayed as cellulose. After much head scratching it had to come off and we started again. What fun – and more delay.

Fabric covering is complete, another learning curve gluing, ironing, taping, re-enforcing, stitching, return to ‘Go’ etc. No wonder these jobs take longer than you think. By the time we got to the last component we were quite good, in some ways it’s a pity there wasn’t more to do. Having fixed the fabric you then have to paint it; two coats of this, three coats of that, two coats of something else. It was a problem moving things around to manage all the paint stages and avoid delay, while also avoiding the dreaded overspray.

So here we are in spring of 2020 with more than we know still to do… We just have to finish the paint scheme on the tailplane and wings to do and then there’s the engine covers to create, to mention just two jobs. With a finish goal of 2020, 40 years after John Wakeford started the project, who knows? We will see. n

New Projects

If your aircraft has been featured in the New Projects list, please let Project News know of your progress at: projectnews@laa-archive.org.uk

Cleared To Fly

If your aircraft has featured recently in the magazine and has subsequently completed its maiden flight, Project News would like to hear from you at: projectnews@laa-archive.org.uk n Replica Supermarine S5 (LAA 418-

15696) 10/3/2020

Capt W Hosie, The Old Vicarage, Mill Lane, Corfe, Taunton, Somerset, TA3 7AQ n KFA Safari (LAA 402-15695) 6/3/2020 Mr R J Hopkins, 27 Renown Way, Chineham, Basingstoke, Hants, RG24 8XD

n G-ORWS Van's RV-14 (LAA 393-15519)

24/03/2020

Mr Bill Sweetnam, 25 Old Sneed Park, Bristol, BS9 1RG