Spitfire Progress – New Year Edition
We begin 2020 with a fresh update on the restoration of Spitfire RW388. The aircraft remains at the workshops of the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society Ltd (MAPSL) as it enters the next phase. Work slowed towards the end of 2019 due to the planned redevelopment of Rocester Airport, which includes an archaeological excavation of both […]
Bombing The Potteries
Early this year we hosted David, a History student eager to help us catalogue and digitise some of our Second World War collections. One of David’s jobs was to scan in a scrapbook recording air raid damage across the city. Here’s what David uncovered in some of his own words: I find it hard to […]
Crash Landings
It’s no secret that Spitfire RW388 didn’t have the longest flying career. It was built in 1945 and grounded permanently in 1952. Unfortunately, our collection lacks detailed evidence for the aircraft’s activities during those seven years. So I was very excited when our close partner, Operation Spitfire, drew my attention to some documents I’d never […]
Spitfire Progress – Old Paint and New Parts
Work continues at Medway Aircraft Preservation Society Ltd (MAPSL) readying Spitfire RW388 for its return to the city in 2020. If you haven’t already, check out our previous Spitfire blogs for the story so far. One of the first jobs MAPSL needed to do was strip layers of old paint in order to prime and […]
Spitfire Progress- Peeling back the Paint
Late in 2018 I took a trip to visit the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society at Rochester Airport. The team have been busy on the restoration of Spitfire RW388 and work will continue in 2019. One of the big jobs has been to strip away layers of paint from the wings and fuselage in order to […]
Spitfire Progress – Wings
Progress continues on the restoration of Spitfire RW388 by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society Limited (MAPSL). This week it’s time to really get things off the ground* with one of the Spitfire’s most recognisable features – its wings. (*Pun very much intended) RW388’s wings were detached in order to remove it from the building in […]
Spitfire Progress – Fuselage
Progress continues on the restoration of Spitfire RW388 by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society Limited (MAPSL). This week we look at progress to the main body of the aircraft – the fuselage. This section is made from curving panels attached to a supporting structure of horizontal longerons and vertical frames, forming the core of the […]
Spitfire Progress – The Engine
Progress continues on the restoration of Spitfire RW388 by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society Limited (MAPSL). Much of the focus early on has been on the aircraft’s Merlin engine – arguably almost as much of a Second World War icon as the Spitfire itself. Progress Report The Merlin 266 has been fully cleaned and painted, […]