Since this project commenced in earnest soon after mid-year, an enormous amount of work has been completed by the team led by Al Marshall. The tail group was the first area to be attended to and in no time, the guys had made repairs to wood and fabric, and because they could, the emppanage was painted in her correct WW-II colours complete with fin flash and stencilling, the paints supplied as sponsorship by Equus Industries and the stencils by AVSpecs Ltd. Whilst this was underway during the week, the weekends saw the extended team descending upon the major airframe structure preparing it for separation for its journey to Omaka.
The end of September saw the one piece wing and the fuselage arriving over the two day weekend set aside for the mission. The successful lifting was carried out by Muscles Lifting with direction from the team from AVSpecs and supported by another team from JEM Aviation. The entire aircraft then squeezed into Bill Reid's Avro Anson hangar as 'Bomber Command' started to come to life at Omaka.
Since that time, the work has carried on at a steady pace, Al Marshall deftly managing his resources including the limited budget and the volunteers, the management of the latter requiring scheduling of available time from many keen and willing helpers. Thankfully, Jay McIntyre of JEM Aviation had kindly sponsored world-renowned aerial photographer and JEM staffer Gavin Conroy to work with Al on the project and he has been the perfect man for the job on so many levels. Bill Reid has also put in huge hours as has dedicated aircraft painter Marty Nicoll another JEM staff member who is absolutely fastidious about the correct placement, colour, finish etc of the completed work. Doug Goodall seemed to manage to get all the messy jobs but like all dedicated volunteers, he has carried on with a smile, turning around large quantities of detail work on undercarriages, gear doors and all manner of smaller items. But it's not just retired enthusiasts who have pledged time to this project with 20 year old aircraft engineering student and private pilot Grace Hill also putting in time 'above and beyond' the call of volunteer duty. So many wonderful people have supported the project to date and in so many ways.
And then there has been all of you! Without the dedicated passion of so many wonderful enthusiasts who have kept the financial drip-feed going over the past few months through this Give-A-Little page, this work would have ground to a halt. So a huge THANK YOU to all of you. The really heartening part of this story is that so many of you who have shown your generosity, don't even live in New Zealand and under current travel restrictions, can't say if or when you might ever be able to visit the aircraft you have shown your own passion and dedication towards so to you, and extra big Thank You!
Once the necessary repairs to the aircraft have been completed the aircraft will be moved into the evocative museum space set aside for it where final detail work will continue over the following few months, with a view to having it fully completed to display standard. Over the Easter weekend when the Yealands Classic Fighters Airshow takes place at Omaka, the WW2 Dangerous Skies hall is normally closed, since all the flyable aircraft are outside ready to fly for the airshow. This coming Easter 2021, our plan is to use this temporary space to display the Smith Collection, with the Mosquito joining the Lockheed Hudson already in the museum, along with John’s Tiger Moth and famous ‘Gloria Lyons’ P-40N.
So many people have known about these significant aircraft for many years, but very few have had the privilege of seeing them. That will change with your help, when we open the John Smith tribute display to the public next Easter. In the meantime, if you are able, please give some thought to 'giving a little' to the cause to get this magnificent machine through the last stretch of work to completion.
