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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0280.PDF
266 FLIGHT Internationu 21 Februar 1963 The original E6938, the second production Snipe 7F-I, as restored by ]ack Canary. The insignia are those of No 208 Sqn, RAF, with whom this type of aircraft went into service in October 1918 A SNIPE IS RE-BORN . •actor and—with the exception of the engine cowling itself, which required much welding and re-contouring—all new forward fuse lage cowlings and machine-gun cartridge ejection chutes had to be made by hand. Here Hawkers saved the day with excellent original drawings of the armament installation and cowling arrangements. By June 1960 it appeared that final assembly could start with engine tests included so that, by the time final painting and marking arrived, all fits would be complete and reassembly for flight no problem. At this time information was received from Cellon Ltd in Surrey that they were able to mix enough olive-green colouring to spray What the fuselage looked like when Mr Canary acquired it in 1953 The reconstructor feels the cylinders of the Bentley BR.2 after a ground run at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. With him (in breeches) is fellow- enthusiast Frank Tollman; in the cockpit is DHC test pilot George Neal an aluminium sheet for use in colour matching. This sample was forwarded to me immediately and, through the co-operation of the Fuller Paint Co of San Francisco, eight gallons of pigment were supplied which exactly matched the original RAF olive-green. As an interesting sidelight, Fuller's have retained the formula; and have furnished this colour to various other groups also restor ing British World War I aircraft. Thus when the time came for painting and marking, the original scheme could be accurately matched in every respect. The squadron insignia decided upon -was that of No 208, primarily because the Snipe was most heavily assigned to this unit. When preliminary engine runs began in the fall of 1960 it was discovered that repairs made to the exhaust cam ring were not of sufficient quality, and post-run teardown disclosed severe brinel- Iing of the cam race near a hard chrome build-up. In all other respects the engine operated beautifully with its new propeller which, I must confess, was my first attempt at airscrew design. I was somewhat startled to find that static r.p.m. at full throttle was 1,175 r.p.m. compared with an estimate of approximately 1,200 Having envisaged a much greater disparity in results I was quite pleased.
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