Engine Bearer Jig for Just Jane
Donation protected
I am a proud member of the Just Jane Airshow Team, supporting the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby in Lincolnshire. We can normally be found at Airshows in East Anglia (and sometimes beyond), raising awareness, support and funds towards the complete restoration of Avro Lancaster NX611 “Just Jane” to airworthy condition.
In order to complete the engine powerplant restoration and mount their amazing, newly restored Merlin engines, the Centre will need to build new engine bearers. The whole project to replace the engine bearers will cost around £80,000 and we need your help to fund the next step – the building of the production jig which has an estimated cost of £2,500. The Centre has managed to find a set of spare engine bearers in North America which will be used to help produce the jig and have already had CAD drawings made of the bearers enabling them to have all of the new tubes cut to size ready for welding.
The bearers are a tubular steel structure that mount like arms stretched out holding the engines (see photo) The main problem with the bearers being made from tubular steel is that they can suffer from internal corrosion which can be found by an X-Ray procedure. If internal corrosion is discovered then the bearers must be regularly X-Ray inspected.
The Centre knows that NX611's bearers are perfectly safe for the taxy runs they provide but would need to replace parts for them to be certified as airworthy. The best course of action is to build new bearers thereby allowing NX611 to keep taxying and also making great strides towards airworthiness, the best possible way of securing NX611's future.
Thank you for your help. Together we can restore NX611 to airworthy condition, it's just a matter of time and money!
In order to complete the engine powerplant restoration and mount their amazing, newly restored Merlin engines, the Centre will need to build new engine bearers. The whole project to replace the engine bearers will cost around £80,000 and we need your help to fund the next step – the building of the production jig which has an estimated cost of £2,500. The Centre has managed to find a set of spare engine bearers in North America which will be used to help produce the jig and have already had CAD drawings made of the bearers enabling them to have all of the new tubes cut to size ready for welding.
The bearers are a tubular steel structure that mount like arms stretched out holding the engines (see photo) The main problem with the bearers being made from tubular steel is that they can suffer from internal corrosion which can be found by an X-Ray procedure. If internal corrosion is discovered then the bearers must be regularly X-Ray inspected.
The Centre knows that NX611's bearers are perfectly safe for the taxy runs they provide but would need to replace parts for them to be certified as airworthy. The best course of action is to build new bearers thereby allowing NX611 to keep taxying and also making great strides towards airworthiness, the best possible way of securing NX611's future.
Thank you for your help. Together we can restore NX611 to airworthy condition, it's just a matter of time and money!
Organizer and beneficiary
Kelly Bennett
Organizer
England
Andrew Panton
Beneficiary