Spitfire, What Spitfire?

I'm just back from Haverfordwest last night. What a ferry crossing, gusting 48knots, 16 foot swells.  It was a complete contrast from the outward trip on Thursday. The ferry was also delayed yesterday meaning I didn't get home till nearly midnight. What a trek but, wow, was it worth it.

Pete picked me up from Pembroke dock on Thursday and after a quick cuppa and a toastie at his house it was up to the airport to see my aeroplane. Haverfordwest has a an interesting gathering of aeroplanes in its hangars, everything from a Nieuport replica to a Harvard along with the usual collection of Pipers and Cessnas. Hangar number 4 was where I wanted to be though.

We walked in the side door and the first thing I saw was big, old Tiger Moth in RAF trainer yellow, then a PA-28 and Tomahawk. Negotiating my way around the front of the Rotorway Exec and the back of the Tiger Moth, I saw my Luscombe, nestled between the Beech Duke and the PA-28.  This was the first time I'd seen HI in nine months and so much had been done since. Now she is complete.  Back then she was a cream fuselage in a garage, now she's an aeroplane, just waiting to fly. I still couldn't not believe that this beautiful machine is mine.

Simon, Pete's LAA inspector stopped by for a natter, so it took a little longer than planned to get stuck in to the technical training. While we had Simon around we used his extra pair of hands to move the Tiger Moth out of the way so we could bring HI outside.  The weather wasn't fantastic but it was clearing a bit and Pete thought there might be a chance of getting HI up for some more test flying.  As it turned out, it turned again and we never even got as far as starting her, so we wheeled both the Tiger Moth and HI back in again and we just kept at the "ground school"  It was interesting to see HI and the the 'Moth together.  Originally built in 1941, my Luscombe is the same vintage as the Tiger Moth but they look worlds apart.

Well after a few hours going over HI and deciding that there would be no flying, we put HI to bed and  we retired to Pete's for food and more study - of the paperwork and technical drawing kind.

The following morning, brought more scuddy weather and the arm that Pete had twisted the previous day wasn't much better.  He lifted a light box out of the plane but somehow managed to pull something doing it; it was decided that it was best that he get it checked. So why he went to the doc I went to the airfield.  I spent a bit of time nosing around HI and, of course, you just have to do a hangar inspection to see what's based there.  There are quite a few aeroplanes there but many are hangar queens and many don't do any flying in the winter - not that you can tell the difference between May and winter lately.  With that in mind I moved myself to the cafe.

The cafe in Haverfordwest, or Whithybush Airport as it used to be called, isn't quite as posh as the one in Weston, but it certainly isn't as expensive either.  It's small but they're friendly, do a great fry and a good mug of coffee.  I sat there for a while watching one lonely 152 circuit bash under the clag and listening to the banter of the local airport bums. They looked like airport bums too, complete with anoracks, big glasses and elbow patches.  After a while Pete turned up and we tucked into a bacon bap and a pot of tea.  It was a bit frustrating for Pete having been with the medics for a couple of hours - all he had to do was rest iti and it would heal but I didn't mind the delays so much I got to do what I do best  - hang around airports and aeroplanes. 

I was then introduced to one of those airport bums I saw in the cafe.  Ray is one of the prime movers behind acquiring and restoring the Welsh Spitfire.  He graciously showed me around what the currently have.  It's has a long way to go to being a flying Spitfire but it was instantly recognisable and I was still awestruck. Maybe by the time it's ready to fly, I will be ready to fly it.

We moved back to hangar 4 and started to remove cowlings and floor boards to continue my Luscombe appreciation classes.  There is lot lot to learn but the Luscombe is a mechanically simple aeroplane and while I'll be apprehensive about having to look after it properly, I don't think it will take that long for me to get used to.  We looked at normal oiling a greasing, 50 hour check items and the care and use of the O-200. We did a Luscombe walk around and how to ground handle her.  It's not a difficult aeroplane to manoever but there is a right way and a "don't even think about it" way, so it was good to get that clear.  We moved to hand-swinging.  HI has a lovely shiny new Skytec starter so it's not absolutely necessary but it is a good still to have the skill as I discovered.

The weather cleared up a bit so we decided to bring HI out to start it up and maybe taxi around.  While HI has a shiny new starter it has an old style generator which mean until the engine is up and running at 1800+ rpm it doesn't charge the battery.  Luscombe's are small aeroplanes and it takes a bit of agility to climb aboard.  It takes even more agility to squeeze me and Pete into the cosy cabin. Starting the Continental engine is easy; two primes, mixture rich, throttle cracked open, mags on, press the starter button and then ... Thunk! With all the starting and ground testing Pete has been doing HI's battery was being used a lot and generator hadn't really been up the the revs needed to keep the battery charged. So Pete clambered out and we went for a hand swing.

Six blades to get the fuel in the cylinders, brakes on, mags on, contact and she fired on the first blade.  Pete climbs aboard again, and we go for a little taxi.  First thing to know about the Luscombe is that the brakes are rubbish, cable-pull, Shinn affairs. The second is you need to be very quick but light on the pedals.  We taxi around Haverfordwest's tarmac runways ... very carefully. I could see how it's going to take me a while to to get used to it.  It is not tremendously difficulty but the Luscombe will not tolerate a second of inattention.  

The combination of 0-200 and tarmac makes it a little more difficult - the 0-200 idles higher than say the C-65 meaning the aeroplane wants to taxi that bit faster.  I think had it been on grass, with the higher friction, it would have been easier.  The rudder and brake pedals are close together which isn't that nice a set up to be honest.  Using one or the other is okay but dancing between the two will me some practise.  I can see why one Luscombe Guru advocates flying in your socks.  As for groundlooping; it is delightfully easy to do; it's a direct consequence of that inattention I mentioned; it's very easy to spot coming and something I'm very keen to avoid.  I taxied her back to near the ramp shut her down, had a few quite words in her cowling about her future behaviour  and we walked her back to the hangar.

The sun was beginning to shine but with no sign of the wind to die down to allow some test flying we decided to call it a day.  If you can't go flying, go for food and so off we headed for a Chinese. There was more aeroplane talk that night; some tech talk, some paperwork, it continued down in the pub with some more flying stories of Pete's time based in Kinloss.  It was a great way to end an evening, talking and learning about Luscombes.

Packing my bag that night in preparation for the ferry home the next day it struck me that I never thought I would have seen the day come, when seeing a Spitfire wasn't the highlight of my day.  I had spent my day up to my eyes in Luscombes, learning about them, dismantling them, handling them.  In that day, tinkering with and taxiing around in HI, it suddenly moved from being Pete's latest restoration to feeling like my very own aeroplane - right now, the most important aeroplane there is.

Spitfire, what Spitfire?

Comments

[Leia]

She does look lovely. Might just have to poke my nose in the hangar over the weekend and pat her on the nose for you, I'll be down that way for Birthday of Parent ;-)

[David]

Keep your fingers crossed for decent weather soon so Pete can continue the test flying!!
I only realised that that airstrip on the golf course that you mentioned on the blog is just down the road from H'fordwest.
Happy Birthday to your parent!!