Search This Blog

2011-10-23

Aircraft preservation : Fairey Barracuda : The jigsaw bomber: Aircraft enthusiasts rebuilding 'extinct' WWII plane from decades worth of scrap



The jigsaw bomber: Aircraft enthusiasts rebuilding 'extinct' WWII plane from decades worth of scrap metal


More than 2,500 Fairey Barracudas were built during the Forties.

The torpedo bomber won some of the most pivotal victories of the Second World War, including the crippling of the Tirpitz, the Nazis' most fearsome battleship.

However, despite the planes' loyal and honourable service, no complete version has been preserved after they were all shot down, scrapped or crashed.

But now British aviation enthusiasts are ready to bring the extinct WWII bomber back from the grave, by rebuilding it from salvaged pieces of scrap.

Jigsaw bomber: Looking like a giant crash scene, hundreds of pieces of twisted metal are laid out on the floor of an aircraft hangar where experts are trying to piece together a Barracuda bomber