blurrkup wrote:
dhfan wrote:
The DH Museum had one of their aircraft X-rayed some years ago, I believe it was W4050 the prototype, to investigate integrity and voids.
Although there was never any intention of doing so, as I recall the conclusion was, surprisingly, that the airframe was structurally sound and could have been made airworthy.
I believe it was TA634 that was xrayed to see if they could restore it to airworthy.
That makes it sound like they were planning to restore it to airworthy. They weren't, it was to find out how the airframe had fared. Although it was hangared by then, it had spent many years outside previously, not least at the museum.
I found an ancient post (approaching 20 years ago) on the Flypast forum by Bruce, who was then a big cheese at the Mosquito Museum, regarding the inspection.
It was ultrasound, not X-ray, it was TA634 and they were planning to do the same to W4050 in due course. Whether that was ever done I don't know.
Quote:
"It is interesting to note that much of the 'delamination' found on TA634 was from original manufacture - i.e. voids where the glue had not stuck. There was a little found that was through age and neglect, but really comparatively little."