Keywords
Citation
(2006), "Corsair: A True Time Capsule", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 78 No. 5, pp. 462-462. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2006.78.5.462.3
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Restoring a vintage aircraft to its original condition can take thousands of hours of painstaking labour and “detective work”. The reward is a prime example of aviation history and engineering preserved for future generations to enjoy. So it was with a rare World War II Chance Vought Corsair at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton. In 2000, the museum embarked on a ground‐breaking project to restore the aircraft to its former glory. Instead of stripping it bare and recoating it, David Morris and his team decided to remove, inch‐by‐inch the paint layer applied in 1963 to expose the original 1944 paint finish.
This aircraft is now the last known Corsair to exist in its complete original condition.
During this unique approach to aircraft restoration, many rare markings were uncovered, including World War II squadron and Far East markings, and a gas reactive paint patch. These phenomenal characteristics are believed to be the only ones of their type left in the world.
This project has challenged and in some cases refuted previously accepted Corsair facts and historical details.
Corsair KD431 is published in association with the Fleet Air Arm Museum and features over 100 specially commissioned colour photographs, archive pictures and many that have never before been published.
This is the story of KD431; the men who flew her in the 1940s and the men who restored her in the twenty‐first century.
This extraordinary project won a British Transport Trust Restoration Award in 2005.
David Morris is Curator of Aircraft at the world‐famous Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton. David joined the museum as an apprentice engineer in 1981. Twenty‐five years on he now heads the Aircraft Conservation Department as the Curator of Aircraft. Living in deepest Somerset, David enjoys pursuing many other interests including wildlife conservation, rural history and riding vintage motorcycles.