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AIRCRAFT FACTORY AND RACE TRACK REVIVAL PROJECT


Aerial view of the Wellington Hangar taken by Andy Lambert with his drone camera on 8th November showing the north doors and cladding being removed.


Update


T


he huge challenges involving many aircraft movements, major ground works and then completely emptying the old ‘Wellington Hangar’ between late July to late September were reported in the last Bulletin and, with hindsight, these achievements must surely be the greatest and most complex ever undertaken by our staff and volunteers!


Inevitably many further tasks still remained after the Hangar – now referred to as the ‘Bellman Hangar’ – was given to our contractors to prepare for dismantling. Besides moving some other large exhibits and making more room for the contrac- tors to operate specialist machinery, numerous displaced smaller items needed new homes and much of this was achieved by our regular work party teams and Property Team staff.


In October, contractors working on the Bellman soon demolished the two annexes then carefully re- moved all of the asbestos lagging around the old high-level steam heating system, before rescuing various fixtures and fittings required by the Museum and then isolating and stripping out the electrics. Next, other specialist subcontractors began to remove the corrugated iron cladding, working progressively from north to south before preparing to dismantle the main steel frame using a large crane and two scissor-lifts, after removing the main doors at the north end. For the record, the first roof truss was successfully unbolted and low- ered to the ground as one long piece at 11.30am on


53


This photograph, taken on 25th November, shows the south doors and the last five bays still left standing (Julian Temple).


10th November. Since then, further roof trusses and supporting stanchions have been removed at an average of one a day with the entire building due to be dismantled by mid-December.


This important and fascinating stage of the


project is being recorded for posterity both by Museum staff, a time-lapse camera mounted on the roof of the Discovery Centre and also by several dedicated volunteer photographers including Andy Lambert with his video- equipped drone, Stefan and George Lange and John Fisher.


Apart from recording the expert dismantling of this historic building – an exercise which we believe has not been seen in this country for many decades – we are also learning more about the


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