A painstaking aircraft restoration project could be on the verge of a breakthrough, after several years of flying blind.
A group of Air Force veterans has been trying to rebuild the extremely rare World War II plane, the Vickers Vildebeest NZ102, without the help of any blueprint.
Air Force Museum director Brett Marshall said the plane is believed to be the last of its kind in the world, and despite searching extensively, there are no detailed engineering drawings.
"We've searched far and wide to see what we can find, so it's like having a Meccano set [with] 40,000 pieces, but you've got no idea how it goes together, so you've got to reverse engineer it," Marshall said.
The Auckland-based Subritzky family has loaned a Vickers Vincent aircraft from its collection to the team.
Marshall said the two aircraft will sit side-by-side in the Air Force Museum's hangar, with the Vincent providing a 3D model for the restoration team to study.
"The two aircraft are like siblings, they've got a lot of similar DNA in the way they were constructed so we can look at how they've been approached and how they've been constructed," said Marshall.
Vildebeest NZ102 has been in the Wigram collection for more than 20 years, along with minor components from other aircraft of the same type.
The Vildebeest first entered service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1932, and the Vincent is a later development of the design, going into service in 1934.
The plane will never take flight again once it's restored, instead serving as a reminder of an important piece of Aotearoa's history.
SHARE ME