We’ve been busy working on our 1943 Rolls Royce Merlin XX engine which was recovered from a swamp in Germany in 2010 and restored to full running condition. This particular Merlin was fitted to Halifax JD150 and was shot down on the night of 28th July 1943. The Wings Museum Merlin team have been working hard to get the merlin engine back up and running again after we had a bushing in the supercharger fail over a year ago!
It has not been a quick fix but this bushing has now been remanufactured to original spec and we have had a spare produced just in case.
Trustee Aaron, with the help of Andy from Gatwick Aviation Museum Engineering removed the cylinder bank, on removal of the cam assembly we discovered a broken valve spring and another that was heavily pitted. These will be replaced and we will also be replacing some piston rings once we’ve assessed them. Luckily the museum has spares in storage so this should be a simple fix. We also need to lap a few exhaust valves once we have completed the cylinder bank. We can then reinstall B bank and we can finally carry out an engine run to check how she is running and complete any final checks and carry our any adjustments needed.
We are planning for some engine run special event days this season, so please watch our dedicated Facebook page and the museum website for more details soon!
