Short video at the bottom of this page

When I first saw the late Dave Comrie's old Sindlinger Hurricane in the corner of Alex's hangar it looked like a boned out fish skeleton and was a sorry sight - All the fabric on the fuselage and tail had been removed exposing the wooden frame work, some of the glue joints had separated and the control and electrical cables hung in a tangled mess but...... it intrigued me.

At the time I was in the process of restoring the late Jeff William's "Grey Goose" spending many hours toiling away on what was to become ZK-JPA but, from time to time, I would take a break and sit in the Hurricane. It just felt so dammed good.

When I started asking about the Sindlinger's history it was all bad. Although Dave had made a good job of the overall airframe he had made a few mistakes and when it came to the test flight the aircraft was very unstable. The vertical stabilizer was twisted and there were serious doubts about the ailerons. Dave seemed to have lost interest in the project and it had lay around for a number of years slowly disintegrating as parts were scavenged or sent to the tip. Ultimately it ended up in the possession of Gary, a fellow club member. I was informed that it required nothing short of a complete rebuild which I considered at the time was way beyond my skill level. It was a basket case and really just a pile of firewood  About the time I completed JPA I heard that Gary had sold the Sindlinger to John from Blenheim. It was duly loaded onto a trailer and that was the last I expected to see of it.

I started to clock up a few hours in JPA and was having a ball. While not the fastest aircraft around it did cruise at a respectable 80kts and burnt about 15Lt/Hr. this was to me flying at its best but things were to change. While cruising the internet one day looking for a Rotax 503 for JPA I stumbled onto the Market Place on the RAANZ website and there it was....a Sindlinger 5/8 Scale Hawker Hurricane for sale. The asking price considerably exceeded my cash reserves but I thought long and hard. Maybe if I could sell JPA and delay the settlement date a few months I reckoned I could just about pull it off. I immediately contacted the seller to secure an option and was amazed to learn it was in fact Dave's old Hurricane which had now been rebuilt and was ready to fly.

I arranged to drive through to Omaka in mid December 2003 hoping to inspect the aircraft and seal the deal. Early on the morning of December 20th Peter and I set off. We drove nonstop except for driver changes and fuel stops arriving at John's house around 10:00am, then off to the hanger for the inspection. My first impression of ZK-VYX was disappointment. It was painted glossy black all over and it was nowhere near ready to fly. John explained to Peter and me all the work he had completed to date and the construction errors he had identified and how these had been rectified. It was apparent to John that the main problem encountered during the original test flights was caused by an aileron turnbuckle snagging on a wing rib and this was compounded by Dave's failure to correctly balance the ailerons. Other issues to surface included the aileron hinge bolt holes were oversized, the fuel tanks in the wings were not properly secured and just floated about between the ribs, while the horizontal stabilizer was not mounted square to the tail (this is what caused the tail to look twisted)

I had a dilemma.....sure the airframe was completed but there was still plenty of work to do; the Mitsubishi 6G72 engine lay on a pallet with PSRU attached, the radiator was not fitted, the instrument panel was just hanging loosely with gauges missing, flaps didn't function and the windshield not fitted. The list just went on and on but there was a bright side. If I could just strike a deal with John to pay a deposit now and he complete the aircraft that would give me sufficient time to sell JPA and find the balance of the purchase price. John wanted to think it over for a few days.

During the return trip to Dunedin the following day Peter and I repeatedly went over the pros and cons of the project. We both agreed that if John would not agree to complete the aircraft we should not give up as it was too special an aircraft in both its design and its association to Dunedin to let fall into 'enemy' hands.

Over the next week John and I exchanged a number of emails and finally came to a mutual agreement. I would pay a deposit now and he would complete all the work up to and including building the engine mount, leaving the final engine installation to me. All this was to be completed by Easter 2004 at which time I would take delivery of the aircraft and pay John the balance owing. It seemed an eternity from December 2003 to Easter 2004 but eventually the day came for Peter, Daryl and I to make the trip to Omaka to collect the Hurricane. We departed Mosgiel very early in the morning in my Isuzu towing Peter's large tandem wheeled trailer. When we arrived at John's house in Blenheim he had the Hurricane all covered in bubble wrap and ready to go, except..... some of the work promised had not yet been completed! John and I agreed on a compromise, monies changed hands and soon Dave's Hawker Hurricane was carefully restrained on the trailer and on its way back to its rightful home. Little did I know that, while my dream was almost fulfilled, my nightmare was about to begin.

Once we arrived back in Dunedin unloaded and unwrapped the Hurricane it soon became apparent that this was going to take a lot more that a few weeks to complete. Much of John's promised work had not been completed and some of what was now required was way beyond my current skill level. I was in trouble with a capital T.

The tasks left to do included fitting the radiator and coolant lines, finding and fixing the problem with the flap linkages, build an engine mount, build engine cowlings, design and build a new instrument panel complete with new electrical circuit, source new gauges and a radio, modify existing windshield to fit with canopy, build new seat, design and build new gear doors.  While this list is not exhaustive it gives some idea of the scope of the project I had to complete.

I thought, it can't be hard just roll up your sleeves and get started. Well, it was bloody hard. If I had started building this aircraft from scratch I believe it would have been much easier. The original design was for an air cooled aircraft engine and now I was fitting a water cooled car engine. In New Zealand there are very few such conversions and finding knowledgeable people to support me was difficult. I purchased several books on the subject, joined numerous news groups and slowly my knowledge base expanded along with the amount of SPAM I got now that my email address was being circulated!

I worked on several parts of the project simultaneously. The flap problem was minor and soon completed; the radiator need some alloy welding done and when fitted looked very nice. I was reluctant to run the coolant lines through the cockpit due to the risk of burning if there was a leak but it was the only option so in went the 1 inch Aeroquip hose and fittings. Now it was onto modifying the windshield to fit the canopy. This is all fiberglass and not one of my current skills, so off to the specialists and back I come with a much lighter wallet but I did have a nice fitting canopy and windshield. The electronic circuit was next on my list but first I needed a new control panel and I couldn't start that until I had all the instruments. Eventually they all arrived and I could start laying out the panel. Once it was completed I was able to sit in the cockpit and do some hangar flying (or, in my case, garage flying as at that time it was still in our garage in Mosgiel) and I did countless hours of that! On many occasions my wife Sharyn would enter the garage to find me just sitting there staring off into the wild blue chasing some imaginary Me109. I guess it was the occasional dream like that which kept me going.

I got the first engine mount made commercially but once it arrived I was not that happy with it and decided to resurrect one of my old skills, (I was once a hyperbaric TIG welder) so I was sure I could do the job better. The engine mount was soon completed and it was then time to fit the engine to the airframe. This seemed to be a simple enough task but I was wrong. Unlike a Kit Aircraft which comes with plans and sequences to work through my Hurricane was scratch built and had no sequences of tasks. I soon discovered that I had to clear the entire cockpit including fuel tank to get at the engine mount bolts. To give you some idea how difficult this was, imagine crawling inside your refrigerator, closing the door and then trying to remove and replace the little bulb which is now situated right at the tip of your nose. Oh did I mention the fridge is still full and you can't squash the butter or break the eggs either. After much squirming you've got your hands in the correct position you reach for the spanner, it's the wrong one and the correct one is back in the toolbox..damn. Eventually the engine mount was installed and the engine fitted very snugly...except for the fact that the alternator would not fit inside the new engine mount so now I had to design and fabricate a new alternator mount.

With the engine in place it was finally starting to look like an aircraft. No, more precisely it was starting to look like a Hawker Hurricane. As my enthusiasm for the project waned it was moments like these that rekindled my enthusiasm and determination to see this thing fly. Expert help was obtained to wire up the fuel injection and electronics computer and a week later we had the engine running. I don't think my neighbors' were too impressed with the roar from the straight headers coming out of the 3lt V6 but I loved it. It was now time to move the Hurricane from our garage into a hangar on the airfield but before we moved her I thought I better just check the brakes even though John's list of supposed completed tasks included refurbishing the master cylinders. They were dry not a drop of hydraulic fluid. So, back I wiggled inside that "damn fridge" again and filled the master cylinders. You guessed it, they leaked like a sieve so now I had to remove them completely. Imagine trying to do this on your car. Trapped in the engine bay with engine installed and the bonnet closed. I now know for sure I don't suffer from claustrophobia.

It was now December 2004 and it was finally time for the trip to the airfield. Peter borrowed the local Undertakers (some unkind persons commented on the irony of that!) small trailer, tied the tail wheel to the centre of it then set off early in the evening for Taieri towing the Hurricane tail first along Hagart Alexander Drive and soon it was housed on Dave Mac's hangar.

Not much left to do now, I'll be flying by the Easter so I thought. Wrong again!

Once the wings were attached the cowling became the priority. Here we go again, that damn fiberglass stuff. It took over six months to get the cowlings completed. It was so frustrating but without the correct profile to the cowlings it was just not going to look, well....like a Hurricane! While I was waiting on the cowls at least I could do some taxi runs and boy did I enjoy them at the time. On more than one occasion I got her up to 80knts on the ground. What an idiot I was if anything had gone even slightly wrong the whole project would have been destroyed. I was very lucky and would never contemplate doing that again. All the ground running I did seemed to indicate that the engine should cool OK but we would not know for sure until it took to the air.

On one of the slower runs one evening I did lift off momentarily and landed heavily on the tail wheel which duly snapped the vertical shaft clean off. Fortunately there was no other damage. I fabricated a new shaft from a hollow axle tube and VYX was as good as new. A rather funny story started to circulate after that incident and a few months later finally got back to me that I had the Hurricane tied down by the tail wheel running up the engine and it tore the tail wheel off. The conjecture was that either the wood was rotten or poor glue had caused the failure. This rumor was very helpful at a time when I was negotiating with John to do the test flight. Thanks for nothing guys.

About this time I took a weekend off toiling with my project to attend the annual SAANZ meeting at Ashburton where I got to have a chat about my Hurricane with Rex from CAA. Somehow we got around to the subject of colour schemes and I told him it was black, you know, like the night fighters. Rex thought about this for a millisecond and said "not a smart idea". He then went on to explain how the whole aircraft would act as a heat sink and what that would do to the timber. So on arrival back home I started researching Hurricane colour schemes and decided on that used by 73 squadron.

By late December 2005 the cowlings were fitted and it was time to go down to Southair for the inspection. I'm glad I did. Either Dave or Mark I'm not sure which found a split pin missing from the elevator control arm. Neither John in Blenheim nor I had done any work in this area so it must have been missed during the original stage inspections way back pre 1991. Other than that there were no real issues and the weight and balance came out almost in the middle of the design limits. Next came Tony from CAA and he too was happy to let her take to the air. With all the paper work in place we now had to wait on the weather and wait we did

The big day came on 3rd December 2005 JP got a briefing on the controls and his final words to me were I'll go and do a couple of taxi runs and if she feels Ok then I'll go. Much to my surprise JP taxied over to RWY 29 threshold opened the throttle and 75m down the runway lifted off. What a thrill to see her in the air at last but what a noise. The prop was way too fine and it was way too noisy. My excitement was short lived as JP only climbed to about 300ft and then came back in. She was overheating. I did some tests with a manometer and found that once the engine was hot no air was getting through the radiator. Off to the radiator shop. They designed and fabricated a new radiator assuring me it was way more efficient that the first one. Once again we had a long wait on the weather but on 29th December 2005 we had test flight number two. This one was better and JP was able to get the stall tests done but cooling was still marginal. Back to the radiator shop again and two weeks later we fitted radiator number three. Some ground testing suggested it was better but still not good enough. I then fitted another smaller radiator in series with the first and located it behind the prop.

When I was negotiating with CAA about test areas and test pilot they had agreed that once JP was satisfied with the handling I could then take over and fly the balance of the required 40 hours and perform the scheduled tests. JP was now satisfied and I was busting for the day to come. My first flight in VYX was on January 14th 2006. After a briefing from JP I climbed into the cockpit and taxied over to top up the fuel. I wanted to stay above Taieri for my first flight for two reasons. The first being the engine cooling could still be an issue and secondly I felt I still needed JP's eye on me in case it all turned to custard. I radioed the tower for a clearance to 3500ft over Taieri which was approved subject to me remaining on the ground until an ATR had gone through. I sat in the cockpit ready to go for what seemed ages but was in fact only ten minutes. Then I got to make that radio call I had done while hanger flying in my garage and countless times in my dreams "Taieri Traffic. VYX rolling on 23 and will be remaining above the circuit"  Throttle full open, off we go, 20kts pole forward a little, more right rudder to keep her straight, 50kts ease back on the stick, we're airborne. Holding 60kts I climb to 500ft then bank right, control inputs seem normal but light rudder is very positive and she is very easy to keep in balance. Oil still only 150F and water 160F, VSI 1000ft/min MAP 26", 4500rpm, everything looks good so I head for 3500ft. 3500ft, all T&Ps look normal so I start some left and right banking turns, feels real good so I repeat with about 45deg angle of bank and she just flows through the turns and returns to straight and level.. Now for the power off, slowly back with the throttle to 1000rpm, nose starts to drift left as the prop wash diminishes, all other inputs are just fine so do a couple of gliding turns at 60kts, now down to 2500ft she sure starts to drop once the power is off. Open throttle again & climb back to 3500ft and let's try the stall. JP said it was 42 clean. After a left and right turn to check area clear close throttle, pull back to maintain 3500ft, speed down to 60kts, 50knts keep pulling back hold balance with rudder, 45kts I feel a slight buffet then at 40kts the nose drops, full power, pole forward and she starts flying again immediately with less than 50ft loss in altitude. What a gentle stall. I do another two with similar results then try for the fully developed stall. After the mandatory turns I set up straight and level at 3500ft speed back to 80knts and set full flaps maintain height at 30kts there was again the slight buffet then the nose drop with immediate recovery. I was getting cocky now....lets try one a bit out of balance, usual buffet then down goes the left wing followed by the nose and recovery was just as easy. Fred Sindlinger sure knew what he was doing when he designed this baby.

Well the easy part was over it was now time to return to the circuit and land. Radio tower, "VYX completed test and request clearance to return to Taieri circuit". Downwind radio call completed, flaps set, check gear down (actually never retracted it till the fifth flight) T&Ps all OK, on finals, speed back to 70kts, check VSI 500ft/min looks good, over the fence close throttle, Ops! Sinks a bit more than anticipated, increase throttle a bit, that's better, touchdown, and it was over. My first flight lasted 20 minutes and I enjoyed every second of it

The endurance testing has not been without incident the first few hours were spent chasing continued over heating problems which was finally diagnosed as being caused by a blown head gasket. Once this was replaced all the heating worries disappeared. Now with the undercarriage doors fitted (the last of the many outstanding items to be finalized) I recently completed the climb test which was full power 1000ft to 10,000ft @ 60kts. It took 12.5 minutes and all T&Ps stayed within normal limits.

All the mandatory scheduled tests have now been completed and I have only five hours of endurance testing to go. Warbirds over Wanaka, here we come.
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I guess now would be a good time to express my gratitude to the many people who have assisted me with this project and especially my wife Sharyn who I am sure regrets the day she presented me with the PPL Starter Pack. To her I promise the airplane crap will be out of our garage soon and I do love her more than ZK-VYX

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