The Brian Nicholls Hampden Restoration Project 2020

[@murraydouble2256]

Fabulous video. There is a real special mental attitude needed to deal with projects like this - accept gaps in the available information, work out the function of various features, think ahead to the manufacturing process, the get on with it, with planned check points on the way thru. "Old school" tradespeople were taught how to do this. Modern trades training often struggles with how to teach these methods. Guess what - these methods are also needed on many many "modern" engineering projects. John is a gem - thanks for posting this video for others to share the knowledge.

[@ultraslowhand]

Wonderful work, gentlemen! When I first met Brian in 1989, as I was beginning to research my Dad's story as a 144 Squadron Hampden pilot, Brian showed me his pile of wreckage, and then gave me a tour of Coningsby. What a terrific guy! You are keeping his vision alive, and I am very grateful.

[@robboltwood]

Have a look at mark feltons KZbin series on ‘the bridge busters’ for some good hampden content

[@silentotto5099]

​@@robboltwood I second that. Felton related an amazing story of skill and daring during a very uncertain period of the war. It's well worth a read or a listen for those interested in the history of WWII.

[@davidlucas6701]

I recently visited East Kirkby and saw you chaps at work ,I would have liked to have chatted but saw the warning signs! Seriously though,it is amazing what you have all achieved and continue to do! As a retired aero modeller/flyer and more recently vintage car restorer,you amaze me each time I watch your videos.Your dedication and work is much admired and appreciated and hopefully will be for many years to come. Your efforts are fitting testament to the crews that flew/maintained these aircraft ,I thank you !

[@buzzabuzza3494]

Marvellous work guys true craftsmen at work,I visited RAF cosford a few years ago and got to see their restoration of a hampden it’s a extremely slow process.👏👏👏

[@bugler75]

Such a shame Handley Page destroyed their records. All the best with your work chaps. Lest we forget.

[@theflyingfool]

@MichaelKingsfordGray you seem really angry with the world in general

[@James-pb1st]

The Lancaster it is a monument to aeronautic beauty. And Short Sunderland, Short Stirling, Halifax, Spitfire, Hurricane, Tempest, Mosquito and More....Congratulations from Chile.

[@retiredtom1654]

Incredible dedication & the desire to keep our history alive. It is important & so much has been lost over the years.

[@nickblake8633]

So that's what you do in your spare time John! Excellent and informative.

[@ericm.1245]

Very interesting seeing this restoration on the "flying suitcase" Hampden. My uncle with RCAF was a wireless air gunner for Coastal Command and flew in a Hampden doing pre-bombing weather reconnaissance. On September 8, 1943 his plane never returned and all crew declared MIA. Good luck on this project and look forward to seeing this aircraft fully restored.

[@welshpete12]

The skill , dedication and patients , these people have ! It will be wonderful to finally see this aircraft flying . Say with a Lancaster and Spitfire !

[@paulspickernell6875]

Wow, your dedication is unbelievable, with Jane and the French rebuild, how do you find time for this one, respect

[@crafter170]

Just finished Guy Gibsons uncensored book Enemy Coast Ahead .They called it the flying suitcase and their losses were absolutely horrific.Lots of modest tough men flew night after night until only a handful were left alive .Great work with this project. So clever .

[@liamarmstrong8082]

A lovely and informative video from John, it’s always a delight hearing about what he’s working on in Neville’s videos. Hopefully there can be more of him in LAHC videos 😊

[@cefb8923]

As mechanic.. the craftsmanship here is so enjoyable.

[@mikepocock575]

So lovely to see the progress being made,well done guys.

[@susanbutler2498]

You're making my Hampden Dreams come true! THANK YOU so much! A couple of young apprentices need to be absorbing your Warbird Skills during this Wonderful & Worthy Rescue John, so they are not lost to the Future!

[@barryrudge1576]

Brian you obviously know your subject and hopefully before I meet my maker I have the pleasure in seeing the aircraft completed and perhaps flying. I remember back in the early 60's buying the Airfix kit of this particular aircraft and thought what a beautiful shape it was for the 1930's

[@allannorman2359]

Excellent what a talented engineer..

[@janwitts2688]

Just shows how brave the crews were... I remember being told about how difficult it was for people with wide shoulders to even fit into this airframe..

[@theflyingfool]

Such dedication and a fine memorial to Brian Nicholls. I hope I live long enough to see it fly.

[@WTEGog]

Took a photo of this gent and another in front of the Hampden in 2018, such an admirable project and I wish them great success.

[@reddyreddy2618]

Incredible work from you and your team, hats off to you

[@andrewdrabble8939]

I've seen this restoration project many time on my visits to East Kirkby and it's certainly worth seeing

[@thomasstaal6]

Very, very, very impressive! Thanks a lot for your efforts, gentlemen, to preserve that part of the history!

[@johnbradshaw354]

Great work and presentation re the Hampden restoration project John thank you.

[@bigmac60]

Another great piece of work to save a lost aircraft

[@parrotraiser6541]

It's good to see one of the odder participants in WWII being re-created. Huge respect for the detective work recreating soemthing without an example. The recovered information is almost as important as the actual artefact.

[@charleshart6992]

Excellent update - look forward to future videos

[@MadMatt13]

Blimey you have got your work cut out there! Well done guys! All the best!

[@fettlerjohn3419]

Fascinating, thanks for posting 👍🏼 ✨

[@ivanpage9520]

What a wonderful project to work on. Will it stay at east Kirkby when it's finished, will it be in it's own hanger ?

[@peterswatton7400]

Looks like a thinking man's game. Well done.

[@bazwabat1]

Fascinating stuff. And a complicated airframe to reconstruct when not all of it even exists! :-)

[@johndavey72]

Crikey John ! I thought you had enough on your plate ! Marvellous!

[@kymvalleygardensdesign5350]

I have been wishing that someone would have a go at a Hampden for years well done and thank you for doing this. If it is of interest there is part of a Hampden prop in St Mary Magdalene Melchbourne Church it is all that remains of P1305 a training flight on 19th August 1940 from Cottesmore all of the crew were killed.

[@1teamski]

That is one amazing project! Wow!

[@daystatesniper01]

Superb upload ,and good luck with the rest of the restoration

[@holmesjunction]

Looks a fascinating project and was clearly explained at a level I can understand! All I know about them is what my father-in-law told me about 'the flying pencil' (sorry thats all I can print). Another project to look out for on my next visit!

[@peterjones3557]

I think it was called "the flying suitcase". Whatever, a great project and a disgrace that the authorities didn't save examples of the aircraft that so many brave men risked and lost their lives in to defeat the Axis

[@jonathansteadman7935]

Think the flying pencil was the Dornier 17, Hampden was flying suitcase.

[@holmesjunction]

Thanks for the info. Been a few years since my father-in-law related his thoughts, but as a Lancaster flight engineer, he still had nothing good to say about them!

[@davidplatten9872]

John, your passion, enthusiasm and dedication shines through👍. When you have finished messing around with this, you are with me on a C-in with a 42K uplift on bay 25. If you start signing up, I’ll get the tea in.

[@JJNX611]

Hi David, thanks for getting in touch, if you'd like to make contact with John please feel free to contact the Centre on [e-mail] and we can put you in touch.

[@raymondmoore8320]

Great job to be involved in,very talented man.

[@waynes8290]

Great effort. Really appreciate the video and the update. 👍Cheers from Sydney, Australia

[@KeithLeyland]

Amazing stuff John! hope to meet up with you next time I'm across Great video Neville

[@kevincollins1060]

Excellent good work

[@flaviooliveira4712]

Congratulation! I m from Brazil.

[@charlesrussell1764]

Having helped to build an RV light 'plane, I can only state with utter conviction that you are quite mad! What a project to be involved with.

[@patrickibex]

Great Work, My dad flew Hampdens for a while.

[@billkahl1147]

Fantastic video on a unique project. Great work you're doing John!

[@buffplums]

Some clever innovation well done sir

[@wideyxyz2271]

You can see why it was called the flying suitcase! Great work.

[@buffplums]

Nice work John

[@edwardtuijl7517]

Thank you, great project

[@m18tankdestroyer43]

Brilliant work, thank you for the update.

[@robertmartyr2041]

now thats one BIG airfix model :0) good luck and hope it can be made to fly as i don't think we any Hampdens' flying :0)

[@jimksa67]

What a challenge! You guys are Houdini's!

[@gordyminiman]

Brilliant to see,is there any more of this restoration? What is the vehicle behind in primer?

[@jimginn7163]

looks like an austin a30 to me

[@gordyminiman]

@@jimginn7163 Been told its a Goggomobil!!!! Never heard of them before!!!!!

[@FutureSystem738]

Amazing challenge you have there. My uncle was flying one laying mines and was shot down - and didn’t survive.😢

[@nigelbrooks5235]

Best of luck and wishes for this , can the Canadian one be used for reference?, it will be lovely to see finished.

[@gerhardkantzler7204]

Wahnsinn!!! Chapeau, Brian!!! Ein PA 18 Pilot

[@nissmoguy]

i saw an artical where a hampden was recovered from the ocean ,brought out in large complete sections ,would love to hear about any updates from the hampden projects

[@randlerobbertson8792]

Love and admire these people skilled & brave enough and even, determined enough to even embark on amazing projects like this. I wouldve thought though, where details are missing, a trip to the one being retored at Cosford with a tape measure video camera and or, a video call to the intact one in Canada would through, common interest, noble collaboration, yield useful missing detail ?

[@kadenchang3360]

The one in Canada is in horrible condition. The wing fell off a couple winters ago and is being held up by a pole, and the whole plane is rotting. Is a real shame

[@randlerobbertson8792]

@@kadenchang3360 thats a real shame if true.

[@kadenchang3360]

@@randlerobbertson8792 it is. I live by the museum and visit it lots. a real shame indeed.

[@Peter.w]

Hopefully you can get back onto this John once the wing work is done

[@ronjon7942]

Groan, why oh why would Handley-Page have destroyed all their records...I imagine this has happened more often than not. Why would anyone want/need plans for an obsolete bomber when the war was over and the company reverting to a peacetime corporation. Still, heartbreaking for any restorer, archivist and historian.

[@StevenParkin-l6h]

Has there been any progress on this amazing project, no mention of it in any of Nevilles videos, is it still there?

[@kevinwilson2872]

All the best with it that's definitely big boys meccano

[@buffplums]

When I first arrived at Henlow I lived just behind the ‘Pickle Factory’ as they used to call the original Hangars which I believe contained all sorts of goodies. There was a Bellman hangar next to the Henlow road and there was an early twin rotorary wing jobber in there. Sadly the Pickle Factory was demolished after an a,edged lightening strike made the hangar dangerous…

[@AphexTwinII]

He said rebuilding it was "Crazy" and it absolutely is. I found a piece of metal from a car. Going to rebuild it, BRB.

[@dufus7396]

When he described the "mirror imaging of the plans I had an anxiety attack and my childhood dyslexia returned

[@АндрейШмырев-х8н]

Хорошим делом люди занимаются....хорошим!!!!!

[@radiofun232]

Interesting video! But give the man a good microphone in the follow up video's.

[@brushitoff503]

Awesome!

[@bgdavenport]

Not being critical but, your work would be greatly aided by dry mounting your plan sets and/or digitizing them for easy reference. Helluva project!

[@fatbudgiekillen8997]

Wonderful work, how many volunteers do you have?

[@paulheff8067]

What a skilled man

[@johnjephcote7636]

There was one employed post-war in Norway(?) for engine testing. A pity that machine was not put away somewhere quiet...but in the late1940s so many interesting kites in storage and civilian use were simply chopped up with no thought (or no space or no money).

[@horsebee1]

What a wonderful project to be involved in. Do you intend it to be in flying condition ?

[@jhorrorfan2116]

It will be restored to flying condition

[@FlywithMagnar]

When up is down and port is right, or maybe not... Careful with that axe, Eugene.

[@dutchloveRC]

very cool project

[@allannorman2359]

Is there a recent video of John ..

[@stevebroughton4787]

Many are asking when or if she will fly again.....I'd say the answer is.....no. For her to be classed as airworthy by the CAA, every single component needs to checked for damage, cracks or corrosion....then passed as safe to use. I'm more than sure that would cost a good few million pounds.....then you need fully restored engines, serviceable spares backup too.

[@samrodian919]

Great explanation John. I didn't know about this project. Is this going to be an air worthy restoration or taxying or just a static display?

[@ScienceChap]

I suspect a static display... getting the Airworthiness tickets for this would be nigh on impossible. Who has design authority over it. That's not even considering the engines...

[@grahamhunt1902]

Ś

[@MURDOCK1500]

Will it be a complete airframe or just the fuselage when it's finished and displayed?

[@stevenlangdon-griffiths293]

Fascinating

[@fredharper1539]

People don't realise there was a time at the begining of ww2 before the Lancaster and Halifax..the yanks were not here yet with the b17..then we had to use the hampden Wellington and Whitley..I remember it well....Fred (91) years old RAF ret....

[@roum22]

Is that a Goggomobil by the blasting cabinet..

[@ptonpc]

Do you make records of how you work so that someone in the future could build on knowledge to make a new one or restore an old one?

[@PauloPereira-jj4jv]

There's no old one to restore. And THAT is the problem. This is the only one.

[@ptonpc]

@@PauloPereira-jj4jv " so that someone in the future could build on knowledge to make a new one or restore an old one?" Many restored aircraft have only one or two original components in them with almost everything else being new. So the question I was is still relevant. .

[@jimkrb]

Men in sheds are the backbone of Britain.

[@10percenttrue]

Brilliant!

[@darkmagician9916]

So how far have you got in 2023 ?

[@ealingschoolofdrums3692]

Superb. Keep going..

[@yurycz8933]

Good luck with this difficult job.

[@Channel-os4uk]

I'm sure this gentleman will be able to sniff out any problems with the 'Flying Frying Pan'.

[@dhouse-d5l]

Theres a completed one in Canada.

[@jimdavis8391]

Flying suitcase? Looks more like a flying envelope it's so narrow!

[@None-zc5vg]

The R.A.F. saved one 'Hampden' after WW2 but it went for scrap, probably having been forgotten about. The plane was designed by a German.

[@hawnyfox3411]

I remember reading about THAT Hampden that had been & was 'earmarked for preservation' It survived (crated up) until 1955 until some arrogant station commander ordered it to be destroyed (!) A senior commander who was more worried about "that old junk, cluttering up my hangars" (hangar space) So, basically, thanks to an arrogant a$$hole & major league prick, the nation lost an historic artefact P.1344 had been shot-down & force landed (nr Petsamo in Sweden) & destroyed by flare gun (intentional) That's the 'outer wreckage' from what the RAFM have been building up, aiming it's "restoration" Ironically, I saw THIS (thread subject) BEFORE I knew about RAFM attempting to rebuild P.1344 back up Grieves me that just SO many wonderful old RAF bombers WERE scrapped at wars end, not saved (posterity)

[@happyhome41]

What about the engines ?

[@Tconcept]

Are there no Hampdens left then?

[@scottwooster4102]

very nice!

[@Lyingleyen]

What Meccano Number is this??

[@gitfoad8032]

I remember when they found AE436. I'd just made an Airfix.

[@jamesdeath3477]

Nice Goggomobile!