Here is a full report on the Halifax Parts expedition in FEB. to the Netherlands to gather all we have located – traded-purchased over the last 2 years — Significant parts that we must have to keep the Halifax project and restoration rolling ahead.

It must be stated here that we now have great friends in Holland and the UK as all our parts we have collected in Holland and the UK have been successfully transferred now to the UK just last week.

All of this with great thanks to Jos De Groot and his Dutch Lanc cockpit team membersa in Amsterdam, Johan Graas, Dijon Boshoven, and all his team at ARG Museum in Heemskerk – including Mr. Halifax in the Netherlands Cees Broere, who was the one who identified and notified H57RC about these ARG and other Halifax parts in Holland. Special thanks as well to Adrian Van Zantvoort for sniffing out Halifax wing parts also.

Now of course, our new supporter Hugo Loudon – who is a Dutch national and avid collector of wartime engines, living in Henley on Thames in the UK!

I will explain their wonderful help to get all our Halifax parts collected in Holland and transported to the UK, to be stockpiled with all our Halifax parts already in the UK.

But first let me tell you our 2 outer wings (53 feet of wing!) for the Halifax project, great gifts from the Royal Air Force Museum and the Yorkshire Air Museum, are fully ready to be transported by lorry to meet up with a RCAF C-17 in the UK and airlifted  over to RCAF Trenton, Ontario! We are working on the Canadian ground transport of these wings to our Halifax “REBUILDSHOP” in Arnprior, Ontario. That will be set up shortly.

So see first, 2 PHOTOS of the outer wings being given a final cleaning  at Thirsk Yorkshire by Patrick Smart and his team, the final step before RCAF C-17 airlift very soon. Bravo Patrick and your guys.

What a great donation these wing sections are and it will be one of the highlights of 2024 for ALL, a major step for a second Halifax for Canada during this 100th ANNIVERSARY of the RCAF!

Meanwhile back at the Dutch ranch, we had main landing gear pieces, major wing joints, rudder sections  and a major piece of horizontal tail for Halifaxes waiting to be moved from Holland to the UK to join all our other stockpile of Halifax parts. see photos below.

Why these logisitics? Because all our resources and talents to package and ship our Halifax parts to Canada are centralized in the UK.

And who is the Calvary coming to the rescue??

It is HUGO LOUDON of Henley on Thames UK who travels all over Europe collecting WW2 engines for his collection, who heard about our Halifax project. Hugo has this cool pick-up truck and trailer, and he volunteered to haul all our Halifax Dutch parts from his old homeland, by road and sea ferry, back to his business warehouse in the UK! Of course, H57RC helped to pay for his expenses and fuel for such beneficial services.

But thanks to Hugo we saved hundreds of Euros and UK pounds and now all our parts are in safekeeping in the UK with him and also our main man Andy Ward up near Lincoln.

See rare photo above of the entire tail on the Halifax production line, note my scratchings in RED showing where the tail piece we got is located, it is from the good folks of Schiermonnikoog, the critical red piece we obtained, still has its 4 main big bolts – in BLUE – still intact for rebuild.

See above the 4 RED main attachment bolts located, still holding the tail to a fuselage piece underneath.

Note above the BLUE outline of the elevator position on the back edge of our tail section, see the support fittings still there and further out more support fittings for the elevator.

Then see below, “Hugo’s Hauling Halifaxes” unit, with a 1930’s BMW engine on board also.

I am adding a short video and photos – below – of us, showing us shoe-horning all our items on Hugo’s trailer and in the back of his truck (ok-ok Ian, lorry if you must mutter !). Tail – rudder – main landing gear fittings.

Sing it Johnny Cash, One piece at a time!

Note above, the 2 triangle main gear supports in RED and the main gear pivot axle in GREEN upon which the landing gear rotates, which all attaches to the wing main spar.

Then see below the same main gear castings, RED and GREEN, which we received from ARG Museum.

Also, a big Halifax rudder section (below) from ARG Museum which we will add to the rudder salvaged from Sweden from HR871 we recovered last summer. Are you adding up the sections we are gathering Pilgrims?

Then see Hugo “the HERO hauler” sorting the loading in Amsterdam, in a hurry to finish the Halifax items loading and then on to another engine for his collection before catching the ferry across the North Sea to ol’ Blighty.

Finally all loaded to the gunwhales, JOS, Hugo, and author take a breather and admire the scratch built Lanc nose section and cockpit built by Jos’s team for future display in the Netherlands. Jos has EVERY component need to finish the nose and cockpit, down the the tiniest switches!

DO NOT forget, we now have hundreds of kilograms of Halifax parts in the UK that must be crated and boxed for shipping, by our main corporate sponsor Air Canada and their air cargo office at Heathrow.

Air cargo is not cheap and remember, we have estimated 6 large crates to ship across the ocean to Canada, to both Calgary and Toronto.

Each crate can easily cost over $1,000./crate to get delivered to us in Canada and so you see, I must appeal to all of you now, as 2024 activities pick up for our Halifax project.

Would one or more of you stalwarts or heavy-hitters of the Halifax Project like to launch and sponsor “your own” crate across the OCEAN?!

Think of it, super rare pieces for our Halibag arrive with your name on it —for example – JOHN PARK, would you like to see a crate arrive with the emblazoned title “PARK’S Precious Package” all over it!?.

We do not want to slow down on the airframe, engine, propeller, and landing gear restorations so we urgently need to have you support us as we ramp up our activities.

I have been busy finding even more parts for the Halifax on your behalf and I will not rest in that regard until we have all we need in Canada to finish our Halifax for the Bomber Command Museum of Canada.

Just the other day, Hugh Gilchrist and I in Nanton opened up all our Boulton Paul Halifax tail turret parts misc. pieces in storage and we found we have about 60% of a complete HALIFAX rear turret and so will begin work on this turret to add to all the tail pieces amassed which are enroute from ol’ Blighty !

See the Halifax tail turret (below) and lower down – all our boxes of turret spare parts to start this restoration. p.s. we only have (2) .303 guns, anybody got 2 more!???

Who woulda thunk it, that we would get 50 more feet of wing and more engines and tail chunks and all this treasure in just the past year, to keep us going!

Remember, there are “doubting Thomases” out there who say there is nothing left to find. We can, and will, make them liars and “convert the impossible into the difficult and get ‘er done!”

So I am your aluminium birddog, the nose is old but reliable, and we will keep on adding to all our Halifax treasure, no matter what.

Just keep us strong with donations and support and we will finish the job.

WHY? Because our RCAF and RAF Bomber Boys deserve to be remembered, for their Victorious sacrifice, you live in Freedom every day —- do you need any more reason than that, to support this project.?!

WE LEAVE NO HALIFAX BEHIND.

Cheers, K