A MISSION to rebuild a Halifax bomber from a Scottish crofter's hen hut has been completed after 13 years of painstaking jigsaw work.
The project to reconstruct a Second World War Handley Page Halifax bomber was started in l983 because none of the 6178 aircraft built between l940 and 1945 survived.
After thousands of raids over Germany, all were broken up for scrap at the end of the war and their valuable fuselages and wings were melted down to make aluminium pans.
However, Yorkshire Air Museum, at Elvington, near York, decided that as a tribute to the Halifax, and to the many aircrew who flew them and to the ground crew who serviced them, they would take on the mammoth task of a rebuild.
Project workers sought out parts by following up reports of crash sites around the world.
They chose to copy the most famous Halifax bomber, Friday the l3th, which completed 128 missions - more than any other Halifax - while serving with l58 Squadron Royal Air Force at Lissett, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire, during l944/45.
In l985, the volunteer workforce got their first big break. They discovered 20ft of fuselage which remained from a Halifax crash in l945 and had lain for 40 years on Lewis. Crofter Jock McKenzie used it as a hen hut.
Mr Ian Robinson, chairman of the air museum, said yesterday: ``Rejected by others as being too inaccessible and beyond repair, I was able to arrange for it to be airlifted from the island, ferried to the mainland, and then transported to Elvington 400 miles away.''
From there, it was taken a few miles to Brough for restoration by apprentices at British Aerospace and then returned to Elvington where volunteers, many of them retired BA engineers, set to work completing the rebuild.
Mr Robinson said: ``The wings were purchased by the Royal Air Force Association at Twickenham whilst the French Air Force provided the Bristol Hercules engines found in a maintenance store. A nose wheel came from Paris and now, after much effort and hard work, the Halifax is complete.''
Friday the l3th survived the l944 Nuremberg raid when many British aircraft, including several Halifax bombers, failed to return.
During the war, a newly-built aeroplane cost #l5,000 and was primarily a bomber, carrying 13,000lbs of hardware. The first prototype flew in l939 and the aircraft was designed by the Handley Page Aircraft Company at Cricklewood.
It had a crew of seven and a range of l260 miles and was also successful as a Special Operations aircraft, taking agents deep into enemy-held Europe. It also supplied underground resistance workers.
Another job it did was to tow big Hamilcar gliders for airborne operations and Friday the l3th ended her days on display in London, outside Selfridge's, before being broken up to make pans in l946.
Yorkshire was a major centre of Halifax bomber operations during the Second World War, with many of the 60 plus airfields in the county having the aircraft based on them.
On Friday, September l3, the only Halifax bomber in the world will be ``rolled out'' by Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Knight at Elvington, where many of the air and ground crew who flew and serviced the Halifax will be present.
The first pilot to fly the ``13th'' in l944, Pilot Officer Joe Hitchman, from Sheffield, will be there, together with her later pilot, Flying Officer Doc Gordon, who is coming from Canada.
Mr Robinson said: ``This is a one off and will never be repeated. Many men flew and fought and died in Halifaxes. It is a fitting tribute to these brave fliers that we have rebuilt and displayed this
aircraft.''
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