Our Grumman Avenger was in airworthy condition when acquired in Australia but our engineers inspection had identified a few things we wanted to improve on the aircraft. One of the tasks was to strip the airframe back to bare metal to identify and remove any corrosion and return it to the markings scheme it had worn when with Sir Tim Wallis’ Alpine Fighter Collection. The stripping process revealed up to seven coats of paint in some areas and revealed previous markings it had worn in the UK and stenciling from its time as an insecticide sprayer in the US.
Over the months after arrival in New Zealand we removed the pressure carburetter and sent it to Vintage Carburetters in the US for overhaul. As well a “clean kit” was fitted which takes the oil that collects in the lower cylinders between flights and returns it to the oil tank. We also identified some damage on the starboard wing from a previous wing fold with the flap partially down and this was repaired. Most of the aircraft glazing was replaced and finally we removed redundant avionics and installed an original pilots navigation tray in place.