At Duxford, restoration of the Propshop-owned Fairey Firefly I DT989/G-CGYD to flying condition is progressing well in both Hangar 425 and Building 66. Engineer and display pilot John Romain says, “The wings are generally finished with all repairs and re-riveting complete. They are now being systemised. Also, in Building 66 the fin and elevators are being restored.
“In Hangar 425 the main fuselage/centre section is now fully stripped back to a bare metal shell. The next stage is the re-riveting of all the magnesium rivets utilised in the original build. These have to be replaced due to age-hardening and corrosion. The tail section is complete with the tailwheel assembly and retraction system fully functioned. Various other parts are all finished and stored for refitting once the main fuselage refitting is complete.”
Built during 1944 for the Fleet Air Arm at the Fairey Aviation Company factory at Ringway, during 1949 DT989 was converted to TTI target-towing configuration and delivered to Svensk Flygtjänst at Stockholm-Bromma airport, Sweden during June 1950. In an overall yellow scheme it was to serve as a target tug for 13 years, principally for the Swedish Navy, before being withdrawn from use in November 1963.
Stored at Stockholm-Arlanda between 1966-69, it then went to the Technical Museum at Arlanda, until being acquired by Stockholm resident Björn Löwgren in 1985 for a planned restoration project. It was stored in a barn near Skå-Edeby airfield from 1990-2003, arriving at Duxford in February 2004 along with another ex-Svensk Flygtjänst Firefly I, PP489/SE-CAU. The latter machine is now with the Aviodrome at Lelystad, the Netherlands.
