Colin Essex has undertaken much work on projects other than his own. So impressed were people at the quality of the Cygnet’s propeller when it appeared at Old Warden that he started getting orders for more. Replica props made from offcuts are sold at Shuttleworth shows and in the collection’s shop. He has done numerous jobs for Shuttleworth, including wing repairs on the Sopwith Triplane after its 2014 incident, and making propellers for that aeroplane and the recently completed Camel (see Aeroplane December 2017). A current focus is the rebuild of the collection’s DH53 Humming Bird, G-EBHX. Other tasks have included wing repairs on Pitts Specials, Chilton DW1A G-CDXU and the German Quax-Flieger group’s Tiger Moth. But Colin has recently acquired a new aircraft, in the form of Heath Parasol G-AFZE.
