Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2013/January 2014 | Page 39

FEATURE
of the plane will be in shortly, and the
fuselage structure should be completed
by the end of the year. The next task will
be to fully restore the wing, which has
a 50ft span, and will mean rearranging
the Bembridge workshop just to
accommodate it.
BNAPS has a 60-strong supporters’ club
who pay a subscription to help fund
the project, with a team of eight actively
involved in the restoration. Work on
the project is also ongoing elsewhere,
including private workshops and
garages on the Island and even on the
mainland.
BNAPS are being aided by leading
aircraft parts supplier, Worthing based
Saywell International, and has also
received valuable non-flight spares
from Isles of Scilly Skybus and B-N

Group together with support from the
Portsmouth based company Proptech,
for a pair of cosmetically refurbished
propellers. The latest company to offer
assistance is Norvic Aero Engines for
construction of a pair of ‘non-functional’
engines from its works at St Neots,
Cambridgeshire.

‘It remains a race
against time to
have it fully
completed by the
summer of 2015’

Bob Wealthy, chairman of the BNAPS
said: “The idea is that all the parts will be
ready so that by the end of 2014 we will
be able to assemble the Islander, and we
can roll it out on time in June, 2015.
“The key issue will then be to find
somewhere suitable on the Island to have
a home for it. We are looking at about a
dozen possibilities at the moment, but
ideally we would like to come to an
arrangement to use the original hanger
where it was built in Bembridge. If that
proves too expensive then maybe we
can lease some space at the airport to
put up a building to display the aircraft
for a period of time, subject to funding.
“Ideally we want a permanent home
for it, and naturally we would like to
keep it on the Island, so that people
here can go and view it for themselves.”

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