Visitors to the hangar over recent weeks will have seen the rear fuselage of the newly painted Beaufighter extend to include the beginnings of the tail. The two fuselage sections have been mounted and demounted several times recently, but this time its for real, its on and its staying on. There are no horizontal surfaces yet as these still have to be refurbished, but that is now just a matter of time.

Work is now being carried out fabricating doors which will cover the fuel tank bags in reworking starboard engine bearer sufficiently to allow undercarriage to be fitted. The plan even extends to adorning undercart assemblies with wheels standing. Entire fuselage and tail units on hangar floor for the first time

The jigs which have held the wing assemblies since the time that the first elements of the wing spar were put in place will then be superfluous and removed from their bolted down position. We may be some way away from this stage just now, but its out there on the radar screen.