Directions for getting to Moat Farm at Milden - the Suffolk home of the workshops and facility of Hawker Restorations, (a subsidiary of AJD Engineering) read a little like those to get to the local parish church fete ... past the old style red 'phone box, past the church with the bench prominently on the corner, past the Labrador breeder - and look out for the local aircraft restorer coming the other way in his Mercedes '. Moat Farm is the home of the company - and the place where Tony Ditheridge, the man behind a remarkable operation and the vision, has lived for the past seventeen years. The old sprawling buildings disguise an efficient organisation that houses several Hurricane rebuilds (amongst others) and a compact and, for the pilot, challenging farm strip at the rear which adjoins the workshops of A.J.D. Engineering and Hawker Restorations team. Moat Farm is probably an enigma to its neighbours. Tony commutes to Hawker's other facility at Earls Colne in his striking and very historically significant Bucker Jungmeister (Arthur Benitz's original factory demonstration aircraft) on a daily basis as required. How many people commute to work in this way? I suspect very few.

Tony Ditheridge is an interesting, intense individual whose enthusiasm for pure engineering and old aeroplanes - from World War 1 aircraft through to the World War 11 successors appears boundless. He is quite obviously a doer, a go getter, a man seemingly possessed by enthusiasm for engineering. There is evidence of a workaholic, long hours spent at the desk, on the telephone and in the workshops. This achievement has not come about by itself. Tony is a true evangelist of Hawker engineering and I suspect that if he had known Sidney Camm they would have been the best of friends.

To many, even more so in the '90s, the Hawker Hurricane has always played 'second fiddle' to the Supermarine Spitfire. Despite the fact that the Hurricane fought on more fronts, was able to withstand more battle damage than any other fighter of its day, and was, along with the brave pilots that flew it, responsible for the preservation of Great Britain's freedom during the Battle of Britain, there always seems to be more interest in the Spitfire. There will never be as many flyable Hurricanes as Spitfires, and so the former most certainly represents a better long term investment for the warbird owner. The catch is that the Hurricane is a complex beast by its very nature of construction, and whilst there are many 'lon' term' Sp'tfire projects being undertaken across the world by individuals (albeit supported by a real industry in the 1990's, 'ble to supply parts and components on an 'as required basis') the Hurricane is a very different proposition. I suspect, in years to come there will be many individuals that take a Hurricane project on that wish they hadn't. Short term a 'DIY' Hurricane project may seem more attractive - long term it is more cost effective to have an aircraft rebuilt by Hawker Restorations, with the wealth of documentation, all scrutinised and approved by the Civil Aviation Authority to fly.

How much did Tony pay me to say that? Nothing. After our article on Aero Vintage, (in Warbirds Worldwide 35) and my subsequent visit to Hawker Restorations it is the obvious solution, bearing in mind the complexity of the aircraft in question. There is no 'cheap rebuild' option. I did not need convincing when Tony advised me an individual could spend hundreds of thousands of pounds properly rebuilding a Hurricane only to get part way through the project and wish he hadn't started it.

Let's take a step backwards. Tony Ditheridge began his career with a six year apprenticeship as a tool and instrument maker. His first employment was with Cambridge Scientific Instruments in Cambridge – a company started by Charles Darwin's grandfather.

Soon afterwards he went into electronics with this company where he learned the business of developing, building and operating the first commercially available scanning electron microscope, made by C.I. in conjunction with Cambridge University. From 1967 onwards 14 years were spent travelling the world commissioning, installing and advising on scanning electron microscopes! A far cry, you would think, from building and rebuilding vintage aeroplanes. With clients in 28 different countries, Tony was spending about seven months of the year overseas - including visits to the then Communist Soviet Union where he recalls seeing large number of interesting aeroplanes in the oddest locations.

Following this, Tony launched his own company, marketing and selling a competing Japanese electron microscope. The company did well, and lead into the next part of his career which was to form another company selling non dispersive X-ray equipment - XRF/XRD scientific apparatus, all linked to metallurgy. Eventually this operation was run from Moat Farm. This gave Tony an excellent background, and hands on experience of mechanical engineering, electronics and sales and marketing.

Like so many other warbird people, Tony's interest in old aeroplanes was fuelled by his desire and interest in old motor cars. As a youngster his interest revolved around model making and collecting 'anything old, rusty, mechanical - steam engines, and anything like that was of interest to me - anything dilapidated and overpriced, I'd buy it! I was a sucker for them,' Tony told me with a characteristic grin on his face. "This lead, much later to my rebuilding a few old cars, and in 1979 after seeing a TV programme about flying DH Moths, I became enthusiastic enough in lieu of an Aston Martin DB2 which I'd sourced in the U.S.A.". Though Tony kept the Tiger until the early 1990's he learned to fly and progressed through Stampes, Stearmans, Zlins, Chipmunks and a broad range of other vintage aeroplanes.

His real move into engineering and rebuilding vintage aeroplanes came after Desmond St. Cyrien (purchaser of two Sopwith Pups and a Camel from a landowner in Lincolnshire) suggested he formed a company specialising in the rebuilding of World War One aeroplanes." This was the seed that germinated into A.J.D. Engineering. St. Cyrien had two British Caledonian airline engineers working on his Sopwith aeroplanes at the time British Airways took over the airline. After some deliberation Tony offered the pair a new job, and Richard Watson and Graham Self became part of AJD Engineering. Though Tony was still running his e.s.m. business, the team of three rebuilt a Boeing Stearman as the first aeroplane to emerge from AJD and naturally finished the St. Cyrien airframes as well. It was during this initial period that Tony was introduced to the late John 'Jeff' Hawke who calmly told the fledgling AJD team they were the right people to undertake a commission he had from the Chilean Air Force to build a Bristol M1C monoplane. This was a 1916 shoulder-wing monoplane. The catch? Just twelve weeks to complete the task. Remarkably AJD did it in twenty weeks, with Tony and Richard Watson accompanying the airframe to Chile where it was assembled and flown. Tony is philosophical about the first commission - "he probably came to us because everyone else quoted him a real price, and perhaps a real time too!" Nevertheless, the Chileans were so impressed with the work that they commissioned AJD to build an AVRO 504K, an SE5a and a Bleriot monoplane. "So," Tony Continues, … “that was our introduction to World War 1 aeroplanes.” Some introduction.

Since then, AJD have built several more Avro’s – one is in the museum in Southampton, one is airworthy with Nigel Hamlin-Wright and another is being rebuild for Tim Wallis. Remarkably, in house, AJD have the remains of an original Avro 504L float plane, fully documented and very rare. AJD have also built a Sopwith Camel for the museum at Fort Rucker, Alabama, a Sopwith Pup for another American collector, and a Bleriot Monoplane for the Aviodome Museum in Holland. Other engineering commissions have involved building high performance aerobatic wings for aerobatic champion Mark Jefferies, reskinning Thunderbolt wings for the UK Ministry of Defence, manufacturing the complete centre section, undercarriage, fuel tanks and engine mounts for a DH Dragonfly, refurbishing and manufacturing parts for Aero Vintage’s unique Russian all wooden Yakovlev Yak-1, and the total rebuild of a Curtis Jenny, just a small sample of the work undertaken by the company which ably demonstrates how flexible and diverse their capability.

“What happened next..”, says Tony, “is that we supplied an SE5a to Sir Tim Wallis. Though we’d spoken on the telephone at this stage I did not know Tim personally, but he told me that he had recovered some Hurricanes from Russia and was looking for someone to rebuild them for him. At that time, I had been looking at the Hurricane as a rebuild project having recovered some airframes from Canada four years previously. I was certainly keen to rebuild a Hurricane; essentially at AJD though we are a small team, we are first and foremost pure engineers – toolmakers, millers and turners. However, I explained to Tim that my investigations four years previously, had examined the logistics of how to do it and that I had come to the conclusion I did not have enough money to invest in tooling to even start the venture or to commence what would be a very expensive tooling exercise. Tim asked me for a proposal which I submitted – he sent me a ticket and just four days later I was in New Zealand, just before Christmas. The typical impetuous Tim Wallis! I was in New Zealand for just four days and as a sign of good faith he gave me a cheque, for a lot of money – basically I made a commitment to supply the Alpine Fighter Collection with a completed airframe ready for systems, engine etc., (which was to be completed by Air New Zealand). In fact we achieved this in twenty months and since then we have become very good friends with the people in New Zealand.” Hawker Restorations was born, off and running.

The Hurricane is certainly a phenomenally complex aeroplane, and, says Tony, “a very expensive aeroplane to rebuild.” The reason the Hurricane rebuilding programme is working for Hawker Restorations is due to several factors. Firstly the funding for the tooling, the manufacturing of the spars, the metallurgical investigation work, the sheds full of machining, intensive research tasks and subcontracting made it possible. To produce a single Hurricane, properly rebuilt with the correct new engineering would cost in the region of £1.5 million. To be able to produce materials in multiples brings the unit price down to less than £1 million. One thing that should not be overlooked is the considerable investment involved, and the amount of research required to ensure the investment was a good one.

One vital ingredient is the range of skills available at AJD – there has been a kind of natural progression from building complete World War 1 aircraft through to the Hurricane, just as it was in the 1930’s, to Hawker technology. In effect, Hawker Restorations was the product of the development of these skills. With the addition of important personnel like Chief Engineer Paul Mercer, Bob Young and Phil Parish (who have over 40 years of warbird experience between them) this has enabled Hawker to develop and cope with the systems side – complex aspects like engine installation, propellers etc., whilst the workshops at Moat Farm can concentrate on the pure engineering.

In order to achieve its goals Hawker Restorations had to work towards the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s A8-20 approval – and the Moat Farm based company were the first to be awarded it by a year. Add to this M5 and E4 CAA approvals and you get some idea of the ability of the organisation to seriously engineer pretty much anything required – and just as importantly get it certificated and quality ‘stamped’. Additionally they also have Air New Zealand engineering approval. These attributes, says Tony ȁ… kind of enforces us to a discipline which was not there previously. This makes the rebuilds a lot better, and very well documented but it does increase the price.” The up side of this however is that it also enhances the value of the aircraft.

The first Hawker Restorations Hurricane, (the airframe contracted by the Alpine Fighter Collection), was delivered to Air New Zealand in November 1995. Now, just eight months later there are two airframes in a similar state but in some aspects further forward, located at Moat Farm. The learning curve, says Tony “is getting substantial. The intention is to complete these airframes minus systems, engine and propellers ready for fitting out at our new facility at Earls Colne and completion to flying condition by the end of 1997. ȁMy next question to Tony was aimed at finding out more about the underlying philosophy behind Hawker Restorations. Enthusiastically Tony said “Most companies rely, first and foremost on their personnel. So it was fortuitous that we have only ever hired people to work here with a pure engineering background. Also we are the only suppliers of the centre section spars and tailplane spars and all the appropriate major structural parts that go with it. They were specially made. In fact we supplied the spars for the centre section and tailplane for the rebuild of the MoD Hurricane LF363. Our aim is to rebuild and supply Hawker Hurricanes at a competitive price and we want to extend this to include Hawker biplanes. Also we intend to develop Hawker Restorations into a first class warbird maintenance and restoration facility which in part is to do with Earls Colne. But the primary aim is to focus our mind on Hawker Hurricanes. That is to invest in the metallurgy, tooling, personnel – the learning curve and the intellectual rights in order to do that.” Already at Earls Colne are a number of warbirds being completed and undergoing maintenance (this side of the operation will feature in Warbirds Worldwide 38) including a Supermarine Seafire, several Yaks and other heavyweight aircraft.

From what I could see at Moat Farm Hawker Restorations are already well down the road towards their goal. Such is the faith in the operation that the two aircraft currently being assembled at Moat Farm have been contracted to Alpine Fighter Collection and will be sold/traded by them. When the fourth aircraft is approaching completion, it will be put up for sale. The quality of the rebuilds, evangelises Tony “… are second to none. The documentation that goes with them is phenomenal. So, when we get a little nearer towards completion, probably towards the end of 1996 we will look for a customer.” Hawker are also currently building a Hurricane centre section for Rick Roberts and there are several people on the sidelines showing an interest in the projects. The Hurricane is certainly for the serious warbird collector. It is not cheap – but why, I asked Tony to explain in basic terms – is the aircraft more expensive to put together than say a Spitfire? The explanation was uncomplicated “… the construction of the Spitfire is a monocoque construction, basically a series of pressed formers with sheet metal rivetted to them in a jig. So really, this is a complex sheet metal exercise. With the Hurricane, it is a round tubular structure where every bay is squared at one end. Then at that junction there is a machined component or several machined components, two side plates, ferrules that have, typically two tenths of a thou fit with a spacer in between all that. To give you some idea I can show you one joint on a Hurricane and there are about 180 pieces in it – and that is one joint on one side!

So there are literally hundreds of thousands of components in a Hurricane and they are all precision components where the fits and clearances are incredibly tight. So add the components, the engineering skill, the machining it takes to do it and it starts to become clear what is required.” Hawker are currently employing a machine shop to work some 300 hours a month in machining Hurricane components and this has now been in progress for eighteen months and is ongoing. Additionally the Hurricane has some fairly complex sheet metal work in the cowling areas, a complicated (and impressive looking) wooden structure that has to be crafted as well and the projects also need a fair amount of traditional fabricing work to be undertaken. Tony also points out that very often, although ‘basket case’ Hurricanes look almost complete, once you have taken out all the corroded tubes you are typically left with four tea chests of stainless steel fittings! Consequently the Hurricane is a very in depth restoration. Its cost is driven by the availability of machine components, the number of man hours and the engineering skills required. Hawker are the sole suppliers of spars and other vital components for rebuilding Hurricanes having developed the materials etc. with the help of Guy Black (see Warbirds 35 for the article for the article on Aero Vintage) and making a very substantial investment in doing so.

What about product liability? In the past we know that many major aerospace organisations have, understandably been reluctant to release drawings and associated materials to restorers and rebuilders because of the potential for litigation should the product fail and result in fatalities. Tony is philosophical but straight to the point “I believe that with product liability everybody is exposed. Obviously we have insurance coverage but like everyone else’s it has its limits. Our defence mechanism is a blessing of the CAA’s A8-20 in that with the manufacture and design side of this approval everything is so well documented and goes through design approval organisations (even down to things like CAD plating and paint standards) which examine the minutest detail and via experts qualified in material design and metallurgy. When you put an aeroplane together to these standards the only thing you are left with when something goes wrong is pilot failure. For example one of our work packs for the Hurricane has details of every single component in it with its material, its batch number etc. – this results in six volumes, each about four inches thick, that substantiate every part of that aeroplane and includes things like N.D.T. So though you cannot protect yourself against every eventuality you can stand up and be counted.”

How much research was required to back up the engineering ability at Hawker Restorations? 𠇊out four years ago, through AJD Engineering I began examining the specifications for materials and processes in conjunction with Guy Black at Aero Vintage. I’ve known Guy for about 20 years – we worked together to find out what the original material was, what the modern equivalent is (if it exists and if we would be allowed to use it), find someone to make it, then find someone to heat treat and slit it and then design 120 rolls to roll form it to the right shape. That little exercise cost a fortune and took a year. In actual fact we only received the finished materials three months before we delivered the first aircraft to Air New Zealand so that really put the pressure on! Add to this the similar process for the tailplane spars and the fact we had to go to Austria and Germany and buy seven tons of the specially made material. All this had to go through the process of approval from the CAA and this is just one area where a vast amount of research was required. The other factor was the gathering of basic information on the Hurricane. When we started we had no drawings. Since then we have succeeded in sourcing the majority of the drawings and an archive of design information as well.

Largely due to the quality of the workforce they rose to the challenge and within a relatively short period of time were fully equipped to tackle the task of rebuilding a Hurricane to an exceptionally high standard.” Tony points out that none of this would have been possible without the support, the investment made by and the enthusiasm of Tim Wallis – a man, says Tony “that runs at a thousand miles per hour”.

For the future? I asked Tony if the Hawker theme may progress in a forward direction to encompass types like the Tempest. He answered “We will evaluate every request as and when it comes and if the requirement is in line with our engineering capability and it is of interest then we’d do it.” Tony also enthused about some of the earlier American (between the wars) biplanes like the Boeing F4B, the Curtis Hawks and said if he could source the information necessary to build these he would be delighted to be involved, as he feels they are vastly under rated in the UK. The Gloster Gladiator is another particular favourite, and Tony makes the point that the Gladiator utilises the same Hawker technology with which the company is becoming increasingly familiar. Hawker Restorations and AJD Engineering are concentrating on two areas. Primarily Hawker are undertaking rebuild work at Moat Farm – pure design, manufacture and in depth restoration and with the expertise of its engineers and archive of information they are very well equipped to do this and do it very well.

It is the company’s aim to separate this from the light restoration and maintenance work being undertaken at Earls Colne, a site which itself is quickly developing and will see a number of interesting warbirds pass through for maintenance and allocation of a British registrations in the near future.

I left Moat Farm feeling that I had been a privileged witness to the rebirth of one of the world’s most underrated warbirds. There will never be as many Hurricanes as Spitfires or Mustangs but the type is set to fly well beyond the Millennium and is no doubt an excellent investment. If you are interested in a Hurricane or wish to discuss any other project you can reach Hawker Restorations on 01449 740 544.