Over the weekend local pilot Wayne Tantrum took the Omaka based Sopwith Pup out for a fly. This Pup is fitted with our Gnome Rotary Engine. He was joined for some of the flight by two other locally based planes. Due to the Pup being much faster, he spent a lot of the time [...]
Repair of corroded axle on P40 Tail Wheel Knuckle 87-37-541
One of the first parts stripped off a P40 were its wheels. Often the tail wheel was removed and the aircraft was left with on its axle, sitting on the ground, which is why there are a few knuckle’s around that have badly corroded axles in them. Over the last couple of months we [...]
Mosquito relocation
Over the last 2 weekends, some of the CAMS team have been over in Mapua (Nelson) helping with getting the DH Mosquito ready for transport to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. It will go on display in the museum after some tidy up work has been completed on the aircraft. The Mosquito, like some [...]
P40 Main Retract Tees
We have just finished making some P40 Main Retract Tees. The tee fitting screws into the end of the piston rod on the retract cylinder to retract undercarriage. After being told of a cracking issues from a client and after discussions with him lead us to make some small but important modifications before we [...]
Development/Evolution of the CAMS Gnome 100HP Engine
A brief run down of the development/evolution of the CAMS Gnome. With the lockdown here in NZ I have some spare time to put together an outline of our journey so far. We have learned a lot along the way but even after eight engines we are still making subtle changes. It was eight [...]
Temporarily Closed
As from today, Wednesday 25 March Classic Aero Machining Service will be closed for at least 4 weeks as per the government requirements to help reduce the effect of Covid -19 on all New Zealanders . This is going to have a large effect on all of us but it needs to happen to [...]
A lovely cool, still morning yesterday provided the perfect opportunity for some Allied testing on a Fokker DR.1 propeller. This prop has been made by Jeff Fox and will be shipped with engine #008 to be fitted to a Fokker DR.1. Please to say our resident Sopwith Pup pilot Wayne was very happy with [...]
Gnome Engine Build
Over the last couple of months we have completed the build and tests runs on engines #006 and #008, we have also had the owners of the engines visit the workshop and run their engines on the test stand. Both engines are now ready to be shipped to their new home. Here is a [...]
Engine #006 First Run
Monday ended on a high around the workshop with engine #006 being wheeled out of the shop for its first test run. The engine ran really well (even got a nice wee flame on startup). Engine started first blade and ran very smoothly. Another fantastic team effort from everyone here at CAMS and now [...]