This is the team working on the Merlin. We built this website for several reasons. The main one was that we could have somewhere to put the photos from our digital cameras. We could see them at anytime, anywhere,and for our families to see what we get up to at college. Eventually the website would help others who come across this extraordinary piece of machinery, offering help and advice in the hope that they have less trouble than we've had. The further challenge of building a website was also an educational and cool thing to do in our spare time when we could not work on the engine.
The team members are all students from Northbrook College, Shoreham Airport in West Sussex. We all had just finished a National Vocational Qualification Level 2 in Aeronautical Engineering and Maintenance, and we were all in the same class and that’s how we all met and became friends. We started the restoration around the end of November, 2003 and it went on display 25th January, 2006.
First of all in the team, we had our lecturer who acted as our Project Director in this Merlin project, Mr Malcolm Bell. Malcolm has been at Northbrook College for over 10 years as a lecturer. He's been an aircraft engineer for as long as he can remember and is now the main instructor on the NVQ course.
In the production work (all carried out by students), we had Scott Bradshaw. Scott is originally from Zimbabwe and has been in England for over 5 years.He has always wanted to study aircraft engineering and hopefully become a pilot in the near future.
Then, we have Aaron Simmons, Aaron has been an aircraft enthusiast for many years, interested in both Military and Civil aviation. He also wants to become a pilot in the future and hopefully, in years to come run and own his own business.
Then we have Dave Cooke, a pilot for 4 years so far and counting. He not only loves to fly straight and level, but also likes to see the world upside down in aerobatics. He enjoys the world of engineering and is also looking to become a Test Pilot in the future, which will require a lot of hard work.
Also in the team we have Paul Slogrove, an aviation enthusiast also, hoping to become a pilot in the States, which he hopes to do in 2005/06. The course over there is 21 days - a lot of hard work and studying in such a short space of time. Scott is also hoping to go with Paul for the PPL. All the team wishes them luck in the States. Paul has since left the college and is now in an apprenticeship working on helicopters
Last but not least in the team is Tom Beale, a young lad who was originally from the other group on the same course. Again, an aviation enthusiast who loves the world of aviation and enjoys engineering. Tom is an easy young lad to describe. He is, well, lets just say a chatty bloke who likes to talk when he is working and also when he is not, a very communicative guy, a good thing in the aviation industry.
The start of the project came into effect in the second half of the second term, when we started to get ahead of our coursework. We also finished our key skills requirements which left us with a three hour gap on a Friday. So we asked Malcolm if there was any extra work we could do to fill these hours. He said that there was a Merlin Engine in the upstairs engine and propeller section of the hangar and if we liked we could do some research on the Merlin Supercharger. When we had more knowledge of how it all went together we could then do some work on it.
At the end of the project, it would eventually go into the College reception area as a showpiece. We said that we would do it and decided that on Fridays, when we had the three hour gap we would work on the Merlin. After doing a lot of research both on the internet and using books we made a start on it and gathered most of the big parts so we could get them all sand-blasted and painted. Then our course started eating into this time as we had come to the stage when written reports were required etc. So unfortunately the Merlin was forgotten.
As the course drew to an end we all applied for the next course. We all decided that we should go on holiday together, so we met up at Dave’s house one day and decided on Jersey. And so within a couple of days the holiday was booked and paid for.When we returned from holiday we found out that our new course would start in January. This was unfortunate as we would miss a term of lecture time, but also fortunate as this then opened the door for us to spend a lot of time and effort on the Merlin. So in the new college year (September), we got together and had a breakfast discussion.We decided to talk to Malcolm and ask him if we could go in and work on the engine at least every Wednesday.
Well, it is now January the 28th and all of this past week we have been at the College doing our induction week, so we can start our course on Monday 30th January which is fantastic news for all of us.
Sadly, the course is five days a week so the Merlin project will be progressing at a slow pace as we will be concentrating most of our time on the course. Other big news for the team was we found out with great disappointment that Dave would not be coming back for the rest of the course, but, he is still going to come in and help to complete the Merlin. Other exciting news is that we were featured in the College newsletter and also in an edition of the Shoreham Airport newsletter, great news for the team.
