G-APSA is a 1958 DC-6, which, over the years, has flown the Atlantic run, played a part in the nascent British rocket development programme ( Blue Streak for those not immediately familiar with British rocket history ) and carried passengers and cargo from the deserts of the Gulf to San Francisco and the Maldives.
How often does a designer get the chance to be involved in the complete rebuild of an aircraft like this, including a brand new interior ? ( Never, of course ).
So, with great excitement, I joined the team from Cloudmaster to fly to Salzburg to look over one of the only airworthy examples owned by the inveterate aircraft collectors at Red Bull. The excitement was tempered by realising that this would break a lifelong personal rule of avoiding being piloted by your own client. Happily, Julian Firth of Cloudmaster is the owner of a safe pair of hands, hands which have held the yoke, or joystick, of anything from DC6's, to FlyBe jets and small single engine trainers .
The Cloudmaster DC-6 is resting in the UK after her fifty years service. She will be starting a new life after her restoration - mechanically immaculate; faithful in exterior appearance to her early years as a cornerstone of British aviation and with a Bannenberg & Rowell interior which will eschew the language of the business jet and instead explore themes and influences from her long and distinguised past, without straying into retro pastiche.
The studio is already awash in DC-6 research material - manuals, rather niche-interest books and checklists ( eg Cabin supercharger start marker - Destination Altitude ). It's going to be a fascinating journey.
