Aero Vintage

Aero Vintage Ltd was formed in 1982 by Guy Black, an experienced design engineer, following his wish to assemble a small but high-quality collection of ex-military pre-1945 aircraft with the idea of displaying them in air shows and films. At that time, restoring old aircraft was much in its infancy and little in the way of airframes and restoration... facilities appeared to be available. The collection started out with the construction of a pair of replica Sopwith Pups done to an exacting standard of accuracy complete with original Le Rhne rotary engine, instruments and Vickers gun. A stupid error by a well-known test pilot destroyed one on its first flight and the other was sold to the Fleet Air Arm Museum, but the hunt for an original 1st WW aircraft turned up a derelict Bristol Fighter - a huge challenge to restore. It seemed a theme to this aircraft collection was developing, and the common denominator then was Rolls-Royce engines. So, starting with the Bristol Fighter (Rolls Royce V12 Falcon), Spitfire Mk. IX, TE 566, Rolls-(Royce Merlin V12), and the Hawker biplanes - all with V12 Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines followed. Aero Vintage Ltd. originally sub-contracted the restoration of all its aircraft but the fledgling company found the management of this challenging, as the industry had, in the main, not then matured sufficiently to produce the demanding standards the company required and so Retrotec Ltd was formed to undertake this role, assembled around a core team of manufacturing engineers that Guy had previously worked with and trusted. Under the guidance of Aero Vintage Ltd, apart from the conventional airworthiness management, Retrotec was one of the first aircraft restoration companies to establish a full-time engineering inspection department, as is found in all traditional aircraft constructors. Guy recognised that aircraft restoration today was more about manufacturing than in-depth maintenance a policy then steeped in tradition with the CAA. 100% engineering inspection is thus mandatory at ...Read More