To help us make the Barracuda a reality, please consider making a donation:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/barracuda-live As the Barracuda project develops, using more components gleaned from a growing number of Barracuda aircraft and sources to aid the build, it is clear (from a museum point of view) that while this re-construction will always be that of Fairey Barracuda DP872, it is no longer
the pure ‘restoration’ of a single aeroplane and its original components. Being clear about what is restoration, conservation, preservation, reconstructed work or new manufacture is something that the Royal Navy Museums: Naval Aviation's Conservation and Engineering Team is keen to think about, identify and promote more accurately. The project incorporates many disciplines with individually restored, conserved, preserved parts, re-manufactured parts and sub-sections utilising components from various sources. To be accurate, we now see the project as a reconstruction and rebuild. The aim is still to create an exacting example of a Barracuda down to the last detail, using DP872 as basis, and using as many reclaimed original components as possible before we include any new material. The finished aircraft will be unique as the world’s only complete example of a Fairey Barracuda and will set the highest levels of museum standard engineering. We hope you will appreciate this level of correct and accurate Museum thinking associated with the project and continue to support us as the rebuild continues. Museum engineer Will is focussing on the reconstruction of the centre section structure in the pilot's cockpit and observer's compartment. This begins to add new shape to the build but brings with it more challenges. The continuing conundrum of what was bent in the factory, what was bent in the crash (or bent further in the crash and by how much), what fits in ahead of what (we have no manufacturer’s build schedule for the aircraft) and what can be salvaged and used that is original Barracuda material. Processing the salvaged Solent wreck components is also a background task that continues to surprise us at the quality and condition of many of the components that have been on the seabed for more than 70 years and now we also have the substantial remains of LS551 lost on Operation TUNGSTEN but only recovered in 2025 to process.
