Laid out on the floor of a cavernous hangar at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset, the ghostly silhouette of a Fairey Barracuda torpedo and dive bomber fuselage is taking shape and over the next decade visitors will be able to watch as the plane is completely rebuilt.
Although 2,600 Barracudas were made for the Fleet Air Arm, more than any other aircraft ever ordered by the Royal Navy, no complete examples remain, having all either crashed or broken up, creating a gap that troubles historians, engineers and families of those who lost loved ones in the planes.
Barracuda Live: The Big Rebuild is a conservation exhibition that will centre on one plane - Fairey Barracuda DP872 - which crashed in 1944 before being hauled out of a bog in 1971, and is being put back together with help from parts taken from Barracudas found at the sites of five other wrecks.
When it is complete, in about 10 years' time, DP872 will feature about 70% original Barracuda parts with the other 30% made new to fill in gaps.
Esta historia es de la edición September 23, 2023 de The Guardian.
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