PROJECT TAKES FLIGHT

Engineer painstakingly restores Second World War-era fighter in his Saskatoon garage

Engineer rebuilds 1940s fighter

SASKATOON Don Bradshaw used to spend his evenings and weekends in his garage, going through his “second childhood” by restoring collector cars, including a 1969 Dodge Daytona and a 1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda.

Now, the longtime aircraft maintenance engineer has swapped Detroit muscle for Berlin might and his garage on a quiet suburban street in Saskatoon is occupied by a mid-1940s Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 fighter.

“To me, it’s the challenge. It’s the challenge and, you know, there’s no one else on the block that’s got one,” Bradshaw said of the project, which he noted is backed by the prominent U.S. vintage aircraft collector Kermit Weeks.

“It’s scary expensive and technically very, very challenging, but it’s a hobby. Plus you kind of want to leave your mark on the world and this is one way — a small way — to do that,” he said, gesturing at the looming aircraft.

Bradshaw, who spent most of his career working for Transport Canada as an aircraft inspector, has devoted five years to hunting down old parts, fabricating new ones and meticulously rebuilding the Second World War-era German fighter.

It has been a painstaking process. While many parts can be found through the vintage warbird community or online, others have to be fabricated. Some original components are in such bad shape Bradshaw had no choice but to recreate them.

“The ability to do that type of work” — spending countless thousands of hours on the internet, in the garage and at a machine shop that is helping with the project — “is what lets me get into what normally would be something somebody of my means could never do,” he said.

There is much work left to be done — the completed fuselage still needs to be mated with its wings, a tail and a 12-cylinder DaimlerBenz DB 605 engine — but Bradshaw thinks it could be ready to fly within a year or two.

The Bf 109 first saw action during the Spanish Civil War and served as the Luftwaffe’s primary fighter until the end of the Second World War. It fought Spitfires and Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain and battled American fighters later in the war.

Armed with a pair of 13-millimetre machine guns and a 20-millimetre cannon firing through the propeller hub, the Bf 109 was used in multiple roles, including as an all-weather fighter, fighter-bomber, bomber escort and interceptor.

“It’s all about getting the machine guns and cannon into the fight. There are no creature comforts,” Bradshaw said, pointing out that pilots wore heated flying suits and breathed oxygen because the cramped cockpit was neither insulated nor pressurized.

Although it is thought to be the most widely produced aircraft in history, few survive today. Bradshaw said to the best of his knowledge there are only two airworthy

It’s the challenge and, you know, there’s no one else on the block that’s got one ... It’s scary expensive and technically very, very challenging, but it’s a hobby.

examples in North America and only a handful more worldwide.

The Messerschmitt is one of at least two Second World War fighters being restored by private owners in Saskatchewan.

Terry Dieno, who runs a trailer, boat and RV dealership in Davidson, recently finished rebuilding a 74-year-old North American Aviation P-51D Mustang that was destroyed in a landing accident years after the war ended.

Last month, after committing 11 years and an estimated $4 million to the project, Dieno watched as a professional check pilot fired up the Rolls-royce Merlin engine, taxied to the end of the runway and took off into the blue Saskatchewan sky.

“It was an experience I can’t put into words. The sound still has me vibrating,” Dieno said after the flight.

While Dieno hopes one day to fly his Mustang, Bradshaw said he doesn’t dream about flying the Messerschmitt because he knows it will never happen — but he can’t wait to watch someone else open the throttle and take it aloft for the first time.

“It’s like your kid winning the Super Bowl, that’s what it would be like to see,” he said. “But for me it’s about the build, the challenge.”

KAYLE NEIS Don Bradshaw, a Saskatoon aviation enthusiast, is restoring a Second World War-era Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 fighter in his garage. At right, the view from inside the cockpit, which lacked insulation in its heyday.