The poster for the Operation Halifax exhibition at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington
THIRTY years ago, a remarkable ten-year restoration project was completed at the Yorkshire Air Museum near York.
After a decade of tireless work, a Handley Page Halifax bomber – the type that flew from the site at Elvington in the Second World War – was unveiled to the public.
To mark the 30th anniversary of this milestone, the Yorkshire Air Museum has launched a new exhibition and theme for the year that honours the project and looks at the work done during the war to build thousands of Halifax bombers.
Operation Halifax also tells the story of the most famous Halifax of them all, Friday the 13th, dubbed ‘the plane they couldn’t kill’.
A new Halifax fuselage section being transported. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum
The museum stands on the site of RAF Elvington, home to three squadrons of RAF Bomber Command during the war, when crews flew perilous missions over Germany and occupied Europe. Almost half the aircrew did not survive.
After the war, every remaining Halifax bomber was scrapped, but that did not deter volunteers at the Yorkshire Air Museum. When the museum was opened in the 1980s, they realised that to make it complete, it would need a Halifax.
As none remained, they hatched a plan to rebuild one using parts from crashed aircraft, components donated from similar planes and entire sections rebuilt from scratch. One length of fuselage was from an aircraft that had crashed on the Isle of Lewis and had been used as a hen house.
Halifax fuselage on the Isle of Lewis. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum
It took a decade to complete the project, carried out by museum volunteers,many of them RAF veterans.
The new exhibition is based in the museum’s main hangar, under the nose of the Halifax, and includes displays, videos and an animation that shows where each part of the reconstructed aircraft came from. It will run for at least a year.
Yorkshire Air Museum communications manager Jerry Ibbotson said: “Rebuilding the Halifax was a staggering project 30 years ago, and it’s easy to forget just how much effort was involved.
A Second World War female factory worker building a Halifax. Picture: Yorkshire Air Museum
“Operation Halifax will shed light on what was achieved, as well as showing how Halifaxes were built during the war – often using bus and coach factories that were requisitioned for the task.
“We have some stunning photos from this time, showing how many of the workers were young women who stepped up to fill roles taken by men who had gone off to fight.”
Operation Halifax is included in the Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial admission price. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm, last admission, 4pm, seven days a week. Tickets: yorkshireairmuseum.org.