Hello from a mermber of the rescue team...about ten years delayed!
I am a member of the Cessna 150-152 Club in America who was present in Wiltshire when we loaded G-AWAW onto the container to America. I was supposed to keep the volunteers informed with progress reports. I am so sorry I fell off the perch completely after I got completely sidelined due to family problems. But, better late than never as they say! The 'rescue' could not have been accomplishsed without the superb assistance we received from the Science Museum staff at Wroughton and volunteers from the Pprune community. So again, a much belated thank you!
I have written a similar post in the aviation history section of Pprune to try to update, thinking that was the natural place to post. Upon doing a search within Pprune, I found the original thread here, so posting the update here as well..Henceforth I refer all who are interested to the g-awaw.org site hosted by her current caretaker, Mike Rice of Aerolearn in Texas. He is a certified AP (I) mechanic and works on restoration projects in his spare time and is G-AWAW's present custodian and guardian. He is the most qualified to comment henceforth.
Not much has happened since AW arrived in America. It was indeed an enormous challenge, as so much needed to be done. I am not sure if it has been settled whether to restore her to full airworthiness or simply as a static display, for example at the annual Cessna 150-152 Club fly-in at Clinton, Iowa to preserve the history. Mike says that it is technically possible to restore the aircraft to airworthiness but much needs to be done and many parts need to be obtained, including such big ticket items as a new engine and a new prop, Several hundred hours of metal work must also be done to repair the hull as well. Then avionics etc...timed out parts could of course be used if she is only to be a static display ...I guess things are on hold until they decide which way they want to go.
I am trying to tie up the loose ends that I dropped, picking up where I left off and trying to gather info about the plane, reaching out to former pilots on Pprune in an attempt to gather storied and reconstruct something of the logbooks and history out of whatever comes back. I shall then put my gleanings into a computer document and forward that to Texas.
The pieces of the aircraft have been cleaned and examined, ready for work, when Mike has time in his busy schedule. There is no danger of the airplane ever being scrapped. In 2018, Mike had hoped to trailer G-AWAW to the annual Club fly-in at Clinton, Iowa, but sadly at the last minute was unable to do so. It is safely preserved in his hangar and I urge all to check in with the website for progress updates which he posts when something has happened. ,
And that is about where it stands! I myself still cherish a dream of seeing her fly again, but all I can do is chip in to the restoration effort kitty as and when I am financially able. In the meantime, I remember Jan's motto on the flight -- "Never Say Die"...and that was a difficult flight. full of setbacks, obstacles and discouragement. The restoration/resurrection is proving to be a similar challenge. But with similar determination and dogged persistence on the part of her preservers, here too the finish line will one day be crossed. Onward!.
Once again, thank you so much for helping out!
Jennifer in Norway