GUARDIANS OF THE GATE
On 14th August RAF High Wycombe received a brand new Hawker Hurricane Gate Guardian to replace the 30-yearold weathered damaged one that has stood proudly at the entrance of Air Command for the past 8 years.

“However this isn’t the end for the 30-yearold Hurricane as it will be given a new lease of life!”

The new aircraft was installed, assembled and commissioned by Gateguards UK Ltd. The same company who built the Mark 11A Spitfire, Gateguards UK Ltd are manufacturers and suppliers of high-quality, full size replica aircraft for museums, collectors and film industries around the world. They are based at RAF St Mawgan and can only be commended on a fantastic job.

The new state of the art model is constructed from Glass Reinforced Plastic around a galvanized steel internal structure and will easily outlive the 30 year life of the previous airframe. The sheer distance from RAF St Mawgan to RAF High Wycombe made it a logistical nightmare; a 600 mile round trip for the team of engineers towing a 16ft fuselage and two 8-foot wings. As well as the distance, the fuselage is classed as a wide load and had to be brought up separately to the wings, with half of the team bringing the wings the day before and taking the opportunity to clean and repaint parts of the Spitfire.

As the Airframe came up in separate parts it needed to be constructed in situ which was no easy feat. After construction the Hurricane was lifted by a specialist team from M and M crane hire and GateGuards UK, and lowered onto the steel pins to hold it in place. All in all it was in a process that took 10 hours from start to finish, and that doesn’t even include the travelling time!
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Location: Bradenham, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, South East England, England, United Kingdom

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