Stanair completes installation of Lightning hangar doors at Bruntingthorpe
Stanair Industrial Door Services has completed the re-installation of the original hangar doors at the Lightning Jet’s Bruntingthorpe base, in plenty of time for the May bank holiday open day.
The job began more than two years ago, in January 2008, after the Lightning Preservation Group (LPG) turned to Stanair for help.
They had been told that the original doors could not be refitted.
Stanair’s team of engineers visited the site, found the doors to be in reasonable condition and agreed to repair and re-fit the front and rear doors.
But it was far from a simple task.
The front doors were scheduled to be hung first, and work started at the end of 2008.
The tracks and hinges of the doors were wire-brushed (by hand!) to remove the rust that had built up after years left in the open, before being painted oxide red to prevent further corrosion.
Shortly afterwards the channel for the bottom tracks were cut before the doors were successfully re-hung and the tracks themselves concreted in.
The project was completed at the end of February 2009 and the Stanair team was delighted with the results – each door leaf can be operated by one person.
Work on the rear doors began in November 2009, and wasn’t quite so easy!
The rear doors required more work than the front doors – obtaining and reconditioning another set of doors was given serious consideration.
The replacement doors didn’t materialise, so Stanair’s engineers went to work and soon had the doors working perfectly.
As with the front doors, all the brackets and hinges were wire-brushed and repainted then the doors were re-hung.
Richard Norris is President of the Lightning Preservation Group.
He said: “Stanair has re-installed the doors to a very high standard, and we’re really pleased with the work they’ve done.
“The back doors were in a particularly sorry state and the reconditioning work they did was fantastic.
“Of course, more than anything, we’re so happy that allowed us to keep the hangars original by refitting the original doors.”
Further details can be found on the LPG’s website.VAT registration number 121807693.
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