RESTORATION PROJECT

G-AWLZ Restoration

A Fournier RF4D taken back to bare structure and rebuilt — documented here from a set of workshop photographs.

About this report: this page was put together from a set of workshop photographs of G-AWLZ rather than a written account, so several fields below are unconfirmed. If you restored her, worked on the project, or can fill in dates, location or names, please get in touch and this report can be completed and credited properly.

RegistrationG-AWLZ

TypeFournier RF4D

Restorer / workshopNot yet recorded

DatesNot yet recorded

Before restoration

Where the project started

G-AWLZ before the rebuild, alongside another aircraft in the hangar.

G-AWLZ before restoration

Structure & fabric

From bare structure to covered airframe

The earliest photographs available show the wing reduced to its wooden rib structure, alongside an unpainted fuselage pod — both on trestles in the workshop. Later photographs show the wing part-way through covering and the fuselage in bare white GRP, before both reappear in gloss paint with G-AWLZ's blue trim.

G-AWLZ wing structure and fuselage pod on trestles, before covering

Wing rib structure and fuselage pod, workshop — before covering

G-AWLZ fuselage in bare white GRP, no markings yet

Fuselage pod in bare GRP, ahead of painting

Wing during covering work

G-AWLZ wing being finished, workshop overview

Wing covering continues, workshop overview

G-AWLZ nose and cockpit area, gloss white with blue trim, registration partly applied

Nose and cockpit, painted, registration going on

G-AWLZ finished wingtip in blue and white

Finished wing, blue and white scheme

Tail fin and rear fuselage, finished

Engine & reassembly

Engine on, ready for rigging

With the airframe finished, the engine and propeller went back on and the aircraft was brought together as a whole again ahead of test flying.

G-AWLZ with engine and propeller refitted in the hangar

Engine and propeller refitted, hangar reassembly

Return to flight

Back in the air

The finished aircraft, on the grass — the result the workshop photographs above were building toward.

G-AWLZ finished and outside on a grass airfield

G-AWLZ finished, on the grass

Sources and credits: photographs only, provenance not yet recorded. G-AWLZ appears elsewhere on this site in the RF4 aircraft page gallery, and is mentioned alongside G-AVWY in Peter Turner's RF4 article (John Taylor's aerobatic reference speeds). If you can add the restorer's name, workshop, and dates, or correct anything above, please get in touch via the members page.