Hawker Kestrel XS694 Restoration - Wings Museum

23/09/2026

Over the past few weeks the team have been working on the joint between the Fwd Fuse and Centre Fuse. The worst of the damage has been removed and replaced with new parts or reworked.

The Pipes and looms have been removed or pull out of the way. We have also cleaned out all the soil, leaves and stones from the US.

Next up will be to temp fit the cockpit back on and adjust where needed as it is hard to work out what is bent or not!

13/09/2026

Have any of our supporters got 2" of DZUS rail? If you have please get in touch.

09/09/2026

Ever wondered what lies beneath the skin of the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel?

With the original panels stripped back, you get a rare look at the internal airframe, formers, and structural geometry of this historic VTOL pioneer.

Our restoration team is currently hand-wheeling replacement skins using an English Wheel—shaping complex compound curves to match original factory tolerances.

It’s a unique chance to see traditional metal-shaping tradecraft bringing airframe history back to life.

The restoration is fully visible to all visitors to the museum so pop along, have a coffee and take a look

25/08/2026

We are still looking for an aperture card scanner to borrow/hire, unfortunately commercial companies that offer scanning services are very expensive.

If you can help please let us know

09/07/2026

A massive shoutout and thank you to Jim at The4SquadronCollection! He generously donated two elusive parts we’ve been hunting down for quite a while now: a lower control column lever and a tail plane trim standby control guard cover.
Once again, the incredible Harrier community has stepped up to help us restore this old girl. We are so grateful for the support.

05/06/2026

Can any of our Harrier friends or any CNC Machinists help us out, we are after a control column lower lever assembly as ours is missing, we are looking for an early Harrier/Sea Harrier one or someone who can machine a kestrel one for us, we have already drawn it up in CAD.

04/06/2026

If you can't find it, make it! (At least for now...)

We hit a bit of a roadblock with some missing instrument panel gauges, so we decided to get creative today. We spent a few hours drawing them up from scratch so we can 3D print them.

While the goal is to eventually source the authentic instruments, these 3D-printed placeholders are going to do a fantastic job of filling in the gaps and helping us visualize the final layout.

Step by step, it's all coming together!

If you would like to donate to help us restore this old girl please follow the link here:

https://gofund.me/6732819ec

02/06/2026

While long-term structural work continues on the fuselage joints and cockpit framing, we’ve shifted some focus toward the interior layout. We have begun trial-fitting the newly fabricated instrument panels to improve the visitor experience and show the eventual layout of the cockpit.
As you can see, we still have a significant number of blanks to fill. We are actively sourcing period-correct instruments, indicators, switches, and cockpit switchgear to populate the panels.
If you have any components in your stores or know of any leads from the era, please drop us a message.

If you would also like to help contribute to the restoration you can donate here:

https://gofund.me/d10e157ed

11/04/2026

Just a small update we have now managed to remove the STBD side of frame 8. Next will be the PORT side. Then we can start to make the replacement and repair parts we need.

03/04/2026

We are currently looking for an aperture card scanner to assist our restoration projects, unfortunately commercial companies offering scanning services are unrealistic with there pricing and for the amount we need to scan would set us back £15k+

We are also still fundraising for help to support the project, if you would like to donate please use the following link:

Welcome to the Wings Museum Hawker Siddeley Kestrel XS694 gofundme page.… Aaron Simmons needs your support for Hawker Kestrel XS694 Restoration - Wings Museum