End user segments
Protecting aviation history
Dulux Trade solves paint puzzle for museum exhibit
When a UK aviation museum asked us to help protect one of their remarkable exhibits, the last thing on anyone’s mind was recommending an exterior gloss paint supplied by our Dulux brand. But that’s exactly what happened.
It all began in April 2024 with a call from the volunteer-run de Havilland Aircraft Museum, where a prized exterior exhibit was in desperate need of preservation work.
The aircraft in question was a de Havilland DH. 110 Sea Vixen – the first British two-seat combat aircraft to achieve supersonic speed. Easily identified by its twin boom-tailed design, it was flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm from the 1950s to the early 1970s.
“After many years as an outside exhibit, the aircraft wasn’t looking its best,” explains William Gutch, a Specification Development Manager for our Dulux brand. “The Sea Vixen team had explored spraying the aircraft, but with no hanger space large enough to accommodate the airframe, a decision was made to explore completing the task in-situ.”
Conservation
Spraying in the open air was out of the question (ruling out a dedicated aerospace coating), so another solution was needed. “I was made aware that the plane would never be made airworthy, so rather than a restoration project, the task would be one of conservation/protection,” continues William. “I felt that if we looked at the project in the same way as we would any exterior metal surface, a solution could be found within our range of Dulux Trade durable exterior coatings.”
The trustees of the museum were also keen to preserve a level of color authenticity, so William secured the help of colleagues Steven Plowman (Technical Support Manager) and Abbie Churchill (Senior Technical Support Manager), to assist with product selection and color advice.
The brief was to replicate the color of an original “aged” panel to preserve its “in service” brightness and hue, and not recreate a factory perfect finish. After exhaustive trials, Dulux Trade Weathershield undercoat and exterior gloss were finally chosen because of their durability and excellent coverage rates. And, remarkably, the team was able to use vintage Ministry of Defence-specific colors, as they were still available on our in-store tinting software via the archive.
Superb results
A team of volunteers has been lovingly completing the work, which isn’t quite over yet. “I’m delighted that the Vixen team was able to achieve superb results,” continues William. “In fact, many visitors have even commented they thought the aircraft had been sprayed.”
Dulux products have also been used to repaint several of the museum’s outbuildings, while the company has now been approached for assistance in refurbishing one of its three iconic Mosquito aircraft.
“The technical advances made by de Havilland from the very beginning of aeronautics to the first passenger jet airliner should be celebrated and enjoyed by generations to come,” says William. “Preserving these aircraft will enable visitors to marvel at the ingenuity of the human race and help maintain the heritage of a pioneering company who were at the very forefront of world aviation.”
