Every piece of an aircraft tells a story — and sometimes, those stories start as a heap of twisted metal.

Recently, the Bomber Command Museum of Canada received a generous donation from our friends at the Harvard Historical Aviation Society in Penhold. Among the materials was what looked like a simple ball of scrap aluminum — dented, creased, and almost unrecognizable. Hidden within that jumble, however, were the remains of the elusive tailplane fairings — the curved metal panels that fit between the tailplane and the fin beneath the rudder on our Avro Anson.

These fairings are nearly impossible to find today. Time, corrosion, and wartime wear have erased most surviving examples. But where others might have seen only junk, our restoration team saw potential.

With patience and precision, Mark Mayer took to the English wheel, slowly coaxing the metal back into shape. Hours of careful forming and fine adjustment transformed the battered remnants into beautifully contoured panels — restoring not only the part itself, but a piece of the Anson’s aerodynamic grace.

What began as a forgotten bundle of “scrap” has truly become a treasure — a testament to craftsmanship, teamwork, and the enduring spirit of preservation.