The Krakow Aviation Museum chooses Merlo telehandler for a delicate installation.
There isn’t a child who doesn’t get excited looking at the white stripes in the sky and imagining aeroplanes in the air. Human beings have always had a desire to fly, and have tried to replicate the wings of birds to reach the sky, from the designs of Leonardo da Vinci to the invention of the aeroplane.
The Krakow Aviation Museum, created in 1964 in the former Rakowice-Czyżny military airport, was created to tell this fascinating story that led human beings to conquer the sky. The museum hosts the exhibition of one of the most complete collections in Europe featuring some of the aeroplanes that have made aviation history, engines, components as well as very valuable material.
To make the visitor’s experience more immersive and realistic, the museum’s curators decided to display three models on specially designed platforms. The aim was to show them as if they were in flight, recreating that astonishment and wonder you get when you watch them from the ground hovering in the sky. The installation, however, posed a rather important question: how would the three aeroplanes be positioned? These over 80-year-old specimens were not designed to be lifted and placed inclined at a height of three metres.
When the Power Solution company, chosen for the delicate installation, turned to Mateco – their trusted rental company – to understand which vehicle was the most suitable for this operation, the answer was immediate.
Quite simply, Merlo telehandlers are the only ones able to offer high lifting capacities combined with such precision, ease of operation and smoothness of movement.
Three selected telehandlers were needed to complete the delicate operations: a TF33.9, a P40.13 and a P40.17.
First, one of the telehandlers would load one of the structures onto its forks. Afterwards, the other two Merlo telehandlers would place the aircraft on top of it. For this reason, the 3 structures have been made to measure for Merlo forks, so that they can be moved perfectly.
Once the aircraft was secured to the structure, a third and final operation was required, which was also the most difficult of all. The three Merlo telehandlers had to lift the structure simultaneously in order to position it correctly. The precision of the manoeuvre and the visibility offered by the Merlo telehandlers was fundamental to this operation, allowing three skilled operators to complete the task while preserving the three splendid aeroplanes.
That’s how Merlo telehandlers allowed these three precious aeroplanes to “take off” for one last time.
Dapprima uno dei sollevatori caricava sulle proprie forche una delle strutture. Una volta effettuata questa manovra, gli altri due telescopici Merlo vi posizionavano sopra l’aereo. Per tale motivo le 3 strutture sono state realizzate su misura delle forche Merlo in modo da essere movimentate alla perfezione.
Una volta che l’aereo era fissato sulla struttura, era necessaria una terza e ultima operazione, che era anche la più difficile in assoluto. I tre sollevatori Merlo hanno dovuto sollevare simultaneamente la struttura per poi posizionarla correttamente. Per tale operazione è stata fondamentale la precisione di manovra e la visibilità offerte dai telescopici Merlo che hanno permesso a 3 abili operatori di portare a termine il compito preservando i tre splendidi aerei.
È così che i sollevatori telescopici Merlo hanno permesso a queste tre preziose aeromobili di spiccare il volo per un’ultima volta.
