I'm jumping around a bit on the project, but for good reason. I just scheduled my "Pre-Cover" inspection with MD-RA for tomorrow. This is the inspection and review of the airframe, materials, my workmanship and of course paperwork which is all part of the process for an "amateur built" aircraft in Canada. In Canada we use the term amateur built instead of "Experimental" like the U.S. does. Although this plane flew previously and was intended to become a factory built, or certified aircraft, it never became that. This has allowed me to restore it as an amateur built but it requires inspections by an MD-RA inspector at various stages of the build or restoration. The MD-RA inspector is a dedicated volunteer with aircraft structural and power plant experience and training who represents Transport Canada. Often the inspector is someone who has built a few of their own amateur built aircraft themselves. Ideally, the inspector has experience on the type of structure you're building or restoring. Check out MD-RA.com for more details.
Since my inspector will be doing the Pre-Cover inspection, he'll expect to see all the airframe pieces without any covering on it. Although the ailerons were structurally sound after the accident, they still need to be inspected prior to recovering, so off with the old covering. The RH aileron had already been stripped of its covering prior to my starting the project.
Upon removing the covering, I discovered evidence that the aileron servo tabs were added to the plane later in its life. The fabric was cut away from that area and there is some scorching on the aluminum where some additional welding was done for the servo tabs. The patchwork around the servo tab was hardly noticeable from the outside, but it became more so, once the fabric was opened up.
Looking at some of the vintage photos supports that theory. See attached photo. This was a picture of the plane early in its life. I know this was early in the plane's life because the photo shows the plane with the original, individual exhaust stacks sticking out of the bottom of the cowl cheeks. Later, the exhaust was collected on each side and became a pair of exhaust stacks out the bottom of the cowl in front of the firewall. The attached photo shows the individual exhaust stacks and a continuous trailing edge on the aileron. Additionally, there isn't the linkage between the aileron hinge and the servo tab. The servo tabs were obviously added at some point, and then enlarged with a strip of aluminum bolted to them. Unfortunately the log books don't mention any of these changes. In fact, the log book entries were extremely poor. They only have a date and a time flown. They don't mention the pilot, the location, or anything they did during the flight.