Greetings Rodger,this is my 28 as I got it with a sturmey box in,as you can see it had laid up resting for a long time before it came back to life.

What is the flat plate for by the gearbox mount,has the frame broke at some time? They were prone to breaking all around the gearbox mount area, as for the squash in the frame,its probably had a clamp on prop stand fitted as Simon said.