Blenheim Damage

Lancman

Ref ARCO. If you say so then I guess they can do miracles. Certainly hope so.

But. . . somehow I can’t see the Blenhein flying again – taxying yes. Certainly hope I’m wrong though. Will buy ONE beer of your choice amongst all of you if it does. 😀

And look! 50! My half-century! Not much compared to some of you, but then, I’m older’n most of you – takes me l o n g e r. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Lancman
From memory, dear old Graham Warner stated that the props were extraordinarily expensive to have restored originally. 🙁

According to Graham Warner’s Spirit of Britain First, the props for G-MKIV were done FOC by BAe. By the time they needed the next set, Lostock had closed down and it cost £33,000 to have them overhauled in Canada.

Ouch.

blenheim to the sky again

She looks quite repairable and i hope she makes it back into the air again!

Yes, if anyone ever wants a REAL ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ or ‘Robocop’ building, ARCO are your company! They’ll do it, I have no doubt.

Good argument for the Blenheim to be a BBMF ‘guest’-they were going to take over the Mossie after all, before events took an unfortunate turn otherwise. 🙁

Hi Les,

The Heritage lottery fund rules state that funding will not be made available to a flying aircraft. Static aircraft are an exception but the repairs required to the Blenheim are certainly within the exceptional capabilities of the Arco people and I have no doubt whatsoever that we will see the aircraft back where she belongs. I will not speculate as to how long this will take but they restored this aircraft from a hulk to pristine condition in five years.

Let’s hope for lottery funds then and a willing CAA.

Be a shame not to see the Bleheim fly again though. It is, in my mind, just as important an aircraft in the scheme of things as the various Spits’n’bits that are flying – maybe not as “sexy”, :rolleyes:

In fact, I think a good argument could be made for the Blenheim to become an “honourary” part of the BoBF!

I can’t see it just being restored to ‘trundle’-it’ll be all or nothing.

Good set Snapper, very instructive.

As others have said, the team will probably get things back together but it will take stacks of geld (the lottery?), lots of time and fantastic dedication.

In my RAF days, such damage as the fold at the wing root would have been classed as Cat 5 and the kite scrapped – then given to a BDRF somewhere. Even if classed as Cat 4 damage, this aircraft would have been out of service at an MU for anything up to one to two years. And to get that sort of treatment (and resources) the kite would need to be valuable to the service in some way.

No, I think that the Bleheim, being owned by an enthusiastic preservation group, will probably be seen by the public again in the future – but maybe only as a taxying example? 🙁

From memory, dear old Graham Warner stated that the props were extraordinarily expensive to have restored originally. 🙁

depends on what damage has occured at then root and in the hub. Also they usually have a table of damage which will determine the extent that they can undo a bend.

No expert, admittedly, but aren’t the props metal? Couldn’t they just bend them out, as they used to with the old Spitfire props?

Just a thought.

From what I recall from the last accident, won’t propellers be the biggest problem? Have the wing spars & spar webs escaped damage?

Back in the jig for her. Certainly quite a lot of damage but luckily it appears to be in an area where it’s not particularily complex to repair – just time consuming. I would guess at three complete or partial frames ,stringer repairs and possibly some sorting out of a longeron or two then reskin her . This repair is well within the capabilities of the men at ARCO.
As for the wing well luckily she doesnt appear too hard hit.

Could be a lot better, could be a lot worse-thanks for posting them Snapper.

I believe a gentleman by the name of Blackadder once said that the phrase he was thinking of rhymed with ‘clucking bell’. Looking at this poor girl, I tend to agree with him… 🙁

Great photo’s Snapper, I think they speak for themselves, lets just hope that the hidden damage is not beyond the will power of the owners.:( 🙁 🙁

It really gets on my nerves that I have to upload each picture individually, and come up with a bloody comment with it.

Lets hope it’s not bent too bad.

It looks a bit bent to me.

So don’t shoot the messenger.

I know nothing of these things.