By: Canopener Al - 1st May 2015 at 23:55
Good luck with it Peppermint, know exactly what your are talking about with the scars that a Jag GR has given me today. We have engines for ours, but have a few items missing from the rest of the frame that means said engines will not run. Seems most frames disposed of by the MoD now especially ones that are still in service elsewhere are robbed blind of anything of value or remaining life and sold on to other organisations or agents before the frames are then sold on. Good old spares recovery 🙁
Regards to EA and Max.
By: baloffski - 30th April 2015 at 17:04
Good luck with getting her running again, I know from bitter experience as a Tornado Sumpy it will fight you every inch of the way – there were times when I would have happily dropped a lit Zippo into the fuel tanks of many aircraft, especially with the old style MECU test set and plates on, trying to get values into the pokey little pots (having first lost the will to live doing the maths off the 701A for the reheat curve and WLTDB etc).
But it was always became worthwhile when you got it out onto the detuner and turned lots and lots of Avtur into Fire and Noise. Letting it soak for a minute in max dry and recording the placards, then that wonderful kick in the back as you push the throttle through the gate will make all your woes seem a lifetime away.
By: peppermint_jam - 30th April 2015 at 13:36
We too can’t wait to see her put back into a running condition, but the road ahead (as always with any kind of aircraft restoration!) is long, and obviously the engines, or lack of will be an issue. For now though, we have plenty or work to be getting on with in the mean time.
With regards to the Phantom, I agree that it would be wonderful to see her undergo some sort of restoration. However, with regards to her disposal, getting an aircraft (or anything else) out of Boscombe via the QinetiQ disposals system is not at all an easy process. We were fortunate that the member of our team that bought her and donated her to the CWJ collection, was at that time a QQ employee. He still had to present a detailed business case for her removal and sign a disclaimer that we would not attemp to fly her again, nor break her for scrap and weigh her in.
I can’t comment on how and why the Phantom was disposed of, as I had no involvement in the process.
Plus, as you quite correctly said, we have plenty on our hands already!
By: WH904 - 30th April 2015 at 13:00
I’m really looking forward to seeing the Tornado back in running condition. It was always a joy to see the machine make one of its all too rare appearances, and it’s a great pleasure to know it has been saved for preservation. My only disappointment is that the A&AEE Phantom XT597 didn’t follow the same path. Sadly, it is still languishing outdoors with Everett. The VAAC Harrier managed to make its way to Cosford (which is great news) but the poor Phantom (arguably the most significant of these three test airframes) seems to have been overlooked. Cosford declined to comment on the subject when I asked them, and the Tornado guys at Bruntingthorpe say that (quite understandably) they have enough to do restoring the Tornado, without taking-on a Phantom. I guess we can still hope that the Phantom will be purchased but I guess it’s unlikely, not least because it’s been up for sale for so long already. I’d also be interested to know if there is any news on the Shackleton that went to Bruntingthorpe from Gatwick?
By: Oxcart - 29th April 2015 at 17:17
Is that the one I saw in the backround of a recent ‘For the Love of Cars’ episode?
Best of luck, btw!
By: peppermint_jam - 29th April 2015 at 15:27
As Mark said, we are trying to restore her to ground running condition. We have most of what we need to refit her internally, barring seats and as yet, we don’t have engines, but that is our ultimate aim. The progress and details are all in the facebook group.
The Aircraft was bought from QinetiQ and donated to the CWJ collection at Bruntingthorpe back in late 2013.
We’re always looking for people to help, so if anyone is interested, please get in touch through facebook! Previous Tonka experience would be useful obviously, but not at all essential.
By: Jagx204 - 29th April 2015 at 15:13
It was not sourced via Everett’s, came direct from QinetiQ I believe.
There is a crew who are slowly rebuilding it to ground running, dependant on ECU’s and seats amongst other bits and they post updates via their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TornadoZA326/
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April 29, 2015 at 1:00 pm