Monster Moves on Ch5 tonight 8pm (20th Sept)

Thanks, missed that one!

Retro Aviation moved the Canberra

And the connection with Monster Moves is?

http://www.insolventcompanies.co.uk/retro-aviation-limited-05886648/

.

Allow me to point out a photo of the aircraft is featured in the October FlyPast (some of you do read it?).

I was absolutely amazed at the trade practices or lack of being carried out. Electric drills and aircraft full of fuel don’t go well together. As for lashing trestles and fork lift trucks to the fuselage ,that just defied belief. As someone who assisted in dismantling the Canberra at long Marston the Coventry Canberra should have been easy. A nice hangar to work in would have been luxury. Try doing the same job in a muddy field in October which I might add was achieved in five days. Granted it had no engines to remove but we had to remove the fin and break the fuselage at the rear transport joint. I think if I wanted a plane dismantled they would probably be the last people I would employ.

Those guys certainly made Heath & Robinson look good!
They obviously didn’t read the section in the manual about slinging and lifting.
Glad they don’t work for me.

Oh well, in lieu of a Daniel Pemberton composition, I offer you this…

Canberra jet, alas no more flight
so off by road, but screws too tight
Panels off and pipes exposed
Empty the tanks, the ‘petrol’ flowed

Into buckets, the fuel they drain
more than they thought, it falls like rain
Mops are out, the floor to dry
Quicker and easier, t’would been to fly

Big bolts out, a mallet ready
The wings they swung, all unsteady
The shout went up, watch yur ‘ead!
A ‘tool’ did snap, a lip it bled

Wings and tail off, the fuselage bare
Now to balance it, without a care
It tips and swings around like f**k
Lets weigh it down with a forklift truck

Finally loaded, more ‘petrol’ spilled
The truckers belly with butty filled
Through rain and wind, the parts do flee
to their new home in sunny Newquay…

Thats a very nice little ditty Bob:eagerness:

Its a good job i did not see this program before assisting with the move of Canberra T4 from boggy field at Long Marston to Malta !

It could well of put me off:rolleyes:

bravo24

It was almost as you write. You could even imagine a bit of MDF being thrown in !

Yes, how to do it with contrived drama and drama arising from ineptitude.

Fortunately I missed this program. However in view of my previous post can anyone tell me, did the boss man use his cold chisel and lump hammer? Also did he use another of his tricks of the trade and replace panels with B&Q self tappers!!

quite interesting for a novice on the Canberra, to see it come to pieces even if it did seem a little roughly done…..the cockpit looked extremely incomplete, Has any progress been made on the aircraft at its new home

Yes, how to do it with contrived drama and drama arising from ineptitude.

For those contemplating moving a Canberra its now surely a must watch !

There is always a ‘time limit’ on these tv shows,in this case it might even have been a genuine one,but as both David and myself have previously alluded to… I personally do not know of anybody who would attempt the removal of a large wing without the use of an inboard and outboard trestle,even plain trestles under the spar would have been better than nothing !!
The fuselage would not have been so ‘nose heavy’ either if they had used a second strop further forward – the one strop they did use was simply too far aft !

John -whilst I don’t dispute the skills of ex Canberra guys – the company concerned appeared to have wanted it moved by a certain date. Volunteers by their very nature are not obliged to work when you want them to -employed people are (by and large) . So yes I am sure it could have been moved by ex RAF guys but we probably wouldn’t be in a position to comment on the program other than it was taken apart and moved – no drama which doesnt make entertaining television !

Oh well, in lieu of a Daniel Pemberton composition, I offer you this…

Canberra jet, alas no more flight
so off by road, but screws too tight
Panels off and pipes exposed
Empty the tanks, the ‘petrol’ flowed

Into buckets, the fuel they drain
more than they thought, it falls like rain
Mops are out, the floor to dry
Quicker and easier, t’would been to fly

Big bolts out, a mallet ready
The wings they swung, all unsteady
The shout went up, watch yur ‘ead!
A ‘tool’ did snap, a lip it bled

Wings and tail off, the fuselage bare
Now to balance it, without a care
It tips and swings around like f**k
Lets weigh it down with a forklift truck

Finally loaded, more ‘petrol’ spilled
The truckers belly with butty filled
Through rain and wind, the parts do flee
to their new home in sunny Newquay…

Equally, some who weren’t and would perhaps have welcomed the opportunity to display their expertise. We won’t know will we, if they weren’t asked !

Because a lot of them are probably busy earning a living! The episode of the wing removal highlighted the usefulness of wing tressles . That would have taken the stress off the bolts and made teh job a lot easier! As it was a wing of that weight swinging like that is a good way to kill people!

As a pretty rough guesstimate, I would have thought that there are thousands of ex RAF Canberra airframe fitters around who can still dismantle a Canberra very efficiently while only half awake !

Why on earth weren’t they asked ?

Three more by road to Nottinghamshire – PR7 (Cottesmore), B(I)8 (Abingdon) and T19 (Cambridge). 🙂