Nimrod MRA4 Survivor (well sort of…)

Mike/Anon,

Really have my hands and time full with Meteors at the moment!! Was really just interested in talking to them about how the cockpit was set up as an MRA4 and how it was powered software wise as it didn’t look to have original display screens.

Before I got swamped in meteors, I had a few MRA4 bits and just trying to find out about them and how the A340 EIS was adapted.

In an Ideal world it belongs at Avro Heritage Museum as an MRA4 sim but sounds like that’s not in its future!?

Forget it, MDF. I’ve been keeping an eye on this “sim” for a while now and its current re-purposing into a “737” is because they are unable to dispose of it due to contractual issues.

However, a certain person within the department is keeping the original equipment fit safe to one side should it ever be allowed to “escape” at any time in the future.

Anon.

Could you tell me which university?? Be a shame as there are many 737 sims they could cheaply acquire.

Yes I believe so, and from what I have heard the plan is to turn it into a 737 simulator.

Just came across this thread and wondered where this simulator is and if it’s still in use?

The skin thickness reading is close to 16SWG which was the size used in the Nimrod nose area and probably the same as the Comet 4.

The nose of the fuselage of Comet 4 water tank specimen 6402 was removed at Woodford after use as the Nimrod MR2 mockup with fate unknown. Maybe this went to Singer for use in the AEW3 Flight Simulator. The FDAR used this redundant simulator. An ex-BAe Warton employee told me it arrived with tons of machinery which had to be removed to build the FDAR.

(When the rest of 6402s fuselage eventually went to Warton for use in the MRA4 Iron Bird the nose of XV263 was attached)

You mean XV263 not XZ263

I think it’s from the unused Comet fuselage that had been used as for egress studies at Woodford. In the early days of the MRA4 I went to a meeting on the Iron Bird and although they had a nose XZ263 which was already in work they didn’t have or know of of a spare fuselage which could be available in the next month or so (rig build was progressing at a fast pace) Hence I suggested the Comet fuselage at Woodford which I had seen in W&R. A few weeks later it was moved to Warton and its nose was removed to allow it to be matched to XZ263 nose.

So I think the spare Nose went to the cockpit development effort but not totally sure……not my part of the project.

Grimrods were built using the pounds, shillings and pence formula….. Metric indeed :p

1.5mm = 0.060″

Grimrods were built using the pounds, shillings and pence formula….. Metric indeed :p

If one of the lads at Uni can get a micrometer and measure the cockpit skin thickness this might give a clue to the provenance of this shell, i.e whether it is early or later Comet or Nimrod

I know this is a *really* old thread, but I was wandering around the old girl today and remembered this question. A quick stab with a simple vernier yields a thickness of about 1.5mm – does this tell us anything?

And for anyone interested, here she is earlier today all lit up.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]251237[/ATTACH]

If one of the lads at Uni can get a micrometer and measure the cockpit skin thickness this might give a clue to the provenance of this shell, i.e whether it is early or later Comet or Nimrod

Yep… that was my understanding of the fate of XV263 as well… I initially thought XV147 but am wondering if the corrosion under the skin in the forth shot is a clue…? Comet cn. 06402 was used for water tank tests then moved to Woodford for Nimrod tests…

Zeb

Interesting. The listing I have is that the FDAR (that was the name I was trying to think of) was made from a section of XV147. I’ve no reason to doubt it but I’ll check the source.

The nose of XV263 was used in the Nimrod MRA4 Iron Bird not the FDAR.

The FDAR nose at Liverpool is believed to have come from the AEW3 simulator built by Singer Link Miles at Lancing in 1984, using an unidentified Comet shell.

It was rescued by Warton from Waddington in the 90’s

An AEW3 and then an MRA4…how unlucky can a Nimrod get?:D

the cockpit in question is XV263, a Nimrod AEW3 that was an instructional airframe at Finningley. the fuselage went on to be a testbed for the MRA4 program.

The future for this beast is currently unclear. Though I’m sure someone will post info here when we finally manage to actually do something with her.

Hopefully the ‘scrap’ word isn’t going to be uttered….

What Zebedee posted looks like the rig (I can’t remember what we called it – SIR was it??)we used to use to assess the early flight tests. It looks the same anyway. The whole fuselage of XV147 was moved from Woodford in the 1990s I think. Maybe they kept the nose section when they scrapped it?

IIRC XV147 was scrapped when its home in 13 hangar was demolished back in 2001/2

Martin