Latest Divers Plaything

Sadly as I recall, last autumn such deadlines weren’t as much of an issue! 🙁

I think it would be easier to put one into a ferryable status and fly to where it needs to go, assuming you have somewhere to land it that is!

A bit like the illusive Merchantman Joe! 😉

I think for this purpose just taking a big disc cutter and gas axe to it wouldn’t be a problem as in murky water it just has to look like a plane and in a few years when tin worm gets hold it won’t matter.

I like the ‘yellow submarine’ they have, looks a bit like an APC with the tracks removed.

Dismantling a 748

As Jon H says, we’ve had a look at the feasibility of the strip down but the expense of making a support cradle for the fuselage, then getting all the bolts out, then lifting two 46ft wings (complete with undercarriages and nacelles) clear, then, to round it all off, at least two low-loaders-full to take it away (at £1200 a day inc. craneage) makes it a daunting process both physically and financially. There is a narrow timescale too as the 748’s have to be processed by the end of May.

Cutting means cutting off the outer wings (each 35ft long) just outboard of the nacelles, the nose off just forward of the wing (9ft dia, 15ft long) tail feathers off (tailplanes and fin cut just outboard of fus) and rear fuselage off just behind wing (9ft dia, 30-odd ft long) leaves the centre section at 30ft span and 14ft long travelling sideways as a wide (but just a notifiable load not requiring escort) load for the motorways. None of this requires the low-loader either, it being manageable work for a long flatbed with Hiab (@£250 a day).

It’s quicker but the work is then required to put her back together again though this is with less pressure in the first place to get a dismantle-job done in a short timescale.

We have discussed this method with AMS and they have been helpful but they have pooh-poohed the idea (the polite way of describing their Aussie reaction), saying that it must be dismantled, not cut, or it’s no-go.

However, there has been some success with part of another ex-Emerald machine but I am not at liberty to release details just yet until AMS give their permission for me to do so. Suffice to say there will be a lot of very interesting pictures on this Forum in the not-too-distant future.

We still hope for a decision which will allow us to cut and rescue JD as she still stands outside the hangar at Blackpool waiting for someone to take her away. The management at AMS want to help save some of these machines but they reserve the right to be the final arbiter when it comes down to method.

Anon.

Yes I have looked at taking one apart and Jon is quite correct, that wing is a bit of a nightmare, not only does it not come apart easily but it’s huge!

I think it would be easier to put one into a ferryable status and fly to where it needs to go, assuming you have somewhere to land it that is!

Big problem is taking one apart. Can anyone say they have ever seen one dismantled….? I know one guy who has and but that was on the production line!

A few of us investigated the feasibility of taking a 748 apart and there is no easy way having poured over countless drawings and documentation. Each wing has huge doubler plates at the root top and bottom with a couple of thousand rivets in, then with those off you have a small underwing access panel (approx 18″) through which to get in side and take out the 250+ bolts (8 bolts per stringer and something like 32 of them) assuming you can even reach them. And that is before you consider the cost of it all – support frames, cranes, manpower etc etc.

In the end our feeling was the best bet is surgically cut it into roadable sections then plate it all back together at a later date. Though that then creates a whole heap of new issues as you then have to put the structural integrity back in….

All that said if someone wants to give us a big pot of cash, we will happily try to get one for Speke 😀

Jon

Just think in 60 years time people will be saying “I remember them putting an old plane in there” and everyone will say its an `urban myth`.

In part we’ve been here before http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=86867&highlight=748

But perhaps things have now gone too silent! 🙁

Wouldn’t be too out of place at Duxford with the BA 1-11 and VC-10 or East Fortune could buck the trend and get one because of their use in Scotland

Aren’t we lucky there wasn’t a 748 preserved by BA at Cosford :dev2::dev2:

Roger Smith.

Ex Emerald 748 this time. Bit of a shame really, we really should have one properly preserved somewhere.

Within a collection of British Airliners, maybe?

I wonder where such a collection might be…..:confused:

Ah yes, I remember! Obviously considered to be of little historical relevance then :rolleyes: