How do you strip a Lightning for transportation?

Cirrus – You are allowed up to 9’6 with a marked load . Add a second man in the cab and you are allowed legally up to 11 feet six without any problems or escort. From then on it’s an escort which means up to sixteen feet . From then on it’s difficult !

It would only be fitting that if the deadline is Waddo 09 then she should be positioned within the static line up, now that would be something to see!!.

Well done gents on getting her back to where she belongs.

Regards,

John.

re

Our deadline is Waddington Airshow 2009, but we have financial limitations~ie it has to be begged or borrowed!!

C 6[/QUOTE]

With the historic a/c displayed at Waddington, I hope we can get a good look at it. It seems XM607 is out of public view and the phantom is chained down. it would have been good to have had them in with the a/c at this years show.

Best of luck though.

well a good job done considering the timescale you had. good luck with her. I bet shes in for a good spruce up

Milt, we have discussed this at length before, and it is more than possible to transport the wings complete (less the leading edge) as long as they are canted to a certain angle.

Gentlemen,

We didn’t have the neccessary formers on which to mount the wing (in one piece or two), and nor did we have the “wide load” clearance. Our max width was 9’6″, and that’s it! If we had a diferent mark of Lightning(ie pre L.E “kink”), we’d have been ok.

Taking off the L.E would have been too time consuming.

C 6

eh? just the wing.

Milt, we have discussed this at length before, and it is more than possible to transport the wings complete (less the leading edge) as long as they are canted to a certain angle.

eh? just the wing.

anything over 16 feet is problematical!- I cannot think of any Lightnings transported canted over with wings still fitted! Lovely to see the wings removed properly and sshows what can be achieved in a realistic timescale!

Better still use the original material for the “nose cone”.
I believe that there is still a maker of the sprayable neoprene somewhere
on the south coast.

well done Kurt, great result, thats 3 times 770 has now been moved and not cut up, so shes used to it by now!shame you had to split the wing, whats the rules these days on transport width then? I always thaught that it would be possible to transport the wing in one piece, canted over on a low loader, without leading edges fitted. glad you chose 770, she was the best available on many levels. Other airframes that hadn’t been apart before, really would have been a 5-6 day job to get apart and a big big headache. like wise, if we can help with bits, give us a heads up or Jase seeing as hes on your doorstep.

Thank you 320psi, it’s always good to know there is real support out there. We’ll be in touch if there’s anything we need.

Cheers,

C 6

No worries, one of your guys did get intouch with me and Rich a few months back asking which airframes were ‘possibles’, Im really glad you have secured 770.
Look forward to your updates on her progress 😉

Just dont paint the nose cone red like 753, I will even buy the green paint for you 😉

Thank you 320psi, it’s always good to know there is real support out there. We’ll be in touch if there’s anything we need.

Cheers,

C 6

OK, the cat is out of the bag, XR770 is in our hands.

Yes it’s a shame we had to cut her a little but we’ll repair/replace that damage. Trust me I found it sickening, but time/money constraints forced our hand.

The “T-Bucket” at Lincair is staying with its owners and is safe.

We owe thanks and gratitude to the owner and his family for their hospitality and help, and hope we can make XR770 beautiful again.

Our deadline is Waddington Airshow 2009, but we have financial limitations~ie it has to be begged or borrowed!!

C 6

Let me know if you guys need anything, shall see what we ‘in stock’ if so 😉

Nice one;)

OK, the cat is out of the bag, XR770 is in our hands.

Yes it’s a shame we had to cut her a little but we’ll repair/replace that damage. Trust me I found it sickening, but time/money constraints forced our hand.

The “T-Bucket” at Lincair is staying with its owners and is safe.

We owe thanks and gratitude to the owner and his family for their hospitality and help, and hope we can make XR770 beautiful again.

Our deadline is Waddington Airshow 2009, but we have financial limitations~ie it has to be begged or borrowed!!

C 6

Exellent news well done all,

Great to see 770 back with 5sqd 😉

Good luck with the rebuild back to a good ‘cosmetic’ from all of us in the LPG 🙂

Here she is way back when

Really glad she’s now safe, someone’s gotta save XS919 now 😡

Cheers all 🙂

brilliant, so she’s to be a 5 sqn mascot after a good overhaul? 🙂

Well done Kurt, its a mamoth task aint it 😉

Whats the plans for the aircraft now ?

This could help
http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=684

I hate to see any lightning being cut. Hopefully this was the only damage done?

Well done Kurt, its a mamoth task aint it 😉

Whats the plans for the aircraft now ?

Done It!

With only one day to do it and a substantially stripped airframe to start with, we moved our Lightning yesterday!

It took 18 hours work for a team of 6 engineers, plus the owner, crane driver and 3 transport drivers.

We had to make one cut (4″ off the Port flap trailing Edge) to satisfy the beaurocrats limitations of how wide a load shoud be.

I’ll try to upload a pic (of the spark shower) but would like to put a small feature forward for our esteemed magazine. How do I do that?

Thank you all for your help.

Cheers,
Kurt (C 6)