Hello guys and gals 🙂
Thought you might like a quick update on plans for the expansion of Hanger 1 at Duxford, the big “Airspace” project.
* The Anson has now been painted (in the markings of a 500 Squadron “County of Kent” Anson) and is currently on temporary display in Hanger 3…
She was originally intended for suspension from the ceiling in the “Airspace”, but due to all the hard work and loving care lavished on her recently, it has been decided to ‘string’ the Oxford up instead.
* The CF-100 is in the paint shop in Hanger 5 at the moment – as far as I know she is having the same markings she wore prior to being stripped down – I will verify this tomorrow.
* The Spitfire is also in Hanger 5 waiting to be weighed and inspected – it is uncertain at the moment whether she will be suspended or not.
* Both the Harrier and the Mosquito remain on the suspension list (I can certainly see the merits of suspending the Harrier as I think it is a much better looking aircraft in the air than in the ground)
* The RE8 is currently in the workshop behind Hanger 4 being prepared for suspension in the Airspace – this I am surprised about due to it’s rarity – although as a member of the Conservation team pointed out to me last week, it is only since the aircraft has been at Duxford that she has been displayed “on the ground” as she has always previously been displayed “suspended in flight” – plus side to suspension is that the destructive minded ankle-biters can’t get at it, negative is the strain on the aircraft, although compared to many aircraft of course, she is quite light.
*Other titbits – the Buccaneer has been moved to Hanger 5 ready for her “new clothes”, work on the Swordfish progresses well, and the Proctor is now staying at Duxford with the possibility of being included in the Airspace (she had been due to move to the States but plans fell through)
*And finally…a bit of news which should get some of you celebrating…one of Ashley’s favourite aircraft has been told she’s just too darn heavy for suspension, so will be keeping her feet on the ground after all 🙂
And which aircraft?…
I think you can guess…
YES! The TSR.2! 🙂 :p 🙂
Now that ought to make some of you happy…
Now let the discussions/rants/celebrations begin…
Ashley
P.S. And as much as I LOVE the Mossie, can we please please please not turn this thread into another Mossie Fanatics meeting? Or a TFC bashing thread…or spend hours trading personal insults (Snapper and EN830 excluded ;))
By: dhfan - 27th June 2003 at 01:08
The only smiley I know is this one. 🙂
Not sure if there is a figure when “junior member” can be changed.
I decided I didn’t like it very soon after I registered and nothing complained when I changed it.
By: Moggy C - 26th June 2003 at 23:33
Sorry Midway,
I just couldn’t find the ‘irony’ smiley.
No way you would know, but we did this subject to death about three weeks back.
Moggy
I think you automatically become a senior member after a set number of posts, then you are free to substitute your own title.
By: Midway - 26th June 2003 at 22:54
Thanks for the welcome Moggy. No discussion so far of suspended aircraft? Well…actually I hate going into the American Air Museum. Ignoring the fact that it’s a memorial to US airman, the aircraft are unlikely ever to move from their present positions. They’re probably locked in (jammed in?) forever. It’s all very sad when there’s a living airfield just yards away.
Ok for the Smithsonian and South Kensington, but not Duxford – EGSU.
By the way, there’s no way I’m a junior member, as it says next to my name – a clue to my vintage (unless ‘junior’ indicates recent membership). I’ve asked the webmaster to change it!
By: mmitch - 26th June 2003 at 21:41
On a practical level I wonder about conservation of suspended aircraft. Wooden airframes twist and unglue in heat and cold. Up near the roof of any heated building is much warmer than floor level. How often and how can they be properly checked when they are 40-50′ up? Perhaps the ceiling is best left to fibre glass ‘full size models’
mmitch.
By: Moggy C - 26th June 2003 at 21:24
Hello Midway – Welcome to the FlyPast Forum.
That’s a good idea 🙂 we’ve never had a debate about the desirability of suspending aircraft here, nice to see you kick it off. 😉
I can’t be bothered to get my reference books out. Where is EGSU?
Moggy
By: Midway - 26th June 2003 at 20:32
Suspending yet more aircraft on an active airfield has got to be bad news. Apart from the brutish hardware that disfigures them (just look at F-100 at Duxford), once up there they are very unlikely to return to terra firma.
The opportunity to occasionally wheel them out in the sun, pose them with other aircraft of the same period, or just to view them in different light, at close quarters, or to photograph from them from different and realistic angles is lost forever.
Duxford seems to be going down the Hendon route, a museum creator’s dream with aircraft tidily locked into their protective shells forever, like pierced butterflies mounted on a card, needing no attention other than the occasional dusting. And the tragedy of Hendon is that several of those aircraft were airworthy when they went into the mausoleum
By: Willow - 25th June 2003 at 15:43
That was the Mosquito I was refering to (TA719). I am avoiding all mention of the TFC Mosquito (TV959).
oh,damn. I’ve just mentioned it:mad:
You may well be right about the Tempest, it did leave an awfully long time ago.
Willow
By: Yak 11 Fan - 25th June 2003 at 13:46
There was a Mosquito from Skyfame, but this is the one that the IWM have on static display at Duxford and not the one that went to TFC. As for the Tempest, I thought that Skyfame sold this whilst it was on loan to the IWM just before the rest of the fleet was transfered to IWM ownership. May be wrong however.
By: Willow - 25th June 2003 at 13:37
OK, I’m calm now 🙂
I was just wondering whether this is connected with the Proctor being an ex Skyfame Collection aeroplane. The IWM got rid of the ex Skyfame Firefly I (Z2033) a couple of years back, albeit to a very good home, and the Tempest II (LA607) even longer ago.
Is there an ownership issue with these aeroplanes?
From memory, the Magister, Oxford, Anson, Hastings, and yes, you’ve guessed it, the Mosquito, all came from Skyfame as well.
I’m not paniccing, just wondering
Willow
By: Ashley - 25th June 2003 at 13:28
Relax Willow…the Proctor WAS going to the States…it is now staying at Duxford…she is safe 🙂
Ashley
By: Willow - 25th June 2003 at 12:58
Ashley,
I assumed you were joking about the Proctor being exported.
Clearly, you aren’t. What wisdom was behind this, do you know?
If the Proctor does not fit with the IWM policy, then there is something seriously wrong. It might not be exciting, but it IS a genuine British WW2 aeroplane which carried out an important, if not glamourous role.
Much saddened:(
Willow
By: Ashley - 25th June 2003 at 10:51
Errrrr…sorry Willow, I don’t understand what you mean – can you elaborate please, thank you 🙂
A
By: Willow - 25th June 2003 at 10:07
Re: Ashley’s Airspace Update
Originally posted by Ashley
the Proctor is now staying at Duxford with the possibility of being included in the Airspace (she had been due to move to the States but plans fell through)
This is a joke, surely.
Willow
By: Ashley - 25th June 2003 at 08:15
Oops DHfan! You would have thought I would have learnt to spell by now! 🙂
By: dhfan - 25th June 2003 at 02:35
I’m hoping to call in briefly on Sunday, assuming the hangover’s not too ferocious. (Party in Bassingbourn Saturday night).
Hopefully going to manage Legends this year and then later in the year I should be back for a full day, accompanied by a couple of ex-RAF ground crew, one 50s and the other 60s.
Is there anything I should particularly look at this time before it’s sold, strung up, scrapped or whatever?
Re the panel from XR222 at Newark, I asked the same question a month ago. Joe Petroni that said it was offered to Duxford a couple of times but nobody bothered to collect it.
PS. Hangers are what you keep clothes on.:)
By: Guzzineil - 24th June 2003 at 23:29
But seriously Ashley..
it’ll be an interesting logistical feat when they do come to dangling the aeroplanes…. hopefully yourself or someone will be on hand with a camera to record it for us !
By: Guzzineil - 24th June 2003 at 23:00
I always used pale green cotton or nylon fishing line as that blended into the bedroom wallpaper… I suppose nowadays you could have then digitally removed like the strings on the Thunderbirds puppets…
you could also use the orange tissue paper around the exhaust stubs on the Spits…. and black painted cotton wool to simulate an a/c ‘hit’….
By: Manonthefence - 24th June 2003 at 22:51
Thanks for the update Ashley.
I really dont like the idea of stringing them up, but it is good news that the TSR2 is staying on the ground.
I take it they are still planning to cut the Shack up 😡 😡
The Mossie is little more than a shell at the moment, I always wondered why; now it all makes sense, without making any sense at all if you get my drift???!!!.
Do you have any idea what the plans for the F-86 are?
By: Snapper - 24th June 2003 at 22:50
ORANGE TISSUE PAPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Mental image for you all – coke coming out through both nostrils!)
By: Snapper - 24th June 2003 at 22:49
Cheers for the plug Ashley.
Now where is that cross-eyed cross-dressing cross inbred?
TSR-2 should be suspended though – that is one UGLY undercarriage. Best-displayed Harrier I ever saw was at Lowestoft last year – you could take a tip from Waveney District Council you know. And why not jack up the Lanc’s tailwheel like they did at Hendon? that looks gggggreat!
And you realise, of course, that Moggy will be drawn to this thread like a moth to a light when he searches Google for suspenders, don’t you?
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June 24, 2003 at 10:24 pm