Avro 748 Sisyphus Safe And Secure At Liverpool

Such a great project 🙂 Thanks for the update!

I’m not normally that into the Prince, but that short nose is a babe! I can see that I need to visit this wonderful collection

A couple of photos to show the newly-fitted wings – stbd wing fitting underway:

Anon.

Pic credit: Guy Gainey.

I’d just like to bump up this thread and re-state the appeal for financial donations to help in the final stages of restoration of this superb and unique (in UK preservation) aeroplane.

Over the winter period the port wing re-fit has been completed and the starboard wing is now in place. Work is underway to drill the wing for the fastenings so, when these are all purchased and fitted, the support frame can come out and JD will be, pretty much, a complete aeroplane again.

The SAHG members have worked wonders with this old and distinguished bird putting in 2-3 days per week, every week, over the winter period to get her to where she is now. Once the engines are in place, craneage can be arranged and JD will be standing on her wheels once again. The undercarriage is all there, it just needs some retaining straps cutting to release the units for them to drop down and lock into position.

The following is a list of the jobs that remain to be finished:

1. Finish off wing attachment.
2. Paintwork.
3. Final stringer re-joins in lower fuselage skin.
4. Engines in and propellers fitted.

The above can be carried out using on-site lifting equipment. What is lacking now is the money to purchase the last of the materials to allow completion then, when all that is done, to pay for the crane(s) to come in and carry out the lift.

Please re-read this thread and remind yourselves of the unique and special aircraft that we have at Liverpool. This is the oldest surviving 748 in the world – it is that old it is one of the batch of the type that went to the launch customer Aerolineas Argentinas back in 1962. It is also currently the only civilian 748 preserved in the whole of the UK, which is both remarkable and tragic for such a successful British aircraft type.

Once the aircraft is back on its wheels and the final touches are being carried out, arrangements will be made to have the plaque etched to commemorate all those who donated to save and reassemble this aircraft, both during the initial appeal and afterwards.

2017 WILL be the year that Avro 7478 G-BEJD is completed and ready to take her place behind the restored terminal hotel. The interior will need a lot more work and we still seek the interior trim, though we have seats. The cockpit is clean and awaiting an instrument re-fit. Also, it is hoped that the final windscreen glazing sections can be sourced to enable JD to sport a full set of Triplex screens.

Lastly, if you are looking for somewhere to visit for the weekend you could always consider a visit to Liverpool to view the SAHG “fleet” and then, perhaps, take a trip into town to view the historic Liverpool waterfront – all easily achieved by booking a room at the Crowne Plaze, Liverpool South (no, I’m not on the payroll!).

Please give generously to allow JD’s completion this year. Club funds are very limited and have been almost entirely utilised to restore JD, members often dipping into their own pockets to keep the show on the road.

We’ll see about putting a few pics up to show you how far this project has come to date – and how near we are to completion.

Anon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvkckXpgQKk

Any parts on there that could help your bird?

Additional some images…http://www.lost-places.com/Bilder/lp222/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvkckXpgQKk

Any parts on there that could help your bird?

Ah, OK.

That was posted by one of the other lads on our team last night. He’s talking about the same propeller as I am.

Cheers anyway, Tony.

Anon.

No problem, here you go

http://www.pprune.org/engineers-technicians/536540-important-calling-ex-dowty-propellor-personnel.html

Do you have or can you post a link to the answer on pprune, please Tony?

Anon.

Cool, see you may have the answer to the prop fit on pprune. Just thought I’d mention the engine incase you we’re lacking them.

We’ve got the Dart engines for Sisyphus. They came with the aircraft and are the correct Mk. number for the 748 series 1.

We are, however, missing a few engine accessories and a few burner cans and Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust at Derby have said they may be able to help us.

Likewise the propellers. These are of a type specific to the 748 series 1 so were donated with the aircraft as being of no use for later Mk’s of the aircraft. We do though have a potential problem in that one of these props is in the cruise pitch position, not feathered, as should be the case when they are removed from the engine.

There are warnings on the prop that it should be feathered before removal and we are concerned as to the implications of this when we come to refit it, i.e. is it likely to revert to feathered position with a bang due to a spring-assisted feathering mechanism within the hub? Does anyone have any experience on this powerplant/prop combination who could offer advice?

It is a Dowty prop and this Dart/Dowty prop combination was the same, not only on all 748’s but on the Viscount and Argosy as well.

Anon.

Looks like a cheap dart “core” on evilbay, possibly 2 there

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/rolls-royce-jet-engine-/301127468179?pt=UK_CPV_Aviation_SM&hash=item461c988493

Thanks to everyone working on this aircraft- great job and much appreciated.

Great update, and some seriously hard work behind it, well done guys!
Hard to believe that is the same Meteor that was at Lasham-it sure scrubbed up well!

Great work! Always good to see historic civil aircraft being taken care off. I have fond memories of flying in 748’s in Northern Canada. I believe that one or two are still flying up there. Hopefully someone will preserve one of them.
Regards
Bill

Thanks for that comprehensive update – all very positive, you’ve certainly been busy. I’m looking forward to visiting some time in 2014.

Tim

Although not much appears to be happening to Sisyphus there has been a lot of prep going on behind the scenes. A spare fin was acquired from/along with the cockpit of G-ORAL, and this has been delivered to Liverpool, cleaned up and stripped of useful parts for the reassembly of Sisyphus.

The fabrication and housing for the red anti-coll beacon on the top of Sisyphus’s fin had to be removed, reworked and a nice new fitting installed so it will work OK once the old girl is complete. The fin mounting bushes, some of which were damaged and/or cut during the dismantling process have also been salvaged and, finally, Sisyphus’s fin has had a good clean up and is now etch primed ready for re-fitting. This will require the services of a hiab crane so we are hoping to include the job with some others on-site which require a crane as well, namely the Meteor.

New downlock struts were fitted recently to both main undercarriage legs of the Meteor, WH291, and it also sports new wheels and tyres as well as mud guards, all nicely finished and protected with Waxoyl. Although we have new brake units, these will not be fitted unless we need them as they will only corrode and sieze the wheels. New air brakes and undercarriage doors will be fitted too.

A refurbished Meteor noseleg and support structure has also been fitted recently so, along with Sisyphus’s fin, we would like to be able to marry the Meteor’s nose and centre section in the same operation.

Internally, nearly all of the stringer joints are complete on both the front and rear fuselage cuts on Sisyphus. We have obtained and had cut the aluminium banding for the fuselage and wing joint butt straps. It is hoped that we can start to fit these soon (when we can obtain a riveting kit) and this will be the final procedure on the fuselage joints to complete the job of joining the fuselage sections together. We have been donated a large quantity of solid rivets for the task so have around 50 different combinations of length and diameter to choose from.

The elevators have also been fitted, a job that required some considerable work as the spherical-seat bushes in the tailplane hinges were siezed in their bearings.

This year, assuming all goes well with the fin and fuselage joints, preparations will begin for re-fitting the wings. A scheme has been devised and it is just a question of obtaining the materials we require (mild steel strips) and drilling and fitting these to the wings. By necessity they will be of a much larger cross section than that used for the fuselage due to not only the greater loads but fewer joints. It will require a lot of accurate drilling and tapping but we have the fixings we require and it will just be a case of a little and often as the weather (hopefully) improves in time for re-attachment later in the year.

We are still short of the main windscreen DV windows and the mechanisms for the side/escape windows for Sisyphus so any leads for these parts would be very welcome. Once the wings are on we will be able to bring in the crane and lift Sisyphus back up on to her wheels once again. The engines will follow in short order just to make sure the wind doesn’t tip her back onto her tail. It will be a great occasion when Sisyphus is suspended in the air and the straps holding the undercarriage up are cut allowing it to drop down into position.

A few pics, including the latest of the Meteor and the (now colourful) Percival Prince, G-AMLZ, which now stands outside the hotel’s restaurant:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]224699[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]224700[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]224701[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]224702[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]224703[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]224704[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]224705[/ATTACH]

Many of us have provided funding for this initiative and it’s heartening that things seem to be going well – thanks Jon for the occasional updates. It’s quite a while since any photos were posted, it would be nice to see some recent ones of the old girl. Hoping you can get her on her legs by the end of this year 🙂

Tim

The name ‘Sisyphus’ can be clearly seen applied to the nose of Avro 748 G-BEJD, a few posts up on the only photo on this page of the thread.

G-BEJD was initially named ‘John Case’ by Emerald Airways 7.93, and survived a repaint 12.94 into Reed Aviation (a newspaper freight consolidators) scheme until sometime after mid ’95. Renamed ‘Sisyphus’ certainly before early 2000. Still worn on retirement April 2005 at Blackpool, indeed still clearly visible today at Liverpool – although not for much longer as the aircraft is likely to be repainted in it’s earlier Dan Air scheme shortly.

Sisyphus is a character in Greek mythology – a King of Cornith, punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action for ever. Not too unlike Reed’s daily task of carrying newspapers to Northern Ireland from Liverpool!

Sisyphus? Name of this Avro?

Pardon my ignorance, OP didn’t give much intro to it.