Canberra TT.18 pylon removal

Hi Pagen, I have not been involved with the project@for a little while now as have been busy on a project of my own. However, I was down the other day and work has been getting done on her and by all acounts the person involved is an ex Canberra man. So fingers crossed on a good restoration!

Hows the project coming on now that we are a year on?
Do you have the Rushton winches for the pylons?

Unless we take a leaf out of the Tornado book with wing bolt attachments and use liquid nitrogen 😉

Keep on pouring oil!

John Gannon did just the same to the attachment points on WJ680 but we stopped trying after three years – even Big John couldn’t shift them and we didn’t want to compromise the spar by applying undue forces.

Cheers

Thanks all,

I guess I’m going to have to just keep covering the attachment point in oil and hope for the best!!!

Cheers,

Phil.

Phantom Phil, I suspect you are correct in your diagnosis in why the pylon won’t come off!
And probably in your sumization that the pylons havent been removed before, they were left on in service and during their time in open storage.
The only time she has been kept indoors since 1971 was for servicing!

The TT.18s at St Mawgan suffered badly in the north Cornish coast salt laden atmosphere, that is one of the reasons that few of the 7 sqn Canberras made it to 100 sqn, and were retired to Salmsbury and on to Museums – WJ639 was one of them. They wern’t hangared generally.
WJ680, despite it’s dodgy time with ‘7’ obviously went on to great things.

I would err on keeping the pylons on, otherwise I fear LL is correct, a good beating using drifts and wood is in order!

Hi all,

I’m busy working on WJ639 at the North East Aircraft Museum.

I have had the protective caps above the wings off to unscrew the main nuts to release the underwing pylons. Although the nuts came off easy enough there was no movement in the plyon. I have soaked the cavity in oil hoping for the best… I have looked at the AP for the a/c but shows no other attachment points. Is there any or is it simply because these pylons have not been removed since the late 1970’s while in service with 7Sqn, RAF St Mawgan??

Thanks in advance,

Phil.

Well…they came off easily when in service! 😀

I don’t recall the date, but must have been c.1969ish (?) and I was helping my Dad painting a house. A ruddy great black and yellow striped Canberra flew over very low. A few moments later a farmer just nearby heard a whoooosing noise (I didn’t hear it) and a faint thud. Some weeks later he found a pylon buried in the bank of a ditch near his farm and only about 150 yards from where I had been painting whilst ooohing and ahing over the low flying Canberra. I know there was a C of I into the incident but don’t know the outcome. Maybe they just tightened up the nuts or something…..which is why you cannot undo them now!

Unless you really have to, leave them in place, they have been on so long they will be part of the main spar, hitting with a big hammer will cause damage to the spar and accelerate corrosion damage. The TT18 we delivered to Temora still has the pylons fitted for that very reason although as your TT18 will not fly again it’s up to you.

beat them off with a big stick…. or a heavy sledge hammer and a suitable drift. Sometimes violence is the only option

Hi Phil,

I’ll try and have a look at a pylon on WK126 this weekend to see if there are any clues to be found there. Whilst on the subject of my favourite steed, do you chaps carry any spares? I can fit you out with all the bulbs and filaments you’d need to light up your cockpit in exchange for anything interesting you might have 😀

Cheers,

Timbo

Just wondering, would a carefully placed tap or two with a rubber mallet be all that is needed?