East Fortune Comet

The plan is to return it to Air France in the fullness of time.

It was painted to represent the prototype, for the 50th anniversary celebrations a few yrs ago. The nose was in very bad condition, and so this was a good opportunity to get some paint on it.

In order to do any more work on the aircraft, it really needs to be in a hangar, and that is something we will work towards over the coming years.

Bruce

DH Museum Comet

The DH Museum’s Comet..I noticed the front has been painted to look like the prototype (silver)..any plans to finish that paint job or return it to Air France colours..?

How long has that fuselage been at the museum?

There’s more of it than I thought, though that main gear looks decidedly un-original.

G-APMB at Gatwick

Found a picture of Gatwick Ground Handling Trainer at airliner.net

G-APMB cn6422

Sadly, the Comet 4 is completely different to the Comet 1, and the wing sections are not interchangeable.

Our Comet is also suffering from extreme corrosion and although we have no intention of scrapping it, it is perhaps fortunate that it is only a fuselage (in this case), and is not having to bear the stresses of being supported on corroding undercarriage.

Another project for the future!!

Bruce

If the East Fortune Comet has to be scraped, and I hope that it does not come to that, could other museums be offered any usable parts for their own Comets, ie could the Mosquito museum make use of the centre section and undercarriage to mate to their fuselage?

On the subject of Comets do the BAA at Gatwick still have a Comet on the airfield, I think they used it as a ground handling trainer ?

DOUGHNUT

It was a modified Skybolt pylon with twin ERU’s

Thanks for the details David.I wasn’t aware that the pylons could take two shrikes apiece,was this the standard fit or was it particular to this Vulcan?
Those Black Buck missions were one hell of an achievement,I’m always surprised that thier efforts don’t get more coverage in documentaries about the Falklands conflict.If it hadn’t been for the RAF showing it’s ability to attack targets thousands of miles away,the Argentines would never have withdrawn thier Mirages from CAP duties around the Falklands,and the RN’s SeaHarriers would’ve been dead meat inside a week,the SeaHarrier veterans admit this themselves.No Harriers would have meant no air cover for the invasion fleet or the troops on the ground and quite possibly complete defeat for the British task force.
Ofcorse,when you consider the efforts of the Vulcan guys,you have to consider the effort made by the Victor tanker crews to get them there in th first place,not least Robert Tuxford’s actions on the first Black Buck.
I seem to remember Tuxford got the DFC for this,so what recognition,if any,did MacDougall recieve?It sounds as though he was deserving of equally high praise.

Ant – In the case of the Vulcan she was on ‘Black Buck 6’ on the night of the 2nd of June targetting an AN/TPS-43F in the Port Stanley area. She was however carrying four Shrike missiles.
After orbiting for fourty minutes waiting to be ‘locked on’
she detected an Argentine Skyguard radar tracking her and launched two of her Shrikes against the threat. These destroyed the radar unit and killed the operators.
The Vulcan unsuccessfully tried to get the primary target to switch it’s radar on but to no avail. She headed back to Wideawake aided by a Nimrod in locating the Victor tanker
half way back. During the course of refuelling her probe tip was broken off. With very little fuel remaining she headed for Brazil-
the two remaining Shrike’s were attempted to be fired off – one flew off successfully whilst the other’s motor didn’t fire so they were forced to leave her on the pylon.
She eventually landed Rio’s Galeao airport with just 2,000 lbs of fuel remaining .She was impounded and the Shrike removed by the Brazilian authorities. She left Brazil on the tenth of June.

I will say right now that I have not yet read the posts on this thread but have seen the pics showing the rusty screws. This is no indication of the aircrafts structural integrity. There are screws as rusty as those on most airliners still currently in service!

Just my 2 pence worth.

Smiler. (aircraft mechanical engineer who just also happens to know a thing or two about Comets. 😉 )

Damn… you can’t cut that baby up!!!! Shes in near enough pristine condition! Don’t you worry Ant, my emails on the way… in the cyber post! 🙂

God, they are gonna have alot in their inbox tomorrow! lol :p

no.3

no.2

Couldnt resist another 3 piccies of the comet.

Here you go.

Hi Guys, perhaps I can clear this up. The Blue Steel was a stand off Nuclear weapon which went out of service when the Navy took over the Nuclear deterrent role with the Polaris armed submarines at the end of the 1960’s. The Missiles carried on XM597 on the Black Buck raid on 3 June were AGM-45 Shrikes. The two missiles were mounted on pylons attached to the hard points originally designed to take the Douglas Skybolt, a missile which cost us a fortune and in the end never entered service. Sqn Ldr Neil MacDougall was the captain, and did a superb job in getting the aircraft down in one piece.

KeithMac

The Vulcans on the Black Buck missions carried two Shrike radar supressing missiles on pylons,one missile under each wing.It was one of these which hung up and was ‘confiscated’ by the Brazilians.
Thanks for the pics Merlin.I have to say that the Comet does not look too bad,and certainly if they are still allowing folks inside her then she can’t be structurally unsafe.They are certainly jumping the gun a bit of they scrap her anytime soon.That silicon sealant is also a good idea,and might well slow the effects of the elements in her interior.The decision to scrap her still doesn’t make sense.
Nice to see the vulcan looking good aswell,hope they’re not thinking about chopping that up too!!

Sorry guys for the miss information about the Blue steel its just that I know the Vulc used that one but I am just confusing missles.

I should learn to check my facts before just typing. I thought I had it right but have just checked and it was a Shrike that was hung up. Sorry to all.

And apparently they did know they had it on board but that wasnt the story I was told.

checked story in the book :- The Vulcan Story 1952 – 2002 by Tim Laming

“Hi der dont want to sound like an old fuss pot but the reason they had to land in Rio was as you quite rightly said a broken refueling probe but what they didnt know was they still had a blue steel on board which didnt release hence the Brazil flag next to the 2 argie flags and missles.”

Merlin,

just did a bit of checking and found that the last operational flight of a Vulcan with a Blue Steel missile aboard took place on the 21st December, 1969, some 12 years before the Falklands War. The Vulcans operated over the Falklands with conventional bombs, perhaps it is possible that one or more of these may have hung up? Also, I would have thought that the crew would have some kind of check as to whether the bomb load had deployed correctly, be it electronic or some kind of visual?

Regards,

kev35

Originally posted by Der
it wasn’t a Blue Steel hang up. It was a broken refuelling probe.

Hi der dont want to sound like an old fuss pot but the reason they had to land in Rio was as you quite rightly said a broken refueling probe but what they didnt know was they still had a ***blue steel*** (It was actually a Shrike) on board which didnt release hence the Brazil flag next to the 2 argie flags and missles. The aircraft and crew were impounded for a few days but they werent allowed to leave with the missle. It stayed in Brazil after some talks with the British government.

Email the museum and I am sure they will confirm this story.

Below is the museums statement of the Vulcan but email the museum about the missle hang up. I was told the story of this by a staff member.

*****
A third of Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent, ‘the V-Force’ of the Fifties and Sixties, the Vulcan was the world’s first delta winged bomber when it first flew in 1952. Carrying an internal warload of 21,000lbs, the nuclear role was enhanced with the carriage of the Blue Steel air-launched missile from 1963 until 1967. Due for retirement in 1982 the Falkland’s War was an operational swan song for the Vulcan. Deployed in the suppression of enemy air defences role, XM597 is one of only two Vulcans to be used in anger, the other, XM607 dropped bombs on Port Stanley Airfield. XM597 made the headlines when, due to a fractured in-flight refuelling probe, the Vulcan diverted to Rio de Janeiro. After seven days internment the aircraft and crew were released. On the nose can be seen two mission markings and a Brazilian flag commemorating her unscheduled stopover. XM597 flew into East Fortune in 1984.
*****

here is the last one of East Fortune airframes.

This is the Buccaneer that was put outside recently and they havent put her back in the hangar yet. WHY? I dont know.