Elvington Nimrod Has Arrived

An interesting Nimrod article now on the Key Aero site http://www.key.aero/view_feature.asp?ID=55&thisSection=historic 🙂

Therea another nice video on youtube but no audio as well..

Out of curiosity, is the stubby Nimrod nose leg really the same as the Comet, ie same gemoetry etc, just the weapons panier making it look stubby?

Yes the weapons bay makes the leg appear stubby, it is of the original size and operation as the Comet, but unsure if was strengthened as the main gears were. The front undercarriage doors actually open inwards.

Great photos gateguard! On the photo taken of her starboard side, the sun has caught where the tail fin fillet joins with the original Comet tail…

Videos are up on the tube..

Flypast…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcLwWuwDbhc

Approach and landing but no audio??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVBezZ9mt0M

Thank you for the pics GATEGAURD. Now all we need are some air to airs and pics from the Church Fenton flypast.

Out of curiosity, is the stubby Nimrod nose leg really the same as the Comet, ie same gemoetry etc, just the weapons panier making it look stubby?

This was her departing Kinloss

Passing the now shut NMSU

Passing XV241

lining up

And she was gone

And one in her heyday (Op Telic markings)

I did not suggest that the MOD should give away anything merely it was unhelpful to any future plans to run the engines if they removed all of the fuel.

My comment about civilian arrangements was merely to illustrate when you buy x for y, you can negotiate what is included in x, yes even with the MOD.

I fully appreciate that they might be just defueling the ‘div’ fuel and leaving the tanks wet (let’s hope so).

What also needs to be appreciated, as Twin Otter mentions, you cannot just re-use fuel removed from one aircraft by putting in to another.

Thank you for the comments on the pics. The dongle is broadband but is rubbish. I will be some where I can upload properly later so will put some more in a new thread in the airshow section. I have quite a few. It was my first time out with a DSLR so I went a bit mad.

With such a large crowd there I expected the forum to be flooded with pics.

Ben

Fuel State

Someone will, no doubt, correct me if I am wrong. But, I was always under the impression (as a mere meteorologist) that, in the RAF, a Transport a/c took off on its mission with (a) enough fuel for the mission and return, and then (b) enough fuel to divert to Alternate A + 10 mins holding time at that location, and (c) enough fuel to then go to Alternate B + 10 mins holding time at that location. After that, presumably, you were on your own – and “the fumes”.
The civvies did (roughly) the same thing. When we took off (one of the earliest pax charters) from Brize Norton for Ascension in this BA 747 we had enough ‘gravy’ to practically fly round the world. When we arrived overhead a CAVOK Ascension the Skipper apologised that we would have to trog round the island for a few minutes while he dumped enough fuel to get us below MLW and which would have – as he said – “taken a Mimi to the moon”!!!!
HTH
Resmoroh

I noticed the bowsers in the pictures, which reminded me of the defueling that took place at NAM when the Vulcan was delivered in 1983. There too the tankers were waiting for the aircraft.

With regard to fuel from military aircraft, when the Viggen for Newark was flown into RAF Cranwell one issue that had to be overcome was disposal of the excess fuel, which couldn’t be put back into the base stocks.

With the Viggen, the aircraft was literally jacked up at the nose to drain the fuel to the rear tanks, before it was removed into 50 gallon drums. Thanks to the generosity of the contacts at Cranwell this was then disposed of – I understand that it might have aided fire practice!!

In addition to the fuel needed for the transit from Kinloss, the Nimrod would have been also carrying extra fuel to get them back to Kinloss, or to another pre-planned diversion, had their destination airfield been unable to take them. You can’t expect the rules of leasing/buying/selling commercial aircraft to apply to the MoD….

Normally when you buy / sell / lease aircraft, the arrival or delivery fuel is factored into the price you pay.

Maybe delivery fuel is factored in to the price (though never heard of that), but there will also be a considerable amount of fuel left, and quite rightly this should be kept by the MoD.

Unhelpful? You mean the RAF should have given away maybe 20,000 lbs of AVTUR as well as supplying the aircraft?

I thought the Elvington aircraft had been bought. Normally when you buy / sell / lease aircraft, the arrival or delivery fuel is factored into the price you pay.

Looking at the photographs on the link I see there are a couple of RAF bowsers standing by. Presumably they are there to de-fuel the aircraft, which is bit un-helpful if they want to keep it in running condition.

Unhelpful? You mean the RAF should have given away maybe 20,000 lbs of AVTUR as well as supplying the aircraft?

ummmmm, which one?, I get lots of em..lol

Thought you were maybe looking into the possibility of getting a Dimsod aswel?

RAF is run just like an airline these days, generaly the fuel goes back to supplier for reprocessing. No such thing as free fuel any more .

I work for an airline and we are not allowed to have the fuel back from our maintenace organisation.

Ball park we loose 100,000 litres a year during maintenance plus whatever gets dumped from aircraft in storage (which have to have full tanks). That is 9 tonne per aircraft, and we have had 25 different aircraft in storage over the past few years!

ummmmm, which one?, I get lots of em..lol

By the way, did you have any luck with your idea Milt?