By: mike currill - 18th February 2008 at 20:35
That is the airframe where I discovered what a pain the main spar box would be in moving from the front to the rear or vice versa on the Lancaster or her descendants. It was bad enough in daylight in a stationary aircraft so I hate to think what it was like in the dark and turbulence or, in the case of the Lancaster, taking evasive action over enemy territory.
By: pagen01 - 14th February 2008 at 16:35
My record shows it was with 203 Sqn at Kinloss and was visiting Cyprus when it went U/S in September ’71 (just as the type was being withdrawn from use), and thus was left behind for fire practice, being declared cat 5 in October.
However another source states that it was flown out there from Kinloss specifically for the fire dump in late October ’71. That would make it the last regular service Shackleton MR.3 flight.
Take your pick
By: Anark - 14th February 2008 at 14:03
What’s the history of it ending up there?
By: Binbrook 01 - 14th February 2008 at 12:46
Its location is in the UN buffer zone, IIRC, hence the reason its survived so long.
Tim
By: Arabella-Cox - 31st January 2008 at 17:30
Blimey, the poor thing looks like a desiccated skeleton.
But will it be at Legends…
😉
By: pagen01 - 30th January 2008 at 22:44
MR.3 XF700 was dumped out there when it went U/S with 203 Sqn in late ’71, the type was going out of service at the time.
By: Anark - 30th January 2008 at 22:25
Sorry to did up old threads but here is a picture.
By: Rich Woods - 17th January 2006 at 22:33
I’ve got a mate who was out there, and he’s got a photo of it. A couple of other guys in my unit have some too. I’ll ask around.
Richard W
By: DGH - 17th January 2006 at 20:30
She’s not looking good. No engines, stripped out, various damage around the fuselage. The pictures are not my copyright so I cant post here but if you PM me your address I’ll send you the magazine to keep if you like.
By: MDF - 17th January 2006 at 20:02
DGH
Any chance you could post the picture?? Just interested to see what state she’s in now.
By: DGH - 17th January 2006 at 19:56
There is a picture in the December 2005 edition of The Growler (published by The Shackelton Association) of a group of Squaddies sitting on XF700 at Nicosia taken in August 2005.
By: MDF - 17th January 2006 at 16:53
Looks like the aircraft in question was XF700? or were there 2 aircraft as the link suggests XF700 was scrapped?
By: Peter Mills - 17th January 2006 at 15:54
There was a recent photo taken by some army guys sitting on the nose of the the shack at Nicosia, not sure but it may even have been on this forum.
So, yes it’s still there, heavily robbed and on its belly.
By: MDF - 17th January 2006 at 14:10
Newforest,
Thanks for the reply, but I was really interested in the aircraft that was on the dump at Nicosia rather than the Paphos aircraft.
By: Newforest - 17th January 2006 at 14:05
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=47298&highlight=Shackleton
Cyprus Shackleton link from last year.
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January 17, 2006 at 1:45 pm