RM689 To Fly Again

I can’t imagine why anybody would want to see photographs of the remains of a fatal aircraft accident, having had to pack the remains of an earlier fatal Spitfire into a container some years ago I can tell you that it is not a pleasant experience. It certainly gives you something to think about and as Mark 12 rightly says this is not the time or the place. Needless to say I took no photographs of the wreckage I had to pack.

Rolls Royce – enlightened

I do have a suite of RR photos of the post crash wreckage and this is not the place or the time to air them.

To those who might be thinking this restoration is what might euphemistically be called a ‘dataplate special’, I attach a photo I took last August to give some idea of the material the guys at Airframe Assemblies are working with. Of course the top tank cover is a robust item and this is one of the better pieces but even the ‘impossible’ material, when fully de-riveted and inspected yields vast amounts of original material to incorporate.

Top marks to Rolls Royce for there enlightened approach to store the wreckage for the ‘appropriate period’ and to have now commissioned this fantastic restoration.

Mark

RM689 related thread

Has anyone checked checked out this related thread?

http://forum.airforces.info/showthread.php?t=20297&highlight=rm689

Cheers Dhfan

I personally wouldn’t want to see a picture of the original wreckage.
However, unless somebody’s got one, it’s a bit late. There’s a pic of the fuselage in, I think, this month’s Flypast at Aviation Assemblies (?) on the Isle of Wight. It looks like a Spitfire fuselage.
There was a post some time ago, (WarbirdUK?), saying there was a substantial amount of reusable structure.

Does anybody on this forum have any pictures of the wreckage of RM689, As I would be interested to see exactly what the people restoring it, have to work with

Regards

Eddie Winch

RE: RM689 To Fly Again

This topic mirrors the situation of Mustangs in the US, many parts and or Dataplates end up in someone elses restoration after another one crashes. As far as sentimentality about individual aircraft some of also feel the same way when one of “our” Mustangs is sold and repainted gaining a “new” identity, and they seem to change owners like socks over here as they are seen as an investment first and kept until the prices go up and a prized possesion second, this not the case in all situations as there are some who treasure them for the heritage they represent.

RE: RM689 To Fly Again

The vast majority of RM689 is in a workshop in East Anglia with work already being carried out on the wing spars at present. It’s in a pretty sorry state to be perfectly honest. I read the article in Pilot yesterday – it wasn’t exactly clear about the loss of Dave in the crash – how sad. As regards rebuilding it – my opinion is that
the isn’t enough material in this airframe to consider it to be in
any way original when it’s finished .

RE: RM689 To Fly Again

OK, let’s se what can of worms I can open up here

I think it’s time to rethink the way second world war aircraft are displayed. I am getting fed up with seeing Spits, etc displayed as if they were competition aerobatic mounts. This isn’t what they were designed for and is usually the regime under which the fatal accident occured anyway. It’s just not necessary, not wise and a waste of life and machinery. I would prefer to see more realistic action, i.e. a scramble followed by a formation take off, some firing of some weapons (blanks obviously), high speed low level tail chases and maybe at the end a victory roll followed by a hood back low approach and a go around then back to land, taxi in then see the pilot get out, sling his chute over his back and light a fag while the ground crew get ready to patch her up. Now that honours what these aeroplanes did for us.

RE: RM689 To Fly Again

I was there at woodford in 1992 and saw the crash. A day that will live with me forever. This will be like putting 2 fingers up to the pilot Dave Moores memory. we can make new spits now why rebuild a wreck a fatal one at that.

RE: RM689 To Fly Again

Hi Brad,
I’d heard one or two rumours going around on the net about this one,but I had my doubts that it was true.If Pilot are reporting it,then I suppose there must be some sort of substance to it.
To be honest,I personally don’t see what the point of resurrecting RM689 would be.If you consider the number of Spits,and the number of Mk.XIVs that are currently airworthy or under rebuild,it makes no sense to rebuild a wreck when you could go out and buy,for instance, HFL’s RN201,newly restored and ready to fly away.If,as I understand,it’s being rebuilt for Rolls Royce,it seems doubly pointless,being as they already have Mk.19 PS853.The 19 isn’t that much different to the 14,so why bother??To my mind,RM689 was destroyed in 1994,and it should be left at that.Building a new machine with RM689’s identity would in a way erase the fact that it ever crashed and claimed a life.
Rebuilding a machine that was damaged/destroyed in a fatal accident is a touchy subject at the best of times,but to my mind it could be reasoned on the grounds of the rarity of the machine,or perhaps it’s present condition,ie.whether the majority of what flew again would be the same machine.IMHO,I don’t think the rebuild of RM689 is a reasonable proposition-Spitfires are not too rare,and the original RM689 was destroyed almost totally,leaving probably nothing that could be flown again.