RNHF Funding Pulled?

Hi All,
NEEMA – You forgot about the construction & operating costs of two floating targets for those ever so cost effective all singing and dancing F-35’s….:D

Geoff.

A bit of perspective. In the old days of the early 60’s Lt Cdr Les (Harpy) Cox got tbe FAAM up and running. The “Fish” was of course a separate entity witth characters like CPO Ron Gourlay keeping it flying on RN ( and Industry) good will and connivance. The Firefly (bought for 160 pounds (IIRC) by a Carrier ship’s crew in Oz and brought back in the mid 60’s, added to the collection. From then on , like Topsy, the Historic Flight sort of grew . The Seafire in the FAAM, for example, was very low on hours and eyed up as was the prospect of a Sea Gladiator .As we moved in to and through the 70’s the atmosphere started to change and become more and more political. For example ,Concorde (A Science Museum Aeroplane ) arrived at FAAM .Funding Sea Fury(s) and the Sea Hawk showed rising commitment (not helped by incidents) and the world changed as,consequently did the Fleet Air Arm. In a world now totally dominated by accountants’ monetary balance sheets rather than also balancing human values, it will be increasingly difficult to justify the preservation of expensive artefacts that repreesent a part of our history which some “revisionists” would rather see diminished, Look to the Royal Air Force Museum London Centennial RAF display of “A Wall of 80 hats” to see which way it is going.

Sadly I think the only way it will is in private hands. I have to say this whole thing sits very uneasily with me, and although I’ll continue to support Navy Wings I’m not convinced in its present format that it has a very long term future.
Just my twopenneth.

Rob

I would be very surprised if Sea Hawk WV908 ever flies again.

The SEA Vixen not a D.3 any more as it doesn’t have the drone equipment fitted. It’s a half-way house. But it is officially registered, as you point out, as a FAW Mk2.

Lee Howard
The Vixen is a D3, not a FAW2.
I know that it is always noted as a FAW2 – including on G-INFO, but it was never fully rebuilt from its D3 standard back to FAW2.
That is why it has no emergency undercarriage lowering if you lose hydraulics or electrical power. There are a lot of internal differences.

Sabre jet, I don’t know what website you’re looking at (the RNHF one was made defunct several years ago when it was subsumed under the Navy Wings banner), but…

Swordfish I W5856: airworthy
Swordfish II LS326: stored Yeovilton awaiting engine
Swordfish III NF389: stored Yeovilton in kit form (Mk.III wings currently fitted to Mk.I)
Sea Fury FB.11 VR930: stored Yeovilton
Sea Hawk FGA.6 WV908: stored Shawbury
Chipmunk T.10 WK608: airworthy (+ WB657 stored Hawarden)

Sea Vixen FAW.2 G-CVIX (stored pending repair) and Sea Fury T.20 G-RNHF (airworthy) are owned and funded by Navy Wings, not RN.

I don’t think the FNHT had a comprehensive insurance policy for her. So they will have to cough up a very large sum to get specialists in to repair her.
I’m quite sure that the FNHT volunteers don’t have the necessary skills to carry out the repairs themselves. Might be wrong though.

Is the Sea Vixen a serious consideration for rebuild? I read it will take several million to repair.

Sea Vixen is not RNHF, it’s part of the Fly Navy Heritage Trust. It receives no MOD funding, unlike the RNHF.

I think credible sport means 2 Swordfish flyable, and a third a kit of parts. That would be more accurate.

FB

See RNHF website:

Both Swordfish airworthy, Sea Fury, Sea Vixen (being/awaiting fix) etc. Not sure where you got your info from!

Swordfish x2, Sea Fury, Sea Vixen (obviously now at risk), Chipmunk. EDIT: Sea Hawk also.

Swordfish – 1 flyable, 1 a kit of parts
Sea Fury – 1 flyable
Sea Vixen – never had one
Chipmunk – not sure if flyable
Sea Hawk – not flyable

You only have to look at how much the BBMF contract out the maintenance work now.

Old news (announced last year) that for some reason surfaced on the local news yesterday.

I do suspect that BBMF will eventually go, to a greater or lesser extent, the same way (the days of saying any of these are ‘recruitment tools’ are long gone, I fear). The support infrastructure that underpins historic operations on the military register which drives a requirement for 70/80-year old aircraft designs to meet punitive modern-day regulations is increasingly difficult to achieve in an age where dwindling budgets mean there are fewer resources available to support even the smaller-in-number current types.

Swap a Swordfish for a Seafire? Nah.

Is this news? I thought it was already known. Whereas the BBMF is the RAF’s official (and funded) heritage project, the equivalent for the RN is, as I understand it, HMS Victory. This means that the RNHF was always in danger of having to go its own way in times of economic pressure. I wonder if this means they will have to pay for use of premises at Yeovilton?

Mmitch,
I don’t think the BBMF will go the same way. It’s a significant recruitment and retention aid (I’d of probably stayed in if offered a job there!) and flying is the RAF’s raison d’être. For the other two services it is a fringe activity. The AAC HF was cut loose as presumably the Army wanted to find money for horses, tanks and ridiculous regimental cardigans whereas now, it seems, the RN have come to the same conclusions – though presumably for slightly different reasons. Many are unaware of the regulatory overhead such organisations cause sitting on the Military register, creating plenty of work for both military and Civil Servants alike. It’s a sad sign of the times, but when you see just how stretched the RN is, it is no real surprise. Good luck to all involved – who knows, removing the shackles of military oversight and ownership may yet give the Flight the flexibility to actually grow, as well as put the current types onto a more secure footing. Speaking of which, with PP972 on the market………wonder if they’d take a Swordfish as p/x?

I have thought for some time that this will happen to the BBMF eventually. When the supporter’s club started it is a commercial operation and could not link to the LLA, a charity. Leave it to after the anniversary….
mmitch.

Swordfish x2, Sea Fury, Sea Vixen (obviously now at risk), Chipmunk. EDIT: Sea Hawk also.

What aircraft do they have in flying condition ?