Sea Fury

Thanks for posting. I got into a spot that of bother once for listening to a Centaurus run up with no ear defenders donned. I don’t regret a second of it!

She has come back to life! Here’s a YouTube clip (not mine) of an engine run at North Weald during the week.

Not quite, two areas of failure were identified, what hasn’t been established is which occurred first, although both are linked.

FB

I think the issue regarding the FB11 and wanting to assess the cause of the T20 engine failure is that the root cause of the T20 failure can not as I understand it be established with any degree of confidence as it destroyed itself and all the evidence.

They should hang an R3350 on the front

Take your self off to the naughty step and stay there for 20 mins. R3350 tut tut

Here’s a picture of TFC’s Sea Fury FB.11 VX653 taken on 21st January 2017.

Like this one – TFC Sea Fury T.20 WG655 – IWM Duxford 21/1/17?

The Seahawk is still on the military regisiter is it not? The fact they have moved it to storage at Shwabury suggests it’s not happening any time soon anyway.

Yes the Seahawk is on the military register and being stored in a humidity controlled hangar at RAF Shawbury is probably the best place for it whilst it is grounded. Let’s hope in 10-15 years time (or sooner, but not holding my breath) the situation will have changed and funds will be available to make it airworthy again. Such a pretty jet the Seahawk.

The Seahawk will be a bit sticky with the new regs etc I would think, lots of money to put into an aeroplane that may just end up not being able to support itself with airshow work

The Seahawk is still on the military regisiter is it not? The fact they have moved it to storage at Shwabury suggests it’s not happening any time soon anyway.

Junk Heads & sticking or pinching of the sleeves I think are the biggest failures, not limited to the Centaurus either, I believe Hercs & ‘Big Hercs’ as my father used to call them, suffered too. They need special 100U oil too.

The Seahawk will be a bit sticky with the new regs etc I would think, lots of money to put into an aeroplane that may just end up not being able to support itself with airshow work

Was the Centaurus a particularly unreliable engine in service? Or the Hercules? I understood that the ‘problems’ with the Centaurus had shown themselves mainly in the engine’s post-service life?

I spoke to the Sea Fury pilot at CU last year – he said from a pilot’s perspective, he would be happy to fly VR930, but the engineering side weren’t completely happy at that time.

Re. hanging a R3350 on the front – certainly not! 😡

The Centaurus is a powerful, highly complex sleeve valve engine – when in service it was known for regular engine failures. You only have to look through the superb Fleet Air Arm Fixed-wing Aircraft Since 1946 by Howard & Sturtivant to see the number of Sea Furies lost through engine failures to appreciate the scale of the problem.
In my mind, a Centaurus is never going to 100% reliable (what engine is?), but it comes down to accepting the risk associated with operating an aircraft known for having a history of throwing a conrod (or whatever) once in a while.

Thankfully in 2014, Chris Gotke was very fortunate to be right over CU when the Centaurus in VX281 decided to give up and he did a superb job of getting it down safely on the airfield – it was a heart stopping on the ground just watching it happen. If he had been over the coast or somewhere else over Cornwall, the outcome would have been very different.

Here’s hoping that the associated paperwork gets resolved and we can hear that lovely sound of a Centaurus at high RPM in the air once again…

On a similar theme, is there any news on either of the TFC Sea Furies?

The question is ”how many more Centaurus failures can the Royal Navy Historic Flight accommodate before, however regretfully, they give it up as a bad job ?”

Hopefully they will stick with it, and enjoy better fortune than recent years. Their troubled experiences, though, are not matched by Sanders aeronautics (USA) who have been restoring and campaigning stock Sea Furies for 30 or more years, and have not been dogged by endless engine issues, for whatever reasons.

Purists may not appreciate the R2800 substitution option , but at least the darn thing keeps going!

Seems that the Centaurus is a big issue these days was it always so ?
Maybe the old skills needed to make them run successfully lost in the mists of time.

Way back in the late 50’s I used to sit on Southsea/Eastney beach,
watching the Seafury’s running in on the gunnery school at Fraser.
They would turn up most regularly so much so no one bothered to take photos .. aah.

awaiting someone at the project team to grow a pair

Sounds like you have been watching the Jeremy Kyle Show!

Be nice to see the T20 put in silver with yellow bands.

My understanding was they were concentrating on getting the Swordfish (all three)and the Sea Fury trainer airworthy, then the FB11 and then the Seahawk.

According to their blog, the FB11 was grounded while they deliberated the cause of the engine failure in the T20

https://www.navywings.org.uk/news-blog/engineering-update-from-the-royal-navyn-historic-flight/

Blasphemy!

The question is ”how many more Centaurus failures can the Royal Navy Historic Flight accommodate before, however regretfully, they give it up as a bad job ?”

Hopefully they will stick with it, and enjoy better fortune than recent years. Their troubled experiences, though, are not matched by Sanders aeronautics (USA) who have been restoring and campaigning stock Sea Furies for 30 or more years, and have not been dogged by endless engine issues, for whatever reasons.

Purists may not appreciate the R2800 substitution option , but at least the darn thing keeps going!

They should hang an R3350 on the front

Blasphemy!