A family occasion took us south last weekend and gave us the opportunity of a visit to the excellent museum at Gatwick. The aircraft are looking great in their splendid new hangar and are obviously being cared for by a dedicated and enthusiastic team who made us feel very welcome. We were able to get up really close to the aircraft as barriers are kept to an absolute minimum and there is a really uncluttered look making photography much easier. Only a few aircraft are outside including the Shackleton (understandably) – really enjoyed being able to tour this exhibit from end to end! Side displays include a range of engines, models and an excellent history of Gatwick itself. A museum well worth visiting 🙂
By: Peter Mills - 17th April 2016 at 08:18
Nice pictures! Shows the airframes just the way we tried to present them.
As to runners, well, the Lightning is close to being started. There are a few minor jobs to complete and the schedule for test runs will be decided shortly. We had a visitor related set back yesterday, but hopefully it can corrected without too much delay. Once we are confident that all is well will announce public run days, the ONLY F53 runner. The intention is for the Shack to be brought to run state this year. The Bucc is runnable now, with some minor servicing. Currently the Bucc is outside but will soon be prepared to go in next to the Lightning. The plan is to remove the wings and transfer them to the workshop for a full refurbishment. In the meantime with the Fuse inside that will also undergo a major refurbishment. It’s anticipated that this will take two to three years. We will probably give the old girl a last run before the major work takes place.
The long term objective, as defined by our chief engineer is to get “everything running”. An ambitious target but always good to have a plan!
The next airframe to be moved to a run state will be the Hunter T7. Once the Lightning is running and hopefully just needs normal regular maintenance the focus will move to the T7. We have a low houred Avon 122 to go in and it’s probably not many weeks work before we can get it going. The Vixen will also be returned to ground running, probably not for a year or two and finally the Venom plan also calls for this to also be made runnable, again not a mega task. We do have two low or zero time Derwents for the Meteor so that is a potential runner, lot of work before that comes to pass. Anyone have a Pegasus 103? Harrier is feeling left out of al this activity….
That just about sums up the runners and potential runners and a rough timescale. Any public engine runs will be announced on both our web site and via our Facebook pages. Lightning, maybe late June early July depending on serviceability.
PM
By: Mothminor - 16th April 2016 at 15:35
Thanks for the replies 🙂
Hopefully Peter Mills will be along with a definitive answer re. runners.
As far as I’m aware the current potential runners are the Lightning, Shackleton and Buccaneer S.1. They have a high proportion of aircraft engineers involved with the museum and the ultimate aim seems to be to get as many aircraft as possible in running order.
The exhibits are certainly looking good! The Lightning is looking absolutely superb!
By: Fouga23 - 16th April 2016 at 08:56
Nice! Which ones are runners?
By: The Bump - 15th April 2016 at 17:04
Wow! They have done a superb job there.
I first visited several years ago and the exhibits were in the condition you would expect them to be in after being outdoors, but they have scrubbed up nice!
I am looking forward to visiting soon, Peter would be very proud.
Sign In
April 14, 2016 at 10:18 pm