On Sat the 1st Dec Gatwick Aviation Museum ran all four of the Griffons 58’s on Avro Shackleton WR982.
As can be seen from the photos this was a night run, the first for many years. All four Griffons started perfectly and ran without any problems. This is a follow on run from one made on the 25th August when all four where also run. This is the 50th birthday year of WR982 and we can say she in in fine running order, we still have problems with overheating but our run procedures keep this to a manageable level.
A DVD with all of the run footage will be available soon ( plus stills ).
Peter Mills
By: Joe Petroni - 4th December 2007 at 09:39
Theres another thread on Shacks/Vipers here which details it quite nicely.
Whereabouts is that? Have done a search couldn’t find anything.
By: mjr - 4th December 2007 at 09:35
And a couple more. awsome sound. The low frequency noise can be heard from miles away at night, especially as the engines rotate in and out of phase.
By: Bomberboy - 4th December 2007 at 08:08
Fantastic!
‘Live’ Shacks around the globe are doing surprisingly well it would seem.
i wish we haad one back in the air in the UK?
Bomberboy
By: pagen01 - 3rd December 2007 at 20:22
Theres another thread on Shacks/Vipers here which details it quite nicely.
By: Joe Petroni - 3rd December 2007 at 17:14
Did the Vipers have throttle’s? Or was just a start / run arrangement?
By: adrian_gray - 3rd December 2007 at 16:18
I cannot imagine the noise of all four Griffons and two Vipers at max chat 😮 😮
You are not alone in struggling to imagine the consequences, Joe. IIRC (a rare event) the prototype Viper installation in a Shack was destroyed when either the Vipers were run with the inlet doors closed, or the doors closed while running…
Can anyone more Shack-literate comment, please?
Adrian
(wish I’d been there too…)
By: Joe Petroni - 3rd December 2007 at 15:53
Hi Peter. Thanks for your reply. I was just musing what the Vipers ran on after I posted. I didn’t realise they were adapted to run on AVGAS.
I cannot imagine the noise of all four Griffons and two Vipers at max chat 😮 😮
By: lotus72 - 3rd December 2007 at 15:20
I’m certainly interested in your DVD, make sure you give us the details when it’s ready
By: Peter - 3rd December 2007 at 15:14
rad problems
Peter, thanks for the reply, is there anyway you guys could use a descaler cleaner or something and let the rads soak for a day or so and then flush them?
By: Peter Mills - 3rd December 2007 at 15:07
Joe,
the Vipers are not installed.
We do have them, in fact one is being restored by RR Heritage trust.
RRHT take 5 years to do one Viper. We aren’t complaining ,the job they do is, as you might expect, superb.
We do have a long term plan to restore and fit them, but really is long term.
One consideration is to run the fuel from the tip tanks only. This would allow us to run the Vipers on JetA1, AVTUR etc instead of the original AVGAS. This would prolong the life of the Vipers, probably for as long as the airframe exists.
Peter Mills
By: pagen01 - 3rd December 2007 at 15:05
Fantastic sight, and I can immagine, noise! Certainly be interesting with the Vipers lit, if a little dangerous!
By: Peter Mills - 3rd December 2007 at 15:01
Peter,
It’s not the lack of air that causes the overheating, it’s the lack of coolant flow through the rads, they dried out whilst at Cosford and now a combination of internal corrosion and crystallized glycol restricts the flow. We did give a couple to a local vintage rad repairer, that resulted in one blown rad on the first run.
Peter Mills
By: Peter - 3rd December 2007 at 14:24
Excellent news!
Good to see the old grey lady clearing her throat! What a sound that must have been! I do wonder why your having overheating problems though as there must be lots of air rushing through the rads?
By: Joe Petroni - 3rd December 2007 at 14:10
Are there any plans to restore the Vipers, assuming they are installed?
By: XN923 - 3rd December 2007 at 13:45
Wonderful!
Really sorry to have missed this 🙁
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December 3, 2007 at 11:34 am