Thanks Graham and Ed – it never occurred to ask until now.

I think one of the reasons the IWM amongst others doesn’t display things like the model is possibly nobody knows they are there. How many times a year do we read a headline with the words ‘recently discovered’ and ‘thought to be lost’ in, especially when it comes to film stock?

I know first hand that there is nothing more daunting than to be faced with a warehouse full of identical boxes all of which have the marking ‘Aircraft Spares’ on and know that you will open every box until you find the bit you are after in the last one in the place.

Archivists and Storemen often have no idea what the kit is they are carefully putting on the shelf – is it the rare Peenemunde model or is it a concept for a post war industrial estate; is that cathode ray scope from a long forgotten ultra secret airborne radar system or the last bit test kit out of the lecky bay at Scampton?

Perhaps there should be a volunteer group of subject matter experts who go into these places and properly catalogue it all?

Nine merlins together… Just think of the possibilities and the sound! :diablo:

I don’t think helicopters would be any good as they have a really poor snap roll rate………………………………..

Seriously this is another indicating factor of what an old git I am becoming. When I arrived at Valley in ’79 the XX 160, 170 and 180 range had already mostly arrived but all of the XX 200s arrived after I did and now they are going to be retired before I am.

I would be surprised if they do go when they are expected to. They have been rewinged once and after the early fin flutter problems that is a beefy old bit of kit. The engine and fuselage will have to be be supported for a long time because of all the export ‘T1s’ so BAE can’t pull the pin on the jet just yet.

Add in the public jumping on the outrage bus when a government announces the Reds are to be scrapped and I suspect the future is little less bleak for what I fondly call the greatest military trainer ever built (probably due to the 60 odd hours backseat time!)

Was lucky enough to do some work with the chaps and chapesses from 36 and 37 Sqns RAAF in my time and can honestly say the air and ground crews cherish these airframes.

Much like our K versus J banter in the UK they were sceptical about the introduction of the J as it does have some limitations in certain roles when a direct comparison is made but is outstanding in others. (Of course the most vociferous opponents were Navs and Air Engs).

I suspect that like our K models, spares availability was getting a pain, specifically centre wing boxes and engine/prop bits. You can go glass cockpit and Nav free to extend a fleet, but ultimately if you are running out of elevator boost packs it ceases to be a viable airframe.

This isn’t a pointy, noisy, whooshy thing used to entice youngsters into the Royal Australian Air Force, this is a venerable work horse. I was told many a tale by the people who flew and worked on them, which are far more interesting than the standard steely eyed ‘there I was upside down at 200 feet with nothing on the clock but the makers name’ – but such is life north and south of the equator.

I just hope the remaining 8 get a better send off than our Ks appear to be getting and are all preserved for posterity. So old Diggers can point at them with misty eyes and tell their grandkids ‘there was nothing wrong with that aeroplane and they still made me jump out of it’

Enjoy your retirement Aussie Alberts you deserve it!!!

Rad Alt panels tend to be smaller as a general rule but Doppler radar panels are a lot bigger – if you have ever seen a Tornado GR1 inverted the big white square just behind the nosegear compartment is a Doppler Panel.

However, it wouldn’t really stand up that you would have a panel on each wing fro Doppler or Rad Alt. I would suggest it is more likely to be a non structural access panel for some sort of inner wing space?

To go one step on from the way to remember how to use a spoon: push your soup – pull your pud. When transferring fuel remember that the pumps should be put on before you open the relevant c0ck – you won’t get any pleasure from c0cking your pump, but if you pump your……… well you get the idea!

can’t find any Wall pictures yet but here is the Deci version of the red and white sign:

Nice work! Is it red, cherry red, post office red or misread dayglo though?

(I’ll get me coat)

It’s Hunter T.7 and looks like the complete set of three main flying panels (stude, centre and instructor). Have a look at http://www.gatwick-aviation-museum.co.uk/hunter_t7/hunter_t7.html which has a few good photos of their T-bird cockpit panels.

Instruments should be fairly easy to obtain from the usual sources.

Thanks for that info, they do seem a bit different in some respects from the image of T7 panels I have found. There are a lot of bids in so I am a bit hesitant to join the fray as I may be depriving a c0ckpit or aircraft project of them. That said, I have spoken to my mates occupational therapist and because he relates to my panel collection from before his brain injury and it will help his motor and cognitive thought skills, it would be of great benefit to him.

Thanks again for your help and to quote my pal directly “Who knows it could be at Cockpitfest with a dribbling f%^&*ing idiot in a wheelchair next to it next year”