Response from TFC

For information purposes, Mr Grey was scheduled for two test flights at Duxford on Sunday.

The P47 has had a major overhaul to its landing gear during the winter and this was its first flight after substantial ground tests. One minor malfunction was found to one of the undercarriage doors and he elected to return early but after proving the rest of the system. His comment was “well done lads, only one minor snag – sticky sequence valve”.

The second test flight was of the Spitfire MkXIV, to see if faults which appeared during a previous sortie last year could, after engineering investigation, be duplicated. The supercharger volute drain had been cleared and it started normally and without exhaust stack fires. The undercarriage retracted normally but one leg became unsafe under G above 4. Upon reselection and further test the undercarriage remained safely up. A well known sequence of practice aero’s were thereafter engaged, in which power settings of 2250 rpm and boost varying between +6 and +8 were used.(For your interest, maximum available boost is +18lbs ! Imagine how it goes at that power……..This was as originally tested by Mr Grey after its first restoration flights and is well remembered by some! Boost is now gated at +10lbs. The Griffon installed is one of the few 65 engines – as originally factory fitted – and is in very fine fettle). The undercarriage anomaly is under further engineering examination.

When advised of this thread Mr Grey asked me, on his behalf, to apologise if anyone was concerned – he was simply doing a job that needed to be done on a quiet pre season weekend and enjoying himself in the process. He also mentioned that he invariably practices the old safety dictum – “Keep your airspeed up”.

We hope to see you all at Flying Legends.