Sorry Luftwaffe

Hi Martin – Firstly thanks, this was never truely intended in a serious vien, but as something to discuss, but don’t the figures make interesting reading – Steve

Just an aside I believe the Tunnel (where Terry Thomas comes to grief) is Old Warden tunnel and is now bricked up and a nature reserve for bats

As per my earlier post – if you can get enough enthusiasts giving thrice of a pint everyweek, miracles can be worked.

This is the norm in railway preservation – they’ve even nearly finished buildind a brand new A2 pacific (named Tornado – after the aircraft!), all it takes is for a few individuals to get up their backsides and organise things….

Good thought regarding engines, but I would imagine like the Viscount they are set to become rarer….

Having had some time to reflect, I’d say any project has two choices as a starting a point;

1. Find a flyer.
2. Find a non flyer.

I don’t doubt that for one instance a flyer, in reasonable nick is the more desirable option, however I suspect the puchase price will be much higher, add to that a ferry flight, trips out to inspect the aircraft prior to purchase etc. and the start up costs could well become prohibitive. Also as the candidate aircraft is in Africa it way well be in a far ropier condition than hoped for, and might need a complete restoration on arrival, in addition imagine if it crashed on the ferry flight.

A non flyer on the other hand might be purchased far more cheaply, although it would doubtless be a far longer term project (optimistically say ten years – a timescale not unusual in railway circles). I would however imagine it would be a far lower risk project, could start with fewer members (perhap 50-100) and grow in later years. For this option the Bedfordshire airframe might be a good starting point as in looks to be reasonably complete and sounds to be available. And lets face it if a Spit was found in this conditon no one would doubt it could be got flying again.

Anyway if such a project ever did get of the ground (pardon the pun) a regular column in a magazine would help to stimulate support and keep people in touch with progress.

Any one have any thoughts on the above?

In the Uk there is no experimental catergory – so yes you do have to have a design authority.

However that is not insurmountable, both the Sea Vixen and Vulcan (when it flies) have overcome this problem. On the other hand the Comet at Bruntingthorpe hasn’t, if I understand correctly in this case it is because BAe can’t provide a full set of drawings – largely I’ve been told because during RAF service non-standard modifications were performed (ie Nimrod undercart) – can someone confirm this?.

Reflecting upon the above an airliner would hopefully, not suffer from these problems or they would be on a scale where they could be rectified by returning to standard.

Ok suggestion,

As we all seem to want to see an airworthy Viscount, whats stopping us?

I’ve long been involved with a large mainline steam locomotive & believe me the engineering costs aren’t that far short to those in avaition. Although there are no problems with design authorities.

The way it works is this; the locomotive is owned by a company, each of us involved buy shares in the company and so are part owners. (£10 per month for 3 years for each share). This means that 500 members over a 10 year period would net £600,000, and yes our group does achieve these sorts of figures. Volanteer labour, perhaps sponshorship (which airline wants it in thier colours?), and even perhaps the lottery would further expand the resource available.

In addition contributors being part owners should get around the CAAs restrictions on who can fly in the aircraft.

Sure there would be problems, not least finding a suitable airframe, and yes it would be a long term project. But if the Canadian warplane Heritage can restore a Lanc to fly surely a more populous country like the UK, can get an example of its most successful airliner up.

Think about it over the Christmas – it can be done.