You could try the Britannia XM496 chaps at Kemble; they had a Douglas Sentinel tug at some point, although it was a bit bigger. It was the same as the ones used by RAF Transport Command. They might have info on the use of tugs in the RAF in general. Their website is http://www.xm496.com – contact details are on there.

Andy

Didn’t Keith Hartley fly Buccaneer XW986 from Kemble to Warton before its delivery to South Africa or was I dreaming? Not sure it was on the civil register but it was certainly privately owned.

Think this thread would give you the jist of it

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=901

One very memorable moment for me was standing at the end of Kembles runway on 29th March 2002, when XW986 made its first post-restoration flight over my head. It was still in the Raspberry Ripple colour scheme, but with ZU-NIP painted on the side i.e. registered in South Africa at the time. I believe it visited a few places in the UK before it headed south. It wasn’t allowed to display in the UK though.

Andy

I have to say that to me Bernard Chabbert is as much Legends as MH434. I would be disappointed if he wasn’t there, as his commentary is so over the top that it is highly entertaining. Having said that, I found a great spot on the tank bank between speakers where the commentary was not intrusive. I may also have been one of the ones to cheer when the speakers cut out.

Still, I hope he is back next year.

Andy

G-BEJD colours

Personally, my vote would be for Dan-Air colours (earlier not later) as in this photo ( http://www.airplane-pictures.net/image3580.html ). But I wouldn’t complain about any livery, it’s just great news that she has been rescued.

Andy

I can see a new hobby here, staying in aircraft that have been converted into hotels – First there was the Bristol Freighter in New Zealand, then the Boeing 727 in Costa Rica that opened recently, soon there will be the Convair 340 at Carluke in Scotland, and then this IL-18. Are there any more? Oh, I’ve just remembered the Boeing 747 in Sweden.

Someone should have told BA that they could have found an alternative use for the 707, VC-10 and Trident that were scrapped at Cosford…

A.

Filton

Further to my earlier post, here are a couple of photos of the Belfast-trussed triple-span hangar at Filton. The first is a Citation inside the centre bay, which is divided down the middle. The other side of the centre bay is used by RRHT and Robs Lamplough for various Spitfires etc. I have lightened the photo to highlight the trusses.

The second photo is Spitfire G-BKMI outside, with Mustang G-BIXL inside. It shows two of the three spans. Both photos were taken about 8 or 9 years ago.

There are two hangars with Grade II listed status at Filton; this one and an earlier 1916/17-built 1913-designed corrugated iron-clad side-opening hangar, which is I believe is quite rare.

Here is a description taken from the internet…

Triple Hangar at ST 60 806, Filton Airfield

Group of four paired aircraft hangars in line. 1918 by the War office’s Directorate of Fortifications and Works to drawing no. 417/17. Walls, buttresses, central piers and door ‘pylons’ in brick, curtain walls half-brick thickness in cheaper bricks, softwood ‘Belfast’ roof trusses, corrugated steel door cladding and later profiled steel roofing.

PLAN: a triple-span shed, each shed divided by a central row of brick piers; on each of the longer sides is a low single-storey set of stores or offices.

EXTERIOR: Triple segmental gables presented to E and W elevations. The general design of all the sheds is similar, with minor differences in the scope of the attached out-buildings. A series of raking buttresses to the side walls, which have brick workshop annexes with steel casement windows, Brick ‘pylons’ outside of the outer bays, into which slid the doors, are in red brick, with three sets of paired piers carrying thin brick stiffening diaphragms with straight top but segmental lower edge – similar to the internal construction.

INTERIOR: Hangars divided by central row of paired brick columns; these carry a longitudinal thin brick stiffening diaphragm in brick on a segmental arch, are 2 bricks square, with a clear gap, and the outer faces carry a concrete spreader on brick corbelled in 3 courses to carry a strut in 3 small scantling timbers spliced into the doubled bottom chord of Belfast trusses. These trusses, commonly used from 1916 for aircraft hangars, have their bearing ends plated in diagonal boarding to the point where the strut is taken in, then a close-set diagonal grid of small struts. The double upper chord, in a flat segment, carried close-set purlins, and the lined profile roof sheeting. There is a vertical X-bracing between bays, and horizontal bracing in the bays adjoining the main doors.

HISTORY: …. The buildings, which survive as the most complete on any of these types of sites in existence (numbering 27) in November 1918, were retained for use by the Bristol Aeroplane Company after the war, and after 1929 became part of an operational fighter base. Following the disbanding of 501 (County of Gloucester) Squadron in 1957, the hangars reverted to use by the aircraft factory, now British Aerospace.

……

There were originally four of these on the airfield, only one survives.

Andy

Great to see it up an running again. Shame it is fixed, without the hydraulic motion. In early 2004, I was lucky enough to get a shot in the sim when it was at Filton, with help (lots of) from Les Brodie and Warren Hazelby (Pilot and Flight Engineer on the last Concorde flight), complete with full motion hydraulics. The day before, BA had decided to decommission it, so they pulled the plug on it after we were finished. It was a rare and unforgettable opportunity. I am a little jealous that Brooklands got it and we didn’t get to keep it at Filton for our future museum.

Andy