That wouldn’t be XX741 as it was retired in Jan 1994. We are currently restoring XX741 at Bentwaters Cold War Museum.
Regards.

Graham

962 and 965 were both in long term storage whilst I was on the IPT eng desk. They were supposed to have been major’d and upgraded to GR3a standard but the axe fell earlier than expected so weren’t required. Needless to say that during their time at Shawbury, they were extensively cannibalised (Not allowed to say robbed any more:diablo:) so were probably reasonable candidates to sit on the range.

Talking of Shawbury and slightly OT, I’ve been meaning to post this picture of XX741 for some time which suffered a mid air collision with a T2 Jag in the early 2000s. Lucky chap:eek:

Ps There’s no prize BTW:D

Static means you can’t even apply battery power to switch on the nav lights! 🙁

Graham

No UFO’s were mentioned in any way, shape or form by two of the contributors.. Wonder who they were?

😀

Graham

Even some of the experts make mistakes… One can’t proof read and rerecord filming that is already done, there is no auto cue 😉

That will be my excuse! 😀

Graham

Thanks for the mention Dean. We have also acquired Phantom FGR.2 XV401. This was actually purchased by us whereas XV497 and XV460 are on loan.

BCWM acquired the Phantom XV497 and Harrier ZD667 just over a year ago, with the nose of Phantom XV460 earlier this year.

Regards.

Graham

No, not this year. By the time you have taken out the costs, the annual open days didn’t really generate that much in the way of funds for the amount of work involved. Museum admissions, Benwaters Aviation Society memberships and donations are what fund the running of the museum and all of the restoration projects.

Graham

No dedicated open day this year ?
I would have thought that a good fund raiser ?

That is definitely our long term plan but sourcing potentially serviceable engines is still a pipe-dream at the moment. We may have a potential lead so who knows.

The Everetts have assisted us with our project to date and for that we are extremely grateful.
Regards.

Graham

Nice update, I saw on another forum that you hoped to source and install engines in the old girl! I take it there’s no chance of sourcing the missing parts form the many jags at Bentwaters?

Facebook would be your best bet David. He is a regular poster on the Lightning Appreciation Society group there….and a few of the Phantom ones.
Kind Regards.

Graham

I was wondering if anyone could put me in touch with Ian Black as I would like to contact him about some on-going research that I have regarding Lightning XP701 on behalf of the Robertsbridge Aviation Society in East Sussex where XP701’s cockpit section resides. I am compiling a history of XP701 for our web site, including a chronology and photos.

Thanks in anticipation.