FirebexGraham recently I went chasing what was supposed ot be a Goblin engine but it turned out to be a Derwent I cant for the life of me remember who the company are but it is in Derbyshire and they have a number of sites.It might be worth a try.I tried to do a search to find the thread on Goblin engine but came up blank it was not that long ago.You could also try Merlin Pete a friend of his operates a Derwent on a trailer and also Anon had Derwents and associated stuff.
mike E
FirebexI have PM’d you the details of the engineers who viewed the engine the only conclusion we can come to is you viewed a different engine to the one that four of us who where present inspected and looked over.
That engine was certainly and most definitely Knackered if its the one from the car workshops just off the A127 in Essex.
I have previously gone into detail but the large amount of damage including water pump torn off supercharger casing bottom smashed off,prop strike damage to B Rocker cover poorly repaired and cracks welded up (not very well) on reduction gear casing.Car spark plugs in the pots and all the looms smashed off or crushed.All the control rods broken off.some signs of other things having taken place on crank case but as paint had been applied with a lavatory brush it was difficult.
The max that engine was worth if someone was desperate was about £5k except for the crank case damage the engine I have from you is externally 10 times better condition.Granted it may have given me all the internals I need plus a marginally better crank case but certainly worth no where near the price met.I can get an almost new fully complete Meteor in a box for under £5k and have far more better bits.
I think someone must have been desperate for a Merlin and I hope he/she has an understanding partner.
Mike E
Mike E
FirebexOnce you have those let me know and I will tell you the next lot you require but while your opening your wallet it could be good to add this now
I know thats a quality item but we bought an English wheel,Swager, and air hammer frame for £1200 the lot off a firm on evil bay .If you want a few things and speak to these firms they will do you good deals.We are fairly mass producing and find them adequate for the job.
Mike E
FirebexCrazy money….Merlin £16k – did you buy it Mike??
The Carb is silly too! £1850!!
I might have thought of buying it for £1600 and chance none of the bits being any good.Rest assured the other comments made it is VERY,VERY KNACKERED all the photo’s published and the pictures taken are from an elevated position if you look carefully NO pictures are from low level or from the lower rear or close up on the top of the banks and the rocker covers.
I can off forum give anyone seriously interested the full info and a copy of the full breakdown of how crap it was that was given to the auctioneer and still they sold it. I think that when the buyer pays his money and gets it home he will wonder what the hell he has paid for.
I wonder if it has been bought without the buyer being present and over the phone going off the description only ??. The engine was a crash and smash
out of a hole where a mosquito left its mark.There is a record of all the Merlins built so confirmation should be easy to get to confirm what I am saying.But not only me but a very knowledgeable and experienced engine man who works on warbirds. If someone bought it for parts they would have been better buying a Metero for about £4-5k and transfering all the bits over all they are missing then would be a crank case with a supercharger and reduction gear .But Graham Adlam has proven that aint no real deal to get wround.
mike E
FirebexThat does go to show that the intial suggestions where correct it is a design flaw and totally unexpected.The comment it is going to cost a fair amount to fix seems to suggest that someone lost the ball on this one.It also seems to imply that its not just a simple fix and could mean a good bit of down time per airframe to fix ,perhaps our friend Rich and Max with experience from the manufacture side of these components could give some insight as to where on the rib structure this attachment foot goes and how many are actually in each wing.
With this being made official and the first real statement from the company and taking place at the Singapore airshow it surely cant do the Airbus syndicate any good against its major rival Boeing who must be making I would imagine big play of these major teething problems with their major competitors aircraft and with all the other production issues must have an unfortunate negative affect on sales ??
Mike E
FirebexI have never really given this much thought until now but is there any similarity in the structure and profiles used in the Lincoln and Shackleton to the Lancaster ?? There is still Shack scrap to be found lurking around.
Mike E
Firebexwe have some stuff on Swordfish and as you may be aware we support the museum in Malta and have done from its beginning by rebuilding EN199.We also have som einfo on the rebuild of the Fleet Air Arm aircraft at Brough but as far as I am aware the info that was used went to Fleet Air Arm museum.As had been said Westlands do have a good bit of material belonging to Faireys as they inherited a lot of material and equipment including their windtunnel which I might add they are using presently.
mike E
http://www.aircraftrestorationgroup.webs.com
http://www.whirlwindfighterproject.org
FirebexHi Jay
should you wish to advertise your book on our site please contact me
FirebexIt has been reported to me that a Spitfire fuselage was noted heading towards the town of Halesworth today via a small back road through the village of Wissett.
His exact words were – ‘Just had a Spitfire fuselage pass by on the back of a lorry had the letter P by the roundel. Any ideas?’
Might be a fibreglass replica.
Cheers – Graham
Sounds vaguely familiar do you happen to know if it just extended from frame 5 (firewall)to just behind the rear cockpit glazing with its canopy etc on it ??.
As there is one like this for sale at present it is indeed a replica (ex John Poiser)fairly well constructed with a fully kitted genuine interior even down to the correct undercarriage indicator and chassis selector etc.
If it sounds familiar I will dig a photo out and you can compare if it the same but I thought it might be going to Brooklands sale for 16th as the owner wants to much money for it.
Mike E
FirebexHi all
Untill a few weeks ago, I worked for the company, based in Nottinghamshire who manufacture the parts concerned.
The wing rib is a very large one piece vertical web, with lighteneing holes, vertical and horezontal stiffeners etc all machined into the rib, also machined in are the web feet, which are basicaly angled brackets (cleats) machined to fit between stiffeners (stringers) machined into the top and bottom wing skins. The feet are then attached with mechanical fasteners to the wing skins to form the wing assembly.
If the feet should for any reason shear, then the skins are no longer attached to the ribs, simple as that. And with a wing full of a large weight in fuel, it is a very serious situation.
There are answers to both improvments to new wings and ways to repair the existing ones. There have been big changes at the manufacturer concerned, including top managment changes. But that is about all I can say without risk of legal action.
Very interesting and enlightening information obviously your knowledge and experience gives grounds for very informed comment but I would just say be a little cautious on how much detail you give .As you say to much knowledge at times can generate litigation.
But very interesting detailed info I wonder how they go about dealing with what on the surface sounds more than a normal expected run of the mill maturing problem within the airframe design.
I wonder if anyone knows is the A380 wing a complete new animal or is it a uprated version of an existing Airbus wing. I would suspect that the wing is an all new animal but manufacturers have been known to modify off the shelf items.
Mike E
FirebexI see I have stirred up a lively debate .Just to update I see that Quantas and one of the other operators has had to GROUND a couple of airframes for further inspection and investigation as some of the cracks are in areas that require further indepth investigation apparently.Make of that what you will ???
It is a shame they seem to be having so many hiccups with this aircraft but it seems multi national projects attract lots of issues.I can think of at least two major early issues on A380 relating to cable end fittings and plugs and dimensions of some components and undercarriage doors causing significant delays.
Dont get me wrong I think its is a very good aircraft but perhaps it needed a bit more work on it and perhaps politics outweighed production priorities.
Mike E
FirebexSomething of a mystery item here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skylark-Helicopter-/120856590643?pt=UK_CPV_Aviation_SM&hash=item1c239d3933#ht_558wt_1110
It is described as a “Skylark Helicopter” and carries the US Civil Registration N34239.
According to the FAA Website (at http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=34239&x=13&y=12) it was registered on Jan 29 1991 as an “Allentown Angel” – with the c/no 001, I suspect that it is very much a “one off” prototype/homebuild(?) ‘copter. How or why it has turned up in the Leicester area is a part of the mystery!
Still, with an asking price starting at £600, and new rotor blades (said to be worth £2,000) thrown in, it may find a buyer…
I think it may struggle to get any form of approval to fly in the uk if it is a one off as suggested by its description.Also there is no suggestion of any documentation with it.
Mike E
FirebexI think the one here at the Aeropark was donated by Donington Park as it was deemed to be unsafe up on its perch, think they did some remedial work on it…
The RAF’s plastic Tornado came through us at Cranfield to be modded as they wanted to fit droppers to the wings, the wing was split horizontally to insert a steel frame, that was found to simply have scaffolding planks in it when split if I remember correctly.. It was then reassembled and reprinted by us as the MacRoberts Repy one.
I thought the one at Donington got blown off its mount flipped onto its back and badly damaged or is this a different one ??. I seem to recall being told the wings we got from Dumfries now in Oz came from one at Donington and that it had basically been flipped and the wings had clapped and totaled the fuse ?. We also got told that two of the ones we have repaired including the remains now in Oz came from the John Poiser aircraft ? apparantly he had three One ended up at or near Donington one we have the rear fuse from and the cockpit is for sale in Lancashire and the third is in the back garden of an artist in Kent ?. But the origins of them are a little bit vague.
Mike E
FirebexThe key thing to remember is that none of the early jets were that great, it was the amalgamation of Allied and Axis technology that really led to the development of trully effective jet aircraft. The Vampire, Meteor, P80 etc were a bit slow and a bit behind the times aerodynamics-wise, whilst the German types suffered severe engine and production quality problems.
Yes its fairly clear that rapid development of US post war jets owed a lot to German designs and technology.For example things like swept wing designs date back to mid war aircraft and used in such aircraft as the Sabre.
Mike E
FirebexExcuse me throwing a spanner in but you have missed one .The HE162 Salamander single engined maneuverable and also the first combat jet aircraft
if I am not mistaken to be fitted with an ejector seat ??.Also it was supposedly fairly easy to fly or so some of the testing concluded.
Mike E
Sign In
