FirebexI was at Millom first thing this morning with some of the other guys to collect some stuff.Tornado related and the Flea Wing.
The aircraft present as at 9am this morning;
Outside.
Canberra fuselage.Wings cut into sections ready to move.
Airship various parts.
Nose cone of 748
Nothing else !!!!
Inside.
Various Vampire bits waiting collection.Odds and ends nothing specific.
Balliol cockpit.
Firefly Front Cockpit.
Firefly Rear cockpit.
Jet Provost cockpit.
Link type simulator/trainer and control desk.
We asked about the Balliol and Firefly sections and got told that all three sections still belong to her lady ship and remain because no one it seems is willing to take them on at her terms.(what a surprise nothing changes in nearly 35 years does it ?).We also got told that she is being charged a considerable amount of money per item per day for storage.If this will encourage her to finally see sense and put them up for sale or scrap them is debateable(and probably doubtfull).
Apparantly as the airship still technicaly belongs to the US Navy its looking for a home and is rumoured to be going into Europe somewhere on loan and display.
There was no sign of anything else so it seems that since Anon had a look things have moved very quickly.
All very sad !!!
FirebexI agree with Phantom Phil it is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into minimising the visual damage that is inevitable with have to dismantle an aircraft in such a way.
I think from the appearnces so far the whole team are to be congratulated and an inspiration to us all.
FirebexAs a matter of interest I used to see the Flint one resplendent with its dragon on the nose engine running on a fairly regular basis until they did something with it and it would not play afterwards.But I think the Gannet from there went the same way after a while.But I digress (sorry).
Arent the wings on the swift almost similar to one of the other types.I seem to recall reading somewhere it used wings for or of something else.Attacker seems to stick in my mind but I am probably completely wrong (its an age thing).
Firebexthats not Mrs Morans Swift is it?
if it is, then thats all there is of the aircraft, when she was at NEAM we often wondered what she would of been like with wings etc, but i believe they were scrapped
Sounds about par for the course scrapping the wings if it is the ex Clayton one so saying it looks three million percent better than it did proping up one side of the gateway many years ago.
FirebexI wrote a letter in disgust to the idiots at number 10 when the cuts came out and have only just today actualy got a reply from some gofer. A lot of usual political waffle about the need to be efficient,and cost effective and all that crap we keep hearing.But he did finish by saying that unlike the Nimrods being scrapped the Harriers and our Aircraft carrier are presently being touted around foreign governments to see who wants them at a bargain price.
So I dont think that surplus Harriers and spares will be coming on the market any day to soon.
Whats this then Indian military get new carrier with Harriers thrown in all for 6 million rupees and 25 years supply of pompadoms BARGAIN David what do you think ??.
Firebexdo you know wHich one it is ?
I have only ever seen three of the beasts one at Flint Technical Colledge,One in the scrap yard in Clayton and one in I cant remember the museum.It does not seem to resemble any of them?.The One at Flint as I recall was the Nev Duke world record holder,I think the one at Clayton also had a claim to fame and I think the third was just a survivor.
FirebexHaving worked on the very first Nimrods and their parents “Comrods” XV147 and XV148 the original aircraft was a sound concept.But when it went to AEW it went silly because no one really could make up their minds as to what they wanted and what they wanted in it.Usual SNAFU so to then try to take it another step was definately trying to create a silk purse from a sows ear.
Dont get me wrong I loved the Comet I liked the first Nimrods but you can only do so much within reason and I feel they went a step to far and the British Aircraft industry shoul dhave been allowed to develope a successor instead of a half measure that got us into bother and where we are now.
But isnt that the story of our aircraft industry no matter what political pursuasion the idiots in whitehall happen to be ?. We get stuck with compromise or brilliant aircraft that put the wind up the world get cancelled !!!
Firebexwhat appear to be elevators for coffee tables !!!!!.Nearly as bad as the idiot a few year sback who was sectioning brand new merlin cylinder heads to make coffee tables and would not let them go into flying aircraft in exchange for used ones.
What next Harrier wing dining tables ?.
ex aircraft carriers into cross channel ferries ?.
Firebexwhat appear to be elevators for coffee tables !!!!!.Nearly as bad as the idiot a few year sback who was sectioning brand new merlin cylinder heads to make coffee tables and would not let them go into flying aircraft in exchange for used ones.
What next Harrier wing dining tables ?.
ex aircraft carriers into cross channel ferries ?.
FirebexAs usual you guys are a mine of info.Do I take it from the very limited numbers mentioned that there are only a handfull of them built or to be built ?.
For some reason I thought there was to be a lot more or perhaps I am getting confused with the guys who have done the FW190.
Although personaly if I had the money I would plump for the Swallow everytime.I know it was German and the enemy but you have to admit its one hell of a beutifull looking beast in its own way and gave pointers to so many post war aircraft as did a lot of German designs such as their tail less research and aircraft that led to such aircraft as the Sabre etc.
FirebexUm – how would we know what a ‘good’ model kit would be without the original plans or parts to compare the kit with? :diablo:
I am very up for a bit of reverse engineering!
An interesting resource, though secondary, is the 4+ series ‘World War II Wings Line’ Westland Whirlwind book by Mark1 ltd of Prague. There is a section that appears (from its style) lifted straight from an Air Ministry document (though uncredited) that gives the aerofoil section as NACA 23017-08 with thickness to chord varying from 17% at root to 8% at tip. Wing Chord at centre section is 6’10”, incidence 0 deg.
There is much about the structure and materials in here – I wish I knew the source. They credit Hendon, FAA museum Yeovilton and The Czech National Archives, so there’s stuff out there! There are versions available for download on the web, but I’ll not point at them here as I am dubious about the legality of doing so.
Sopwith – Yes, with these parts already you can stick a data plate on it and Bob’s your (original) uncle!
You can always PM the sources then you arent advertising them in public so to speak.Its just a word of mouth from one enthusiast to tother !!!!!
FirebexSadly I very much doubt the government of this country would have the interest or the will to do anything !!!!!!
FirebexSadly I very much doubt the government of this country would have the interest or the will to do anything !!!!!!
FirebexWe have got no aircraft carriers as such,we have no harriers to fly off them,We have no Vulcans to bomb the runway at Stanley and no Victor tankers to refuel them.All the forces we have available in any numbers are in the conflicts elsewhere in the world supporting god knows who else instead of our own interest.
And the Argentinian government have until 2016 at least to take over the Islands,create one large military base with all the reserves and defences it would ever need and also to set up and start recovering the oil to become a very rich nation to buy protection by supplying countries like the US.
I might be being a bit cynical and OTT with this but IF;the Argentinians are really up for getting “their” Islands back (very debateable ownership point for anyone)they have the golden opportunity to do so and there is not a damn thing this government is willing or will be able to do a thing about it depends if the Argentinian government and people would have the will to do something that would stand a good chance of being successfull.
I think the poor Islanders must be going grey and very worried at the prospect.This government will let them down and god forbid it ever happened we as a country (UK)would let them down.
FirebexWe have got no aircraft carriers as such,we have no harriers to fly off them,We have no Vulcans to bomb the runway at Stanley and no Victor tankers to refuel them.All the forces we have available in any numbers are in the conflicts elsewhere in the world supporting god knows who else instead of our own interest.
And the Argentinian government have until 2016 at least to take over the Islands,create one large military base with all the reserves and defences it would ever need and also to set up and start recovering the oil to become a very rich nation to buy protection by supplying countries like the US.
I might be being a bit cynical and OTT with this but IF;the Argentinians are really up for getting “their” Islands back (very debateable ownership point for anyone)they have the golden opportunity to do so and there is not a damn thing this government is willing or will be able to do a thing about it depends if the Argentinian government and people would have the will to do something that would stand a good chance of being successfull.
I think the poor Islanders must be going grey and very worried at the prospect.This government will let them down and god forbid it ever happened we as a country (UK)would let them down.
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