Greygate plastic polish was the stuff mandated by the RAF for aircraft transparencies when I last worked on live airframes about 20 years ago. I wondered if you could still get the stuff – now I know! I have used it for polishing glider canopies too.
Like Jon H I found that Brasso would be quite quick at removing stubborn stuff but don’t dismiss Greygate though. It can remove some quite deep scratches given time and elbow grease!
Regards, Aerial

Hmmm interesting…. *as he thinks about tackling the Sea Hawk canopy* 😀

Jon

While I think about it, the Ghost Lancastrian also flew before the Comet; as a testbed for the Comet engines, and was technically a jet airliner, but as Graham rightly says, it was a conversion of an existing piston type.

Bruce

See this is where to my mind things get interesting and hence why I threw the spanner in the works.

The criteria and indeed the title of the thread is – “the world’s first jet airliner flies!” The Viking was designed as an airliner (the VC.1) and ‘JPH flew with jet engines from day one. So surely that makes it a jet airliner? It was designed as a jet, rolled off the production line as a jet and flew for something like 6 years as a jet – yet we are saying it isnt a jet airliner because Vickers started with an existing design?

I should add I am not trying to detract ANYTHING from the Comet, just having a good old debate 🙂

Jon

A nice picture totally original (not) of a B-17 comming down

Item 290331676360

http://cgi.ebay.com/MILITARY-PHOTO-WWII-Crashing-B17-Bomber-NEW-LOOK_W0QQitemZ290331676360QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item43991dcec8&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

(a good example of a photoshopped photograph and someone trying to pass it off as a wartime original, check the nose art, its Sally B)

Ha!!!!! Took less than a minute to find the original picture on the internet.

If you are going to do this at least make more of an attempt than going to wikipedia and lifting the image straight from there!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/B-17G-105_44-85784-Sally_B.jpg

I have flipped the original for comparison. Also explains why most the markings have been “rubbed” out…

Jon

Nick Grace also seemed to be involved with Fireflies WD899 and VT409.

Doubt it given they are still owned by Unimetals – the people that had the Failsworth scrapyard they were found in. Bits now on display at RAF Millom museum along with Swift WK198 and the Balliol cockpit (id escapes me currently) which they also still own.

Front half WD889, rear half VT409

http://www.demobbed.org.uk/images/wd889.jpg

Jon

I do like the irony of the pilot celebrating with a nice cold bottle of Spitfire Real Ale! 😀

Jon

So far have –

1 Nose F-100
2 Tailwheel of TBM Avenger
3 Mainwheels on SR71
4 Chin/belly turret of B29
5 Tail of B52
6 Nose gun on A10
7 main landing gear on B52
8 No.3 engine on B24
9 Port mainleg on P47
10 tail of Victor
11 Port intake of F4
12 Rotorhead of Huey
13 underside of T33
14 Courtesy of Creaking door above – STBD gunports on nose of Sunderland
15 Exhaust of RR Griffon on Shackleton

All done 😀

Jon

Scan showing how the M62 cut through the airfield site (taken from Aldon Fergusons excellent book “Royal Air Force Burtonwood”)

Jon

Doesnt look likely Kev.

Dug out the notes and looks to have been outside of the airfield boundaries and most likely just farmland.

Give me 2 minutes – just scanning a map of the place now to help put it all in perspective.

Jon