Belvedere !

I’ll get my coat…………..

So long… and thanks for all the fish:)

Try searching ‘TSR 2’ as well!

Hi Alastair

I am flattered that you should be interested in my postings. I have not been on here for very long and I am always concerned before I post that either; no one will be interested or I will come across as a bit of a ‘know all’ (which I am definitely not!).

The Angola story might be of interest to people. The 125 had been shot down (accidentally). As well as the Belfast we had use of the CL-44-0 Guppy, so I have a few interesting pictures. I had some notes taken at the time; I will have a look around for them.

I have just remembered another anecdote regarding the Tyne. Towards the end of the career of a rather magnificent fleet of Tyne powered aircraft, engines were getting very scarce, and I mean SCARCE. So somebody in tech records checked all the engine logbooks to see if their were any hours left on all the engines sitting around the hangar. Bingo they managed to find an engine with about 50 hours or so left which would do as a spare. A very thorough search was made of the hangar but the engine was nowhere to found.

Eventually someone realised that this engine had been donated to the local air museum!

So a lorry was despatched to the museum with another engine on the back and the swap was made.

And I doubt very much if the ‘s’ engine had been inhibited…..

I think the Tyne engines have to be run every 30 days or basically they become scrap very quickly , can anybody confirm this ?????

Manufacturers normally recommend that an engine should be inhibited if it is stored or out of use for more than thirty days.

This consists of draining the fuel from the engine and replacing it with a light oil. This is to prevent corrosion forming in the fuel control unit and associated components. If an engine is out of service for an extened period then additional tasks will be required, such as coating the external surfaces of the engine with a preservative. Obviously its always good practise to blank the engine at all times.

Whilst all the above is desirable and may ultimately increase the longevity of the engine, it is not essential. I have seen Rolls-Royce Dart Engines stood for the best part of three years without being inhibited being returned to service without any problems.

So no, a Tyne providing it still meets its performance figures, will not become scrap if not run for thirty days.

The big problem with the Belfast is there no longer a design authority responsible for the type and as such she no longer has a Certificate of Airworthiness (and unlikly to get another one) .

The previous agreement was between Marshall of Cambridge and Heavylift expired when Heavylift went into recievership. Unless this significant obsticle can be overcome then its unlikly she will be going anywhere.

Wrenchbender, I would like to take issue with you regarding your statement

ran them to death performing very little maintenance untill a heavy check was due and then they parked them.

Firstly this is a very serious acusation you are making that an aircraft on the British Civil Registration was not maintained and certified to the correct standard, do you have any proof of this?

Secondly, Heavylift (along with Marshall) put a tremendous amount of work into getting the aircraft type certificated, and then went on to operate the type succesfully for over twenty years.

Thirdy, regarding your assertion that she could not be relied upon during a ‘mission’. Well I was only involved with one ‘mission’ a few years ago with Heavylift. We had to recover a downed BAe 125 from Angola. The professionalism of the Heavylift crew and the unique capabilities of the Belfast which performed faultlessly were ably demonstrated during the recovery, a task which certainly could not have been carried out by a C 130.

Now if you want to talk junk let’s start with the L188………….