It was fantastic! I was lucky enough to be manning the engineers panel, and it was whole new experience for me to feel the Shackleton to be moving around rather than just quivering under the power of a run up. The first time the brakes were applied the vibration was incredible, as surface corrosion on the brake drums was removed, but what stands out was how easily she moved under so little power.

I’m told several people were getting misty eyed while stood watching near Hangar 7, and not all of it was caused by the propwash. :eagerness:

I’m praying (or as close as it gets for me) the NDT doesn’t show up anything bad. Then I’ll be begging off anyone who’ll listen to find the funding required to finish the job and get WR963 in the air. We can’t stop now.

Great to see her taxiing again. What are the timescales and major hurdles to overcome to achieve first flight?

Timescales are dependant on how much work needs to be done and how much money we can raise. The major hurdle is still the spar booms – although the bottom has 594 hours left, and the top has no life limit set as such, we need to know their true condition. This will require NDT work, planned for over winter if we can get everyone’s schedules to match.

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for the compliments!

We have the four engines on the wing, and their life and history is known – from the fairly fresh No 2 engine to the slightly suspect No 3. Thankfully we have six spare engines in store which are part of the last batch that were overhauled by the RAF just before the Shackleton left service. They were very well inhibited, but we will still have to have them checked over which will no doubt cost us. We also have been storing up propellers, translation units, control surfaces, hydraulic components, cables, bearings, and electrical items. The idea is to cover everything off the list of lifed items/component life logs, and so far we’re doing fairly well. We’ve traded where needed to cover some of the gaps, and purchased other items.

In terms of major fundraising we have a few avenues we’re following, but they won’t pay off for a couple of years at best. One such project is involving the digitisation and sales of a the Shackleton design drawings. As with any project like this the begging bowl will have to go out at some point. We’re putting it off as much as possible, but if people want to donate we’re happy to take it and put it towards the return to flight. So far, none of us (up to and including the Trustees, Chairman and the Accountant) are taking any renumeration out of things – but please remember we don’t work for the Trust as a full time occupation. As this grows bigger, its likely we’ll need paid staff at some point.

For now though, we’re doing okay. Most of our monthly run ups are well attended enough that the cost of fuel is covered, we hope this will be also the case when we taxy the aircraft in the near future.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the next run up is this Saturday (27th September).

Kind regards,

Rich

Hi all,

First off apologies for the lack of updates, we have been busy over the past few months, but circumstances at home and work haven’t given me much time to write things up.

So what has been going on since June?

Well, we had the hydraulic hand pump issue, which was resolved thanks to a spare sent down from our frineds at Elvington. The hydraulics had been bled, and the system was found to be spot on, with the pump handle staying where it should be and no idling circuit created by fluid travelling through it under engine driven pressure.

The next few runs were carried out without incident, with the exception of one where No 1 engine refused to shut down! We’re not sure whether No 1 running on was a gremlin or just WR963 wanting to keep going while she feels fit. Either way – we needed all the engines to start and stop on command, so the Slow Running Cut-off and magnetos were the suspects, especially given the staining under the cowling when it finally shut down..

The intake trunking was removed and the SRCO activated, and we had a few dribbles of fuel. Switching the system on and off produced some fuel down the drain before it cleared up. Chances are it was caused by old seals and long periods of inactivity. 20 minutes of ground running a month just isn’t the same as several hundred hours of flight. The magnetos were checked, and a small amount of moisture had caused corrosion on the switch terminals – a perfect example of how small things can cause much bigger problems.

During bouts of wet weather we’ve been sorting through our stores, which resulted in a deal being made for some surplus mainwheels we had. These went out to Lincolnshire, for NDT, conversion and use on Lancaster aircraft! Loading them was hot and dusty work, but all concerned were happy with the results.

3 hubs still in crates, and six mainwheels, all in all, leaving us with a similar more manageable number in store – and some much needed room!

Work turned back to WR963 and the first thing to get done was to give the aircraft a wash. This was achieved using a rather nifty water supply and plenty of volunteer labour!

We ended up with a Shackleton that looked more like it was ready to fly over the Atlantic rather than float in it, which raised morale considerably.

Turning back to the aircraft the other long standing pain in the rear has been the pneumatics, in particular the storage crate in the nose. Several leaks have proved remarkably difficult to trace, not helped by the redundant APX-7 crate. The decision was taken to remove the racking and make access to the crate easier, and this meant we could then trace and rectify the leaks in seconds rather than hours.

On the next run up we found no leaks, and the system pressure was charging like we’ve never seen before on both sides. From 0 to 300psi inside 20 minutes, and pressure still showing a week later is a far cry from one system working and leaking it out in minutes.

WR963 is now doing rather well. No electrical gremilns, all generators and inverters working, radio, pneumatics, fuel priming. She’s just waiting on our pilot being available and then she will be trying a small taxy up and down to stretch her legs!

In the meantime, we took some fresh fuel on and have some more run ups over the next month or so.

Dates are: 27th September, 11th October and 27th October. As always at 1pm, inside the Classic Air Force compound.

Regards,

Rich