richw_82Hi all,
Things are progressing well at Coventry, and more spares have been arriving from the various stashes that are held off site. One such load today included booster coils, Dowty undercarraige seals, and a large box containing a number of brake sacs. We’re still trying to rationalise some of this, as there’s a lot of stuff likely to never be used. One box for instance contained nothing but tailwheel centering mechanisms! There is the odd part we’re coming across that will benefit other Shackleton groups, and we’ll be doing our best to share out anything that won’t be of use to us.
Over on WR963 herself things are pretty good. She survived the high winds without moving too much, our decision to face her into the prevailing wind seemed to have paid off… though I will admit to a few nervous moments after seeing reports of other larger aircraft moving excessively. The priming pump situation seems to have been solved, with the rebuilt pump still serviceable, and being checked each week.
The PTR-175 VHF is working properly, though we still have an intermittant issue, now traced to the antennae. As the system comprises of upper, lower, front and back with various switching systems; when you combine this with years of component robbing its a wonder WR963 could transmit/receive at all. We’re looking to fit an approved ‘whip’ style antennae as a replacement for the blade type WR963 carries, something very near to what would be seen on early MR2 and some MR3 aircraft. This should bypass the disruptions, and give reliable communication – something that will be needed even more when the new PTR 1751 is fitted!
A few more electrical gremlins have surfaced, in that we’re having fun trying to balance the load on the aircraft’s generators. The priming pump issue intruded on this as the engines all need to be running to do this properly, with fine tuning done by removing a panel inside the aircraft and constant reference to the ammeters on the electrical panel at the engineers station. At the moment, the generator on No 2 engine is doing the lions share of the work, with the other three minimal. They’re not dead, as they share the load nicely once No 2 is turned off, but trying to persuade all four to provide an equal current is tricky to say the least! We have some new voltage control units so intend to fit a new one and see if we can get things a little better.
On the airframe side we have some of the sealing tapes to replace, four years of outdoor weather has caused a couple of them to lift. We’re just waiting for decent weather (stop sniggering…) and then its up on top of the wings again with the ceconite and dope. While we’re up there we’ve also a plan involving a drawing specific to WR963, spar booms, and a man with an endoscope – the idea being to find out just how much WR963’s structure has deteriorated in the 23 years outdoors at Coventry.
Its well known that the Shackleton has an issue with its top spar booms; in that some of the bolt holes drilled into it for the spar web, and wing skins very nearly intersect. The proximity varies between 1/16 inch to 1/4 inch, but each aircraft is different, and each of the last six serving AEW2 had their own spar drawings, along with a document highlighting the position, proximity and allowable tolerance if any cracking is found. The presence and severity of any cracking is what dictates the life of the boom. As you can probably guess, we’re keeping our fingers crossed, as if the top booms are okay, we stand a better chance of seeing WR963 use up the remaining flying hours she has.
Lastly…
WR963 will be ground running on Saturday 8th March. The exact engine start time is tbc, but traditionally we run her up at about 1pm. Access is as always through the airport’s West Gate just outside the village of Baginton, postcode for those that want it is CV8 3AZ. Its a going to be a day of celebrating all things Shackleton – as on 9th March it is 65 years since the prototype Shack first flew, and a few days later on 11th March is 60 years since WR963 first took to the skies (and the day we consider her ‘birthday’).
So, if you fancy the sight and spectacle of the UK’s only live Shackleton* exercising 9,800 horsepower, come along to Coventry Airport, listen to WR963 growl, and share a bit of her birthday cake.
Regards,
Rich
* (for the moment… I know Gatwick are planning on awaking WR982 at some point)
richw_82Conservation… by cropping propeller blades?!
Good luck to them in dismantling her in two weeks for the quilt show. I’m angry that the reason given for cutting things was they were in a hurry. Its no excuse not to do things properly. Still no contact with us regarding prop tools, so I hope they’ve found some or will they be needing even more spare blades in order to get the other three engines on stands when they can’t get the props off those?
richw_82It looks to be a Griffon reduction gear casing attached to the back of the prop. Firefly or something like that?
richw_82No idea about the propeller, are there any markings on it? The turret looks very like the Bristol B.17 as fitted to Lincoln and Shackleton.
richw_82Why cut them, why not just remove the props before removing the engine ?
Where they so badly damged that they were unrestorable ?
If not then it just makes any future restoration (hopefully) needlessly more complicated.
It makes little to no sense. One e-mail/message and there could have been our prop spanners heading for Duxford on loan.
Blades can be straightened, but now they have to find some new ones – which between us, the SAAF, a certain Reno racing P-51, at least two wind tunnels, and a growing number of ground running Griffon operators are getting in ever shorter supply.
No doubt the props would have to be dismantled to replace the damaged blades whichever course of action they took; though I think cutting them was a mistake.
richw_82Your guess would be incorrect. I understand that a prospective purchaser in the UK had been working for a considerable time along with the builder of this Mosquito and the CAA with a view to having it registered in the UK.
Right and wrong it appears.
I know of the “People’s Mosquito” project which was looking at one of the New Zealand built aircraft, but honestly, having a meeting at Gatwick and coming away with a list of approved organisations isn’t exactly making great strides in terms of finding out what modifications and material substitutions are currently acceptable, or getting new ones approved.
Of course, there may be another group. If they got farther, then it begs the question to be asked – what was so insurmountable that they stopped?
richw_82I can’t see anything as to why it would be a problem. Looking at the categories, a Mosquito comes in as an Intermediate type.
My guess is no-one has yet gone to the CAA with all the necessary documentation – as you can bet the work involved will result in a fee being charged.
richw_82Okay I’m less confused after reading CAP 533. Complex types are required to be supported, it appears Intermediate and Simple do not. (unless the ex manufacturer write grumpy letters to the CAA. )
richw_82Presumably BAE are the design authority for the Shackleton too? How are you planning to approach the matter?
Thankfully, our founder managed to purchase the design and all associated rights to Shackleton back in 1993.
As to Bruce’s point – it does make you wonder. CAA mention in a Nov 2007 response to a consultation paper that no Type Certificate Holder or Design Authority exists for Spitfire? Page 11, para 23.
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/1646/Comment%20Response%20Doc%20for%20A8-21.pdf
Okay, so I’m now officially confused!
richw_82I can only speak as I find, and I’ve not had any problems with CAA. Certainly, they’ve been very helpful and pointed out a couple of things to me that may help a Shackleton return to the skies sooner rather than later. From what I’d heard and read, I was half expecting my requests to them to be rejected outright, or answered along the lines of “You want to do WHAT??!” . I couldn’t have been more mistaken.
What I can see being a problem to an airworthy Mosquito in the UK is not so much the CAA (even less so now that they are committed to reforming GA under the government’s Red Tape initiative), but more the Design Authority – and I believe this is still BAE Systems?
Any changes in the Mosquito design or build would have to be signed off by them if it was operated in the UK, regardless of how much of an improvement it might be. Unfortunately BAE really don’t seem to like supporting their legacy designs. Even the Vulcan only got into the air because Marshalls supported it so long as BAE made the archive material for the type available.
richw_82Things have progressed further than looking at the New Zealand CAA Venture Aviation initiative. The HAA have proposed a self administered framework similar to the Australian system, and on the face of it, it is being taken seriously by the CAA and it all seems very encouraging.
Regards,
Rich
richw_82Hi Richard,
You would have been more than welcome to join in! We have also have a team trying to revive the Nimrod here at Coventry, so there’s plenty to do if you fancy throwing those tools in the car one Saturday.
Regards,
Rich
richw_82Flight Global seems to have a good article on the Ashton.
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1950/1950%20-%202090.html
Regards,
Rich
richw_82Hi all,
I took the time to rebuild a rather tired looking priming pump which had failed last year due to water ingress, and found that the gears had survived, but the center had locked up solid. The water had caused the steel vanes to corrode, and as a result it couldn’t rotate. There was also a secondary issue, in that the water had got into the pressure relief section on the pump – which meant had it pressured up, there was nowhere for the excess pressure to go until the solenoid valves let priming fuel into the engine.
Stripping cleaning carefully and plenty of lubrication brought the pump back into the land of the living, and we installed it into WR963, and tested it electrically. We then tested it with fuel connected, but the outlet connected to a pipe into a large container, and let it run until it was pumping strong and steady with a good amount of fresh 100LL Avgas. The next step was obviously to connect the outlet up on the aircraft, the pressure sender, and then to see if it would prime the engines.
It performed perfectly, to the point it was very easy to overprime; but despite going from one extreme to the other, we had four engines running on WR963 at midday today. We intend to keep an eye on the pump over the next few weeks, but hopefully it will give us some breathing space and allow us to get a few more pumps rebuilt and checked out. Considering we found no water in the fuel system despite the horrid weather, we might just have finally got top side of things.
Regards,
Rich
richw_82We do have the possibility of some drawings being available via the Shackleton team at Coventry.
I’ve tracked them down to the SK bundle of drawings. Now I just have to find where that bundle is… I’ll have a root about this coming Saturday.
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