17 Nov
Well, today we started looking at the problem with No 4 propeller and its reluctance to behave. Investigation of the piston assembly showed remains of a seal where it shouldn’t be, so it was out with a new piston assembly and the prop kit to remove the old one.
Despite how it looks, Colin isn’t taking that hammer to anything vital (though sometimes its soooo tempting…) he was on his way to sort out some of the lifting point blanks. The ‘man with hammer’ shot was just too tempting to miss.
Up on the riser, and on first sight it appears we had everything we needed to get the piston assembly off. Howls of rage were heard when it was realised that the flask and pastie supply was missing. Still, the team got stuck in and removed the cover plate, drained the oil, undid the rack nuts and got the prop spanners out.
It surprised me just how much effort the nut took to shift. Still I suppose you don’t want the prop winding itself off any time its not supposed to.
Spot the difference?
Unfortunately somewhere along the way a mod was done to the piston assembly where the racks mount, and the two aren’t identical – the new modified item requiring spacer pieces for it to fit correctly. So, for now we wait as we have to have them made like a lot of other things these days. We’re also looking in the bits we have to see if we have another unmodified assembly so we don’t get caught out again.
Other work on WR963:
Inside the aircraft our electricians are still trying to revive the PTR 1751 V/UHF radio, so we can use it alongside the PTR 175 – allowing better contact with the tower here at Coventry. It appears the control box is dead – anybody know where we can get a spare? These are the numbers:
Control Radio Station (Plessey Avionics)
PV1754X (Preset/Manual) 630/1/37854/019
10L 7564393 NATO No. 5821-99-756-4393
The next time our team convenes at Coventry will see us working in the store. We’re finally going to try and make some sense of the goodies in there, with a view to thinning out some of the stuff we don’t need (for example around 15 odd old and new old stock mainwheel tyres and hubs? Utter madness when the shelf life is only a few years….)
Other news:
We’ve had more contact with the airport, with a meeting being scheduled soon to discuss WR963. We’re hoping they want her to stay as much as we do, especially given current plans for her future.
Speaking of which, things are moving along in this respect with our public profile being boosted by the use of VP293. We’ve already been asked if we can take the MR1 along to nearly a dozen shows next year, so we should be getting out and about a bit more. There’s a possibility we might even be going for a visit to Ballykelly.
The website has also been pulled down for complete overhaul, as we need to make it a bit more user friendly, and try and stop the spam the old one suffered from. We’re also going to be using it to raise funds. (terribly sorry! We managed a few years without a begging bowl of sorts.)
In short – direction has been found, morale has returned and we’re all back getting on with it to keep Coventry’s Shackleton around for a while.
Regards,
Rich
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