April 9th

Things are getting more busy down at Airbase, every week something has moved, or something new is happening. WR963 is sat plenty out of the way though, but will hopefully be returned back from her spell sat airside in time for the opening on 22nd April. Other than the long standing issue of No 2’s propeller, she looks smashing. I’m not going to post pictures for now, as we’ve decided to try and roll out the finished article for Airbase first day of business this year, so we promised to hold any photo’s until then..

963 now wears the national markings, her squadron codes and emblems. The stenciling is getting done, and we’ll have the most noticeable bits done by the time the public see her for the first time. Walkways, drain points, emergency markings… even in plain white and grey a Shackleton is a colourful beast up close.

The only pain with the paint is the underwings – despite best efforts, it’s still slow going under there, so she won’t be wearing the underwing serial numbers for a couple of weeks yet. The biggest reason being while we stopped things leaking into 963, there’s still a few leaks out. We’ll get to the bottom of them though.

On average we’re getting 10 – 15 people showing up as a work crew every Saturday which is encouraging, and means work gets done at a pretty fast pace. The ever growing “list” is now being fought to a standstill, and within a short time it’s going to start getting smaller.

We’ve had some new flooring going down inside the aircraft, it’s not the original (does anybidy know a source of the proper stuff?) but it stops the inside of 963 being so much of a trip hazard than it was. When I say ‘Trip hazards’ that doesn’t include the wing spars… everybody takes their own chances there! 😀

As I mentioned earlier, all leaks and weeps are being investigated, one showstopping item being found in the engines priming lines – a couple of perished gaskets which would have produced a really nasty engine fire had they not been spotted. They have been changed and to get preventative, the same job is being done on the other three engines.

Some others are going to be more fun to sort out – a bomb bay ram has started weeping slightly which is going to need attention, but we’re not sure if it’s just misbehaving due to lack of use. The system is holding pressure well, the bomb doors being hand pumped shut the week before the hangar time, and so far the only thing that has happened is the port door has crept open a couple of inches.

The undercarraige oleo legs were to have been inflated but it appears we may have a leaks on the oleo legs themselves. This means an undercarraige leg swap if we can’t get it fixed in situ.

Not great news, but nothing insurmountable. We’ve got to jack her up to do a mainwheel change at some point anyway, and none of us see the point in doing it twice.. :p

What of the coming season?

So far this year we’re looking at running on the 22nd for the opening of Airbase 2011 season, or the 4th May for the press day, or both.. the team is that enthusiastic. Further runs are planned for later in the year, and I’ll put them up on here as they are known.

This year marks 20 years in retirement for the Shackleton, with 963’s last flight being on 09.07.1991, after 15483.45 hours. We hope to mark it in some way.

With more repairs looming though, and fuel going up in price, you can probably expect a ‘begging bowl’ plea in finest V-bomber style later this season. At the moment all the other Shackletons are silent in the world, pending heavy work or funding…. and we refuse to let WR963 fall silent if we can help it.

Alternatively, you can come and visit us, and help us stave off the ‘begging bowl’ for as long as we can.

Regards,

Rich