Even with the transport costs etc covered, it’s still a no go. From memory there’s lots to rectify on the aircraft, for example the main supports in the cabin floor have gone very ‘furry’, there was a lot of corrosion evident on the skins (particularly the underside of the boom and the undercarriage ‘trousers’), and most worryingly the severely delaminated starboard main bogie and the cracked nosewheel castings. These would all take more money and manpower than we can spare. Also, we just don’t physically have the space on site…
Elvington, like any museum, is coming out of the very uncertain times. This, combined with the fact that having viewed it during the disposal auction means we are well aware of the (potentially very costly) issues the aircraft has, means taking the Bev just is not a practicable proposition for YAM.
Very early in the WS788 project one of the chaps involved with the upkeep of 726 contacted me, and very kindly copied the entire NF.14 Vol.1 manual for us, an invaluable tome we still use every week on the jet. He did tell me at the time that work to keep the jet looking well had ground to a halt, due to lack of funding from the RAF, permissions to work on the jet being denied by the ATC/RAF powers that be citing ‘elf and safety, and it was his feeling that they were running the jet down with a view to disposing of her. Sadly, it appears he was proved correct. I just hope she finds a good home…
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