More of an Elvington update than a ‘231 update this week I suppose, as yesterday much noise was made with Bucc, Victor and Nimrod all powered up at various times :).
But as well as making lots of noise we did actually do some work on 231, honest. I’ll scribble about that now, while I think about it.
Firstly, the new seals for the hydraulic ram for the RAT were found, Steve changed them sharpish and carried the faint whiff of ‘eau de hydraulic fluid’ with him for a bit afterwards! Glad I neatly sidestepped that job…
I replaced the rivets in the control run guards that had seen better days, amazingly my stone-age drill managed to drill out all the ones to be replaced before the ancient batteries cried enough.
I also put another coat of paint on the RAT, should keep the weather off it for a while. Another brush for the RAT was also lovingly hand-crafted, as one of the six was poorly…
Steve will have to take up the ‘tech’ baton from here, I disappeared early as I had to see family in York so I don’t know what if anything happened after about 4.
But most of the day was taken with engine running, and trying to make more noise than the Subarus, bikes etc. on the airfield:D.The Buccaneer went first, made plenty of noise and demonstrated the wing folding a couple of times. Looked and sounded great guys!
Next up (after lunch) was Lindy. I’d arrived just as she was having all the blanks removed, and was unable to look busy enough to get out of playing the ‘crawl down the intakes game’ again (!). Ollie its your turn next time 😉
She was all ready to go once we’d fed, so with a Nimrod waiting impatiently thought we’d best crack on. I was able to thieve the jump seat and Steve’s camera, hopefully I got some inside shots that are decent enough to give everyone a flavour of what it’s like inside the cockpit of a Victor when she’s running. Steve will be posting the pics when he gets a moment.
Everything went well, up to starting no.3 anyway which refused. It was given a moment to think about it while no.4 was started, then 3 stopped sulking and joined in after all. Each engine was run up in turn, to about 70% I think.
Hydraulic systems, controls all got a good workout, then she was shut down. I’ve no idea how long she was running for, I was too busy taking photos and soaking up the experience of being aboard a fully live V-bomber for the first time!:D
Then it was the Nimrod’s turn. Earlier she had been re-positioned carefully to avoid sending either the Herald, Canberra, or T-33 on an un-scheduled flight, any of the above going walkies would doubtless upset everybody. Well, maybe not one person…… 😉
Steve came aboard to photograph this run from inside, so I got to sit in the right hand seat, enjoy the view and press things when told. Again everything went smoothly, apart from a slight issue with oil pressure readings which I’m sure the guys who know her will soon sort. Bomb doors, flaps, airbrakes were all exercised, as were the control surfaces. This led to a moment of comedy over the intercom- unfortunately we only seem to have a short external intercom wanderlead for the Nimrod, and our man outside was running around on said short lead checking everything was functioning ok. He asked us to slow down checking the control surfaces were operating correctly by complaining we were keeping him “as busy as a one-legged man in a kicking contest!”
We didn’t run the throttles up to much above idle, as Ollie feared damaging his beloved Herald which was parked aft and to the side. But she got a good workout all the same. Then she was shut down and shuffled back into her normal position, and once the ladder was put back we were allowed out. One thing I will say for the ‘Rod- the aircon’s damn good!
After all the excitement I went back to doing the riveting and painting I mentioned earlier, then I trotted off. So if there’s anything else I’ve missed chaps?
So a good day really, thanks due to the fire crews for coming out to play with their toys so we could play with our toys 🙂
Pics soon I hope.
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