Why would it cost 5K to get it out of there?? A crane at the most for a day would be 1K and a lorry/low loader would be £800 -bearing it mind it’s cut inboard of the wheels and there doesn’t appear to be much holding it together it doesn’t seem that difficult a job!

I would advocate that if someone especuially wanted a F.2A it’s restorable even if an ex Saudi cockpit was used for spare parts.

OK, I will go with the that then, conservativly speaking £1800, not far off the fuselage that is on e-bay right now and hasn’t sold at it’s asking price of £2.5k.

You could of course scrap the fuselage when your done stripping it……..which would mean another hi-ab low loader @ £800 to get it to the scrapyard and as mentioned before by MJR the value would be around £100 per tonne, at best the fuselage after stripping would be around 3 tonne = £300 scrap value.

We can see were this is going now:D, £1800 to get it to the yard and strip then another £800 to get it to the scrapper, minus the scrap value (£300) that leaves you with two scrap engines, a skip full of pipes and bits, two inter pipes and two jet pipes and hopefully a good cockpit project all for around £2300.

Oh hang on though that doesn’t include the cost of actually buying it from the current owner, that will be the problem as he may only ask scrap value or if he has his head in the clouds it could be anywhere between 10-20K.

So basically what I am thinking here (and it has been said before), all is possible with this airframe BUT you are going to need VERY deep pockets:(.

Regards,

John.

So we are in agreement that (a) she won’t be scrapped but will instead end up on a farm (both barrels). That (b) the cockpit section becomes the pride and joy of one enthusiast, while (c)) others pick the bones of useful parts, while (d) the fin is restored and displayed at Newark. I would imagine that income generated from sending the rest to a farm would pay for moving expenses.

All we need is to convince the owners that the best thing was to part with her for a nominal fee or get the local council to intervene.

Questions: who are the owners and which county [council] does the aircraft reside in?

Sorry but I am not sure what you mean by ‘ending up on the farm’?, could you clarify this for me so I don’t jump to any unnecessary conclusions:).

As for paying for moving expenses, IMHO unless you are the proud owner of a hi-ab low loader then you won’t be seeing much change from 5k to get her out of there, compare that cost to the Lightning fuselage on e-bay that still hasn’t sold for 2.5K then your going to need (as has been said before) very deep pockets.

Even just the removal of the tub is going to be difficult (not impossible), again a hi-ab low loader and at least a days work with a still saw and the know how so that no further damage is done, all starting to get very expensive…….but again not pointless and deffinatly not impossible.

One thing has to be said though…….we have all talked enough about this bird and hopefully we are all (by now!) realising that things can be done, there are in this case only one hurdle to overcome……the current owner………as has been said before, go and see them, make contact, write, e-mail them, try and find out what the plans for her are and if she is for sale, if you don’t ask you don’t get!:D.

Oh and yes I have tried, been there several times to try myself, the only contact I have so far managed to make was with two ruddy great rotweillers on sentry duty!!!!!.

Regards,

John.

Pistonhead,

There will only be XR728 running on Saturday, the gates open at 2pm and you will be allowed unrivaled access the the Q-shed and airframes while they get ready for the run.

The timing of the run will be purely down to them and can be ‘dynamic’, in other words when they are ready:D, by the time the run has finished and the aircraft is returned back to the hanger it will be totally dark, the guys will light up the aircraft with spot light so that the budding photographers in us all can get some nostalgic after dark shots.

There will hopefully be a stall set up by the LPG to sell there merchandise which is great, there may be a refreshments stand but not sure about that.

I have been tot the two previous ‘twilight’ do’s and can highly recommend them, oh and don’t forget ear plugs!!;).

Regards,

John.

Nash,

I have been a resident of a modelling website for several years now and there is no one I feel who would dare try and model a downed aircraft with a body in it.

There are tallented people out there who could do a diorama like this but I really find it difficult to believe that this could be a dio, it simply is just a photo of a downed 109.

The only thing that does throw me is that the body does not appear to be wearing a uniform as such, it could simply be a friend of the photographer sat in the seat with his head tilted back looking into the sky just as the shot was taken.

Regards,

John.

Jon,

Wouldn’t it be height and not forward speed that is required to fill the chute?, IIRC the forward speed was so that the canopy would be blown clear of the aircraft by the wind (most canopies were not ejected but merely pushed open and then the wind speed would do the rest).

Regards,

John.

Got my ticket, been looking forward to this one for a while, highly recommended experience!!.

Regards,

John.