Well I am certainly no air accident investigator but you can clearly see from the pictures that the nosewheel was not deployed, good thing is the crew are safe and well.

There are some more pictures here…….

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20255

Regards,

John.

Are we missing something?.

The HHA have received aproval from the CAA to return an F-4 Phantom back to flight in the UK, only thier commitments to MOD contracts has delayed this from hapening just yet.

Any news on thier progress?.

Regards,

John.

No prototype SR.177’s had been built, only a part built mock up was ever produced by the time Mr Sandys brought about a major change in the British aviation industry.

John.

Peter,

I believe that there is at least one regular poster here who is a member of their team!

I wonder who that could be;), yes cockpit access is a wonderfull thing for visitors to experience but we have to be very mindfull of those who are very gentle and respectfull of what they are sitting in, and those who are hell bent on destruction testing everything within reach:eek:.

Preservation of rare and older airframes is paramount but even so we can allow people ladder access to view these ones and the response is wonderfull, it always gives me great pleasure seeing people enjoy cockpit access, especially when the younger ones get involved and learn about our aviation heritage.

How long all this will last is anyones guess though, becouse of the litigious society we live in museums have to be so carefull with public access, ladders, steps and so on, this probably one of the main reasons why a large number of museums do not allow access which is ashame but unavoidable.

Regards,

John.

C 6,

To allow for the removal of the tail planes you will have to remove the No1 (lower) jet pipe, also to correctly remove the tail fin you will need to remove the No2 (upper) jet pipe an intermediate jet pipe.

The removal of these pieces of kit can, with the correct lifting gear, tools and manpower take a full working day before you get to the fin or tail planes!.

IIRC the tailplanes can be left on the main fuselage for road transportation but then it becomes a wide load, this shouldn’t be a problem with carefull planning and notification to the respective authorities, but this may bump up the transport costs.

Kindest regards,

John.

My hint at this thread going off topic didn’t quite hit the mark then… 😉

Perhaps a full explanation should have been given for those who are not in the know as such, This airframe and several others are stored privately in a garden at Grainthorpe.

During the last couple of months there has been several movements that have been quite significant, the Starfighter to Bruntingthorpe, XR770 will be going to Waddo and a cockpit section has gone to Scampton.

Now that the Draken has come up for tender (and on a not so popular auction site) it is prompting peoples concern for the other airframes at this location.

Not quite off topic but diluting it a little :D.

How many Drakens are there in the UK?, public or museum.

Regards,

John.

XR770 is being returned to the MOD for a full re-furb and then gate duties.

Regards,

John.