No1 Engine made horrible grinding noises last year about this time. Sally B was on the ground for the rest of the season whilst they rectified the problem. Turned out to be oil starvation due to some idiot leaving a nut loose in the engine that became lodged in the oil gallery……all well documented else where in the forum and web.

Bristol and Armstrong Siddeley amalgumated to form Bristol Siddeley in 1959. depending on when it was built it could either be an armstrong siddeley or a bristol siddeley as the Viper was developed by Armstrong in 1953 before the merger

Surely that’s standard fit Twinotter:D

Please feel free to update on present whereabouts of these jets, and what happened to Source?

I do believe they were sold to a private collector last year. They remain at Bournemouth to my knowledge in the tender ministrations of De Havilland Aviation, supposedly with a view to returning some if not all to flight status, something of an uphill struggle given their dilapidated state the last time I say them. Incidentally one of the ex-source venoms was placed on the Bournemouth bypass as part of the Bournemouth Airshow.

good grief how on earth are you supposed to board that without air-stairs?

If what you want to do with your life is get hands on with aircraft then a uni course is pretty much useless, get an apprenticeship instead. If you want to sit behind a desk and pontificate about how great you are and how you’d maintain aircraft without actually having touched one then a uni degree is fantastic for making you look good.
If you want to become licensed you need a minimum of 2 years on the job experience after any apprenticeship is completed. Uni qualifications count for diddly when you get to the CAA unless they are from an approved training centre of which I believe there are a mere 8 in the UK.
And never, never, never, never, ever get into classic aircraft until you have atleast 10 years experience under your belt and can afford it. The pay is terrible, the aircraft are sods to work on and unless you are extremely careful they are unforgiving when you make a mistake.
If you want my advice, get an apprenticeship with someone like BAe, BA, Virgin, Qinetic, DARA anyone like that. Serve your time and then go contracting for 5 years, get your licenses in that time with afew type ratings. Then work your way into the GA industry. From there THEN and only THEN if you are REALLY REALLY DEALY SERIOUS about classic aircraft do you want to be thinking about working on them.
Yes the skills are rapidly dying out for classic aircraft, I am fortunate to work with the last people who did a proper training course and apprenticeship and they’re no younger than their late 50’s. I try and keep my eye’s open and learn as much as I can, but 20 years from now I’ll still be learning because there is always more than 1 way to skin the same cat.

XP924 is indeed owned by drilling systems ltd of which DHA is a sister company

Think you’re right, the fairing would be an attempt at a clean aerodynamic line, covering pipework, trunking, perhaps wiring too, but it does look rather heavy-handed on this photo link posted earlier: it looks more agricultural than aeronautical!

http://www.cockpitmania.co.uk/salewant.htm

It would be interesting to see if any cutaway drawing of the Sea Vixen showed what this lot covers. Does the new Air-Britain book on the Vixen provide any clues? I haven’t managed to get a copy yet. 🙁

The fairing covers 2 bleed air pipes, one goes to the external surface of the windscreen for rain dispersal and de-icing and the other to the inner surface for de-misting.
As for the heavy, bolted on look of it, the raised portion at the front provides a windbreak and boundary layer seperator, to allow the rain dispersal and de-icing bleed air to do it’s job.