I was one of quite a few who took refuge under XH648 during the worst of the squalls on Legends Sunday this year. I’m afraid it doesn’t look pretty up close, with the flap actuators corroded solid, trailing edges looking very moth-eaten, and water draining right through the wing in several spots.
XH648 has been “next on the list” for conservation for years, I remember reading with some encouragement a Flypast article in 2006 or so that stated it would be the first aircraft to benefit from the “Conservation” area of Air Space when it opened. Quite apart from the fact that very little conservation seems to have gone on there in the intervening nine years, I’d have thought Britain’s role in developing practical AAR systems (Cobham et al in particular) should have guaranteed it a permanent place in the hangar.
Fingers crossed that once the American Air Museum stuff is all done, XH648 gets the full strip-down and restoration it deserves. Considering that it flew in back in 1976, its current state isn’t the best advert for the IWM.
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