Lindy’s LadThanks so far – anyone delt with this stuff before? http://www.grassreinforcement.com/airfields.html
Sadly we don’t have an option of a grass strip next to the tarmac one – we’d have to cross two existing sections of tarmc runway (which are in good condition! (Can’t use them as there is housing at one end ….) It would have to be a choice of one or the other.
Here’s something else to add to the mix – we are going to licence the airfield, BUT we are right on the border of a major airport’s controlled zone. Would it be better to see if we can extend their zone to include ATC at our strip (tower located at the airport), or have our own?……
Finally, where can I find a list of GA aircraft’s noise levels? We are reasonably close to housing and don’t want to upset the locals. We may end up having to restrict the types coming in despite the fact that there is no over-flight of any residence. The taxiway will terminate within a couple of hundred yards from one property…….
many thanks again!
Lindy’s LadVern, sadly you are 2 years too late for me…. Try contacting NEAM direct through their website http://www.neam.org.uk
Thanks for your efforts though!
Lindy’s LadMost of the £20K will probably have been for the transport. It should make a useful training space – smartboard at the far end, single PC terminal for the staff member, and the possibilities for the children’s seating are huge. Primary school seats are very small – as I’m frequently reminded at parent’s evenings…… It will be possible to either have the seats in rows at 90 degrees to the normal, or have ‘airliner style’ seating (although smaller) with monitors in the seat backs slaved into the smartboard… awesome! Provided that it is correctly weather-proofed, it should last 10-20 years. Bear in mind that although they are saying the want the wings attached, they’ve cut through the spars – big job to repair or simpler to replace the complete wing and box… it will be supported, have adequate escape points and fire protection. Think of it as an aluminium box, not an aircraft.
Personally I think its a great idea. RIP one Shorts 330 for preservation, but it would have been scrapped anyway.
Lindy’s LadI’m working on an oil painting of the same shot – enquiries to me!
This is my first (and probably only) photo post, taken with an Olympus E410 with the standard 40-150mm lens, and as I said, taken through a window.
Thanks for the kind comments!
Lindy’s LadAhh.. the non-white dog has been replaced by a cat! I wonder what it will be called………..:D
Lindy’s LadI wasn’t only referring to the 747 when I asked about altering engine layouts, I am interested to know if altering the positions of engines on any existing design causes any major changes to flying characteristics?
Another example would be moving the engines from any four engined passenger aircraft from the wings to the tail (al a VC-10) cause any major flying changes?
To change the position of an engine:
Major re-design of the wing…….
To change an engine type:
In short, you would need a major re-design of the engine mounts and / or fuselage mounts. So yes, it would affect flying characteristics via weight and aerodynamics.
The proposed re-fit of B52s with 4 high bypass fans will affect its operation – perhaps one reason why it hasn’t happened yet.
Lindy’s LadBrilliant photo of the Provost/Jet Provost combine!
agreed – any ideas of the serials?
Lindy’s LadIn Jetflap’s slides, JP3 XM355 features in both pics – She is alive and well in Newcastle Aviation Academy, and has just had all of her paint removed! There were traces of the yellow band around the tail – in fact, there still are a few flakes left now….
Thanks for posting those images. With your permission, I’d like to print them off and put them on our swelling history file for this aircraft. Any images of XM419 anywhere?…….
As for comparison between the piston version and the JP mk1, by comparing photos, all I can make out similar are:
Windscreen and mounts, rudder, tailplane, possibly a section of the rear fuselage (lower, below and rear of the JP’s engine access doors and before the tailplane mounting), wings outboard of the undercarriage.
Lindy’s Ladapparently there’s been one for sale in the UK for a number of years with no interest shown. I have no further details….:rolleyes:
Lindy’s Ladhowever sadly Managers see one model or mark as much the same as another
Exactly, so why are these muppets given these jobs? They ain’t fit for purpose.Parents are always looking at places to take the kids
Exactly. Just wish they’d take ’em somewhere else. It’s completely wrong to use important museums as entertainment venues and it’s just as wrong for the museum authorities to portray them in the same way. These people that run places like Hendon and seriously think that they should be making the place into some “interactive entertainment venue” should be fired. It’s a disgrace. It’s happening everywhere – every museum has to be reinvented as an amusement centre for kids. What the hell is wrong with this country? Does everything have to be dumbed-down?
No kids = no future. If you want to return to stuffy victorian museums, devoid of anyone except the hardened anorack wearer, fine. The rest of us have moved into the 21st century and wish to display our heritage to as many people as we can. What does the word ‘museum’ mean to you? For most people a museum is the Victorianesque hall (with dim lighting), dusty shelves, patrolled by an aged gentleman in a fawn dustcoat. In this age of entertainment on demand and information passing freely on the internet, we need to make our ‘museums’ more attractive to the average person, or ‘idiots’ as Chox so politely called me, my family, and everyone I know… and himself ironically….
Back to interactive stuff, were you ever a child?…. I bet you’d have loved to climb the rigging of the Cutty Sark, or raced aircraft round a pylon, or built a steam train, or even just sat in the cockpit to pretend you’re Tom Cruise. Interactive exhibits mean that childhood dreams can be made into reallity with a touch of imagination.
(Just in case you were wondering…. ship themed play park, flight sim, some wooden or foam shapes, JP cockpit mounted on a trailer…)
If you take the kids to a castle, most places used to be a case of ‘This is a big room with lots of stuff in it, please move along’. Not now – kids get to dress as knights and have jousting competitions! Living History, they call it. ‘Museums’ in the traditional sence are a thing of the past – live with it. If it bothers you so much, start your own, then ban access to everyone except those with a PHd in Spottery (Aviation based of course).
I am an avaerage person:
I no longer wish to spend time in a library looking up obscure references, I want small amounts of relevant information immediately, preferably next to the physical item to which the information relates. I am a working parent, so time with my family is precious, however I like aeroplanes. Therefore I take my family to see them. They don’t care about aeroplanes. My son is 2, and thinks the whole world revolves around Jammy Dodgers and fruit drinks. My daughter spends the whole time talking about what she did at school, and the poor wife spends her time watching the kids, making sure they don’t leave Jammy finger prints all over that priceless exhibit. I look at the planes, the kids wander aimlessly, bored to death, and the wife pulls her hair out. We then retire to the shop to buy momentos of another successful family day out (no-one lost any limbs), followed by spending yet more money in the cafe.
How many people can relate to that statement?….. several I’m guessing.
Hendon does have faults – yes the lighting is rubbish in some areas, but at least they let you take cameras in! If you want peace and quiet, you’re in the wrong century.
Good points:
Unique and rare aircraft collected
Free entry
Exhibits preserved in a secure environment (UV, humidity)
Exhibits shown in a sterile environment displaying ONLY the aircraft as a machine, not as a diorama
Dioramas present where relevant
Photography allowed
Bad points:
Poor lighting in BoB hall – poor for photography, not for viewing pleasure
Odd opening times for several key exhibitions
Rant over – I’m going for a lie down.:mad:
Lindy’s LadNashio – you need an SLR to shoot in the BoB hall – anything over a short exposure will be fine.
Anyway, here’s my thoughts on the whole thing:
As a director of a museum development, a visitor, a volunteer, I see Hendon and Cosford superb places.
Funding is always tight, no matter where you are, so any arguements about the RAFM having plenty of cash is fantasy I’m afraid. The accounts are public and careful reading will prove that while the turnover is high, the profit margin is almost nil by comparision. They still have to apply for grants the same as the rest of us. I can almost hear the words ‘MOD funded’ creeping in here, but the MOD are as broke as eveyone else.
Modern museums / heritage centres / visitor attractions / whatever else you want to call them have one aim – to preserve and collect artefacts. RAFM have a world class collection. In order to fund their collections, they must raise money by getting people through the door. Once the people are in the door, their attention must be turned to spending cash. Good shops, cafe’s, payable extras are all perfectly fine ways of raising capital. Also we need to keep these people in the museum complex as long as possible. The majority of visitors are not enthusiasts, but rather families looking for somewhere to visit – Mum may be an avid spotter with a collection of aircraft oil stains on her overcoat, but dad and the seven kids are neither interested in aircraft or bothered where they are. They must be kept occupied and feel happy enough to spend cash.
Chox – those ‘idiots’ you refer to pay alot of money towards the upkeep of your museums. Ever been to a castle? Perhaps you are refered to as an idiot by the people who run those types of museum? Think before you judge everyone.
Kids play areas seem to be lacking in popularity – I have kids and took them to Legends last year. My daughter was more than happy to be in the play area while I and my family watched the show. Not only that, because she was running around, she became thirsty – I must have spent a small fortune on drinks. Parents are always looking at places to take the kids – not so they can inform the kids on the horrors of modern warfare or to show them the difference between Mk1 and Mk2 Spitfires – we take them places to give them a change of scenery. Kids by their very nature want to play with whatever they see – can’t do that in the main aircraft collection hall any more than you could in an art gallery, but by having interactive places, they feel as if they are touching the exhibits. The proof of this is the small interactive area at Cosford – its hectic on a weekend.
Aircraft collections:
It was refered to earlier that managers do not see the relevance of a particular serial number. Hendon have been slated recently by not getting Swif WK198 from NEAM, instead allowing it to move to another small museum (by small, I mean not a ‘national’ collection). The reasons are clear when you look at the particular aircraft – 198 was incomplete, badly damaged, no offence – but the restoration job was poor (anyone who has ever looked inside it will agree) but it served a purpose at the time.
The Beverley at Hendon had serious corrosion issues, as did Cosford’s Vulcan B1. Too late to save them, but I’d rather cull one large aircraft to protect dozens more. Cosford have released one Jetstream to make way for a more relevant mark – they didn’t scrap it, but allowed it to move to a place where it will be used before passing back into preservation later! Perhaps the same could happen with the neptune – talk to the museum and make a sensible offer.
Milestones of flight:
Fair cop guv. What are they doing?…. That said, its a nice building, with a good clean feel to it. Aircraft choices are rubbish, but it means that they can get away from the RAF and have a bit of variation in the collection.
My head hurts now. 😀
Lindy’s LadAMS at Blackpool seem quite open to offers. The answer is very simple – if you want a 748 preserved, stump up some cash and save one. We were after the series 1 at Blackpool, but we filled the requirement with something else.
Lindy’s LadPlenty of 330 and 360’s lying around. I think there’s some at Southend, and one or two at Bournemouth. There’s a thread in the photographic section which shows some looking very derelict. There’s also a company just behind AA’s hangars at Coventry which dismantles them.
Lindy’s LadAs I see it, the nose and the wing design were British concieved, and they are the bits which make the Concorde iconic – therefore rightly justified on the aforementioned programme. Our French friends certainly did help though – they added an ‘e’ to the name…… 😀
Lindy’s Ladis there nowhere that would house her for free?
I’d provide a home – one of two options:
The first option – Firstly I’d have to buy the runway, re-surface it, re-build the hangar remains, extend the re-surfaced runway, divert a road, kill some squirrels, knock down protected woodland, etc.
The second option is unfeasable since it won’t fit in my garage!
😀
I believe she has a free home already – I’m sure that if she is grounded, Mr. Walton will be quite happy to leave it outside with the Guppy, JP’s, Comet, etc……….
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