Lindy’s Ladits just the mag alloy bits which have sacrificed themselves to save the rest of the airframe. the entire spine and two panels on each side of the fin AND all the flying control surfaces. Its saveable with alot of sheet aluminium… but only just…..
Now you can see the monumental struggle we have with this aeroplane. The removed spine panel will be replaced this week, or rather a new panel will be constructed. The same applies with all the others – should be all off the aeroplane within 2 weeks, new panels made, and replaced by the time we are ready to paint the upper surface. The fin will recieve the same treatment a.s.a.p.
Its all uphill. We need money and people. now. please….
Lindy’s Ladpics 2
Scumbags effort at burning down our hangar – someone needs to explain the difference between a hangar and a fence…
ATC badge found under masses of paint on the Link trainer
Link trainer stripped
Vulcan multi coloured main leg (part painted, treated, etched, etc)
Whirlwind progress
and finally, for those who have perused Ghost Haunted’s website, here is a good rendition of what could be either DUST or an ORB. You pays your money and you takes your choice….
Lindy’s Ladpics 1
Just to keep Peter from whining, here’s some pics:D
In no particular order:
A painted Bloodhound
Lightning Fin painted
A green lightning
Sabre knights in progress
Skin repairs before and after (just patch repairs, nothing fancy)
masses of corroded Vulcan panels
Vulcan Spine panel removed
A Welland engine completed and displayed
Lindy’s LadPics will come Peter… patience….
Nashio – the AAPP may look perfect, but the last time it was run was 10 years ago at least. Would you trust AC power on wiring which has been left outside for 10 years? None of us are Vulcan groundcrew, so without the speciallist knowledge available, I for one, would not feel confident powering up systems like that… not yet anyway. Lastly, the AAPP went pop on its last run. Chances are, its blown a seal or two internally, and it appears that no-one is capable of re-building the Rover AAPP… apparently even TVOC have difficulties getting spare parts….
Lets get the external parts finished, then move to the cockpit when the weather closes in, and next year have a good look at the wiring. Next year some of my team will finish their studies and become qualified aircraft engineers on their way to the EASA B1 licence. They will leave the Vulcan…:( We have limited time from that point of view also…
Lindy’s Lad😀 It was inspection day for 319 today. We removed as many access panels as we could on the underside, removed corrosion, primed and painted what we could. The majority of the panels will not budge thanks to 25 years or dissimilar metal corrosion, but we have managed to gain access to enough parts of the airframe to assess its condition internally, in addition to the areas TVOC inspected a few months ago. The A.A.P.P. is immaculate, but sadly will never run again.
We were visited by a former custodian of 319, Jim Rutland, who was rather upset at the sight of her looking as bad as she does. For those who don’t know, Jim is a former Vulcan electrician who is well known up north. He managed to source all of the rear crew station gear from Waddington after the RAF so kindly stripped 319 after she landed, and then proceeded to run her systems for several years until the A.A.P.P. went pop.
The golfing scum were taking potshots at the cars in the carpark today, and managed to hit Jim in the head with a well aimed golf ball. When he gets out of hospital, he will have a lovely scar…. 😡 😡 😡 Looks like Peter’s suggestion of golf range nets will be sought from the local council who own both our site and the field next door.
There will not be an update next Sunday due to the fact that we are trailing off to Derby for the BAPC meeting, however, until then, I’ll keep you informed…….:D
Lindy’s LadGiven the way all of the above posts are heading… large aircraft seem to be discounted due to lack of spares, or lack of design support.
As has been suggested, what about the Jaguar? What are the plus points and negative points for getting one of those in civillian hands (possibly with an RAF pilot)?
Plus – reasonably simple airframe
– manual reversion for the flying controls? (its been a long long time since I saw a Jag’s innards at Cosford)
– Subsonic (disable the re-heat)
– Recently retired so spares are plentiful for now…
– pilots with currency on type
– ease of maintenance
Negative – re-heat
– no large public following
– operating cost
– fatigue life
if someone suitably qualified on Jags could look at the feasibility of such a project…. I know all of this is just idle banter, and very few of us could actually afford to take on a project like this.
Lindy’s LadThe little bar stewards!! 😡 😡 😡 Is she ok???
319 is fine. The little toerags decided to pay us another visit today, but were chased off. I’ve taken another mountain of photographs which I’ll try to post later. I’m running out of photo storage space on here, so I’m going to have to figure out how to use something like Photobucket.
The Academy lads have almost painted the stbd main u/c today. I’m back there tomorrow to open some panels up, clean, and seal ready for the re-paint. Some amazing detective work has revealed that there is an access panel directly above the spar area which has suffered corrosion. This means two things – its the source of the corrosion, and it means that access to the damaged areas is alot easier. All I need to get is a set of stud extractors and a mile of air hose….
Sunderland Timber supplies delivered another 140 or so sleepers – one more truck load yet to come. Semi Hogg has the idea of making an e-pen out of them….. 1001 uses!
Lindy’s LadPaint the reverse of the items on show with a special paint which stains the thiefs hands or clothing,or marine grease which is a ****** to get off.
Anti-vandal paint. I need 500 litres for the underside of the Vulcan…..:D
Lindy’s Lad….. a location NOT to your liking… As soon as word comes out of “that northern hell you get to” the fear factor comes into play.:diablo:
Such a place exists! Its called ‘Sunderland’…….. 😀
Some lovely young adults (14-16 ish..) decided it would be hilarious to set fire to NEAM’s security fence today.(After smacking golf balls off the Vulcan while we were working on it!) There is (was) some long grass on the football field side of the fence, and they set it alight in full view of half a dozen people at NEAM. If the fire had spread quicker, or had been set when we were not there, the Vulcan would have been damaged or worse… Some years ago, we lost a Valetta in an arson attack – nothing was done by the law enforcement at the time. Another member interrupted the same kids setting a fire in the trees at the other side of the Vulcan about an hour later. Today’s little effort just brought back some rather bad memories of the Valetta attack. Problem for us is that if another of our aircraft was damaged or even buildings for that matter, we don’t have the resources to re-build. Most members would get so fed up that NEAM would most likely close its doors. Whether we have a Vulcan in the morning remains to be seen. I’ve got a really bad feeling about it all… The police were called, but three hours later had not shown up. The fire brigade was called automatically when we reported to the police – they made it in less than 2 minutes (but were not needed).
What hope do we have (we, as in ANY museum of any description) when this kind of behaviour is tolerated? Are there public funds available for the security of our heritage? I’m guessing not….:mad: 😡 😡 😡
Lindy’s Lad21 OCTOBER update
Lightning news – (Roy and Dave) its a rather putrid shade of lime green! Well, most of the fuselage is… Don’t panic, its etch primer. Corrosion treatment has been ongoing on the lower fuse, and she is generally looking much better. I spent a fair amount of time re-skinning one of the spine panels last week, and on the trial fit today found that it didn’t fit at all. RATS! Better luck next time. I think I’ll stick to Vulcans…
Whirlwind news – (Paul and assorted Air Cadets) the nose section is now primed, and corrosion is being treated on the fuse sides. Slowly, she is getting there. Does anyone know of any perspex cockpit glazing panels lying about? Ours are a bit foggy…
Bloodhound news – (Irish Linda) the indoor bloodhound now sports a rather nice coat of green! A restoration and re-paint in three weeks… not bad going for one person!
Link trainers – (T’other Linda) The smaller link, which has been a resident for a long time is being restored by young Linda (who now frequents this forum!).
We now also have a larger link trainer in a very dismantled state, which has come from Cramlington Sqn ATC. In due course, it will be returned to running condition!
Gazelle news – (Semi-Hogg and Dunc) Semi Hogg has spent most of the day dismantling one of the doors in order to replace the glazing. As she was yesterday, she had the civillian style doors which only have perspex on the upper panels. The ali lower panels will be returned to a more military style with glazing.
Vulcan news – (Newcastle Aviation Academy and Newcastle College) Patch repairs have been fitted where 319 has been clubbed to death over the years, and one of the spine panels has been removed for re-manufacture this week. The rest will follow suit. The stbd undercarriage leg is ready for painting. We are preparing for a total re-paint now. Won’t be long!
Other news –
A new website is almost ready for release into the public domain using the old neam.org.uk domain name. As soon as it is uploaded (a week or two?) I’ll let you know. Feedback will be very important…
The little darlings who use the football fields next to us excelled themselves today. First off, a couple of golf balls were intentionally smacked off the Vulcan while we were working on it, and later in the afternoon, they thought it would be a hoot to set fire to the longer grass around our security fence. Hilarious. If it had spread any quicker, or we had not been there when they set it, the Vulcan could have easily been damaged. Luckily, the grass was slightly damp in places, and we saw them set it alight anyway. They have still managed to singe over 40ft of fencing in less than 10 minutes. Two hours after we had reported it, the police still had not visited. It remains to be seen whether we will still have a Vulcan by the morning. I’ve got a nasty feeling they will come back tonight when there is no-one around. Stay tuned.
Lindy’s Lad‘Canopus’ would be my favourite for the next BIG project. The aircraft was bought with the intention of returning to flight, and I would imagine getting certification for it would not be that difficult given the Nimrods still in service share a touch of commonality…. (Can, worms, door, coathooks… etc)
The Buccaneer would be down to HHA. IF they could work out a way of operating without massive financial loss, then maybe. The same could be said for their SU22.
Someone in the following [posts will mention Victors – NO! Can’t be done. sorry. Well documented for the reasons why. (new spars etc)
Same for Lightnings. CAA don’t like them…. for reasons previosly well documented.
AA’s Shackleton, or the other Shack at Coventry (Sorry guys – its late and I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the owning group! 😮 ) would be technically feasible, but whether the CAA would have a big downer on it remains to be seen.
Can’t think of anything else at the minute which would fall into the category of a REALLY BIG project which would have big public support.
Comet In (the) Sky Trust? (CIST)
Comet Operating Company? (COC)
😀 😀 😀 😀
Lindy’s LadWZ878 is still with us and operated in France by Michel Blanc from Vinon-sur-Verdon. Here is a link to a google translated page reference her.
Great news, Thanks for that! I’m a happier bunny now….. (I would have liked her to be in this country, but at least she is still alive and well.)
Lindy’s LadThe ‘Vulcan Effect’ is already happening on a smaller level than you guys are talking about here. There is an incresing level of interest in XL319 locally, with a radio interview and people who would not have normally come to the museum coming to see the Vulcan. If all of the vulcan owners/ custodians benefit in this way from the efforts of TVOC etc, then it will increase interest across the whole of the aircraft preservation world. I for one will tirelessly plug the achievements of the guys at Brunty whenever someone comes to see our Vulcan.
‘The Vulcan Effect’ will gather impetus and affect more people provided TVOC can keep 558 in the public eye, AND if we, the mere mortals, keep reminding the public about TVOC.
For the record, I think it is only fair to allow TVOC their moment of glory, and I think that during 2008 we will hear of nothing but Vulcans, 558, TVOC, VTTS, etc. We should remember however, that they are only one factor in our industry and the achievements of those who have gone before should not be forgotten. There have been alot of spectacular restorations, extinct aircraft returned to the skies, and some amazing characters over the last few years, and they should not be eclipsed by a Vulcan returning to the sky. 2007 will be remembered as ‘The year of the Vulcan’. What will the next decade bring?
Lindy’s LadI promised you all some Vulcan news (in keeping with TVOC’s amazing achievement this week). Paint for 319. SOOOO close now to securing a deal. I am now dealing with the MD of the company, talking over details….
319 has her 25-years-on-the-ground-birthday this coming January. I want her presentable by then.
Sheet metal for the smaller repairs has arrived, and the larger corroded panels will be removed imminently. More news on Sunday, and hopefully some pictures of us doing some work! The hard graft begins now.
The first of the Lightning spine panels has been re-skinned, and requires only minor adjustments to fit the aeroplane. The old skin was so badly corroded that an accurate patten could not be achieved, so I’ll make the panel fit the aircraft!
For those who are visiting the BAPC meeting, we shall be there for the second day only (If I’ve managed to get the correct year….BD knows what I mean….):D
More on Sunday!!!!……..
Lindy’s Ladahh.. chipmunks. my all time favourite seems to have vanished – WZ878 of 11AEF, RAF Leeming. I had my first flight in her, and a few years later, my last chippy flight in her when she was retired with the rest of the fleet.
I was also witness to one of the very rare chipmunk incidents (1994 i think) – again WZ878. The pilot attempted to take off with a gusting crosswind and misjudged it. One gust found him tail up and heading off the side of the runway. As a natural reaction he stamped on the brakes…. DOH! TAILDRAGGER!. 878 ended up on her nose, using her spinner for a brake… When I was last at 11AEF in 96, the bent prop was still mounted on the wall in the line office.
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