AmarokWelcome Andrew ?
I also was in the Air Cadets 1970 -1976 and my summer camp in 1973 was at RAF Wyton, Hunts. The experience flights were provided by 5 AEF (Air Experience Flight) from Cambridge with 3 Chippies and we also had a Beagle Husky which had been presented to the ATC by the TV presenter Hughie Green 😎
all my flights for the week were in the Husky
By coincidence my younger brother was at RAF West Raynham for summer Camp in 1974 so I will ask him to check his log book (3822). You could try and contact 5 AEF who might have a list of the chippies operated in the 1970’s I am not sure but I suspect All the chippies in the AEF fleet were rotated as at the time they were having the colours changed from Dayglo to Red, White & Grey.
5 AEF is a good start 🙂
Update just found this snippet
5 AEF Chipmunks
WG458 12/9/73
WP979 15/6/74
WP804 22/8/74
WG458 17/11/74
WB652 19/1/75
WP804 at Wyton
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?27872-Chipmunks/page5
AmarokWas that the Phantom that used to be at RAF Waddington ?
AmarokBruce I wasn’t trying to be clever here , just stating what is involved with wheel and brake removal. The removal process takes into account simplicity in its method. Unlike a car braking system
we are talking about a single axle nut, 2 Stainless steel bearings (only one needs to be removed) and approx. 12 Stainless steel bolts and nuts and the wheel and Brake will be off
to change the U/C leg would require the aircraft to be raised on jacks ( a sledgehammer to crack a nut here!)
If I was on that job I would do the following
attempt the procedure I have outlined I have done it many times and zero failure.
worst case I would get a spare bearing, air chisel the old bearing out
AmarokDavid,
The rotors engage on the wheel via Stainless steel dogs (alloy and hot metal will not work and this was to prevent wheel seizing on ), also the clearance in the rotors is at least 2mm each side (to allow for heat)so the rotor shouldn’t be the issue.
The bearings (2 of) are Taper fit so all you need to do is soak the out board bearing attempt to Tighten slightly the wheel nut to unstick the bearing or Heat and with pressure on ether side push the wheel from the brake unit side to release.
The bearings and chrome parts on aircraft are top quality, plus the maintenance All aircraft get when in service will pay dividends here.
Kind regards
AmarokI have to agree with Jackd on this one chaps, many moons ago we had similar issues with 2 aircraft stored at Luton Airport. The Boeing 720 prototype and a old AeroAmerica 707 both aircraft were parked up for a number of years over near the engine Run up bay and had a number of Brake units seized, The USAF at the time were buying up 707/720B aircraft flying them to the Desert and stripping for spares for the KC135 fleet so I was tasked with a gang of handlers to go and fetch them !!.
The procedure was as follows.
1. Jack up the wheel with a bottle jack.
2. Take the wheel off (needs a good soak in penetrating oil to help slide off the brake unit Cogs)
3. Remove the Brake unit (Ring of bolts in the center) and blank off the hydraulic line
4. Refit the wheel minus the brake unit.
we could then tow the aircraft and refit the serviced brake unit & new tyre in comfort of a heated hangar :applause:
As a footnote the 707 Made it back but the 720B had corroded badly and was scrapped at Luton in 1981
[ATTACH=CONFIG]223206[/ATTACH]
Photo Dunlop
AmarokHere you go,
:highly_amused: :highly_amused: :highly_amused:
Lightning T.5 XS456 at Skegness, 3rd December 2010
http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/lightning/survivor.php?id=190
:highly_amused:
AmarokIsn’t this an indication of the fate of most large aircraft preserved outdoors in the U.K without concerted efforts to maintain them in reasonable condition?
with large aircraft like the comet IMHO it wasn’t its size that was its downfall (the comet got a wash n brush up every year) it was a lack of understanding on how to preserve a airliner !. In service all airliners are designed to be pressurised to achieve this all the door seals inflate to keep the fuse air tight and a number of water drains along the underside of the fuse again seal under pressure but release on the ground.
when I checked saggy back in 2010 all the fuse drains were blocked with crud and the door seals were non existent so a swimming pool was regularly running into the fuse. A series of 1″ holes drilled down the length of the fuse, remove the hold insulation plus some new thick rubber seals would have gone a long way here. I have advised the chaps at Brunty to regularly check the drains on the comet and nimrod.
AmarokDavid,
please see my previous reply, I have a sneaking suspicion this is a DIO decision as they have been smashing everything at Lyneham for the last couple of weeks. The DIO have no sense of History I’m afraid they will smash down historic buildings etc as all they look at is Money. I suspect the RAFM haven’t even been told as the Skips move into Lyneham and Bob the Builder is out and about…
AmarokThe RAFM did indicate back in 2011 the aircraft was going to be dismantled and moved to Shawbury ?, looking at Saggy today has given me the same sad feeling when I saw the Beverley destroyed at Hendon in 1990 again I recall under similar circumstances i.e was going to be dismantled ?
Was there a urgent need to smash up the Comet ?
There are Six hangars at Lyneham all empty !
I was surprised that the RAF didn’t move the comet to on of the Hangars before they left or a the very least moved to the Calne Strip so she could be dismantled.
They did a great job taking the nimrod apart I am sure crash n smash would have the comet dismantled very quickly I was staggered to see she still had the engines?.
I suspect this was a DIO decision as they have been smashing their way through Lyneham for the last month, so the Comet was in the way !
I am sure if it was dismantled they could be a possibility of moving her to Kemble next to the ex lyneham Brit ??
Another Icon Lost
AmarokAre you aware there was two versions of the Kee Bird Documentary ? and the one currently shown was edited to include the 2nd attempt and failure
I have seen both and that would give the impression that Darryl had underestimated the job BUT here was the original scenario
The original was called the Treasure of the Humboldt Glacier
The team had a Huey Helicopter as well as the Caribou !, the Huey was going to do the shuttle run with under slung loads leaving the Caribou free for the Big stuff But they had technical issues with the Huey which took them over a week to try and fix but in the end the Huey was abandoned,
By the time the Caribou Kee Bird II finally got to the site they were already 2 weeks late in the program.
The Caribou then had to not only fly the planned large items i.e. engines & bulldozer, but all the kit the Huey was going to be shuttling between the site and Thule Air force Base.
So again this caused the delays in the program (when you see B29 Frozen in Time this has been condensed so it looks like the chaps, arrive on time and are working slow n steady but in reality their window of opportunity was closing fast !)
Again in the original when Rick Kreig (Chief Engineer) went sick there was no one with his experience able to fill the breech so effectively all work stopped on the B29 for a number of days to give Rick some rest, Ultimately the Caribou threw a cylinder and it was game over.
The original film finished with the Caribou landing on 1 engine at Thule and the footnote that Rick had sadly died.
The following year after it was reported in Flypast the Kee Bird had been destroyed.
The ‘Edited’ version B29 Frozen in Time was shown on the TV. Its not clear why Darryl had come back early to attempt the take off on Ice the B29 was 90% ready to fly and one would assume the new team would arrive after the snow had gone in the ‘summer’.
At the end of the day the B29 sat on the Glacier for 40 years, the USAF had no use for it, to chop and ship out I don’t think was an option so Darryl and the chaps had a dream and they went a long way to fulfilling the dream.
But the APU was a big mistake it was installed on that second mission to provide electrical power to start the engines as they didn’t have a operational Ground Power Unit ! and as we saw the APU broke loose and burst into flames, I don’t doubt if they waited to the summer, no APU and the 4000ft of runways they would have made it
Regards
Mike
AmarokThe message is Out Tony the RAF Lyneham A-LINE OM15 trolley formation team will re-form for 1 more show
Kind regards
Mike
AmarokAllied
AmarokHI
The link works fine, its a real shame that the MOD never learns, every time they do this to veterans they end up with bad press and then they have to backtrack leaving a bad taste in everybody’s mouth’s.
What do we have do with these jumped up A*******s for them to remember how to go about things right in the first place, it seems they need leading by the hand, after all there are quite a number of ex high ranking service personnel working there so surely they would know!
Or am I assuming too much and its always down to money.Regards
Jason
In reality I suspect and from what I have seen at most RAF Bases the problem is there are so FEW EX Service personnel working for the MOD these days and with Large private Firms running 75% of the services they don’t understand tradition or the service way only how much to save on the Contract !
AmarokReally? It certainly wasn’t on the Saturday. I was distinctly underwhelmed by watching it trundle up and down.
I was at both Saturday and Sunday
the Saturday was marked by a delay due to a technical issue plus the wind direction changed so the Vulcan had to taxi to the other end of the Runway the Display IMHO was spirited and was exactly as agreed with the CAA, very entertaining and a huge round of applause from the record crowd on both days with the Dynamic Braking roll out. We don’t need high jinks with the Vulcan as the CAA will close them down VERY quickly. If you want to see something spectacular check YouTube for the Vulcan at Eastbourne in 2012 coming around Beachy Head and roaring up over the Cliff.:eagerness:
Amarokdoes Brunty now have 2 VC10’s ?
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