Today

Hi all, especially SRP.

Wx looks pretty lousy for the rest of today despite a nice start – hopefully giving you sufficient time to complete the first flight of the Rearwin this morning.

Here follows the TAF (Forecast) for Farnborough, pulled off at 9.30 local today.

FARNBOROUGH EGLF 050908Z 051013 32011KT 9999 FEW025 SCT040 TEMPO 1113 5000 SHRASN PROB30 TEMPO 1213 34015G25KT 2500 SHSN BKN009 BKN015CB

Basically, it forecasts rain/ snow showers that will progressively worsen and likely to be accompanied by very poor visibility/ low cloud/ increasing winds/ thunderstorms.

So, ideal first thing for the Rearwin flight but not good enough for me to fly down in the DR400 and stand a reasonable chance of getting back home during the afternoon.

Here are some wise words that I always abide by and have kept me, my aircraft and my passengers safe for 30 years –

‘If there is any doubt, there can be no doubt’.

Best of luck today, sorry I cant be there.

CU next trip Stephen, lots to catch up on; P51 (but possibly something even more exciting?!) is becoming an increasingly likely prospect in the ‘not too distant future’. I will also be flying some ‘heavy metal’ shortly.

Hurrah!

HP

Oshkosh

Planning to go this year for the first time, possibly with my chequebook just in case a 51 for sale there (?) just blows my frock up and at the right money.

Pacific Fighters – I called them 3 weeks ago to discuss a 51. ‘I’ll get somebody to call you right back’. Well…that was 3 weeks ago and I’m still waiting. It seems that I won’t be a customer of theirs at least. They don’t even have a website.

I see that there is a TF51 for sale @ Sherman. Can anybody PM me with the inside track on this machine? It seems to have been for sale for a while now.

HP

Cadet

Shuttleworth of course have the expertise to operate this aircraft.

The price of aircraft – especially one-off’s – is very much a case of ‘worth what somebody is prepared to pay’. Sadly, there aren’t queues of people for old planes like this, the market is very small.

If it were half that money I’d book a ticket today.

HP

Jeff Hawke

Anybody see Jeff Hawke display the B17 and the B25?

The bloke was either a nutter or a genius.

As a display pilot myself I have my own views when I look back on his flying.

I will never forget his looooow flypast and immediate pull-up and barrel roll in the 25.

Anybody have a copy of ‘Mitchells do fly in IMC’? Gulp and double-gulp….

Hairyplane.

Hi Peter

Thank you for sharing the news with us – a terribly sad end.

We owe our freedom to Dad and many others like him.

The chap who owned the airstrip at Shotteswell, Freddie Spencer, died a couple of years back and I had the opportunity to record his wartime memoirs.

Like dad, he was a modest hero winning the DFC and 2 bars flying Lancasters. He survived 97 missions.

Such people make a huge impression on lives that would have been somewhat different had they not fought so valiantly. Unlike so many others, they fortunately survived to enjoy the freedom they had won for their country

RIP

Hairyplane

Ryan 001/ Spirit

2 interesting photos.

I collected the ex-Breighton 22 – the 2nd(?)prototype 22 apparently? – with its new owner and flew it to Duxford, thereafter checking her out on type.

I guess that the Spirit Replica was snapped at Coventry? I saw the whole thing, from initial break-up to the impact. A terrible tragedy…

Turning back to the 22 – whilst I have posted this link before, some may not have seen it. Interesting stuff!

http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepPT-22.html

HP

PT22 Winter maintenance

My PT22 is now in a thousand bits, thus enabling the Shuttleworth engineers to have a really good look over it. This includes Boroscope examination of a suspect aileron hinge attachment and 2 suspect cylinders.

Whilst the airframe (including the suspect hinge) has got the thumbs up – with zero corrosion and in generally really good shape for a 65 year old machine that has never had a ground-up overhaul – the engine needs some work.

The top cylinder, whilst obviously drained of oil, shows zero compression and the Boroscope shows some cylinder scuffing. Verdict? Rings and possible piston/ cylinder replacement. Another of the 2 upper cylinders is low on compression – the verdict there is valves.

So, we are going to remove the 2 affected cylinders and decide where to go from there.

There are some questions on the undercarriage too. We think that the damper springs may need replacing because there is evidence of ‘hammering’ at the top fitting ie where the damper is ‘bottoming out’ at full compression and transferring unwanted landing shocks (plenty of those!) to the airframe.

Anyway, nothing that time and money cant fix so it should be airworthy for April.

I’ll keep you posted.

HP