Maybe its too far gone to be saved but the Swift WK275 at Upper Hill certainly does not look safe.
Although in good condition the Phantom XT914 at RAF Brampton will have to move with the future closeure of RAF Brampton.
Overseas the two Shackletons at Paphos on Cyprus may well be scrapped if they get in the way of airport developement.

The USAF open days in the 1980’s were great and it took time and money to attend them all. But they never clashed and they were spread out from late May through to August, they were primarary organised for the local area and as such were reasonably priced, or even free !! Happy days indeed. The RAF Battle of Britain Day’s always clashed Abingdon/St Athan followed next week by Finingley/ Leuchars. I remember one year deciding that, along with a RAF mate, we could do both Abingdon and St Athan, by ‘breaking-in’ to Abingdon on the Friday evening with my service friend, we then drove overnight to South Wales, arriving for what was probably the wettest airshow ever, complete waste of time, still it’s that I’ll never forget.

Totally agree with idea of building simple, cost effective hangars at several different locations, including the ones you list. Far better than the ‘iconic’ structures that are more like modern art that have previously been funded, that is not to say that locations like Cosford did not deserve a new hangar. The idea of some sort of travelling restoration team is very interesting and could easily be worked into the existing restoration plans of most of the regional preseravtion groups. It would be a valuable teaching aid and could enable younger team members to learn and gain new skills, useful for both the local preservation group and the wider UK industry. I am not so sure about finacing the recovery opperations you mention, such projects contain too many unknowns to be able to guarantee a worthwhile object at the end. And too much money has already been wasted by the Lottery on flying aeroplanes. Leave that to private enterprise, if somebody has interest (and money) to return a rusty, sunken hulk back into the air then let them do it. If the Lottery funds a project, the public should expect to gain access to that project and learn and recieve pleasure from it, a Nationally funded project that will give Local results.

The Nimrod AEW fleet was reduced to spares in order to provide usefull parts to the rest of the Nimrod fleet. As can be seen from the list of serials below most of the modifications were carried out on the youngest airframes, no doubt with the thought that they would have a long and usefull life in the RAF. There appeared to be little wrong with the airframes but the radar and electronics were not up to the job, although with time and money the problems could have been overcome ? For some time in the 1980’s the whole fleet was in storage at RAF Waddington and some aircraft were used as a trials unit, when the programme was cancelled most were ferried to Abingdon and scrapped, XV263 was flow to Finningley and used for electronics trade training.

XV259 Nimrod AEW3 cockpit at Cumbria
XV261 Nimrod AEW3 scr. Lyneham 1995
XV262 Nimrod AEW3 scr. Abingdon 06/1992
XV263 Nimrod AEW3 fuselage at Warton
XZ280 Nimrod AEW3 Scr. Abingdon 04/1992
XZ281 Nimrod AEW3 Scr. Abingdon 1991
XZ282 Nimrod AEW3 Scr. Elgin 03/1996
XZ283 Nimrod AEW3 Scr. Abingdon 1991
XZ285 Nimrod AEW3 Scr. Abingdon 05/1992
XZ286 Nimrod AEW3 Scr. Abingdon 1991, rear section to Kinloss for G.I.
XZ287 Nimrod AEW3 to 9140M fuselage at Stafford, Staffordshire

The above list is from http://www.ukserials.com

the attached photo were taken at Waddington in 1987

I am sure that this has been said before, but returning an original aircraft to airworthy condition will most certainly mean removing and replacing many of the original parts. Surely a better solution, indeed a cheaper one, would be the purchase of one of the resent Me262 reconstructions. I have no problem with Mr Allen owning and restoring his collection of aircraft, and I hope that he continues to invest in aviation hertiage, but the work being carried out on the Me262 will probalbly make it less valuable.

DOUGHNUT

The attached image was taken at Duxford in 1982, can anybody confirm which two DC-3 were used for the flying scenes, I have a memory of seeing two Ruskin Airlines at Duxford but only have photos of one. Were both owned by Aces High and were are they now ?

DOUGHNUT

£17.5 million ………. TVOC are back where they started all those years ago – owners of a ground running Vulcan

Shame that the millions so far spent returning XH558 back to a servicable ground runner could not have been spent on providing her with a safe warm and secure hangar. The money left over would easily have paid for a engine run and taxi once a month, plus special open days when school parties could attend a be given the ‘Cold War’ experiance. Also the spare cash could have paid towards getting the other half dozen Vulcans under cover, complete with ‘Cold War ‘ experiance education facilities for the local schools. The whole TVOC thing has been a case of putting all your eggs in one basket, I feel very sorry for the other groups at Bruntingthorpe who are really working hard to preserve things like the Victor, Buccaneer, Canberra and Lightnings.