Had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Ken at a Farnborough show a few years back when we took our Museum’s Fairey Ultralight to display there (can’t remember the year). Thoroughly nice chap and his knowledge of all things rotary winged was fascinating. He was there with his real “Little Nellie” in the Historic display hanger along with our Ultralight, so had plenty of time to chat with him…
One of our great Aviators I’m sure you’ll agree, and I hope the BBC show this programme again some time in all regions.

Another area that has been considerd from the outset is the load bearing elements of the undercarriage itself, which support the fully unladen weight of the Vulcan and having not been moved since towing to it’s current position have “setlled” in one position. I think the RAF were concerned that once positioned on external display that such areas might have suffered more than a moveable example, and would have restricted the life expectency somewhat for safe public display. The implications were that any failure of these areas would have made access by public to the cockpit areas unsafe (the thought of a Vulcan sized aircraft collapsing on it’s belly whilst open to the public was scary enough). Thankfully their predictions of life expectancy have been exceeded already and the large amounts of TLC given to XL360 over the years at the Museum have certainly helped there, along with careful examination and monitoring. Probably helped no end by the fine ‘over engineered’ nature of what is a good example of proper British engineering in the first place…

Donor named in local press here…..

Taken from tonight’s online Express & Star local newspaper: “Wolves president Sir Jack Hayward has stepped in at the 11th hour and stumped up £500,000 to return a Cold War bomber back to its former glory.The club owner has come to the rescue with the massive bid to restore the Avro Vulcan XH558.
Without it, enthusiasts who have spent eight years restoring it were set to lose their jobs.”

I would just like to comment how pleased I am that at the eleventh hour the funds were forthcoming, and the project didn’t crumble at this hurdle. I can only look forward now to the day when 558 partakes in yet another fantastic Cold War Jets Open Day at Brunty – but this time does slightly more than a “Fast Taxi”, and see’s daylight under the mains once more!!! I’m sure I’ll weep at the sight which many have been waiting for…..

Congratulations to all concerned 😀 😀 😀 😀

Buried directions to former RAF Kenley? :diablo:

Thread about MOD Kenley dig….

That Nimbus appeared on ebay last year – from the item description I seem to recall that the owner wasn’t exactly sure how to run it correctly… Seen other Nimbus run Vids which spool up first then ignitors on etc – not the way on this run…..lol I saved that video clip last year cuz it showed how not to do it 😮

I pity the poor sods inside the portacabin below….. must have sounded like a herd of elephants stomping around on the roof all day :diablo: :diablo:

Ya know one of these days Damien you and me ought to meet up again at MAM and you can sort out some fine shots of the de-rusted repainted Hunter for your own T&L site as well as liaise about the MAM website updates…. :rolleyes:

And did you by chance capture the B757 on it’s low pass from right to left (from your view point) when it skimmed the hangar roof over the far side? Be good if you did cuz I was right underneath….lol

Speaking as one of Glen’s “crew” and just back from a long, hard, and very tiring weekend working there – I just thought I would add a few comments too…..lol

I was Airside all day on security over the far side, positioned right under the flying display line – which would have meant a few amazing shots had my camera been accessible at the right moment 😡 Apart from the rather un-nerving experience of seeing everything heading directly at me all day 😮 – highlight for me was the low pass by the RNZAF 757 which shot over my head at very little altitude and seemingly banking to avoid an adjacent hanger roof 😮 I was nearly ducking for cover – but boy was it impressive….lol
Tornado aborted alongside me on take-off – typical tonkas (I used to work on em remember). Sparrows aborted their display due to not one but 2 incursions on Kemble airspace 😡 Sad to see the Fouga going – nice but quirky little beast (with equally nice but quirky pilot….lol)
Liked that R/C US Coastguard Herc (1/7th scale) – having seen it close up on the ground – but it did fly a tad fast for scale…but made up for it by dropping dummies on chutes…lol
Cracking display by the Sea Hawk – glad to see it around again

All in all – well worth my weekend down there – despite the really long hours on duty – but thats fine cuz I volunteered… Can’t wait for the next one now 😀