What kind of engines did they use, the nacelles don’t look particularly merlin like

Rolls Royce Peregrines

Sorry for dropping out of this thread. My hard drive rolled over and died when I got back home on Saturday 24th and it’s taken me over a week to get back online.

Anyway, referring to some of the other posts, NMS does have Concorde seats. In fact, they have more than enough, and have bought even more and now have, I believe, three or four different types. Possibly they are going to show the interior in different periods. Who knows?

The various huts round the site have had to be repaired. As a scheduled ancient monument, the museum is legally responsible for their maintenance. A year or two ago NMS spent £40,000 just on stopping the huts from falling down, and this only because of their legal obligations. I think there is a desire to improve the site and they certainly can’t hope to attract many repeat visits if the site looks as dilapidated as it has for many years.

The idea of a visit to Dumfries is a great one and I’d be up for it. Dundonald has certainly closed, although I don’t know what’s happened to their collections. I had thought that perhaps somewhere more central would suit people such as Keith Mac who had a long drive to get to EF, nevermind all the way down to Dumfries. Perhaps the small museum at Kirriemuir might be interesting? I’ve never seen this collection – perhaps someone else might be able to indicate whether or not it’s worth going there?

I just wanted to say a big thank you to Keith for the Tornado presentation and his expanations of the various panels and bits and pieces, David MacKenzie of the APSS for showing us round and to everyone who was able to come along. It’s been a great day and I’ve certainly learned a lot more about the various lumps on Vulcans. 😀

Originally posted by ageorge
Would anybody be interested in making this a 6 monthly event – even with a view to running a minibus to Duxford/Old Warden or something similar – there seems to be very few aviation enthusiasts up here – why not take names and organise something on a semi-informal basis ???

I’m not sure that I can commit to this at present, but may I suggest that at the very least we meet up again once Concorde is on public display? Although we won’t be able to get into her until sometime in 2005, she will be externally viewable from sometime in August. Perhaps another meet in September?

I was going to suggest we use the Parachute Cafe on site, provided it’s not too busy. Their bacon rolls are legendary and I may be able to get a discount on the price. If everyone wants to go elsewhere, or accept your hospitality, that’s fine with me. I just thought it would give more time looknig at aircraft if we were eating at East Fortune. I leave the choice to the masses!

Just logged on at work (during lunch hour!) so I’ve not yet read your PM, but I’m happy to give you a lift as well, Archer. In fact, if Daz doesn’t mind leaving Penicuik a little earlier (say, 9am) I could pick you up in Edinburgh city centre. I don’t mind either way.

I think Grant went not long after last year’s airshow in July. I can’t remember exactly when he went, but it was certainly a while ago now. It’s a real shame. As you say, he knew his stuff, but the NMS treated him shabbily. This isn’t really the place to repeat what I’ve heard, but ask me on Saturday and I’ll tell you as much as I know.

Alastair,

Of course, you can’t pester Grant anymore, now that he’s shacked up with another woman – DoRIS! (Dept of Research and Info Services at RAF Hendon for those who didn’t know).

There is a very intresting account of the Ferranti Flying Unit. I have a photcopy of a few pages, but I’ve never seen a complete copy. I’d love to get my grubby little hands on one! There is a lot of equipment in the MoF from Ferranti, including of course the only purely civilian-registered Meteor.