It seems unlikely that a Shack would get permission to fly in the UK, given the experience with WL790. Although I wish all of the people at Coventry all the best luck in this endeavour. As they will know, we at GAM have a number of MKII spares still in their original boxes ex-Avro, I’m sure that some arrangement could be made if they needed these spares.

Just to be pedantic:-

Viper install was a separate initiative and originally not a part of Phase III refits. In fact the first few airframes that were Phase III’d had to be sent back to have the Vipers fitted, it was only short way into the programme that it was incorporated into the process. Orange Harvest was a Phase II fit not III.

Better still use the original material for the “nose cone”.
I believe that there is still a maker of the sprayable neoprene somewhere
on the south coast.

Bex is still an active member of GAM.

We recently received this information regarding the history of WH773.
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“I notice from your website that at your museum you have what I understand to be the first production Canberra PR7 that was delivered to the RAF – WH773. You may be interested in some information I have about that aircraft’s earliest operations.

I am not sure if you are aware, but this aircraft’s first tasking was as part of the specially formed New Zealand Air Race Flight attached to 540 Sqn at RAF Wyton. The flight was headed up by Wg Cdr Lewis Hodges, and my father (Then Sqn Ldr Bob Currie) was the senior navigator for the RAF Canberra crews.
According to my father’s log book, WH773 was collected by Wg Cdr Hodges and my father from the English Electric Factory at Salmesbury on 11 Sep 1953 and taken to Wyton, after few shake down and familiarisation sorties. Hodges, my father and 773 arrived at London Airport on 3 Oct 1953 for the build up to the air race. WH773 was to be Canberra Number 1 of 5 (others being RAF PR3’s & RAAF B2s).

Hodges, my father and 773, set off on the air race at 1735 on 8 Oct 1953 heading for their first fuel stop at Shaiba, and then on to Negombo. They set an official speed record for the London to Colombo leg of 10hrs 25 mins (836.004 kmh/520 mph/452 kts).

They then pressed on to Perth and were well in the lead, but sadly a double generator failure cost them precious time. They eventually reached Christchurch New Zealand in the early hours of 10 Sep 1953 and were placed fourth, though they had the fastest flying time of 22 hrs 22mins from London to Christchurch New Zealand. The winning Canberra PR3 was crewed by Flt Lt Burton and Flt Lt Gannon – that aircraft – WE139 is in the Hendon Museum.

My Father’s last connection with WH773 was on 27 Oct 1953 when they flew it from Pearce to Changi, thereafter he switched to a PR3 for the final legs back home.”

Argus

I was in Malta on det with 42 sqdn just before Christmas 1968 when an Argus come through heading home, trying to get there for Christmas. The Argus used the same radar as the MK3 Shack, ASV21 and this Argus had a duff radar. I received a call from the ground crew asking if we could help them with the problem. This was frowned upon by the management and second lines because the Canadians were often several mod states behind us. It was obvious when a Canadian unit turned up because the serial numbers all started with a 9. Anyway we swapped their faulty modulator for one of ours and took the moans.
9 months later I was with a MK3 when we landed at RCAF Greenwood and who should be the first person that I saw when when vacated the aircraft but the radar eng from the Argus in Malta! A small world indeed. Had a really great week in Nova Scotia, we basically parked the Shack, partied and finally dragged our tired, hungover bodies back to St. Mawgan a week later.

The air start pod at Gatwick is currently being restored.
Sadly we don’t have the manuals either, it’s just a case of experienced aeroengine engineers using their knowledge and experience.

Actually part of “Magical Mystery Tour” was filmed in Cornwall, some of it at Watergate Bay. I was at St. Mawgan at the time and the rumour was that the Beatles were invited to the sergeants mess, didn’t happen of course! Whole area was electric for about three days.

Watergate bay being right at the end of the runway and with MOTU, with its T.4 Shacks, on almost continuous circuits it was almost inevitable that one aircraft would get into shot.

I therefore believe that this is the reason that the Shackleton is in this film and can clearly remember seeing it when it was first released.

Gary thanks for posting the pic, I think!

We are always hoping to get them inside. The politics changes little as each year goes by, but they are still here. We will continue to fight the effects of weather and age. With such a large airframe and only a handful of engineers, plus 20 odd other airframes we have to prioritize the tasks. For the Shackleton getting the engines running again has obviously been No.1. for those whose primary interest is the Shack. In policy terms our primary task list has generally been one of “getting things running again”. As a consequence the external appearance of some exhibits may have suffered. That not to say that some work is not going on to improve the airframes. The Vixen for instance, has had many panels removed and corrosion treated in the past couple of months, these are being repainted and will be refitted soon. The Bucc has just had the canopy replaced and we are hoping to get a number of parts for this airframe to improve her appearance and general wellbeing. We are often amused when just after we have simply re-painted an airframe to find it described as “fully restored”, if only!

As a group of volunteers we have decided this summer to reverse that “engineering first” policy and put engineering tasks as second priority, that’s always assuming that the weather co-operates! This should mean that a number of aircraft will end the summer in a much better external condition. Sadly, it is often the external appearance upon which the success of a museum is judged by, understandable, but possibly erroneous.

Vipers, well we have them, to be strictly accurate we have one on site and one at RRHT being refurbished. It takes RRHT five years to carry out the work. We are very grateful for the work that they doing on our behalf. It will therefore be obvious that any plan involving the Vipers is a long term version.
In outline; we do intend to refit them and make them runnable. Possibly reworking the installation to run on AVTUR/JET-A1 by using the tip tanks as the fuel source.

We would like to take this opportunity to say, thank you, to the many people who turned up and supported our efforts. It really makes all the work worthwhile.

Peter Mills