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My Flying Control Jeep - The Ongoing Story


Jessie The Jeep

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A fairly new resident to Breighton, a de Havilland dH60 Gipsy Moth. It was interesting to watch the folded wings being opened out to prepare the aircraft for flight. 

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Despite a partly cloudy day, it had been very warm, and the sun broke through in time for the evening hangar party.

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While we didn't have the usual spectacular sun set, there were still some interesting cloud formations and lighting.

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The hangar party had a live band as well as the clubs resident comedian doing some stand up and my daughter danced the night away for almost four and a half hours straight!

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Day two was unbearably hot, and other than a couple of trips along the flight line for pictures, I spent most of the day in hangar 2 where there was some solid shade. There were several Austers that flew in to the event and with those resident at the airfield, they numbered around eight. The good weather allowed plenty of flying on both days. Not having a tent or Jeep, we were able to make a quick getaway at 5pm. There's a classic car meet there in September, so I may take the Jeep down for that instead.

Some of the Austers.

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Jungmann, Cessna 120, Aeronca 100 ( G-AEVS ) and Luton Minor

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Tipsy Junior, Westland Wasp helicopter, Piper PA22 Colt and Jodel.

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Tipsy Nipper, racing car ( don't know the type ), Bucker Bestmann and Yak 55.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Croft Nostalgia - August 3~5th

We had a busy weekend at Croft with both Jeeps. I'm about to start posting the full report in my GPW thread, but to keep the chronology of this thread correct, I'm adding one picture here; the 'RAF 100' display, of which my Jeeps were a part.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ryhope Engines Museum - August 26/27th

This is the second year for the show at this site, but our first time at this location. For many years, the show was held at the Durham Light Infantry Museum, until the museum was closed.

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Our last DLI show was 2015. The show missed 2016 while looking for a new venue, and began in 2017 at Ryhope. Ryhope Pumping Station which was built in 1868 to supply water to the Sunderland area. The station ceased operation in 1967 - after 100 years of continuous use. The Museum is now regarded as one of the finest industrial monuments in the North East of England, and is in a Grade II (starred) listed building. Although the station no longer pumps water, the two 100 horsepower beam engines are kept in working order by volunteer members of the Ryhope Engines Trust.

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Either way, we enjoyed the new site and the mesmerising huge beam engines. We spent quite some time in the blacksmiths workshop, and got to help the blacksmith making a mini horse shoe.

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"Jessie" also clocked up 15,000 miles in my ownership on the way home on day one and "Hope" had almost reached 800 miles by the end of day two. Hopefully, given time, the show can grown back to its former numbers.

Further pictures can be found here - http://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2018/ryhope.htm

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Beamish "Dig for Victory" - August 31st ~ Sept 2nd

The main report for this event is on my GPW thread, but we took both Jeeps along and attended for three of the four days.

See my own Jeep website for the full selection of pictures here - http://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2018/beamish.htm

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  • 2 weeks later...

Breighton Aerodrome Classic Car Rally - Sept 15/16th

As a result of the hot weather in the Summer, and not taking the Jeep to Breighton, I decided I would come back for the classic car rally weekend. I drove down on Friday 14th, taking a little over three hours to do the 105 miles. After I set up camp, I had a wander around the airfield for some pictures, taking in the gate guard which I haven't paid much attention to before.

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In addition to the classic car meet on Sunday 16th, there were wing walking flights all weekend, on top of a PT-17 Stearman Kaydet. The clouds began to break up as the sun was setting allowing some nice sunset pictures. 

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The wing walking flights were almost constant all weekend, with around 15 customers per day. Some people were waving constantly, some shouting with excitement which could even be heard over the sound of the loud radial engine! 

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Saturday morning was quite for other aviation but things picked up around lunch with a number of visitors flying in plus some flying of aircraft based at Breighton. Three helicopters flew in, joining the currently non-airworthy Westland Wasp.

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On Saturday early afternoon, I went for a short flight with Ray in the Piper Super Cruiser G-BSYG. The new hangars stand out clearly with their two tone roof panels, but they do create additional turbulence when there's a cross wind.

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On Sunday morning, it started showery and the wind picked up. It was more across the runway, making the wing walking flights more challenging for the pilot. Around two dozen classic cars turned up putting on a good show, and I parked the Jeep on the end of the row. Due to the cross wind, there was less flying on Sunday, though some did fly.

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After the last wing walking flight, I brought the Jeep around to the PT-17 for some photos together.

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Due to the dark nights approaching, I didn't drive home on Sunday evening, but stayed until Monday morning. Later in the evening on Sunday, with a clear sky; I took some long exposure pictures, catching some aircraft and the Jeep with a starscape background. The security lights of the nearby compound provided ample foreground illumination. The stars show up far more in the full size versions, but most vanish once the image is reduced to 700 pixels to upload.

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A week after the Breighton weekend, I had a school visit followed by the Tanfield Railway 1940's Weekend.

We had four vehicles at the school for the Year 6 history lesson, three of which are seen here.

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Both our Jeeps went to Tanfield. This was probably our last event for 2018. It's been a great season. We've taken the vehicles to seventeen events starting in April with the Yorkshire MVT Crank Up, clocking up a little over 1500 miles total for the year, divided between the three vehicles.

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  • 2 weeks later...

October 3rd - Signal Corps Speaker

In the Dodge, I have an original Signal Corps speaker connected to an amplifier and MP3 player. This plays air traffic conversations to bring the non-functioning radios to life. I wanted something similar in the Jeep, but without the big car battery and amplifier needed for the large original speaker. For the Jeep, I decided to make a dummy speaker in which I could hide a small amplified speaker and MP3 player. So off I went to the scrap wood box to have a dig around and see what would be useful.

I found some 9mm MDF and 6mm ply, plus some aluminium sheet and steel perforated sheet. The box went together fairly quickly with a large circular hole in the front. The steel mesh was epoxied to the inside of the hole. The aluminium sheet was slit with a cutting disc in three places, to allow the louvres to be pressed in. This was then epoxied to the front of the box.

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Lots of cellulose high build primer was applied to fill the grain on the rest of the box and an aluminium lid made. Once all sanded, filled and sanded again and it was all smooth, it was given a sprayed coat of hammer finish hammerite. The front was drilled for some screws, which on the real speaker hold the speaker to the front panel and the front onto the case.

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I haven't finalised the mount and position in the Jeep yet. It needs to be removable to allow the dummy radio to tip open to access the storage below it and the rear Jeep locker. I think I'll make some wooden trays like in the Dodge, which will slot onto the Jeep side panel, but lift off again when needed. I'm very pleased with the look of the completed speaker.

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October 4th - Speaker Mount

A 1/8 inch plywood mount was made along the lines of those fitted in B-17's. So that I could still access the inside of the dummy radio, it was to be removable if needed. Three bolts were fitted into the back of the radio, with a nut and washer tightened on the outside. On top of those was another nut with a large washer soldered onto it. The first nut and small washer, spaced the larger washer away from the radio back, allowing the speaker mount to slot down into position.

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The 1/8 inch plywood is a sung fit between the radio and the washers, so it shouldn't vibrate loose. With a good fit confirmed, the side of the Jeep was refitted. The speaker only covers a small part of the rear window and doesn't block the view of other traffic.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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