robin craig Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Rich, marvelous to see the progress. What are you doing to stabilise the fuel left in the lines after run ups? Are you putting a stabiliser in? Getting the aircraft under cover is, almost I would say as important an enterprise as stabilising her condition. Are there any plans to build her a building? Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 Hi all, we've had a busy weekend! We would like to get her indoors permanently, being rolled out for exercise. That will have to wait for the moment as all the funding we generate (most of it through donations, but some from merchandise is starting to trickle in) is going into the essential repairs to get her running on all four engines and some minor overhauls of other systems. While she runs, she is a major crowd puller, so we need to keep her at that level before we can move to other things. We don't need to stabilise the fuel as its not left in the tank for long enough for it to go stale. Griffons eat fuel very quickly, a half hour run burns around 400 litres. As we're not flying, we tend to use any drained down fuel that comes out of aircraft being serviced. It makes more sense for us to use it rather than it being destroyed. Update below.. 22 April - Rollout day When we left on Wednesday night after some last minute prop work, the Shackleton was still outside. We were a bit worried to find her still outside this morning. There was a problem; she wouldn't fit inside. The hangar doors have a stop on them at the Airbase end which means 963 has a wingspan about 10 ft too much to get in. The tug was attached and with the usual high level of skill the ground staff moved 963 as far in as she could go. She stayed there for a while while there was the roll out ceremony with the Mayor of Coventry, and various news crews, before they were invited for lunch in the DC6 diner (G-SIXC, nicely converted.) While they were getting some food inside them, the other DC6 (G-APSA) was pushed back to make room for 963 to take up her own spot beside the Nimrod. We than started the necessary checks, and erected a small fence to stop the public getting too close to 18 fast moving prop blades. Engine start time drew closer, and I was getting more nervous by the second. I had the task of waking WR963 today, being the engineer for the run, overseen by our regular engineer and excellent teacher, Gerry Broad. With the Mayor and several others on board I was praying for her not to throw a tantrum like last Saturday. WR963 must have been listening as she performed flawlessly, with no intercom problems, and no misfiring or shenanigans from No 3 engine. It caught and ran well from the moment the switches were pushed, as did the others. (photo borrowed from a guest of ours.) We all took a deep sigh of relief after the shutdown, and the silence was broken by applause... so I guess the crowd liked it. We have it all to do again on the 4th May for Airbase's Press Day though, so if you didn't catch it this time around there's still chance. Big thanks goes to Airbase, for letting us do the roll out on the first day of opening, and being so eager to support us. Video of the event was taken, and we made ITV news and a couple of the local papers. Kind regards, Rich, Shackleton Preservation Trust, and the crew of WR963. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie The Jeep Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Love the new scheme, very smart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hall Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Any chance of fitting Hispanos in the nose again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 Hispanos to be fitted when they have been fabricated.. we're going for replicas. It is hoped we can get hold of a genuine Boulton Paul Type N turret to fit in the front, which would be brilliant - but for the time being, once the cannons are ready they'll be solid mounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony840 Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 hi i have a engine tarpaulin if any use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 Tony, Thanks for your kind offer but we already have a full set plus spares. We used them during the worst weather this winter, but they don't really fit. They were manufactured when the Shack was new, and when exhaust stacks were fitted in the early 1960's it stops the covers being put on and closed properly. Kind regards, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Time for some more updates! 4th May The Press Day at Coventry on looked to be well attended with people wandering around from various publications and organisations. Hopefully a sign of things to come as there has been a LOT of hard work done at Coventry on things other than the Shackleton by a lot of people. It's cool to watch the place evolve. Crew for the run on the Press Day was: Dave Woods and Ricky Marriott in Pilot and Co-pilot positions, myself as Engineer, and John Cubberley overseeing us. We also were also thrilled to have aboard Don Johnson as a guest. Don was an Auster pilot in the Malaysian jungle during WW2 and had no end of stories to tell. WR963 once again behaved herself with only a couple of problems. We had an intercom issue which caused a bit of feedback until it was traced, and a weeping fuel priming line. As it was late in the day we had to leave it until the next visit. 7th May A wet Saturday down at Coventry but a reasonable days work. Two of our guys are busy at work cleaning and repainting parts of the interior, a couple of us went leak chasing and the pneumatics should be back before long. Leaks: First up... the heavy rain has shown we have some more work to do. The prolonged dry spell has dried out more of the old mastic around the cockpit canopy frame and the beam lookout windows. We have water dribbles! The next fine day will see it sorted as we'll dig all the old stuff out and put new in. More worrying was the fuel leak. When we shut down we found the priming overflow on the starboard side was still chucking raw fuel out - but with the pump off. Initial thoughts were that I had overprimed during the start, but not so. The supply line into the fuel priming pump was weeping fuel. We got it off the aircraft today and this is the state of it: It caused a few sharp intakes of breath when we took it off. It must have cracked to the point of failing on this last run. Typically this pipe is hard to see hidden behind the air intake and outlets for the generator, so you could only feel it rather than see it until it was off. I'm not convinced its the original pipe, I think its a legacy from 10 - 15 years ago when Air Atlantique were using her as a test bed. So, from now until we can get Pirtek to come visit, 963 will be a bit quieter than she has been for the past month! All being well she'll be fit and well by this time next week The air bottles came back from testing today, with all the NDT, x-ray, ultrasound, and boroscope testing done. Four bottles passed, one bottle failed with the wall thickness down to less than 1.6mm and metal flakes seen on the x-ray! Luckily for us we only need four, but a good job we sent the spare too. The props are currently across the other side of the airfield causing much head scratching at CFS, as the last ones they did were in the late 1990's for the AEW2 that went to the USA. I should have more news later if all goes well - but we have to admit things have slipped a little with getting this sorted out. 14th May Windy again at Coventry, but dry! Plenty to do on 963 though to get her even better and keep her in good condition for the coming season. Vic and Rich Marriott are making immense progress on the interior, I couldn't get photo's due to getting in their way. When I left Coventry at 4.30pm they were still hard at work, somewhere near the galley. Repairs to floor matting and the bunk area were happening last time I looked. Pirtek when phoned arrived at the airport within the hour (the guy on the phone asking "Is it the old Shackleton again? No problem!") and when we gave them the old pipe we had a nice shiny new one produced inside 10 minutes. The old spec of the pipe isn't available any more so an equivalent was used. Thinking about it; there's now enough non original parts on this aircraft to give the CAA and anyone else a field day if it had to be audited for flight. But as it's probably not going to happen we can use slightly better materials without getting it approved. Hopefully the work we're doing will keep the Shackleton 'live' for a good many years. With the new priming line fitted, it was then just a case of switching the internal power on, selecting fuel tanks and master cocks for that side, and turning the priming switch to No 3. The pump hummed away with no nasty noises and no leaks... so 963 is good to run again. Feeling happy with our success we moved on to what would have been last weeks task - the refitting of the air bottles in the pneumatics crate. Myself and Pete Curran took this job on, and braving spiky little bits of safety wire and stiff air hoses, we had the bottles in fairly quickly. There was a little bit of head scratching to figure out where all the joints ran to avoid chafing and rubbing. We than fed the bypass pipes fitted to the oxygen cylinders (as they have been used in the past for extra capacity) back into the crate and gently opened the taps. Hissing noises were heard and then port and starboard pressure gauges started to climb! There is a small leak off the bottom pair of cylinders, and what little pressure we had bled away fairly quickly, so we'll test the whole system from top to bottom next week. Volunteers were called for and with one man standing next to each wheel, one down in the nose near the crate, and one in the pilots seat; the brakes were pressed. Port brakes took up and then vented nicely, starboard took a little more persuasion, finally coming on with a drawn out creak and then a puff of years old brake dust out the sides! There didn't seem to be any sudden great loss of air, so it appears the brake bags are still intact. So... 963 now has her brakes back. We need one more propeller and then a mainwheel tyre change, then maybe we can show her the runway again... The propeller - this is a long standing bugbear, however it is now in the workshop being built up. It appears we're missing an intershaft bearing and seal, so it might take a little while to find those. Other than that everything seems to be okay on that score. Next we decided to have a crack at removing some of the stiffness from the throttle linkages. Well, that was the excuse. In reality all of us have been itching to get those front doors open and see what state she is in, in one of the places we haven't been for a while. Well we weren't disappointed.. in there we found graffiti from the radar fit, original 50's paint, a couple of birds nests and a lot of work! You never realise just how big that bomb bay is until all the doors are open, the AEW uses roughly two thirds of it and it seems cavernous at that. We're still planning around the possibility of re-instating the full length doors. There is MUCH more left over from the MR2 than anybody would think, and the position of where the doors were cut makes it look to be a job that can be done over Autumn/Winter. We've promised Airbase that we won't start taking big chunks of Shackleton apart until after show season! Regards, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Thanks for the update Rich ! Great to see the old bird being preserved for the next generation ! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 you're doing a great job on the old girl, i'm glad there's people around like you shackleton guys that are prepared to spend the time and effort to keep a little bit (better change that to big bit) of british aviation history running and in such good condition for others to see. all the best eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Cheers guys, glad you all like it. Now the priming line is replaced she's good to run again. The fact we managed to get it done and sorted fairly fast meant we could have run if necessary at Airbase today, if one of the othres had got problems. Its a matter of pride to keep her running now that we know she's the last. Regards Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 You're doing a magnificent and worthwhile job there. I hope one of these days I'll get up to see the old girl.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugger Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 It's bizarre what a small world it is, a good internet buddy from another forum, completey unconnected with MVs and a friend on Facebook is in this pic (as he was tagged in it on the aforementioned FB) would I be right in saying that's Mark under the engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afvnut75 Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Well done for turning her into a glorious plane once again ! Can i ask if she is still airworthy ie how manly hours have you got already on the airframe, engines, and how many have you got until CAA say thats your lot on her and how much fuel do you get through on run up and throughout flying the lanc was a very thirsty gal, Is she going to be on display permanently at coventry or moved to another airport eventually? i would really love to see her in the flesh , i helped at duxford in the nineties every weekend on the fiesler storch 156 thats on static display and the b25 that was done in the ww2 usaf pacfic campaign colours that now resides in the american air war hanger at duxford, so i know that these projects are a real labour of love as i lost part of soul whilst working on the B25 And one day soon (i hope) ill sell everything off do my twin rating licence and then go off and find an airworthy one , But i have a feeling your shackleton will be in the air before me ive got alot of gaining flight time hours, exams and so forth before 40 , Keep up the magnificent work :thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) It's bizarre what a small world it is, a good internet buddy from another forum, completey unconnected with MVs and a friend on Facebook is in this pic (as he was tagged in it on the aforementioned FB) would I be right in saying that's Mark under the engine? The photo's are all from the same source - me, so if he's tagged in it on FB too(can't see which pic it is at work), it's him! I keep a FB page going for the Shackleton and post stuff on there regularly. Regards, Rich *just checked and it is Mark, and I'm the bloke front right grabbing a cup of tea off the tray. This was taken at 7am on a Sunday morning after a long Saturday. Edited May 20, 2011 by Rich W update Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrettkitt Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Wikipedia has some good pictures of Shackeltons good enough to be used as wallpaper on you're computer http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/SAAF-Avro_Shackleton-003.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/SAAF-Avro_Shackleton-001.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Avro_Shackleton_Mk.3_SAAF.jpg Article itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Shackelton Cracking thread keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 Well done for turning her into a glorious plane once again ! Can i ask if she is still airworthy ie how manly hours have you got already on the airframe, engines, and how many have you got until CAA say thats your lot on her and how much fuel do you get through on run up and throughout flying the lanc was a very thirsty gal, Is she going to be on display permanently at coventry or moved to another airport eventually? i would really love to see her in the flesh , i helped at duxford in the nineties every weekend on the fiesler storch 156 thats on static display and the b25 that was done in the ww2 usaf pacfic campaign colours that now resides in the american air war hanger at duxford, so i know that these projects are a real labour of love as i lost part of soul whilst working on the B25 And one day soon (i hope) ill sell everything off do my twin rating licence and then go off and find an airworthy one , But i have a feeling your shackleton will be in the air before me ive got alot of gaining flight time hours, exams and so forth before 40 , Keep up the magnificent work :thumbsup: Many thanks! Working on stuff at Duxford you'll appreciate just how hard the work is. I bet you're proud that your handiwork is displayed in a national museum. Good luck with your twin rating, I'm sure you'll get it eventually however long it takes. WR963 had flown for 15483.45 hours before her final landing at Coventry on 9 July 1991. She is not airworthy - there is no life left on some major compoinents of the airframe (spar booms, spar webs), minimal life left on other parts such as engine bearers, and many parts are at their time for overhaul based on age. Engines No 1, 3, and 4 still have plenty of hours left before overhaul (I'd have to check the logs for exact numbers) but No 2 is a zero hour unit, still inhibited as is the propeller being built for it. The CAA state that they will not extend the life of an ex-military aircraft beyond that specified by its manufacturer, so unless all the lifed components are replaced, she won't be getting air under her any time soon. It was proposed a couple of years ago, but initial surveys revealed a cost of between £3 and £5million depending on how tired she was. The idea has been shelved, the current mission being getting her able to do fast taxy rides, a bit like the Lancaster at East Kirkby. We hope to achieve this by the end of the year. We're not ground running any longer than half an hour at a time the moment, but even at that she can get through 100 gallons of 100LL aviation fuel quite easily. High power settings (as we've only had her up to 30" and 2000rpm) would use a lot more. We've got enough fuel on board to keep her going for a while, but if we don't get enough visitors/donations over the coming year we might have to revise things. WR963 will be based at Coventry as long as the airport is there. Anybody is welcome to come see her any day that Airbase is open, but we can't guarantee she'll be open to go inside. Saturdays are our work day when all the team are in fettling her, and it's access all areas so long as you don't flick switches. There's no ropes or barriers around her either - you can walk right round, under, wherever you please. The next engine run is going to be the 12th June for the Jaguar Enthusiast Club event, the BBMF and Red Arrows, and possibly the Vulcan are also coming. Regards, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 Wikipedia has some good pictures of Shackeltons good enough to be used as wallpaper on you're computer http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/SAAF-Avro_Shackleton-003.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/SAAF-Avro_Shackleton-001.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Avro_Shackleton_Mk.3_SAAF.jpg Article itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Shackelton Cracking thread keep up the good work Those are good pictures. Would anybody be interested in some good size shots of 963 during the recent ground runs, as wallpaper? It can be arranged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Update time. You'll notice we made it into this issue of Flypast in the news section, and we were pleasantly surprised to see the "Q Call" article on the Shackleton. 4th June Work has slowed a little on WR963, but never does it stop. The next big work day is after the next engine run when all the engines need their filters, plugs, cam clearances and many other things checking. There will be lots of photos of oily Griffon bits for those that like that sort of thing! As to those of you wondering when the next engine run is, we intend to run on Saturday 9th July. There is a significance to this date, as it is 20 years to the day since WR963 and WL790 arrived at Coventry, and 20 years since her last flight.* You may remember me talking about the air system a couple of weeks back, and the installation of the pneumatics crate. We had a leak on the bottom pair of bottles, but it was soon rectified. We won't know just how well the compressors are doing on the engines are doing until our next run, but the bottles and system are doing well having held what little pressure we had in the system for a fortnight. The interior has been cleaned and partly repainted and I will post pictures of that in the next couple of weeks. I couldn't get any at the moment as I really don't want to get in the way of Vic and Rich Marriott, the members of our team that are doing the task. There's no room to really get past the hoover, and all the bottles of cleaning products for floors and chairs, but I can say that 963 is looking very much healthier inside. Our prop is currently at the workshop of one of our team being built up off site. We are in desperate need of an intershaft bearing, it is classed as an engine part not a prop part and as such the kits we have don't contain it. We also have none on our spare units, they have all been used in the past - probably on WL790. We are desperately looking for: Intershaft Bearing - Part No: GN24866 Outer race - Part No: GN 25170 Washer for roller bearing nut - Part No: GN 21096 One thing that has been spoiling 963 for a while was the smashed nav light lens on the starboard wing. Vic Marriott took the smashed remains of the old one, and set to manufacturing another. Vic being the perfectionist he is, by the time we arrived this Saturday it was fitted, with the seconite sealing and repainted too! He still wasn't satisfied, research having revealed a telltale piece that you can see from the cockpit, so he made and fitted that too. I envy people's skills sometimes but it does look the part: There is no stopping him! He is scouring our spares holding for cockpit windows and any other glazing he can find, and has started muttering about replacing the clouded windscreen eyebrow pieces. We've had some other cleaning work going on, and some more niggling maintenance tasks. The priming line we replaced was checked again and while we were in the undercarraige bays the landing gear hydraulic rams were cleaned and greased. We also found that the external locks were seized (the red struts in the photo) so we set to and persuaded them out. We managed to revive the spring action on three of them, but one of them was too bad to repair. Thankfully we had a spare, so we gave it some lubrication and fitted it. For those that wonder about other locks.. the Shackleton control locks are all internal. There is one mounted in the tail (elevators), one in the trailing spar (ailerons), and a big red handle over the throttles on the pilot's side (rudders). They are all connected, meaning the rudder cannot be released until elevators and ailerons have been unlocked. This is the elevator one on the end of the little red tag: And here's how it normally appears, when I go down there to take it out: Not my favourite job, but a regular place I end up; as you can guarantee an unsupervised visitor will try to use force to move the rudder lock so they can play with the throttles. This bends things. Not good... I got asked a couple of weeks ago about the bomb bay - we haven't had the front open again yet, but I took these shots of the bay as they're better than the ones I posted before. Looking aft: Looking forward: In these shots, the flat portion is the centre section. The middle carrier position is rated at 12,000lbs, a legacy from the Lancaster. The small row of bolts you can see before the 'egg crate' style construction starts again is the transport joint. The unsightly brown tubes either side are remnants of the heater system - this being one of the few areas of 963 that has succumbed to being outdoors. After a cup of tea or two, a few of us boarded and attempted to see if we can get 963's radio behaving. She had many parts robbed, changed and chopped around in the past and it never really worked properly since. Unfortunately the best we managed to get out of her was that we could hear the tower but no-one can hear us! It's a shame it doesn't work, as there's much on the old Shackleton that still does. The Orange Harvest for example still lets you see what radar is looking at you and where from.. so while 963's hearing's gone, her eyesight is still pretty good even with the radar scanner long since removed. WR963 will be open to all during the upcoming Jaguar Enthusiasts Club day on the 12th June, but the update next weekend will be from another member as I'm away (again.) Kind Regards, Rich * We aren't counting the 8 seconds or so Dave Hencken (ex 8Sqn CO, and long time Shackleton pilot) managed to sneak in a couple of years ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 How it all started. The last four flying Shackleton's were sold at auction by the MOD in July 1991. WR963 and WL790 were bought for £42,000 each by the Shackleton Preservation Trust, and flown to Coventry airport, the other two were flown out to Paphos, Cyprus, where they still sit corroding in the sun. Rich True, the two are still corroding under the bright cypriot sun :-( :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Mega update... as I've neglected this thread somewhat. Sorry. The Cyprus Shackletons, WL747 and 757 are likely to stay there a loooong time. The latest we heard is that they had racked up £1/2 million in parking fees, and there has been several thefts from them. Not good. On to happier things... 9 July 1991 Avro Shackleton WR963 landed for the last time at Coventry Airport, after being sold by the MOD at an auction at Sotheby's on 3rd July. Bought by the Shackleton Preservation Trust she has a total of 15483.45 flying hours over some 6800 flights spanning a 37 year career. 9 July 2011 To an assembled crowd of guests, the Lord Mayor of Coventry, and any members of the public lucky enough to be visiting today at AIRBASE, we celebrated 20 years to the day since she arrived. Invited guests included the family of the late Gp Capt Dave Hencken, who was the last man to take her out on a runway. Also in attendance were members of the current 8 Squadron who had served on Shackletons. It was also great to meet people that had been in the Shackleton Preservation Trust looking after the aircraft in the past 14 years, and put faces to names. I think we may have persuaded some of them to come back from retirement. First order of the day was a naming ceremony. WR963 now carries names under her cockpit windows. On the Port side, "Gp Capt Dave Hencken" which was unveiled by the Hencken family and 8 Squadron, and the Starboard side "Sqn Ldr John Cubberley", unveiled by the Lord Mayor and Clive Dickin, AIRBASE's director. At 3.15 we got everybody who wanted to be onboard the aircraft for the engine run in, and the first engine began to turn. Everybody seemed to be enjoying it... apart from several of us. The engines took too long to come on the throttle for such a warm day, and No 1 engine refused to start after three attempts. Faced with shutting down to find the fault, or letting people enjoy the running engines, the taps were opened and No 3 and No 4 engine got some exercise. We had that many people wanting to experience a live Shackleton, that after warming the engines up the crew had to throttle back and let some people out so more could get in! The engine run finished after 45 mins to the sound of polite applause from those that were present. WR963 is going to get some attention to her engines over the coming weeks, as her servicing is due... so while there were a few scowls at No 1 engine, it didn't pick the worst time to misbehave. Our initial thoughts were the booster coil had stopped working but that was found to be buzzing away nicely. However, we got nothing from the priming pump on that side. The fuse had blown and the pump had quit, possibly due to water ingress. Not difficult to change, but it means we need to chase another water leak. 13 August Its always difficult to keep momentum at this point in the year as people are off on holiday. For a couple of weeks the numbers of our crew were diminished, but now we're back to strength. What's been going on? We started with a few niggles. We've always had a few bits that were needing replacement but the trick was finding the parts. So we've been raiding the store. This time I took my camera. WARNING! NOS Shack parts pictures coming up so if you struggle with things like this, sit down before reading on.. ) We have a mainwheel swap coming up. Not a problem. We counted around 10 and a few spare tyres. Lots of brake units too, which is good. Airframe parts... Powerplants... Spare props... We also found a couple in boxes. Speaking of boxes... This gives you an insight into how much of a pain it is to find some of our stuff. In that pile alone we came across fuselage frames, a couple of brand new bomb aimers windows, some Grifffon cylinder banks - and that was just in the boxes we could get to. But it all helps. We now have a complete aerial set up, with a brand new tensioner on the starboard fin. It had been safety wired in place after the last one failed, and had annoyed us a long time. Standing inside the aircraft now you can hear it hum merrily in the wind. A major part of the search has been for glazing panels. we now have nearly a full set of cockpit glass, the latest part being a brand new pilots escape hatch. Fitting a new hatch is fairly easy, but the great thing is by consulting the schedule of parts, we found brand new seals to fit with it to keep the water out. I took a few shots while Vic was fitting this. We've been continuing with replacing as many access hatches as we can, though the vast majority need drilling out and tapping. Where we don't have the panel or it is badly damaged, we're having new ones made. We are prioritising which ones we do, the most recent ones are to get access to the trim cables and sprockets. We're still working at freeing them off, the rudder is starting to behave but still needs attention. 20 years outdoors has caused a little corrosion inside but we're pretty happy that we keep going fairly deep into the aircraft yet she seems to have held up well. The engine guys have been going at the engines, with filters, hydraulics, cams coolant, and a multitude of other tasks getting attention. The news is good with No 3 still behaving, the wear hasn't got any worse. We'll still keep a close eye on it, but it looks like it will make it to the end of the year. I'll report back on No 1 and 4 as they are done. And last but not least... our old tug.. Finally this old beastie earned its keep, shoving WR963 forward a few yards so we could put steel plate under her mainwheels to stop sinkage and help protect the tyres. There was a bet going on whether it would, and it seems it found some guts from somewhere! It's been getting some attention too to smarten it up and give it a long overdue service. 10 Sep A very windy day! First thing up was to check a few levels, and retighten things, before a walkaround to make sure everything on WR963 was in order. A few bits need attention, mainly a couple of dzus fasteners are past their best - and the hydraulic hand pump in the stbd undercarraige bay needed securing. The trolley acc batteries were all showing good charge (28V) which means they are working well. We replaced these recently with modern sealed lead acid types, and it was well worth the investment. We're now looking at finding an equivalent for the onboard batteries as they are getting tired and regularly need charging. Then it was time to move some fencing! Nimrod XV232 was due to engine run at 12pm, so we were drafted in to help keep the public at a safe distance. There were fairly large numbers of people around with this weekend being part of Coventry Heritage Open Days, and AIRBASE being one of the places on the tour. It was nice to see the Nimrod come back to life, even if she was a bit grumpy... the hard work by the engineers over the past weeks paying off with engines running, albeit briefly. I couldn't help but think about being stood in the same spot with friends, watching her make her last landing. Following the Nimrod's efforts, it was agin time to move some fencing... as we had to keep people away from the props! Once that was done, it was all aboard and start the engines. As is customary, we grabbed a couple of unsuspecting visitors to come aboard and enjoy it... This time we managed to grab a gentleman who was a pilot on Coastal Command Wellingtons and Liberators during the war! Now in his 90's, he still flies, and was pleased as punch to be sat in '963 (over both spars... well done sir!) with the Griffons growling away. He has said he will come back - and I sincerely hope he does. All too soon it was time to be silent... and a very happy bunch of people climbed out. The servicing over the past month paid off - no snags, no leaks, no fuss. This week we get to run WR963 twice more. 15th, and 17th. She's getting plenty of exercise! 3 Oct Well, the run on 17th September went well, with the exception of losing part of the outboard exhaust pipe on No 4 engine. I didn't get any photo's as I was manning the engineers panel; but a visitor of ours got a couple which I found over at fightercontrol. http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&p=265815 Working on the principle of I broke it, I fix it - a new item was found from the store and cleaned of its protective coating. We've checked the others as this failed along the welded seam, so it was obviously cracked, then the last run finished it off. New replacement, it was still in a sealed bag. Replacement means getting the exhaust cover off. There's a slip joint for expansion, and a yoke to hold the pipe. The slip joint is held by two large nuts, and locked with splitpins. The yoke has a similar set up but had to be 'persuaded' to part company with the exhaust. New one on... Job done! While I was busy getting exhaust soot all over myself and anybody else nearby, the rest of the guys were hard at work too. No 3 engine is having its inlet ignition harnesses checked to try and cure a slight mag drop. Don and Tony took on this task, with Don teaching the rest of us as to how the system works. You can also see Vic Marriot here up on the nose, doing the last bit of sealing. Vic is the man responsible for eradicating a lot of the water leaks, and is one of the guys on our team that seems to thrive on a hard task. I've never yet found something he can't handle. Roger, our electrician has been working inside the aircraft renewing parts of the intercom system. There was some annoying feedback which made communication difficult, and the port beam postion wouldn't let you speak on the intercom. It now works correctly, and has been tested thoroughly. Organisation of the hangar time next year is in progress, with undercarraige and brake components being tracked down, and all the relevant manuals being organised. We've also been looking through the hundreds of drawings to see whether we can do something about those bomb doors now the quiet season is approaching. No news on our prop yet, we're still in the queue for CFS to do their bit. 07 Oct Occasionally even a bad day can turn into a good one. Feeling rather under the weather, I decided to spend today in our archive rather than working on the aircraft herself. Moving boxes of drawings, manuals, and paperwork is a way to while away a good few hours, as I get easily distracted by engineering diagrams and wanting to find out what makes the old bomber do what she does (and why!) The archive is an amazing place... wall to wall with bundles of original Avro blueprints - some of which are 6ft x 4ft or larger when unfolded! AP's covering all aspects of the aircraft, parts schedules - you name it. Even the MOTU training books, lessons, wall posters, and a bunch of weight and balance calculations for the last six Shackletons in service. Some of this stuff really ought to be where the public can see it rather than in a locked room. I was already enjoying some of the reading material I'd found, when on shifting some filing cabinets I came across a document wallet; the contents of which left me sitting there after reading it feeling rather stunned. I had in my hand today a copy of the agreement between British Aerospace and the Shackleton Preservation Trust detailing the purchase of all rights and titles to the drawings and design of the aircraft type "Avro Shackleton", and of the purchase of the drawings themselves... 9th Oct Today we had a meeting of the "Friends of WR963" which is the little supporters club for the aircraft, which ended with an engine run for all present. We could only run the outboard engines due to the ignition harness issue on No 3. The lack of serviceable harnesses meant we were going to have to get into rebuilding a couple from scratch, or rob a couple off a spare engine in our store. Then John Cubberley surprised us all today by walking in with four bags in his hand - each bag containing a brand new tagged harness! The intercom work by our electrician, Roger White has made such a difference. Loud and clear with no feedback, absolutely wonderful. While the roar of Griffons is very nice, it helps if all involved in making the noise can hear each other! The recent change in weather gave us chance to recheck the cockpit for any leaks - bar a few dribbles around the lower corners of the direct vision windows, the canopy is now leak free. Next on Vic's list is the gunners/observers station and the beam windows as they still have issues. We had a brief meeting with a guy from across the field at CFS and he should be sorting the propeller testing out this coming week.... I have to say I'm a little cynical here so I'm not counting any unprocessed KFC before I see things happen. He had a quick look at the prop blades and hubs and believed they should be okay (being bagged and unused since overhaul) but agrees checking them is the safe and only thing to do before using them. The rear starboard hydraulic ram in the bomb bay is still weeping so that is going to have to be changed out for a rebuilt item. It is not a problem as its fairly easy to get to and WR963 is about ready for her hydraulics to get some attention. We'll be checking the filters and bleeding the whole system off to get rid of a couple of moans and groans she has picked up. Upcoming winter work - If I get chance I'm going to organise the first steps to sorting the doors out into long configuration. We need a nice winter task to carry us through until the hangar time in March, and that would fit nicely. We're also chasing down leads regarding Boulton Paul N front turrets, and Bristol B.17 mid uppers; though these are likely to take a while to come to anything. We still hope in the future we can give WR963 some teeth! 15th Oct Well today we had a good day. A decent turn out and nice weather all good for fitting new parts. I'll apologise now for the state of the photos, I had to resort to the back up camera. First job of the day was to start by doing a spot of light greasing round and checking of levels, and all appears to be well there. We have been in the store and have the new bomb bay ram ready to fit, but we think there's a couple of other weeps that need looking at so we only want to break the system open once if we can, so the AP's are being studied before we tackle this task. The various points that are used to bleed the system have been cleaned and oiled in readiness to hopefully make the task a little easier. Roger White was back chasing intercom gremlins - being unsatisfied with the response he had got from a few of the outputs around the engineers station (I'm not guilty - when have any of you known me be quiet?!) By the end of the day after swapping a couple of the intercom boxes out it appears to be working well. They were a devil to get to though, with Roger having several of them under maintenance at once. Roger had a chap working with him named Steve who used to be part of the team many years ago before moving out of the UK. He is still very knowledgeable and was able to coax 963 into doing something we haven't in a while... he managed to persuade the radio into life! 963 managed to talk to Coventry Airport for the first time in a few years which was great - usually we're working off a handheld item or by proxy through Classic Flight. Steve took time to chat during the day, with a couple of stories coming to light about VP293 (the T4 ex-Strathallen) and its adventures at Farnborough. Apparently the aircraft had a peculiarity - which was every so often it would shake slightly, then resume normal flight. When investigated, it was found that a particularly hard landing had distorted the airframe slightly which caused the aerodynamics to be a bit 'off'! And of course, I had to ask about how it came to be known as "Zebedee"... the answer? Well, Steve insisted it was not the aircrafts fault! The famed bounce was supposedly a certain pilot who was reputed to have similar difficulties with landing a Handley Page Hastings. Main effort of today was to get started fitting these: Brand new (back in 1989!) ignition harnesses, ready to go on No 3 engine. The harnesses are now on, with all the plugs removed for cleaning. On the inlet side, the left harness feeds to the right bank and vice versa. The inlets are a pain to get to. I'll take comparison shots next week, showing the harnesses in place. This is by no means the end of the ignition saga, as we're starting getting information (from Roush Aviation and a couple of other places) regarding the use of automotive style plugs in our engines. It would help with low speed running as they're less susceptible to fouling, make servicing slightly easier, and cost a hell of a lot less for new plugs. That about brings you all up to date! Kind regards, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Wonderful - please keep it coming! Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Its a lot of work! Good on you for restoring this airplane. Thanks for keeping us updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Garner Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Great stuff Rich, I am still trying to find the time to come up and help out! Work is properly busy at the moment so I'm working 7 days a week to get things finished, I will give you a buzz when things go a bit quiet so I can come up and lend a hand. Regards, Lewis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 (edited) Well, not much to report from Coventry this weekend. With the winter weather approaching, we're double checking all the places that water tries to get into WR963, we're getting the covers out, and the anti deterioration servicing schedule has been consulted to keep her happy through the winter. The work we did over this year keeps paying off with only a few weeps in the extreme nose, a couple in the beam and a small amount where the tailplane passes through in the tail. Its nice to compare against this time a couple of years ago, as now you just get the smell of cold Shackleton, rather than cold wet and damp. A trip to our store yielded another ignition harness, as the one with the damaged connection on the magneto end was just going to cause problems. It will be dismantled and rebuilt with a new fitting in the future, along with the old one off the engine. When you're taking parts from the store, you always have to remember to take the correct tools, as it can be a pain to make another trip for what you've forgotten! Luckily for us the engine we were robbing has already had the magneto and a couple of other parts removed which made life easier. While at the store we took time to select which mainwheels we're going to fit, find the box of brake units and stumbled across another couple of bits that weren't where we thought they were! The best being a brand new galley roof escape hatch - meaning if we can find a B.17 mid upper turret cupola, we can fabricate an easily removable mount for it on the aircraft without major structural work. We also took the opportunity to clear out an empty engine bearer/nacelle, which was delivered to some friends in Doncaster on Sunday morning. Bit by bit we intend to get rid of parts that are unserviceable or slightly damaged and try and make a little more sense of our spares. Once back at AIRBASE we set about the harnesses again. Being new, they are reluctant to take up the position of the old ones, and feeding the leads under the intakes and onto the plugs is a pain! All being well we should be testing the engine next weekend. Hopefully there should be some info coming soon about the night runs, as I know there's been several discussions about the event at Coventry. With this event in mind, time was taken to do a thorough lighting check on the aircraft. Outside we had a few unserviceable items; the starboard nav light is out, and we couldn't get the bomb bay lights to work this time. Landing lights, taxi lights, and upper and lower anti collision lights all behaved themselves, with the motors responding well to lubrication. Inside, most of the UV lighting and cabin lights still operate, with nearly all panel lights doing their job. I think on the night, its going to look as spectacular from inside as outside, with all the instruments up and down the cabin lit. Regards, Rich Edited November 12, 2011 by Rich W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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