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Restored to flight?


agripper

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After watching the programe with Chris Barrie about classic British machines, when they showed the Spits being restored, got me thinking about what aircraft are being restored to flight condition and what air craft are not and what are the reasons for this. For my money I would love to see a Victor fling and there are at least 2 which are close to airworthyness. Would also love to see a Masquito flying in the uk and a comet. So what is going on in the hangers? :confused:

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After watching the programe with Chris Barrie about classic British machines, when they showed the Spits being restored, got me thinking about what aircraft are being restored to flight condition and what air craft are not and what are the reasons for this. For my money I would love to see a Victor fling and there are at least 2 which are close to airworthyness. Would also love to see a Masquito flying in the uk and a comet. So what is going on in the hangers? :confused:

 

I belive BAE Aerospace has a Mossie in their collection. Wether it is Airworthy or not, I dont know.

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Thats just even more tragic , what a site they would have made. The Lanc, Spit, Hurricane ,Dakota and a Mosquito. For me the latter three are the most important aircraft of WW2. I repeat for "ME" this does not mean that we could not have done without the others.

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Unfortunately the larger airframes like the victor are hugely expensive to keep in the air, as the vulcan project are finding out. The problem with the mossie was the wood and glue construction, it was very difficult to keep airworthy. Having seen Neil Williams beat up West Malling in a Mosquito will stay with me for ever.

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The main problem with the Victor is the main spars. This was the main reason that they were taken out of service by the RAF. Also, there is now no manufacturer back-up (design authority I believe they call it). BAe Systems looked 'kindly' on the Vulcan and Marshall Aerospace of Cambridge were contracted as the main engineers due to their official authority status. Remember that the Vulcan (into which millions have been pumped) was the final display aircraft of the Vulcan fleet when it was flown into Bruntingthorpe from Waddington and therefore was a fully working aircraft at that time. No Victor was used as a display aircraft towards the end of its life.

 

There are two Victors in fully taxiable condition - the one at Bruntingthorpe and 'Lusty Lindy' at Elvington. Never say never as the saying goes, but I can't see it ever happening that one would come back to fully airworthy status. The problem would be that if a project were started to make one fully airworthy, I very much doubt that The Heritage Lottery would pump in the amount they did for the Vulcan and the Victor would have to be completely stripped. If the project then failed, that would be one less taxiable aircraft.

 

I always had a soft spot for the Victor, even more so than the Vulcan actually. I think it was something to do with it's stance and the way it looked.

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