Iconic Aircraft Aviation Forum

by **Mackrick** » Tue May 28, 2013 6:20 pm

Nice update with a bit of house keeping going on both in the stores and on aircraft. Keep up the good work :ymapplause:

by **Blue_2** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:43 am

Bit more of an interesting update this weekend, starting with a practice display from the Vulcan over us on Saturday!

After our Olympus powered treat on Saturday we had a busy Sunday at the museum as it was anti-det run day. Performing on the day would be the SE5a, Devon, Dak, Nimrod and Lindy. We also had a visit from the BBMF Spit scheduled, however the day was kicked off by a surprise visit from a friendly Tiger Moth!

If the Tiger would like to come back sometime soon I'll try to have the camera on something like the right settings...
We prepared Lindy while the SE was doing its thing. As well as de-blanking there was much bird muck to wash off the jet. Ian set to at the back of the wing, while I cleaned the nose and screens. It seems our fuel probe is the most tempting perch for miles around.

Andre stowed one of his latest acquisitions from his extensive ground lock collection. The equipment spaces on the jet look good with the appropriate gear stowed in them.

Then seeing as it was a nice day we broke the paint out once more. Ian got on with his stencils

While I gave the cockpit door shield a coat of hemp. Something we'd sort of, er, overlooked...

While the hemp was out I painted up the top of the expertly-repaired starboard aileron.

So that's all of the topside done now, apart from the parachute bay doors which will get a coat of anti-slip paint before they are hemped. Anyone feeling generous and wants to donate some anti-slip paint?!
The SE5 took another run

Before the Dak took its turn

I managed to get on board for this. Here the ever-helpful fire crew pull the props through

Before Andre started the beast. Both engines started beautifully and sounded great from on-board!

George and his team really have worked wonders to get this former Hangar Queen running.
After cake o'clock we had another very welcome visitor

Just before the Nimrod ran 2 of its engines.
Then, it was our turn. We sadly could only do dry spins of the engines due to cars parked behind us for an airfield event. We did give the hydraulics a good work out though; I can tell you those controls are bl**dy heavy before the oil in the PFCU's warms and thins a bit! It didn't help that the cockpit was doing a more than passable impersonation of an oven. I know, we moan when it's cold and raining. So what do we do when it's nice and sunny...?!!!
The dry spins and hyd system exercises all went fine, with no faults found. After we shut down and were mopped out of the cockpit we retired to the NAAFI to drink about 10 gallons of juice each! Then we put the jet to bed while Ian carried on his stencilling. Rich, John and I had an important job to do, deploying the jet's defences in the form of BCM's. "BCM's? What's he on about?" I hear you say. Simple. Bird CounterMeasures! It's that time of year when most of the feathered population of northern Europe seem determined to make their home in our undercarriage bays, so we spent a good bit of time refitting the netting in the main undercarriage bays. I also added another RBF tag to the probe, to try and deter the feathery little critters from sitting on the probe and using the jet's nose as a public toilet!

After this I took a pic of this slightly unusual angle on Lindy's topside

Overall a great weekend of classic aircraft, and catching up with old friends and making new ones too!

by **Ray C** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 2:27 pm

Nice stuff..... :ymapplause:

by **Mackrick** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:54 pm

Great update :ymapplause:

by **Dan4th** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:51 pm

Thanks, Mister Blue, for an interesting
installment, but I think you should have
taught those rude parkers a LESSON :ymdevil:

I mean, WE all know what's REALLY
important, don't we??????

Regarding B-I-R-D-S:::::::::::

In my country, we've had a lot of luck
deterring unwanted nesters/poopers
through the use of Fake Plastic OWLS :))

!

It's True! Affix one of those things to
Ye Olde Refueling Probe and your avian
problems will be OVER :ymapplause:

Danf.

by **Dougs** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:10 pm

by **Blue_2** » Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:13 am

We have tried the owl trick, would you believe...
10/06/13 Update
It's not just the jet herself which needs a lot of looking after. The ground support equipment, without which we could not operate Lindy, also needs keeping an eye on. We had noticed our 1960's vintage Houchin's bodywork was in places showing the results of spending most of its life outdoors in all weathers, and looked decidedly shabby next to a pretty much immaculate Victor! A couple of holes had appeared in the bodywork and the drawbar, not helped I suspect by its frequent draggings across site for use by the Devon crew. I had a couple of hours spare on Friday afternoon, so carted all my welding gear down to the museum and made a start patching the poor old thing up.
Sunday Rich, Andre and I were in, and attacked the Houchin's tatty bits mob-handed. Here Rich sands the far side, while on this side can be seen the patch I welded in on Friday. As you can see the poor Houchin really was looking shabby.

The worst of the damage to the drawbar, being readied for its repair patch.

Here the other side has now had a couple of patches added, all areas of surface rust rubbed back and treated, then coated with red oxide primer

We then decided we may as well work on and get the beastie painted! Here Andre sorts the paint for what would be in VW circles be termed a distinctly 'rat-look' Houchin!

Andre and I got busy with the rollers on the flat panels, while Rich chased around the vents, gutters and other awkward bits with a brush. No being the poser monkey for him this week! A couple of hours' work saw the Houchin looking far better.

Andre takes a breather before tackling the last hatch on his side.

It now looks much better next to Lindy

And indeed from Lindy!

Besides the GSE and the constant maintenance of the jet, there is one other element without which we could not safely run, and that is of course the Museum's fire service. It has recently been bolstered by the addition of a second Pathfinder, recently donated and delivered by the fine people at Terberg DTS UK.

It is a runner, but needs a little work to return it to fully operational state. For those on Facebook, if you search for 'Yorkshire Air Museum Fire Service' I'm told the restoration of this beast will be documented on there.
Right, I'm off to continue trying to scrub the 'Houchin Green' off my paws! Even though I can foresee in the near future getting coated in the stuff again as the ladders, towbar and everything else still need doing. It never ends...!

by **Dan4th** » Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:03 pm

It would be a grey Monday without one of
your reports, Mister Blue, and this one is
excellent, as usual....

HOWEVER!

You will Never win the Houchin Concours
until you pay some attention to those
wheels and tires/tyres :))

!

Yeah, I know: Nag! Nag! Nag! :ymdevil:

Danf.

by **Blue_2** » Mon Jun 10, 2013 4:11 pm

YES BOSS!!! :))

At some point we'll get round to the wheels. There's still some patching to do on the side panniers too, but that can wait. Actually, I think those on punishment detail for not attending this weekend should get to deal with the wheels... Sound fair?

by **Mackrick** » Mon Jun 10, 2013 6:43 pm

Blimey ....never saw a power set looking that good before, no wonder the aircraft in your care look so good...

by **Blue_2** » Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:43 am

17/06/13 Update
After last week's makeover in a day for the Houchin, we were tasked this week with attacking the long suffering crew steps. However the day dawned slightly damp. Conditions soon improved however, and on first sighting of the jet it soon became apparent that Andre had been busy during the week, adding the yellow stripes to the Houchin.

They are definitely what you'd call bright!

He'd also done a nice job of giving the crew ladder a fresh coat of green

While we were roaming the site hunting for the gear we'd need for our day's work we heard the sound of engines round the back of the hangar and went to investigate. We found the fire crew introducing their pathfinder to it's newly arrived younger sibling!

With all our gear gathered we made a start. Rich, John and I commenced battle with the crew steps, and Ian got on with his ongoing task of tidying Lindy's noseart.
The traditional break for lunch saw the steps mostly rubbed back and primed, and Ian happy with his progress with the noseart.

After lunch we broke out the now familiar green paint and started hurling it at the steps. They are an awkward thing to paint; we discovered that even with 3 pairs of eyes on it we'd missed a bit! A lot of work later, the steps are looking much happier and drying nicely

One little job I'd done earlier in the day, when the steps are laid down they rest on their handrails. With the preservation of the new paint in mind I'd made and fitted some little rubber 'feet' for the handrails. Here they are with a coat of green

Never thought a caravan jockey wheel tyre would come in handy in jet preservation!
While the steps were drying we touched in some of the paintwork on the Houchin, and added a thoughtfully made up serial number to make it look a bit more like an 'operational' one

While all this was going on Ian had been busy adding screw alignment marks to the jet

And that was it really. All that remained was to stand the steps back up

And see how our handiwork of the last couple of weeks looked with the jet.

Pretty darn good, we think...

by **Mackrick** » Mon Jun 17, 2013 6:20 pm

Nice update....it's not all about the aircraft the ground equipment need some TLC as well.....thanks for posting.

by **Blue_2** » Tue Jun 18, 2013 9:32 am

The ground equipment needs looking after too; after all we couldn't do anything without it!

by **Blue_2** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:48 am

24/06/13 Update...
...or not! For a number of reasons only John and Rich were able to attend yesterday. They report that they had ground power on for a while though (best not have dirtied up the Houchin's nice new paintwork!) and that the jet is in fine fettle.
Back to normal next week though, hopefully...

by **Blue_2** » Wed Jun 26, 2013 10:31 am

I stopped this morning on my way to work to take this photograph of Lindy.

It's not great, I know. But had it not been for one person 20 years ago there would not have been a Victor in the photo at all, and sadly the Victor Team lost that person at the weekend. I'll let Andre explain:
http://victorxl231.blogspot.co.uk/2013/ ... -2013.html

Blue skies Sir, and I hope there are no vacuum cleaners where you've gone on to...

by **Mackrick** » Wed Jun 26, 2013 6:17 pm

What do you mean it's not great !
How often can you capture a nimrod and Vicor in the Same shot

by **Sploosher** » Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:49 pm

my sentiments exactly................. :ymapplause:

by **Blue_2** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 12:50 pm

I'm back!
Following a succession of IT-related failures I have returned and am able to bring Lindy news up to date once more.
Firstly, from a couple of weeks ago, the prep work began on the Victor's towbar. A big piece of metal to rub down and repaint!

I carefully sanded back all the brass instruction plates, removing a gazillion layers of paint from them. They'll be kept polished up, as it seems a shame to cover them with paint again. Especially this one!

The rub-down revealed many colours from the towbar's past, including yellow and even 1960's blue! A pleasant surprise was finding desert paint, indicating that the towbar too was a GW1 veteran like the jet.

While we were at it I was able to free the one spare shear pin we have from its housing on the towbar, clean grease and re-fit it. So if there's ever a misfortune it's good to know we've a useable spare.
During the day I also finished painting the door's blast shield, getting the bit I couldn't reach with the roller.

I was back in last Saturday, and managed to get new paint on most of the towbar!

21/07/13 Update
More of a YAM update than a Victor one this week, as the Victor team mucked in with several YAM projects today.
You may have read elsewhere of the passing of YAM engineering stalwart George Astley. Today his last project, our DC-3 G-AMYJ was run up once more

She looked good after Brian the Tractor Druid and Andre gave her a wash off this week. Hopefully she can be returned indoors soon, as she well deserves.

One running

The Office

After a bit of fettling both engines ran very nicely

RIP George.

Although we had intended to continue the towbar repaint, we sort of got diverted back towards Hunter T7 activities, namely removing the canopy of our Blue Beastie currently being prepped for a repaint. After much head-scratching and emailing of relevant AP's we got the blighter shifted

Ollie contemplates the joys of open cockpit flying

Later, we put power onto the jet to see what worked. More than we expected I'm pleased to say!

Scruffy, but mostly complete. Definitely worth putting some time and effort into we think

Our GSE renovating has embarrassed the Nimrod team into action it seems...

...and to be fair a fine job they've done too!

Many thanks to Houchin for their support and supply of new shiny bits.
Ian's handiwork last week is looking good too!

The towbar eventually got more attention; we decided the 'jet end' of it would benefit from the shear pin being removed and the yoke being paint stripped to do the job properly. So that job has gone on hold, until there's a window in Lindy's diary when we know she won't be moving for a while...

by **Ray C** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:14 pm

A good post as ever....can you keep us in the loop with the Hunter....?
:ymapplause:

by **Dan4th** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 5:48 pm

Krikey, that towing arm looks like a
portable flagpole!

And I agree with Ray, that Hunter
project looks intriguing....

First things first, though, and XL231
and the Houchin tires/tyres have a
higher priority :))

!

Thanks for the report, Mister Blue :ymapplause:

Danf.

by **MOD** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 6:35 pm

Thanks for the update Graham. I would hazard a guess that XL231 looks better now than at any time previously, when she was in RAF hands. And as for the ground equipment you lot are bordering on OCD

NHS Direct quote:
"Some common types of obsessive compulsive behaviour that affect people with OCD include:
cleaning
handwashing
checking (such as checking doors are locked)
counting
ordering and arranging
hoarding
painting ladders"

OK I added the last one ...

Will XL572 be joining XL577 in the air this year?? It would be nice to see two Blue Diamonds on the circuit again. Something I have not seen since Leconfield in the 60s.

I WILL get up there soon...

Ian

by **Mackrick** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:23 pm

Another nice update :ymapplause:

by **Blue_2** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:00 am

The towbar is a bit of a beast, but bear in mind how far back the nosewheel assembly is situated on the jet so it has to be! Given the colours we've found on it I think its safe to assume our towbar saw the early days of the Victor fleet, and probably spent it's early years hauling shiny new anti-flash white Victor B.1's around.

If OCD covers wanting the jet and its associated equipment looking the best they can, then we're guilty as charged! :))

But I think the fact that there are no outstanding snags with the jet and therefore we have the time to spend on the GSE speaks volumes for the quality of British engineering from back in the days when we could build world beating aircraft all by ourselves...
As work progresses on the Hunter I'll keep y'all posted; it's been adopted as a 'side project' for us. Andre is busy repainting her, we want to tidy the cockpit area up, pull the seats, and get as much of the jet working as we can. All the while we'll be keeping a weather eye out for an engine, seeing as she currently doesn't have one.
572 won't be a flyer. She was going to be, but this changed so BAe sent her our way instead. A jet with an interesting history, sadly she killed one of her instructors while in service.

by **Blue_2** » Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:52 pm

I have nothing to offer from the weekend as I was up at Sunderland for the airshow, however I was in today. Lindy was enjoying the sun and the usual attention of many visitors, I opened her up to let a bit of fresh air in

There wasn't really much to do on the jet as she's pretty much 100% at the moment (will I regret typing that soon?!) so I got on with removing panels from our Hunter T7. As I mentioned before, the Victor and Nimrod teams have sort of adopted this jet, with a view to getting it running once more. It looks like an engine has been sourced so my job today was to remove some of the panels from the fuselage, the strip where the 2 halves of the fuselage join and undo the control rods.

Everything came apart really easily, surprising for an aircraft which spends so much time outside.

I even managed to turn all the nuts holding the front half to the back half, so when the time comes they should undo happily. All electrical connections came apart with no trouble too.
Ever seen inside a Hunter T7 fuselage?

You have now! Looks good for its age.
Finally, we wondered why we'd not seen Andre for a while...!