RCAF Avro Lancaster

[twincamman]

Exactly like a race car..only used under. Load ..Ed

[Grizzly]

Exactly like a race car..only used under. Load ..Ed

Most aircraft are very much looked after like race cars, the higher the level/performance/Stress the more there stripped and inspected between flights but the RAF has to answer to the Public so they would rather spend the money than have to explain why it fell from the sky or was pictured flying over a town or city with plumbs of smoke coming from it especially if its an "Airshow aircraft".

[twincamman]

News report says a loaner engine is in place .and things are going well ..ed

[Grizzly]

The show must go on

[Quart Meg Miles]

Now fitted with one RR Merlin and three Packard Merlin engines. Should now be at Coningsby

They didn't used to be interchangeable, how did they do it?

[twincamman]

Wellll I assume they use AN fittings .so fuel and rad lines can be made to work...the engines must be a standard size or close
so make new motor mounts and start the thing ...Ed

[Mazzini]

The fitters were saying that the RR Merlin is Whitworth and the Packard version AF, but other than that it's the same engine.

[twincamman]

FINALLY. Somewhere to donate my B S W wrenches......ed

[reb53]

Mention made of the Vulcan reminds me of the Goodwood hillclimb that I watched, ( courtesy YouTube), the other day.
Had a flypast of the Vulcan and the commentators mentioned that it had cost 20 million quid to get back in the air !
Plus another couple of million a year to keep going.
Bet most of it was spent on Inspectors...

Saw a magazine interview a few years back with Frank Costin, he of "Marcos" fame, and brother of Mike, the "Cos" in Cosworth.
Said he and his mates used to make good pocket money by buying brand new, zero hours, Merlin engines as Government surplus. Cost them 5 quid a pop. Would strip out the bearings to sell for their silver content and scrap the rest....

[billwill]

I was near RAF Brize Norton last Sunday and I saw the Vulcan in the air, so it had probably just taken off from there.

I've been in it on the ground some years ago when they were open days for raising the money to get it flying again.


I've seen it flying a few times now.

Some links to the relevant website.
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/
http://www.vulcanxh558pledge.org/

Tomorrows show: http://www.scottishairshow.com/

[Grizzly]

Mention made of the Vulcan reminds me of the Goodwood hillclimb that I watched, ( courtesy YouTube), the other day.
Had a flypast of the Vulcan and the commentators mentioned that it had cost 20 million quid to get back in the air !
Plus another couple of million a year to keep going.
Bet most of it was spent on Inspectors...

Don't sound too far off but that was nearly all Loto funded, don't forget it had been sat for quite a while so some remedial work will have been done, its not like you can just knock a bracket up and fit it with aircraft like that or nip to a parts store to get a part off the shelf you have to approach the Design authority and request for them to do a for all intensive purposes a Manual of how to do the repair for it to be to flight worthy standards (The Design authority are the keepers of the manufacturing Drawings), then they will then inspect the repair so it can be signed off as air worthy. Trust me when i say this there is not much on a Vulcan that is cheap, put it this way when the RAF where looking to add one to there BBMF for shows etc it was deemed as too expensive for them (the estimated running costs where more than all the BBMF put together). Look at it this way i'm not sure what was done to make it air ready but if the engines where rebuilt it would mean next to nothing was touched on the Airframe on a plane put together in 1950-1952 ish and not flown since 1984.

[billwill]

It wasn't just the engines I assure you; lots of the instrumentation and wiring and controls had to be reworked too., and the nose-wheel strut too I think.

Here is Vulcan XH558 in her hangar at Bruntingthorpe in March 2007, about three-quarters of the way through the two year programme of work to restore her to flight.You can see that the rudder on the fin and the elevoncontrol surfaces on the rear of the wing have all been re-fitted. On the top of the wing, the metal skin has been peeled back to expose the main structure of the wing which provides it with its great strength. Some of this structure was corroded and had to be replaced. At the bottom left in their protective bags are three of the Rolls-Royce Olympus engines, each of which can produce 8.5 tonnes of thrust.

And recently they made a fairly major reinforcement of the airframe, just to get 2 more years flying.

However from the website (in the links above) there can be only one more season before the airframe loses its flyable classification, so there is currently a pleas for donations totalling an estimated ?200,000 for this years servicing and inspections.


It it makes our Elan renovation costs seen trivial.

[Spyder fan]

Shouldn't the Vulcan be exempt from MOT? It's pre 1960 after all

Seriously
Is it tested and regulated within the parameters of its original role as a combat warplane, or is there at least some exemption made for its lesser role now for display purposes?

I would happily put my name to one of those online votes calling for relaxed regulations for this type of aircraft, the costs must be totally crippling for the dedicated enthusiasts that run the project.

[UAB807F]

My thoughts as well Alan, it seems almost criminal that we let such an example of engineering end up as a static display.

Some things you can't argue with - corrosion & fatigue cycles for example, but I'd think it reasonable for the inspection periods and criteria to reflect it's "classic" use and purpose.

Brian

ps - thanks for posting the links, very interesting.

[trw99]

The two Lancs are due to fly together next weekend (13/14) at the Duxford Air Show. Its just up the road from me so I hope that I get to see/hear them before or after I have been racing.

Tim