1954 Avro Shackleton Mr2
Discussion
Hi all,
This Saturday saw us get stuck in on WR963 removing some of the AEW2 components to start putting MR2 components back in, as we're finally at a stage where we have enough to be able to carry out a large proportion of the work. It was thought that some of the removal of parts would be fairly easy but it turns out that despite Airborne Early Warning only being a temporary use of the aircraft, it was very well put together, adhering to the British tradition of "Why use one bolt when nineteen will do.."
As for making sure the retrofit is genuine its surprising what parts crop up through eBay finds or trades, but the good news is there's plenty out there that will allow us to do the job properly. As well as several new acquisitions over the last couple of years, we've requested the return of some long term loan items, so watch this space for more interesting bits of gubbins showing up.
Starting at the front; the oxygen crates in the nose were depressurised and removal started by Mark and Curtis. One side is out the other remains to be done, allowing access all around the area for fitting of something a bit more in keeping with a gunners position! Two of the bottles will be making their way back into the leading edge of the wing and the rest will probably be disposed of as the MR2 carried its oxygen in a bomb bay mounted crate as and when it was required.
One recent acquisition was a rather battered but recoverable sonobouy plotting table. I arranged to collect it early on the Saturday morning, delivering it to Coventy mid morning. It had the frame removed and is now safely stored inside WR963 though to fit it will require some more component removal over the next few weeks. Its missing a few parts such as the lighthouses and the GPI, but we'll find those in time.
The low voltage power pack/radio rack in the beam seemed to be fitted with more bolts than the spar booms but was eventually removed, it is stored under the aircraft while we raid it of fixtures and fittings - in particular anti vibration mounts which will be used to fit the plotting table mentioned above. The racking is redundant in our case and will be replaced with flare and photoflash stroage, and also we'll be fitting some ASV parts and hydraulic rams in the beam so we need all the room we can get.
We traced the wiring through for the removed AN/APS20 and while there's more to finish up (wiring removal and excess pipework for the most part) we've taken the first small steps to putting our aircraft back to an MR2; and it will no doubt surprise a few people how much we get done. Most of it is easy to get to, as shown under the bunks here.
We've also started having a look at the bomb bay jacks, but to refit them up at the front will require removing a few packing pieces up at the front end that were put there to space out the bomb bay floor longerons once the mount was removed.
So there you have an idea of whats coming over the next few weeks. In amongst this we have a few engine run coming up, one on August 15th (possibly an evening run) and then again for the 'Farewell To the Sky' Vulcan event in September.
Photo credit for this week's update - Gareth R Morgan.
Regards,
Rich
This Saturday saw us get stuck in on WR963 removing some of the AEW2 components to start putting MR2 components back in, as we're finally at a stage where we have enough to be able to carry out a large proportion of the work. It was thought that some of the removal of parts would be fairly easy but it turns out that despite Airborne Early Warning only being a temporary use of the aircraft, it was very well put together, adhering to the British tradition of "Why use one bolt when nineteen will do.."
As for making sure the retrofit is genuine its surprising what parts crop up through eBay finds or trades, but the good news is there's plenty out there that will allow us to do the job properly. As well as several new acquisitions over the last couple of years, we've requested the return of some long term loan items, so watch this space for more interesting bits of gubbins showing up.
Starting at the front; the oxygen crates in the nose were depressurised and removal started by Mark and Curtis. One side is out the other remains to be done, allowing access all around the area for fitting of something a bit more in keeping with a gunners position! Two of the bottles will be making their way back into the leading edge of the wing and the rest will probably be disposed of as the MR2 carried its oxygen in a bomb bay mounted crate as and when it was required.
One recent acquisition was a rather battered but recoverable sonobouy plotting table. I arranged to collect it early on the Saturday morning, delivering it to Coventy mid morning. It had the frame removed and is now safely stored inside WR963 though to fit it will require some more component removal over the next few weeks. Its missing a few parts such as the lighthouses and the GPI, but we'll find those in time.
The low voltage power pack/radio rack in the beam seemed to be fitted with more bolts than the spar booms but was eventually removed, it is stored under the aircraft while we raid it of fixtures and fittings - in particular anti vibration mounts which will be used to fit the plotting table mentioned above. The racking is redundant in our case and will be replaced with flare and photoflash stroage, and also we'll be fitting some ASV parts and hydraulic rams in the beam so we need all the room we can get.
We traced the wiring through for the removed AN/APS20 and while there's more to finish up (wiring removal and excess pipework for the most part) we've taken the first small steps to putting our aircraft back to an MR2; and it will no doubt surprise a few people how much we get done. Most of it is easy to get to, as shown under the bunks here.
We've also started having a look at the bomb bay jacks, but to refit them up at the front will require removing a few packing pieces up at the front end that were put there to space out the bomb bay floor longerons once the mount was removed.
So there you have an idea of whats coming over the next few weeks. In amongst this we have a few engine run coming up, one on August 15th (possibly an evening run) and then again for the 'Farewell To the Sky' Vulcan event in September.
Photo credit for this week's update - Gareth R Morgan.
Regards,
Rich
Hi Perdu,
No new info on the propeller blades unfortunately, but we've had a few leads on where to find more which we're chasing up.
The visit from XH558 is a VTST event, details can be found here:
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/farewell-to-flight.h...
Regards,
Rich
No new info on the propeller blades unfortunately, but we've had a few leads on where to find more which we're chasing up.
The visit from XH558 is a VTST event, details can be found here:
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/farewell-to-flight.h...
Regards,
Rich
There's a door either end of the galley section so you can close it off entirely if you wanted to.
It gets a little narrower inside as you go further forward due to the radar operators desks and seats, (and of course the spars running through) then gets a little more spacious again up front. There are few places where you can't stand upright, but not many!
It gets a little narrower inside as you go further forward due to the radar operators desks and seats, (and of course the spars running through) then gets a little more spacious again up front. There are few places where you can't stand upright, but not many!
We're carrying out a run up of the Shackleton on Saturday 15th August at 2pm.
This will be to check out some of the work we've been doing over the past few weeks and try and cure a slight fuelling issue on No 2 engine - basically it starts to die off at higher throttle. This will be the last chance for a couple of months to get a fix of the Griffon growl, as our September run up is scheduled to coincide with the Vulcan To The Sky's "Farewell to the Sky" event on September 13th.
As usual, its access all areas until we're ready to run - all you need to do is turn up and enjoy.
This will be to check out some of the work we've been doing over the past few weeks and try and cure a slight fuelling issue on No 2 engine - basically it starts to die off at higher throttle. This will be the last chance for a couple of months to get a fix of the Griffon growl, as our September run up is scheduled to coincide with the Vulcan To The Sky's "Farewell to the Sky" event on September 13th.
As usual, its access all areas until we're ready to run - all you need to do is turn up and enjoy.
Subject to serviceability WR963 will be going for a taxy around -
http://www.farewelltothesky.com/the-day
If she behaves, there'll be a few more over the coming months.
Regards,
Rich
http://www.farewelltothesky.com/the-day
If she behaves, there'll be a few more over the coming months.
Regards,
Rich
Getting the brakes done.... beginning.
After starting to sort out various pneumatic leaks, we thought we'd got to the point where the brakes will hold. We were wrong. After a damn good run up, the brakes were holding but only sustaining pressure while the inboard engines were running at quite high rpm, and attempts at using the parking brake bled off pressure in minutes.
After wasting most of the day chasing tiny leaks in the charging side, and storage side we finally got WR963 holding decent brake pressures, but the brake expander bags were still going down one after the other as the pressure increased. They are the ones the aircraft flew in on and in age terms they've been on far longer than is proper.
We can taxy, but with no guarantee it will be reliable. This means our only option is to get some brake changes done!
So, we raided our stock of new old stock expander bags.
Got a suitable jack and tried a test lift. The problem we have is that jacks of a suitable height and weight are few and far between. We borrowed this one, as we're still waiting for some refurbished ones we have on order to be delivered to site.
And success... up she goes.
Next Saturday will see both wheels off, brake bags replaced, both wheels back on, then a pressure test. Then we're not only ready to taxy, we should be good to do so repeatedly.
After starting to sort out various pneumatic leaks, we thought we'd got to the point where the brakes will hold. We were wrong. After a damn good run up, the brakes were holding but only sustaining pressure while the inboard engines were running at quite high rpm, and attempts at using the parking brake bled off pressure in minutes.
After wasting most of the day chasing tiny leaks in the charging side, and storage side we finally got WR963 holding decent brake pressures, but the brake expander bags were still going down one after the other as the pressure increased. They are the ones the aircraft flew in on and in age terms they've been on far longer than is proper.
We can taxy, but with no guarantee it will be reliable. This means our only option is to get some brake changes done!
So, we raided our stock of new old stock expander bags.
Got a suitable jack and tried a test lift. The problem we have is that jacks of a suitable height and weight are few and far between. We borrowed this one, as we're still waiting for some refurbished ones we have on order to be delivered to site.
And success... up she goes.
Next Saturday will see both wheels off, brake bags replaced, both wheels back on, then a pressure test. Then we're not only ready to taxy, we should be good to do so repeatedly.
Thanks for the compliments! We're confident its just a matter of time as to when - not if - the Shackleton will fly again. The only thing slowing us down is funding - the level we enjoy at the moment is pretty constant, and allows the work rate to be similar, but a big boost would get us a lot further a lot quicker.
As for pilots; we have a few people involved who have large piston engined taildragger experience, and there's also a couple of ex-RAF (BBMF) Lanc pilots that would jump at the chance. There's still a few Shackleton pilots around from the 8 Sqn years but none are current as we haven't had one fly in the UK since 1994 or worldwide since 2008.
Kind regards,
Rich
As for pilots; we have a few people involved who have large piston engined taildragger experience, and there's also a couple of ex-RAF (BBMF) Lanc pilots that would jump at the chance. There's still a few Shackleton pilots around from the 8 Sqn years but none are current as we haven't had one fly in the UK since 1994 or worldwide since 2008.
Kind regards,
Rich
Edited by richw_82 on Wednesday 2nd September 09:09
If anyone wants to see more of the Shackleton, we've helped in the creation of this:
https://haynes.co.uk/catalog/general-interest-manu...
https://haynes.co.uk/catalog/general-interest-manu...
More detailed update (plus photos and video) to come... but on Saturday we managed to get the aircraft jacked, the mainwheels removed, and all four brake sets stripped and rebuilt. The wheels were back on and the aircraft back on the ground late that evening, with the test of the system showing we have 100% brakes with no audible leaks.
I was going to post a huge bunch of photos, but there's not as many good shots as I had hoped due to all of us working.
One of our team, Barry Wheeler, had a camera set up though and got some good video footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH9MkLZP6xw
One of our team, Barry Wheeler, had a camera set up though and got some good video footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH9MkLZP6xw
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