Airworthy Canberra for auction

[ecsrobin]

So it would seem midair squadron have gone into receivership and the aircraft are being auctioned at Goodwood this March:

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23589/preview_lot/...

Hunter: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23589/preview_lot...

[Roberty]

That's a shame.

[EarlOfHazard]

Reserve seems pretty cheap for an airworthy jet?
Does this fall under the same 'complex' category as the Vulcan?

[foliedouce]

Cheap because the cost of maintaining both aircraft is eye watering. Also on the Hunter, insurance premiums have gone up 5 fold (wil cost circa £25k per year to insure) and that's assuming you can get insurance at all. This is since the Shorebam crash.

[aeropilot]

EarlOfHazard said:

Reserve seems pretty cheap for an airworthy jet?
Does this fall under the same 'complex' category as the Vulcan?

No.

Really hope someone in the UK takes the PR.9 on, a fabulous machine, but sadly, in post Shoreham UK, I can't see it.

[Trevatanus]

My desktop wallpaper!

Farnborough 2014 Saturday 490 by Jim Pritchard, on Flickr

[BrettMRC]

That's a real shame - that Canberra has been a star attraction at so many shows... I remember Dunsfold 2 years back when he came in after doing a display elsewhere - absolutely flat out, balls to wall right down the length of the display line

[IanMorewood]

Listing says only airworthy example, I'm sure some African or South American despot still has a few that they fly when the rebels start an uprising.

[aeropilot]

IanMorewood said:

Listing says only airworthy example, I'm sure some African or South American despot still has a few that they fly when the rebels start an uprising.

They probably mean only airworthy example of the PR.9.....

[Hooli]

Really hope it stays in the UK, not got to see it yet. Would love too, especially as my dad worked on them RAF.

[PanzerCommander]

shame but as has already been posted the cost of maintaining these aircraft is huge, I hope somebody buys them and keeps them flying it would be a shame to retire them to ground runs or as a static museum exhibit.

foliedouce said:

Cheap because the cost of maintaining both aircraft is eye watering. Also on the Hunter, insurance premiums have gone up 5 fold (wil cost circa £25k per year to insure) and that's assuming you can get insurance at all. This is since the Shorebam crash.

I assume that is if you want insurance to fly at air shows not if you just want to use it to fly around in like you might do in a Cessna for example.

[foliedouce]

PanzerCommander said:

shame but as has already been posted the cost of maintaining these aircraft is huge, I hope somebody buys them and keeps them flying it would be a shame to retire them to ground runs or as a static museum exhibit.

foliedouce said:

Cheap because the cost of maintaining both aircraft is eye watering. Also on the Hunter, insurance premiums have gone up 5 fold (wil cost circa £25k per year to insure) and that's assuming you can get insurance at all. This is since the Shorebam crash.

I assume that is if you want insurance to fly at air shows not if you just want to use it to fly around in like you might do in a Cessna for example.

Nope that is for general flying and in fact the quote above was for a JP so I suspect the Hunter would be more especially for an air show. In fairness those quotes were just after Shoreham so could have been an insurers knee jerk reaction and things may have calmed down a bit now, that said it will still be very expensive. To put it into perspective, I pay around £2k per year on my Cessna (182)

[Dand E Lion]

I was rather hoping Robs Lamplough might buy the PR9 (as I've asked the OH and I'm not allowed to apparently ) I met Mike Davis at Revival when Midair sponsored the Spirit of Aviation and he had 3/4s of a second Canberra at the time too

[aeropilot]

Dand E Lion said:

I met Mike Davis at Revival when Midair sponsored the Spirit of Aviation and he had 3/4s of a second Canberra at the time too

He actually had two of the last 3 x PR.9's operated by the RAF, the best of the two was put into the air, using the other as a Christmas Tree spares source....IIRC.

[Dand E Lion]

aeropilot said:

Dand E Lion said:

I met Mike Davis at Revival when Midair sponsored the Spirit of Aviation and he had 3/4s of a second Canberra at the time too

He actually had two of the last 3 x PR.9's operated by the RAF, the best of the two was put into the air, using the other as a Christmas Tree spares source....IIRC.

I think he was hopeful he could get them both in the air eventually

[Eric Mc]

aeropilot said:

IanMorewood said:

Listing says only airworthy example, I'm sure some African or South American despot still has a few that they fly when the rebels start an uprising.

They probably mean only airworthy example of the PR.9.....

As far as I know there are no other flying English Electric Canberras (technically the PR9 is a Shorts Canberra as they were built by Short Brothers).

NASA still operates two Martin WB-57s, which were very much developed variants of the Canberra.

[Janluke]

Slightly OT, I was lucky enough to fly in the third seat of one of these as an air cadet around 1980. Took off from RAF St Mawgan fly up to Plymouth then up and down for the navy to practice their targeting. My memory may be failing me but I'm sure at one point I was allowed out of the seat to lay down and look out of a perspex dome at the front. Looking at the above pictures I can't see anything in the nose.

[Dand E Lion]

Janluke said:

Slightly OT, I was lucky enough to fly in the third seat of one of these as an air cadet around 1980. Took off from RAF St Mawgan fly up to Plymouth then up and down for the navy to practice their targeting. My memory may be failing me but I'm sure at one point I was allowed out of the seat to lay down and look out of a perspex dome at the front. Looking at the above pictures I can't see anything in the nose.

PR7 rather than a PR9 perhaps?

[Boatbuoy]

Like this?

[Janluke]

Thanks that's more as I remember it.

It nearly didnt happen. I turned up early in the morning, got a flight suit and helmet fitting followed by some basic ejection seat training. Met the pilot and navigator and we waited in the crew lounge/bar for the all clear. The weather wasn't right and they basically told me it wasnt going to happen so we'll have lunch and send you home. Just after lunch the weather cleared and we where away. So excited 14 year old full of grub but not for long. It was a great day, one of many in the ATC