Aircraft General Discussion

Just saw the Vulcan Pass over the house enroute from Ipswich to Norwich, great sight and sound. Keith.

Not far up the road from Andrew and myself is RAF Alconbury where the upgraded U2 the TR1 was based for many years, my Father worked for W Vintens, makers of photo reconnaissance camera's and pods, and he used to go to work on the stand at the Farnborough shows and always came home with loads of black and white photographs of various aircraft he could acquire for me, most I still have.

Flying down the A1 on my Honda 750 and too fast really, you're only young once, I was overtaken by a huge shadow, turned out to be a Vulcan flying so low that I thought it was going to land on the road. Just mind blowing.

Edited By Cyril Bonnett on 28/06/2015 20:20:43

Hi, I saw the Vulcan this afternoon as it flew right past my son and his partner's garden at a not too greater height. He lives near the New Costessey area of Norwich. As it past it then swept slightly to the right with a little roll and as it was climbing, got a view of the wing underneath and over most of the top.

Regards Nick.

Now that's a gearbox! Bristol radial engine.

Mark P.

.

Even John Stevenson might struggle to replace that lot with Timing Belts.

MichaelG.

Easy to see why radial engines went out of fashion!

Norman

Setting the timing marks on that radial must have been quite the job.

The talk of Vulcans reminded me of when I was a young digger snorkeling in the Med just off the end of the runway at RAF Akrotiri (Cyprus).

The water started to vibrate and everything went dark. Thought it was an earthquake.

Shot to the surface to look up the tailpipes of a Vulcan that had just cleared the runway.

I remember that it seemed to spew out a lot of black smoke - maybe they left the choke in?

* Danny M *

The big aircraft piston engine just became incredibly complex. The Bristol gearbox is just an example. RR post Griffin engines such as the sleeve valve Eagle engine were just as complex. The jet engine, which gave more power/thrust and did not need a propeller, was much simpler. For a short time.

Don't even consider the starting procedure for something like a Bristol Hercules. With a jet engine it was just one button (however if the jet engine was German, if it lit successfully you did not use the "throttle" once the engine was running at maximum thrust).

JA

Edited By JA on 29/06/2015 11:12:39

Re. the Bristol gearbox, spent a couple of years sitting between 4 of Bristol's Centauri as they dragged the constant speed, variable noise Bev along the airways. Both the engines and the aircraft were remarkable in their separate ways - the sleeve valves in the Centaurus and the design concept of the Beverley. Heath Robinson would have viewed both with joy!!

rgds

Bill

Back in the 1960s had a close up of a Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engine on a Operation Deep Freeze Globe Master, these were nick named corn cob engines, a 4 row, 28 cylinder engine that could produce 4300 hp at 1,11hp/lb, a major job just cleaning the spark plugs, all 56 of them, can't remember how many trips to the ice they did before they did a top overhaul (wasn't many), all done at the Deep Freeze Hanger, Harewood/ now Christchurch International Airport.

Ian S C

Ah the Beverly!!

I recall as a lad ( it is a very long time ago!) cycling across with a mate to RAF Abingdon and scrounging a flight on a Beverly. We were accommodated in the cockpit where we sat on a box ( containing the autopilot ?) whilst the pilot did circuits and bumps.

On other occasions there were flights in the body of the plane when it was setup for parachutists. Not very comfortable, very noisy, and probably an incentive to the parachutists to jump out!

Norman

A form of aircraft, this guy is a cross between batman and a dive bomber

Made me feel queasy just watching it, he still has to get enough height after the stunt to open his chute

**LINK**

Edited By Ady1 on 02/07/2015 14:16:14

Norman

Your cockpit seat was, actually, the battery box, containing a bunch of NiFe cells (huge) to cope with the Bev's electrical system, flaps , anti-ice etc. Next to it (rearwards) was a floor to ceiling metal caged distribution panel referred to as the Hammond Organ. The bottom panels of this would have indentations over the locations of the BTH units - the result of flying boots being forcefully applied to get the electrics on-line!! Aft of the flight deck was another compartment which had hatches to allow access to the rear of the engines via internal wing walkways. (Theoretically possible in-flight but not if you wanted to retain your sanity!!) Finally, a rearward facing hole was the entry to the 'Dog Kennel' within which was the hand pump and selector cock for in-flight transfer of oil to the engines (104 gallons available) This activity was required on most flights and was a bit of a chore for those of us who smoked!! Cold-soaked oil after a few hours at 8000' is pretty 'treacly'

rgds

Bill

Edited By Cornish Jack on 03/07/2015 16:27:13

Hi Bill

Thanks that is interesting information.

I must say that flights in the Beverly were not my best aviation experiences but they did pave the way for my future interests. Once I had grown up a bit I joined the local gliding club where I learned to fly and, in time, owned with two friends, a rather lovely all aluminium sailplane. Much fun and excitement. Later I moved and a gliding club is now too far away. Never mind I have set up a nice workshop here and pootle about to my hearts content!

Regards

Norman

Edited By NJH on 03/07/2015 20:46:31

I used to live under the approach to Abingdon and well remember the Beverly, one year a Phantom at the Abingdon airshow managed to lift the roofs of the bungalows in Wootton, I think the RAF fixed every crack in every home in Wootton that year.

Mike

What does it take to restore a World War Two Spitfire?

Never having been close and personal with a four engine Beverly I have seen quite a few raising clouds of dust as they landed and shoved the props into reverse thrust.

It was around `57-`58, during my NS stint under canvas alongside the east/west runway of RAF Nicosia, when something like fourteen landed one evening. From the other side of the airfield, there hardly seemed sufficient space on the apron to park them all.

A day or so later, they took off again seemingly empty judging from their angle and rate of climb. Being so large and from my vantage point, they seemed to hang in the air as they gradually disappeared into the distance.

Sam

What a colossal achievement!

Edited By V8Eng on 04/07/2015 00:06:01