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By: - 5th December 2011 at 15:32 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Which Skeeters were they? Care to elaborate?
Bruce
By: - 5th December 2011 at 15:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
hi,
i was at the museum on April 27th and there was 4 pods and a number of booms in the restoration hangar,when asked the staff said they were out of a container which was being moved about.The only 1 with a plate XL767,The other 3 were said to be XM 557,XN 345, XL 736,according to documents held in the office,but they were re-containerised later that day or early next morning.I belive they were from a site at Saxmundham? Suffolk.
regards
jack...
By: - 5th December 2011 at 17:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I seem to remember that back in the late 70's that most elegant of flying machines the DH 90 Dragonfly was thought to be extinct, and then first one was found in Portugal and then another appeared, from where I cannot remember.
Richard
By: - 5th December 2011 at 18:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Weren't the AACHF looking for a Skeeter gearbox at one time, and had to ground their example as they were unable to source one? I wonder if this cache might yield the required parts and allow the last surviving airworthy example to fly again.
By: - 5th December 2011 at 19:10 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Skeeter flying ??
Sadly the likely hood of a Skeeter taking to the air again is very unlikely.
This is because of the nature of construction of the main rotors and the fact
they are not in the least conjusive to inspection and routine maintenance.
Basically they are from memory a steel tube with wooden formers and fabric
covering.I know of at least one organisation who has made inquiries re trying to
get around this problem without there being an approved or acceptable
alternative solution.I used to own G-BDNS so I know some of the problems,
and a friend of mine used to house a ground running G-APOI and
another couple of running airframes in sheds at Blackpool airport for many
years.
Mike E
By: - 5th December 2011 at 20:27 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The Skeeters are the former British Army examples that were stored over in the Netherlands from memory and brought to the U.K in the early 1990's.
By: - 5th December 2011 at 21:31 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I photographed these Skeeter booms about two years ago in a derelict shed near Saxmundham in Suffolk.
The four booms were from XL736,XL767,XM530 & XN345
I am glad they were saved as they had been laying in that old shed for about nine years at least.
By: - 5th December 2011 at 21:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hidden Treasures
I know of a Miles Messenger stored on an Essex farm, its C of A lapsed in the late 60's. I can say no more then that for now, its an airframe thought to have been long gone! On Saturday I went for an hours bimble from Oakley up to Sudbury, then east over Wattisham to Framlingham, back over Woodbridge to Oakley. It occurred to me then what else aviation wise waiting to be found on some of those remote Suffolk farm steads.
By: - 6th December 2011 at 00:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Basically they are from memory a steel tube with wooden formers and fabric covering.
I don't doubt you but that method of construction seems rather archaic for the time they were built.
Back to the main question...circa 1973 a leading US aviation history magazine pronounced B-45s extinct...and even in the days before the internet I knew that wasn't accurate.
By: - 6th December 2011 at 17:32 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Barn Finds.
There is a certain mythology about these. Certainly, there are occasionally amazing finds. As a lover of old things and a life-long country-dweller, I have seen plenty of such 'junk'. When it goes into storage it's usually because it IS junk, and not economical to repair/restore. I know of cars, motorcycles, helicopters and aircraft that are stored under layers of crap right now. Mostly, it's just that, crap, and will stay there until it reaches what I term as 'escape-velocity'...i.e; when it's economic to restore it. Most of it will never reach that point, and will be scrapped, burned or buried.
.
Interestingly, the most fascinating items that I've seen have had , quite literally, agricultural origins. Not quite my bag however....!!!
By: - 6th December 2011 at 17:35 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The Halifax comes to mind.......
Cees
By: - 10th December 2011 at 16:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Thanks all for your responses.
By: - 11th December 2011 at 16:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I'd be interested in hearing if any of the esteemed membership here has any other examples of this kind of resurrection?
Comper Swift G-ACGL must be the most recent example of this.
Duxford's Bf-109E-4/WkNr. 1190 is another.
I can probably think of several more given time (Excluding things like the Indian DH9, Indian Bf109 or Bristol Fighters in barn roofs!) - wasn't there another Bf109E that basically spent 50 years unrestored in a shed?
By: - 11th December 2011 at 16:20 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Then there where the sections of Horsa being used as sheds and greenhouses for decades besides a main road and no one realized they where there.
Mike E
By: - 11th December 2011 at 18:45 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Re the AAC Historic Flight Skeeter, the MAA are not content for the gearbox to be serviced, and although Boeing have offered to build new blades the MAA won't have it either.
Most of their ac have been grounded this year while a MAA 'safety case' is sorted. Progress is being made.
Great photo of the Skeeter tail booms - that's half the ac, yes? :)
By: - 12th December 2011 at 04:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Forgive my ignorance, but who are what are the 'MAA'?
By: - 12th December 2011 at 04:10 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Comper Swift G-ACGL must be the most recent example of this.Duxford's Bf-109E-4/WkNr. 1190 is another.
I can probably think of several more given time (Excluding things like the Indian DH9, Indian Bf109 or Bristol Fighters in barn roofs!) - wasn't there another Bf109E that basically spent 50 years unrestored in a shed?
I think you're confusing the issue regarding '109s here. The Duxford aircraft was always known about, and 'basically spent 50 years unrestored in a shed' before being sold to the IWM and (partially) restored to static display condition. I'd like to see them finish off the paintwork on the cowlings, though......... :(
By: - 12th December 2011 at 08:19 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The MAA are the Military Aviation Authority which was set up post the Haddon-Cave report into the loss of the Nimrod. Effectively they are the equivalent of the CAA.
John
By: - 12th December 2011 at 13:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I think you're confusing the issue regarding '109s here. The Duxford aircraft was always known about, and 'basically spent 50 years unrestored in a shed' before being sold to the IWM and (partially) restored to static display condition. I'd like to see them finish off the paintwork on the cowlings, though......... :(
Ta, I did wonder if I was confusing it with one of the other ones that has appeared in recent years.
It may have been known about, but not widely - it wasn't on a list of 109 survivors I recall seeing in the 80s.
By: - 12th December 2011 at 13:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Comper Swift G-ACGL must be the most recent example of this.
Not sure it qualifies as the remains of CGL have been known about since the early 1970's. There are pictures of the wings on here somewhere taken 25+ years before CGL was "discovered" by the RAFM!
EDIT - found the pictures -
post 13 on this one - http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=105893
post 28 on this one - http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=106220
Jon
Posts: 106
By: HaveQuick2 - 5th December 2011 at 14:56
I find it fascinating when a supposed long lost airframe makes a re-apperance after many years of being thought of as lost/scrapped/deceased.
An example of this is the recent resurfacing of a load of AAC Skeeters that moved from Suffolk to Weston-super-Mare.
Similarly, the previously thought scrapped Whirlwinds at Tattershall Thorpe.
I'd be interested in hearing if any of the esteemed membership here has any other examples of this kind of resurrection?