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So... 2015 is here and what have we been up to? Well, we've mostly been hefting propellers about, and on a Shackleton there's plenty of them to go around. Investigation into the No 4 prop oil leak revealed some issues that had long been hidden from years gone by; probably during her time as Shackleton WL790's propeller test bed. This included fitting a vital part that had either perished and been destroyed, or may have been overlooked when the prop was fitted - an O-ring that goes right next to the rear propellers rear cone. So with a team comprising of one ex-Shack engineer, an airframe rigger turned mechanic for the day, and plenty of willing hands, the propellers from No 4 engine were removed, cleaned, and refitted. Then it was onto No 3. This propeller had a badly cracked backplate on the front propeller, fortunately we had a few spares in store. With the team getting better at prop removals, this was the site that met visitors after an hour or so of us being on site... While it was off it allowed the cleaning of a lot of accumulated oil and grime. 24 years worth by the look of things inside this spinner shell. We were also able to clean around the rear propeller and translation unit. It seems trivial, but it helps massively with tracing any leaks if and when they happen. Once things were as they should be and with the new backplate fitted it was time to get the whole lot back together again. All the other props are now being checked for similar issues, which has turned up some stiff/seized spinner latches, and and no other problems. Around the rest of the aircraft the ongoing saga of the hydraulic hand pump resulted in a second attempt at fixing it. We ended up fitting a brand new one, as the stop gap item we received from the museum at Elvington kept things working long enough to get to the end of the year, then suffered a similar failure to the last one meaning it wouldn't pump fluid around the system. Despite it being funny to watch new volunteers trying to pump the bomb doors open with it, something had to be done and replacing it was the speediest way to solve the issue. Both old pumps are being rebuilt to provide a source of spares should we need them in the future. Fitting the new pump meant we could inspect the flap operating jack and if necessary replace it, as there has been a telltale weep of fluid from around that area. Thankfully the weep was nothing serious and the jack won't have to be replaced. We did find that the rubber gaitors that take the flap operating tubes through to the wing have perished and fallen away though, so we'll be back in here again at some point soon once replacements are found. The front bomb bay doors are now open, as we're reviewing our options as to how best to reinstate these, and the way forwards is looking to be using the drawings and a significant amount of manufacturing new half ribs to fill the gap. Even with a chunk missing, the full length of the bomb door does look rather good, and eases the servicing of the throttle and pitch control systems. So thats the aircraft. Now what of her future? Well, in 2012 the Shackleton Preservation Trust announced the decision to attempt to return a Shackleton to the skies and since then most of what has been done since has been maintaining the aircraft in a ground running condition. Three weeks ago, things took a significant step fowards and following further discussions with Civilian Aviation Authorities, the green light has been given to proceed with the restoration to flight. As a consequence the way we have been doing work, recording it, and the way we will be doing things as we take things forward is under review to meet the requirements of the authorities. The majority of pieces in the puzzle are in place (hangarage arrangements, spares, tech documents and manuals etc, etc) and there is feverous activity happening behind the scenes in getting the word out and chasing up more support. This will hopefully allow us to make swifter progress towards our goal, and we'll increase our efforts accordingly and step up the pace of work on the Shackleton herself. Regards, Rich W
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Always love to see an update on this thread.
It would be fantastic to see it flying again. Best of luck!
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Feb 27, 2015 19:23:04 GMT
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Well done on all the work so far and thanks for the update.
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Mar 29, 2015 19:35:58 GMT
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I help out every other weekend with WR963 at Coventry, we're working very hard to get her back in the air where she belongs but we need your help. Please check out the following link -
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Last Edit: Mar 29, 2015 19:38:18 GMT by Phil2600s
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Hi chaps - we're up past £6k with 20 days still to go!
This is the first ever time we've had the begging bowl out for the Shackleton in public; and we've held it off as long as possible (some five years or so since we started heading this direction). Please, please help - even if its just £1 it will make a difference. The team are putting in heroic work on the aircraft; Saturday saw the removal of both of No 4's propellers, a reduction gear "GITS" seal, the refitting of it all and a successful run-up of the engine.
There is more to come and the endoscope we put into WR963's wing a couple of weeks ago showed promising results. We can deliver a flying Shackleton... we just need help!
Kind regards,
Rich W
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Apr 15, 2015 14:05:50 GMT
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Hi all,
With 13 days to go we're just over £8000 towards our structural inspections. We really need your help if we're going to make it!
Besides the taxi run, there are also Griffon pistons, a Michael Rondot Shackleton print, polo shirts and other things available as rewards for different levels of support. We know the Kickstarter platform is a bit clunky to use and requires sign up; but we really would appreciate it if people could take the time - even if its £1 it helps get WR963 closer to flight.
We haven't had the begging bowl out until now, having made it from a dead aeroplane up to a taxying, live and growling Avro masterpiece. We need help to go that little bit further.
Again, help if you can; or share the information if you can't directly.
Kind regards,
Rich
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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6 days to go and less than £1500 to hit the target! Please help us if you can by pledging or sharing the link, it makes all the difference.
First public engine run of the year is on May 2nd for Airbase's reopening, so if you haven't heard the Griffon growl this year now's your chance! This is only a static run-up - WR963 has moved under her own power a couple of times since september, but not far due to being unable to maintain the pneumatic pressure on the failed side. We intend to have the port brake sorted shortly, so taxi runs will resume asap.
Kind regards,
Rich W
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Apr 22, 2015 11:35:54 GMT
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Best of luck. Hope you make it.
Love to see this fly, albeit via video. Unless you fancy a somewhat ambitious maiden flight?
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Apr 22, 2015 11:46:33 GMT
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I think a round the world tour is a little ambitious to start with! However when our Shackleton does fly again you can be sure there'll be plenty of footage.
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Apr 22, 2015 12:20:32 GMT
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Don't exaggerate, it's no more than halfway around the world . Only around 7,000 miles as the crow flies, providing you don't need to land anywhere friendly to refuel, or don't mind getting shot at. Hmmm, maybe nearer 12-15,000 then? Vids will have to suffice I suppose.
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Last Edit: Apr 22, 2015 12:22:19 GMT by georgeb
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And its not like the old girl doesn't know the way, having patrolled quite a bit of the area as part of the Far East Air Force based in Singapore. Hmm. Comeback tour?
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Hi all, I thought I'd post a little update into progress over the past couple of weeks. As always its two steps forward, one back as the run up on 2nd May did not go at all according to plan. The event itself? Fantastic from our point of view. The crowd must have easily been a couple of thousand people despite the slightly grey and cold conditions, and the queue to get on board WR963 for a look around stretched out towards the wingtip most of the day. We made a lot of new friends, met a few old ones, and made a lot of people aware of what our intent is for the Shackleton. So you can imagine our frustration when No 3 just turned on the starter, peed fuel out the priming drain and refused to do so much as cough! We believed the problem to be in the booster coil connection to the magneto or the mag itself, as while there was plenty of fuel there wasn't even a hint of life in the engine, it felt as if we were turning it over with the switches off. The rest of the run-up went fairly well, and with careful management of the brake pressures (only one compressor available because No 3 was U/S) we still managed to exercise things and blow out the cobwebs after a fairly lengthy quiet period over winter. Then came the bigger problem. After settling the engines down and bringing them to a halt, the starboard undercarriage indicator flickered then went from a 'green' indication to a 'red'. Never has that tiny little light looked so evil or so bright... We got off the aircraft fairly carefully and thanks to the crowd barriers were able to keep everyone away. Tentative checking of all the ground locks was done before venturing into the undercarriage bay to see what the problem was, as none of us wanted to see WR963 take up a reclining position, or for one of us to get intimate with a mainwheel. A quick check of the jacks and the downlocks showed the inboard hydraulic ram had crept back just enough to set the switch to open and show the red. With persuasion the ram would come out to its full extent, but soon crept back again. The decision was taken to manually adjust the lock to prevent any creep from the ram inadvertantly unlocking the leg, and unfortunately to limit access to the aircraft for the time being. Fast forward to a couple of weeks later and the team were on site from just before 10am to just after 9pm; determined to get to the bottom of things. The intent of the day's work was to try and trace the problem that caused the red light on the Starboard undercarriage and if possible fix it, it was thought that one of the valves was not properly selecting 'down' and preventing hydraulic pressure to the rams. So out came the multimeters and they started getting pushed into various places on WR963 and the problem was slowly traced back to the wire from the undercarriage selector switch in the cockpit to the 'down' selector valve in the starboard undercarriage bay. It appears to have a short to earth in the starboard wing leading edge area. Normally one side of it is always live - so you have either an up selection, or a down selection. In this case both sides are unpowered so the hydraulics are 'free'. The complete undercarriage system on that side is not being supplied with hydraulic pressure to ensure the gear stays down and locked, and because of this, the starboard inboard ram was allowed to retract in an uncommanded fashion - unlocking the leg. Because we haven't managed to replace the damaged/shorted wire yet, WR963 is still closed to the public for the time being, meanwhile we're getting stuck into the manuals and planning the best course of action for getting to and repairing it. As this work was going on, so were other bits around the aircraft. While working in the undercarriage bays, Mark Ward and his son Curtis have been making amazing progress. This is a before and after shot of one of the undercarriage locks. As we're overhauling things there will be a retraction test at some point, and the locks have had precious little attention in the last 25 years other than making sure that they are positively engaged.. As mentioned, work was also being carried out on No 3 engine, and as predicted the problem seemed to be related to the boost coil. Initally there was some head scratching as there seemed to be no output from the booster coil despite it buzzing away merrily. Investigation slowly narrowed things down and it was found that while the primary coil was doing its job, the secondary coil had failed. A replacement was fitted from our stock and once the undercarriage issue is sorted we will be able to try and test run the engine. Time was taken during the day to have a look at our latest acquisition, a hydraulic servicing rig. As its been stood for some time it was suffering from stale petrol, a seized clutch and a few other issues, but by the end of the day it was turning over freely with good oil pressure. Would it start? No. As often with WR963, a magneto fault of all things... Last but by no means least, some work in the drawing archive, which is slowly coming back into some kind of order due to the efforts of SPT team member Michelle Mclaughlin. We had to dig out some more drawings for use in a certain plastic model project, and these will be dispatched shortly. When looking through the manifest, once again we were reminded how much Avro DNA is within the Shackleton. All in all a fairly productive day, and we'll be back on the 30th. Regards, Rich (Photos courtesy of Mark Ward, Michelle Mclaughlin and Phil Woods)
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Zotez
Part of things
Posts: 413
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Nov 20, 2015 10:47:30 GMT
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Love the Shackleton. I didn't realize how big these were until I saw one in the flesh.
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Feb 11, 2016 13:41:19 GMT
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We're doing a full engine run this weekend on WR963, and places are available onboard! There's lots going on with the aircraft, please check out our website for all the details. www.avroshackleton.co.uk/
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Feb 12, 2016 19:12:47 GMT
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Just found this. My dad was a flight sgt/ engineer on Shackletons finished at Ballykelly in the mid sixties. He was part of the crews that tracked the Russian missiles on their way round the north atlantic to Cuba so wasn't able to meet me until a good few days after i was born! He has got the standard Shackleton aircrew hearing.....sod all.
Because he was in the RAF during the 'Golden' years my brother was born in Singapore, my sister in Cornwall and i was born in N.I.
I'll send him the link but at 82 years old he might need some help logging on to his laptop these days.
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Needs a bigger hammer mate.......
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Feb 17, 2016 22:54:46 GMT
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Flicking through the latest copy of Fly Past whilst in the local supermarket (whilst the OH does the shopping), what do I see but a certain Shack with all 4 Griffons at full chat - hearty congratulations.
Also in the same mag, the St Mawgan one seems to have been saved too - nice result.
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Glad you guys are still following the project. There's some taxy runs coming up on April 9th amongst other things. Check out the website www.avroshackleton.co.ukThe St Mawgan Shack has a team that look after her, and really pulled out all the stops to save her. The Coventry team supplied a pair of mainwheels allowing the towing plan to go ahead rather than needing an expensive low loader and further breakdown into parts to move her.
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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what do I see but a certain Shack with all 4 Griffons at full chat - hearty congratulations. Half chat. That was around 46" of boost and about 2150rpm, they'll get to around 80" of boost and 2,750rpm with water/methanol engaged. WR963 will never need to get that far again though, its too much stress on the engine when you're not trying to get a full load off the ground. Even when she flies again theer'll be no need to go much beyond 60" boost at it highest.
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Jun 10, 2016 20:41:04 GMT
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Hi all. Just a quick drop in by me to tell you all about an event on the 9th July approaching, whch marks 25 years since WR963 touched down at Coventry and entered preservation. She's come a long way, and a short distance in that time. Usually you can find her providing shade for visitors and occasionally killing the grass in patches when the Griffons are run up just across from Hangar 7, Coventry. Then occasionally she takes a stroll. Its only been once or twice a year so far, but the bar is being pushed. The 9th July will see another taxy run, and there'll be more this coming year once this event is past. The intent is to try an bring her serviceability up to be capable and reliable enough to taxy once a month, something the team is pushing hard to achieve. I got lucky last year - I was Engineer for the taxy run in the Vulcan day. ONce everything was behaving I took a chance and got these two shots from the window, but the memory will last forever. A couple of chaps on the recent taxy run in April got even better footage... a chance that others can take advantage of too incoming months! One thing that struck me when I visited recently was that although I've removed myself from duties with SPT; I still want to see WR963 fly and I still believe it can happen. I want to see this taxy past, become a turn onto a runway and off into the blue yonder. Hear the Griffon growl and watch '963 become a distant speck in the distance. SPT have got a hell of a long way, and managed to secure funding for the NDT work, then when everything seemed to be a done deal they then had a new problem in having to find the money to rent hangar space after our long time friends at Air Atlantique decided to start ceasing activities. So far without resorting to endless chain e-mails or campaigns, they've already got over half way. Please support the SPT, as visitors are still welcome as ever. Go and watch a ground run up, or visit. Book a taxy ride when the spaces become available. Or, if you have a spare minute online and fancy donating to help go here: www.avroshackleton.co.uk/fundraising.htmlA Shackleton will fly again, and your help would make it happen that bit faster. Regards, Rich
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"You're about as likely to come across a fully functioning old Jag, as you are a taxicab that smells agreeable." - James May
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Oct 19, 2017 21:47:58 GMT
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Hi Everyone, Firstly I'd like to apologise for the lack of updates on the various forums, and the sporadic and sometimes contradictory information that was sometimes posted on social media. Hopefully these times are behind us now and normal service can be resumed. As I'm sure you can understand it's been a troublesome year for WR963 and the remaining crew. I'll be posting the regular updates from now on and hopefully answering any and all questions you all have to the best of my ability. Although I'm not quite as knowledgeable as my brother, I work on WR963 regularly, I'm qualified to crew her as P2, admin on the two facebook groups we run, run the eBay shop and assist with the Instagram account and website building. More recently I've taken over running the "Friends" side of things and I'm one of the two directors of the company that owns and looks after WR963. So I hope that I'll be up to the task. We've had a bad year in terms of reliability, Hydraulic issues on the last evening run back in February and starting issues with the engines since. Coupled with radio problems too and it's not been the year we wanted or expected. We've slowly been working our way through these problems though, and I'm pleased to announce that WR963 is now servicable and capable of running all 4 engines. The number 4 engine problem has now been found and fixed. Initially thought to be fouled plugs, these were stripped, cleaned, gapped and refitted. We checked for power getting to the booster coil and magneto, and the points were cleaned and gapped in both. Still it refused to run. Eventually, we found that although power was getting to the booster coil, it wasn't supplying power out and once swapped for a brand new unit from our stores the no4 engine ran beautifully. The offending booster coil can be seen in the above picture, the large box almost in the centre with the "X" on it. Hydraulic issues are drawing to a close too, the Hydraulc pumps have both been removed, sent away to be fully rebuilt and refitted. A fully rebuilt hand pump, cleaned and remade lines, cleaned filters and solenoids, and correctly adjusted pressure reducing valves should now see these problems cured. The next run we have is this weekend, the Saab club is hosting their AGM at Midland Aviation museum and we're providing a 4 engined run as entertainment afterwards. I'll take photos and report back on Sunday! Fingers crossed for the first 4 engined run since February. Sorry for the lengthy first post, believe me I've condensed a LOT of work into this update, I didn't want to swamp the place on my first go. Regards, Phil Woods
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