Airfix Shackleton AEW.2

[Willard Whyte]

I know there are a few model builders out there, Airfix are releasing a 1/72 Avro Shackleton AEW.2 (http://www.airfix.com/uk-en/shop/new-for-2017/avro-shackleton-aew-2-1-72.html) this year. Markings available for Dougal and Ermintrude.

http://assets.airfix.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/750x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/a/1/a11005.3.jpg

[Shackman]

Hope there's an AEW version in that box for the 8 Sqn markings! Mind you always looked nice in Maritime (off) white and I assume 224 Sqn markings as the resident Gibralter Sqn.

PS WW - How did you swap over #1 and #3?

[Willard Whyte]

The picture's a computer render of the (unpainted) model. 8 Sqn markings are indeed the ones included. Airfix also do a MR.2 including markings for a 224 Sqn Shack, Gibraltar '57.

http://assets.airfix.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/a/1/a11004_avro_shackleton_mr2_3d_box.jpg

[Pontius Navigator]

One version on heat and the other pregnant :)

[NutLoose]

At least the old girl went out venerated, and not denigrated like he poor old Nimrod after years of sterling Service.

[bobward]

Revell :have also done an AEW 2. It came out a couple of years ago, around the same time as the Airfix MR 2.:8

[RedhillPhil]

Voila!


A Tale of Two Shackletons by Roger Hardy (http://www.hyperscale.com/2016/features/shackleton72rh_1.htm)

[NutLoose]

It's a shame the chances of the Coventry one getting airborne appear to be dwindling.

[denachtenmai]

Read the "blurb" on their site a year or so ago.
IIRC it contained references to"Depth Chargers" and the that Shackleton was powered by 4 "Griffin" engines.
I emailed them about the inaccuracies but never had a reply, I hope the boxes do not have their spellings. :hmm:

Nope, just checked, still the same.

[NutLoose]

Well they did the Dambuster Lanc with a model of the dam and lake as an included base to show it on, that wasn't all it came with, the kit was released with a top turret and following complaints they had to provide a corrected second fuselage to those that had purchased it.

Still, they do some fantastic kits like the 1/24 Mossie and Tempest.

[thunderbird7]

1/24th Mosquito - now youre talking. A quick google of the Banff strike wing version of the model is absolutely stunning. Beautiful aeroplane. Not sure MrsT7 would put up with something that big in the living room though...

[NutLoose]

You know there is a 1/32 scale Lanc coming out, it is by the same people that brought out the 1/32 B-17 and B-25, and to give you an idea of the size of those...

http://merit-intl.com/month/2-17-12/Yan1.jpg

But getting back to Shackletons, this is a scratch built 1/32 scale Shack in progress

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=60315

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1665/23807134133_eaabe7c7d9_c.jpg

https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8609/28722999275_e84bdc8a61_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KL9SZr)

[Martin the Martian]

I had a chance to inspect progress on the 1/32 Shackleton at ScaleModelWorld in November at Telford, and a most impressive beastie it is.

[NutLoose]

I have uploaded a bunch of photos of the Newark Shackleton including the interior for your pleasure.
see

https://flic.kr/s/aHskM3ke3k



https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/333/32262615256_fa1a5e9fa3_c.jpg

[Rossian]

....however comma the exterior photos are of a Mk 3, a rather different beastie.

The Ancient Mariner

Does that mean I've turned into spotter? Aaaaaargh!

[oxenos]

....however comma the exterior photos are of a Mk 3, a rather different beastie.

The Ancient Mariner

Does that mean I've turned into spotter? Aaaaaargh!

Some, if not all of the interior shots, are of a Mk 3. Certainly the cockpit ones.

As for being a spotter, I recall that the Kinloss seagulls could tell a Mk. 3 from a Mk 4.
A Shackleton taxiing out for take off would stop on the dis-used runway, turn into wind and do pre-takeoff engine runs. Once it taxied away, the seagulls would descend onto the grass behind where it had been if it was a T.4, but not if it was a Mk. 3. I can only think that the T.4 being tail down, the slipstream beat on the grass and brought worms to the surface, which did not happen with a Mk. 3
Rossian, you are not turning into a spotter. You are turning into a seagull. Or a worm.

[Herod]

I never flew the Shackleton, and I must be getting old, but those are my sort of instruments.;)

[oxenos]

Shackleton had what I call a glass cockpit. It had nice big windows.

[NutLoose]

They are all of the same aircraft, I took them.

[Shack37]

They are all of the same aircraft, I took them


Thank you NutLoose, brings back memories of many happy times UNDER those nav tables.

[oldpax]

As a lec mech I remember doing "genny balances"cramped behind the navs seat with my "Avo"!!Breakers clomping in /out!!Water used to leak from the stbd pilots window to below the Engineers side panel causing numerous faults as the water entered the mass of 22 pin plugs lurking there!!

[tucumseh]

Nice photographs. When Nimrod AEW was cancelled, MoD quietly did a trawl for old Shackleton engineers to staff the AWACS programme. My boss went to Seattle for 4 years.

[BEagle]

Thanks for the piccies - they remind me of my one and only trip in an MR3 back in 1969, which was quite some experience. But I could still hear the engines hours after landing!

oxenos wrote: As for being a spotter, I recall that the Kinloss seagulls could tell a Mk 3 from a Mk 4.

Perhaps they didn't want to be roasted by the Mk3's Vipers? We certainly used a LOT of runway even with 4 turning and 2 burning.

[turbroprop]

The old 8sqn caption "Eight Screws are better than Two Blow Jobs" used to raise a smile.

[Haraka]

IIRC it was the increased runway length requirements of the new (!) MR 3, over the 1's and 2's that necessitated the move from St Eval to St Mawgan.
Post the building of new MQ's, NAAFI etc. of course.

[oxenos]

Perhaps they didn't want to be roasted by the Mk3's Vipers?
The T.4s had long been gone from Kinloss before we first got "Viperised" Mk 3s.
And if you think a Mk3 with Vipers took a lot of runway, you would not have liked the Mk 3 without.

[Coops175]

A bit late on this, but I am looking for some help. My father was Wg Cmdr Malcolm Cooper who spent most of his service on Nimrods and Shackletons. My mother bought him the Frog 1/72 kit of a Shackleton for their first christmas together. My Dad has sadly passed away and I now have the model kit, but it has never been built. Does anyone know of anyone that is good with these kits who would build it for me. I think my mother would love to see it built. I would then donate it to Morayvia so others can get the pleasure from it.

[Linedog]

Dougal is WR960 and is in the Manchester Museum.

[Martin the Martian]

Coops, go to Coastal Command | IPMS (UK) (http://ipmsuk.org/directory/coastal-command-2/) for the Coastal Command Special Interest Group and contact them.

Alternatively, take a look at the IPMS branch listing at IPMS(UK) Branches | IPMS (UK) (http://ipmsuk.org/ipms-network/ipms-uk-branches/) and see if there are any near to you.

[andrewn]

Hi Coops, if you dont get anywhere with the suggestions from martin then I'd be interested in taking this on. I wouldnt call myself a professional but am reasonably capable.

Let me know if you want to see some pictures of my work and i can email them to you.

[Valiantone]

Coops, while the kit is fairly good for its age the Frog version, being close to 50 now. It has been rebranded by at least three successive companies. Modelcraft and Revell + one other. I think.

I have built the kit several times, It has some (minor) issues and can catch out some that have not done it before from memory!!. Alas I'm not available at the minute builds wise

[Pontius Navigator]

Coops, worked with your Dad when he was at MOD and later my boss on 8. Great bloke nothing wrong with him at all*, one of nature's gentlemen.

* This is not damning with feint praise. He was very personable and I got on with him extremely well as I was in a specialist role working with him from station when he was at group or MOD, I can't quite remember which.

[Coops175]

Thanks Pontius. Met someone who worked with him last week. He used the word, Gentleman, too.
Andrewn, I will follow up on Martin's suggestion but if no joy will be in touch.

[chevvron]

I know there are a few model builders out there, Airfix are releasing a 1/72 Avro Shackleton AEW.2 (http://www.airfix.com/uk-en/shop/new-for-2017/avro-shackleton-aew-2-1-72.html) this year. Markings available for Dougal and Ermintrude.

http://assets.airfix.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/750x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/a/1/a11005.3.jpg

Farnborough's Mk 4, which was delivered to Strathallan about 6 months after I was posted in, was called Zebedee. One of my air traffic control colleagues told me he went to Gibraltar in it and flew all the way backwards in the rear turret.
He also told me he'd been a Mustang pilot during WW2 and had been temporarily based a Funtington ( near Chichester) just before D -Day, but that's another story!

[Linedog]

Farnborough's Mk 4, which was delivered to Strathallan about 6 months after I was posted in, was called Zebedee. One of my air traffic control colleagues told me he went to Gibraltar in it and flew all the way backwards in the rear turret.
He also told me he'd been a Mustang pilot during WW2 and had been temporarily based a Funtington ( near Chichester) just before D -Day, but that's another story!
chevvron, I was groundcrew on 8sqn at Lossie for several years and all the Magic Roundabout figures were only applied to that sqns aircraft which were MK2 phase 3. We didn't have any MK4's.

[Shackman]

LD - Although we named them all after magic roundabout characters, Farnborough's raspberry ripple Mk 4 was named Zebedee for totally different reasons sometime in the late 60's. I was told the reason but have conveniently forgotten due to the mists of time, but I also had a Stn Cdr who was nicknamed Zebedee in the late 60's.

[Wander00]

Coops - was your Dad 88 Entry "C" Sqn at Cranwell, 63-65? If so I remember him well - great guy

[Wensleydale]

If I remember correctly - the Mk4s were used for pilot training during the early days of the AEW2? (and probably earlier). The name Zebedee was based upon the character's ability to bounce on landing!

[Lancman]

The Mk 4s were ordinary Mk 1s that had been partially stripped out to accommodate extra radar operators positions down the port side for training purposes.
To the best of my knowledge there was never a tail turret fitted in a production Shackleton. The Mk 2 had a pointy plastic lookout position in the tail where somebody could travel prone, but in that case he would be flying feet-first.

[Steve Bond]

Farnborough's T.4 was called Zebedee because of its bouncy nature when landing.

[Shackman]

The Mk 4 was 'phased' out of service in 67/68, and were only used (AFAIK) by MOTU for training and Farnborough/Boscombe for trials and photography; they had long gone by the time 8 Sqn formed (although there was one on the fire dump at Kinloss, whose wing tip was used to replace an AEW one that had a slight mishap whilst taxying!). The tail lookout was manned to give an accurate (depending on the crew member) call of the fall of bombs or other ordnance leaving the bomb bay. Of note pilot bombing, using 2 x eight and a half pound break-up bombs, was flown at 100ft and 160kts, aiming to straddle a towed target simulating a periscope/snort from a submarine - the ideal call from the rear being '50/50 zero line'.