Originally Posted by
ancientaviator62
Very impressive BDR by the technicians and great thinking 'outside the box'. Begs the question how would the modern 'plastic' a/c fare in similar circumstances ? Genuine enquiry from an ex 'techie' but not airframes.
Replace plastic with metal was the first gen stuff for the GR5s etc. Not sure about modern Expedent Repair as composite patches could be as quick to "attach" as metal ones were. My problem was the rivets used on the repair on the nose of ZD843 were the only ones we had on the kit. Nobody had thought about internal damage such as a machinced pocket floor on the side of a Tornado. Saved by BAE having a structures bay at Dhahran and a wide choice of countersunk Cherrymax rivets. There were two BDR teams out at Dhahran. The 431 MU boys from Bruggen and us from Abingdon and pressed men from other units. Most of the RSS boys didn't have Tonka Qs. So it was decided we would do the repairs and the 431 guys would do the mass of component changes. Repairs carried out to fwd nose, LH cockpit floor, LH cannon mount foot, LH gun door, LH Wing, access panel on LH wing, hole in fin fuel tank and hole in fin fuel vent triangluar panel. 28 system wiring inline repairs. Items replaced included both RB199s, both sets of engine doors, both tailerons, LH Wing Spoiler and LH Wing Flaps. Any damaged LRU in areas mentioned were also replaced. I think it was 8 days of work 24/7 including the customary 10 pm SCUD attack. Whole story is here. Book plug time.
https://grubstreet.co.uk/product/groundcrew-boys/
Spelling was as bad then as it is now.