Originally Posted by
Saintsman
A tiny bit of thread drift. When the RAF Nimrods, obviously Comet based, were sent to be modified into the ill fated MRA4, one of the (very) many problems that were encountered, was that the new equipment was designed by a very accurate CAD system.
Unfortunately, the original aircraft were not. Amongst others, the fuselage wing mountings wouldn't align with the fuselage and there were other places half an inch difference between certain points, dependent on which fuselage was chosen.
Mind you, when originally built, they were built to last!
My one and only trip in the Nimrod resulted in me being airsick for 90% of a very long patrol...
My one and only trip in Trident involved, or so it seemed, a very lethargic trundle down the runway at LHR and a resounding "thud ! " arrival at MAN.
As for the Comet, when stripping down the, in theory, last to be converted Nimrod at Waddington, as you say, "built to last".....virtually no corrosion on the fuselage shell....bomb bay door hinges on the other hand ! and memorable for finding somebody had, at some time, done their o'time calculations, in £ s.d and pencil ! just fwd of the rear px bulkhead.