Nice though it will be to see a Nimrod at Cosford....and a wholly deserved resting place given it's significance over the years....the logistics of getting it there will be "interesting" I feel, notably if it goes to Shawbury first and is then segmented for transportation by road.
I'm not a Nimrod engineer..the only time I touched the beast was to strip down XV246 at Waddo prior to it's transportation by air to Woodford....however....as we stripped it to the bare bones, cut the wings off ( literally ) there was still an awful lot left to move. The main spar is a very solid bit of kit for a start, as are the two spars in the fin...plus the height of these spars on a low loader would make life "interesting" to say the least with the rail bridge at Cosford as will the length of the fuselage..unless it gets chopped up into easy chunks and spliced together again later....but even that will require some serious engineering.
I have no idea as to the short field performance of a Nimrod...with regard to Cosfords equally short runway...but in it's time it has taken a B707 / VC10 ( albeit both have four T/R's rather than two and were on a one way trip )and a C-17 which duly departed again, so I am curious as to why it may not be possible, and, on the surface at least, considerably easier to fly the beast in..... in contrast to what will be a major logistical and engineering excercise.
Still be nice to see one there however....
