iRaven. Is the "Guardian's Jonathan Glancey" the same one who is their architecture and design correspondent? I wonder if George Wimpey was an expert on building Wellingtons?
The B Word. Just a minor point;
Originally Posted by The B Word
So not realising that their own aircraft, built in their factory
The Nimrod/HS801 wasn't built in "their" factory (presumably Woodford, HSA Avro Whitworth Div) but at Hawarden (HSA de Havilland Div). The production aircraft were assembled at Woodford from Hawarden (now Airbus) built fuselages and mainplanes. I think you will find that most of the fitters and all of the Shop managers who had experienced the joys working with de Havilland components had retired by the time work started on the MK4
Originally Posted by The B Word
Having to re-engineer the flap brackets because 2 out of the 3 cracked completely on a flight test
In the olden days, a newly designed mainplane would have spent several thousand flying hours in the STS rig to discover such defects. As I understand it, modern CAD/CAM products (Airbus Hawarden?) are tested in a computer simulation. It seems that we are fortunate that prototypes are still test flown.
I'd be curious to know from the Nimrod IPT how often contracts and payments were "reprofiled" to make their overall Budget and that of others plug various gaps.