Hi all,
The return to flight is a natural progression for what we the Shackleton Preservation Trust are doing with WR963 and a long held aim. Look at the core reasons for our Charitable Trust (1020951), listed on the Charities Commission site.
As many will have noticed, the aircraft went on the civil register recently as G-SKTN, and the Permit to Fly application will be going in shortly; which will be when the hard work starts.
£5M is a big number though. We worried about putting the figure out after the estimates were done as it would cause shock. But that's what it will cost to get a Shackleton in the air that is good for
decades.
Tiger_mate -
Everything we do is transparent and in the public eye, you can find us on a number of forums, or on Facebook with little effort. We make no secrets of what we're doing with our aircraft, and I'm a little annoyed by your suggestion of 'smoke and mirrors'.
There's no underlying reason to doing this other than the desire by many to see a Shackleton fly in the UK - and certainly not due a need to scrap or move the aircraft, Air Atlantique's relocation, or an airport closure. (again..? where did that rumour come from?
)
In terms of purchasing WL790 and restoring it to flight - it would cost as much as WR963 and require the same work if that aircraft wanted to fly in the UK. It has the same, known, long standing spar fatigue and cracking issues which prompted the CAA to refuse any Shackleton a Permit to Fly so far.
BAE underwriting our project is not a concern as they sold the design and rights to us in 1993. Help if you want, or if you can - if not, then just watch anyway and enjoy the journey with us.
Peter Mills -
Many thanks are already due to you all at Gatwick for the kind gift we received this weekend of documentation for WR963. It was very much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Rich W
SPT