Shackleton MR2 WR963

[hunterxf382]

An update on a moment in history!

Since our last review of activities, a lot of work has been ongoing in the background by our incredible volunteers. Months of planning came to fruition on Saturday April 9th when we made a little bit of history when we carried paying passengers onboard WR963 for not one, but two taxy runs carried out by our Chief Pilot Jon Corley assisted by our highly experienced onboard crew.

Prior to this momentous day, preparations had included a big wash day to remove accumulated algae and residue which had settled over the winter period and changed the white surfaces into a slight camouflage appearance! Much work has also been carried out on the engine issues which had bothered the team recently, with magneto and fuel pump niggles to overcome particularly on No.2 engine. Luckily for us, not only do we have spares available, but our own knowledgeable ex-Shackleton Chief Engineer Druid Petrie able to pluck essential data from his memory as if it was yesterday, rather than 1991 when he last had the pleasure of engineering outside in all the weather that Scotland could aim at him and his colleagues....

Several test runs of all engines were carried out in the weeks prior to the big day, and all seemed good for us to have a special reason to enjoy our moment!
Not content with dealing with just the aircraft, huge strides had been made by our illustrious chairman Dave Woods at meetings with the Airport Management at Coventry who have helped us enormously since the demise last year of the resident “Airbase” and “Classic Air Force” operations. We not only received sponsorship from the airport which is helping financially towards the costs of being on site, but we were also offered the use of a large portacabin which had previously been the Visitor Reception for Airbase! The airport’s help means that we finally have somewhere undercover to act as a welcoming visitor centre and shop, but also a crewroom for our hard working team to have a much needed brew....

Saturday 9th April finally arrived, and the arriving volunteer team who had travelled from far and wide were greeted with pleasant sunshine! We were busy right from the moment of arrival with a quick set-up of our new shop and crewroom facilities, as well as starting to prepare the aircraft. Well that should have been the plan, but your ever-busy publicity officer had other ideas, and made everyone stop and stare by arriving in our brand new support vehicle which has been loaned to us by our other new partnership with SsangYong GB. The pick-up truck is complete with sign writing and will appear at events towing our Shackleton nose section amongst other duties!

After a crew briefing, we all set about preparing WR963 to be towed out onto the concrete ready for her performances later on, and also greeted the visitors who had started to arrive for their unique experience...
Part of our plan involved pairing up public with key volunteers so that they could take an active part in some of the vital pre-taxy preparations themselves! That was hugely enjoyed by all, and gave a small insight into how hard we work to achieve just one day in the life of our aircraft!
The next stage was another unique treat – lunch with some of our crew onboard the resident DC6 Diner which has recently re-opened as both a cafe and formal diner! The public really seemed to enjoy chatting to us whilst gazing out across the airfield and eating a fine meal...
After lunch, the pace quickened as we finished off a few tours onboard, and finally got the teams mustered prior to start for the first of two taxy runs! All seemed to be going well until one of our crew spotted a broken brake hose, which couldn’t be changed right away, and so was capped and isolated from the rest of the system to the satisfaction of our pilot.

The crew may have been nervous inside, but showed little sign of that as they climbed onboard with our first group of public. As soon as Jon Corley had obtained clearance, it was time to start those mighty Griffons! All went well, and after clearing the start crew and equipment away, Jon eased WR963 out onto the taxiway and trundled slowly down to Bravo Apron, turned, and then came back! Of course we couldn’t just leave it there, so whilst alongside the “Airlock” gate adjacent to the old Airbase hangar, Jon stopped, and opened up the throttles for a few minutes of “Griffon Growl” resonating across Coventry, and shaking the ground where our groundcrew stood....
Once back at our allocated parking area, the aircraft was shut down for a brief rest, and once the entire onboard crew and public were disembarked, a group photo was taken in front of the star of the day!

The crew carried out a turnaround check on the aircraft whilst the public passengers went off to get their souvenir certificates and have a brew with the rest of our team.
Second group were mustered, crew found from their hiding places near the tea urn, and it was time for the second taxy run, or so we thought!
Once we had got everyone onboard and secured the door, Jon started going through the usual pre-starting checks.... only to pause when it came to requesting our usual fire cover from the airport’s fire station only a few hundred metres away. After what seemed like an age, the welcome sight of a fire truck who had been rather busy on a tea break meant that we could carry on with our rigorous checklists.
Engine start seemed to go ok on the starboard side, but when it came to the port side, No.2 engine was reluctant to start! Knowing that we may have faced a ‘hot start’ situation with a small risk of exhaust fires, we were being extremely cautious with this second start. After starting No.1 engine whilst resting the starter motor on No.2 engine, this was tried again, and finally came to life, albeit with a resounding backfire that gave a brief scare to our crew-chief standing only a few metres away on the comms lead....

With all four running, it was time to go for another trundle around the taxiway, which followed the same pattern as the first, almost! On the return stop by the airlock gate and the higher rpm blast – the watching team wondered why No.2 Engine seemed to be running slightly rougher than the others, which soon manifested itself into a premature shut-down of that engine! With due consideration given by the team onboard to the prospect of slow taxying being made difficult with asymmetric power, it was decided to also shut down No.3 engine too, leaving both outboard engines to provide the means to taxy back the short distance to the parking area...

Once all had gone quiet again, the entire onboard crew and public posed once more for the group photo, and the public made their way over to our crewroom as the weather had declined somewhat during the late afternoon. This left the crew to debrief with our pilot on the engineering situation with our beloved aircraft...
Typically for aircrew, the engineers gave him a near perfectly serviceable aircraft to go and play with, and it came back with a list of ‘snags’ which aircrew expect to be easily fixed in time for their next sortie...... but we really like our pilot so we are only too happy to get dirty once again and repair the issues, test it all again, and get WR963 ready for her next starring role!


To summarise the issues left with us as our pilot made his way home:
No.2 engine ignition issues to be investigated as not only was it reluctant to start, but ran rough on the second run, before finally shutting down completely.
No.1 engine seen to develop a small oil leak underneath, which needs investigating by closer inspection with the cowlings off.
One brake hose to be changed
Hydraulic system to be investigated as we found that the handpump handle locating bracket had sheared off and caused the handpump handle to strike an adjacent hydraulic pipe resulting in a breakage and subsequent total loss of the hydraulic system.

Anyone familiar with aircraft will know that these engineering challenges are just part of what we expect when dealing with a 62 year old airframe, and we will just fix her up and carry on smiling as usual!

After an exceptionally long day, the last few team members left the site after 8pm leaving WR963 resting in her usual parking position on the grass. It took a few days for most of us to recover from this one, but we would do it all again without question!

By creating this event, we hope to have given an insight into just what is involved in maintaining our Shackleton, and given the paying public a real hands-on experience that they won’t forget in a hurry! Every single person onboard went home smiling, despite the weather change in the afternoon, and some are coming back for more now that they have experienced the appeal of the Avro Shackleton close up!

Without doubt, the day was a success, and raised vital monies towards keeping WR963 alive and moving towards our long-term goal of return-to-flight! We are fully aware that she needs to be run on a regular basis to keep all systems healthy, and are already planning more events like this throughout the year! Our website and social media will give more on these as soon as we can!

Finally, and on a nice note to finish with, it was especially wonderful to see Richard Woods pay is a visit to see how we were getting on! Richard had been a vital part of the team for many years before personal circumstances meant that he had to take a break from the constant travelling to Coventry, but couldn’t resist a return to see how the old girl was behaving!

George Aldrich by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

Andy Rowlands 1 by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

George Aldrich 4 by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

George Aldrich 2 by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

Aaron Hiscock 2 by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

Ian Preece by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

Andy Jones 1 by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

George Aldrich 5 by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr

SPT Edit by Pete Buckingham, on Flickr


Hope you enjoyed this very brief review of our historical day, and we hope to see you all down at Coventry soon!

Regards

Pete Buckingham
Publicity Officer