Bac/ Aerospatiale Concorde to fly again
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The 'Walt' you are referring to in respect of the HP42 was not a 'Walt' at all!!. He was a respected Aviator, Mike Russell, of Russavia, who flew and rebuilt Dragon Rapides, if if my memory serves me correctly. Been deceased for a few years now. Bit more respect, perhaps
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This was a remarkable aircraft for what it could do, using early 'sixties technology to boot.
Imagine Mach 2 or so with a hundred souls aboard.
She will never fly again.
The sucessors to her builders, the two airlines who bought her, as well as the British and French regulators have made sure of that.
Still, it would be wonderful if there could be but one flying example of this amazing transport.
Imagine Mach 2 or so with a hundred souls aboard.
She will never fly again.
The sucessors to her builders, the two airlines who bought her, as well as the British and French regulators have made sure of that.
Still, it would be wonderful if there could be but one flying example of this amazing transport.
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Oh dear ,does all this mean they will want all the spares that B.A. gave to Brooklands to rebuild DG back again , that would be embarassing the jury strut undercarraige will have to be refitted and all the entry steps shortened it will not be a pretty sight with all the interior and flt deck removed also. 
Last edited by avionic type; 5th Jun 2010 at 01:56. Reason: more added
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I don't think such a well qualified and proven aircraft designer/constructor such as Ray Hilborne would ever have been taken in by a "walt" either. Many of the hurdles towards passenger carrying certification by a new H.P. 42 ( albeit with different radials) had been considered and appraised.
IIRC the total cost at the time ( early 1980's) was estimated at around 3 million pounds.
IIRC the total cost at the time ( early 1980's) was estimated at around 3 million pounds.
Anyone seen a Vulcan lately???
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Rolls Royce, at the time, no longer had any facilities to do major overhauls on Olympus engines .... any Mark.
Some of the more interesting doc had been moved to the "Heritage Archive" (?), but that was it.
Also the Concorde engine overhaul had already moved to GE in Wales.
What made XH558 possible was that she arrived at Brunty with eight 'zero-hour' engines, so there was enough engine life potential for the project, before too many would need a major teardown, which Rolls Royce clearly stated they could no longer do.
Just how many suitable engines exist for Concorde?
I did a quick back-of-the-envelope count yesterday, by chance.
If everybody would be willing to "chip in" and donate their engines, there'd probably be something like 20 to 30 salvageable engines still in existence (meaning some of the parts can be recovered).
So there's probably still enough around to rebuild two and even four engines capable of ground running.
Of course, there's no longer anybody in Europe capable of doing this... on the other side of the Atlantic, maybe.
Oh, I forget.... engines is only the start of the story.
Who's going to pay for tearing out the fuel system (nicely dried out by now), refurbishing the electrics, the electronics?
Still, it's a nice dream... but it's slowly becoming a nightmare for the people that really take care of the museum aircraft, to have these "relight and taxy" clowns about...
CJ
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What made XH558 possible was that she arrived at Brunty with eight 'zero-hour' engines,
I think Taff Stone got them from RAF Cosford? and they were sealed in bags.
I pretty certain that RR only gave their consent for support as they were zero timed and sealed.
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I think we're probably saying exactly the same thing.
The engines installed on XH558 were obviously not zero-life, and they were also used for taxi runs.
By the time 'Vulcan To The Sky' got underway, RR no longer had the means to give those particular engines a major overhaul, to assure enough engine life was available for the project.
It was that other set of eight engines, moth-balled, bagged, inerted, that made it feasible.
I don't know whether they arrived with the other spares or were found and delivered separately.
I pretty certain that RR only gave their consent for support as they were zero timed and sealed.
The main issue was, that RR could no longer do a major teardown and overhaul, and "re-zero-life" any of the engines, so once the existing engine life was used up, that was it.
VTS reckoned that with the eight "as-new" engines they could fly long enough to make the project worthwhile, before having to retire the engine to a museum.
Let's hope they were right!
CJ
