Nene Engined Wellington

[Prangster]

I was talking to a octogenarian friend of mine who served in the RAF from around 1950. He recalls that as a 14yr old ATC cadet cycling home towards Mansfield from Hucknall in the late 1940's he suddenly became aware of a Wellington gently cruising alongside him. following the gentle contours of the Misk Hills Rex does doube take and clocks both props are feathered. As he skids to a halt the pilot gave him a cheeky wave then scooted off with the aircraft 'wailing like a singing kettle' I suspect this was a Rolls Royce one off but does anyone know any different.?

[Mark 1]

I'm sure a visit to the RR Heritage trust at Hucknall will answer your question.

There was a photo of that aircraft at the old Merlin Flying Club clubhouse at Hucknall. They have moved to Tatenhill since the demise of the airfield, but I don't know if that photo has survived the move

[Mechta]

This one?

[MReyn24050]

One ready to go!

[Prangster]

Thanks to both replies. As Rex is now housebound I'm sure he will appreciate the details

[WHBM]

There was also a Nene engined Vickers Viking trial aircraft, which I am sure young Rex will tell you is just a Wellington with a civvy fuselage - the earlier ones even had the geodetic wings. It was loaned to BEA and did the world's first commercial jet flight, Northolt to Paris.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ne...=1501767355885

[Wander00]

WHBM - Gosh, I had forgotten about that. Thanks

[oxenos]

Following the link also leads to a Jet Viscount, which I had never heard of.

[DaveReidUK]

Two Merlin-powered Wellingtons (W5389 and Z8570) were flying test beds for the Whittle W2B and, as noted, were capable of flying with both piston engines shut down.

I don't think either ever flew with a Nene, but I'm happy to be corrected.

Older thread on the subject here: http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...lancaster.html

[brakedwell]

In 1957 I was returning to base at Swinderby in a Vampire FB5 when I overtook a DC3 near Nottingham. It was around 30,000' and was powered by two RR Darts.

[teeteringhead]

I started a thread here on AH&N some years ago when I first heard of the "Jet Wellington" (and Lancaster).

Lots of interesting stuff there - OMG it was 7 years ago........ thought it was 2 or 3

oops - sorry Dave - didn't see you'd already posted the link!

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by oxenos

Following the link also leads to a Jet Viscount, which I had never heard of.

Only had 2 engines instead of the standard 4.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Only had 2 engines instead of the standard 4.

And, aptly in view of the thread topic, they were the original RR Tay (a souped-up Nene).