Gerry Smyth
 

The fwd fuselage of XK 699 is now @ Old Sarum albeit propped up on a scaffolding rig waiting for a permanent cradle to be made.
Any documentation, log books or/and maintenance manual's would be most welcome.


Boscombe Down Aviation Collection.
Hangar 1
Old Sarum
Salisbury. SP4 6DZ
Wiltshire.

comet xv699 FOI REQUEST
 

All my questions on Comet xv699 have been answered by John Izzard, policy secretariat with the exception of the FOI question asking who gave authority for the aircraft to be sold knowing that most would be scrapped to raise cash to save the cockpit and forward 30 feet of fuselage.
This information is withheld IAW Section 40(personal information) in order to protect personal information.

I am sorry to be so late coming onto both this thread and forum. I have only just found you! I was an aircraft eleky on the Comets and Brits from December 1961 to December 66. Most of the time on LSS with some on Base 1.

Scotbil, I saw that takeoff. I was working up by J1. I was outside and it was hammering it down with rain. I was talking to a couple of 'heavies' just before that and they told me that they had just fitted a new pair of nose wheels with a trial rain tyre on them. They were doing wet weather trials on them. It started its run and after a short while an engine spooled down. that caught my attention and I watched it closely from there. A short while on and a second spooled down and now it had my complete attention! Then a third spooled down a moment before rotate and it staggered up into the air. It was on runway 24 and had, as you said, the drop at the end. I think that saved it. He managed to relight the engines and did a safe landing but I'll bet he had a quick trouser change ! It was a Comet 2, no idea as to the number?

There was a right-off with a 2 as well when a heavy topped up the hydraulics with OX38. They used a vegetable oil and OX38 is a mineral oil! Not a popular bunny.

I am also the 'proud' carrier of 'Comet leg' too. For the uninitiated that was when you entered via the crew door, front starboard, and turned left through the luggage bay. Just a step or so and there was the forward equipment hatch. If that was open and you walked in from a nice sunny afternoon you didn't see it! One leg didn't quite reach the bay floor and the other leg bent up and stayed outside the hatch and the hole had a vertical ridge around it to locate the hatch. That cut right down to the bone. My mate in front of me, Doc Morten a Nat Service' eleky, wondered where the hell I'd gone when he turned around and I wasn't there. I couldn't move because I was laughing too much! Strange what you do sometimes, but it was so silly...

Thank you for that. I've always assumed that it must have been fuel contamination but your account suggests it could have been water from the nosewheel wave putting the fire out.

On the Trident there was a 'skim' T/o procedure on contaminated runways where the nosewheel was lifted off at about 80 knots to avoid the bow-wave entering the engines. Can't remember whether there was a similar procedure on the Comet 4B - but the nosewheel was bit further from the engines compared to Comet 2s.

PS On reflection, I think the photo I posted in 2011 must have been on T/O, judging from the flap position - but it was a long time ago!