Military Aircraft Storage/Regeneration
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Fort Worth, USA
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Military Aircraft Storage/Regeneration
Ahead of a trip to Davis-Monthan/AMARC, via the Pentagon, i am hoping that some of the wiser readership may be of some assistance.
I am researching (as you do holding for 208!) for a report i am compiling for internal and limited external (RAF News/Mag, FI) on the maintenance and regeneration of British Military aircraft, and comparing our system to that employed in the US.
The US have been very forthcoming with information, and documents covering this field, yet i am struggling to find any physical example in the UK. It is my (mis?)conception based on what i have learned thus far that on retirement of a type, 'we' keep only a few, to test fly and cold store at Shawbury(only for a couple of years). This after the majority are sold almost instantly for a short term financial gain.
I hope some people have experience in this field and can offer some advice/information source. Please feel free to PM me if you need more of my personal information/internal email address for credibility.
In hopeful anticipation,
LH
I am researching (as you do holding for 208!) for a report i am compiling for internal and limited external (RAF News/Mag, FI) on the maintenance and regeneration of British Military aircraft, and comparing our system to that employed in the US.
The US have been very forthcoming with information, and documents covering this field, yet i am struggling to find any physical example in the UK. It is my (mis?)conception based on what i have learned thus far that on retirement of a type, 'we' keep only a few, to test fly and cold store at Shawbury(only for a couple of years). This after the majority are sold almost instantly for a short term financial gain.
I hope some people have experience in this field and can offer some advice/information source. Please feel free to PM me if you need more of my personal information/internal email address for credibility.
In hopeful anticipation,
LH
As one of the VC10K Full Air Test Captains, I had the misfortune to do the air test on a VC10K2 'held in store' at St Athan when it was needed for one of Bliar's mini-wars. Unlike the dry desert of Arizona, St Athan is blessed by a cold, wet salt-laden climate.
The a/c suffered the infamous No 1 and No 3 electrical bus failure when we were doing the shut down and relight sequence - leaving no attitude instruments whatsoever. Not even a single turn and slip. All due to corroded electrics. We relit the engine and threw it back to the spanner-w@nkers....
A few days later they had replaced the faulty alternator controller and we went off to finish the air test, including an ELRAT drop. This time the ELRAT controller failed, again due to corrosion, the ELRAT volts and frequency went off scale and we had another emergency landing...
UK aircraft held in storage? An utter joke.
The a/c suffered the infamous No 1 and No 3 electrical bus failure when we were doing the shut down and relight sequence - leaving no attitude instruments whatsoever. Not even a single turn and slip. All due to corroded electrics. We relit the engine and threw it back to the spanner-w@nkers....
A few days later they had replaced the faulty alternator controller and we went off to finish the air test, including an ELRAT drop. This time the ELRAT controller failed, again due to corrosion, the ELRAT volts and frequency went off scale and we had another emergency landing...
UK aircraft held in storage? An utter joke.
