RAF Phantom at Fairford
 

From various sources, i hear the ex RAF Phantom which was taken to RIAT Fairford last year from Halton, is awaiting the axe...
A scrappy from near Wallingford i heard put in a bid for it to demolish it & had heard the yanks want rid of it off Fairford asap so does anyone know the latest situation on the jet??

It was sitting out on the eastern dispersal last week looking "lonely", can anyone rescue it before it gets the chop!

Ooh any willing Chinook pilot wishing to use it as a underslung load & bring it to Abingdon for my air event on 2 May - we would look after it!!!(www.abingdonfayre.latest-info.com):D

Neil,

Have you thought of asking your friendly, local Merlin boys? :D

It would be a shame to see the F4 rot away - an idea we (as in the Abingdon Fayre committee) have had was to make it a sort of memorial as back in Sept 88, on rehearsals day for the annual Bof B airday, a 228OCU Phantom crashed coming out of a loop, killing both crew..( we still know the Pilots son, he lives locally).

It would therefore be very fitting for this Phantom to be put on display at Abingdon somewhere prominent as a memorial to this crew & to the RAF in general being as they were at Abingdon for 60 years.
We can look after it & i expect plenty of volunteers would be forthcoming to keep it looking half decent.
We do have a good relationship with the Army at Abingdon (Dalton Barracks) so you never know - my motto is if you don't ask you don't get!

The aircraft has to be scrapped to comply with the CFE treaty. Crazy/sad but there it is.

I reckon your enegy would be better spent on your do at Abingdon (good luck with it BTW).

MOTF
Oh and next year can you avoid a date clash with Old Warden please

I believe there are CFE exemptions, though they require a great deal of work to obtain....

Ok thanks for the info re the F4.
MOTF , unfortunetly i have to stick to the early May bank holiday slot for Abingdon Fayre due to an arrangement between myself & the resident RAF 612 VGS Motorglider School, cos they are busier in the summer months hence the early slot but i know what you saying tho...

That particular Phantom has almost certainly already gone through the CFE process having already served as a `Guardian`.

Plain facts are that its position has been replaced by a Tonka and the RAF dont love it anymore.

Lets hope your preservation / memorial plans fall on listening ears:

My guess is that the CFE process would also involve an agreed location so the Satellite can see it. It has now moved so must go through the process again.

Just a thought, and in any case she is a wreck with a nice (ish) coat of paint.

Hmmm - funny enough i had an email / telephone call from Fairford yesterday re my event but he is maywell be able to help me - its a shot in the dark but who cares....he will either be able to help or he won't - worth a try when he gets back from hols in ten days time..

I really hope XV408 is saved from the scrapman's torch, I'd love to see it painted up as the "Blue bomber" again someday!:D

-RP

Neil, please see your PMs. And good luck.

Gadget :ok:

Years ago I looked into the process of acquiring an ex RAF airframe, due to strong personal interest and the fact I hate seeing them scrapped, but never really took it further.

If you phone up military personnel, you should get an answer or refered to someone else etc etc until you ultimately get one. The base itself is likely to have a public/media relations officer, I guess they would be a good place to start. They will have a much better idea where to look for information regarding the airframe. Find out who's responsible for it's disposal supply/engineering/outside agency etc, then speak to them. You'll need to move fast before a disposal bid is accepted. Even if you're too late, speak to the scrappy if you want any parts of it. To him a 100kg of aluminium is 100kg of aluminium, it does not matter if it's a bag-of-sh!te bit of junk, or ex front line precision engineering. I've bought old turbine blades for £1 each and various other bits of aeroplane for no money at all.

An interesting place to look for general info on disposals is:

http://www.ams.mod.uk/ams/content/topics/2547.htm

I had a look at the GR1 disposal example, they specifically consider the use of airframes as Gate Guards and museum pieces, to preserve the RAF heritage. A GR1 airframe after spares recovery is valued at £1000.......less than I spent last month having my car serviced!!

Good luck with it, let us know how you get on.

F

PS. You'd be doing bloody well to get them to agree to move it underslung! Also Merlin...........it's got a very poor load lifting ability due to it being rather heavy itself.

Can 't see a Merlin lifting that............ What s the weight? 1.5 tons :p :p :p
A bit too much no? Good old Woka will probably do it on one engine..............:O

Captain Gadget - check your PM's:ok:

I will keep you all informed, - any 99Sqn boys out there willing to pick it up & bring it in to Abingdon?

Sorry, didn't think that the Merlin couldn't lift it when I suggested it!!!!!!!!

I remember the 25th anniversary event for the F4 at Greenham Common. There were 'wall to wall' Phantoms, of which one of the Sqn's at Wattisham did a lovely paint job. Tiger teeth, suppose it must have been 74 Sqn, although I stand to be corrected. I will try to dig out a picture if anyone is interested.

Does anyone know if this particular Phantom at Fairford is minus its engines???

http://www.arnhem.freeserve.co.uk/ri...2criat2003.jpg

She looks heavy on the oleos, but that may just be a lack of hydraulics.

Photo from http://www.arnhem.freeserve.co.uk/ri...2criat2003.jpg

Greenham F4
 

Blunty,

Believe the jet you mean was a 56 Sqn aircraft, and they did it again in the late 80's. Can't have been 74 as they weren't around again until 84/85 on the F-4J.

Anorak zipped up well and truly.

Blunty, I think this might be the F-4 you're refering to?

XT901

Regards, RP