Last flight of ETPS Andover XS606
 

Well gents unless something drastically changes the old girl will fly her last sortie tomorrow 31st Aug . :{

sad to hear, they got their moneys worth out of her ! worked on her early 80's and overseas trip as well .

Remember supping beer in the 'front office' of said Andover with a tutor from ETPS whilst enjoying life at Greenham Common!!

... I hasten to add that it was on static display at the time :O

Thanks for the heads up Billy, any idea what the timings are?
It will be a very sad day as I look out of my office windows (at EGHO), many fond memories of working on & flying across "the pond" & all over Europe in 115 Sqn Andovers. Truely the very best days of my (27 year) service life.
R2

is going twice last one is something like 1430 launch 1600 land i think

Obviously MOD have got their money's worth out of the old girl, which museum are they going to donate her to?

what will be the routing OH Andover to Dover and then to Sleep......
 

Sorry, getting my wellies now....glf

So no more " 'and over on an Andover over Dover over" then?

One of my fondest memories was flying as Nav from Kubinka to Riga then Aalborg and landing back at Boscombe on a Friday in one of the three Andovers, in this case Open Skies. A week later literally, me and the family were on our way to NZ for a new life - but strangely there is a large amount of fondness here in the RNZAF for the capabilities the Andover delivered.

I flew in all three at BD and all presented different role challenges - it was not so much about the airframe and avionics - more what it allowed you the flexibility to do with it.

Mind you the water meth requirements was a great excuse for a night stop in some nice places

Nice Picture here:

Photos: Hawker Siddeley HS-780 Andover C1 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

It was a great source of pride to me that at a mere 7 years of age I took a B & W picture of a camoflaged Andover while watching the a/c come & go at Gatwick, tens of years later I was working on that same aircraft (on 115).

606 has just gone down the approach with the Harvard alongside, farewell old girl! :{:{

NLH

Do you recall a hairy incident / very close call with an Open Skies Andover from Boscombe in about 1991?

A mate of mine from OCTU and BFT (I went METS:() he (KW) went to Valley was caught in horrendous and unforecast icing over Norway in severe IMC and worse, with lots of high mountains all around.:eek::eek:

The accumulation of ice was so bad that not only were the wings carrying inches of ice on the leading edges, the engine intakes too were getting smaller and with it the thrust. The only solution was to find some warmer air by decending which couldn't be done due to the high terrain and so as K**** couldn't maintain height on max continuous (dry) power he had to use T/O power (max chat but without water, as it been used), this and not just a little help from a switched on Norwegian air trafficker :ok: meant that they literally scraped into Bodo.

K**** should have got a Green Endorsement IMHO but instead got a bollicking for trashing two RR Darts - the ac needed a double engine change as the turbines had practically melted.:yuk: Several weeks later he had the job of doing the air test and flying it back!

I never flew Andovers so I don't know what extra thrust you got from water meth, or how long it lasted but I do know that K**** broke all the rules to save the ac.

Anymore Andover stories out there?

MB

During our prolonged flight back from Belize on the last such trip (we got delayed at Washington when the 28V power plug was ripped out of the fuselage by the handling agents along with the port u/c door strut!) we got bad icing IIRC somewhere between Iceland & Greenland, similar story as above, lots of (diminishing) power & the Atlantic coming closer by the second. Not sure at what altitude it happend (blinking low though!) there was a series of very audible thumps as the ice departed wings, intakes & every other exposed bits, plus a collective sigh from those of us in the back & a resumption of the never ending game of bridge :D

Madbob,

My time was a lot later - 2003 to 2005. I had spent many years on the Nimrod before I moved to BD and HATS. I must admit that the sheer variety of the flying was wonderful. One week stands out where I spent the mornings doing various types of airdrop from a C-130K. After landing I would walk across to an Andover to fly Millimetric Radar Trials - and then home for tea and biccies!!

Biggest drama I had with XS606 was on an Air Test where the Starboard Overwing Hatch fell out on the take off run.

Those were the days - when flying was fun - and not so long ago either :}

I took this snap as it was doing circuits and approaches at Hurn on Friday morning.

Had no idea it was likely to be the last flight though.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...Y/andover2.jpg

I'm told that the old girl's last trip went largely unmarked beyond the aircrew. An instructional sortie, then shut down and chocks in. A significant proportion of the flight test community worldwide have flown that ac during training, and 44-odd years of service is not bad!

I guess times have changed, and management have little interest in machinery, nor feeling for the history at BDN. Methinks, though, that QQ missed a chance to highlight the fact that they are replacing 606 with something newer...

Au revoir, 606, I enjoyed flying you (even the day you slid off the runway at Duxford when your hydraulics failed...!)

Recall that sometime in the early eighties 606 ended up inverted with a control cable snagging, took a bit of sorting out ! cant remember who at the time ! also used to love the evac training for the new TP course members , out the side window and using the rope, very entertaining ! think its on the Test Pilot series somewhere.

Any idea of its final destination? One hopes it survives in a museum at least..

Looks as if the poor old girl is going to be scrapped....thats what I was told!
And the VAAC Harrier is going to be sold abroad in tjhe US.
Be nice if they both went to Cosford.

Would be nice if it was to be made part of the 'new' Heritage Centre at Woodford.