A memory stirred - as a kid managed one year to persuade the parents to take me to Farnborough. WK163 was flying and turned away from the crowd and had the rockets going - deafened my Mother for a week.

Is the Canberra less complicated than the Hunter? I recall a Naval officer whose background was helicopters being offered appointment as last OC360. "But I am a chopper pilot" quoth he. "No problem - 70 hours on Hunters, like half a Canberra, and then convert to the Canberra." And he did just that.

The quoted £100k is NOT to return it to the air, merely to buy it, ship it to Doncaster and take it to pieces and decide what needs doing to it next. You be assured that it will take many, many times that amount to complete the restoration. I understand that its condition has suffered considerably from its aborted restoration and subsequent time parked out in the elements at Coventry. VTTS have a successful business model which involves continued funding rounds for a project that is always described as being on the brink of collapse unless, in the immortal words of Bob Geldof, you just "give us your ****ing money" - WK163 fits that model perfectly, doubtless with plenty of dramas to come, unlike XH134.

XH134, being a Canberra PR9, has powered flying controls on the ailerons and rudder. These systems are irreversible with no mechanical reversion so, in the highly unlikely event of a total hydraulics failure, the PR9 is unflyable. Unfortunately that probably puts XH134 in a category the CAA label as 'Complex'.

Every other mark of Canberra will have manual flying controls throughout and is therefore categorised as 'Intermediate'.

Fair play to them. But I'd much rather see a Lightning or Buccaneer back in flight.

Surely then MidAir/C2Aviation would never have got XH134 back in the air under CAA regs as we know the Vulcan has been (and likely only ever be) the only 'complex' jet operated on a PtF, and MidAir flew XH134 for at least 12 months on the display circuit in 2013-4.

???

For as much regard as I personally have for the Canberra, I'm afraid it just doesn't have the 'wow-factor' - no matter
how well credentialled that particular airframe might be.
Then, as Mr Peacock mentioned above, it's a PR.9 with no manual reversion.
Give WK163 a nice polish, a touch of paint and display it in a museum, where it properly belongs.

I really don't think the VVTS have properly done their homework.


Anyway, if you're going to go to all that trouble and expense, better to get a Lightning up and flying on the display circuit.
South Africa have done it.
More chance of getting the punters (sorry, enthusiasts) to part with their pounds, I think.
.

:ugh:

No.....VTTS have acquired the non-airworthy ex-Classic Flight B.2 WK163, the PR.9 WH134 is the one owned by MidAir and currently up for sale.

Quite right.
Thank you for the correction. :ok:

Anyway, the basis of my post remains.

Vulcan=Wow!, Canberra = yawn! Good luck anyway.

Pontius

re:Anson, Wiki is definitely wrong.

BAE Systems owns a C.19, G-AHKX, which is maintained and flown out of Old Warden, while another Mk.19, G-VROE, is owned by Air Atlantique/Classic Air Force/insert name here and flies in post war RAF training colours.

And they both look absolutely splendid!

Martin

Except that CAF at Coventry has ceased flying and is looking to sell all the fleet, hence the Canberra going to VttS

V1

Don't the Vulcan pilots and the 'charity' staff take a sizeable salary for themselves...?

When i heard that, it put me off donating. It's paying for an Old Boy's flying club.

VTTS need an un-airworthy airframe with all the associated costs and labour to fund a return to flight to support the team they have assembled. A ready to fly Canberra would not generate the work and funds to support their business model

Exactly.

I'm afraid I take everything that VTTS claim with a pinch of salt.

I dare say they do indeed have 6 x Avons, as a package with WK163, but to claim they are flight capable is hardly true, given the fact that CF/AA trawled the globe for some after the FOD damage.

This is from a new snippet posted by them elsewhere on the net back in 2012.

"From Steve Bridgewater at CAT/Airbase.

'Currently on “ a slow boat from California ” is a Rolls Royce Avon 109 engine that we are hoping and praying will be serviceable and allow Canberra WK163 to take to the skies once again!

As you are probably well aware the team has been working long and hard to source a replacement engine after WK163 suffered FOD ingestion on take-off from Coventry a few years ago. We have literally scoured the globe and explored numerous leads of inquiry but, until now, have drawn a blank.

However, we now seem to have sourced an engine which, on first inspection, looks useable. The paperwork (normally the major stumbling block) looks OK and the engine is inhibited. It is now en route to us for a full inspection and testing and, if all is well, we will aim to purchase it and install it in WK163.

There are, in fact, a couple of engines from the same source and if funds can be secured we will try to acquire at least one spare as well. '

Sadly, when that Avon 109 arrived at Coventry it was found it had sustained damage beyond repair during transit, and so, that's why WK163 has remained on the ground ever since.

Back in '57 I was a ten-year-old, living in Oz. Already becoming an aviation nut, I missed hearing of the altitude record. Wiki isn't much help. Can anyone point me to more information on this please?

It might be a wow; if they install the rocket motor again! :E

I would hope they go for the classic clean wing, black and grey look.

WK163 Archives - This Day in Aviation

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarch...0-%201291.html

A small amount here: THE ENGLISH ELECTRIC CANBERRA but a bit of you know what with this info might throw up something.

Ah, belay that. Archimedes has the better link.


'a