Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Marks DTM Calib on 27 August 2007, 09:19:53
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......long live british engineering!
Well, a certain plane which is very close to my heart has now had its Major completed ready for first flight. For me this is great news as this aircraft is the last 100% British designed aircraft we did and its VERY unlikely we will do any more since the demise of our aircraft industry. It was also the building block from which Concorde was desgned and was used to test the Concorde, TSR2 and the current Tornado engines!
Its sad to think that this design was completed some 50 years ago.........
So yes, the Vulcan is back with first flight due in the next few weeks, this will be followed by further test flights and then a few displays this season which will be simple fly pasts until a display license is granted. See here for further details:
www.tvoc.co.uk
The fact that its back ready to fly is one HELL of an achievement with people putting in 16 hour shifts and working flat out to do it. I was lucky enough to go and see it in the hanger again yesterday and it certainly looks fantastic.
Interestingly, there has been a lot of items removed during this work, some 30 tons of stuff. As a result its close to being able to be sat on its tail and launched verticaly due to the large amount of power the 4 Olympus 201's produce (it was always hugely over powered!)
Last week saw all 4 engines running at full chat, it apparantly upset a local resident, not the noise but, the tiles rattling on his roof from the jet blast!
So, long live british engineering......even if we are no longer capable of designing such marvels any more.
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......long live british engineering!
Well, a certain plane which is very close to my heart has now had its Major completed ready for first flight. For me this is great news as this aircraft is the last 100% British designed aircraft we did and its VERY unlikely we will do any more since the demise of our aircraft industry. It was also the building block from which Concorde was desgned and was used to test the Concorde, TSR2 and the current Tornado engines!
Its sad to think that this design was completed some 50 years ago.........
So yes, the Vulcan is back with first flight due in the next few weeks, this will be followed by further test flights and then a few displays this season which will be simple fly pasts until a display license is granted. See here for further details:
www.tvoc.co.uk
The fact that its back ready to fly is one HELL of an achievement with people putting in 16 hour shifts and working flat out to do it. I was lucky enough to go and see it in the hanger again yesterday and it certainly looks fantastic.
Interestingly, there has been a lot of items removed during this work, some 30 tons of stuff. As a result its close to being able to be sat on its tail and launched verticaly due to the large amount of power the 4 Olympus 201's produce (it was always hugely over powered!)
Last week saw all 4 engines running at full chat, it apparantly upset a local resident, not the noise but, the tiles rattling on his roof from the jet blast!
So, long live british engineering......even if we are no longer capable of designing such marvels any more.
Not sure about that. We're still at the forefront of design, just no money to carry it forward :(
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......long live british engineering!
Well, a certain plane which is very close to my heart has now had its Major completed ready for first flight. For me this is great news as this aircraft is the last 100% British designed aircraft we did and its VERY unlikely we will do any more since the demise of our aircraft industry. It was also the building block from which Concorde was desgned and was used to test the Concorde, TSR2 and the current Tornado engines!
Its sad to think that this design was completed some 50 years ago.........
So yes, the Vulcan is back with first flight due in the next few weeks, this will be followed by further test flights and then a few displays this season which will be simple fly pasts until a display license is granted. See here for further details:
www.tvoc.co.uk
The fact that its back ready to fly is one HELL of an achievement with people putting in 16 hour shifts and working flat out to do it. I was lucky enough to go and see it in the hanger again yesterday and it certainly looks fantastic.
Interestingly, there has been a lot of items removed during this work, some 30 tons of stuff. As a result its close to being able to be sat on its tail and launched verticaly due to the large amount of power the 4 Olympus 201's produce (it was always hugely over powered!)
Last week saw all 4 engines running at full chat, it apparantly upset a local resident, not the noise but, the tiles rattling on his roof from the jet blast!
So, long live british engineering......even if we are no longer capable of designing such marvels any more.
Just a pity all it was designed to do was bring death and destruction !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Not sure about that. We're still at the forefront of design, just no money to carry it forward :(
Working with the Engineering department at Delphi Diesel, I'll agree with that.
Also, the V6 is all ours :)
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......long live british engineering!
Well, a certain plane which is very close to my heart has now had its Major completed ready for first flight. For me this is great news as this aircraft is the last 100% British designed aircraft we did and its VERY unlikely we will do any more since the demise of our aircraft industry. It was also the building block from which Concorde was designed and was used to test the Concorde, TSR2 and the current Tornado engines!
Its sad to think that this design was completed some 50 years ago.........
So yes, the Vulcan is back with first flight due in the next few weeks, this will be followed by further test flights and then a few displays this season which will be simple fly pasts until a display license is granted. See here for further details:
www.tvoc.co.uk
The fact that its back ready to fly is one HELL of an achievement with people putting in 16 hour shifts and working flat out to do it. I was lucky enough to go and see it in the hanger again yesterday and it certainly looks fantastic.
Interestingly, there has been a lot of items removed during this work, some 30 tons of stuff. As a result its close to being able to be sat on its tail and launched vertically due to the large amount of power the 4 Olympus 201's produce (it was always hugely over powered!)
Last week saw all 4 engines running at full chat, it apparently upset a local resident, not the noise but, the tiles rattling on his roof from the jet blast!
So, long live british engineering......even if we are no longer capable of designing such marvels any more.
Not sure about that. We're still at the forefront of design, just no money to carry it forward :(
The skill set required to design such complete complex beasts as this is now gone.......and in the modern competitive market, its difficult to see how it can be brought back.
Plus the word 'Engineer' is the most abused word in the English language with the likes of plumbers and repair people miss using it. As a result, graduates don't choose it any more so the skill set is further threatened and its not like you can get a true apprenticeship any more.
We are now little more than a service base country and the majority of services do nothing to bring revenue into the country....they just churn internal money around whilst leaching a bit out all the time to buy foreign goods.....
Plus, for the final 10 years of its life, the Vulcan brought a lot of pleasure to the masses.....
For me, the Vulcan is a major part of our history and much more important than some of the crap current lottery money is spent on.
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Great news mark :y
I remember when I was at school one of the test flight paths for the Concorde was along the Irish sea coast so we used to see it and marvel at it regulary.
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Look back over the last couple of hundred years and see what has come out of Britain.
Passenger railways,
Television,
Telephone,
Radar,
The first iron bridge and suspension bridge,
The steam engine
The list goes on, and I mean these are major feats that have changed the world not just things like walkmans.
What do we ahve to look forward to now.
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Look back over the last couple of hundred years and see what has come out of Britain.
Passenger railways,
Television,
Telephone,
Radar,
The first iron bridge and suspension bridge,
The steam engine
The list goes on, and I mean these are major feats that have changed the world not just things like walkmans.
What do we ahve to look forward to now.
...the jet engine...
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It will be good to see - but personally I would love to see XR220 restored
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Also the computer
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Interesteing thread for me this one Mark:
I worked on the TSR2, that VERY few people even know existed! I was the first RAF person to work on teh Tornado when it landed at RAF Cottesmore in 1980. I also worked on The Vulcan at RAF Waddington.
Small world.
Withjout doubt my favourite ever aircraft in order of preference are:
1. Vulcan
2. Shackton
3. Lightning
4. Comet (Civilian)
5. Phantom F4
6. Jaguar
Great memories of a now distant past for me. Great days, but sadly gone. GREAT to see the Vulcan project nearing its end. That is one wonderful aircraft and SOooooooo far ahead of its times.
I would love to se TSR2 fly, but that won't be happening.
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My dad has seen TSR2 fly - he used to be a mechanic in the RAF and it is their fault I ended up where I did.
(My dad was fed up of going from place to place and managed to stay at the same posting for last few years before finishing).
I have seen Vulcans ect flying, but I would love to see another Lightning
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From a distant past I am very well familiar with the Phantom F4, very formidable aircraft, and there are few things more impressive than standing next to the runway when an F4 takes off at night with both aft burners!
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They were running one of the Lightnings up at Bruntingthorpe (they have two which can be fast Taxi'ed) on Saturday.
You wont ever see a Ligthning fly in this country as one was re-built to full flight worthyness in the 90's and the CAA refused to grant permission to fly.....so it was taken apart bit by bit and shipped to South Africa where there are now 4 flying.....including two twin seaters. Yet another stunning aircraft!
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I think you carnt beat the sound of a Merlin ;)
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I've also been following the vulcan story very closley. Coming form Lincolnshire, I grew up with Vulcans (Scampton and waddington), Lightnings (Binbrook) and distinctly remember watching the Canberra flying over my primary schools when I was about 6 (1956) and it only retired in 2005! (in fact the americans were dissapointed it was retired as it was the best camera platform for intelligence gathering that they had access to).
I saw Vulcan XH588's last flight over Waddington before 'retiring' to Bruntisthorpe, a sad day, but seeing it return will be fantastic.
One of the most memorable sights at an air display was seeing the '4 vulcan scramble' - 4 vulcans started, running and in the air within 2 minutes. Here is a very old clip of a scramble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c3TUXkkFtU
Look what you have done now Mark - you've set me off!! ;)
I'm just off to fetch me anorak :)
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I think you carnt beat the sound of a Merlin ;)
OMG, now you are talking my language :y
We have a two seater Spitfire that flies round here from time to time, there isn't a better sounding engine in the world, she has been out today after coming back from a show, before landing she 'buzzed' round for about half an hour, almost a free show for the locals.......
i had to have a cold shower after that :P
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I think you carnt beat the sound of a Merlin ;)
OMG, now you are talking my language :y
We have a two seater Spitfire that flies round here from time to time, there isn't a better sounding engine in the world, she has been out today after coming back from a show, before landing she 'buzzed' round for about half an hour, almost a free show for the locals.......
i had to have a cold shower after that :P
You'd like tractor pulls in the states.
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I'll be really glad to see the Vulcan back in the skies again. Too much of our engineering heritage gets forgotten. The powers that be would face a lot of criticism if works of art were not preserved despite painting a picture or writing a piece of music being a trivial endeavour in comparison to the achievements of British engineering (IMHO). It's about time (and probably too late) that some effort went in to preserving it, especially given the scarcity of any modern day achievements of note.
Kevin
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I think you carnt beat the sound of a Merlin ;)
OMG, now you are talking my language :y
We have a two seater Spitfire that flies round here from time to time, there isn't a better sounding engine in the world, she has been out today after coming back from a show, before landing she 'buzzed' round for about half an hour, almost a free show for the locals.......
i had to have a cold shower after that :P
Lancasters sound better
Sounds good also includes the following vehicles
EE Deltic 2 x D18/25 on full power
GWR Castle when driven hard
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i am currently reading vulcan 607..the story about the vulcans that bombed port stanleys airfield during the falklands conflict its pretty good stuff and i would really recommend it to all you guys... when will the general public be able to see the vulcan up close?
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You'd like tractor pulls in the states.
I think I would prefer tractor crushing...
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I think you carnt beat the sound of a Merlin ;)
OMG, now you are talking my language :y
We have a two seater Spitfire that flies round here from time to time, there isn't a better sounding engine in the world, she has been out today after coming back from a show, before landing she 'buzzed' round for about half an hour, almost a free show for the locals.......
i had to have a cold shower after that :P
I remember the last display flight of a pilot in a mosquito, was supposed to be a quiet normal display over the De Havilland museum near London Colney/St Albans way but it started with the announcer saying " hear he comes form the left now sorry loss of pilot etcc....... " next thing the sound of the merlins changed pitch and two screaming merlins dragging a mosquito along at full chat ratling everything as it went over and was followed by a fantastic display as if the old boy thought what the hell i'm retiring . But i'll remember that sound for ever. Long live Rolls Royce. and their aero engines :y
Lancasters sound better
Sounds good also includes the following vehicles
EE Deltic 2 x D18/25 on full power
GWR Castle when driven hard
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British engineering might be dead, but this reporter nearly thought he was.Clean underwear required.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t6tJgdquU_M
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British engineering might be dead, but this reporter nearly thought he was.Clean underwear required.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t6tJgdquU_M
Kinelll. :o :o :o
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My thoughts exactly. :o
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I think you carnt beat the sound of a Merlin ;)
OMG, now you are talking my language :y
We have a two seater Spitfire that flies round here from time to time, there isn't a better sounding engine in the world, she has been out today after coming back from a show, before landing she 'buzzed' round for about half an hour, almost a free show for the locals.......
i had to have a cold shower after that :P
Lancasters sound better
Sounds good also includes the following vehicles
EE Deltic 2 x D18/25 on full power
GWR Castle when driven hard
They will do being pulled along by FOUR merlins :y
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Can you imagine what one merlin sounds like passing your ear ole at 10feet? ;D
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EE Deltic 2 x D18/25 on full power
GWR Castle when driven hard
.. and I can't stop listening to the BRM V16 on my "Into the red" CD for some reason. ::)
1.5 litres.. supercharged.. 16 cylinders.. 11500RPM.. 500+BHP
OK. It doesn't fire on all 16 most of the time, but when it does the sound can raise the dead ;D
Kevin
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Sea Fury is quite a soft sounding engine for its performance - I have seen at least 3 flying around - good plane though!!!
ANother sound I will never forget are a CLass 50 Diesel with a V16 in it working hard pulling 15 coach sleeper trains out of Plymouth (I was there on a course)
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I am surprised no one has mentioned the Great Vickers VC10 still flying after 40 years. As for the De Haviland Comet I'm not so sure it was that fine an example of British engineering. It may have been the worlds first Jetliner but the early ones were fatally flawed death traps. Rushed development and a lack of understanding of metal fatigue resulted in frequent crashes and many deaths. This rather blotted its copybook, caused a big loss of confidance and proved to be a bad omen for the future of British aviation.
Still Boeing learnt from Britains rushed and inept effort, built the 707 and never looked back :D :D.
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I am surprised no one has mentioned the Great Vickers VC10 still flying after 40 years. As for the De Haviland Comet I'm not so sure it was that fine an example of British engineering. It may have been the worlds first Jetliner but the early ones were fatally flawed death traps. Rushed development and a lack of understanding of metal fatigue resulted in frequent crashes and many deaths. This rather blotted its copybook, caused a big loss of confidance and proved to be a bad omen for the future of British aviation.
Still Boeing learnt from Britains rushed and inept effort, built the 707 and never looked back :D :D.
It certainly had its problems, in fact the world learnt about metal fatigue through that terrible experience, however it was overcome and the Comet flies on even today in the guise of the RAF Nimrod, albeit extensively modified.