[Hornchurch]

Gawd - This FRIGHTENS me.......really does.

With so many of their kind having been expended as 'Drones'........
AND the FACT , that looking after a REAL airframe - protecting it from the
elements AND maintaing it's upkeep & preservation, is NOT the
'walk in the park' that many misguided & well intentioned individuals THINK it
is, the future of this particular a/c may not look too bright.

I hope someone proves me wrong.

Over this side of the Atlantic, there are FAR too many examples of well intended 'preservations', that have gone horribly wrong......& resulted in the scrapping of these a/c (Witness the Blackpool Vulcan, the ex-Southend Avro Lincoln & Blackburn Beverly & more recently, the very one & the same individual V.C. 10 that Corgi are about to release in 1/144 B.A livery) broken up, only three months ago.

As I used to belong to a restoration group at North Weald (Meteors), I witnessed (first hand) many others 'bite the dust', including a (once) beautiful De-Havilland Sea-Vixen (naval fighter, ex- 899 Sqdn Royal Navy/Fleet Air Arm - scrapped, through negligence......

It's final indignation = The film crew, on the set of what was the first episode of Spielberg/Hanks 'Band of Brothers' (filmed at North Weald, portraying the 9th A.F. base at Upottery in Devon), were unable to move it, so I watched them simply put an extended scaffold-pole, backwards, through the twin-tail booms & then just drape several Camo' nets over it all - therby making it look like a cleverly disguised, Heavy A.A. position.

Within weeks of the (finished) filming, the Sea-Vixen was reduced to scrap - lost forever

I just hope & pray that this F.4 (my all time fave Jet), don't end up the same way, 5, 8 or 15 years down the line

[admin]

Originally Posted by Hornchurch

Gawd - This FRIGHTENS me.......really does.

With so many of their kind having been expended as 'Drones'........
AND the FACT , that looking after a REAL airframe - protecting it from the
elements AND maintaing it's upkeep & preservation, is NOT the
'walk in the park' that many misguided & well intentioned individuals THINK it
is, the future of this particular a/c may not look too bright.

I hope someone proves me wrong.

Over this side of the Atlantic, there are FAR too many examples of well intended 'preservations', that have gone horribly wrong......& resulted in the scrapping of these a/c (Witness the Blackpool Vulcan, the ex-Southend Avro Lincoln & Blackburn Beverly & more recently, the very one & the same individual V.C. 10 that Corgi are about to release in 1/144 B.A livery) broken up, only three months ago.

As I used to belong to a restoration group at North Weald (Meteors), I witnessed (first hand) many others 'bite the dust', including a (once) beautiful De-Havilland Sea-Vixen (naval fighter, ex- 899 Sqdn Royal Navy/Fleet Air Arm - scrapped, through negligence......

It's final indignation = The film crew, on the set of what was the first episode of Spielberg/Hanks 'Band of Brothers' (filmed at North Weald, portraying the 9th A.F. base at Upottery in Devon), were unable to move it, so I watched them simply put an extended scaffold-pole, backwards, through the twin-tail booms & then just drape several Camo' nets over it all - therby making it look like a cleverly disguised, Heavy A.A. position.

Within weeks of the (finished) filming, the Sea-Vixen was reduced to scrap - lost forever

I just hope & pray that this F.4 (my all time fave Jet), don't end up the same way, 5, 8 or 15 years down the line

This is one thing that I was thinking about. How much would really have to be done, or expended, to maintain it if you could keep it housed in a temperature controlled building? This is really the only way I would think that it's upkeep could be managed by an individual.

[mikeb1958]

Park this puppy in your driveway and when your crappy neighbors bitch about it...tell them that there is a 30mm gatlin gun that will take out their house in about 5 seconds, next time they have a all night party with rap music!
Just wait until their 5 dogs and 4 cats crap in the yard too...that's what the extra ordinace is for.

[mhackl]

I remember on family trips always watching for a F-101 Voodoo that sat in a scrapyard off the highway near Oklahoma City. Then on one trip it was gone. I remember how sad I was.

If only I could have....

What I would have done with it I haven't a clue. But I sure wish I could done something. I hope one of our boys wins it! Because the recycler is an unfitting death for any warbird.

[Hornchurch]

Originally Posted by Hornchurch

As I used to belong to a restoration group at North Weald (Meteors), I witnessed (first hand) many others 'bite the dust', including a (once) beautiful De-Havilland Sea-Vixen (naval fighter, ex- 899 Sqdn Royal Navy/Fleet Air Arm - scrapped, through negligence......

It's final indignation = The film crew, on the set of what was the first episode of Spielberg/Hanks 'Band of Brothers' (filmed at North Weald, portraying the 9th A.F. base at Upottery in Devon), were unable to move it, so I watched them simply put an extended scaffold-pole, backwards, through the twin-tail booms & then just drape several Camo' nets over it all - therby making it look like a cleverly disguised, Heavy A.A. position.

Within weeks of the (finished) filming, the Sea-Vixen was reduced to scrap - lost forever

I just hope & pray that this F.4 (my all time fave Jet), don't end up the same way, 5, 8 or 15 years down the line

Glad to see other forum members taking a pragmatic & realistic (even if hypothetical) approach towards warbird maintainence & up-keep.

mhackl - saddened to hear of your tale of that F.101 Voodoo......SUCH a beautiful & graceful looking bird, even if they were considered 'a handful to fly' by their pilots.
Such an important Cold-War interceptor too & with (at the time) MASSIVE responsibility on it & it's crew's shoulders.

My greatest ever a/c sighting, was an F.101 lifting off (with an almighty roar) at the end of Woodbridge/Bentwaters runway in Suffolk (interrupting our football game- 12 lads & lasses 'slackjawed').... on an August Bank-Holiday in 1978. (seemingly close enough too throw a ball at it !!!).

Presume the one you used too see was an A.N.G. retired bird ???
How many F.101's ARE preserved ???
ARE there any R.F.101's in any of museums ?? (I Love my Monogram 1/48th


A friend who was a retired U.S.A.F.Major (from Mildenhall) tried to save a Lakenheath based twin-seat F.105 F. Thud (the only one) based there, as a B.D.R.T. airframe (along with 2 or 3 ex Michigan A.N.G. F.4-D's, still sporting their Yellow/Black checkers & 16473 A.D.C. Grey paint).

Luckily I photographed them, on base (summer '92), before they were ALL scrapped - He was unsuccessful in saving it, (Red-Tape) despite it having a genuine Vietnam-War record.
Galling for me, as base personnel were charging a £ 1 a time, to have your photo taken inside the '105, only the year before - but massive queues & heavy rain meant that when I returned 2 hours later, they'd stopped it


I pulled a quote from my earlier post to point out ANOTHER often overlooked FACT...... that Airfield authorites & local district councils CHARGE per-airframe for 'storage'......

That's why the (quote-mentioned) Sea-Vixen, that had come from the recently defunct Southend Air-Museum, was being pushed from 'pillar to post' - no one body or group claiming responsibility, or wishing to incurr a massive backlog of 'storage' charges, from Epping Forest District Council, under whose tenure is the famous North Weald airfield.

I've seen 5 or 6 a/c broken up there for similar reasons (including a C.119) AND CURRENTLY, 2 x C.54's ARE AWAITING THE SAME FATE at North Weald. Their fate is one of the most debated topics on Brit' a/c forums.

Could be similar reason why the current custodians of this beautiful Stateside F.4 are so keen to 'gift it' to a lucky 'winner' - keep us posted on progress

[MoMo]

jim Member




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If Clarkson has one, I've changed my mind!

MoMo