WIX Archives

Re: Twenty Tempest IIs were exported, what happened to them?

Posted by Richard Allnutt on Tue Apr 09, 2002 06:59:12 PM

In reply top Re: Twenty Tempest IIs were exported, what happened to them? posted by Tom on Mon Apr 08, 2002 07:19:20 PM

Sorry Tom... didn't mean to get into the subject of "when will it fly?". I had actually been meaning that with Nick's death there had been a long lull in the progress (even though Carolyn tried to carry the torch for the project) until Kermit picked up the project. I figured that if Nick had still been alive there would have been six or so less years of waiting for sponsorship. These unique projects do take an inordinate amount of time, especially when much of the systems level equipment is missing. From what I have seen in Flypast, Aeroplane etc. the progress has been very good these past few years... those cowlings alone must have taken an age, and a fortune to replicate by hand! Anyway, if you are actually working on this machine, good luck to you, and all the best!

Cheers,
Richard

: I'm sorry to spoil the party so to speak but if you ever l
: ook into the fuselage of EJ693 you will notice the distinc
: t lack of, well, anything! The rear fuselage is almost bar
: e and the majority of the work that Nick did wasn't to a/w
: standard, just static, so all this will have to come apar
: t and be re-done. We have contacted nearly every engine bu
: ilder known for a quote to get one of the Sabres running a
: nd usually get the reply of "what do you think I'm crazy!"
: although we hope we have found someonoe who will get one
: going again for us, with engine shops blowing up Merlins I
: 'd hate to think what would happen to one of these monster
: s on a bench test. If you saw the state of any of the part
: s then you would see why this restoration is taking such a
: long time, the horizontal stabilizers will have to be com
: pletely re-made seeing as they have suffered from the Indi
: an weather somewhat. The RAFM example is only being restor
: ed to static and look at how long that is taking, most of
: it never to be seen unfortunately seeing as it will be sus
: pended from Hendon's roof. Sorry if this was a bit of a gr
: ipe but it gets rather sickening hearing the dreaded "how
: long 'till it flies", restoration can't be rushed, especia
: lly when there's only a limited labour source and many man
: y jobs to be done.
:
: Tom ;)

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