The Yanks are...........GOING!

[Mega]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-30725366

Mike

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

That's a lot of local civilian jobs that will be lost and a lot of local small businesses that will be shuttered.

Maybe the area can battle to host the next Sasha Baron Cohen movie?

[GRG55]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

No problem. This is Britain. The Government will fix everything.

I predict they cover the runways and aprons with council housing.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

No problem. This is Britain. The Government will fix everything.

I predict they cover the runways and aprons with council housing.

I wonder if any/many Battle of Britian airfields have been preserved and will likely stay that way?

I've seen a few Cold War era airbases in the U.S. converted into large format big box retail, after initial promises of turning them into high tech hubs.

[GRG55]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

I wonder if any/many Battle of Britian airfields have been preserved and will likely stay that way?

I've seen a few Cold War era airbases in the U.S. converted into large format big box retail, after initial promises of turning them into high tech hubs.

I don't know about "preserved", but a few are still active today. Among the more well known:

The site of the RAF museum in London is at what used to be RAF Hendon airfield. The museum is excellent, but Hendon airfield is now a housing estate, so this museum contains no airworthy aircraft.

Biggin Hill is still active as a civilian general aviation airport only.

RAF Duxford in Cambridgeshire is now owned by the Imperial War Museum, which claims it to be the best preserved WWII aerodrome. The very considerable IWM aeronautical collection is housed there, and Duxford is also the site of an impressive collection in the US Army Air Force museum hangar. It's the only place I have ever seen 8 Supermarine Spitfires flying in formation (they combined IWM, Shuttleworth Collection and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight aircraft), something unlikely to be witnessed again (if you are a gear of the propellerhead persuasion, like me, this sort of thing is considered quite exciting).

RAF Coningsby is still an active RAF base. It is also the site of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight collection. Coningsby was a bomber base during WWII and the BBMF collection holds one of only two airworthy Avro Lancaster bombers remaining. The other flying example is the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster restored, owned and flown by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Mynarski Lancaster was flown across the Atlantic for a tour with the BBMF Lancaster in the UK this past summer, the first time in 50 years that two Lancasters have flown in formation (if you are a gear of the...considered quite exciting)

That covers the WWII aerodromes that I sought out to visit in my time in the mother country.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Nice!

Good news and representation then.

I didn't' know Biggin Hill was a GA facility. That would be a nice aerial tour experience for the BoB amateur historians.

I Had read a headline recently of a BoB chapel being disestablished, but might have been a storm in a teacup to get the blood pumping.

I didn't see the Lancaster twins, but had a nice big formation of Dakotas with some nice escorts in Normandy.

Jumping out of a C47 onto DZ A that actually dropped paratroopers onto DZ A 70 years earlier was a highlight.

But I still reckon the Gathering of Mustangs was an unforgettable sound with all those Packard Merlins.

[Mega]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

I live by RAF Woodvale so we see lots of Air shows & i gets of stuff flying over the house.........even this!
2008_0820Vulcan0002.jpg

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Cool, an Avro Vulcan Bomber!

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

I live by RAF Woodvale so we see lots of Air shows & i gets of stuff flying over the house.........even this!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5561[/ATTACH]

Is the Vulcan still flying?

Maybe the cheap energy will keep it going longer, but I thought I had heard it was touch and go cost wise as to whether they could keep it in the air.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Vulcan's left military service in the 1980's, and only flew as airshow demonstrators a few more years.
One plane, known as XH558, is still flying, owned by a private group.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Vulcan's left military service in the 1980's, and only flew as airshow demonstrators a few more years.
One plane, known as XH558, is still flying, owned by a private group.

That's the one! XH558.

Is it still flying?

I thought I heard things were getting really tight whether they could keep it in the air.

The fuel burn on that thing must be enormous.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Seems to be still flying.
Here's the group's website http://www.vulcantothesky.org/

Yes, fuel burn in a heavy bomber is enormous.
I think a saw a figure for the B-2 stealth bomber at about 1,250 pound per hour at idle and 8,000 lbs per hour at full throttle

There are real pilots around iTulip who would know better than me, but I would guess the total operating cost of XH558 might be more maintenance and insurance than fuel, even at the huge burn rates.

[GRG55]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Seems to be still flying.
Here's the group's website http://www.vulcantothesky.org/

Yes, fuel burn in a heavy bomber is enormous.
I think a saw a figure for the B-2 stealth bomber at about 1,250 pound per hour at idle and 8,000 lbs per hour at full throttle

There are real pilots around iTulip who would know better than me, but I would guess the total operating cost of XH558 might be more maintenance and insurance than fuel, even at the huge burn rates.

Kudos to the dedicated group that is keeping Vulcan AH558 in the air!

The Vulcan was certainly thirsty. During its only real combat mission ever, the bombing raids on the Falklands, each Vulcan bomber had to be refueled 5 times in the air* by British air tankers, that themselves had to be air-to-air refueled by each other in a relay formation in order to get the Vulcans out from and back to Ascension Island. It was Britain's modern day, higher tech version of the Doolittle Raid, more to discourage the enemy than to inflict any serious damage.

These sorts of historical display aircraft are usually owned by museums, non-profit trusts or organizations such as the Experiment Aircraft Association (EAA) and much of the work is done by volunteers. Lots of money is required to restore these old historical aircraft, but they become labours of love, especially for people that used to build, fly or maintain them, and that is where the much of the volunteer flight and maintenance crew originally comes from. LOTS of skilled volunteer labour is the only way this sort of thing is viable. The restoration funding is usually a combination of donations, other fund raising efforts and corporate sponsorship including in-kind donations from aviation & aerospace firms.

As an example, here's a link to a Kansas based group that has salvaged and is restoring a Boeing B29 Superfortress that was built in the Boeing Witchita plant. The B29 is an enormously complex airplane and progress on this project has been dependent on volunteers and the flow of donations, including hangar space contributed by Boeing Corporation.

The only current flying B29, FIFI, is one that was built at the Boeing Renton (Washington State) plant (from which the first Boeing 707 emerged some time later), and is owned by the Commemorative Air Force in Texas. FIFI underwent a major engine refit between 2008 and 2010 that required the raising of $3 million in donations.

Just as an aside, the most famous B29, the Enola Gay, was finally restored by the Smithsonian (non-flying status) and is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the Smithsonian annex at Washington Dulles airport.

There are a couple of models used to finance the actual ongoing flying hours for warbirds that are kept in airworthy condition. Those on the airshow circuit normally have the fuel and crew accommodation paid for by the airshow sponsors that contract to have it fly (and attract more attendees). Donations and other fund raising activities, including selling rides to the public, also fund the ongoing costs of keeping many of these valuable historical aircraft in the air. A few private collections, such as the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Texas, have wealthy patrons. Since they cannot be replaced it is not possible to adequately insure these aircraft against loss. Liability insurance for airshow events is covered by show organizers, and after the fatal incident in 2011 at Reno Stead I expect that has become very dear indeed.

I have posted this before, but if anyone here has an interest in aviation then a visit to the National Air and Space Museum on The Mall in D.C. is a must. It houses the original Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St Louis, the Bell X-1 and the Apollo 11 Command Module among other important historical aviation and aerospace artifacts.

*Ref: Roland White; Vulcan 607

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

... if anyone here has an interest in aviation then a visit to the National Air and Space Museum on The Mall in D.C. is a must. It houses the original Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St Louis, the Bell X-1 and the Apollo 11 Command Module among other important historical aviation and aerospace artifacts...

Thanks GRG55.
If you like collections of important aircraft, you might stop by Dayton to the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum.

They don't have the original Wright Flyer from Kitty Hawk, but they have the Wright 1909 Military Flyer, the very first US military airplane bought by the US army, tail number 1. Wilbur Wright flew it teaching the first army pilots.
And about 300 other aircraft on display.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil

[Ghent12]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Seems to be still flying.
Here's the group's website http://www.vulcantothesky.org/

Yes, fuel burn in a heavy bomber is enormous.
I think a saw a figure for the B-2 stealth bomber at about 1,250 pound per hour at idle and 8,000 lbs per hour at full throttle

There are real pilots around iTulip who would know better than me, but I would guess the total operating cost of XH558 might be more maintenance and insurance than fuel, even at the huge burn rates.

If those numbers are accurate, it sounds like the B-2 is incredibly efficient for its weight. That is to be expected from the design, however, since it is among the most efficient designs possible for fuel. I fly a heavy so I can make some relevant comparisons without going into details.

Large jets burn a lot of fuel, but they are typically fairly efficient at it given due consideration to all relevant factors. Consider comparing a tractor trailer to a Toyota Prius Hybrid--hands down, the tractor trailer will always be more fuel efficient per mile per weight load, and the same can generally be said of larger aircraft.