Not sure if anyone else has picked up on this, but the Vulcan guys are going to put another iconic British jet back into the air:
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/uploads/documents/Canberra%20to%20be%20returned%20to%20flight%20(2).pdf
😀

Good on them but I suspect it won’t gather the momentum or support the Vulcan got.

Well Pleming needs to get an income from somewhere I suppose.

Well Pleming needs to get an income from somewhere I suppose.

This.

I heard that while the fund raising was going on for the Vulcan, he was on 90K a year from the proceeds. I’ve no idea or substance if this was true or not, anyone know? (bloke at work who’s well into oldish aircraft told me)

“I heard that while the fund raising was going on for the Vulcan, he was on 90K a year from the proceeds.”

If true it was money well spent, and I don’t recall anyone offering to do it for nothing.

It’s a more historically significant aircraft than the Vulcan, in my opinion. That said, it’s never enjoyed the same popularity.

I’m fairly sure there are a few Canberras still flying; i think Martin Baker still use one for testing [edit – it’s actually a Meteor].

NASA fly some Canberra’s still for research.

I’d sump up a couple of quid if they had a go at a Lightening.

Or even a Buccaneer.

‘Fraid the Canberra just doesn’t do it for me.

Great aircraft, wrong organisation. I have no doubt they have the competence, but the methods they have used in the past to get there leave me cold

I am afraid I’ll keep my hands in my pockets for this one. I’d much rather support WAHT or Stow Maries Aerodrome

I remember looking down on a Lightning from the top of Tryfan. Quite a sight.

Yep.. I reckon a Lightning Project would probably attract more support that even the vulcan.
And the noise!!!!

ah but where would find a Lightning pilot short enough these days?
Rickets is a thing of the past now 🙂

If you want to see Lightenings and Buccs in action i can recommend Bruntingthorpe fast taxi days. Awesome. And watching a Victor belt down the runway at full chat blew me away.

Not entirely sure what the point is…XH588 was only capable of a couple of seasons of flying before being considered too difficult to keep in the air, and what was the total bill for that? Unlike the vulcan, there are already >10 airworthy Canberras out there…I’d rather see them kept in the air than another extremely expensive restoration job to add one more to the list

XH588 was only capable of a couple of seasons of flying before being considered too difficult to keep in the air

Not quite true, the only reason it was grounded was down to manufacturers withdrawing support (IIRC Rolls Royce couldn’t/wouldn’t maintain pulling the subject matter experts out of retirement).

Unlike the vulcan, there are already >10 airworthy Canberras out there.

Wrong again.

Sadly, today, there are only five Canberras known to be flying in the world, including the three highly modified, US – built aircraft at NASA. Only two of these are English Electric Canberras and currently, none are flying in Europe.

Also, for all the hate for Pleming, is there actually anything out there to substantiate it? I’ve looked and there seems to be nothing but “I read somewhere” or “I heard off of someone” rather than any sort of evidence of ‘wrongdoing’*.

*Look at what the average salary of a charity director is with the sort of turnover they do and see if it’s out of kilter.

I quite like the Canberra (I’m not into planes). I was deployed when it flew one of it’s last operational missions. Bloody bonkers things.

My Dad flew Canberras as a recce pilot and also towing targets for the navy to shoot at off Cornwall. We used to grow cress in a Canberra nose cone that he had in our garden and kept tools in the spent cartridges that they used to start the engines. I’ve been in the cockpit a few times as a kid (on the ground).

I really recommend the book “A Bucket of Sunshine” for anyone interested in knowing more about the plane and flying it.

(IIRC Rolls Royce couldn’t/wouldn’t maintain pulling the subject matter experts out of retirement).

And the Canberra uses the same engines? Painting themsleves into a corner, aren’t they?

As for watching Lightnings, take a trip to South Africa. They still have at least one still airworthy

+1 for the Lightening, that would get my donation for sure. Canberra, however historically important a bit bland by comparison. Sounds like a man who fancies a challenge – and there’s no bigger challenge than Concorde!

As for watching Lightnings, take a trip to South Africa. They still have at least one still airworthy

Thunder City? I thought that one crashed?

I suspect all their wives have got together, decided the husband’s needed another project to get them out the house.

Zero to nill chance of a Lightning ever flying in the UK again – the in service safety record was terrible which is one the major things that the CAA look at when giving permission. The events at Thunder City wouldn’t have helped either (and rightly so in my opinion).

Concord will never fly again as they don’t have the support of the design authority plus I believe that various systems were removed or destroyed by BA/Air France which are irreplaceable.

And the Canberra uses the same engines? Painting themsleves into a corner, aren’t they?

Er,no.

Vulcan used Olympus whilst the Canberra has Avon’s. Which are still in production 70 years later.

Absolutely no chance of any transonic jets like Lightnings or Buccs getting CAA approval to fly in the UK, you only have to look at the restrictions being introduced after the Hunter crash to see that, not that there was ever a chance of it happening anyway.
After the Vulcan there’s only the Victor that could match it for size and an iconic shape and history, but that ain’t gonna happen either, so getting an original EE Canberra back into the air is the only other big jet with a long operational history that’s worth doing, and that has a good sustainable life to it. They were only taken out of service in ’06, engines are plentiful, and there ought to be spares aplenty, after all nineteen countries flew them.
I’d love to see one flying again, alongside a Meteor, one of my all-time favourite aircraft.

Couldn’t the Canberra go higher than the U2 or is the story a myth?

Absolutely no chance of any transonic jets like Lightnings or Buccs getting CAA approval to fly in the UK…

A Buccaneer has already been given CAA approval to be flown. It’s just that the business (Hawker Hunter Aviation) who own a Bucc and sought approval for it, never had the work appear that they envisioned for it.

As you say though, there is absolutely no chance of a Lightning flying again in the UK. From what the old and bold who I used to serve with in the RAF told me, it sounds like they were made mainly of leaky pipes and easily rounded bolts hidden deep behind tiny servicing panels.

There’s a sea vixen confirmed for the Torbay Airshow next week , if that floats your boat

^ Ooft…

Revs1972 – I see your Sea Vixen and raise you…

Sootyandjim – Buccaneer?

Didn’t think the Bucc was transonic but awesome pic Sooty

Duffer – Great picture but slightly cheating. Nose door open and tail bump stop down mean they have only just taken off. The Bucc could get it’s wheels up really quick, even more so if you pre-select ‘up’ and rely upon the weight on wheels microswitch to keep them down until airborne.

I love this picture,

Duffer – Great picture but slightly cheating. Nose door open and tail bump stop down mean they have only just taken off.

I noticed the nose door and wondered whether it was a taxiing aircraft which has been photoshop’d… Perhaps not!

I didn’t really know anything about the Bucc until i researched it for this thread. It seems like it was thrust unwillingly on the RAF after TSR2 was cancelled.

It seems like it was thrust unwillingly on the RAF after TSR2 was cancelled.

In its natural environment:

Oddly enough, 809 NAS, which last flew Buccaneers off the Ark, will be the first FAA F-35 squadron.

Supposedly the USN was sufficiently impressed to consider buying the Bucc instead of the A-6 but politics got in the way.

squirrelking – Member

Not quite true, the only reason it was grounded was down to manufacturers withdrawing support (IIRC Rolls Royce couldn’t/wouldn’t maintain pulling the subject matter experts out of retirement).

The airframe was on a ticking clock anyway though wasnt it? And made worse by all the time it had to fly on vfr. I loved to see it still flying (our house is right under one of the flightpaths they used for the leuchars airshow so I saw it in the wild a few times, very cool) but… I dunno, it always felt like they were very realistic about the longterm prospects but maybe a lot of donors weren’t?

Buccaneers are cool, I remember standing on a wall at loch ness watching one do a low level pass out on the loch, then another came by beneath us, so close I could have hit it with a rock 😆

The airframe was on a ticking clock anyway though wasnt it?

I believe they were monitoring that with radiography and there was plenty of life left in it. But yeah, eventually it would have had to have been grounded anyway.