Vicky and Jono have been at the workshop this week, so far they have finished stripping the elevator, rudder and tail. They have been sanded, the tail and rudder have been coated in adhesive and are ready for covering. The elevator is ready for the trailing edge to be straightened out!
Apparantly Jonn couldn’t be shown working as he had to take the photo’s !!
WB922 was taken to Bicester on 28 Feb 11 and with a few gaps available in Dave’s workshop a few components were removed ready to start work.
The elevator and tailpane seperated, the ailerons removed from the wings and the rudder removed from the tail. Horrible split pins and some of the hinge pins needed pursuading. Adam and Phil were a little hesitant to force things and do any damage to the structure and fabric. Dave soon showed us how you don’t need to be kind to the fabric your about to strip off the aircraft – this was done by putting a screwdriver through said fabric to provide access to some bolts!
More soon!
These are the first photos of the Swallow, rigged and awaiting paperwork for its first flight. I’m sure all will agree Al has done a fantastic job and it looks absolutely stunning.
WB922 Launching in the Snow
For those that couldn’t make yesterday what a day to miss!!
We arrived at the airfield to find 6 – 8 inches of snow, Del Kitcher immediately got his car stuck requiring Gav and Brian’s recovery services, it was quite a challenge to all just getting cars to the hangar!
A tractor was borrowed!! this was the only way we were going to get winch and caravan set up and the Sedbergh and Prefect gingerly towed out. Everybody enjoyed some fantastic views of snow bound Wiltshire with 35 launches in all. Gav and Will both converted to the Prefect. Many launches involved snowballing the winch or launch point, no danger of any of us being called up for precision bombing for the RAF, the nearest snow ball was about 100′ from target! The fun didn’t stop with the gliding, what with Ben and Thomas Paynes sledging exploits and we had a tough job prising Andy Trickey out of Brut on cable retrieve, I think the comment was ‘once a staff cadet – always a staff cadet’ !!!
Prefect in the snow.
The first vintage flying of 2009 just squeezed into January on Friday. Although the forecast didn’t look great, the actual weather on the day was just fine for the barge. With the bitterly cold southerly wind blowing about 12 kts the launches were pretty good too – even on one of the shortest runs.
With the sunset still before five the early finish allowed work to start on renovating Barge trailer. The Army’s dust making operation at the other end of the hanger had left a thick layer of dust on the top. A few plywood sections of the trailer were knackered and have been removed so they can be replaced. After some brushing, scrubbing and sanding the blue paint dust made one person look like a smurf with a black eye. The trailer has now had it’s first prep session, but more will be required, as well as some recontructive surgery before it gets a fresh coat of paint.
Watch this space: 2009 is going to be a busy year!
Last weekend saw fairly thick fog sat over the airfield for most of both Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, with flying the Sedbergh out of the question, those assembled started the task of derigging the aircraft in order to do the repair work required after it’s C of A. Once complete, and with the conditions not improved enough to fly the Prefect the decision was made to take the Primary out onto the airfield.
Autotowing the Primary worked a treat just as long as you kept it below the cloud/fog layer. The bottom of this layer sat between probably 150 and 250 feet all day. It lifted briefly to allow Johno to do a lap of the airfield before it lowered again and we stopped flying when we couldn’t see the windsock from the runway anymore.
Great fun!!!
With the fog grounding the Air Cadet fleet for a good portion of Saturday – the Grasshopper was back out for some more Grasshopping.
Try it – it’s fun!
Hi all,
The Sedbergh C of A this year showed up some work that will be required over the winter. It mainly involves wire brushing rust and then repainting to protect. Unfortunately the glider will require de-rigging in order to gain access to some of the areas requiring attention.
I propose that after the Friday 28th Nov, we aim to take the Sedbergh of line and attend to the work required. We will of course still be able to fly the Prefect and Grasshopper if people so wish, although I realise this doesn’t help the non solo pilots.
Other work that is required – Oil and filter changes on Peugeot, Landrover and winch, perspex to be replaced on winch cab ( I have perspex), orange flashing light to be re-installed on winch, repairing the Sedbergh trailer ( fairly major undertaking!) and anything else that you can think of.
It would make sense to utilise Fridays that we would have flown (this way those that are doing the majority of the flying can get involved with the majority of the maintenance!). Although there is no reason why evening work parties can’t be organised for some smaller jobs ( oil and filter changes).
I will organise glider and trailer work, it would be nice if three of you came forward to take on organising the work on the 3 vehicles. I can’t remember who got the filters for the winch and where they got them from ( any ideas?) I do remember it was an agricultural place in Chippenham and that the engine is a Leyland 500.
Cheers
Tom
You’ll be pleased to know the Prefect is now staying until spring!
It is easiest and safest operated from a winch launch, three G1’s also flew it and had no problems.
Adam Clarke has purchased a Primary. More soon…