CHOCKS AWAY! The newsletter for the volunteers by the volunteers.

June 2016 Edition Six

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Volunteers’ Newsletter “Chocks Away!”

Gill Peter Mike

First an apology. We try and get a newsletter out about once every three months, which means that this edition was due at the end of 2015. To be honest, Gill does the lion’s share of the work and Chris and Peter, as mere acolytes, do a little bit of fetching and carrying and try and look busy. Unfortunately this time round life got in the way and none of us were able to get to grips with the work until now.

That said we have some excellent contributions and hopefully our efforts will meet with your approval.

This edition sees a change of personnel in the Editorial tent. Chris has decided that it’s time for him to pursue other interests and has stepped down from the editorial team, although he has promised to continue to contribute albeit at a lower level. To replace him we are delighted that Mike Forbes has agreed to join us. In a previous incarnation Mike was involved in teaching and research in the field of biology where he wrote many articles and books. He was also editor of a magazine, so he should know what he’s letting himself in for! Mike also balances the team’s knowledge base since, although Gill and Peter are “air heads”, Mike has been actively involved with ‘old’ (not always classic) cars and motorbikes’ for over 50 years; he currently runs a 1969 Fiat 500 Giardiniera station wagon.

Although he had, of course, heard of it was not until he and his wife Maureen moved to Byfleet that he realised that they were living on its doorstep and he quickly volunteered at the Museum, initially as a steward in the motoring village.

Now Mike’s main involvement is as an Education tour guide, usually with small schoolchildren but also adults. He has also written a two-part article for the BTM Bulletin on Florence Blenkiron, the first of only three ladies to gain Gold Stars for lapping the circuit at over 100 m.p.h. His first contribution to this Newsletter concerned the graves which he tends, in Byfleet churchyard, of John Parry Thomas and Bert Le Vack. He has written about his experience as a Brooklands Education guide in the current issue.

You will see below a number of comments and criticisms about how we, as unpaid volunteers are often told how valuable our services are to the museum and yet many of you seem to feel that “actions speak louder than words” and in reality little is done for us. We know of other museums where volunteers are given uniforms, even given a free hot meal as a thank you for giving their time; here at Brooklands by comparison the “perks” seem pretty thin on the ground.

Tell us what you think; is it just a few grumblers making a mountain out of a molehill or is it time that the Trust upped its game? STOP PRESS!

Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2016 We were just about to ‘publish’ this issue of the Newsletter when we received Allan Wynn’s email with the great news that we had won one of this year’s Queen’s Awards for Voluntary Service! Allan’s praise of our work for the Museum is fulsome and should go some way to alleviating our worries that our efforts are not fully appreciated by ‘them up there’. Don’t forget that someone had to nominate us to the Queen’s Voluntary Service Committee; was that a volunteer or, more likely, one or more of the Trustees and/or Staff?

Can we hope that our pleas for attending to maintenance and safety issues, some of which are detailed in the letters section of this newsletter, will now be taken more seriously? It would be most appreciated, as well, if Director and Trustees could stroll around occasionally to have a chat with volunteers.

The Editors

SOME WORDS FROM OUR LEADER, John Silver

Hi All,

The Volunteers’ News Letter gives me an additional opportunity to congratulate everyone on the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS). This is the highest honour any volunteer group can receive and is recognition of all the fantastic work everyone does here at the Museum regardless of what, how, where and when. It took quite a bit of work over quite a time to gather all the necessary details to apply and we are indebted to Professor Michael Joy, David Hyfer & Wendy Grimmond for proposing and supporting the application.

On a personal level I’m immensely proud of what has been achieved by you all in my six years in this job but perhaps more importantly it’s been a real joy working with you all. To say I’ve learnt and continue to learn new things not least the sheer power of volunteering is an understatement so my personal thanks for all your support, encouragement & good humour.

This comes in the Museum’s 25th year so it all ties in nicely and now we will go into a new phase as the Flight Shed, Hangar & Finishing Straight Project really get going. I’m really looking forward to this, although I accept it will bring new ‘challenges’ but with the power of you all I know there is nothing you cannot achieve. Walk tall. You are the best. Her Majesty says so.

BEING AN EDUCATION GUIDE, by Mike Forbes

Most of you have seen school children, usually quite little ones in groups of a dozen or so, being led around the Museum by a volunteer with several adults in tow. They’re here for an educational visit and it’s the volunteer guide’s aim to make their visit as enjoyable as possible while stimulating their interest in science, engineering and history as they relate to transport.

Typically the schools are within a radius of 20-30 miles from the Museum and their buses should arrive at the visitors’ car park at 10am. As an education guide you are waiting (in the shop if it’s cold outside) to meet them as they get off their bus(es). Given that they are often a little late and that it takes longer than you might expect to unload 60 children with their attendant adults and piles of packed lunches, it’s usually a little after the target time of 10.15 by the time we’ve led them to the education suite which is off the entrance to the Strat Chamber. After a very brief welcome each guide meets her/his allocated group and sets off on their tour, following a time-table provided by the Education Staff of the Museum.

The children are accompanied by adults: some teachers, some teaching assistants and some volunteer parents. Typically each guide would have a group of 12- 15 children with two or three adults. These adults are responsible for the children while at the Museum.

The tour is usually about two hour’s duration and includes half-an-hour in the Activity Room where there are dressing-up clothes, a model of the race track and runway with cars and planes, a light plane cockpit to sit in, a reading corner and large-scale construction kit. The rest of the morning involves walking round the Museum showing exhibits you choose to describe. Not that you do all the talking! It’s important to maintain the children’s interest by asking questions of them and listening patiently when they want to tell you of their experiences, avoiding letting the same few pupils do all the answering.

The more groups there are on a given morning the more likely it is that you’ll have to alter your planned route if you bump into another group. This means you should have a broad (but not necessarily detailed) knowledge of all parts of the Museum. Further flexibility is required if (probably when) a toilet stop is required. The tour ends back in the education suite where the children sit on the floor and eat their lunch. The school has usually requested a visit on Concorde and after lunch each group meets a Concorde steward for a quick walk through the aircraft at a fixed time; it’s up to the education guide to make sure that his/her group gets to Concorde in plenty of time, not necessarily by escorting them there but by being sure that the responsible adult knows exactly what time her/his group has to be there. After Concorde there may be time for further exploration, depending on the time at which the buses are due to depart, but volunteer guides are not involved in this.

In addition to Primary School tours, as described above, there are specialist tours for older pupils and, sometimes, for adults. These may require guides who have more detailed experience or training in an area of engineering, for example. It may be that your background and interests will suite you to this type of visiting group in addition to, or instead of, the younger children.

If you are interested in joining the Education Team please discuss it with Virginia Smith, the Head of Learning and Visitor Services ([email protected]; 01932 857381 ext 248), followed by three occasions on which you ‘shadow’ experienced guides for the morning. Then you’ll do a mock tour with Virginia and hopefully become an Education Guide! It can take up as much or as little time as you wish, typically one or two mornings a week in school term-time. You choose the days you want to guide. The current system is based on a paper diary in the Volunteers’ Room next to the cafeteria into which the education staff enter the day of each visit, the name of the school, the age of the children and the number of guides required. You enter your name against visits you wish to guide and carefully note the details in your diary. It is to be hoped that eventually an education module can be added to the Museum volunteers’ online database which will allow most volunteers to access it from home.

Visiting the VC 10

Being an Education Guide is very enjoyable and fulfilling. We help the Museum in its important and expanding education remit. New guides are always welcome and more will be required once the current Re-Engineering Brooklands project is complete.

CONCORDE – IT’S A MYTH! – by Peter Knox

There is a popular concept that Concorde stopped flying because of the tragic accident on Tuesday 25 July 2000 at Gonesse, to the west of Charles de Gaulle Airport (Paris). Although this accident occurred at an unfortunate time in Concorde’s history it is not true that it is the reason for its demise. It’s a myth!

You must remember that Concorde was the first of its type. The rulebook was still being written thus when the accident happened they had to err on the side of safety. I would argue that one fatal accident does not and has not in the past stopped an aircraft type from flying. There was nothing wrong with Concorde and no reason why it should not have continued to fly. Apart from a small French wobble immediately after the accident both countries were committed to continue flying Concorde. Indeed in 2001 BA had sufficient confidence in its future to commit £14M to its refurbishment and Michelin developed a new NZG tyre.

Concorde’s ultimate demise resulted for a whole plethora of reasons. In my opinion the seeds were sown on October 4 1957 with the successful launching of “Sputnik”. Russia had beaten the USA into space and in 1959 were the first to land a probe on the moon. The USA felt a little humiliated by the headlining Russian achievements. Already fearful that they were soon going to be beaten by the Russian and Anglo-French Concorde SST Projects President J F Kennedy tried to raise the American moral by promising to build an SST “superior to that being built in any other country in the world”. Superior meant Bigger – Better – Faster. The mighty American aircraft industry having the green light proceeded with JFK’s dream. Some talks were held across the pond but a French refusal to co-operate left America after a brief flirtation with the USSR to go it alone, starting from scratch. (Was that a mistake?) Bigger meant 300 passengers – Better, well everything America does is better so I will leave it at that. – Faster meant Mach 3. JFK’s dream had some technical ramifications. By increasing the payload the power required would have to increase. Larger engines would need more fuel so the gross weight would increase needing more power and round we go again, but not impossible to solve. The requirement to fly faster also brought its attendant problems. The faster you fly the greater becomes the heating effect on the fuselage. With Concorde flying at about Mach 2.2 the nose temperature is about 127 degrees Centigrade. To fly at Mach 3 the temperature increase would be over twice as much. 127 degrees Centigrade was the long-term safe metallurgical temperature limit for the Aluminium alloys used on Concorde so this would mean a material change to say Steel or Titanium. Needless to say either material is much denser and consequently its use would increase the fuselage weight and thus starting the power weight cycle over again. The American aircraft manufacturers continued their Don Quixote quest. (In December of 1968 a Tupolev TU-144 became the first Supersonic airliner – another Russian first, just piping the Anglo-French Concorde to the post and of course the American dream.

Running as a separate and possible political issue was the anti-noise lobby in the USA. The Boeing 707 a popular large airliner of the day in the USA had four Pratt and Whitney turbojet engines with a total thrust of 63,000-lbf and was not the quietest of aircraft. The Americans expected Concorde’s 152,000-lbf of thrust to produce much more noise, and then there was the sonic boom. To some of the hyped up American news media this would be sufficient to deafen you or at worst explode you head. Silly statements and we all know that Concorde in practice was no more noisy than the 707’s. Unfortunately this did enormous damage to the acceptance of Concorde flights into the USA. It took a lot of time and hard work by BA and AF to overcome these prejudices. The knock on affect was that the thirteen carriers that had options to buy Concorde withdrew, leaving only the UK and France with a fleet of seven aircraft each.

The proposed production of 100 Concordes dropped to just 22 with only 14 in operational service by two airlines. (This figure was reduced further following the loss of 2 AF Concordes) With aircraft sales less than 20% of their estimates there would be no revenue generation to support further development. Indeed the British Government had to write off huge sums of past development costs. With no new development revenue being generated ongoing engine developments and those for an SST2 were mothballed. Equally the analogue instrumentation on Concorde whilst modern at the time of design was rapidly falling behind those digital systems fitted in the new generation of Jumbo’s and Airbuses. It was too expensive to retrofit Concorde. This introduced another problem into the equation. Not only did we have an aging aircraft but also an aging group of specially trained pilots and flight engineers. It was becoming increasing difficult to attract new pilots to train for Concorde on analogue instruments with the certain knowledge that Concorde had a limited flying life expectancy. It would perhaps see another 12 years or so and at that point Concorde pilots would need retraining. Would an airline be interested in retraining 35+ year old pilots? The answer to that question is one on which they would have to base their whole career. Understandably the number of interested recruits fell. Flight engineers are no longer required on modern aircraft so the role of Flight Engineer was going to vanish with Concorde. Once again the same question that pilots faced had to be answered by those prospective recruits.

Still more problems raised their heads. 9-11 certainly made a big impact on the American flight ticket sales and this was noticed not only by the airlines but also many tourist industries in the UK. We can then add to that the massive leaps in communication technologies which some of us now use at the touch of a pad. (Facetime and Skype) One of the advantages of Concorde was its ability to get customers to a meeting in NY and return them the same day. With the introduction of video conferencing there was no need to make even that quick trip unless they actually wanted to “smell the sweat”.

With continually volatile fuel prices nothing was moving in the right direction for Concorde ticket sales. It was the innovative ideas by the likes of Goodwood Travel and the stern effort of the Concorde Pilots that BA continued to post a bottom line in the black. AF was not as good as BA in attracting additional Concorde revenue streams and found it more of a strain to justify their Concorde flying.

My guess is that AF had seen the writing on the wall and not being quite as sentimental as the English decided to stop flying as they had completed and honoured their contractual agreement on Concorde. This was announced on 10 April 2003. BA considered continuing to fly Concorde as a sole carrier however the then current engineering support costs of £20M per year and spares provisions etc that were previously shared with AF would now all fall on their shoulders. It was a cost too far. Any black bottom line would go red. So the decision to cease flying on 24 October 2003 was taken. Certainly the pride of their fleet was not being flown under another flag!

It took a journey of 45 years to stop Concorde flying and many thanks must go to all those that fought the odds for so long to give us a flying icon to be proud of as well as something to do in our retirement.

LIFE IN THE BROOKLANDS LIBRARY – Phil Clifford

Some parts of Brooklands just chug along quietly not bothering anybody and quite often many of us don’t even know that they are there, or what they do. One such activity is the Brooklands Library. A totally unscientific straw poll amongst our fellow volunteers showed that most of us do not appear to even know that there is a library, or what it has to offer. In an attempt to remedy this, we prevailed on Phil Clifford, who toils away in the library most Mondays and Tuesdays, to write a few words:

I joined Brooklands in 1994; since then most of my time has been spent in the library on the aviation side of things. In the early days the job consisted of helping two library stalwarts Barbara Sants and Les Jealous. Barbara was The Librarian and any researcher had to rely upon her memory to find material as at that time there was no overall catalogue and no computer. The library’s content was recorded on incomplete card indices which didn’t for instance include magazines but did cover our stock of books. One learnt not to interrupt Barbara during her lunch break but she was a good sort, just a little shy I think!

My current job in the library includes dealing with aviation enquiries and donations with the invaluable assistance of Denis Corley and Andy Wilson. Much of the work though is sorting donated material that is: books, papers and photographs. Most of the latter goes to photo archives, which are in the process of being digitised so that in the future they would be able to be accessed electronically. Usually I have no priorities but often the library annexe starts to fill up with donated books and other material; and that means sorting this out before getting overwhelmed. As might be expected there is a lot of cross- referencing, for much of which I rely on Alan Blackwell and Harold Morris, whilst John Fowler works hard updating the computer catalogue. He and Tony Hutchings also deal with things motoring and Roger Bird is our motorcycle expert. Recently Peter Guest has joined us and helps out on aircraft matters.

For those of you who don’t know, the Library is located on the first floor of the club house and volunteers are welcome to drop in. Of course, as well as Phil’s gang, there are other volunteers who work on other days and are sure to welcome visitors.

Any material that comes into the library has to be examined with an eye on the museum’s collecting policy. Which is: does it have any useful historic link with the Brooklands site or the surrounding area? For example, we keep general information on British Aerospace and its predecessor company the British Aircraft Corporation as well as Vickers. The same applies to Vickers Supermarine, the link being obvious. Of particular interest aircraft type-wise is anything to do with Vickers, Hawker, Martinsyde and Bleriot and information on Avro and Bristol connected with the earlier history of the site. Also useful is material on the many flying schools that could be found here up to the Second World War. In addition, we keep a lot of information on individuals who have had links with Brooklands.

Surplus material, of course, has to be disposed of; not always an easy matter. Options include throwing it out of the library window, (no not really!) and giving it to volunteers. The main outlet, however, is our two annual sales. The next is July 24th in the Art Gallery, where we sell on surplus books usually at rock bottom prices. If anyone is interested in our surplus books, please feel free to come up to the library at any time to see what is on offer. You’ll be very welcome. JACKSON SHED MUSINGS RIGHT PLACE – RIGHT TIME. By David Markie & David Sulkin

Take 1

A recent visitor recounted a story told at a lecture he attended. The talk was organised by a group of motor enthusiasts based in Bourne, the home of BRM.

The speaker was a gentleman in his late 80's and spoke about the times he spent at Brooklands as a lad. At that time in the 1930's Health and Safety was not much of a consideration/hindrance and he - we will call him Jimmy - was allowed into the site free of charge and managed to make friends with those in the pits and so became a regular visitor

The essence of the story was that one day Malcolm Campbell had entered a new car in one of the races. The car was a single seater but the requirements of the race were that a passenger must be carried. Campbell thought his journey was wasted until somebody said ‘What about little 'Jimmy', can we squeeze him in?’

The answer was yes and he lay alongside Campbell, in no doubt a most uncomfortable position, for the duration of the race which Campbell won.

There was allegedly a photo of the pair after the race. The references have not been checked with Archives but it must have been a good story to dine out on for a few years.

For information: As volunteers we are often asked why several of the cars used for racing between 1907 and the 1930s had a ‘mini’ seat adjacent to the driver. This was to fulfil the regulation in force for some competitions that the car must carry a driver and mechanic. One gets the impression that, just like ‘Little Jimmy’, the smallest recruit who could possibly wield a spanner would be co-opted into the competition!

Take 2

Many years ago someone down on their luck was searching for a job, any job, to make a start in life; he ended up testing watches.

Some may remember the days when the Sunday supplements carried advertisements for life assurance and just for enquiring you would receive a pen or a watch; his job was to select the watches.

The watches arrived in a tea chest from China and he picked each watch in turn and hit it against the side of the box. If the glass stayed in place it was a good one and could be sent out.

After a very short while this did not seem like a job with a future, so, on a cigarette break one morning, he was chatting to someone from the caterers next door. He was offered the job as a dishwasher as the regular man had not turned up. Initially it was refused but then changed his mind as it must be better than the watches.

Now little did he know that the caterers were involved with Formula One and supplied the catering for the teams around the world. Within a few months he was at the tracks mingling with the stars and generally enjoying life a lot more.

There is even a rumour that the caterer was dispatched from Monte Carlo back to UK Headquarters to pick up some essential racing equipment but then, having run this errand successfully, he decided not to stay to watch the Monaco Grand Prix!

And Finally - Shattered Dreams.

A visitor exited our F1 simulator after a successful and rapid set of laps.

‘Well that’s not the first time I’ve had the chance to drive on a Grand Prix track but the other time was for real’. (Respect)

‘Really, which track were you on?’

‘It was the Hungaroring’. (Much respect)

‘How many laps did you do?’

‘Six laps on the full Hungarian Grand Prix circuit’. (Ultimate respect)

‘What were you driving?’

‘A Trabant!!!’ (Embarrassed silence, shuffling of feet, end of conversation, polite edging away………)

For information: the Trabant was a ‘Peoples Car’ produced behind the iron curtain during the Cold War era and was renowned for its reliability (very poor) and top speed (45mph on a good day).

Just to show, Trabant racing cars do exist! (Editor)

SIR GEORGE EDWARDS OBE, ORDER OF MERIT – by Tom Dolan

Part One

There were many icons in the aerospace industry during the 20th Century. These included Harry Hawker, Sidney Camm, Rex Pierson, Geoffrey De Haviland, Frederick Handley Page, R.J. Mitchell, James Martin and, standing shoulder to shoulder with them at that time, was Sir George Edwards, who was an outstanding aircraft design engineer. As a protégé of Rex Pierson Weybridge now had two of the Aircraft Industry greats.

Sir George Edwards (SGE) had a great interest in mathematics during the whole of his life and from the early days this was a great asset as a design engineer. In addition to this his love of cricket was instrumental in his ability to work with people and to ensure that teams functioned well as a unit and became a great team to produce great aircraft.

Sir George was a cockney born in 1908 and ironically his first interest in aircraft came from seeing Zeppelins bombing London Docks during the First World War. After primary school where he showed a real ability in maths, he attended technical college for four years from the age of fourteen, where he continued to show special talents in maths, physics and chemistry and was top of the class as well as school captain. This enabled him to land a job in the engineering department of London Docks where he was responsible for the certification of machinery. In 1932 he became an Associate Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and so seeking pastures new, he joined Vickers at Weybridge in 1935.

Early jobs in the structural section of the drawing office seemed boring, but his willingness to stick with it was recognised and so promotion quickly followed. The first important work was on the Wellesley bomber followed by being responsible for the fin, rudder and tail plane of the Wellington. With war approaching very large numbers of both aeroplanes were ordered, resulting in a heavy work load for the design teams. Despite this SGE found time to play cricket at Woking CC where the Bedser twins of England fame also played.

At the start of the war an urgent project was given to Vickers which involved finding a method of exploding the mines that were being laid in UK waters. SGE was given total authority across the whole factory to find a solution quickly. Working 24/7 the famous Wellington mounted horizontal ring of 48 inch tube with an electro/magnetic coil fed from a 90kw generator was born. After such a successful project, he was promoted to managing the Experimental Department which was key to developing new projects, where he worked in collaboration with Rex Pierson. After the bombing of the Weybridge site, the Experimental Department moved to Foxwarren off Redhill Road. Research was activated to pressurise a Wellington so that bombers could fly at 40,000 feet, thus dodging the enemy night fighters. Although unsuccessful, this research was important in the later design work of commercial aircraft like the Viscount.

While still manager of the Experimental Department he was seconded to assist lord Beaverbrook at MOD to improve productivity at several aircraft factories. This was a difficult job as it was resented by the managers at these other locations. Several months were spent in this dual role and MOD agreed that good progress had been made.

By the middle of the war possibly the most important research was given to Vickers. This involved testing Whittle jet engines using a modified Wellington with engines at the rear. Different engine versions were used and working with Rolls Royce produced important results and cemented co- operation between Rolls Royce and Vickers that was crucial for the Viscount , Vanguard , BAC 1-11 and VC10.

At the same time the Experimental Department was heavily involved in the bouncing bomb and it is sometimes forgotten the role that SGE played in that project. Initially designs failed to bounce adequately, but the cricket knowledge of a leg spinner produced improved bouncing. On Wisley Lake they tested for no spin, top spin or back spin and found that far better bouncing was achieved with the back spin (leg breaks). This was therefore adopted as the final successful scheme. Following the bouncing bomb the Experimental Department carried out work on Highball, which although it appeared feasible, was never used in the war.

At the tail end of the war SGE was part of a top level team sent to Germany. The team were amazed at the advanced work done by the German engineers and scientists, some of whom were brought to the UK and had long careers at Farnborough. Also advanced research work was appropriated and made available in the UK.

Just before the end of the war in Europe, Rex Pierson’s team produced a design for a post-war commercial aeroplane. The Experimental Department built the prototype and it was completed only six weeks after the end of the war. The Viking was ordered for BEA, but Rex Pierson pushed ahead with a revolutionary gas turbine powered modern commercial aeroplane; the Viscount.

TCA in North America when it became the first airline to introduce turboprop aircraft. The elegant flew its initial revenue flight from Montreal to Winnipeg on April 1, 1955.

Big company changes were necessary to meet the needs of the post war UK aircraft industry. Rex Pierson was promoted to Chief Engineer for the Vickers group and SGE to Chief Designer at Weybridge.

To be concluded.

MEMORIES OF WORKING WITH THE GREAT MAN – Mike Salisbury

My first meeting with Sir George Edwards was about 1956 when I was a senior aerodynamicist at Supermarines. For some time I had been asking Joe Smith, Chief Designer, if we could have a wind tunnel but always got the answer that he and Sidney Camm were the two greatest designers in the country and neither of them had a wind tunnel so that must prove something. (At that time Weybridge and Supermarine Design Offices were quite separate. This came about from the time in about 1936 when was sent down to Southampton to supervise the Supermarine Design Office and R.J.Mitchell took his drawing board home and said he would return to work when “that man went back to Weybridge”. A week or so later that happened and there was no more interference from Weybridge until after Joe Smith’s death in 1956). Sir George then took an interest in Supermarines and, knowing that Weybridge had wind tunnels, I thought this was good chance to approach him to make case for Supermarines having one. We arranged a meeting at Weybridge with him and at the end of the meeting we had agreement to have a wind tunnel. However my other important memory of that day was that the annual cricket match between the RAF senior officers and Vickers Weybridge was being held that afternoon and we were invited to stay for it and the supper afterwards. Cricket (both company and County) were very important to Sir George.

I always found Sir George very fair but he was capable of making very cutting remarks. I have a very clear memory of one made to me in the middle of the VC10 crisis. At the time I had recently taken over responsibility for the VC10 aerodynamics and we were working night and day to try to reduce its drag so that it would meet its performance guarantees. As is well known, BOAC were unlikely to accept the aircraft which were coming off the production line unless it did so, so the situation was very serious. Sir George and the other directors were having weekly meetings with Ken Lawson (Chief Aerodynamicist) and I to report progress (or lack of it). One day we reported that we had found a modification that in conjunction with several other changes would enable us to meet the guarantees and hence deliver the aircraft. Sir George turned to the Production Director, who had been briefed on the details of the change before the meeting, and asked him what the change would cost. He gave a figure approaching a million. Sir George then turned back to us and said, “Thank you very much chaps. Now go away and find something we can afford”.

We did eventually do so and the aircraft was accepted by BOAC. In the office the first mod became known as the “Rich man’s leading edge” and the one adopted the “Poor man’s leading edge”.

Sir George was President of the Weybridge Branch of the R.Ae.S. and every year we used to have a Christmas Dinner Dance at St George’s Hill Tennis Club. Part of the festivities always included an elimination dance where the men sat on chairs in a circle, the ladies danced around and when the music stopped they had to sit on a gentleman’s lap, there being one fewer seats than ladies. Sir George’s lap was very popular with the ladies and he enjoyed this. He had a remarkable memory for names and knew both the first and surnames of most of his executives, many of their wives and also many of the shop floor workers.

When the Commercial Aircraft division was formed Sir George took over responsibility for Concorde. At that time he did not know many of the Filton design executives and, as Chief Aerodynamicist of the Division, I was the only Weybridge executive, and therefore someone he knew, who regularly attended Concorde Chief Engineer meetings. As a result he would call me in from time to time to get an “off the record” report on what was happening at Filton. On one of these occasions he told me that the rather clever “spontaneous” asides which were often included in his speeches were, in fact, carefully worked out and practised beforehand!

In the period when BAC was competing with Airbus with the BAC 3-11, I accompanied Sir George and Geoffrey Knight (Chairman, Commercial Aircraft Division) to a meeting at BEA. In the car on the way I heard Sir George say to Geoffrey Knight that he had just had a very pleasant weekend with “Elizabeth and Philip”. Geoffrey Knight responded with the comment that “Margaret and Tony” were very good hosts too. I kept quiet!

POETRY CORNER – THE LOSER by Michael Barber, May 2016

His first win at Brooklands!

He’d followed her Riley all the way,

Overtaking on the final banking,

First at the finish, to win the day.

In the Sunbeam Cafe, commiserations

For her spirited near miss,

She sees him enter, moving to him

She brushes his cheek with a kiss.

Embarrassed, and feeling guilty

As his elation slowly dies,

He sees her disappointment

And the reproach in her eyes.

Elsie Wisdom – Brooklands banking

TIGER MOTH - Capt Ronald Macdonald FRAeS

During May 1947 I soloed in a Tiger Moth from the Cartierville airport in Montreal when I was 17. Tiger Moths are still flying all over the world. A truly wonderful airplane.

She’s a biplane from the thirties all struts and all wire, And she is the type of airplane that will never retire.

She has taught thousands to fly in war and in peace, And her popularity with pilots will never quite cease.

Her engine is inverted to give her prop clearance, If you don’t land her properly she will give you a bounce.

She is easy to fly if you give her your all but if Carelessly handled she will give you a stall.

Her aerobatic routine requires reasonable skill, But for the average pilot she will give you a thrill.

The open cockpit and the wind in the wires, Brings flying the Tiger a sense of desire.

To emulate the birds in the freedom of the sky, And indulge in the fantasy, to live is to fly.

You will still find Tigers all over the world And the echo of her Gypsy engine will never be quelled

1939 de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth

RON’S PAGE – Off The End in a Viscount - Capt. Ron Macdonald FRAeS

It was a typical winter night December 1957 in the Canadian Maritimes and my flight that day started in Halifax Nova Scotia with planned stops in St. John and Fredericton New Brunswick en-route to Montreal. Snow mixed with rain and freezing rain was prevalent at both en route airports so the runway conditions for a safe landing were important and ensuring the runways had been cleared and sanded was essential. In those days a completely clear runway was not possible so landing conditions were not always the best but if sanding had been carried out the pucker factor was greatly reduced.

The operation through St.John went well with the First Officer Don doing the landing and, while on the ground I had the company call Fredericton to confirm the runway 15 was cleared and sanded to which I received an affirmative. The flight time for this next leg was 15 minutes and on contacting the Fredericton tower I asked for confirmation that the runway 15 was cleared and sanded to which again I was advised an affirmative.

The cloud base was 500ft so an ILS approach was conducted with the runway in sight at 400ft. A normal landing was made but as soon as I applied braking I realized that we were on sheet ice with no effective braking due to no sanding! I said to Don, “Tell the tower the braking action is nil and we may go off the end.” I went full decrease RPM on the fuel trimmer switches and asked Don to feather 2 and 3 just before we went off the end into about 6 inches of snow which stopped us at about 15 ft. off the runway end. I shut down 1and 4 engines and advised the passengers we were slightly off the runway and to remain seated till we could safely deplane.

I advised the tower we were off the runway end and asked for help. The fire truck came out, almost hitting the aircraft as he skidded to a stop on the icy runway. The company arrived with steps escorted by a Mountie RCMP, and sand was spread to secure the steps and the passengers were deplaned onto a school bus. I asked the Mountie to sign a paper stating the runway had been cleared of snow but had not been sanded, as advised by the tower, to which he gladly complied. As we were leaving the aircraft the sanding truck was busy sanding the runway just to add insult to injury.

The next morning I ferried the aircraft to Montreal for a more thorough maintenance check but no damage was found and feathering the propellers on engines 2 and 3 had reduced any stress on the blades as they were in ground fine pitch, blades flat, as they only cleared the ground by 7 inches and the outboards by 11 inches.

Spotted in New Zealand: not sure if this is Ron’s Private aircraft or his namesake finding a really original way to sell Burgers (Editors)

ITV3 ANTIQUES FILMING INFORMATION – Edward Fitzpatrick

We all received John Silver's email about a film company wanting older cars for a TV show and I spoke to Laura Sunnucks of Spun Gold TV, who was a researcher and director of this programme. We discussed the various categories of Veteran, Edwardian, Vintage, Post Vintage Thoroughbred and Classic and I suggested that most people, including me, would not understand them; so why not just ask for cars between certain dates?

Laura adopted this idea and I thought that this would be the end of it as Mk2 Jaguars are plentiful, with only excellent ones being very rare. Therefore, I was delighted to be invited come along and meet them on Tuesday 6th October at 0900hrs in the car park of the Ram Inn, Firle (Nr Lewes, Sussex). I booked into the Ram Inn which is a gastropub and had an out-of-world experience. The pub is in a dead end called The Street and the locals all had unusual features and all seemed to have known one another for years.

Within a minute they had invited me to join in conversation with them and to help with a crossword and after a pint of the Ale brewed down the road, I was getting legless. Off to the dining room for a delicious meal, during which a procession of people with musical instrument cases vanished into a side room.

The explanation was soon apparent. It was Monday Folk Night and the Leader had two daughters aged (I guess) 6 and 9. They sang solos without song sheets and the little one would milk the applause for all it was worth before climbing onto the lap of one of the women for a snuggle. I was given a hug too!

A 17 year old fiddle player was the best I have ever heard and I crawled to bed at Midnight. The lights kept going on and off and the Landlord told me that it was the ghost...... quite!

At 0900hrs, Laura telephoned to ask me to tell the gathered car owners that the start had been delayed to 1030hrs so everyone bar me rushed out to leather their cars as it had rained buckets during the night. Drying a soiled car will scratch the paintwork and, sure enough, it rained again!

None of us had a clue what was going on but we were put into a certain order and drove in convoy the quarter mile to Firle Place which is “The home of the Gage Family.” Most of it is used for functions and I haven't bothered to find out more about it. I think it was about then that Laura or her colleague Harriet explained to me what was going on.

Basically, this was a second series of the ITV3 show “HERITAGE” whereby contestants would go into a room and be asked to identify the most valuable item there.

The car section started with cars batched by age and preceded by a benchmark car labelled by model and first date of manufacture. The car would be filmed and contestants could peer inside to get their bearings.

The benchmark car would then reverse out of the courtyard and park up. Subsequent cars would enter and the contestants would start by guessing whether the vehicle was younger or older than the benchmark car. The driver would be directed to reverse 3ft if older or advance 1ft if younger. I'm unsure as I was the benchmark car in Group2.

Having strutted my stuff, I parked up and got talking to Harriet who was (I think) a Cambridge graduate. Aged 25, she was making a career in research and with Laura had sourced, identified and valued 7000 items in five weeks!!! They were shooting several episodes and expected to be working until after 1900hrs.

Laura joined us and said that the background conversations on her radio suggested that my Jaguar was definitely the star of the show.

All the Team were charming, sparky, polite and very efficient; it was a delight to work with them.

I only identified one other BTM member who had a gorgeous Alvis TF 21 convertible in claret. The TF was the last and most powerful of the line with 150bhp on call and it was on my shortlist in tin-top form, losing out to the Mk2 on specialist availability and grunt (220bhp).

I headed for Richmond and in minutes the blazing sunshine has turned into a monsoon. At one stage I was reduced to 45mph on the motorway and I was so glad to get home.

I had a brilliant two days and was paid 45p mile too! Well, at 20mpg on 97 octane, all square!!

INNES IRELAND – Joe McMeecham

Following the article on Innes Ireland in the last issue Joe offers the following reminiscences:

When I was an apprentice at Rolls-Royce’s London Service station in Hythe Road Willesden NW10, Innes came to work as a mechanic. He always had us in stitches with his stories about his exploits on various race tracks driving one of his cars.

He had a Riley and a Bentley I seem to remember. He nearly always arrived late on Monday mornings having spent the weekend driving to and fro from the race track, so he devised a little trick to make it look as if he was hard at work under a Rolls or a Bentley. We worked with the cars on high stands, so what he did was put an arm over the prop-shaft of the car he was supposed to be fettling and dropped off to sleep! One day when he was asleep the rest of the mechanics and I gathered a lot of dustbin lids and at a given signal we crashed them to the concrete floor thus bringing him out of his sleep! The ensuing noise brought the shop foreman out of his office and poor old Innes got the 'rollicking' of his life!!!

Those were happy days (late fifties early sixties) Pity he is no longer with us"

ANNIE - THE VISCOUNTESS OF THE BROOKLANDS VISCOUNT “STEPHEN PIERCEY”

I first met Annie during 2012 when I was on my usual Monday Visit to the Brookland’s Viscount. John Woodhouse did the introductions and mentioned to Annie that I had over 4000hrs as a Captain on Viscounts with Trans Canada Airlines/Air Canada. Annie was very neatly dressed in the style of a Flight Attendant or in the Viscount days, a stewardess, and indicated she would like to know more about the Viscount.

On my next Monday visit Annie and I did a walk around where I pointed out the ailerons the flaps, the elevators, the rudder, the propellers and engine etc and planned a visit to the cockpit the following week. Although our aircraft is an 800 series the Viscounts I flew were 700 series, but the cockpit layout was basically the same but looks complex as you have four engines with four sets of instruments. However, I soon had her understanding the layout. One thing I always point out is the method for raising and lowering the undercarriage which is done by buttons i.e. no lever, like most other aircraft I have flown.

As interior work was still required “Annie’s Boys” soon found out that Annie was able to repair many things usually by needlework and when it was decided that the luggage racks needed new netting Annie sat down and figured out a way to re-create the webbing; a remarkable achievement. (See the first edition of this newsletter to read more about this)

On my Monday visits to the Viscount it was always a pleasure to see Annie who seemed to have a project in hand or was busy working with “her boys” and when lunch time came the crew gathered in the crew room with Annie, ensuring reasonable decorum was always retained; but of course the Viscount Monday crew are absolute gentlemen!

Annie has left us now for further volunteer work but, the reason Brooklands is a success is because of people like her and the Viscount crews who have made India Mike a must-see exhibit when visitors come to the .

Annie and her boys

THE CONCORDE CRASH - AN ACCIDENT OF STRAWS Part One, Peter Knox

On Tuesday 25th July 2000 the weather at Charles de Gaulle airport was clear with a slight wind blowing although its strength and direction was temperamental. It was not a wind that troubled the subsonic aircraft using the airport that morning with routine aircraft manoeuvres taking place. Concorde F-BTSC was flying special chartered flight number AF4590 to New York. At 16.30 (local time) it had boarded its full complement of 100 passengers comprising one American, one Austrian, two Danish and the rest were German who were due to join the cruise ship MS Deutschland in New York for a 16 day trip to South America. Little did they know as they were drinking their glass of Champagne that in just a matter of minutes they would all be dead. What caused the accident is the subject of official reports and many papers and I do not intend to challenge any of them but to present an overall view from a technically minded but non Aeronautical Engineer. What happened is still a question that is raised by many of the visitors that take the Concorde Experience at Brooklands Museum and no doubt by many others as well. In this series of four articles I have endeavoured to present the facts as best determined and to explain how many smaller possibly unrelated events could have contributed to the disaster, each one adding that small effect that culminated in the one and only fatal accident of Concorde’s 37 years in commercial service. Which straw was the critical and fatal one? I leave that decision to the reader.

Concorde F-BVFC was scheduled to take flight AF4590 that day. However, it was decided the day before that it would replace F-BVFA for the regular flight AF002 so as to give time to repair a minor technical problem on FA. In the morning of 25th, the work on FA was not finished, so F-BVFC operated flight AF002 to JFK while F-BVFB was heading back to CDG as flight AF001. This resulted in F-BVSC being allocated to flight AF4590. F-BVSC was originally due for delivery to Pan Am and weighed in at 970 kg heavier than the later Concordes. Unfortunately SC had a problem with engine Number 2 thrust reverser the night before. Although safe to fly with it in the locked position there was a 10% fuel penalty and that would mean a fuel stop on the way to JFK so the Captain decided to have it changed. There were no new parts available so Peter was robbed to pay Paul using another Concorde as the donor. This procedure took 30 minutes that afternoon encroaching into the flight schedule.

The usual runway used was 27L on the north side of the airport buildings as it is 1500 m longer than 26R. At that time 27L was closed for maintenance.

Captain Christian Marty, with 2 years’ experience flying Concorde, was in charge of the flight. He was 54 years old, not tall at 1.73 m and slight of stature having light brown hair and hazel eyes. He was keen on physical fitness and would often sneak his cycle on board so that he could keep in trim by cycling at Concorde’s various destinations. The same drive that pushed him to the top of the pilot's profession also made him an avid sportsman who would hang-glide over volcano craters, ski the most difficult slalom courses and who, in 1982, became the first Frenchman to windsurf across the Atlantic. Marty's 5,000-km crossing from Dakar to French Guiana took 37 days and he refused to allow his support boat to tow him while he slept. "I didn't want to gain a single mile unless my wrists and arms felt it," he said. He enjoyed physical challenges.

When asked about his taste for physical extremes of effort he replied. "For me, freedom is being able to choose my own challenges, I am not afraid of losing because there are honourable defeats." Was he a man at home with danger? He obviously liked the challenge of pushing and extending the boundaries to new limits. One must wonder if he allowed this attitude to carry forward into his flying. Had he, in the past, pushed the limits of Concorde’s flying envelope? Had he found that he could take off with other centre of gravity settings or other weight and fuel limits. Here I reflect back to the decision to take-off with additional weight and down wind. Had there been a previous occasion when this had proved successful? The results of the enquiry showed that the fuel trim pumps were in manual override continuously pumping fuel into tank five, although no instruction appeared to have been given, so was it a procedure familiar to the crew? Were they over confident about the ability to push the operating flight/take-off envelope? Did they get it wrong??

Together with him on the flight deck that day were co-pilot Jean Marcot and Flight Engineer Gilles Jardinaud. They were ably supported by a cabin crew of six – Purser Virginie le Gouadec and Flight attendants Bridgitte Kruse, Patric Chevalier, Anne Porcheron, Herve Garcia and Florence Eyquem- Fournel.

At the time of pushback they were already behind schedule. The majority of their passengers were to join the cruise ship MS Deutschland currently boarding at Pier 88 Lower Manhattan. They had to arrive at JFK with sufficient time in hand for the transfer, as the ship’s departure time would not be delayed. Did time pressure bias decision taking?

The crew were not aware that a late baggage check in of 394kg was not advised neither were they aware of 60kg of newspapers. The implication of this would be for the crew to miscalculate the total take-off weight and the take-off centre of gravity. Decisions were taken without full knowledge of the facts.

The crew were aware that the wind had changed and had become a tail wind of some 10mph on runway 26R, the one chosen for take-off. It was a 4.2 km taxi to the reciprocal runway 08L and there might be additional queuing. Did they have time? A tail wind of 10 mph may not normally have been significant but was it a final straw? A decision was taken to continue using 26R.

At the end of their taxi they had only consumed 800kg of their 2000kg of taxiing fuel. It was usual to burn off excess fuel at the end of the runway until at least the aircraft’s maximum take-off weight was reached. No time was spent recalculating take off parameters to ensure that they were within the safe working envelope. The decision was to take off.

To summarise

1 They were behind schedule. 2 There was 454kg of additional baggage and newspapers (unknown to crew) 3 There was a following wind (gusting 10 mph). 4 There was 1200kg of taxiing fuel unused. 5 SC was 750kg heavier than later Concordes. 6 A shorter than usual runway was used.

Perhaps we need to ask were they over confident about the ability to push the operating flight/take- off envelope? Had they done this before and if they had was it on a lighter Concorde than SC? There are many other questions that we could ask however we can now only speculate on the answers to those questions. Had other decisions been taken would 100 lives been spared or would what happened next still take them down the path of no return?

The discussion continues next time …..

VOLUNTEER at BROOKLANDS – Chapter One – by Gill Elliott

I started out at Brooklands as a volunteer three years ago. At the time I was on crutches after an ankle replacement, which was probably singularly unimpressive at my interview! However, the very kind co-ordinator who “induced” me – it was an induction, not an interview – gave me the distinct impression that clambering up and down aeroplane steps would not be a problem. There was clearly an equal opportunities policy at Brooklands. Subsequently, I was to find out its limitations, but more of that later. After that first day of crutching around and into and out of several full-size aeroplanes, as well as touring the hangar, the car-sheds, the bus museum, the library and the bar, I was exhausted, although the bar was a bit of a relief. Only later did I find out that one had to be a member at great expense to frequent that particular place.

But why Brooklands? After all I was a girlie, or more accurately a womanie, and what could I know about cars and aeroplanes? Well, I guess I had travelled in many of them – well newer ones, anyway, - I had watched all the episodes of Aircrash Investigation and I had done a lot of swearing around car repairs, especially when my husband was involved. I kept quiet about rebuilding my gearbox, replacing the suspension struts, taking the head off and doing roadside repairs. For one thing one just doesn’t do that in the back garden these days, not the roadside bit at least, and I was a bit nervous that the very keen Viscount team might find me a job. It was so much more fun to sit and be regaled with amazing tales in the Cosy Café.

My daughter and I many moons ago preparing to mend a Jag in our back garden.

There are very few female volunteers at Brooklands, so I was made extremely welcome and treated royally by all the volunteers. Not so, by some members of management, who were seemingly unaware that such creatures existed – volunteers that is.

From the start I was taken under the wing of an experienced volunteer of ten years standing. I quickly became his partner in tea-break crime. On that first afternoon half the museum was looking for him as he introduced me to the two-hour tea-break in Dunlop Mac. Looking back, I’m not sure how I could stay so long in that dreadful place - it must have been the company - but it seemed to me that I had definitely made the right choice in choosing Brooklands. A week later he organised a tour on Concorde. This was voluntary work par excellence!

Then came my first taste of training on the planes. To begin with this was how to open and shut them, but not straightforward doors as I was expecting. The BAC 1-11 involved two keys, operating the hydraulic steps, pushing levers, and dealing with strange locking mechanisms. That was just to get inside the plane. Then more switches in different parts of the plane. What’s more, locking up was not the reverse procedure. Sometimes, when the previous day’s volunteers had not shut the steps properly, we had to use a state-of-the-art plank of wood to shove it properly shut. One day the plank had disappeared so we had to requisition another one from supplies to replace it. This involved getting special permission from the Chief of Engineering Supplies and then filling out endless forms. Fortunately this didn’t take the usual several months, as an alarming queue of visitors had started to form outside the plane.

I learnt very early on that there were certain jobs that I should definitely avoid. One was helping to run the Concorde tours. I quickly realised that these ran relentlessly every fifteen minutes all day. I know my limitations. Firstly, I’m hopeless at rules and routines as out of sheer devilment, I always want to break them. All my life this has landed me in big trouble as others, not surprisingly, fail to see what’s so funny. Secondly, I’m not good at time-keeping, so things would be at least half an hour out at the end of a Concorde day. Only this morning I explained to our leader that my colleague on the BAC 1-11 knows I’m going to be late if I don’t text him. That saves an awful lot of texting. Our leader declined to comment.

One of the best parts, apart from the tea-breaks, is talking to the visitors. Bless them, they are knowledgeable in so many different ways and teach me a great deal. They are often really interested to learn about the exhibits, and sometimes they are simply hilarious. I really enjoy teasing them when I get the opportunity.

I am asked fairly frequently if the large parachute on the BAC 1-11 is for the passengers. With a straight face I say that it’s for all seventy-five passengers and I’m often believed! Never mind that opening the back door in an already stricken plane might cause a sudden catastrophic loss of pressure, never mind that putting down the steps might cause too much drag and never mind that all seventy-five grabbing hold of their part of the parachute in a very confined space might present more problems. It seems that the popular imagination has all seventy-five descending gracefully from 30,000 feet. For those of you who do not know about the parachute – it was carried on the test plane in case the plane needed to be brought out of an unrecoverable stall. Deploying the parachute would straighten up the plane. I guess the leap of faith involved in this is not so different from my visitors who believe the other version!

Another of my favourites is the window on the toilet door. Mostly I explain that people were less inhibited in those days, but one father explained to me that his seven year old son was very unhappy about the window. I asked the boy to work out why it might be there. His answer was that it was probably to catch people smoking. To my amazement the father thought this a brilliant answer. It was at this point that I realised that the father hadn’t realised that the window was for display purposes only, so I’d really dug myself into a hole along with the father. It took quite a bit of contradictory explanation to avoid severely embarrassing father in front of son.

THE DAMNED HANGER by Peter Guest

I am sure many of you will remember the title of the book about Brian Clough’s brief time at Leeds United and for many volunteers the Hanger Project was beginning to attract the same epithet. So I think that John Pulford et al deserve a pat on the back for taking on-board our concerns and arranging a series of lunchtime drop in sessions to disseminate information about the project. Between us, the Editors attended several sessions and although attendance could have been better, certainly for the one that I went to, “the management” did a good job of sharing information about the project.

I subsequently had a chat with John and Robin Voice where they literally walked me through the Hanger, explaining what was going on and pointing out some of the exhibits that were in the process of being conserved by volunteers. I wonder how many of you know, for example, that not only do we have the replica , we also have an original wing, see below. The Shuttleworth Collection apart, this must be one of the oldest aviation artefacts in the country!

During our conversation we touched on the museum’s proposals to develop an Aviation Heritage Skills Training Programme. You will have seen the recent advertisement for a new member of staff to lead this. Many of our fellow volunteers had former day jobs in the aviation industry and they represent a priceless asset to the museum in that they are able to bring relevant expertise to bear to maintain the aviation exhibits. We know for example that a group of volunteers is contributing directly to keeping the Dunsfold VC10 in working order and hopefully this effort will soon be rewarded with an initiative to allow this asset to be exploited. More of this later.

Inevitably, “Tempus Fugit” and as many of you will be all too aware the last Vulcan is now permanently grounded in part, at least, because the companies that look after the aircraft can no longer field the necessary skills to keep it flying. The Aviation Skills Heritage Initiative aims to provide training which will help and encourage volunteers to learn new skills and in so doing enhance the standards of conservation, preservation and restoration with the UK aviation heritage sector. Hopefully this will mean that those of us who have relevant skills will be able to share those skills with others and so preserve their expertise for the future.

However, some of you have become increasingly frustrated with a lack of response following the request for volunteers to work on the conservation of the artefacts in the hanger. John Silver first asked for help way back and many of you immediately stepped forward to offer your help. Unfortunately since the original request, although work is underway on many projects, for others the silence has been deafening. The original list of projects has grown exponentially and yet many of you have heard nothing and it seems that there has been little attempt to keep those that offered their time informed. Not surprisingly some of the people concerned have lost patience and have expressed no further interest in ongoing involvement. I raised this with Robin and John; and Robin has undertaken to circulate an update to those that put their name forward. Hopefully this will happen soon, before any more support is lost. RANDOM THOUGHTS by Peter Guest

I attended the Volunteer’s meeting on 3rd of September, where the New Chairman of the Trustees, Sir Gerald Archer came along, amongst other things, to give out Long service “gongs”. Well done everyone who got recognised.

Random Thought 1

The juxtaposition of three things in my rubbish dump of a brain raised a random thought:

 Sir Gerald once again emphasised just how important and valuable the volunteers are to the museum.  One of our longer serving colleagues asked for a new Brooklands shirt for the volunteers.  The trust’s last published accounts shows a reserve of just over £2million pounds in the general fund. There are about 800 volunteers and a bespoke volunteer’s shirt would cost less than £10 per person from a reputable uniform supplier. That’s £8,000 or less than 0.2% of the Trust’s reserves. Not that valuable then?

Random Thought 2

All the aircraft in the aircraft park are in need of conservation and those volunteers who know about such things are increasingly concerned about the increasing backlog of necessary maintenance needed to the airframes. As the museum has so much money in the bank and the rain is coming in, literally in one case, doesn’t it make sense to spend some money to fix the proverbial roof?

Random Thought 3

The Cosy Café continues to run on the basis of one 13 amp trailing lead from the Viscount whilst the work to lay a proper power supply to that part of the site remains half done. The notice announcing this “temporary “arrangement is dated August 2014, nearly two years ago now This is not acceptable, especially when a new Portakabin for Concorde has subsequently been set up “properly”.

PARISH NOTICES

PAT Testing

Two of our number carry out the statutory annual PAT testing of all small electric appliances on behalf of the Trust. The rules are unambiguous, fail the test and the device gets a red label and mustn’t be used. Surprisingly the testers were not allowed to immediately remove any failed equipment, although we understand that failed devices are now returned to John Silver. Of greater concern is that some people consider themselves exempt from the law and simply remove the red labels and carry on using the faulty equipment on the grounds that “they know better”.

If you are not willing to indemnify the Trust against any consequential loss, please obey the rules, even if you don’t like them

Do you want to go (to) FAST?

Earlier in the year I arranged a visit to the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum from my immediate circle of friends (yes I have friends) within and outside the museum. I wrote this up in the last newsletter. Since then a number of people have asked about a further trip. FAST will arranges guided visits on Tuesdays and Thursdays by appointment. Visits cost £7 per head payable on the day and include a talk, tea and biscuits, and a guided tour of the facilities. Parties of up to about 30 are welcome. (Breaking News: I understand that for an additional payment a lunch can also be included) If you are interested, please email me at [email protected] and if there is sufficient interest I will arrange something.

Help Wanted

Ian Kirby, one of our VC-10 Volunteers writes: “For many years we have been involved in trying to preserve the Sultan of Oman’s magnificent VC-10. We have lost a few helpers along the way and the museum hijacks others to prepare exhibits for the new facilities. We have the help of a number of work experience people but, keen as they are, they still require supervision that takes me away for the task I feel I should be doing.

We are looking for experienced engineers to help us reduce the rate of decay of the VC-10. It would be helpful if they have some aviation experience but any good engineer can transfer to another discipline without too much difficulty. Work on aircraft often involves being able to touch where you have to work, being able to see where you have to work but all too frequently you can’t do both at the same time, and all too often you can’t see where you have to work at all but can only feel the area. That is the real challenge to working on aircraft. If you are up to such a challenge or if you can interest somebody else, please, we need that help. Contact the Museum’s Volunteer Resources Manager, John Silver ext 242, who will be able to put you in contact with those of us working on that magnificent VC-10. Thank you in anticipation.”

SOUNDING OFF

Many of us have a moan about what’s going on. Just because it’s a moan, doesn’t mean the point being made isn’t valid.

Fire!

John Silver has repeatedly reminded us about the need for all volunteers to take the offered Fire Safety Training, although at the moment there seems to be some problems organising this. After a recent experience, I suggest that perhaps this requirement needs to include the staff. I was on the Varsity and the on-board smoke detector started to go off. I have done fire safety training organised and administered by the London Fire Brigade and, as far as I am concerned the rule is very simple: if a smoke detector goes off, you assume there is a fire until it is proven there is not. Therefore I reported the problem via the radio. The response was to say the least unsatisfactory. The on-site fire brigade were not notified. The staff “assumed” that the detector was faulty (true as it happened) and responded about an hour later. The faulty device was removed and, since then the aeroplane has had no fire detection equipment. Whoever is responsible for site health and safety please take note and the appropriate action.

The Dunsfold VC10 Open Day

The Museum has decided to open the ex RAF VC10 tanker parked at Dunsfold to visitors. The first event on June 4th will allow members of the public to see the aircraft taxi and then to go on board the aircraft. There will be a £5 charge, although a limited number of tickets are being offered to volunteers for £2. The following comment has been received: “You may be aware quite a few volunteers are unhappy the museum wishes to charge them £2 to visit the Dunsfold VC10.”

Free entry would have provided an opportunity to actually demonstrate the oft stated appreciation of their worth. Instead I suspect an opposite reaction has been triggered. The museum could yet make amends and organise a volunteers’ visit.

Time to De-Clutter?

How often do we take something that really should be thrown away and put it to one side, “just in case it might come in useful” only to find one day that the door of the box/cupboard/shed will no longer close. As the two photographs below graphically illustrate Brooklands is suffering from the hoarding syndrome and it is now past time when a de-clutter and clean-up is called for.

Thanks to Tim Gooding for the pictures from 2006 and 2016

AND FINALLY - STOWAWAY ON THE VISCOUNT – Ahh!

Thanks to Cliff Jones for this picture!