Issue No. 9 Summer 2003 th RUN DAY 2003! Sunday June 15 2003 Full of confidence, Paul then contacted De Havilland Aviation at Swansea who operates the world’s only Is nearly here, and all involved in the planning have flying Sea Vixen, based at Bournemouth. Paul knows b een burning the midnight oil to make sure XM655 is the chaps down there as his Vulcan cockpit XH537 is ready and that all the paperwork, insurance and also on site. Again, if you don't ask.….. and some publicity is completed in time. days later, a call from Brian Lewis confirmed that yes, the Sea Vixen will come to Wellesbourne of the 15th, We hope to see as many of you as possible on the 15th sporting its new colour scheme. Brian added that the June. This being also Fathers Day could make a great Vampire would also turn up for a flypast. day out for dad or granddad! We do have some competition as on the same day there is a classic During all this, our Chairman Derek Powell was airshow on at Kemble and Cockpit Fest at the Newark contacted by someone who wanted to bring his Air Museum. classic car along. Derek was then asked, "Would you like the RAF Display Jaguar to flypast the run day on Here's a taster of what we have confirmed to date. As the 15th"? Of course Derek said yes, and a few days always, the appearances are subject to aircraft later he was informed that the Jaguar would take on serviceabil ity and events outside our control. Towards extra fuel that day and would fly past Wellesbourne. the end of the day on previous run days, the volunteers pack XM655 away and we often agree that it would be The resident Antonov AN Colt, the worlds biggest nice to have 'something' fly in. The favourite single engined bi plane will be over with us and you 'something' is always the RAF Red Arrows. So, back in will be able to look around as well as find out how Feb ruary we wrote to Strike Command asking if we you can enjoy a flight in it. It is also planned for it to could have the Red Arrows at Wellesbourne. (Working take off and carry out a short display. on the basis that if you don't ask......) Indeed, one aviation publication is promoting our run Soon after, Paul Hartley got a phone call from a lady day as a Wellesbourne Air Day! from RAF Scampton asking for Ordnance Survey Grid References for Wellesbourne Mountford. A quick look The 15th June should be a fantastic day and the on the Airfield web site and the details were given, control tower will be, by the sounds of it, very busy. followed by “Why?” - and Paul was politely informed We will hopefully have timings of the appearances that the Red Arrows were coming to us at near to the 15th, and we will put them up on the web Wellesbourne on the 15th June. The conversation site - www.xm655.co.uk. finished and Paul had this silly grin on his face for several days. The paperwork arrived and the CAA Back on the ground, we have some classic cars informed, and that was it. So we have the RAF Red coming on the day, plus a selection of stalls providing Arrows performing a fly past for us! memorabilia along with hot and cold food and drinks. We will have a PA system this year, so one of us will For those who are local, listen out to our radio ads chat to you to let you know what’s flying in next! on the Bear 102 FM that week. IN THIS ISSUE…………. Page 1 Run Day 2003 Page 2 Engineering Report Page 3 Engineering Report & AGM Page 4 Brakes!!! – a piece on XM655 Page 5 Volunteer Profile Page 6 Run Day Guest Line Up Page 7 Financial Report Page 8 Financial Report & MaPS News Page 9 MaPS Merchandise 655 NEWS 1 ENGINEERING REPORT has been assembled and run and it just remains By Derek Powell to dry run the engines on 655 with it. This is expected to take place within the next week or As usual, I would like to start my report by saying a big so. thank you to the members of the Saturday working party who have turned up to work on 655 right In November, BEAGLE AIRCRAFT provided us throughout the Winter which included some really with a superb set of new jet pipe blanks to nasty stuff. Thanks to their efforts progress has been replace our very tatty set. What a difference they made with both the aircraft and also the ground have made to the aircraft’s looks. support facilities which are essential if we are to keep As a small token of appreciation for the work 655 in as full a working order as possible. Beagle have done for us, Richard Dick, Ruth and myself went down to Beagle to present Back in October we realised that we needed more Managing Director Rob Ludford with a framed workshop area to enable us to put a few ideas into photo of 655 signed by the aircrew. practice, most notably that we should have a backup During the middle of last year we became aware system to start the engines if we have a problem with of an Olympus 301 engine situated at RAF Brize our trusty Volkswagen airstart. We already had in our Norton. Although a non- runner it had a number possession the bulk of two Palouste engines and a of pieces of ancillary equipment over which we dismantled 15ft x12ft metal building, which we had cast covetous eyes. After much negotiation with purchased some time ago. Just as importantly we now the MoD the CO of Brize allowed us to make two had the services of a new member, Eric Ranshaw. Eric trips to the station over the Christmas period to had attended a presentation about 655, which I had recover spares. Everyone at Brize with whom given to members of the Rugby branch of the Institute we came into contact was most interested in of Mechanical Engineers. He was SO impressed by my what we are doing and went out of their way to talk that he decided to come along and give us a hand help. at Wellesbourne. The other 40 members present were obviously somewhat less impressed! During January and February we had some poor weather which slowed work on 655 but enabled Eric undertook the task of producing a working us to catch up in other areas. We installed a Palouste if we could provide a workshop. Members compressor in the workshop and, mindful of the Dale McCann and Andrew Cardus did most of the importance of the Houchin, Dave Gladwin construction which included a strong wooden floor and carried out a service of the big diesel engine. insulating the metal walls and roof and installing By February we were ready for more engine lighting and power. At the time of writing the Palouste runs and this time we had Dave Thomas, Mike Pollitt and Barry Masefield with us. Dave In November, BEAGLE AIRCRAFT provided us with a continued the training of John Foreman and superb set of new jet pipe blanks to replace our very Fred Barter to enable us to eventually perform tatty set. What a difference they have made to the our own ground runs. Particular attention is looks. being given to emergency procedures needed in As a small token of appreciation for the work Beagle the event of any problems. Mark Alcock was the have done for us, Richard Dick, Ruth and myself went crew chief for the duration of the tests. down to Beagle to present Managing Director Rob Ludford with a framed photo of 655 signed by the The runs highlighted a number of problems with aircrew. the aircraft systems. Some of these have been cured and the remainder are being addressed. A particular area giving concern is deterioration in the cockpit due to condensation over the winter months. The decision was taken to purchase a dehumidifier to fit into the cockpit. Sounds easy but of course the unit needs mains power and we are parked on a large concrete pan. Safety considerations ruled out overhead cables or simply trailing wire across the pan so we were left with no alternative but to lay armoured cable in a trench round the perimeter of the pan until level with the cockpit and then chisel a channel by hand across the concrete pan. An isolator and connection point was installed under the nose wheel bay. Andrew and Dale not only supplied all the electrical equipment needed but they did most of the hard graft with everyone else helping out where they could. 655 NEWS 2 Engineering report cont’d XM655 MaPS 2003 AGM A lot of time and effort but worth it to provide a stable environment in the cockpit. Notice is herby given that the 2003 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the March 1st was the day we picked to refit the XM655 Maintenance and Preservation rudder with all fingers crossed for a calm day. The Society will be held at St Peters Church conditions were not ideal but we decided to go for it. We had arranged to hire a crane from Centre in Wellesbourne village at 1 pm on th ALLELY’S CRANE HIRE and they gave us a rock Saturday 7 July 2003.