# Classic Aircraft Walkarounds by nuuumannn



## nuuumannn (May 4, 2013)

Hi Guys,

Borrowing Jeff Hunt's idea of a thread dedicated to photographs on particular subjects he's taken, I thought I'd start my own. Like many of you, detail fascinates me and I enjoy getting close to historic and classic aircraft (not just warbirds) and I thought I might share photographs of some of these that I have taken over the years with you. I'll be posting detailed shots of different aircraft at different times, with no concessions to regularity or frequency, so keep an eye out. The majority of the images I'll be posting will be scans of photographs, so will not be the best quality. So without further ado, welcome to my walkaround thread.

This first subject is one that is of particular interest to me and I have spent considerable time examining and researching this aircraft. It's one that needs little introduction and appears on this forum often; the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet. I chose this aircraft to be my first subject, because last year I put up a few images of the Me 163's cockpit on a thread and promised I would put more. Forum member T Bird (Glenn) expressed an interest, but to date I've yet to do so, so, here you go, Glenn - I've finally gotten a round tuit (what is a round tuit? It's a device you need in order to do what you said you would!)

These images are of four surviving Komets, the majority of them being of Me 163B-1a Wk Nr 191659 in Scotland. The other aircraft are 191904 in Berlin, 191316 in London and "120370" in Munich.

Side views; 191659 top and 191904 bottom.












Nose; the hole just above the skid is the tow cable attach point.
















Tail.











Exhaust.






Trestle point on LH underside forward of tail wheel. The hole is a lifting point.






Fuel drains from RH side looking forward.






RH lower gun access.






LH gun port.






LH fuselage filling point under cockpit. Compressed air at 130 atu pressure and hydraulic fluid.






Ground power point RH nose.






Radio aerial.






Ammunition storage from RH looking forward, 60 rounds per gun.






T-Stoff refuel door.






C-Stoff refuel access RH.






RH engine inspection door.






Powerplant was one Walther HWK-109-509A bi-propellant rocket motor. This particular motor is unique; although an it is an HWK 109-509A2 variant, it is a ground test example only and is fitted with a non-standard T-stoff cooling system. Note the large duct protruding downwards from the motor section. 






The thrust chamber.






Next, wings, wheels and cockpit.


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## meatloaf109 (May 4, 2013)

Great shots!
Did they open up the panels for you?


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## nuuumannn (May 4, 2013)

No, I opened them myself. The pics of 191659 were not taken all at the same time. I like the design of the door latch system - in the shape of a swastika, although I suspect that was unintentional.


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## Gnomey (May 4, 2013)

Good stuff!


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## Crimea_River (May 4, 2013)

Great reference shots. Looking forward to this thread.


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## vikingBerserker (May 4, 2013)

Very cool!


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## Airframes (May 5, 2013)

Great idea, and good shots Grant. Where in Scotland is this Komet - East Fortune maybe?


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## nuuumannn (May 5, 2013)

> East Fortune maybe?


 Yep. Been there isnce the early 1970s.


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## Airframes (May 6, 2013)

Cheers mate - I forgot there was one up there. Hoping to maybe get there later this year.


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## nuuumannn (May 6, 2013)

East Fortune has a terrific collection and is often overlooked in the UK in favour of bigger and better known places and its also located on a largely complete WW1 and WW2 airfield, although you can't get access to the whole site, unfortunately.


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## A4K (May 9, 2013)

Great idea and photos Grant!

If you don't mind me posting here, these are mine of the Deutsches Technisches Museum (now just 'Deutsches Museum') example in Münich, W.nr. 120370. Pics taken 1998.


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## Jeff Hunt (May 9, 2013)

and a couple of the 163 from the National Collection just outside of Ottawa Canada.











Hope you don't mind me jumping in.

Jeff


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## A4K (May 9, 2013)

Nice ones Jeff!


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## nuuumannn (May 9, 2013)

No worries, guys, fill yer boots. Haven't been to the Deutches Museum since 1992.


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## Gnomey (May 9, 2013)

Good stuff guys!


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## Crimea_River (May 9, 2013)

Didn't the one in Ottawa get shipped off to Germany?


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## Airframes (May 10, 2013)

Thanks Grant, I really must try to get there either later this year, or next Spring (for 'Spring', read a slight change to winter, before winter returns for another 10 months!)
Here's the Cosford example, with it's armament.


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## A4K (May 10, 2013)

Great shots Terry!

My GB 19 build subject is sitting behind her too


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## nuuumannn (May 10, 2013)

> My GB 19 build subject is sitting behind her too



You entered that Lincoln into the modelling contest, Evan? I hope you won! 

Terry, I remember Cosford's Komet in its ugly previous scheme with its Duck Egg Green undersides; it looks pretty good now.

Crimea, as far as I know, there's only two in Germany, the one at the Deutches Museum in Munich and 191904 at the Luftwaffen Museum at Gatow, Berlin. That one was presented to the German government by the British; it's a former Air Historic Branch airframe and was at St Athan before going to Germany. The Deutches Museum got theirs from the British in 1964. The one that Jeff posted is still in Ottowa.

The Deutches Museum's Komet. 






The Komet's wings were made of plywood; this is an inspection door for the flap extension pushrods on the top surface of the wing.






Underside of RH wing showing flaps extended.






Underside of RH fabric control surface, note the drain holes.






LH wing underside, aerial is for FuG 25a and strake is a fairing covering a fuel line.






Undersurface of LH wing showing fixed slats.






Undercarriage; main wheel.






Extended skid on 191316.






Tailwheel.






Cockpit canopy, note the armoured glass.






Head rest and T Stoff fuel lines.






Seat.






Cockpir RH side showing oxgen supply (painted blue) and electrical switching box. Note the proximity of the T Stoff tank and its finish.






Control column.






RH intruments; the red light is marked 'Machwarnung'; it illuminates as the aircraft approaches critical speeds, the two gauges below it are thrust indicator and fuel consumption, blue instruments are oxygen quantity, flow and regulator.






Messerschmitt embossed bakelite (plastic) rudder pedals.






Instrument panel from L to R; the vertical indicators display rounds left, the switch box is control for FuG 25a, firing safety switch, basic six L to R; altimeter, turn and slip, vertical speed, airspeed, % RPM counter, engine temperature. Red button at left is electrical switch of some sort.






LH console; 'B4' is power lever, press button is starter, upper red 'T' handle is undercarriage jettison, red handle is fuel jettison, black lever is canopy lock, circular handled lever is skid undercarriage lowering, red lever is canopy jettison, lower red 'T' handle is tow cable release. 






LH side cockpit, trim wheel prominent.






Flap levers; wobble pump fwd and selection 'D'; shaped switch aft.






Well, that's it for the Me 163 from me; 'Wie ein Floh aber Oho!" See you next time.


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## A4K (May 10, 2013)

nuuumannn said:


> You entered that Lincoln into the modelling contest, Evan? I hope you won!





You know a competition's rigged if the real thing dosen't win! 
(That should have read GB 18 too, losing track of the build numbers!)

As for the shots, SUPERB!!!! ... when was the DTM bird on the deck, btw?


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## woljags (May 10, 2013)

those plywood wings on a 163 were bloody heavy i assembled one at west malling owned then by a club based n/r by,it took 8 of us to lift it with lots of rude words as the guy had the main pin round the wrong way so it wouldn't fit


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## Airframes (May 10, 2013)

Sounds like an intelligent chap Bob!
More great shots there Grant. And Evan, if you're doing that particular Lincoln, you'll have to model the ghost as well !


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## nuuumannn (May 10, 2013)

The Deutches Museum aircraft was presented by the RAF in April 1964; it went to Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm afterwards then went to the museum.



> i assembled one at west malling owned then by a club



Sounds interesting, how long ago was this, Woljags? Might it have been West Raynham at all? 

I remember seeing the IWM aircraft being pulled to bits before it got sent to Paul Allen in the States; I have photos somewhere...

Ghost? What ghost? It's a hoax, Terry; a staff member at Hendon told me the whole thing was engineered by Cosford and RAFM staff to bring publicity to Cosford since the museum had very little, back when it was 'The Aerospace Museum, Cosford', so a quirky little 'story' was invented for publicity purposes. I listened to a recording by a radio show host who sat in the Lincoln one night after closing and recorded noises of switches clicking on and off - all a bit contrived, but it had the right effect and a legend was born!


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## Airframes (May 10, 2013)

You're right Grant! Apparently the story started many years ago, before the 'radio stunt', when someone was working inside the Lincoln, and grew from there, resulting in the radio thing. However, last year, when I asked my 'guide' (the Museum chap who was showing me around the Me410 and Dinah, and where the Do17 will be worked on), in a 'tongue in cheek' fashion, he did hint that this was a bit of a hoax, but he also said that a number of night security people, on their 'rounds', had experienced some weird things in the hangar, not always near the Lincoln. But of course, auto suggestion, a quiet night and so on, can produce many things.
Sh*t ! What was that noise ...........


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## A4K (May 10, 2013)

Saw a documentary on that once where they also explained the hoax about 'Pete the poltergeist', but said afterwards that some guys had spent the night in there, and saw a small light bobbing left and right working it's way forward to the nose. An ex-crewman explained that would be the route taken by the flight engineer (IIRC), the swaying motion the light in his hand as he checked various systems on the way. 
Apparently no sounds were heard, but when they played back a recording taken that night the clicking noises were heard.
I'd be able to confirm if they'd let me in, tend to pick up on our invisible friends...

Btw - time allowing - will be doing a No.75 (NZ) Sqn, Lincoln, sans ghost (just alot of spirit!)


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## Airframes (May 10, 2013)

Well Evan, there's an 'Open Cockpit' night at the Museum in a few weeks time, if you can get over here ........


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## A4K (May 11, 2013)

Man, give me the money and I'm there like a shot!!!! (bet there'd be way too many people for my liking though, I hate crowds!)


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## Airframes (May 11, 2013)

Same here. I thought about going, but the thought of a fair number of 'anorkas' among the genuinely knowledgeable enthusiasts puts me off - especially if it's a crowd !


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## Wayne Little (May 11, 2013)

Man...those are some great shots!


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## woljags (May 13, 2013)

the 163 i helped to assemble was owned by an enthusiasts group i think were from Kent,it arrived on the back of a car transporter and was missing the canopy,maybe someone else knows who they were and where it is now,this was back in the late 80's


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## A4K (May 14, 2013)

That must have been an experience though Bob, not many people can make that claim!


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## nuuumannn (May 14, 2013)

> the 163 i helped to assemble was owned by an enthusiasts group i think were from Kent,it arrived on the back of a car transporter and was missing the canopy,maybe someone else knows who they were and where it is now,this was back in the late 80's



Woljags, going on what you've written and what existed, we don't have much to go on. There were only five Komets in the UK in the late 1980s and there are only three now. I can tell you which ones the aircraft you dismantled were not; 191316 has been suspended from the roof of the Science Museum, South Kensington since 1964 and 191659 had been at East Fortune since 1973. The others were; 191904, which is now at the Luftwaffen Museum at Gatow, Berlin, 191614 at the RAFM Cosford and 191660, which is now with the Flying Heritage Collection, Washington State.

Out of these, 191904 belonged to the Air Historic Branch and was at RAF St Athan from 1975 until 1988, when it was gifted to the Germans and was sent to Oldenburg. 191614 was formerly located at the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott until 1980, when it went to Cosford in 1980, after spending a short period at Cottesmore. Since its been at Cosford it has left the site, making an appearance at Biggin Hill in 1987, but has remained the property of the RAF Museum. The last one, 191660 was part (possibly from the Air Historic Branch) of the Imperial War Museum collection and was at Lambeth from 1961 to 1976, after which it was moved to Duxford that year until 2005, when it left the UK for the USA as trade for an Airco D.H.9.

Of these, 191904 is possible because it was dismantled and sent to Germany in 1988, tying in with your late '80s timing, as does 191614, which was dismantled for moving to Biggin Hill, Kent in 1987, where it was put on public display. Whilst there it received damage before being moved back to Cosford. Both 191904 and 191614 had their canopies supplied with them on their moves. As for 191660, its not likely unless it left Duxford at any time, although there's no record of it doing so, but it did not have a canopy. Your statement of an enthusiast's group doesn't tie in with any of them, I'm afraid; the only tie-in with Kent is 191614 that went to Biggin Hill. 

I also asked about West Raynham since the Deutches Museum example was there for a short while before going to Germany, although it left the UK in 1964.

Got any photos?


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## woljags (Jun 8, 2013)

i wish i did have some photos but if any were taken by my uncle who was also there at the time they would proberly be long gone but i will ask him


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## nuuumannn (Jul 26, 2013)

Hi everyone, the second edition of Classic Aircraft Walkarounds is a little more specific than the first, focussing on one particular aircraft, a single example of an Armstrong Whitworth (yes, that's right) Meteor NF.14. The aircraft in particular never served with the military and was used for trials for its entire flying career in civilian hands. The aircraft is NF.14 G-ARCX and survives at East Fortune in Scotland, where these pictures were taken. They aren't particularly good quality as they are scanned from old photos. The selection of close-ups is not as detailed as those I took of the Komets since I originally took these because I was given the old Matchbox night fighter Meteor kit and I wanted to add a little more detail, so I didn't do an extensive coverage of the aircraft, just certain areas, so, if this aircraft is of interest to you and I've missed a bit, my apologies.

A bit of history behind this particular aircraft. Built as NF.11 WM261 by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton, Coventry in 1953, it was removed from the production line and converted to become the NF.12 prototype and subsequently served as the aerodynamic prototype of each of the two-seat night fighter Meteor variants with the manufacturers, being lastly configured as the NF.14 prototype with its distinctive clear blown canopy. After in-flight canopy release trials it was sent to electronics manufacturer Ferranti in Edinburgh, where it joined the Ferranti Flying Unit at Turrrrnhoose (Turnhouse with a Scots accent). Its life as a test-bed was short lived and it served as a trials aircraft for Red Garter electronic countermeasures equipment until becoming the company hack. Following an agreement with the Ministry of Supply in 1963, it was placed on the civil register as G-ARCX. At this period of its career it was natural metal with red intake lips with its civil registration in black on the rear fuselage flanks, but was later repainted in the fetching overall cream with white bordered red flash and Ferranti titles on its lower fin. As a result of the prominent red cheatline, the aircraft was nicknamed 'Mentadent' after a popular brand of toothpaste.

Ferranti's use of the aircraft as a hack was minimal and due to budget cuts the Meteor flew for the last time on 22 June 1968 during a flying display at Turnhouse. Its total flying hours is 348, meaning that it's barely run in. Shortly afterwards 'ARCX was put up for sale and a likely buyer was found in Enterprise Films Ltd, which claimed to be making a film about British night fighters, that is until the Ministry of Defence found out that Enterprise Films was a cover for a group of individuals smuggling arms into war torn Biafra. Enterprise Films had already shipped an NF.11 to Biafra and G-ARCX was also to go to counter night raids against Biafran rebel strongholds by Nigerian Air Force Ilyushin Il-28s. As a result of this little episode, 'ARCX was withdrawn from sale and languished at Turnhouse for a few years until it was decided to donate it to the Royal Scottish Museum, which was gathering a collection of airframes at East Fortune for its new museum of flight. The Meteor arrived there in 1973; the museum opening to the public two years later. As a result of interest by Enterprise Films in the aircraft, on donation to the museum the staff were made to sign an affidavit stating that the aircraft was not to be dismantled and was not to be sold without express permission from Ferranti or its future governing bodies and today it is still at East Fortune on public display.

External Walkaround. These pictures were taken while the aircraft was moved outdoors to enable the museum's Harrier to be placed in the centre of Hangar One. Note the collapsed nose gear oleo requiring recharging with nitrogen.





































In case you are wondering, the Vulcan is XM597, which took part in the Falklands War (keep an eye out here for a future walkaround) and the Comet is G-BDIX. Next, the cockpit.


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## Gnomey (Jul 26, 2013)

Good shots!


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## vikingBerserker (Jul 26, 2013)

Very cool, I'd never heard of this one!


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## Airframes (Jul 26, 2013)

Good stuff Grant. I have vague memories of just being able to see this outside the Ferranti hangar at Turnhouse, I think around about 1964 or maybe '66. At the time, I was too busy trying to wangle a flight in a RAF Pembroke !


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## nuuumannn (Jul 27, 2013)

This view of the port side beneath the cockpit shows access detail; the semi circular cut outs being foot wells. Just forward of the vertical black line is a handle, which is turned to open the canopy. There is a pull down step in the underside of the nose.






Forward windshield and upper instrument panel, note the absense of a gunsight, which would have nominally been a Ferranti GGS Mk.2






A typical British instrument layout for the mid to late 40s. Instruments are from top left; machmeter, ASI, A/H, VSI, RPM times two, ALT, ADI, turn and slip, exhaust gas temp. Fuel gauges flank undercarriage indicator. Oil pressure gauges blanked out by flash. Note also the park brake handle on the control column.






RH console showing electrical switches and breakers. The prominent red handle is part of the control lock, removed for access. The vertical handle raises and lowers the seat.






LH console showing power lever and trim wheel. The illuminated dull orange numbers around a knob is the radio altimemter light switch. Gated port and stbd engine start buttons aft of this.






The canopy looking aft into the rear cockpit. I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time speaking to Len Houston, former pilot with the Ferranti Flying Unit whilst seated in this seat. The prominent box forward of the seat was usually empty and Len explained that that's where the observer, not having much to do on most flights, would keep his 'piece' (lunch)!.






The rear seat, the front being identical. No ejection seats in here.






RH aft cockpit side, oxy hose and seat hieght adjustment visible. The gauge is the phase failure indicator in volts. I'm not sure what the large gauge facing the seat was, possibly a compass or stby altimeter; obviously in military aircraft the back seater would have his radar controls here, but in this aircraft he had little to do but enjoy the ride.






Next, external detail.


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## Airframes (Jul 27, 2013)

Great pics Grant, thanks for posting.


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## Wayne Little (Jul 28, 2013)




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## nuuumannn (Jul 28, 2013)

The RH engine nacelle with gun butt location visible on the leading edge. This aircraft was never armed. The intake lip on Meteors was wooden. I'm not certain what the horizontal strip on the cowl is. Anyone?







Looking straight into the air intake, note that unlike on axial flow engines, the compressor face is not visible.






The lower fin arrangement; note the endplate on the trim tab trailing edge.






The inboard trailing edge of the RH wing showing flap and speed brake, duplicated on the underside.






LH outer wing underside with flap partially open. Of interest are the gills forward of the flap and the blunt end of the drop tank. Note also that the rego is repeated on the underside of the LH wing.






The rear of the belly tank with pos'n light aft.






RH main undercarriage leg with mud guard.






RH main u/c bay; note junction boxes, door actuation struttery and cg datum visible.






Nose u/c bay with ethyl alcohol tank top left. Now, I'm sure I had a picture of the nose gear somewhere...






Lastly, G-ARCX in position on display at East Fortune.






Thanks for looking; it's not the most well known of subjects, hence my interest and it would make an attractive model. The next Classic Aircraft Walkaround will feature Bristol's Big Bruiser, the Beaufighter.


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## Airframes (Jul 28, 2013)

Moe good stuff Grant. Looking forward to seeing the Beau.


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## Gnomey (Jul 28, 2013)

Cool shots! Thanks for sharing.


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## nuuumannn (Aug 19, 2013)

Hi Folks, the third Classic Aircraft Walkaround features the Bristol Beaufighter; an aeroplane that needs little introduction. A perennial favourite among researchers, enthusiasts and modellers alike, Bristol's Big Bruiser oozes charisma in the flesh and looks bigger than it actually is owing to its high nose attitude. Sadly, not many examples of this iconic aircraft survive, so the opportunity to get close to one is not high. There are two known examples currently undergoing restoration to flying condition, but it will be some time before either of these, both in the UK, will grace the skies again. There are museum examples in the UK, USA, Canada, Israel and Australia, where Beaufighters were manufactured under licence.

The subjects of this photographic survey are TF.X RD235 at the RAF Museum, Hendon, DAP Beaufighter Mk.21 A8-328 at Moorabbin, Victoria, Australia and the RAF Museum's forward fuselage section, provenance unknown, which at the time these images were taken was at East Fortune, Scotland to publicise the arrival of the remains of Beaufighter TF.X RD220 (a sister to RD235 built in the same facility in Weston-super-Mare and serving with the Portuguese Navy post war) from South Africa. Whilst not a comprehensive look at every aspect of the Beaufighter, the images were taken of specific details.

RD235:






A8-328:






Fwd fuselage:






A8-328's nose, the distinctive hump present on many Australian Beaufighters housed the Sperry autopilot. Also visible are the 20 mm cannon ports and DF loop in its perspex bubble aft of the cockpit.






Nose underside showing cannon ports and pilot's entry door. The square panel on the extreme nose housed a gun camera. Note the yellow IFF aerial.






LH engine inboard, note carburettor intake on top of the nacelle, exhaust collector ring and support struts bracing the engine gearbox casing.






RH engine outboard, showing exhaust tube and cowling gills. Note the carburettor intake filter, location of the small fairings on each engine cowl, also the small strut between the end of the exhaust tube and the wing underside.






More cowling detail showing cowling gills, oil cooler on wing leading edge and bulge in undercarriage door.






Leading edge oil cooler, note that the horizontal vanes are aerofoil shaped with a lipped leading edge.






Pitot tube under left hand wing.






Rear of underside of engine nacelle showing drain fairing.






Interior detail of outboard undercarriage door, inboard door is the same. Note rubber curtain seal around the lower edge of the door.






Main undercarriage assembly.






RH inboard wing trailing edge.






Observer's cupola; the aft section could be slid open on the rails visible inside the cupola to enable a .303 Vickers 'scare gun' to be used. Radio aerial also visible at right.






Left hand wing trailing edge showing location of flare tube (drift sight?) opening on underside.






Right hand fuselage side showing trailing aerial lead opening.






Rear fuselage and fin area with tail wheel visible. Note deflected trim tab on elevator trailing edge.






Tail section rear view, note where the tailplane butts against the fuselage has no dihedral, also note rudder deflection cutouts on tailplane trailing edge.






Lower rudder detail showing trim tab and position light.






Cockpit. The white plaque is a display board written in English and French. The lever on the control wheel is the park brake, the button on the control wheel is a press-to-talk button; the firing button for the guns is the gated switch on the right side of the control wheel.






Cockpit left side console showing power levers in board and condition levers outboard and flap and undercarriage levers. The Beaufighter had automatic mixture controls as indicated on the throttle box. The vertical gauges show rounds left per magazine. The two gauges to their left show fuel quantity, with oxygen quantity and regulator gauges to their left.






Left hand cockpit console showing colour coded fuel tank selection wheels and fuel **** lever. The two colour coded pull switches are emergency fuel cut-off levers. Ahead of these is the propeller feathering buttons, press and hold to feather and press and hold to unfeather. Feathering the propellers was done electrically by a solenoid switch.






Left hand cockpit.






Right hand cockpit console with compass, rudder trim wheel and morse keys visible. Note also the rocket projectile firing panel at top left.






Right hand cockpit showing auxiliary fuel tank quantity gauges. The colour coded circular switch is aileron trim. The red lever is for emergency canopy window opening.






Interior of the forward fuselage looking forward.






20 mm Hispano cannon ammunition magazines.






First aid box and oxygen economiser in right hand centre fuselage looking forward.






Left hand centre fuselage ceiling looking aft, showing hydraulic fluid tank.






Crew entry and escape door looking forward.






Forward fuselage interior, note white asbestos covered air ducting to the right.






A beautifully presented Bristol Hercules on display at IWM Duxford, allegedly from a Bristol Beaufighter. Note the generally neat appearance of the Hercules unit.






Thats all for now, folks. The next Classic Aircraft Walkaround will feature the Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird.

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## Airframes (Aug 19, 2013)

Excellent shots Grant. I could have used some of those interior shots a few years ago, for my 1/32nd scale effort! The Beau front section has travelled around a bit, it was at the Manchester Air Space Museum for a while.


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## Gnomey (Aug 21, 2013)

Good stuff!


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## Jeff Hunt (Aug 22, 2013)

Top shelf stuff.

Cheers,

Jeff


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## nuuumannn (Sep 21, 2013)

Welcome to the next installment of my Classic Aircraft Walkarounds. The Lockheed SR-71 is one of the most distinctive and enigmatic aircraft ever built, despite this it was the very public face of the United States 'Black' programmes of the 1950s, '60s and '70s achieving speed and altitude records that stand to this day for air breathing aircraft. It was a remarkable feat of engineering and was far ahead of its time. 

For those of you unsure of the relationship between the A-12 and SR-71, the A-12 was conceived first as part of Operation Gusto, a high speed supersonic replacement for Aquatone, the U-2 and was the first incarnation of Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson and the Skunk Works' remarkable airframe. Faster than and marginally smaller than the SR-71, the A-12 was solely operated by the CIA and its activities, indeed its very existence under Project Oxcart remained secret until the early 1990s. Produced under the USAF's Senior Crown programme, the SR-71 had two crew, which was the principal difference between the two jets; the A-12's pilot's workload was enormous, so a Reconnaissance Systems Operator was installed in what used to be the A-12's 'Q' Bay, primary reconnaissance camera bay. The A-12 was eventually retired as a result of Senior Crown; there was no need for two identical projects running simultaneously, and the publicity accorded the SR-71 made sure the activities of the CIA and its A-12s remained firmly in the shadows.

The first time I was able to get close enough to touch one of these jets was years after the Senior Crown project had been wrapped up, with the decision to display a Blackbird in the United Kingdom. Article No 2013 (64-17962) is on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford and the week it arrived I trotted down to DX to get a closer look. Despite requests, I wasn't allowed to look in the cockpit!

Arriving in England in April 2001, '962 had visited the UK of two occasions before, to Detachment 4 of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk, not very far away from Duxford at all, as the Blackbird flies. '962's first detachment to the UK was between 6th and 18th September 1976 and its second and last was for a year from 19 October 1984 until mid October 1985, which made it a perfect candidate for preservation in the UK. Making its last flight on 14 February 1990, '962 has a total of 2835.9 flying hours under its belt. It is currently the only SR-71 to be displayed outside the United States. This is '962 as it is currently displayed in the American Air Museum at Duxford.






64-17968 on display outside the Virginia Air Museum, Richmond Virginia from front on illustrates the unusual chines that characterised the type.






'962 at Duxford in April 2001 shoehorned in beside a Buccaneer and surrounded by a Vulcan and Comet; its size is readily apparent. From a frontal aspect it appears smaller than its length suggests.











'962 from behind; its overall matt finish is apparent; its paint was described as 'ironball' radar attemuating paint. Whilst cruising at a speed of one mile every two seconds meant that airframe temperatures varied from 245 to 565 degrees Celcius, while the outside air temperature was around -56 degrees at 80+,000 feet. It was claimed that the overall black finish reduced the outer skin temperature by 30 degrees. The skin was rough to the touch, like a very fine grain of sandpaper.






Air data probe and unusual nasal profile, the prominent bumps either side of the probe are radar warning receivers.











The SR-71A's nose cone from forward of the cockpit was interchangeable with different sensor fits dictating the mission to be flown. Two different nose sensors were in use; the Optical Bar Camera and the ASARS-1 synthetic aperture radar. The former was contained in its own environmentally controlled casing and provided horizon to horizon coverage by use of a revolving barrel prism with an exposure slit. This equipment enabled the USAF to claim that the SR-71A could photograph 100,000 sq miles of territory an hour. The ASARS-1 provided extremely high resolution radar imagery and could operate in a search mode or in spot mode to provide images of small areas. It was that capability of this equipment that led to the re-activation of the Blackbird in the mid 1990s.






Crew visibily was not high on the designer's priority list as can be seen here. The circular opening aft of the RSO's cockpit is the Nortronics Astro-inertial navigation star tracker as part of the aircraft's inertial navigation system and aft of that can be seen the rectangular opening for the in-flight refuelling receptacle; the flying boom probe would come into contact with the door and slide aft until it mated with the aircraft's receptacle.






Cockpit window glazing in a heavy titanuim canopy designed to withstand extreme temperatures as the aircraft cruised at 3 times the speed of sound. Each crew member had to wear a full pressure suit; the last SR-71 crewmembers wore suits that were almost identical to those worn by NASA Shuttle crewmembers. The slightly bulbous nose cone contours indicates that this aircraft was fitted with ASARS-1. The darkened forward facing diamond flat surface on the underside is a Defensive Electronics Sensor as part of its ECM suite.






The starboard engine intake spike. These were moveable, travelling 26 inches between fully retracted and extended. At full extension speeds of up to Mach 1.6 were capable with full retraction at Mach 3. Correct operation of these spikes was crucial to maintain the correct flow of air to the compressor and an electronic Digital Automatic Flight and Inlet Control System was developed by Honeywell for controlling the inlets and also the aircraft's stability augmentation system and autopilot after severe problems encountered when pilots attempted this manually. If the spikes were not positioned correctly, the shock wave that forms at supersonic speeds at the lip of the engine intake would be expelled from the inlet, resulting in what became known as an 'unstart'. The result was a lack of air to the compressor, high exhaust gas temperatures and no thrust from the unstarted engine, which caused violent yawing to one side. At three times the speed of sound, this was decidedly hazardous.






Visible aft of the intake are bleed air louvres, which provided bypass air for engine cooling and for maintaining stable air pressures within the jet's engines at supersonic speeds. At its cruise speed of Mach 3.2, the SR-71's engines required 100,000 cu ft of air per second. Note also the main undercarriage arrangement of three wheels. 






The SR-71's vertical stabilisers were all moving and did not have a seperate rudder, although the lower section was fixed. The '1' signifies '962's time at Detachment 1, Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, where it was the very last SR-71 on station before the programme was wound down in 1990. Around the '1' is a serpent native to the island, which lent its name to the exotic jets that operated there; “Habu”. On the announcement of the type's retirement, a crew member drew a head stone in chalk around the '1' with the words “R.I.P. Detachment 1, 1968 – 1990”. The sentiment was not appreciated by senior personnel and it was removed shortly afterwards.






Exhaust petals and cooling intake doors are visible. The SR-71 had four separate hydraulic systems, two of each operating via an engine driven hydraulic pump. The left hand engine operated A System; flight controls and L System; LH engine intake, bypass, landing gear, refuelling, while the right hand engine operated B System; flight controls and R System; RH engine intake and bypass, emergency undercarriage systems, braking. I'm not certain, but I assume that special temperature insensitive hydraulic fluid would have been developed, possibly synthetic and resembling phosphate esther based fluids in use today, such as Skydrol.






Visible on the trailing edge are triangular sections of Radar Absorbent Material. Note also the longitudinal corrugated skin sections, within which was housed the type's unique PF-1 fuel, named JP7 in service, which would leak profusely from each integral tank when refuelled on the ground. Once flying, the skin would expand with high temperatures. These corrugated panels led to Lockheed's Kelly Johnson being accused of building a Mach 3 Ford Trimotor!






More to come.


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## Wayne Little (Sep 22, 2013)

Excellent!


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## Airframes (Sep 22, 2013)

Great stuff Grant, and it sure is an impressive bird close up. Got some shots of the engines, at Duxford, if you want me to add them?


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## nuuumannn (Sep 22, 2013)

More of the SR-71A. The left hand vertical stabiliser, exhaust and elevon; the SR-71's tailcone housed a fuel vent outlet. Each centrally hinged vertical stabiliser could move 20 degrees either side of the centreline, but at speeds above Mach .5, movement was limited to 10 degrees. 






This view shows the leading edge contour of the left hand outer wing. Five degrees of camber was applied to the outboard wing leading edge, which reduced its bending moment and applied aerodynamic loading to the rear engine nacelle. These loads were then redistributed to the fore and aft wing box sections. The auxiliary bleed air inlet doors and bypass duct suction relief louvres are seen to advantage aft of the intake. Engine maintenance was achieved relatively easily, with the entire outer half of the nacelle hinging upwards from the top centreline of the nacelle, outer wing and all.






Left hand engine and inlet spike. Developed by Pratt and Whitney, Ashland Shell and Monsanto, the aircraft's special high flashpoint JP7 fuel was contained in fuel tanks in the fuselage and integrally in the wings. As a result of its high flashpoint, the SR-71 used a chemical ignition system using a highly volatile pyrophoric fluid called Tri-Ethyl-Borane. Because of its instability, the TEB tank on board was pressurised with nitrogen to keep it inert until required.






The wing to fuselage join showing the prominent fuselage chines. These were used to house operational equipment. On the left hand side were Bays M, P and S looking aft to the wing join, on the right hand side, Bays N, Q and T. These carried various signals intelligence equipment, much of which is still classified, but included equipment for recording radar signals as well as defensive electronics and Technical Objective cameras.






Underneath the nose looking aft. Note the patchwork nature of its skin panelling. The diamond shaped DEF sensor is visible, as is the forward UHF antenna; the SR-71 had a comprehensive communications suite of HF, VHF and UHF equipment.






Close up view of the nose undercarriage door and also the R Bay door, which housed radio equipment, its opposite was E Bay, which housed electronics. All these doors were lined with heat resistant materials.






Nose undercarriage leg with landing and taxi lights. Note the Skunk Works logo on the undercarriage door.






The interior of the nose undercarriage bay looking aft. This was kept cool by the aircraft's environmental control system. Note the rather large phenolic lined uplock jaws. Undercarriage selection was done electrically, but actuated hydraulically. A cable operated alternate release was provided to open the uplock jaws.






Main undercarriage leg. Each wheel could be changed without removing any of the others thanks to individual axles.The undercarriage doors were titanuim.






The main wheels were specially made by BF Goodrich and were impregnated with aluminium for heat resistance. Each cost $2300 each. Mainwheel loaded pressure was 415 psi and each was good for some 15 full-stop landings.






The main wheel bay in the centre fuselage separated the forward and aft fuselage fuel tanks. The titanium shroud protected the wheels against heat and hydraulic lines against the threat of bursting tyres suffering from overheating.






The extraordinary Pratt Whitney JT11D-20 engine, known as the J58 in service was initially developed for a Lockheed project called Suntan for a high speed strategic recon aircraft dubbed the CL-400 and also benefitted from technology that went into the JT9 engine that was being built for the North American XB-70. Designed for continuous operations with afterburner at Mach 3, it was a single spool high bypass turbojet, which coped with high temperatures and fluctuating pressures of high speed supersonic flight by a sophisticated bleed air system. To reduce the ever present threat of compressor stall, bleed air was ducted from the fourth stage of its nine stage compressor through six low compression ratio bypass ducts , which considerably reduced pressures across the compressor assembly at crucial stages when required. This bleed air was then ducted to the turbine exhaust at the front of the afterburner can at the same static pressure as the main flow, which reduced exhaust gas temperatures and produced a more efficient pressure ratio and increased thrust for a given fuel consumption. The big bleed air ducts are visible.






The J58's afterburner casing is visible here. Owing to the aircraft cruising with afterburner engaged, engine exhaust temperatures had to be maintaned at as even temperatures as possible. Inside the can-annular combustion chamber variable-area spray bar atomisers were developed for more efficient fuel combustion. It was discovered during the A-12's development that the shock diamonds being produced by the afterburners were producing considerable radar returns, so an additive called A-50, which contained caesium, was introduced into the jet's PF-1 fuel, which reduced the frequency response of the afterburner plume.






Lastly, two off-shoots of Project Gusto; this is the YF-12, a Mach 3 supersonic interceptor armed with Hughes AIM-47 Falcon air-to-air missiles that were capable of destroying a target 120 miles away. A bomber derivative was also drawn up but not constructed. Both projects were cancelled, despite positive results from the F-12 missile tests and the enormous potential of a common Mach 3 interceptor, reconnaissance and bomber fleet and this YF-12 is now on display at the USAF Museum, Dayton Ohio.






This is a D-21 supersonic drone codenamed Tagboard and utilised A-12 technology. Capable of cruising at Mach 3.3 at an altitude of 90,000 ft, the D-21 was powered by a Marquardt RJ-43-MA ramjet and was carried aloft piggyback style by a specially modified A-12 named M-21. Despite its potential, Tagboard was cancelled by Kelly Johnson himself after a collision between the D-21 and its M-21 carrier aircraft resulting in the death of a crew member. This D-21 survives at the USAF Museum, Dayton, Ohio.






That's it from the Skunk Works! The next Classic Aircraft Walkaround will be a closer look at a rather beat up old Lodestar.


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## nuuumannn (Sep 29, 2013)

Just an addition to the information posted, the breakdown of _Gusto_ airframes is as follows; there were 15 A-12s, of which two were converted to M-21s. Of these, six were destroyed, including one of the two M-21s; three men were killed. Three YF-12s were built as separate airframes to the A-12s but in production sequence within the A-12 serials, of which one was converted into the sole SR-71C. Apart from the example at the USAF Museum, one was lost, both crew ejected safely. 31 SR-71s were built, the thirty second was the YF-12 that was converted to the SR-71C; this mated the YF-12's rear section to the forward fuselage of a non-flying static test aircraft. This number includes two SR-71B crew trainers with raised rear cockpits. Of the SR-71s, 12 were lost, with only one fatality. 

So 18 A-12s (including the YF-12s), plus 31 SR-71s makes a total of 49 airframes; a very expensive exercise, but many state well worth the expense in the capability they offered.


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## nuuumannn (Oct 28, 2013)

I've decided to separate these out into individual threads, beginning with the Lodestar.


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