CAPTURED AIRCRAFT - ODD PHOTOS

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Airframes said:
Pity it's not still flying, rather than sitting at Hendon. But I can understand the reasoning behind the decision to ground her.
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It's actually a lot simpler than you might imagine, Terry. The aircraft was always the property of the RAF Air Historic Branch and before the AHB gave ownership of all its airframes to RAFM in the late 1990s (1998, I think), lease agreements were drawn up with operators with the proviso that they be responsible for the aircraft's maintenance and upkeep. Black 6 was only ever flown on a short term lease and was actually scheduled for retirement by the MoD in 1997, which was to be its last airshow season and from then it was to be transferred to Hendon and put on display at any rate. When it was turned over, the decision had already been made. I'm not sure if there was any possibility of the lease being extended as it had been in the past; it was only meant to fly for a few years from 1991, but was extended to 1997. pranging it sealed its fate, however.

It was a bit like the LVG at Shuttleworth; the rumour mill will have you believe that it was the RAFM's decision to ground the aeroplane against Shuttleworth's will; the truth was it was Shuttleworth's decision not to renew the lease since the cost of overhaul was too high, so, because of the structural issues with the outer skin, the RAFM guys decided it shouldn't fly again since the lease was not renewed. SVAS would have you believe that RAFM was ordering Shuttleworth not to fly the aircraft, but in reality, the museum was concerned for its structural integrity - quite rightly so and since Shuttleworth had not renewed the lease, it was RAFM's airframe to do with what it wanted.
 
Yes, I remember now - at the time of it's 'prang', the two leading aviation mags in the UK did mention the lease being up, and that the '109 was already earmarked for static display at RAFM Hendon. I think I'm right in stating that it is kept in airworthy condition, although 'inhibited' ?
I saw the LVG at the restoration center at RAFM Cosford a couple of years back, undergoing some major work. This is the only pic I could get of it, due to the Dornier being in the way !

 
I'm not sure about Black 6's flyable condition; I suspect it's as close as it can get, but I don't know. Russ Snadden was/is pretty exacting, so might be. It wasn't officially struck off RAF charge until about 2001, I think.

As for the LVG, I was at Hendon when all the hoo haa about it not being flown again in 2003 erupted. I went to the last Shuttleworth show the LVG made a public appearance at and it was ground run, but not flown. The SVAS guys were slagging off the RAFM to anyone who'd listen and frankly I was a bit peeved at what they were saying since it was a load of BS, so I told one of them I worked for RAFM and that shut him up. When I got back to work I told some of the head neddies at Hendon what was being said and as a result they put out a press release in the aviation tabloids (Flypast and Aeroplane) stating the situation, that the aircraft's lease had expired and it was Shuttleworth who had agreed not to renew it.
 
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