North East Land, Sea And Aircraft Museum Diary

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Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 993

It is all traditional wood and fabric except for the engine which is all high Tech 3D printed.

The project has been a collaboration with the local ATC squadron and the museum and was backed by a small grant from HLF of about £7,000

It will be out and about at several more events including the Yorkshire Wartime Experience

The NELSAM Morane was out at the North East Military Vehicle Club show this weekend. The event was held at the Ryhope Engines Museum, a Victorian era steam powered water pumping station. Here's a few pictures of the nearly complete aircraft, now with just a little finishing off here and there still to do.

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18 years 1 month

Posts: 1,966

I'll be popping in this morning with my family for the first time in 25 years, I'm a touch excited!

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 993

Long overdue update

Collection re-orientation has been underway since the end of last year.

To date the following has happened

Westland Wessex XM833 has been donated to the South Wales Museum where it will go under cover as NELSAM simply did not have room for it and leaving it outside for the next 10 years was not a good plan

Meteor NF11 cockpit WD790 departed to Boscombe Down with a Jet Provost cockpit travelling in exchange to NELSAM. This used to fly from Northumberland

Auster J1N G-APKM arrived from Doncaster as a swap for Dove G-ARHX which was on loan from NELSAM. This aircraft was based with Sunderland Flying Club many years ago

Spennymoor built Brookland Mosquito arrived from its owner. Another local addition

Voltair electric microlight arrived from Hartlepool College in a deal that has seen four engines go to the college on loan for their new engine course. This unusual aircraft was built at Eshott in Northumberland

The Spitfire Society Replica Mk9 has arrived for display later in the year and is currently in the storage hangar

On the restoration front work is progressing slowly with Whirlwind XN258 which is now primed ready for final paint

The Bluebird team have been taking an active interest in Vulcan XL319 with spanners in hand. This will be followed at the end of June by preparation and painting

The end of July will see some rearrangement with the Dragonfly, Gazelle moving from the main hangar to the Navy Romney and Military Romney respectively.

Photographs to follow

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,446

The Bluebird team have been taking an active interest in Vulcan XL319 with spanners in hand. This will be followed at the end of June by preparation and painting

Indeed, a few short sessions have seen us get No.4 spinning over on the air starter. No reason with some more work why the engine wouldn't light and run. Early steps with videos etc can be followed on our twitter-

https://twitter.com/bluebirdk7

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16 years 5 months

Posts: 5,999

What a fantastic gesture and an excellent start by the sounds of it. Just getting one turning and burning would be an achievement after so long being dormant.

Keep us informed.

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,446

Another good day on site, we tested instrumentation to the cockpit (JPT and RPM both working), fitted the inlet trunk to No.4 engine and got some kerosene pumped into it with a wet crank on the starter. Pics and vids on our twitter. (Link above)

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20 years 4 months

Posts: 1,713

Thanks for keeping us updated on this! It's good to hear things are moving within that Vulcan! Just curious, but will you need to do any work on gear/brakes before applying sparks? Or is that big, triangular test stand bolted down firmly enough to withstand a bit of a push from an Olympus?

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24 years 2 months

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The brakes are very seized and the tyres are very flat...and we don't plan on taking the single engine we're going to try and start above a cautious idle!

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 37

For some time after the Vulcan landed at Sunderland, by various means we made the APU made operational.
Has it been considered to get the APU running again?
From a distance the the APU sounded like a Olympus at idle speed.

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24 years 2 months

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We've considered it, though for reasons unknown it's currently removed from the aircraft!

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,446

Our painting weekend went well- we had some BBP members and other assorted keen volunteers, and although lots remains to be done, we really broke the back of the topside painting. Plenty of pics on our twitter feed-

https://twitter.com/bluebirdk7

Good to see further painting, so long after it was first started. XL319 is looking really good. I think the picture of 319 from 2010 tipped up in the snow, is one of my pictures taken shortly after 319 was found trying to reach for the sky again. Have you made, or will you be making repairs to the damaged tail?

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[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"vulcan_xl319_009.jpg","data-attachmentid":3866819}[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"vulcan_xl319_010.jpg","data-attachmentid":3866820}[/ATTACH]

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20 years 4 months

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Great job on the painting! I may have to revisit NELSAM sometime this summer so I can admire it up close.

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,446

Nothing done on the tail damage yet, but never say never. We're concentrating on the engine work and basic painting for now.

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16 years 5 months

Posts: 5,999

Superb. Just like the Newark Shackleton and Vulcan it’s always a joy to see something big getting some TLC.

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17 years 2 months

Posts: 80

The Bluebird twitter feed has changed from ‘start a Vulcan ‘ to ‘started a vulcan’ so I’m guessing they may have had success in the attempts to breath life into XL319

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,446

Some recent progress....more to see on our twitter/You Tube.