A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Thread

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14 years 10 months

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Thanks again for this update.

Years ago I summarised my logbook in Excel and abstracted a database from it.

I find that of the 15 trips I did in this a/c one was exactly 60 years ago today, for 50 minutes doing cine. I.E. doing practice gunnery using the gun camera to assess the pilots proficiency.

The last trip was in the run up to the NATO exercise Vigilant on May 21 1957, 60 mins practice interceptions at night under GCI control. This was the second of two trips that night with an hour between them for refuelling and a cup of coffee.

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14 years 1 month

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Peter, I have PM'd you re. the photo of 788 in flight you posted earlier in the thread. Would it be possible for you to reproduce your log of trips in 788 on here please? It would be a nice snapshot of the jet's service career.

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14 years 1 month

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Forgot to say, I received a pdf of 788's movement card today from the nice people at the RAF Museum. Once I have converted it to a format I can reproduce on here I shall share it.

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16 years 5 months

Posts: 5,998

Thanks again for this update.

Years ago I summarised my logbook in Excel and abstracted a database from it.

I find that of the 15 trips I did in this a/c one was exactly 60 years ago today, for 50 minutes doing cine. I.E. doing practice gunnery using the gun camera to assess the pilots proficiency.

The last trip was in the run up to the NATO exercise Vigilant on May 21 1957, 60 mins practice interceptions at night under GCI control. This was the second of two trips that night with an hour between them for refuelling and a cup of coffee.

That's a really nice connection to this thread, Peter. I bet seeing this Meteor again never even entered your mind back then :).
Hopefully you can be reunited with your backseat at some point if you so wished!

Rob

Member for

16 years 5 months

Posts: 5,998

Thanks again for this update.

Years ago I summarised my logbook in Excel and abstracted a database from it.

I find that of the 15 trips I did in this a/c one was exactly 60 years ago today, for 50 minutes doing cine. I.E. doing practice gunnery using the gun camera to assess the pilots proficiency.

The last trip was in the run up to the NATO exercise Vigilant on May 21 1957, 60 mins practice interceptions at night under GCI control. This was the second of two trips that night with an hour between them for refuelling and a cup of coffee.

That's a really nice connection to this thread, Peter. I bet seeing this Meteor again never even entered your mind back then :).
Hopefully you can be reunited with your backseat at some point if you so wished!

Rob

Member for

14 years 1 month

Posts: 5,088

It'd be more than fine with me for Mr Verney to re-acquaint himself with 788! Her history is something I am very interested in learning more about. I would love to find a pic of her while she was being moved at Leeming under a Chinook for example! And only this week I learned that she was used as camera ship on a photo sortie with the Yellowjacks display team.

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15 years 7 months

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My memory might be playing tricks here but I seem to recall a photo of '788 under a Chinook appearing in a copy of Air Clues back in the 80s? Will see if I can find it.

Peter

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If you could, that would be brilliant!

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11 years 5 months

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That's a really nice connection to this thread, Peter. I bet seeing this Meteor again never even entered your mind back then :).
Hopefully you can be reunited with your backseat at some point if you so wished!

Rob

I agree wholeheartedly. This very personal connection adds something to the already interesting thread. And because a Meatbox ride in a T7 as a cadet was my first experience of jet flight there is an added piquancy for me, personally.

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17 years 5 months

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Looks like a good base for a restoration. Best of luck with her!

...I think I should make it into a forum 'Bodge of the Year trophy', to be presented annually to the restorer on Key who finds the most comedy previous repair while restoring an aircraft...

Only aircraft? I've seen some corkers while restoring my buses...

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01/02/16 Update

Well, it wasn't really the weather for working on old jets in Yorkshire yesterday! I had a couple of jobs lined up in the cockpit for my new recruit, but as the rain arrived around the same time we did the canopy cover never even came off! We did do a bit of tidying though. In the jet's present position with her outer wings off, there are a few sharp pipes sticking out of the wing join which it would not be difficult for passing visitors to snag themselves on, so we got busy removing the sharp pipes and blanking them off. Here Alison, my better half and newest recruit to the Meteor team, gets to grips with hydraulic couplings which have not been spun off in 50 years in all likelihood.
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160131_114355_zpsvncfig8t.jpg
After finding blanks in stores they were refitted. Much tidier, and safer too
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160131_152821_zpszlaqvmmq.jpg
Sadly the jet is still in her puddle. I hope to get her hauled out soon as it isn't doing her any favours
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160131_152836_zpsn1ndzogc.jpg
After this we retired to lunch, then we learned something of the museum's Grand Plan regarding scheduled restorations. There is a current project in the HP building, which soon will be paint stripped and repainted. Once this is done, the Meteor will be brought in and readied for the same process. In the meantime the wings are to be brought into the workshop next door and receive similar treatment.
We may also be welcoming a new recruit soon, one not unknown on the Key forum too...
Things are looking up for the old girl!
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160131_153346_zpsk8rxbzyo.jpg

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18 years 6 months

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I wonder if there is some confusion over which aircraft was moved by the Chinook, the details below imply that it was the Javelin

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=C9GkAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=meteor+ws788+and+chinook&source=bl&ots=JqBC3ThrAP&sig=qkHpr7B3eALgKzLZjolUa-cqyu4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjen-L4k9fKAhUE9h4KHRoECkkQ6AEILDAC#v=onepage&q=meteor%20ws788%20and%20chinook&f=false

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I hope it was the Meteor, as stated in my Gate Guardians book. To be fair pics of either slung under a Chinook would be worth seeing!

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09/02/2016 Update

This edition of the update thread starts thrillingly with... a handful of rusty nuts.
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160205_132909_zpsb5ijqwl7.jpg
I had some welding jobs to do for work, which I brought home to sort in my garage. While I had all the gear out I decided to do the Meatbox's step too. A bit of careful dremel work saw the above rusty mess, the pivot nuts and bolts and the remains of the springs, removed from the step. Next task was to make up 2 new lugs for the bracket.
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160205_134809_zpstx20n9le.jpg
These were welded and trimmed, again with the faithful dremel, before being painted
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160205_144146_zpsl7nr7feo.jpg
The rest of the components of the step were also painted, after they had been de-rusted and treated with jenolite to hold the tinworm at bay.
http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz117/Blue2MGB/Meteor/20160205_144542_zpsszikvjyz.jpg
Next job, simply reassemble and weld a new bottom into the step box. A boring little piece of the jet overall I know, but if the jet is being restored I want it to be as right as I can get it.

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11 years 5 months

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Ah Blue - like so many things in life get the small details right and the rest will seamlessly follow!! :)

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16 years 10 months

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Steps are a good start. How will you get higher up without them!

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14 years 1 month

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A philosophical cogitation indeed Ian! :)

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11 years 5 months

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Blue - apologies for encroaching on your Meatbox thread but I was wondering about the Flea, in regard of your newly adopted project......

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14 years 1 month

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Flea is still a work in progress; Indeed the turnbuckles to rig the little blighter should be arriving in the next week or two.

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14 years 10 months

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Ah, those steps cum handholds. A little boasting but we had to go to Habbaniya in Iraq on a weekend nav exercise, returning on Sunday pm with takeoff at 1400 local. The aircraft was parked in the open on the Plateau airfield as the main runway at Habb was under repair. The temperature was 120F so we only wore underpants and lightweight flying suit. I put on my capeskin flying gloves as getting in to the rear cockpit involved pulling up on the hand holds and kneeling the right knee onto the wing.

By the time I had got in I had burnt my hands and right knee.