Read the forum code of contact
By: - 17th October 2020 at 11:03 Permalink
Interesting. This concept is not entirely unknown territory.
One thinks of the LI-2 ( DC-3) /Wellington mongrel made for the 1969 film 'The Sky Raiders', which was actually a pretty good representation, although the low wing jars a bit, not to mention the unusual grooves in the fuselage to accommodate the prop clearance after the fuselage had been porked up a bit. It did not survive the filming, sadly.
I remember too in Wrecks and Relics (1978 or something ) reference to a derelict Miles Gemini at Biggin Hill which had been hauled away, and was to form the basis of a flying Mosquito replica. Seeing as that lead has been a bit (totally) quiet for 40 years, I am wondering if it might have been shelved...
By: - 19th October 2020 at 09:58 Permalink
Personally I'd really like to see a taxiable Viking but I guess the type doesn't have the same general appeal.
By: - 19th October 2020 at 11:20 Permalink
How bad is the Viking?
By: - 19th October 2020 at 12:54 Permalink
I'm with you, MM - but then , the Viking isn't a 'warbird'!
By: - 19th October 2020 at 13:25 Permalink
I was especially thinking of all those long-gone airline schemes it could sport, AA. Maybe not authentic to that individual aircraft but certainly to the type - Autair, BKS, Eagle, Hunting Clan, etc, etc 😊
By: - 19th October 2020 at 17:56 Permalink
Probably there would be a campaign to paint it with its trooping serial number XF640!
Going back to your point, MM, G-AGRW flew for both Hunting Clan and Autair.
But to be a little unusual, maybe it should just pretend to be a Dutch restaurant. All you'd need would be another two Vikings!
By: - 19th October 2020 at 19:01 Permalink
Restaurant? Oh, so ‘last year’. Airbnb; after all, it’s already missing its engine.
By: - 19th October 2020 at 20:02 Permalink
Going back to your point, MM, G-AGRW flew for both Hunting Clan and Autair
Thanks, AA. I'd missed that fact somehow!
By: - 19th October 2020 at 20:28 Permalink - Edited 19th October 2020 at 20:29
By: Oracal - 19th October 2020 at 19:01Restaurant? Oh, so ‘last year’. Airbnb; after all, it’s already missing its engine.
Oh no, so '1968'. Just google 'Vikings Soesterberg'!
By: - 20th October 2020 at 18:50 Permalink
I will settle for AIRWORK............!!! First ever flight Blackbushe to Nairobi in November 1952.
G-AIXR Took two and a half days......!!
By: - 21st October 2020 at 20:16 Permalink
There's a short clip of an Airwork Viking on Youtube, Planemike. I must say it's a very tasteful colour scheme.
Two and a half days? Ah well, plenty time to admire the scenery 😊
By: - 21st October 2020 at 20:29 Permalink
''What state is the Viking?'' somebody asked.
Not showroom condition, it would be fair to say. The fin has a folding mod that was probably unknown in the Vickers design office. It may be even worse now .
The type first flew before the end of WW2- we should not be scrapping such historic aeroplanes in 2020, and it surely deserves to be saved, ideally as a Viking and not a Mickey-Mouse ' Vikington'.
https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9447413
By: - 21st October 2020 at 20:40 Permalink - Edited 21st October 2020 at 20:41
What's missing from this thread so far is any tangible information concerning the alleged plan to bring G-AGRW back to the UK. Who is planning to do this? How is it to be achieved? Is the Austrian museum aware of this? How is it to be 'Wellingtonised'? From where is the funding coming? Or is this just 'fantasy' news?
By: - 23rd October 2020 at 22:03 Permalink
Its a real project, though it needs a wider audience to get things going proper. I appreciate some may think that the Viking is worthy of saving in its own right, but nobody seems wlling to step up to save it in one lump, and similar barbs are always hurled at Elvington's Halifax for daring to be a composite.. its a bit repetitive and not really constructive.
Information... A chap by the name of Barry Love has long been trying to get parts together to rebuild/recreate a Wellington, and he is heading things up. I found out the Viking was under threat of scrapping and put him in touch with its current owners. A deal has since been struck (and the scrapping stopped), so Barry is now fundraising to bring it home from Austria once Covid has calmed down a little. So far he has been approaching original equipment manufacturers and other sources - but for more detail you would need to ask Barry himself.
Some Wellington main fuselage frames have already been acquired and Wellington Z1206 is being used as a template for bomb bay/fuselage structure. These will be used with the Viking's own Wellington derived wings, to form the basis of the 'new' aircraft, in the same way Hastings wings have been used to build Halifaxes.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/wellington-construction-project
Regards
Rich
By: - 24th October 2020 at 08:16 Permalink
Interesting idea, I wish them well with the project. I presume the Viking cockpit section will Hopefully be saved?
By: - 24th October 2020 at 09:21 Permalink
Rich, thanks for the 'back-story', and it is encouraging to hear the project is based on a sound and long-term plan. It will be a major challenge to fabricate geodetic/geodesic ( you see both terms) structure. The fact the scrapping has been halted is very welcome news.
On the point of the Halifax, my impression is that it is generally held in very high regard. It is certainly an impressive exhibit and a credit to the team who worked on it. They tried to obtain the Halifax fuselage section held by the IWM but they declined to release it, sadly, and so a new nose had to be fabricated. It was an innovative effort, and made available to the public a complete Halifax, which is something the RAF museum have taken 45 years not to do.
By: - 24th October 2020 at 09:36 Permalink
I do think the Viking is worthy of saving in its own right and it's a pity to lose an example of an early post-war airliner in order to construct a replica. I wouldn't say the same about the Halifax as the Hastings was a fire-dump example, wasn't it? Anyway, it sounds a done deal so, like FLY.BUY, I can only hope that the cockpit section will be saved.
A chap by the name of Barry Love has long been trying to get parts together to rebuild/recreate a Wellington
Since 2014 (assuming the same Barry L) - https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/132371-can-a-wellington-ev…
By: - 24th October 2020 at 10:19 Permalink
Its precisely the same as the Halifax, as the Viking had been towed to the fire dump and was about to get reduced to cockpit and engines in a short space of time! I don't like seeing aircraft scrapped, but if nobody was going to save it as a Viking, surviving on in some form as a Wellington seems to me a very decent compromise, and better than being shredded for recycling.
I'm told its internally very stripped apart from some garish interior decor left over from its past duties as a McDonalds restaurant; but Barry is looking to repatriate the whole aircraft not just the parts he requires, so I'm guessing he's got plans for the rest.
MothMinor, yes that old thread is/was him!
By: - 24th October 2020 at 11:10 Permalink
Fair enough, Rich. Very sad but it sounds like it was pretty terminal for the poor old girl anyway 😞 All credit to Mr Love he's certainly stuck with his "mad thoughts"!
By: - 24th October 2020 at 14:20 Permalink
Moth Minor......
Thank you for the clip............!!! Two and a half days for the trip included two night stops, Malta & Khartoum.....
Posts: 1,988
By: jeepman - 16th October 2020 at 23:55
Anybody know something about the plan to repatriate Vickers Viking G-AGRW from Austria and use parts to create a taxiable Wellington reproduction?
In the olden days, this would have been a dead cert for discussion on the forum.