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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 2685.PDF
-gpjS^ ...:5 ~" ^4 1 . *** fir % "f". ^*i *" "" ••'• '•fcwlS ••••<• When a Mk.Ila Spitfire leads the Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain flypast on 15 September, it will not be a case of just another old aircraft brought out for the celebrations. P7350 is a genuine Battle of Britain aircraft, with battle scars to prove it. She - and her younger Spitfire, Hurri cane and Lancaster sisters -will be able to appear in that flypast because of the work of a small team based at RAF Coningsby, where the sweet sound of Merlins mixes with the harsh noise of RB.199-equipped Tornados. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight maintains and flies ten historic aircraft -one Avro Lancaster; two Hawker Hurri cane lies; five Supermarine Spitfires (a 11a, a Vb and three XlXs); and two post-war de Havilland aircraft, a Chipmunk and a Devon used for communications and train ing. It has a full-time aircrew of one - Sqn Ldr Colin Paterson, who is also captain of the Lancaster -and a pool of regular RAF pilots and navigators. SMALL TEAM The aircraft are looked after by a ground- crew of 18, augmented in this Battle of Britain 50th anniversary year by three extras. That is a reflection of the 50% increase in flying which the flight will undertake in 1990 — it will perform nearly 200 shows and flypasts compared with its usual annual 140. The groundcrew, presifled over by W/O Barry Sears, comprises regular RAF engi neering personnel with no special back- issi J The Royal Air Force's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight maintains and flies the service's most historic aircraft. Allan Winn has been to see how they are kept in the air. ground or training other than experience gained in the BBMF workshops. "It takes 12-18 months to get somebody up to speed and capable of taking initiative and respon sibility," says Sears. He says that the small number of staff means that they need to become multi-trade ("You can find an airframe fitter pre-flighting engines.") and capable of doing repairs rather than just replacing worn-out components. Paterson emphasises that - dedication to these aircraft apart - there is no difference between BBMF and regular personnel. "We operate to exactly the same procedures and to exactly the same standards as the rest of the service," he says. The crew, says Sears, tend to stay longer with BBMF than with other postings - perhaps four or five years - mainly because of the time it takes to learn the job. Unless a person wants to stay (Sears is in his sixth season), an engineer would then move back into the main stream, so as to not lose touch with modern developments in his or her trade. "This job would not hold you up if you were selected for further training or pro motion," he says. Fifty years ago the challenge was to build Spitfires: now it is to keep them flying Finding spares to keep rare aircraft flying is one of the major challenges, but the BBMF is fortunate in that others have the same problem - and a problem shared is a problem part-way solved. "We operate in a fairly small community," says Sears, "and we tend to help each other." That help can be through exchanging or lending spares to each other, or joining together to have new parts made. During Flight's visit to Coningsby, a large wooden crate containing a new Mer lin crankshaft appeared from another Spit fire operator, in return for previous help. Within three hours of that appearing, Sears responded to an urgent call from the USA, and a set of propeller spanners was des patched to the Confederate Air Force. Its Spitfire propeller needed to be dismantled and repaired in time for a memorial flypast on 15 September. The rarity of spares means, says Sears: "We're the original magpies. We tend to collect anything that's going, often in an unknown condition. We have fairly com prehensive stores, and save bits that would be thrown away anywhere else - even if we'll only ever use them as patterns." ORIGINAL SUPPLIERS In some cases, original suppliers are able to help the flight out: Dowty is manufacturing a set of seals to replace all those on the Lancaster, and Dunlop has done special runs of oddball tyres like that for the tail wheel of the Hurricane. There are also new Dunlop brake Control valves being made. Dowty still organises repair and rebuild of vintage propellers - al- FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 SEPTEMBER, 1940 175
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