'End Of Project...'

[Roger Wilco]

Bluebird has completed a series of successful proving runs. A huge crowd have gathered at Coniston to witness the magnificently restored K7 effortlessly attain the maximum permitted speed and the spirit of DMC smiles from somewhere above and exhorts 'Bloody good show!'. The craft is drained, polished and intalled at the Ruskin in all her majesty. What next for Bill and his magnificent team of experts, engineers and enthusiasts? Could this ever be equalled let alone bettered? What could ever fill the gap once this fantastic project finaly ends?

[Renegadenemo]

What could ever fill the gap once this fantastic project finaly ends?

We were asked that one the day after we lifted the wreck. What no one knew at the time was that the wreck was actually incidental to finding Donald and we weren't done yet.
We may find we're never done with K7 if running her becomes an annual event.
We've been invited to rebuild a crashed aircraft. It's the last surviving example of its type but it's properly crashed and in the hands of a very prestigious museum who were wondering what to do with it until they got a look at our conserveering.
Alternatively we've often discussed just knocking another boat together to have the record back from our mate Ken. I mean, let's face it, we have more than enough facilities, skills and sponsors to build another boat with our eyes closed and working with fresh metal and a free hand means it would take us no time at all but I'm not sure we have the motivation for it. Time will tell, as they say.

[Roger Wilco]

[Edited due to Cadbury's/ McVities juxto faux pas]

[mtskull]

We've been invited to rebuild a crashed aircraft. It's the last surviving example of its type but it's properly crashed and in the hands of a very prestigious museum who were wondering what to do with it until they got a look at our conserveering.

Would that be something that could be cryptically described as a "not long, small Scottish city"?

[klingon]

Sadly not- a Short Stirling is a virtually extinct type that I'd love to see resurrected, but it's not one of those.

A long shiny waterproof rubber boot then named after Arthur Welesleys title?

[rob565uk]

A great aeroplane, the Wellington. My Father flew them and Mosquitoes, as well Spitfires and Hurricanes in WW2 and he rated the Wellington as the toughest, able to absorb a lot of damage and still get them home. To do with the geodetic frame construction I believe.

[Renegadenemo]

http://s536.photobucket.com/albums/f...rtony/Orpheus/

Now then... a few years ago whilst visiting the site of a huge and important aerospace outfit I was being led down a road when my guide stopped and invited me to peer through a grimy windown into a darkened hangar. Inside was a bloody great WWII bomber type that, I was told, was a replica that a bunch of enthusiasts had been building for years. It looked very well built to me and I'm sure it was a Stirling. Couldn't swear to it though.

Another snippet for you... with all this talk of engines on the website we've been offered quite a few of late including a mint example I was shown today that's far too good to waste on a boat. I've passed it to the aviation boys but, in the process, I learned of another WWSR contender that's in-build and reputedly well advanced and built around an Avon. A little bit of checking later and it all stacks up so we could be in for lots of fun.

[quicksilver-wsr]

There are maybe as many as three jet-boat projects, other than Quicksilver, in the offing at the moment.

Bill, that "Stirling" was probably a Handley Page Halifax - another classic WWII British bomber. It is a part-real/part-replica Halifax made up of many components from many sources and is the work of the Yorkshire Air Museum.

The fuselage between the cockpit section and the tail section is original and comprises of an unmolested chunk plus a "covered waggon" (a modified chunk of fuselage converted for alternative use after the war) that was found at RAF Linton-on-Ouse. The tail section, including the fins, was made by BAe at Brough. The wings are from another Handley Page type - the Hastings (serial number TG536) - and that's not as daft as it seems, as Hastings' wings were originally derived from those of the Halifax, just as the wings of the Avro York were adapted from those of the Lancaster.

The intermediate sections between the inner and outer engines are of a larger span than the Halifax, so the Yorkshire Air Museum's Halifax has a longer wing-span than original aircraft!

The engines are from France and were previously fitted to Noratlas transport planes (these engines were made in France, under licence from Bristol). They are not the same as the Mk XVI or 100 type fitted to pukka Hercules-powered Halifaxes, but at least they share the same lineage. The props are nothing like the real deal, but that's not a criticism. The cockpit section is made from wooden frames but utilises aluminium stringers and skin made to an authentic Halifax pattern. The tailplane has recently been remade, as the earlier one apparently sagged because it was largely made from wood with steel tubing (though it incorporated some original tail structure from Halifax LL505, which crashed in the Lake District).

[Renegadenemo]

Fascinating stuff except that the aircraft I was looking at was a long way from Yorkshire. I'll make a few calls next week and see what I can find out.

[quicksilver-wsr]

It's a shame there are no Stirlings left - at least as far as we know. It was a great-looking beastie, and much bigger than the Lancaster and the Halifax.

I made an Airfix kit of one when I was a lad. What an aeroplane!

In real life - 72 times larger than an Airfix kit - the Stirling was an aeroplane with some shortcomings, but I reckon it takes the cake when it comes to sheer "presence" and charisma.