MOTAT

[Richard Wesley]

Jun 18, 2011 17:37:22 GMT 12 pjw4118 said:

The new hangar is really huge. Note the scale against the person on the left. The aircraft are temporarily positioned for cleaning.

What a wonderful photo of the huge new hangar. Would love to see more of the new construction and of the Lancaster rolled back into the light! Would be great to have a photographers weekend with the Lancaster outside for a day? I've just been to East Kirkby to see the running Lancaster there for one of its live taxi days. Fantastic to have all four merlins running in the open air.

[Dave Homewood]

Is that orange hue on the Ventura some sort of iron oxide? It needs a good tidy up like the Hudson is getting, and an accurate colour scheme too.

[beagle]

Imagine if some wealthy aviation fan came up with the money to get the engines running and they could do taxi runs on a sunday etc. pretty sure the crowds would come in.
The Lancaster i am talking about.

[Dave Homewood]

I recall seeing that Lancaster running all four engines when i was about 11 or 12, when the Lanc was up the other end outside the Pumphouse. There were lots of people to see it. They did it once a month I believe, but they stopped after it moved to Sir Keith Park Memorial Airfield.

I know it's custodians would be very keen to run the engines again regularly and they asked for a big hangar door so it could be rolled out on a Sunday and run, but MOTAT management refused. I guess today the health and safety factors, costs, and risk of possible fire put them off, sadly.

[pjw4118]

Just catching up with the thread , the flu gets in the way of all the important things!
I have made the offer of a cleaning gang to MOTAT and theres a good chance it will be accepted.
With the revamp Robyn Winks runs the display rebuild and layout while Sandra Engle is Archivist.
Gerry ( ex RAF MUseum ) is the conservator. The latter two look after the items while Robyn arranges the graphics, touch screens etc. Cleaning will come under Gerry.
With running the Lancaster , never I am afraid , aside from the H&S regs , its become a very historic item and is being treated as one. Any overhaul of all the systems needed to start it up would be mega $$$$.
A better chance is maybe to see one of MOTATs 7 Merlins being fired up. Engine runs in a rig were looked at last year and I remember an armoured plexiglass cage would be required.I am all for a Merlin or big radial being run on open days and it may happen once all the heavy work is done.
Yes the Ventura is a bit scabby and will go into the workshop for a full makeover once the Hudson, Avenger and Mossie go to their new home.
I will keep you posted

[ErrolC]

Jun 23, 2011 16:16:02 GMT 12 pjw4118 said:

Just catching up with the thread , the flu gets in the way of all the important things!
I have made the offer of a cleaning gang to MOTAT and theres a good chance it will be accepted.
...
A better chance is maybe to see one of MOTATs 7 Merlins being fired up. Engine runs in a rig were looked at last year and I remember an armoured plexiglass cage would be required.I am all for a Merlin or big radial being run on open days and it may happen once all the heavy work is done.
...
I will keep you posted

Good-o. Thanks!

[flyjoe180]

Keep us informed re the cleaning gang thing please. Always wanted to be part of a gang

[Dave Homewood]

Are you going to design a patch for your jacket, Joe?

[mumbles]

Jun 23, 2011 16:16:02 GMT 12 pjw4118 said:

With running the Lancaster , never I am afraid , aside from the H&S regs , its become a very historic item and is being treated as one. Any overhaul of all the systems needed to start it up would be mega $$$$.

Was thinking that myself. While too young to have ever seen it running myself (I first went to MOTAT in the bad old days in 1982), I wonder if a positive decision was taken to stop running the engines, or if the practice just ceased over time. Either way, was any preservation work (inhibiting etc) undertaken on the engines or systems, or were they just left as is?

While not inclined to say 'never', I am not surprised if there would be a heap of work involved to get even one running again let alone all four.

[zaphod]

Heres a neat video of the new hangar going up
To me, the doors look a lot lower than the tails on the Solent and Sunderland. Anyone know if these will be removed to go inside? Can't exactly lift the nose to drop the tail like withMt Cook HS748's.

I was at MOTAT a couple of weekends ago and there looked to be quite a bit of progress to the underside of the Solent outside. I was at the other end of the yard getting some stress relief wrecking a trolley bus for parts at the time.

[mgmike]

I used to live near Motat when I was a kid and went down regularly in the early to mid '80's when the Lanc and DC3 used to do engine runs. From memory then only started the two inboard engines on the Lanc and used to taxi it forward a bit. One of the guys told me a few years back they stopped due to having no fire facilities there but that the engines were inhibited. He also said the Solents engines were seized due to some early messing around just after it came to Motat.

[Dave Homewood]

They used to run the Lodestar engines too, but I'd bet if they tried that now the vibration would make it crumble to dust.

Am I right in thinking that the Solent's engines have all been overhauled or at least cleaned up in more recent years?

[flyjoe180]

Jun 23, 2011 18:18:43 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Are you going to design a patch for your jacket, Joe?

[pjw4118]

Great to see the interest in helping. I should of asked years ago as until now keeping the Lancaster clean has been up to the BCA , while the Solent Society looked after theirs and did inside tours.A big ask for 85 +++ year olds. Mind you they were happy to do it and Wednesday mornings became the weeks highlight for many.
The Sunderland rear hull needed frame repairs and some reskinning after it was blown off the beaching trolley last year .With the Solent ,while the hull was being soda blasted ,areas of corrosion were found so a repair job was needed.
With the Lanc motors ,electrical circiuts are a problem and getting fuel to the " runner " was always dicey. It could be done with $$$$. All the systems were drained but the motors contain enough oil to be pulled over most months with no problems. So mechanically yes but public H&S NO NO . Be very afraid of the H&S people, they carry big sticks, and have never heard of common sense , so now even our stairs have a warning " TRIPPING HAZARD". Obviously NZ could never go to war again as the paperwork would take a decade and any battlefield would need to be premarked with signs,,,, beware of bullets....torpedo danger,submarine area etc etc. Perhaps the Forum could add a few as now , for us , the latest flap is the radioactivity lurking in old flight intruments. They have had to be collected and stored in a special room to be cared for by an instrument basher in a lead suit. Mind you instrument bashers quite like that way of dressing. Our vets , many who put in thousands of civil flying hours, exposed to all this radioactivity are now checking their bodies and especially the private parts for unexpected growths.I know that if they find one they will be overjoyed as it means another 25c a fortnight on thier war vets pension..
Please note that I am NOT the official MOTAT person but comment on what I see. If you want the official version please wait.

[Dave Homewood]

Yes I have read over the pst couple of years that all the British Museums have had to deal with instruments that may emit radiation, and also firewalls made from asbestos, etc. Seems like a lot of overkill if no-one is flying the aeroplanes and no-one goes in them.

At lunchtime today I picked up my jar of Kraft Peanut Butter and saw the words "Allergy Warning - Contains Peanuts." Crikey, who'd have thought??

[Tony]

OMG - Joe.......
Careful - you will be banned from Wanganui / Whanganui - the Muddy River Area ;D ;D

[flyjoe180]

Ah well, I could only live in hope. ;D

[shorty]

Jun 24, 2011 12:26:50 GMT 12 mgmike said:

I used to live near Motat when I was a kid and went down regularly in the early to mid '80's when the Lanc and DC3 used to do engine runs. From memory then only started the two inboard engines on the Lanc and used to taxi it forward a bit. One of the guys told me a few years back they stopped due to having no fire facilities there but that the engines were inhibited. He also said the Solents engines were seized due to some early messing around just after it came to Motat.

Where abouts did you live Mike? I used to live in Springfield Road up until the mid 60s when I joined the Air Force. (that was when we used to have one, before the Airline/Aero club days)

[mgmike]

We used to live on Old Mill Rd, I could walk down the road and go into Motat via the Motions Rd entrance. From memory they used to start up the engines of a few of the a/c over several summer weekends. I do remember when the Lanc's engines were started there were cars stopping all down Meola Rd watching. I don't think the Lanc was particularly trouble free, I remember sitting there one weekend as they turned over No 3 engine for hours trying to sort out some problem.

[shorty]

The Motions Road entrance was after my time. However here is a shot I took when we fired up the lanc engines, Dave Graham nearest the camera and Monty Armstrong in the TEAL overalls.
BTW, the Lanc doesn,t belong to Motat, it belongs to all of us as the French presented it to "The People Of New Zealand"
In the background (with the concrete path around it) is a turret of HMS Achilles.