A Trip on an Airbus (minus the Air)
First day back on the hard surfaces at RAF Shawbury but there’s always a gremlin that can trip you up!
The forecast the day prior indicated there’d be little chance for gliding with strong gusts prevailing throughout and an ever-increasing chance of rain as the day progressed. Ever the optimists though, we lived in hope and prayed the forecast was exaggerating; sadly, the naked reality of the weather rang true with that of the forecast as average gusts at 10:00 were passing through 22knts. With a deteriorating picture throughout the day, there was little enthusiasm for trips in the motor falke.
With little anticipation for flying, a series of maintenance tasks remained in line for us to crack on with…. all after a quick gossip though…
Gally and Nick moved their donor ASW20, or as the Colonel phrased it, their ‘crock of detritus’ – or something like that - back into its corner, to enable more workshop space.
Gally, Norm and Co. concluded the Astir’s annual, finishing tasks on the tailplane, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. With R66 now ready to leave the workshop, the Ventus boys were keen to jump in its grave (with 243, that is; Mike and Geoff aren’t quite there yet). This meant R66 required rigging, which was accomplished in double time, under the command of CFI, Gally the GOAT.
Whilst R66 was being rigged, Will continued working on the trailer repairs in preparation for the Astir’s next landout later this year. Progress is coming along very well. A reminder of last years landout can be seen in the limited edition, must-have RSGC 2026 calendar...
Meanwhile, at the other side of the hangar, Nigel, Tony and Brad were cracking on with works on KE as it nears the end of its annual. Upon carrying out control deflection checks, Nigel found resistance in operating the right rudder. Whilst Tony and Brad set to work finding the fault, Nigel, Nick and Colin made progress with locating and repairing the coolant leak that had developed on the engine. A pause to proceedings soon followed as the Colonel had organised an expedition…
Today was to be the much-anticipated return to the hard runways due to the completion of the 18-month airfield renovation project in late Dec 2025. Even though the weather sank that plan, the Colonel organised a club outing onto the airfield to familiarise members with the layout, obstacles to aim for or miss (depends on the driver or pilot) and launch point locations on the new runways. It could be said the outing was less On the Buses, and more Dave’s Coaches from Gavin and Stacey. With the airfield layout now briefed by Gally and Nigel, we hope to put the brief into practice next Sunday!
Upon the return from Geoff Tours’ mystery tour, the investigation continued on KE. Attention turned to the cockpit, where potential uneven cable lengths became the next line of enquiry; this was soon found not to be at fault. This was fast becoming a case for Hercule Poirot, until Tony, alas, discovered that there was significant friction between the tailwheel and rudder movement.
Now the fault was found, the turnbuckles required re-lock wiring after they had been adjusted earlier to reconnect the rudder cables. This turned out to be an opportunity for instructor Brad to practice his lock wiring skills obtained on his mechanic technician course at RAF Cosford. Under the harsh gaze of the Colonel’s camera – which was difficult for all to escape from today - a successful outcome was achieved.
Elsewhere in H4, MEF students and Cosford recruits, Hoss and Beccy, were refining their skills on the simulator, thermalling under a digital booming sky we could all but hope for this time of year, and practicing their coordination, circuit and landings. Despite the limited opportunity to get airborne over the past months, they appear not to have lost their touch, bar one interesting landing in which the glider was absorbed into the Earth (on the sim, obvs). We hope they can both get back in the air soon at Shawbury before they graduate from training at Cosford in the next couple of months.
Thanks all for the efforts today, and to Mrs #Vulcanbomber for providing us with yet more cake. And remember… you can run and hide, but the camera will never be far behind…
Club News:
Many thanks to Will who has been appointed as the new Club Met Officer following his sterling efforts today to ensure that we all had a minute-by-minute update from watevs of the 14 online forecasts he happened to be looking at at the time. Top job Will.