Jet. When Britain Ruled The World.

[rab60bit]

Originally Posted by VVC-Geeza

Didn't the positioning of the engines turn out to be a fire risk? Apart from making them an absolute pain to work on,or change.

Apparently never designed for ease of maintenance, wonder why....ah, they were an utterly potent high altitude interceptor for killing Soviet strategic bombers, full stop. Fire risk, you have to be kidding!

[rab60bit]

Originally Posted by planenut

I'm sure the engineers had a strong description of those engine positions!

Yup, grunt central

[VVC-Geeza]

Originally Posted by rab60bit

Apparently never designed for ease of maintenance, wonder why....ah, they were an utterly potent high altitude interceptor for killing Soviet strategic bombers, full stop. Fire risk, you have to be kidding!

So did the engines arrangement in itself present a fire risk?

[trikey]

Originally Posted by VVC-Geeza

Didn't the positioning of the engines turn out to be a fire risk? Apart from making them an absolute pain to work on,or change.

Yes, and described by a pilot as *sitting in front of an unexploded bomb*

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

[planenut]

It was a phenominal aircraft, stunning to see fly, and I was lucky to be at the "last show' at Binbrook.

Unfortunately, this stacked configuration led to complicated maintenance procedure, and the recurring problem of fluid leakage from the upper engine being a fire hazard.

[VVC-Geeza]

Originally Posted by planenut

It was a phenominal aircraft, stunning to see fly, and I was lucky to be at the "last show' at Binbrook.

Yep Binbrook was unforgettable apart from bad weather on the day.

[The Rovering Member]

Originally Posted by rab60bit

Apparently never designed for ease of maintenance, wonder why....ah, they were an utterly potent high altitude interceptor for killing Soviet strategic bombers, full stop. Fire risk, you have to be kidding!

When you put it like that.......

[rab60bit]

Originally Posted by trikey

Yes, and described by a pilot as *sitting in front of an unexploded bomb*

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

Also affectionately described by pilots as "sitting on a skyrocket".
Over 330 built/operational, it was leading edge stuff and more than a little blue sky thinking to get it into service and stay front-line for over 30 years. Excess of 20% lost in accidents of any sort, many (perhaps 20) attributed to engine fires whilst in take-off/landing configuration but then almost as many due to landing gear malfunction but neither issue equates to a c..p interceptor. Essentially intended as a guided missile carrier to destroy high flying nuclear bombers over the North Sea and east European Soviet Bloc countries.

[torque2me]

Originally Posted by rab60bit

Also affectionately described by pilots as "sitting on a skyrocket".
Over 330 built/operational, it was leading edge stuff and more than a little blue sky thinking to get it into service and stay front-line for over 30 years. Excess of 20% lost in accidents of any sort, many (perhaps 20) attributed to engine fires whilst in take-off/landing configuration but then almost as many due to landing gear malfunction. Essentially intended as a guided missile carrier to destroy high flying nuclear bombers over the North Sea and East European Soviet Bloc countries.

South Africa operates at least one into high altitude research (or at least they did a few years ago).
Kev

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by torque2me

South Africa operates at least one into high altitude research (or at least they did a few years ago).
Kev

They still operate and you can go up yourself if you can afford it
https://incredible-adventures.com/capetown-space.html