Sea Vixen gear up landing

[Archer]

What I'm wondering is, assuming there's the money and will to repair it, presumably at minimum we're looking at a new canopy, drop tanks, perhaps some parts from the underside of the fuselage and booms plus whatever failed that initiated this incident. 45 years after it was retired, are there still sufficient spares around?

My guess would be that the canopy will be the biggest problem, but I suspect that the group operating the Sea Vixen will have some stuff stashed away somewhere. A lot of what's damaged on the underside will be metalwork and a skilled metal basher should be able to fix any damaged panels, as long as the structural parts behind them are still mostly intact. I really hope that they will endeavour to get her back in the air again but it will take a lot of money. Keeping my fingers crossed!

(SkippyBing posted as I was typing, looks like we're on the same side here )

[Motormouse]

Yup.. I wish I'd not looked on there because it made me angry.. as per

ATB
DaveB

I only looked at the pictures

This one only retired in 1991, I remember it being at Swansea for a while with an associated spares package.

Ttfn

Pete

[DaveB]

Yup.. first time I saw her flying at Duxford she was still wearing her D3 yellow/red paint. Garish as that was.. it was better than Red Bull The differences between the FAW2 and D3 are not extensive. I quote 'The Sea Vixen D Mk 3 is basically a Sea Vixen Mk 2 FAW aircraft modified for the application of a drone role auto-control system, mounted in an open fronted crate fitted to the Observers seat rail. Modification to the various conventional aircraft control systems have been made where necessary' unquote.

Hydraulically.. there's no difference in what services are supplied by the four systems (FAW2/D3). Green supplies all the things we didn't see working in those shots and Red supplies emergency service to those same functions. A Green supply failure is in itself will cause the loss of:
Airbrake
Wingfold
Nosewheel steering
Stbd fuel filter deicing.
In addition, Normal undercarriage operation (select U/C down), Normal braking, Emergency undercarriage operation (select U/C up) and Normal hook operation are disrupted though these are covered by the Red system.

A Red system failure will lose:
Parking brake
Emergency brakes
Port fuel-filter deicing PLUS
Emergency services to undercarriage, flaps and hook.

A Yellow system failure will display on the CWP and when the accumulator pressure is exhausted, Auto-Stabilisers and the manned drone actuators on the flying controls will be inoperative.

A Blue system failure is also indicated on the CWP and when accumulator pressure is exhausted, you deploy the RAT.

This scratches the surface

ATB
DaveB

[Motormouse]

Latest photo's on twitter... https://twitter.com/NavyWingsUK

Looks like the guys have been busy ; airbrake (speedbrake for you transatlantics) seems to have been removed;
remains of tanks removed and its on jacks outside. Outwardly, looks like a fixer-upper is possible. I've seen worse.

ttfn

Pete

[DaveB]

Thanks for that Pete

ATB
DaveB

[FlyTexas]

Yes, thanks Pete. The damage doesn't look too bad. Hopefully they have some replacement tanks socked away somewhere.

Brian

[DaveB]

The tanks aren't so much of a worry. My concern is how many of those stressed members in the engine bays have been worn through. Difficult to tell in those shots if the inner wing panels have been undone or have popped. It's gonna take them a while to determine the full damage done. She still looks in remarkably good shape though.

ATB
DaveB

[Archer]

Difficult to tell in those shots if the inner wing panels have been undone or have popped.

Aren't those the flap panels?

Photo credit: NavyWings Facebook site

[Motormouse]

Those are the flaps Dave, also if you look closely, the RAT has made an appearance , between engines on top of fuselage.

/\ beat me by 4 minutes!

ttfn

Pete

[DaveB]

Well I've just been out and come back

Yes.. they're the flap panels of course. Not used to seeing them at that angle. Noticed the RAT earlier. Sea Vixens 'sag' when they're powered off (as do some other older types).. that is, the droopy bits will droop which would explain the minor differences in flap positions.

ATB
DaveB