Another Vulcan takes to the air

[Paul K]

Spent the afternoon at Duxford, and found XJ824 two foot higher than last time I saw her. Very interesting to see, but there was nobody around to ask what was going on. There were some plastic hoses lying around and the faint smell of hydraulic oil, both probably associated with the jacks themselves.

It seems quite a big task; what would the need be to jack up a static exhibit... anyone hazard a guess ?

[Garry Russell]

Sign of the times Paul...everything's going up!!!

[Chris Sykes]

could be for XH558??? they use exhibit pieces for checks and projected corrosion etc???

[DarrenL]

Replacing hydraulic fluid and seals perhaps? They don't like oil staining their nice new floor.

[Paul K]

Sign of the times Paul...everything's going up!!!

all together now...And not a penny of Lottery funding !!

Could be, Chris. It just seems odd that she's been sitting there quite comfortably for all this time, and suddenly there is a need to jack her up.

Could be, Darren, though I don't recall her dripping much. And on other aircraft, like the B-29, they just put those little oil catchers underneath.

[DarrenL]

I thought it might be in it's maintenance schedule to change it.

[DaveB]

Maint checks.. what are they!??

Could be any number of things I guess. Corrosion checks maybe? Does she normally sit with her gear on the deck? If so, perhaps she's been jacked to have gear stands fitted. She'd still stand on her gear but with her wheels off the deck. A good way to stop flat spots but a pain if they intend moving her any time soon!

ATB
DaveB

[Paul K]

Yep she sits on her tyres, Dave. The only Duxford tyres that are not touching the ground are the B-52's out-riggers, and they sit in custom-made supports. With that aircraft standing level, and no fuel in the wing tanks to curve them downwards, both wheels are several feet off the ground.

Returning to the Vulcan, where did they get the jacks and the wing support trestles from ? TVOC maybe ? I dunno, its all a mystery.

[Chris Trott]

Nothing special about the jacks, they're the same ones used for any aircraft of that size. One of the few times the military of most countries use a little common sense. Those jacks also work on the C-130, Tristar, Nimrod, VC-10, and anything with jacking pads at least 3 meters off the ground. I know that on the C-130 there are jacking pads that are bolted to the side of the airplane which have the "finger" attached to them so that you can move the jacks out enough from the side of the fuselage. The B-52 has these as well. I would guess the Nimrod and maybe even the VC-10 use them as well, but the "jacking finger" is the same on all aircraft and fits into a cup at the top of the jacking cylinder. If you need more height (like for a 747-type or other very tall aircraft), there are extensions that can be screwed to the top of the jacking cylinder instead of having to get different jacks.

I'll try to find a photo of the jacking pads on the B-24 for an example of what I'm talking about.

[Paul K]

Ah yes, I suppose the jacks would be standard, thinking about it. But those trestles ( I assume thats what they are called ) appear Vulcan-specific.