Shackleton engine run Gatwick musium

[RAS]

In 1981 Orchard Farm was a run down, rat infested and stinking intensive battery egg farm housing approx. 150,000 birds in 3 early 1950-60's buildings.
Peter Vallance acquired the site but had to battle the local council for 20 years whilst he built an impressive (but admittedly tatty) collection of cold war jets. Officials felt that the very edge of a major airport (London Gatewick) was not an appropriate place to display aircraft!!

The collection was going to be broken up when Mr Vallance passed away but new owner’s eventually got permission to build proper purpose built display buildings and the museum is now a first class venue.

Twice a year they run up the engines on the Avro Shackleton and the (ex Saudi) English Electric Lightning (one engine no afterburner).

This weekend they ran up the Shackleton (the Lightning went sick). They put about 50 gallons of fuel in one tank and ran all 4 engines for about ten minutes.  But one engine was defiantly venting a lot of steam when they finished so I hope there is no damage.

This year they also had a model exhibition which seemed popular and I hope it continues. (The RN Feet Air Arm museum at Yeovil used to hold a popular model show but it was cancelled as they said it got in the way of people looking at the exhibits).

The link shows the engine run (and, for the benefit of my daughter who is cabin crew at Gatwick), some shots of her colleagues leaving Gatwick.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55293722@N02/albums/72157696776876700

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by RAS

[noelh]

I'd love to hear those Griffons rumbling away. Last time was back in 1979 at RAF Valley.

[pigsty]

It's a bit more than rumbling when you're only a hundred feet away!  And to think, they had the engines only up to about half of their take-off rating.

 

£100 a minute to run all four engines - they said to fill her up at the Tesco at Hookwood would have cost £40,000.