Hi all, was a sad day on thursday at work! a canberra bomber which has stood near the main entrance at bae systems at samlesbury for 25/30 years and was also built and flown from here since the early fifties was removed and taken to a museum in the lake district, they chopped the wings off and lifted and sent her on her way! going to be fully restored before being put on display for all to enjoy the old gal! heres some pics!  

Cool pics GaZ, I too have an interest in aviation, maybe because i was a flight test aircrew designer for the MOD. When i worked at the Directorate General Defence Quality Assurance,(this is why i build quality bikes! LOL) Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, a Canberra was sat as the display piece. when the RA closed it was cut up and scrapped. (I loved the Canberra...its still a feared bomber now, as it was ahead of its time.)  

--Last edited by canopusxs235 on 2009-10-31 09:00:57 --

I've got a NOS  Camberra still in its box.  

Oh my word...here we go again Andy!     Is there anything you have, that isn't NOS???    

Andy has a NOS wife still in the box just waiting to be opened!  

Cool pics gaz It looks good without the wings,like a giant rocket.

As for an interest in planes i lived near heathrow as a kid does that count!!!   Concord was the best plane ever and was very sad when they stopped flying it.    

--Last edited by 4737carling on 2009-10-31 12:50:32 --

Thanks for the nice comments gents    i have a big interest in avaiation too, so i am quite envious of the job you would have had john  
Samlesbury had quite a few canberras sat at the bottom of the runway for a number of years before they were broke up. Some were sold for a £5 each    this one ended up on display.
We have a bae lightning at the now closed old main entrance, i have been told its future is in the balance too  i love that plane  pure "by the seat of your pants stuff!!" if she does go, i believe it will go to the same museum which will be nice as they will be both back together again!
I agree too about concorde! she was the most beautiful passenger plane to grace the skies  i wish they would build them brand new again from scratch with all the new safety features incorparated! i am sure they would sell and be very popualar  

Well GaZ i had a fantastic time and i had the honour of flying in top planes such as a Hawker Hunter, Bucaneer, Phantom, Tornado, Dehaviland Comet 4C...namely "Canopus" XS235 (hence my username) the last flying comet that was based at Boscombe Down. I also spent some time visiting BAE systems in an official capacity.

I've got a NOS Concorde      

My other half is nearly NOS which makes a change as a few of my past girlfriends had a few miles on the clock.    

there is a museum nearme at calisle with a vulcan bomber and at whitehaven we had a fly past of the last vulcan it was fantastic brought a tear to my eye lol wish we made cool stuff again in this country

You flew in a comet ....blinkin flip you were brave ,, oh yes may i have a window seat please , lol  i hate to see old aircraft broken up and scrapped , we lose so much of our history , the government just does not seem to care about how we came to be , be it cars , bikes or aircraft .
I was watching a documentary about the dockyards the other day , and we had 50 odd at the turn of the century , they have been wittled down to 2 , the others were , pulled down and not even built upon , a great loss to the country

Well at least this plane will be restored back to her former glory! your a lucky man to have been in so many classic airplanes! the tornado is still one of my favourites! the vulcan bomber is a beautiful aircraft! very dominating in the sky. I was lucky to see her flying at southport air show in september this year, wow what a sight! heres some pics, not fantastic quality i am afraid!!

beautiful

She was also at Farnborough last year , and i was able to have a photo taken with my colleagues under her wing , fookin hooge

Yeah, steve, mike, she certainly is a sight to behold! the entire beach/seafront fell silent when she came into sight! and what a sight! the camouflage on her underside makes her look like a giant moth! unbeleivable!  

They are only able to wind her engines up to 75% as the airframe wont take it at full power , but a beauty none the less

75% Luckily for us, is enough!    
Here is a bit of video footage of the canberra getting ready to leave and also leaving samlesbury for the very last time  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDpXCC0SzfU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoOquTt7WJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkZLy5pPH14

I love this DeHavilland Sea Vixen that i took at southport airshow. It made one hell of a racket.  

Great pic andy! yeah, this plane was well noisy as well as being quite impressive!