Glad there's still love for the old Shack in here! I'll try and post any further updates that aren't directly to do with events at Baginton in here if you would like?
With regards to our last run-up; we tracked down the problem with No 3 and as suspected, it was the booster coil. The primary circuit was fine, but the secondary had given up the ghost. We now have another booster coil fitted and will test the engine as soon as we are able.
More worrying is the undercarriage situation in that the red light was caused by an uncommanded partial retraction sequence. There is a short in the wiring in the front leading edge area of the starboard wing, and it has caused the electrically operated selector valve to operate incorrectly. Normally one side of it is always live - so you have either an up selection, or a down selection. In this case both sides are unpowered so the hydraulics are 'free' which relaxed one of the rams.
We'll be getting into the wiring on our next visit and once we're back to three greens on the undercarriage we'll be back on track.
Glad there's still love for the old Shack in here! I'll try and post any further updates that aren't directly to do with events at Baginton in here if you would like?
Weekend 12 - 14 June
(photos to be added this evening)
This weekend promised to be a good one with some of the team being available for three days. The tasks at hand were the rectification of the hydraulic fault, a test run of No 3 engine, and work in organising our on site stores, so it was great to see such a good turnout of our team in what proved to be rather poor weather..
12 June
Friday saw Pete, Andy and Druid all working on trying to find the electrical issue in the wiring between the cockpit and the starboard undercarriage bay. With a large leading edge panel off, access to the loom wasn't too bad but the size of the wiring bundle had to be seen to be believed! It was thought that due to some of the marking on the bundle that there had been a slightly larger incident but it turned out to be dirt that had stained the outer sheathing from the time prior to our weatherproofing and repaint. Similar stains were evident on the spar web - a spar web which seems to be in fantastic condition; to the point the original hand written station markings can be seen on its face from when WR963 was rebuilt. Of course; things can look a lot better than they truly are but the more we see inside the wing, the more positive we're feeling that the long awaited NDT work will show up good results.
Tracing the wires out to the selector block in the undercarriage bay found the source of the fault. At some point the wiring had been removed and left unsupported, and when plugged back in to the selector it had been badly twisted. Over the years the inevitable happened and the wires broke. Fixing the wires to the plug then required some interesting soldering work - as for anyone who has stood in the undercarriage bay of a Shackleton will know, the selector is mounted right at the very top above your head! With the wiring fixed, checked for continuity, and the multimeter giving nice readings instead of proclaiming the whole thing dead, the 'Down' button was pressed.
Nothing happened.
The gremlin in the system was a beauty, the selector's two solenoids for 'up' and 'down' were also dead! So a new selector was required...
13 June
In rolled the rest of the team, with donuts, cameras, clipboards and labels. While Pete, Andy and Druid were left to crack on with WR963 we were working (honest!) at bagging and tagging stores, under the watchful eye of Michelle. The new system she's created paid off instantly as instead of "I think we have one of those.. and I'm pretty sure its over there..." as has often been the case, we were given a location, shelf and quantity of spare selectors, and booster coils (more of which later). The bagging and tagging mission continued well into the day with most of it now sorted. The next job is the off site storage - engines/airframe parts and god knows how many unidentified brown boxes - and we're all hoping Michelle doesn't have a nervous breakdown at the sight of it or run and hide in a corner! Having said that the quantity of items held on site really surpised us. Starter motors, CSU's, translation units, gauges... stuff we'd largely forgotten about.
The new selectors were checked, and solenoids removed to service the ones on the aircraft. This time, with power applied there was a definite 'clunk' heard, and when the hand pump was used, the offending ram slowly made its way back to its proper position. The undercarriage was down, locked and showing the proper three greens once more!
Next job was the No 3 engine.
A replacement booster coil had been fitted on the previous work weekend, but until the undercarriage was safe we couldn't attempt a test run. So after a few phone calls to get permission, No 3 engine was primed and turned on the starter. We didn't even get a puff of smoke or a cough. Investigation showed that we still weren't getting a booster coil output to the magneto. Working through and testing showed up a couple of issues, such as corrosion on the mag switch terminals (again) and also a pinout difference between a bulkhead connector and the lead up to the booster coil. This last item was strange as none of us can remember changing this lead recently, yet a Griffon is fairly reluctant to start without the booster coil, so you would think it to be instantly noticeable!
14 June
A continuation of the previous day's shenanigans with No 3 engine...
With the wiring now working off the correct pins, no live magneto issues (or dead ones), the points were reset in the magneto as it had been noticed they had closed up slightly. No 3 engine was still reluctant to start, so the booster coil from No 2 engine was substituted. No 2 started quite easily on the slightly weaker coil and was left running with a generator on as the batteries in the trolley had been through quite a workout.
With a little persuasion and what I have been told are Shack engineer tricks of old, No 3 engine was finally persuaded that it should behave as before. WR963 is now serviceable again.
This weekend's efforts, and the results, wouldn't have been possible without Druid Petrie and Andy Devitt, ably assisted by Pete Buckingham. Our work in stores this weekend was an achievement, but the sheer depth of knowledge and skill they put to use after a 24 year break from the Shackleton still impresses and what we did pales in comparison. Thanks again to them for giving up a large portion of their time and for travelling such a distance to help us younger less knowledgable members look after WR963.
WR963's next run up will be 4th July for the Baginton Air Pageant.
What an excellent & fascinating post Rich, thanks for sharing that. It's great to be kept updated on the progress your making.
The sheer amount of work that has to go into this must be really daunting at times so hats off to you and the team. I was speaking to someone involved with WR963 at Old Warden a few weeks ago funnily enough. She promised to show me around the aircraft at the next open day so I'll have to say hello if I see you there.
The trick is to only look at one part at a time, otherwise it gets a bit overwhelming. We have a couple of weeks off now due to other events, then we'll all be back in for the Pageant.
It will be Sue Guest you met, and she should be at Coventry with us on the 4th.
Yes part of the unique sound is the contra rotating propellers. She sounds quite different from a Griffon Spitfire! The noise you can hear in the quiet parts of the video are the priming pump and booster pumps running to get the fuel pressure up. The radar has long since been disabled as it can be hazardous if used incorrectly.
John,
Nice thought as it is, WL795 has been heavily robbed and is in poor condition. Your next runner is likely to be the MR3/3 at Gatwick Aviation Museum.
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