The Barracuda Project

[Dangermouse]

You'd have thought that given the FAAM were having it rebuilt to a very high standard for not much more than the cost of sending the parts up to the workshop they could at least find a few quid to pay for the insurance!

[Richie]

I have an idea, I will wheel my carrier into the workshop, then you can do all the intricate work on it..... I will then have a meeting with the board of trustees and take the thing back once you have completed a fair chunk of the work ?

[bluebirdsback]

Unlike Mike i was the other way, more Barra than Bluebird. Nearly choked on me tea when i found out not only were FAAM taking the plane back but wanted us to pack it neatly onto pallets ready for them coming to pick it up. Bit like helping the ballifs carry your furniture to the van when they reposses your stuff. ( I would imagine)

[Richie]

What about the stuff from Crimond ? And the costs for running the Op ?

[mtskull]

I have an idea, I will wheel my carrier into the workshop, then you can do all the intricate work on it..... I will then have a meeting with the board of trustees and take the thing back once you have completed a fair chunk of the work ?

I've got a better idea: Drive the carrier into the workshop but without moving the finished bits of Barracuda out of the way first.

[riding shotgun]

Wow, that's a shame after all the work you have put in to it, I hope the FAAM are going to refund the public the donation's they sent in for the rebuild now it's all come to an end.

Colin

[mtskull]

Outrageous. Something stinks behind the scenes at the museum.
I can't believe that this is just down to politics and stupidity; even the most barinless twerp could see that they had a "win-win" scenario going on.

No, there must be more to it than that. I fully expect that, once enough time has elapsed for the FAAM to believe that everybody has forgotten this sordid episode, they will make an announcement to the effect that somebody has come along waving big money to sponsor the restoration (subject to the finished article being displayed in the livery of their airline/energy drinks company and it being cobbled together within six months) or worse, that due to "budgetary constraints" or some other nonsense, they have sold the Barracuda remains to said wealthy individual for his collection.
Doubtless this announcement will be followed by some mealy-mouthed slather along the lines of: "this is very good news for the aviation community as it means that once again the world will have an opportunity to view a complete example of this historic aircraft".

Cynical? Moi?

[quicksilver-wsr]

I very much doubt that FAAM will sell the Barracuda. It's regarded as a national asset - irrespective of the madness that is currently going on.

What might happen is that a wealthy benefactor may one day chuck a slug of money at getting it finished - as happened with the Albacore. But it won't be anything like 100% original (neither is the Albacore).

More likely, I fear, the remains will sit mouldering for years and years to come, with the occasional flurry of tinkering done for appearance's sake.

I'd forget energy-drinks companies and the like. As the VST found to its horror with the Vulcan, big consumer-brand corporations aren't interested in this type of thing. Look for the Red Bull logos on the Sea Vixen next time you see it performing at an air-show. You won't find them.

This scenario - where people do the dirty and then furiously blame-shift onto the innocent party with a series of public pronouncements - is something I have experienced at first hand ... more than once. It happens to everyone, sooner or later, who has ever had the balls to take a risk. But that doesn't make it any easier to swallow at the time.

Sad tale all round. Maybe something can be salvaged from this. We'll see.

Nigel

[Richie]

Their loss. But their actions have also punished a nation of enthusiasts.



I was never that fussed about the barra, even though like a few others,I spent a few days waste deep in putrid bog filth to recover material for its resurrection. (Did that ever get settled Bill? We pretty much ruined our dry suits in the process too) The other thing for me is the time span given on the completion of the barra was probably based on the handfull of barra volunteers, however on the couple of occasions that we were between jobs on K7 Bill would drop the older hands of the team onto the barra to help out, this tended to result in massive progress ! We could have had the thing squared away in no time at all, however now it will go to lesser skilled hands who don't know the processes and the thing will either be ruined or abandoned for long durations or a wood / fibreglass abomination will appear like some of the other exhibits....


Thinking back, a few hours on the tail section we fired in a whole bunch of snap rivets that would have otherwise taken a few sessions. Personally speaking it was a nice break from sponsons, and firing in 3/32 rivets is something most of us could do in our sleep now. In comparison to K7 the barra was much much simpler.

Besides I would have liked to have rebuilt its engine.

Plenty other projects for us to complete, alongside K7

[Richie]

It speaks volumes when he refers the cooling off period as two years !? But expects it to be finished within five ?

Crackers ! A good closing question would have been "will it be completed to the same standard ?"


Meanwhile back to reality ?


As a volunteer, I volunteer not to lift a finger or help move the bits about for them.... I am done !