User:Relight9/sandbox

The XS186 Crew Formed in April 2004 at the site of former RAF station Metheringham in Lincolnshire, the crew originally comprised four members, Paul Flynn, Lynne Bradshaw, Greg Wilson and Ted(Edward)Burrows. The male members met within a few weeks of Paul Flynn buying Hunting Percival Jet Provost XS186, a Mk4 version of the two seat trainer originally employed by the Royal Air Force. Paul Flynn outlined his ambition from the outset, to undertake a complete restoration of the airframe and bring the aircraft up to ground running condition. Both Greg Wilson and Ted Burrows agreed to work towards this, though Paul was told in later years that given the size of the undertaking there was some sceptisism between Ted and Greg regarding the realistic chance of them ever achieving Paul's ultimate goal.

The skills attributable to two of the three original crew members, Paul and Greg, were mainly in the field of motor vehicle repair and painting. This genre of repair was not really appropriate to aircraft restoration but both Paul Flynn and Greg Wilson applied themselves admirably and their fairly basic level of appropriate skill was enhanced by an extensive engineering background from Ted Burrows, who commanded comprehensive hands on experience in precision tooling and electrical systems. Both of these areas of expertise were to prove invaluable.

Initial work completed by the original members to give the airframe a reasonable external, but only cosmetically complete appearance included the re-attachment of the main planes and the replacement of other major components such as canopy, tail plane, wheels and tyres and the stripping of the fuselage's olive drab paintwork, to reveal the previous red and white colour scheme. Support during the first two years was provided by Naylan Moore, who at the time was the curator of AeroVenture in Doncaster. His experience proved extremely useful when tackling technical challenges with the undercarriage and canopy winder mechanisms. During this period any successes were extremely hard fought for, the outdoor storage of the aircraft, limited power supply options and appropriate tooling proving particulary difficult elements to overcome. Nevertheless a trait was formed in these early years which permeated through the team over the course of the following 10 year restoration, that of hard work and determination to succeed with both individual and team challenges.

The following two years, 2005 / 2006 saw rapid progress with repair work and the re-building or re-fitting of various mechanical and electrical components, including the complete re-wiring of several looms, the re-connection of all control surfaces, and the complete re-building of the cockpit area instrument panels and crew operated flying controls. Assistance from new members of the team, including Paul and Rob Hulme and XXXXX XXXXXXX provided much needed manpower for laborious and sometimes heavy work on the underside of the main planes and the removal of two bombs which had been left in the fuselage engine bay by the previous users, the Royal Ordnance Corps. They had used these de-activated devices for bomb disposal training whilst at RAF North Luffenham.

It was to prove difficult for some crew members to maintain their commitment in the latter half of the decade, not least because of the long distances travelled by some of them (Doncaster for Greg Wilson,and both Paul and Rob Hulme)so their attendance rate dropped away. This was not before some major milestones were reached however, including the restoration and painting of the aircraft fuselage and tail plane in the original light aircrfat grey colour scheme that the aircraft wore in 1967.

Despite the gradual decline in attendance from some of the early crew members, others joined and the crew compliment increased during 2007 and for several years thereafter. Newer faces included John Evans, Ralph Kirk and Howard Rolfe. These new crew members brought a more diverse and ever improving skill set and with these changes came confidence and a bewildering work rate, with cockpit systems, engine, fuel, hydraulic and numerous external and internal fittings all being restored to fully working condition thanks to a sharply focussed team effort. A second Jet Provost Mk4, XS177 was purchased to provide many missing parts, the general consensus being that the supply of components from this donor airframe being a key factor in being able to bring XS186 back to ground running condition.

By early 2010 the aircraft was transformed inside and out thanks to the re-painting of most of the airframe, bar the main planes that had proven particularly difficult to repair and prepare for painting, and the installation of a Bristol Siddeley Viper Mk204 engine. Specialist resource in the shape of Ian Allaway and Geoff Dear, both ex Jet Provost technicians helped maintain momentum with the engine and other more complex engineering challenges and by mid 2010 the crew were ready to attempt the first engine start of XS186 since 1968. This was an interesting time for the crew, many of which had no experience whatsoever of starting a jet turbine engined aircraft. Ian Allaway provided some much needed confidence and despite not having the ejection seats fitted at this stage, Ian elected to use a temporary wooden bench to sit on during the first post resoration engine start on July 4th 2010 and for several subsequently succesful engine runs. This was the only compromise to safety however with all other requirements such as fire and rescue having been rigourously met.

From 2010 to 2014 the XS186 crew maintained an impressive workload. Support equipment aqquired over several years was restored back to working condition and aircraft covers were manufactured from scratch in order to protect the aircraft's gradually applied dayglo orange bands. More crew members joined, including Rob Fullerton, Jonty Johnson,Dick Dockerill and Tony Bennett. Early reliability issues with the aircraft engine starting system were gradually ironed out, not least thanks to parts being repaired, and sometimes replaced with parts from XS177 or other donor aircraft and by 2014 the first annual 100% reliability record was achieved. Credit indeed to the hard work and sheer determination of the crew members.