Warbird Information Exchange

I remember seeing the Shackleton fly at Oshkosh a number of years ago. That was quite a treat and its too bad it cant be kept in the air. But the Pima Air & Space Museum is a good place for it now. Just my 2 cents worth.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Gary,
are there any links for news coverage and or videos of her last landing? Tried a Google with no luck???

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Cheers,
Peter

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I've got some good video of the landing. My buddy and I were on a hilltop off the enf of runway 21 when it flew overhead for the flyby and landing. Give me a day or two to get it downloaded and on youtube.

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The more I learn about aircraft, the more I realize I still have to learn.

Peter,

The only thing filling the tires at Pima is air. We've never used foam or, heaven help me, concrete. Where that rumor came from I've no idea. It is true that we don't move the aircraft around on any kind of regular basis but when necessary we can and do move anything that needs to move. We are also working our way around the museum putting stands under the gear on all the aircraft to take the weight off the tires and preserve them longer. Tire preservation is probably the greatest challenge we have with the aircraft displayed outdoors. Its much harder to replace rotted tires that haven't been made in 60 years than it is to repaint whole aircraft every few years.

As for the ownership of the Shackleton. I won't get into the exact terms but the plane will become the permanant property of the museum.

Finally, I'll be posting a seperate thread just in case people aren't still following this one but I'll say it here as well. We will be running the Shackleton's engines for one last time tomorrow, Tuesday Dec. 18th at 10 A.M. This is likely to be the last time these engines will run so anyone in the Tucson region who would like to see it, this is your final chance. The aircraft is still parked in front of the museum in the overflow parking lot so you don't have to pay to get into the museum to see it. We did it today as as a test and it is a really impressive sight and sound. The run should last for 45 minutes to an hour.

James

Cheers. Better to make the mistake here than in front of a matelot, who'd teach you the difference with his energetic fists...!

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Awfully nice aeroplane piccies available

sorry to drag up an old thread but I'm sure you'll understand.

You may have seen the photos from the last flight in some aviation magazines over the last few months, and now you can find the whole set in the link below.

WL790 final flight

Scott at Pima and the crew were stars!

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Paul Filmer
skippyscage photography

Beautiful pictures! What a neat plane. Thanks for posting those!

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Indeed, thanks for the photos and article. After being around Mr. McHenry last spring it's kind of lonely on the ramp at Midland now. I only wish I'd had the opportunity to tour the interior, see and hear the engine runs, and watch the departure.

Scott

Thanks for sharing those extremely nice pics.

August

Thanks for the pics Paul. I only got to see McHenry from a distance and I hope to get to see him again at Pima. It's unfortunate things didn't work out in a better way to keep him in Midland and flying on the circuit.

it's a shame the Growler is grounded, but if WL790 had to go anywhere, Pima is certainly the best place for it.

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Paul Filmer
skippyscage photography