These pallets will become useful when we cut the wings off the airframe, and when the nosewheel is raised ready for transporting the aircraft.

Evergreen are a local company, based on a 3.5 acre site in Darlington. They are experts in the manufacture, repair, refurbishment and recovery of pallets and other wooden packaging items.

You can visit their website here http://www.evergreen-pallets.co.uk/

Neil was quizzed on how the move is possible, what it entails, and why we’re doing it. If you missed it, you can listen again on this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_newcastle?sort=dateavailable

Thanks to BBC Newcastle for featuring our project!

Flavells are based in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, just a few miles from Durham Tees Valley Airport. They have agreed to sponsor us the welding work required when putting our aircraft back together at the museum in Sunderland.

We couldn’t ask for a better partner in this. Flavells are a family business and have been experts in the welding field since 1958. They offer first class welding, fabrication and machining service to local industry and have expanded to become one of the region’s finest contractors in their field. They have great prices and work efficiently to deadlines, meeting ISO9002 requirements.

You can see the K D Flavell website at http://www.flavellwelding.co.uk/

We now have taken out the airside insurance that we need in order to meet the requirements for us to cut the our aircraft ready for transportation.

A lot of work to clear the rear service area needs to be done, and we will begin this shortly in order to access the rear to cut the tail.

The insurance policy we have taken is with Hayward Aviation company who specialise in airside insurance and airport related cover. They have kindly sponsered us with some of the premium. We thank them very much for their kind help towards this project.

If you require very competitive insurance for airside and museums speak to Hayward first and mention us. Ask for Claire http://www.haywards.net/Home/

Cosford was formerly the home of the only preserved Trident 1C, G-ARPH. The nose of this aircraft is now at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune.

The stairs are in need of a little restoration, but that is no problem to our team. We’ll have this authentic addition to our display ready for the first visitors.

Staff at Cosford are also looking for any spare cockpit equipment which may still be in their care, and if found will be donated to us. We really want to say a big thank you for these kind offers.

If anyone can help with transportation for these steps from Cosford (near Wolverhampton) to Sunderland, we’d really appreciate it. Please get in touch!

Thanks very much to Max Kingsley-Jones for this, and Flight magazine.

We arrived at 8.30am, and thanks to Serco who assigned a member of staff to look after us and shepherd us to the fire ground, we spent over 7 hours working on the aircraft. Thanks also to our experienced former firefighters Peter and Phil, who set up high pressure hoses to blast the fuselage and tail.

27 years of grime came clean away in most places. After this we scrubbed whatever we could reach with some industrial detergent. We couldn’t believe how good the condition of the wing surfaces were, and much of the fuselage was gleaming (even reflective!) by the end of the day.

Inside the cockpit Neil and Julian spent time removing more panels to take away for restoration, and they also temporarily fitted what Neil had restored so far to see how it looked – the answer was impressive (see the gallery below). They also managed to clear the blackout paint from the windows, letting light into the cockpit again. We also had a good sweep of the cabin, removing a lot of loose rubbish.

It was a fantastic day spent in the sun, and we were pleased to welcome Julian to help us. We can really see how great this aircraft is going to look once restored, and every step we take brings it a little closer to move day.

Please donate if you can as we still need to raise money for the move itself. As you can see from the photos, there is great potential in this aircraft but we are still short of the money needed!

[View with PicLens]

These will be used underneath the wings to support the airframe as parts are removed.

TNT have a major depot in one of the hangars at Durham Tees Valley Airport, so it’s great to have a local team helping us out. They also have an office in Darlington and many more around the country. They’re experts at parcel delivery and logistics, with an air and road network.

This kind offer has been made jointly between the Darlington and Durham Tees Valley branches of TNT will deliver the pallets to the fire ground when we need them, and remove them when we’re finished. Thanks to them for making life so simple! Visit their website at http://www.tnt.com

Tony Jarrett and Neil Lomax took a van, kindly supplied half-price by Intack, across to Belfast on a donated ferry crossing with Stena Line from Stranraer. They stayed the night courtesy of Gil Good Lodge near the airport, who treated them both very well and provided a very pleasant night’s sleep.

Peter Foster and Matt Falcus flew across to meet them on Thursday 20th, and the team were met by Wayne Spence of the fire service and given airside access to the Trident.

All day was spent stripping parts such as overhead panels, PSU’s, rows of good seats, and just about everything we could take from the cockpit. We managed to take the ‘rams horn’ control columns, although they required cutting.

As with our visit in Februrary, the guys at the fire service were incredibly helpful and friendly, taking turns to supervise us and provide us with drinks and friendly banter. We really appreciate their help!

Matt and Peter flew home that night, whilst Neil and Tony took the van back across on the Stena Line ferry, with a complimentary night in the Swan Inn at Stranraer.

The next day they drove to the North East Aircraft Museum at Sunderland to offload the parts into a special container which has been provided. The rest of the day was spent meeting with the hauliers and crane company making plans for the move of G-ARPO later this year. We concluded the trip with drinks and a complimentary night’s stay at the St. George Hotel at Durham Tees Valley Airport.

All in all this was a fantastic trip and very useful. We can’t thank all of those who sponsored us enough for making it possible. Also to all those who donated money to use for fuel costs. We now have some fantastic parts to use on our aircraft when it comes to putting her back together.

Here are some photos from the trip:

[View with PicLens]

Tony adds:

Well we all got back safe and sound from Belfast after stripping off the parts from G-AVFE Trident 2E, and what a fantastic time we all had. Firstly I would like to say a big Thank You to all our sponsors on this trip and to all the people who chipped in for the fuel to get us there and back. We brought back a whole Luton Van full of parts including the nosewheel, and achieved what we set out to do. There wasn’t anything else to take inside the aircraft! We also managed to get the rear service door that we required, and the fire service have promised to get the rudder and wing tips off for us as we were not able to do it on this trip. The total cost that came out of the fund was: £125.90 for half price van hire, and we spent £134.55 on fuel and an excess van insurance policy of £11.17 that reduced our excess on the van from £500 to £100 ……… so in total £270.72 spent …..

Sponsorships for the trip were Stena Line for ferry crossings, Gil-GoodL odge , Swan Hotel and the St. George Hotel, as well as Intack with the van. Also Spacewise for a container for a year at Sunderland.

The fire service have said they will remove the wing tips and rudder for us and we can collect some time later.
Early june G-ARPO is going to be cleaned on the outside in readiness for cutting. We met up with the hauliers and crane company and have finalised all details at Teesside. So more will be hapening soon.

What we need now is to raise the money for the airside insurance we now need to have for Neil to cut the Trident, and also the cost of hiring cutting tools. We do have half price hire from HSS for this but will need the tools for at least 6 days. We estimate the cost to be around £1000 for the insurance and tools so to move forward we need your generous help.
Regards Tony

Gil-Good Lodge put Neil and Tony up in Belfast

Intack Self Drive

The Swan Inn Stranraer

This hotel, with 14 ensuite rooms and all the comforts you could ask for, is located very close to Belfast International Airport, so it’s ideal for our trip. Why not try them out when flying from the airport, or visiting this part of Northern Ireland. They’d love to welcome you and give you some tips on what to see in the area.

Gil-Good Lodge’s website is at http://www.gilgoodlodge.com