A Little VC10derness

Hello everyone (and Jelle), I have just enlisted.
I am an Engine tester based in Farnborough. My company, Vector aerospace, have been succesfully overhauling, repairing and testing the Rolls Royce Conway engines for the RAF for quite some time now. I have been involved from the start and last year tested the very last overhaul engine, (they are all repairs now). The last few engines are going through the system, producing a supply of spare units for the final months of service. It will be a sad day for us at the testbed when the last engine passes test. It will be a sorry day for our factory in Croydon too, as they will close at the the end of the long lasting contract with the MOD at Christmas this year.
If I can be of any use, I would be happy to respond.

Hi DJ-T

Welcome to the rite and thanks for the work... I have been on the other end and used the engines They are certainly sturdy bits of engineering. It will indeed be a sad day when they retire; modern ac just aren't the same!

Tonks

Thanks Tonks, we do try and make sure they are all good before they leave us! got an issue with an unruly thermocouple at the moment
As for the modern stuff, well I dont know about that, all our stuff is ancient!

.

Welcome DJ tester! I work at RR in Derby where I used to work on the testbeds testing Conway 201's from the RAF's Victors in the mid 80's. I'd love to get the chance to see a VC10 Conway run on a testbed, Don't suppose there's any chance of that is there?

John Goodale

peak45139 wrote:Welcome DJ tester! I work at RR in Derby where I used to work on the testbeds testing Conway 201's from the RAF's Victors in the mid 80's. I'd love to get the chance to see a VC10 Conway run on a testbed, Don't suppose there's any chance of that is there?

John Goodale

Hello John,
I have some friends at RR Derby, who work for MDS. They callibrate our test beds as well as Derbys'.
The difficulty with a visit to watch a 301 in action, is that we don't know when the engines are going to arrive until a day or so before they do. Then they might not go straight on. Then of course, as you will no doubt remember, the test might only last a few minutes before we have a problem that may take a couple of days to fix. so unless you want to camp out for a week its unlikely, especially as you are some distance away. never say never though, If the chance comes up.......

Hi DJ-T,

I have just finished working on the aircraft at St. Athan on the prop team. I must say that the ECU's that are received from you, via BZN, have been well set up. Most of the work we had to do on the EGRs was setting all up on accels. With the overhaul of the aircraft you would expect some snag to appear but the engines were pretty much spot on.

Spoke to a few of your guys from time to time at Croydon on variuos subjects that the IPT could not answer, always helpful.

Cheers for the assistance.

I must get back to my Keo now, I am afraid

Hello D, welcome to the forum! It was good to meet you at Brooklands and I hope you managed to get that Conway sorted out!

Thanks Jelle, and no, we didn't sort that one out, It wasn't the thermocouple the harness or the burners, so it came off the bed and went back to base for further inspection. I am sure it will back soon for another go!

After a brief visit back to the shop, the engine is back for another go! Testing next week.

We'll keep our fingers crossed

Another Conway through test today, the re-test back tomorrow!