Cockpit Developements

It`s a rainy day, there`s a huge hole in the wall of the former St. Peter`s Church, and outside you can hear loud commands being given, which are partly overtoned by the engine noises of the crane.
Inside the church, patient men are waiting for the first moments, when they recieve the Buccaneer and Canberra cockpits respectively.
Right up to the completion of the deployment of the cockpits it rained incessantly outside, and the men inside wiped the sweat from their brow`s.
It took many hours to complete this job , and finally the wall was bricked up, re-painted, looking as if nothing had happened.
All of this happened a while back. Today it looks as if the cockpits have always been where they are and only photo`s remind us of that day!

After the cockpits were put on their "Pedestals", it was the turn of the technicians, known as the "Cockpit Group", to do their bit!
These electricians, riggers, engineers and a navigator, met every wednesday evening after the museum had been closed, and would file, rivet, sand down, make new patches, fit new cables, replace bulbs or rewire the instrument-panel.
This work was mainly carried out in cramped conditions.
The work on the Canberra is still ongoing, and will take quite a while due to the fact that apart from one of the "Group", the rest are still employed and have normal jobs.

The Buccaneer on the other hand is virtually finished, and now its the job of the sprayer and painter to carry on.
In the last few months it has changed colours. The "Roundels" have been renewed after timetaking masking work, and after respraying the weatherworn cockpit with a new Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green camouflage, we have in fact a "New" cockpit.
The last phase incorporated the use of white, red, black and yellow paint, compressor, spray-gun, paint-roller, masking material and breathing-mask.
All of this was required to turn our "Buccaneer" into a 16Sqn. aircraft as stationed at Laarbruch. The only thing missing is the dual-language ( German-English ) warning lettering ( Ejectionseat, rescue etc. ) that was on all RAFG aircraft.

Our thanks go to:- Dick, Jörg, Michael F., Rod and Sven from the "Cockpit Group" and to Martin our painter and sprayer.

Text:- M.B.
Translation:- T.M.
Photo`s:- A.I.