BAC Jet Provost T5 - RIAT 2017 Departures

Описание: Now on the UK Civil Register with Jet Aerobatics, this BAC Jet Provost T5, wearing RAF colours and markings XW324, is seen departing from RAF Fairford following its inclusion in the static aircraft line up, during The Royal International Air Tattoo 2017.

The Jet Provost T5 is an upgraded variant of the Jet Provost T3 incorporating cabin pressurisation, thus allowing a more advanced training regime to be followed.

XW324 was built at Warton as the 38th Jet Provost T.5. She was accepted by the RAF in September 1970 entering service with 3FTS at RAF Leeming and coded '38'. During her tenure at Leeming she was used for basic pilot training and was also used by the School's aerobatics team 'The Gemini Pair' during 1973.

In 1974 she was transferred onto the strength of 1 FTS at RAF Linton-on-Ouse and again used for basic pilot training. 324 only remained at Linton for approximately one year as she was not selected for upgrade to T5a status.

In late 1975 she was again transferred, this time onto the strength of 6FTS at RAF Finningley as ‘aircraft U’ where she was used for both navigation and low level air defence (LLAD) training tasks. Whilst at Finningley she had tip tanks fitted to facilitate the longer sortie profiles needed by the navigation unit for their extended cross country navigation exercises. XW324 remained at RAF Finningley for the rest of her service career and was eventually retired and ferried to RAF Shawbury on the 21st July 1993.

In February 1994, XW324 was one of 65 Jet Provost aircraft acquired by Global Aviation. They were slowly ferried to their new home & 324 arrived on 23rd April 1995 & was allocated the civil registration G-BWSG. Following restoration to flying condition she was moved to Humberside & was put up for sale, She was subsequently purchased and relocated to Southend where she operated until resold in 2000.

In August 2000 she moved temporarily to North Weald; before finally making Jersey her new home, she did however remain a regular attendee at UK air shows. At the end of the 2006 air show season XW324 moved back in to the hangar at Hawarden where she remained for over a year becoming a ‘Hangar Queen’. She was notably absent throughout the 2007 season and was eventually put up for sale. Negotiations for her sale began in September 2007 and an agreement was soon reached, 324 was purchased by the current owner Jeff Bell on the 16th September 2007.

Following her sale, negotiations began to bring XW324 back to an airworthy status and a scope of work was agreed with North Wales Military Aviation Services to carry out the necessary work. In addition to the servicing requirements XW324’s brakes were upgraded to those used on the Strikemaster, her wings were removed and the upper lug attachments were non-destructively tested (NDT’d) in accordance with the outstanding mandatory permit directive (MPD). Testing was completed successfully and the non-aerobatic flight and G restrictions were lifted effectively allowing 324 to fly to the limits as advertised in the RAF JP Mk5 pilots notes. 324 was ferried to East Midlands Airport on the 25th May 2008 where she remains to this day.

Since late 2007, XW324 has received continuous refurbishment work to bring her to a condition as close as possible (without a total rebuild) to that when she rolled off the production line in 1970.

Externally, attention has been paid to areas of the airframe which required only very minor cosmetic paint repair, all decals and placards have been replaced now 324’s decals/livery are accurate to her time with 6FTS at RAF Finningley.

324’s canopy has recently been replaced and the plexi-glass is now crystal clear and adds further to her overall pristine appearance.

The ejector seats in XW324 are kept serviceable and these too have been refurbished to an “as new” condition. However this year in conjunction with her annual maintenance input the soon to be time expired parachutes will be replaced. The 2 ejector seat lumbar support back pads to complete the seats restoration are still however proving hard to find.

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