BN-2 Islander

Actually I need to amend my previous statement. Sounds like british planes from that period had the same level of care and attention to detail put into their engineering as cars from that time.

How was the electrical system and gauges?

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Everything worked. OK I once lost both engines inside ten days on the same aircraft (Lycomings) and the pitot heater failed once at night in icing and IFR.

@Navynuke99 Engine failure on Fair Isle. Everything for the engine change had to be flown in. It took five days.
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The elegance and romance of airline pilots. I borrowed the boiler suit (tied at waist with string) from a crofter (farmer), the boots from a fisherman and the hat from a different fisherman. The jacket was mine. The oil on my jacket came from the propellor accumulator. The engineer John Owara had me hold the weight of the prop while he undid the bolts. The oil went all over me.
fairisle attire

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Yeah, this is reminding me more and more of the sagas of my dad’s '73 GT6+, the cute girl next door’s '69 Spitfire, and my high school soccer teammate’s '65 MGB. The latter was offered to me for just under two grand, and my dad declared that I was absolutely not going to subject the family to another British sports car, as there weren’t enough tools/ workspace/ spare parts to share.

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Nice hilux there! Proper mans truck lol

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The Swedish Airforce operated a few Percival Pembrokes in the 50’s and into the 70’s.
One technician told me that it was quite the technical marvel, at the time, as it had both a hydraulic and a pneumatic system. The pneumatic system powered the gear and flaps and the hydraulic system powered the windshield wipers…!
That still makes me laugh! :smile:

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We operated an Islander in the NT. It didn’t fly, it was acoustically repulsed from the ground. It was stupidly loud.

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Fair Isle fire engine.

I have a story about the Foula Fire Engine, also a Hilux

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I posted this in full on the Ministry of Information thread, but since @jnstricko has raised the topic of noise generated lift, and by inference the concepts of constant noise variable speed and variable noise constant speed technology here are exerts -

… design documents clandestinely recovered from the Britten-Norman shredder have solved a question that has puzzled aerodynamicists and pilots for many years, disclosing that it is actually noise which causes the BN-2 to fly. The vibration set up by the engines and amplified by the airframe, in turn causes the air molecules above the wing to oscillate at atomic frequency, reducing their density and causing lift. This can be demonstrated by sudden closure of the throttles, which causes the aircraft to fall from the sky. As a result, lift is proportional to noise rather than speed, explaining amongst other things the aircraft’s remarkable takeoff performance. In the driver’s cab (as Gribble describes it), ergonomic measures will ensure that long-term PBN pilots’ deafness does not cause inflight dozing. Orthopaedic surgeons have designed a cockpit layout and seat to maximise backache, enroute insomnia, chronic irritability, and terminal (post-flight) lethargy. Redesigned ‘bullworker’ elastic aileron cables, now disconnected from the control surfaces, increase pilot workload and fitness.

Special noise retention cabin lining is an innovation on the XL, and it is hoped in later models to develop cabin noise to a level which will enable pilots to relate ear pain directly to engine power, eliminating the need for engine instruments altogether…

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Three airworthy I believe, including -
83008 – Tp 83 airworthy at the Västerås Flygmuseum in Västerås, Västmanland.

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Good heavens, I was in tears there…
You had me laughing till my sides were hurting!

Thank you! EUb6yUbXsAEdq5M

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Did you read the full article I posted on the 'Civil Aviation Ministry of Information thread 11 days ago? Civil Aviation Ministry of Information thread - #969 by Scoop

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Hehehe, nope I missed it.
Checking now.

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@komemiute You might also like the Islander true story I posted two or three entries later on he same thread. The one about Papa Stour and an Engine failure while I was being ‘molested’ by a female.

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