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No Nimrod for Newark
Newark Air Museum is no longer pursuing the purchase of retired Nimrod R1 XW665.
1-Oct-2010
Newark Air Museum at Winthorpe in Nottinghamshire has notified the RAF’s Nimrod Disposal Team that it no longer wishes to pursue the purchase of retired Nimrod R1 XW665 from RAF Waddington.
XW665 was retired from active service with 51 Squadron in October last year and has since been used for spares recovery to keep the two remaining R1 airframes airworthy following the cessation of Nimrod servicing and the withdrawal of the MR2 fleet in March.
The museum’s trustees say
“This difficult decision has been reached after a careful and considered evaluation of factors, which has been underway since June 2009.
One of the main factors influencing this decision was that it has not been possible to solve the unique engineering problem of removing and then re-fitting the wings, without creating major structural integrity issues with the airframe.
The museum trustees felt that the workload and expense that would be incurred in dismantling, transporting and reassembling the airframe could no longer be justified.”
The funds that were earmarked for the proposed Nimrod acquisition will now be reallocated to other potential airframe acquisitions,
the repainting of several existing large airframes at the museum and the development costs associated with the new Southfield Site Visitor Centre project.
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