The aircraft was built at Bagington, Coventry, in February 1954. In July 1954, it was issued to 152 Squadron at Wattisham. It served with the No.2 Air Navigation School at Thorney Island and later at No.1 School at Stradishall, where it was damaged in an accident. In January 1966, it was allocated for ground instructional use.
In September 1969, WS788 was moved to Patrington Radar Station on Spurn Head, East Yorkshire, as a static display aircraft. When Patrington closed, it was moved to Leeming, North Yorkshire, to be the Station Gate Guard. It was brought to Elvington in 1991 and has been displayed there in 152 Squadron colours ever since.
24 years after her arrival at YAM, 788 is well overdue some TLC. Her outer wings were removed to get her indoors and some work was done on her over summer by volunteers and French engineering students, but this work has now trickled to a halt and the aircraft moved to the far corner of the museum site. She now sits in a corner, looking sad, but at least she has her surprisingly complete cockpit covered over and protected from the elements.
I have been keen to adopt this aircraft for a while now, and having left the Victor for the foreseeable future, I have the opportunity to really get to grips with this classic jet. OK, I know it doesn't have the aesthetic appeal of most of the 50's/60's classics, in fact many say it's downright ugly, but I think it has a certain appeal and certainly deserves to be restored. I admit it, I love the NF Meteors. There, I've said it now.
So, what's the plan? I hear you say. Rub back the old paint, which in places is that thick I think it was applied with a yardbrush! Sort any corrosion found, then apply a shiny new colour scheme. In addition, I'm looking into the possibility of getting some of the electrical systems working for the first time since the late 60's. If I can get the external and cockpit lights working I'll be a happy bunny.
I was at the museum on Friday to meet with our aircraft manager and get the final 'green light' to carry on with my plan. Then I trekked over to the jet (which at the far side of the site is too far from the NAAFI for my liking!) to give it a look over and see just what I had let myself in for. As you can see from the above shot it's not all that encouraging at first glance! But there is certainly potential. She's far from a lost cause
The undersides of the wings around the airbrakes area are the worst bits of the jet so far, a legacy of years of East Coast weather I suspect
peering into the aircraft's inner structure was encouraging though. A bit of flaky paint and lots of muck, but nothing terrible and certainly little in the way of corrosion.
To try and discourage water collecting, and to encourage air to circulate and try to dry her out a bit, I removed the 2 rear lower wing fillet panels. After the tide went out I was pleasantly surprised by the health of the structure within
I decided while I was at it to undo the 2 bolts holding the flaps up and lower them, for the same reason. They are a tad stiff after so many years, but they deployed fine.
Sunday was to be the first working day proper. I decided that, bearing in mind I want to get power on the jet eventually, I had best take a look at what if anything remained in the battery bay for starters! While I was doing this Andy was attempting to remove the fasteners holding the wing leading edge on. Most of these are incorrect, and the leading edges need to come off anyway, so I thought he may as well crack on. After a lot of effort and cursing I got the battery bay door to come off, and it emerged blinking into the daylight for the first time in decades I suspect
The bay itself looked better than I anticipated too, with the battery leads in place still and even a couple of tools left for us courtesy of the RAF!
We decided to go eat at that point. After lunch we headed back to the jet via the Handley Page building, where we got stranded by a very sudden, very horrible shower!
When it cleared we made for the jet again, but made little headway before rain again stopped play. After sheltering miserably in the port gear bay for a while we called it a day
At least the rain turned the jet shiny again!
And now, the begging bowl comes out. Courtesy of Martin Garrett I have on CD a fairly comprehensive set of Meteor F.8 and T.7 AP's, however a set of NF ones would be great. If anyone has these, or indeed any Meteor NF parts they would like to donate to a worthy cause, I could certainly do with them. The Holy Grail would be to find a complete NF.14 canopy as ours is very foggy indeed.
Looks like you'll be busy until at least Easter.
Every toolbox should have a few. Uses include replacing missing bolts, fixing troublesome fuses, and of course joining bits of wood together. 
