Thunder City Aircraft

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Paulish
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Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Paulish »

Does anyone know what happened to the aircraft that were part of the former Thunder City operation in Cape Town? These included Lightning’s, Hunters and Buccaneers many of which were deemed airworthy. The aircraft were put up for sale as long ago as 2010 but since then there is a lack of information as to their eventual fate.

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Cole
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Cole »

The T-5 ZU-BBD flew in early 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=ftt2q6zNQ1g
Mike Beachy Head Passed away in 2017 so the hopes of thunder city continuing are very limited.
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Marathon Milkshake
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Marathon Milkshake »

There is or was a photo on fb this morning of Thundercity, the building has apparently been sold and all the aircraft are now stored outdoors. However, I have no idea how old the photos are. :sad:

Found it

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... ater&ifg=1
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vulcanshammer
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by vulcanshammer »

Marathon Milkshake wrote:There is or was a photo on fb this morning of Thundercity, the building has apparently been sold and all the aircraft are now stored outdoors. However, I have no idea how old the photos are. :sad:

Found it

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... ater&ifg=1


Link not working matey. Or the page has been taken down.
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Paulish
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Paulish »

Thanks for the extra information. A little bit more googling led me to a site which shows the Thunder City fleet is part of their aircraft for sale inventory:

https://www.historicandclassicaircraftsales.com/

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Tommy
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Tommy »

Some good news:



Jet(s) (unclear which ones, some, all, or just the Buccs, or just the Bucc in the video) have been bought and intention is to return them to flight.

Search “Hangar 51 Aviation” on Facebook. Their comments to the various posts confirm that what they have bought is staying in SA and being returned to flight.

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Paulish
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Paulish »

I have just seen a post on FB that suggests that all the Thunder City aircraft have been bought and will be transferred shortly to a new location in the Western Cape for some much needed tlc. ( this includes the three lightnings)

GeeRam
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by GeeRam »

Paulish wrote:
Thu 04 Aug 2022, 7:39 am
I have just seen a post on FB that suggests that all the Thunder City aircraft have been bought and will be transferred shortly to a new location in the Western Cape for some much needed tlc. ( this includes the three lightnings)
They were bought months and months ago....
And....the only way you are going to move those Lightnings to another location is to do the massive break and split task......and who's now around to supervise that?
Or fly them........and if they need TLC, that doesn't sound like an option. If they haven't been maintained with anti-det etc in the 10+ years since they last flew, have they even got enough lifed spares to undertake such a task for all 3 of them? (especially as the lost '451 consumed most of the new parts in its long rebuild under Barry P)

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Paulish
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Paulish »

I am only reporting what I read. Tlc shouldn’t imply return to flight for the fleet as a whole but they have been stored out in the open for a while and will need some attention to prevent further deterioration. I gather that there is an intention to fly some of the TC aircraft again. I don’t want to repeat the FB comments verbatim with regard to the Lightnings but:

BBD / XS 452 possible but lots of work. BEY / XP693 airframe limited by fatigue life and with no engines fitted. BEW / XR773 status unknown .

I am curious about the fatigue question for XP693 as this had by far the lowest hours of any F6 when finally retired by BAe Systems. This was due to the fact that it spent its entire career on test duty for the company.

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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by GeeRam »

Paulish wrote:
Thu 04 Aug 2022, 9:49 pm
I don’t want to repeat the FB comments verbatim with regard to the Lightnings but:

BBD / XS 452 possible but lots of work. BEY / XP693 airframe limited by fatigue life and with no engines fitted. BEW / XR773 status unknown .

I am curious about the fatigue question for XP693 as this had by far the lowest hours of any F6 when finally retired by BAe Systems. This was due to the fact that it spent its entire career on test duty for the company.
Indeed. Sounds like the person posting doesn't have a clue.

As of when BAe at Warton put the 3 x airworthy F.6's (plus the non-airworthy XS928) up for sale in late Dec 1992, their hours and FI were as follows:-

XS904 - 4159.34hrs & 124.516 FI (now with LPG at Brunty)
XR773 - 3478.00hrs & 113.34 FI
XP693 - 1163.54hrs & 073.23 FI
XS928 - hrs not stated & 121.243 FI (I think '928 was out of hrs in 1990ish which is why it was retired from use)

I really can't see them getting anywhere near out of FI or hrs with the limited use they had in SA, especially as they flew the two T.5's a lot more than the two F.6's.

purple_95
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by purple_95 »

Paulish wrote:
Thu 04 Aug 2022, 7:39 am
I have just seen a post on FB that suggests that all the Thunder City aircraft have been bought and will be transferred shortly to a new location in the Western Cape for some much needed tlc. ( this includes the three lightnings)
Might be no bad thing if the jets have been sold again, hangar 51 aviation who purchased them back in January seem to have done nothing other than an engine run on day one with one of the Buccenears. Although even if being moved for tlc, a term that can mean anything from a quick wash and tidy up for static display all the way up to flying again I understand the South African CAA have serious concerns about the Lightning flying again and much stricter conditions are likely to need to be complied with compared to when the Lightnings flew in South Africa prior to Thunder City closing down.

Binbrook 01
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by Binbrook 01 »

Purple_95

So do you work for Hangar 51?
Can you say with confidence you know they haven't done anything other than an engine run.. As far as I know they are still the owners.

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centaurus18
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by centaurus18 »

Some of its Hunters won't ever fly again sadly.... given how they look now.
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GeeRam
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by GeeRam »

centaurus18 wrote:
Mon 15 Aug 2022, 10:16 am
Some of its Hunters won't ever fly again sadly.... given how they look now.
:slight_frown:

The F.6 they had was a genuine ex-Black Arrows airframe IIRC.

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centaurus18
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Re: Thunder City Aircraft

Post by centaurus18 »

GeeRam wrote:
Mon 15 Aug 2022, 1:52 pm
centaurus18 wrote:
Mon 15 Aug 2022, 10:16 am
Some of its Hunters won't ever fly again sadly.... given how they look now.
:slight_frown:

The F.6 they had was a genuine ex-Black Arrows airframe IIRC.
The F.6A is with the Lightnings, T.7 XL613 and one of (or both) T.8B XF967 and XL598 are not and are in "open store" away from the collection.
Its GA.11 has long since been scrapped :(
Mark
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