Canberra WX161

lenny100 · January 12, 2010, 01:20:58 PM

Whell now i have a airfix B-6 in my stash

i have decided to do one specfict canberra which although is not a what if most people will not belive it was real Canberra wx161 as it was during trials at RAF Selghford in 1959.
can anybody gess what this aircraft was up to?

deathjester · January 12, 2010, 01:37:20 PM

Nuclear powered air transportable ice cream factory trials?

lenny100 · January 12, 2010, 01:38:36 PM

no even more improable

deathjester · January 12, 2010, 01:46:02 PM

!!!!You mean.....the MOD spent some money on it??? Filled up the fuel tanks, and, you know, put bombs in it and stuff?

??!!

Naaah, this is What If, not No way!!

lenny100 · January 12, 2010, 01:49:43 PM

they did even more than that but exactly what is still classified!!!

Weaver · January 12, 2010, 02:43:09 PM

Is it the "stealthy" one? The one that was used to test radar absorbent coatings? I KNOW I've seen an article on this somewhere, but I'd damned if I can remember where......

PR19_Kit · January 12, 2010, 03:05:48 PM

Weaver, I reckon you got it.

That was the one that had large areas of black coating over the wing leading edges and the lower part of the fuselage. There was an item about in Aeroplane Magazine 4-5 years ago I recall.

Weaver · January 12, 2010, 03:24:42 PM

That's the one: there was a picture of a model, painted all gloss black, which they were shining bright lights onto to measure how much "glint" it gave off at different angles.

kitnut617 · January 12, 2010, 03:51:03 PM

Are you sure that's the right serial number Lenny ? UK Serials has it as a Venom Mk.1 which was cancelled. There's no Canberra in the whole WX listing

http://www.ukserials.com/

lenny100 · January 13, 2010, 12:01:23 AM

Acording to tony buttlers book it is the correct serial number of this most secret aircraft which was used to prove anti radar treatments such as a ram coatings etc. although if it was the aircrafts correct serial number.... who knows!

Weaver · January 13, 2010, 03:18:33 AM

Ahhh - it's in Missiles and Hypersonics, Chapter 9. Never thought of looking there, but I knew I'd seen it somewhere!

lenny100 · January 13, 2010, 03:27:33 AM

any ideas how to do the ram coatings?
thought of using a pice of thin paper

Thorvic · January 13, 2010, 04:48:19 AM

Quote from: lenny100 on January 13, 2010, 03:27:33 AM
any ideas how to do the ram coatings?
thought of using a pice of thin paper

Just spray the aircraft in its base colour then mask up for the RAM areas and spray a couple of extra coats, with possibly a Matt finish, when the masking is removed you should have a nice step in the surface to represent the RAM covering.

G

kitnut617 · January 13, 2010, 08:38:54 AM

Quote from: lenny100 on January 13, 2010, 12:01:23 AM
Acording to tony buttlers book it is the correct serial number of this most secret aircraft which was used to prove anti radar treatments such as a ram coatings etc. although if it was the aircrafts correct serial number.... who knows!

Hi Lenny, just had a look in BSP-Hypersonics and you're right, that's what is says. The sentence before that though says some B.2's where used in radar echo trials, so I started looking for serial numbers for Canberra B.2's and I found one which I suspect is the correct serial, WK161. The listing says it was transfered to the MoA in 1955 and it fits into the timeline as it was at Farnborough until 1965. WK could be mistaken as WX too.

kitnut617 · January 14, 2010, 04:57:48 AM

An update on this Canberra --- it is actually WK161. I was really intrigued why this Canberra would have had a cancelled Venom serial number and thought you had stumbled on something clandestine Lenny, so after my search through UK Serials I then emailed Tony Buttler to ask him what he knew about it. I got a reply this morning from him ----

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Hi Robert.
Hope all is well.

Many thanks for your e-mail. Serials has never been my strength I'm afraid, but I think the aircraft you are describing is indeed WK161. The Canberra book by Delve, Green and Clemons states that WK161 was used for trials with radar absorbent materials at BP Defford, so I am sure this is the aircraft.

British Secret Projects 4 was in fact all of Chris Gibson's work - I just did the editing and in fact was rather flattered to have my name on the cover. I suspect this typo may have come from an original document in Chris's possession, the error being made all those years ago.

Hope this helps.

Very best wishes,
Tony.
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So nothing sinister and secretive with the particular Canberra used after all (inserts 'pouty' smiley)