Queenie, the Meatbox Update

We had a Vampire jet parked on the edge of our school playing field when I started high school. I think the MOD gave a few away to schools to help the schools' engineering and technology departments, probably in the hope that they'd get some suitable apprentices in return (which is fair enough). However, the poor plane just sat there and gradually got more and more vandalised. In the end, the RAF sent someone to look for parts to keep a working plane going and found quite a few of the parts on it were still OK, so they took it away to use for spares.
 
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Lovely shots, brings back memories of my youth.
I think the last operational unit of Meatboxes were based here in Exeter, if I remember rightly they were finally mothballed around 1972.
If i remember rightly most of them were TT20's (Target Tugs) with a few F8's, could be wrong, twas a long time ago.
I can still just about remember the sound as they passed over my house on take off.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane
 
Thanks, my main memories of them were of MRD’s, take two engine, build a frame for them with a cab between them, attach it to a thousand gallon bowser then sit in the cab running them using the exhaust funnelled through some nozzles to de- ice the runways, alter the pitch to much and watch sheets of tarmac lift and disappear into the distance.
 
Thanks, my main memories of them were of MRD’s, take two engine, build a frame for them with a cab between them, attach it to a thousand gallon bowser then sit in the cab running them using the exhaust funnelled through some nozzles to de- ice the runways, alter the pitch to much and watch sheets of tarmac lift and disappear into the distance.

LOL, had forgotten all about those contraptions, I wonder if there are any still around.
I think the ones from here went to St Athen for the airframe apprentices to play with, though I suspect some might have gone for fire fighting practice aswell.
 
Thanks, my main memories of them were of MRD’s, take two engine, build a frame for them with a cab between them, attach it to a thousand gallon bowser then sit in the cab running them using the exhaust funnelled through some nozzles to de- ice the runways, alter the pitch to much and watch sheets of tarmac lift and disappear into the distance.
... with the SATCO instructions NOT to burn or damage the runway surface and NOT to scorch the embedded lighting. One of the best jobs in winter (if not safely tucked up in the TBar). Enough thread drift, lovely clear sharp images.
 
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