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HOW THE SIMULATOR
WAS RESTORED
Photo courtesy of T. Ueda (All Rights Reserved)
​
PART 4 Taking Delivery
We had travelled to the USA in February, but the Flightdeck would not be delivered until June.
John arranged for her to be temporarily stored at the Local Scout Hut just yards from his home.
John at the Scout Hut after building a Trolley to put the Flightdeck on.
Meanwhile in the USA Tom sent us photos of how to lift her out of the
Shipping Container when she got to the UK ... time to look into Fork Lift Hire !
The Shipping container finally arrived in Tupelo and Tom carefully loaded it up.
All Loaded up and ready to seal the doors ... One Giant 747 Lego Set !
After driving to Charlestown our Container was loaded onto the "Cosco Vietnam"
for its last trip across the Atlantic. This was a nervous week especially when you
start investigating how many containers fall off ships in bad weather !
Finally she arrived in the U.K. and it was another week waiting for her to
clear Customs and be loaded onto a Lorry for delivery to Coventry.
The Lorry arrived but it was too big to fit through the gates at the Scout Hut !
We hastily came up with a "Plan B" we would unload it in the street, we only had one hour !
The Lorry driver had us check the seals hadn't been tampered with and
opened it up, he had no idea he was carrying a 747 !
As we only had an hour to unload, many of John's Friends and Family came
along to help out ... Jake Didsbury drove the Forklift Truck to get her out.
It's not often you see a 747 in the Street ... there were a few curtains twitching !
Lots of the small parts were taken round the back, through a neighbours
garden and put into the Log Cabin for temporary storage.
The Log Cabin filling up.
Two Toilet blocks were included (More on these later) as they say ...
"If it's not Boeing, I ain't going !"
The Cabin was filling up fast as eveyone worked hard.
All the Brown and Cream Trims.
The Throttle Quadrant.
Fiberglass Inner Liners.
Various Overhead and Avionic Panels.
Meanwhile Jake drove her the short distance to the Scout Hut.
And into her new home for a couple of Months.
Resting on the Trolley John had made.
Having a good look inside ... to be honest she looked a mess
but John knew he had all the bits to put her back together again.
Jake Brings the Toilet Blocks in.
Carl Beeby helped John cover everything with Tarpaulins, and we locked the gate.
She would spend the next 3 Months here whilst we worked out how to get her moved
and into our Log Cabin ... we had been told she needed to be out by September 3rd.
when the Local Playgroup would be back from Summer Holidays.
"Ohana Jumbo" Seen here during the Scouts Open Day and BBQ.
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