h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A sad tale but horribly familiar in the aero industry.

I don't know about the jigs but Rolls Royce apprentices were stripping and rebuilding surplus TSR2 engines in the mid 70's. I believe the airframes were parked on the RAF ranges somewhere as targets.

Before you continue mourning the loss of these extraordinary planes: There is one surviving TSR2 at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. When I went there in october 04 it was still in restauration but it is only a matter of time until it takes its place in the collection.

Are they actually restoring it to flying condition or just putting it back together cosmetically then?

My museum guide lists it as static.

When I was doing guided weapons research back in the 1960s my team spent a bit of time at the Proof and Experimental Establishment on Shoeburyness Island. In between testing our system we wandered around the establishment, when they weren't firing off their big naval guns. Down one end of the establishment was an aircraft graveyard/scrapyard and right in the middle was a TSR2! Enquiries revealed that it was being used for "Impact testing". That is, they fired machine guns at it and then inspected the damage! I don't know what happened to this one. It could have been finally junked or it may be the one which has ended up at Duxford (That certainly is having a lot of work done on it). The one at RAF Cosford is in much better condition.