Jamie C

This afternoon i had the privilege of meeting Barry Belcher, he was one of a team of five people led by Jerry Jackman who along with Chris White, David Sitch and Ray Carter designed, tested and built a working propane fuelled model turbine engine. All their hardwork resulted in the successful test flight of the 'Barjay' on March 20 1983 at RAF Greenham Common. The Barjay was designed by Barry and had a moulded Centre section and hatches with the rest of the airframe being of balsa/ply construction with a fixed trike undercarraige with steerable nosewheel. It had a span of 78 inches and a length of 71 inches and AUW of 16 pounds.
Although it is a basic design by todays standards, in 1983 it was pretty revolutionary and was an ideal platform for turbine testing, as we see today the twin boom layout is very popular, you could be forgiven for thinking it is a Boomerang at a glance.

Barry also showed me the TST MK2, Thatcham small turbines mk2 (Jerry lived in Thatcham hence the name) The machining on it was superb!! when you consider that technology and the machines used were nowhere near as advanced as today, the standard is exceptional! Jerry and his team, despite set backs pressed on with the project, it was a life ambition of Jerry's to build and fly a model jet engine . . . . he did! the Barjay only made 6 flights, but the the concept had been proven and this no doubt inspired others to try. The story leading up to this first flight is epic! The mk2 engine was never completed and sadly Jerry passed away in 1998. As can be seen from the pictures, despite the hangar rash the Barjay survives, the original engine expired at a DF meet at RAF Abingdon and that was the last time it flew. The story of the Barjay has not ended . . . . far from it!

The Gnat fuselage was the proposed scale model for the original TST but it never came to be . . . . . it may do eventually!
I took along a Jetcat P20 to show Barry, he was amazed by just how small it was! and all the associated equipment that goes with it. The P20 is in some of the pictures for a size comparison.

Jamie C

Barry had made up an info board for when it was taken to shows as a static model. Some good pictures on here which i intend to scan for better quality. Having problems uploading pictures after the forum downtime, will hopefully be sorted for tomorrow.

Dave Wilshere

Jamie

Lucky blighter, touched and seen history.

Dave

Jamie C

Dave,

We will all get a chance to do that now, Barry has VERY kindly given me the Barjay! i was stunned when he made the gesture, still cannot believe it now!

Stobe777

My Feedback: (1)

Wow! So which block goes in now...? Will You fly it? Now this is great, I did not know the model still existed.
TP.

CJ2006

Jamie,

Was pleasantly surprised to get your txt last night...nice one, it couldn't have gone to a better home!

The questions is...will it be ready for test flight off the Hallowed Turf on 17th?! There's a challenge for you!

Cheers,

Dick

Jamie C

Cheers Dick, will not be ready for the 17th unfortunately. A replica is going to be made and Barry is going to draw it up again with a few construction mods he wants to try out, he is clearly VERY talented in this direction and he would also like to make a smaller one for EDF. He does not have the original plans so is going to take all the measurements required for the redesign (which he has now started) before it is handed over to me. It would be SO nice to see it fly at Abingdon . . . 27 years after its last flight there! will be bringing it to the AGM.

The Barjay is actually in quite good condition, and would not require too much work to get it into the air and we did discuss putting it back in the air but the concern is if it were to be lost, it has been lying dormant for 27 years but that said we are very tempted to get it into the air for a few flights just to get pictures/videos, would retire it permanently after that as it is a model that should be preserved. If it does fly it would have to fly with a British engine so that would be a Wren, Barry was saying that the original TST MK1 put out about 9 pounds of thrust but it did need more so maybe a wren 54 would be a good candidate.

jason

My Feedback: (1)

Can't believe you have the Barjay Jamie!! But Barry could not have found anyone who will look after this piece of modelling history like you will so I think it's gone to a very good home. If I had it I don't think I would be doing anything with it, it would be a shame if it got lost or even to fly it with a different engine in it would seem wrong. I remember what you were like when you killed MY Bandit so I'd hate to be there if you scratched the wing on the Barjay![&o][&o][&o][&o]


Jason

Jamie C

Cheers Jason, much appreciated and i think you are right but i cannot help but think . . . . wouldnt it be nice!? Barry really is a fascinating guy to talk to, to listen to the story of how it all came about was a real treat. I will do some work on it just to rid it of some of the hangar rash, Barry also loaned me some of the articles about it which i intend to scan/copy. He also has a video of it flying which we will hopefully get transferred to CD and i will post it here and on Youtube. Have got some more pictures to post but having big problems trying to upload them at the moment.

Yes i was devastated when i lost YOUR Bandit and would be equally so if it happened to the Barjay. Will bring it to the AGM for static on the saturday as it is definitely time it came out from the back of the Hangar, The replica will take it s place in the air.

jason

My Feedback: (1)

I bet Barry is a wealthy man after all the royalty payments he has received from Alan Cardash??

Ali

My Feedback: (5)

No, I think they all went to De Havilland.

Jamie C

A few more pictures showing more detail of the MK2 engine. Uploading pictures is still proving rather troublesome. A cardboard model is sat where the TST MK1 was once mounted, it is planned to make a model of the original turbine to sit in its place if it is just to be a static model. In one of the pictures the propane fuel tank can be seen, which was filled by connections under and to the left of the fuselage in front of the left wing trailing edge.

Dave Wilshere

Jamie

Don't do it! I have some of Peter Valentine's FireBird models and would not dream of flying them, even though before his death he said I should fly them...history.I have the M&S modelling book somewhere with original pixs of the Firebird.
Would Barry come to the AGM to chat about the model...we would probably help with his hotel-guys??

Dave

ron Sweeney

I was priveledged to film and witness the Abingdon flight. If I knew how to post it I would be glad to do so. Or if anyone could do it I could send them a disc. Ron.

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

Please someone get it from Ron and post it!!! I wanna see!!!!!

Geoff White

Ron,

Very happy to download and post it for you if you want me too.
I will PM my home address to you so you can post me the cd/dvd.

What is really ironic is that I actually live in Abingdon and the airfield that the Barjay flew at is only about 2 miles from my house! Alas, I wasn't in the hobby when it flew at Abingdon so I missed the momentous event. []

Geoff.

Jamie C

Dave,

My heart tells me i want to fly it but my head tells me not to which is the sensible thing to do i think. Will have a chat to him when i see him next, he is going into hospital for a catterack operation next tuesday so will talk to him later in the week.

Jamie C

Nice one Geoff! please let me have a copy? i think Barry would like to see it, he has the test flight video which will be transferred to disc aswell.

Geoff White

No problem Jamie. Didn't want to tread on your toes, just thought I would volunteer

CJ2002

Hi Ron...you didn't happen to film my Hawk at the same event did you? I have a vid of the event somewhere with both the Hawk and Barjay on it, but there's no sound...so if you have any footage of it with sound on, I'd appreciate a copy.

Cheers,

Dick

ron Sweeney

Hi Geoff, I have just dug out the VIDEO Tape. If you are happy with this I can post it tomorrow or I can transcribe it onto a disc but this is a very unreliable technology and it will take a couple of days. Is this OK with you Jamie? Ron.

Geoff White

Hi Ron,

If you can copy it onto DVD etc. then that would be good. If you can't then just send it to me and I will arrange it for you.

Geoff.

Jamie C

Absolutely no problem at all, Geoff is the man for stuff like this . . . . cannot wait to see it!

Jamie C

Barry was kind enough to lend me some of the original magazine articles which i will scan and post, a pic from his display board shows that it did not always go according to plan.

ron Sweeney

Hi Dick, there are lots of hawks on the tape so maybe yes. My copy also has no sound I put a commentary over it to send to Mark Frankel and the dubbing mix must have backfired. On the tape there are also 1982 and 1987 coverage. I will get it all transcribe today. I have some coverage of the engine test run they did at another Abingdon meeting but I was up till 1 o'clock last night and failed to find it. Ron.