Sir Christopher Scrapping

1. Shown on the pad in 1992, the craft is laid up awaiting sale. She is kept free from damp by the de-humidifier attached through one of the rear doors	2. Another view of the laid up craft, later in 1992. She is kept in good condition with regular running on the pad	3. Now 1993, and the craft has been moved to the right side of the pad, her ultimate resting place	4. In 1994, she was in use as a store on the pad, and her Hoverspeed markings have been removed from her port side
5. In 1996, still in use as a store on the pad. She has started to be raided for valuable pieces of equipment which can be used on the other craft	6. Though some minor items may be missing, she still looks to be in reasonable condition on the outside	7. Looking across to the control cabin on the roof	8. One of her propeller pylons has been removed, leaving the bare mounting pintle
9. The rear compartment shows some small amount of corrosion present	10. At the rear of the craft, some of her centrifugal lift fans are stacked along with pylon access gantries	11. A view of the rear of the craft on the same occasion. One of her rudders has also been removed	12. Now in early 1998, and Sir Christopher has received a coat of white paint on her port side to match the Mk III craft
13. Cannibalisation has begun in earnest, this being her last few months on the pad	14. The bow door has been removed, as well as rudders and propeller pylons	15. A close up of the cockpit taken from video shows all items of useful kit having been removed. This is now in use as someone's garden shed !	16. Doors and all other useful items have been removed
17. A close up of the area of the main passenger door, where it has been cut from the superstructure. (See image no. 33 below)	18. A side view of the craft being cannibalised on the Dover pad	19. The rear of the craft showing a number of removed items stored around it. Compare with image no. 11 above	20. A closer view of the craft's rear during it's last months on the pad
21. Now looking at the pylon pintles and rear a mounting for the rudder	22. Much more has been removed now. Compare this view to image no. 9 above	23. Even air conditioning packs have been taken from the superstructure which is now looking very bare	24. The starboard main passenger door has been removed, but can just be made out stacked inside the cabin
25. I apologise for the quality of some of these images. They were taken through thick glass portholes on a very rainy day	26. The forward emergency door has also been removed for possible use on the other MK III craft	27. A look at the bow section of the craft shows it to be in a very sorry state	28. The ladder which leads to the roof has been taken from it's mountings leaving a hole here
29. Even windows have been removed from the superstructure, complete with the surrounding frames	30. An engineer was removing items from the bow door mechanism while I was there	31. April 1998, and with the Sir Christopher now gone from the pad, there are a number of items left, including her rear doors shown here	32. Her propeller pylons are left, hopefully some destined for the Swift at The Hovercraft Museum
33. The main passenger door from the craft. The hole left by it's extraction can be seen in image no. 17 above	34. Stacks of miscellaneous items just 'thrown' down the side of the maintenance building normally out of sight of passengers	35. A propeller pylon in close up. I had to balance precariously on the back of a bench seat to get some of these shots over the wall	36. A number of lift fans are stored next to the maintenance building
37. Rudders and the bow ramp stored against the wall at the side of the pad