Detailed investigations into the repairs needed to secure the Vampire Jet for the future are one step closer with scaffolding now placed around the iconic "aeroplane park" plane.
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The platforms have been built to allow internal investigations of the plane, Forbes Shire councillors were informed at their August meeting.
Those investigations will inform the council's future planning.
Director Planning and Growth Mat Teale said the council has booked in a qualified structural engineer to do an assessment of the pole and the connections to the jet.
"The engineer's also going to have a look at the internal fuselage," he said.
The council has also engaged with someone with experience: the person who repaired the nose cone of a similar Vampire Jet pole-mounted in Wingham.
"We are now moving into detailed investigation, what will come out of that is the repairs that we are required to do," Mr Teale told councillors.
"Hopefully we can do it all on site - worst case scenario if it's too far damaged we will take it down and do it on the ground."
Ken Blade, from Forster, reached out to The Advocate with some encouragement for Forbes when he heard of the plight of our Vampire Jet, as he instigated the works on the similar plane at Wingham.
While the plane displayed in the Wingham Village Green did not have the internal damage Forbes' plane appears to have, Mr Blade wrote, the two planes "have much in common".
"These two rare military plans are of similar vintage and were erected in both towns in 1971," he wrote in a letter to the Advocate.
"Both have been well overdue for a full restoration.
"Hopefully the Forbes plane will now receive a full restoration to allow it to remain in situ to amaze all that view it for another 50 years."
The nose cone of the Wingham plane was replaced in 2005 and the main issue identified in 2019 was the rusting of the support pylon. General restoration was needed after 50 years of neglect, Mr Blade added.
But the project was completed successfully, and he hopes the same for Forbes.
"It certainly is an iconic, historic, tourist attraction and community asset - as is the same for the Wingham Vampire Plane," he wrote.