Southend Aircraft Museum Scans 1972ish

Old Fart, which book are those scans taken from?

WJ244 I have a vague recollection of the Zero 6 liveried bus in a very ’70’s’ white and purple colour scheme. I think the Triplane is at the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology now, where abouts at Coventry is the Bleriot?

Mods Can we merge this thread with the 1980’s Southend one please?

Cant rember, I scaned them years ago and put the book away somewhere will need to go caving in the cupboard under the stairs and try and dig it out, got more books stored there then blades of grass on a football pitch!… or thats what it feels like when I move them!

It’s half-hung. The main wheels stand on a plinth on the upper floor and the tail projects out over the main floor and is suspended by cables.

Roger Smith.

Thanks Roger. Am I right in thinking that the Bleriot is now hung from the roof at MAM. I am pretty sure it was hung when I came to a Rochdale Owners Club AGM at the museum a couple of years ago.

………… where abouts at Coventry is the Bleriot?……..

The Humber Bleriot replica (BAPC9) was on loan from Midland A.P.S. (now Midland A.M.). It was built for a Royal Tournament (I think it was the 1959 one to celebrate 50th anniversary of Bleriot’s flight across the channel) by military apprentices. It found it’s way to Shuttleworth – from whom it is on indefinite loan to MAM at Coventry Airport. We located and installed an original Humber engine (licence-built Anzani) and was, after removal from Southend, displayed in the Concorde Hall at FAAM, Yeovilton then hung in the terminal at Birmingham Airport for some years.

Sadly, I never got to visit the Southend Museum (until we went to remove the SAAB J-29).

Roger Smith.

Old Fart, which book are those scans taken from?

WJ244 I have a vague recollection of the Zero 6 liveried bus in a very ’70’s’ white and purple colour scheme. I think the Triplane is at the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology now, where abouts at Coventry is the Bleriot?

Mods Can we merge this thread with the 1980’s Southend one please?

The indoor picture shows the Moth Minor and Hornet Moth which were oart of the Tony Haig Thomas Moth collection which were eventually all housed at the museum. Also shown is the Roe I Triplane Replica (loaned by NAPS I think) and the Humber Bleriot replica which is now at Coventry together with Skeeter XL811 which was also on loan from NAPS.
The Roe Triplane was a nightmare to put together. It came as a collection of parts and several boxes full of piano wire rigging with tensioners and no instructions. The Channel Airways engineers, with a bit of hinderance from me after school, had been trying to assemble it for a couple of days when I mentioned that the original was in the Science Museum. A phone call got permission for a visit to photograph and measure it. They wanted to take me as it was my idea but I had to go to school. The worst problem we had was that you could fit several rigging wires and hours or even days later find that they were the wrong ones when you tried to rig another part and found the remaining wires were all too short or too long. It was the biggest jigsaw puzzle I ever helped construct!
The Thunderstreak was sited on the grass area behind the CASA and the Gemini (which shouuld never have been outside as it was already suffering glue rot) was only parked there for a comparatively short time before it was attacked by vandals and subsequently dismantled. The Zero Six Nighclub ex London Transport RT bus can also be seen to the left of the T-33. The bus was used for transporting the promotions girls prior to the opening of the nightclub and was going to be used for a bus service to take nightclub punters to and from Southend. The service was either very short lived or never got off the ground and the bus soon disappeared.

Point of order, Old Fart – I’m sure the Thunderstreak was behind the CASA! (at least from 1975ish onwards)

I’m thinking your right I will put it down to old age… Not older enough to rember…

Point of order, Old Fart – I’m sure the Thunderstreak was behind the CASA! (at least from 1975ish onwards)

Scan from a book showing the outdoor collection.

The Thunderstreak was located where the Vampire is,

Part of the indoor collection

Had another look at the photos which started this thread and think I probably got the date wrong. By the time the museum opened I am sure the Saab along with the Meteor, Sea Hawk and Javelin were all on their own concrete pads along the front of the museum building so the pictures must have been taken prior to opening day. My guess is that they were probably taken around 6 to 12 months before we opened and the Gemini was in pieces awaiting reassembly after delivery (from Wisley I think – it had belonged to Dizzty Addicot).
The hut in the background looks like the prefab which replaced our original wooden builders hut which burnt down after the paint store caught fire causing a fair bit of damage to unrestored Dragonfly WG725 which was beside the hut.

G-INFO still shows the Mignet and the Jodel as registered to Bill Cole at Seddlescombe Nr Battle. Both have PFA c/ns and I am pretty sure he built the pair of them himself. According to G-Info both are VW powered.
The Mignet always looked nicely finished and well cared for when it was housed at the Southend Museum and was a credit to it’s owner.

The Mignet 293 G-AXPG was stored at a farm strip near Battle in Sussex about ten years ago, I have a faint recollection that the Jodel D9 might also have been there but can’t remember. Perhaps G-AXPG is still there? Nice looking aeroplane powered with a VW engine if I recall correctly.

The museum never actually owned G-AXPG which was and, it appears, still is owned by Bill Cole who loaned it to the museum and flew it occassionally. In the 70’s he lived at Hazeleigh Grange, Hazeleigh near Maldon, Essex and G-AXPG was kept there prior to moving to the museum along with the rest of his aircraft collection which included Jodel D9 G-AWFT and Leopoldoff F-PCZX / G-AYKS. I don’t know what happened to the others but he may well still own those as well. I am sure I covered this in another post on this forum.
The museum also had Mignet HM14 G-ADXS which was built by Mr Storey who displayed it for many years in his garage in Southend. His family loaned it to the museum and it moved on to Rebel Air Museum and then I think to Thameside Aviation Museum. I am sure it is still around but have lost track of its current home.

Nothing heard of G-AXPG then, the Flying Flea?

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=reg&fullregmark=AXPG

Just in case…

Nothing heard of G-AXPG then, the Flying Flea?

The cockpit of Beverley XB261 is now at Newark, I believe it was presented to the museum by the Duxford Aviation Society in 2004.

The Lancaster nose on G-APRJ was from TW911
Jim

The Historic Aircraft Museum Southend (HAM) and The British Historic Aircraft Mueum (BHAM) were two entirely seperate entities.
BHAM was founded in 1966 at Biggin Hill by a rather colourful character called Tony Osborne and moved to Southend in 1967. As far as I am aware it was never officially open to the public at Southend as the aircraft were parked beside the railway line near to the end of the runway. Anyone wanting access had to go through the gates onto the airfield from the public car park and drive up the peri track past Marmols hangar and security were fairly hot on pulling up any cars that they didn’t recognise.
The BHAM foundered when the council took posession of the aircraft for non-payment of the rent on their site.
The HAM was formed by several local businessmen who were also private pilots. They built a proper museum building on Aviation Way and a motel and night club opposite. The plan was that the motel / night club together with the function suite in the museum building would generate an income and while it was intended that the museum should also make a profit it seemed to be accepted that the earnings from other parts of the complex would support the whole place if the museum was slow to generate an income. The HAM went into receivership along with the rest of the complex and all the owners other companies a few years after the opening (which was on 26 May 1972 with an air display on 27 May which was almost wrecked by high winds and poor weather).
The whole complex was then bought by Queens Moat House but it became apparent that the museum aircraft had been badly neglected due to poor management (one person in particular was chiefly responsible for the decay). Queens Moat House appointed Bill Gent as curator. He had been involved since the original days of BHAM and Bill tried hard to generate income to fund remedial work needed on the aircraft and we cleared th museum building on several occassions to make room for classic car shows and other events. He also worked with Nigel Brendish to display the Leisure Sport WW1 replicas at the museum for a while and arranged several other loans of exhibits to make the museum mopre atrractive to locals. Unfortunately there was just too much that needed doing and Bill advised the complex manager Ian Huddleston that it would probably be best to dispose of the aircraft collection while they were still saleable. I knew Bill for about 25 years and he felt the decision was the best one for the aircraft as he hoped they would go to good homes where they could be restored agian and cherished. Unfortunately this didn’t always prove to be the case.
Incidentally Ian Huddleston bought the Beverley at the museum auction with the intention of turning it into a restaurant but I think the idea foundered due to a mass of health and safety difficulties and eventually the Beverley became unsafe and had to go. The fuselage had significant fatigue tracks at the leading edge of the tailplane and the U/C bogies had rotted away. Once they started breaking her significant spar corrossion came to light as well.
I suspect the pictures at the start of this thread were taken miid 70’s as the fuselage of Gemini G-AKGD is under the Lincoln and I think it was put there after the Gemini was attacked by vandals a few years after the opening but I could be mistaken as it was a long time ago now.
The Fiat G46 mentined in this thread is now back in the UK and under restoration to fly per another thread on this forum.
WJ288 wa sold to Patrick Luscombe and was suppossedly being prepared for an attempt on the World Air Speed Record for prop driven aircraft. Last time I saw her she was sitting at Duxford complete and repainted but without a prop. She is now in the USA.
The other HAM SEa Fury WJ244 sat in pieces against the fence at the back of the museum compound and became G-FURY.

Australia!

Lincoln remains

I remember looking at what was left of the Lincoln at Sandtoft a few years back. There appeared to be a centre section only with no sign of anything else around.
The engines certainly were not there – what happened to those? – and one pair of undercarriage support castings from one of the inboard nacelles had been pinched by BBMF to replace a cracked one found on their Lanc.
That centre section was sat in the long grass in poor shape and looked destined for the scrappers.
Where is the rest of the aircraft now?

Anon.