Hurn airport fire dump

Seeing the title of the thread brought back memories of a question that has been asked before (not here) and gone unaswered about fire dumps and Hurn.

In 1956/57 there was the burnt remains of a a Vampire at Hurn just to the south of the eastern end of what was then 09/27….any ideas about it’s identity?

Roy,

Thank you for the information, we didnt realise that Canberra’s were being used at that time so your information will help to fill in a gap in our Archive.

You may be interested to know that the first automatic landing took place at RAF Defford in 1945-46, using the Boeing 247D, Frank Griffiths claims to have made the first one , this is however not 100% confirmed.

Thanks again.

Ant.

I was in the jump seat for one of the final Trident 2 Cat.3a trials approaches at Thurleigh in May,1969. HSAL CTP John Cunningham chose my turn to demonstrate manual override at 12 feet and one inch…

That must be quite a moment, sitting there getting closer to the ground, at that speed and watching the throttles doing their stuff, and knowing it all relyied on black boxes made by Smiths!

What happened to Autoland (now coupled ILS autoland?), as airliners and airports are still badly effected by clagg!

As I live close to RAE Bedford , I saw Canberra T.4 WJ992 parked on the apron minus its fin in open storage from 14.12.95 until it was moved to the fire dump at Bournemouth 31.3.96. Its last official flight had been on the 01.4.93.

MoS work on blind landing was stimulated by the dispersal scheme for the Medium Bomber Force: Ivan would come at us in gloom and grot. RAE’s leader cable concept must be integrated with the bomber’s automatic flight control system: contracts were placed with Smith’s and Elliott’s. The commercial benefits of continued operation when competitors were clagged caused BOAC (so then, RAF) VC10 to be specified with Elliott, BEAC Trident with Smith’s, extended to RAF Belfast/Smith’s. Despite much funding and a flying programme in Canberras/Varsity from Thurleigh, the goal of 12ft. decision height was not cleared on Trident until 1969. By then, evil London smog was easing under clean fuel regulations, and other technologies were improving the minima for other forms of guidance/capture. IIRC leader cable was installed only at (?Scampton,) Brize Norton, and one LHR threshold. Dispersal would be made to such sites as could accept a conventional military approach on the day; it was seen that there was little purpose in RAF VC10/Belfast landing at Brize in such dense clag that troops/freight could not then cope on the road.

I was in the jump seat for one of the final Trident 2 Cat.3a trials approaches at Thurleigh in May,1969. HSAL CTP John Cunningham chose my turn to demonstrate manual override at 12 feet and one inch…

WJ992 in 1958

I can’t help over the present situation, but you might be interested in these notes from when I was developing automatic landing in WJ992 in 1957/58, at RAE/BLEU, Bedford. Sad to see it at a dump!

BLEU transferred to RAE Bedford from Martlesham Heath in 1957. I joined it in a junior capacity in 1955. The ‘autoland’ system already existed then. Automatic landings using leader cable to supplement ILS localiser during the final stage of the landing had been routine at BLEU at least since 1956, using Canberra as well as Varsity aircraft. The first note I have of automatic landing was on 1st March 1956: “recorded auto touch down – 13 done, pos. ‘g’ from 0.1 to 0.9”. That was in a Varsity (WL 665), with Flt. Lt. Les Coe as pilot. Tragically he and crew member RAE Experimental Officer Joe Birkle were killed later that year when Canberra WE189 suffered a stalled engine during an overshoot following an approach at Martlesham . The aircraft flipped over and crashed upside down. I continued the experimental programme with a replacement Canberra (WJ 992). The first automatic landing in that aircraft was on 10th March 1958, with Flt. Lt. Bountiff, noted thus in my flying log book: “very little drift, about 0.3g”. That was with manual throttle, and with auto throttle on 12th March, with a strong crosswind: “about 0.6 – 0.7 g“. March 17th saw “strong tailwind, 20 – 25 kt., pronounced float“ and on June 20th: “not bad – about 0.7 g nicely on main wheels – kicking off drift OK“. Then on June 26th: “Throttles off at 50ft. Very pleasing results”. Recordings of automatic landings in that aircraft started on 8th July 1958. A note on August 20th says “hands and feet off” suggesting that confidence was growing.

Altogether between November 1957 and October1958 I made 122 flights in Canberra WJ 992 during the development programme, variously with Sqn. Ldr. John Greenland and Flt. Lts. Bountiff, ’Pinkie’ Stark and Alf Camp. March 10th 1958 was my 38th flight, after months of preparation. Automatic landings were made on about 60 more flights to October 1958, probably more than 300 landings in all. Although I can’t now be certain, I suspect that we did not always use leader cable. I do recall at least one landing without it, but that was unintentional and led to a change in the control priorities to prevent accidental disengagement of the autoland system at a critical moment. We did not then have independent systems to provide “redundant protection against failures”.

Tom Prescott was head of the automatic landing section of BLEU throughout that time. I moved to another field of activity at the end of1958.

Has anyone got an update on the situation of this Canberra WJ992, we would love to bring a former Worcestershire based aircraft back ‘home’ for restoration and display, or more likely just the cockpit section!

This was the last Canberra to leave Pershore , the last aircraft to leave was Buccaneer XX897 in 1977, this was fitted with the Foxhunter radar for the Tornado F3 , this too was at Hurn, is it still there? and what is it’s future, can anyone help?

Also we would be interested if anyone knows what is happening with the nose of WD931 at Cosford, as it is no longer on display.

We have a good record of WJ992’s flights at Pershore where it was used mainly for contiuation training and intrument rating tests.

We also have WD931’s final set of technical logs and pilots ‘snag sheets’ before it was grounded and used for apprentice training at Pershore.

Any Information would be much appreciated, thank you.

Ant.

Hurn Airport fire dump

Buccaneer XX897 is in good nick, flyable and parked round the back in European parking area, but needs money for proper restoration. There have been rumours of a purchaser in Ireland or the US

Have updated edit options, and sent you a P.M.

Ant

Has anyone got an update on the situation of this Canberra WJ992, we would love to bring a former Worcestershire based aircraft back ‘home’ for restoration and display, or more likely just the cockpit section!

This was the last Canberra to leave Pershore , the last aircraft to leave was Buccaneer XX897 in 1977, this was fitted with the Foxhunter radar for the Tornado F3 , this too was at Hurn, is it still there? and what is it’s future, can anyone help?

Also we would be interested if anyone knows what is happening with the nose of WD931 at Cosford, as it is no longer on display.

We have a good record of WJ992’s flights at Pershore where it was used mainly for contiuation training and intrument rating tests.

We also have WD931’s final set of technical logs and pilots ‘snag sheets’ before it was grounded and used for apprentice training at Pershore.

Any Information would be much appreciated, thank you.

Ant.

Hi Ant, I tried to send you a pm about this but it was blocked,so maybe you could contact me,…..thanks

Canberrra WJ992, Hurn fire dump.

Has anyone got an update on the situation of this Canberra WJ992, we would love to bring a former Worcestershire based aircraft back ‘home’ for restoration and display, or more likely just the cockpit section!

This was the last Canberra to leave Pershore , the last aircraft to leave was Buccaneer XX897 in 1977, this was fitted with the Foxhunter radar for the Tornado F3 , this too was at Hurn, is it still there? and what is it’s future, can anyone help?

Also we would be interested if anyone knows what is happening with the nose of WD931 at Cosford, as it is no longer on display.

We have a good record of WJ992’s flights at Pershore where it was used mainly for contiuation training and intrument rating tests.

We also have WD931’s final set of technical logs and pilots ‘snag sheets’ before it was grounded and used for apprentice training at Pershore.

Any Information would be much appreciated, thank you.

Ant.

WK163 nose conversion

Attached pictures of the nose conversion to WK163 carried out at RAF Wyton by Classic Aviation engineers

Strange to see ‘163 in a completely different livery and with a different nose, to the one that I am used to now!
It is the first picture I have seen of her at Bedford, as there wasn’t a clear one (if at all?)
in the Testing Colours’ book.
Thanks for posting them.
Alan.

WJ992

I had the great pleasure in working on WJ992 as a ‘sooty’ at RAE Bedford from 1985 to Bedford’s closure in 1994. She was a lovely aeroplane and very trouble free as I recall and so it’s such a shame to see her left in such a state on the fire dump.
During my time at Bedford, WJ992 was used mainly for continuation training of the aircrew. For the last couple of years, she was wrapped up and stored outside and then wheeled into one of the disused hangars for the RAF to do a survey. I think this may have been to pass her on to another country’s airforce for continued use although that was only the rumor at the time.
She was then taken apart and shipped by road to Hurn by ‘Flight Refuelling’ for a possible re-fit but I think her demise was that she was so far short of the current modification standard, that recovery wasn’t an option.
I’d stand corrected on that, but that’s what we’d heard.
I’m very surprised that the cockpit hadn’t already been recovered?

I now while away my spare time looking after the engines on WK163 at Coventry, a fitting tribute to these ex-research aircraft. As you’ve probably heard, Coventry now has a T4 (in prototype VN799 color scheme) and I’m looking forward to helping get her flying soon alongside WK163.

Regards
Chris

Thanks to all for the info & pictures, I will give the fire officer a ring, can’t hurt to try!

Cheers

Richy.

WJ992 was used by the Radar Research Squadron at RAE Bedford for many years(and Pershore before that).WJ992 was delivered to the RAE at Martlesham Heath in 1957from the RAF,tranferred to pershore in 1962 and moved to Bedford in 1977 where it was based until it moved to Hurn Pic 1 was taken at Thurleigh in 1992
Pic 2 is a line-up of the RAE Canberras taken in 1992
And pic 3 is of the now familiar WK163 taken in it’s research days in 1992

It is an airfield in my opinion. There is what looks like a Cub that is flown from there. Airships also fly from there.

I spoke to the Fire and Resue Manager some time ago about the Hurn Canberra Airframe. Worth giving him a call.

Thank you for clearing that up. I thought i was proberably just being stupid.

No Ollie.
The Airship sheds are Cardington.
RAE Bedford was Thurleigh (IIRC)

No, the place with the airship hangars is Cardington which is not an airfield.

RAE Bedford was based at Thurleigh which was north of Bedford.