Cuatro Vientos – Madrid (lots of pics)

The plaque on the prop blade of the wrecked engine in batch 5 says the following:

Restos ne lockheed hudson halifax.

Derribaldo el 27-xii-1942 por un submarino alemein
sus tripulantes eran :sgto Greaves: piloto Brown, Navigante : Evans
Y Griffith, Ametralladores – bombarderos, Todos Murieron, procedian de Gibralter del 223 Squadron Coastal Command de la RAF. Fueran recuperados por dos pesqueros de stu poln (alicante) los sia 107 23-vii-1990.

not sure of translation though but the main points are easy to see.

Translation.
“Remains of lockheed hudson halifax
Downed by a German Submarine 27TH December 1942
Crew:sgt Greaves: pilot Brown, : Evans
Y Griffith, All dead. Flying from Gibraltar 223rd RAF Squadron Coastal Command . Retrieved by two fishboats from Santa Pola ( southern Alicante) 23Th July 1990.

Ah My photos from museum and Fio Exhibitions:
http://aeronautica.fotopic.net/c252605.html
http://aeronautica.fotopic.net/c523367.html
http://aeronautica.fotopic.net/c603425.html

Just booked my trip to Madrid this morning, going there(the first weekend of July) with some other forum members. On the Hudson, I saw it when it just arrived. Then there was a wing and the entire fuselage without the tailsection and the cockpit/nose section. It was in a remarkable condition, still in its two tone camouflage. What was of special interest was the fact that the machine was almost devoid of the Britisch roundels (they were almost washed away) but it showed its full former American insigna, the start with the red dot in the middle. Might have a pic somewhere, but as my archive is in chaos, I doubt if I can find it. BW Roger

A flying Buchon in Spain would be nice, but it’s even better that the FIO are getting an I-16, which is even more important, and rarer…

Regarding the Hudson engine, it was probably 233 Squadron, which was operating Hudsons in the area, 223 Squadron not being mentioned in ‘Lockheed Hudson in W.W.II (Hendrie, Airlife) but no other details come to hand immediately.

Hope this helps.

The plaque on the prop blade of the wrecked engine in batch 5 says the following:

Restos ne lockheed hudson halifax.

Derribaldo el 27-xii-1942 por un submarino alemein
sus tripulantes eran :sgto Greaves: piloto Brown, Navigante : Evans
Y Griffith, Ametralladores – bombarderos, Todos Murieron, procedian de Gibralter del 223 Squadron Coastal Command de la RAF. Fueran recuperados por dos pesqueros de stu poln (alicante) los sia 107 23-vii-1990.

not sure of translation though but the main points are easy to see.

Great pics indeed! 😎 I just love to see a Buchon in Spanish markings. It looks like a huge museum.

Thanks for posting paulc!

Stieglitz

I do agree. Would have fun if the FIO one day could get themselves a flyable Hispano. There ought to be a flyable one in Spain!

T J

Great pics indeed! 😎 I just love to see a Buchon in Spanish markings. It looks like a huge museum.

Thanks for posting paulc!

Stieglitz

[QUOTE=paulc]RogerS – yes there is a walkway behind that row of aircraft so it does help with photography although the light is not great – it is amazing what can be salvaged with some tweaking. Some of the aircraft of a list of exhibits I have seen were missing from the display – possibly in the restoration areas which were off limits. There are 3 new looking hangars 1 of which contained some autogyros and helicopters – the other 2 were again off limits so probably empty.

Thanks Paul, now I know I jhave to bring my tripod with me. Unfortuntaly, the 2 off limits hangars are filled from back to forwards. Hidden among others are some sbres, a t-33 and a very beautifull DH Rapide in military colors. And that are only the ones I know of. Walking from the museum to the FIO takes around 2 hr 15 minutes, I once did this (the first time). Getting a cab is more easy now. We pay around 3PST for the trip

BW Roger

If you go by car, you take the highway direction South, pass the museum, take the next exit, go back to Madrid and then turn into the entrance. Mind the turn, there is a 90 km speed limit but the turn is 90°.
When you leave the museum, be careful when entering the highway.

Great pics Paul! Thanks for sharing.

There’s an amazing array of aircraft there, many very historic.

Went last October for the second time. An essential Museum visit IMHO; the worlds only airworthy Cierva C-30 ,the earliest surviving He111, the Olly Air Services Dragon Rapide which was used by a chap called Franco to get back to Spain from the Canary Islands, with, as they say, not-hillarious consequences…

A Dornier Do-24, loads of ex-German W.W.II era types, plus a great range of thirties a/c. There’s a Buchon in proper Buchon setup, with the rocket rails etc, and NOT pretending to be a Messerschmitt. The earliest surviving He111 (Pedro), and so on.

The Cierva C-30 is a modern recreation which was in part copied from the RAF Museum’s example, which was loaned to the Spanish in exchange for the Casa Jungmann in the BoB Hall at Hendon. The C-30 recreation has flown several times, so credit to all for that unique achivement.

Many of the record-breakers are unknown to many anglo-orientated aviation fans, as their records were famous in Spanish; crossing the southern Atlantic etc.

A number of aircraft are replicas (often very good ones) so be cautious about what you are looking at! The Dornier Wal, Avro 504, Bristol Fighter etc are all static replicas.

There’s a great guide to the collection in English available, though it’s a bit out of date.

Finally, they must have one of the most unusual displays, in that it has a hall of Spanish Civil war aircraft, a row of which are in Nationalist colours on one side and Republican on the other!

Bob Ogden’s Museums of the World is an essential starting point. A rather ropey and out of date website is at: http://www.aire.org/museo/ – it’s missing the new Metro line, and you don’t need your passport anymore (though you’d be wise to have it) The bookshop has some great Spanish language books, pins and stuff, but won’t take cards, so take plenty of Euros…

On the other side of the airfield is the Infante de Orleans museum http://www.fio.es/ (or http://www.fio.es/actividades/actividades.htm#) – with a rather whizzy state of the art website. Imaging a Spanish version of the Shuttleworth Collection, and you get the idea. The only other flying Miles Falcon 6, B.A. Swallow, and a dozen other rare and wonderful aircraft; including a certain Bucker Jungmeister owned and flown by the late great Jose Aresti. And they fly, the first weekend in each month, from Feb onwards – see ‘Exhabiciones’ (ish) for dates

I got from the Spanish Air Force Museum to the FiO by hailing a Taxi by the bus stop; you can’t walk from one to the other, and the bus would take you into central Madrid and out again!

Paul’s advice is good sense for getting there, but I used the Metro. The Metro stop was a lot less than 1km from the entrance; I walked it in less than 15 minutes, and you can’t miss where you are going, as you just follow the military side of the motorway, right from the station entrance.

When I was there in October, there was no walkway behind the Fiat and Polikarpov, so that’s certainly new.

Cheers!

RogerS – yes there is a walkway behind that row of aircraft so it does help with photography although the light is not great – it is amazing what can be salvaged with some tweaking. Some of the aircraft of a list of exhibits I have seen were missing from the display – possibly in the restoration areas which were off limits. There are 3 new looking hangars 1 of which contained some autogyros and helicopters – the other 2 were again off limits so probably empty.

Blue Max – yes it is a Bristol Fighter – not sure about engine though – I did see the name Anzani on one engine (batch 6 4th aircraft)

Jerry – I think it said that this engine was recovered from a coastal command Halifax Hudson of RAF 233 SQD – the plaque can be read on original pic so will confirm ‘word for word’ what it says and report back

pic’s

Hi
nice set of pic’s ,
can’t be many places with two HE-III’s,
any ideas what the radial engine from the sea is, can’t make out the plaque.
cheers
Jerry

looks like a cracking collection of Biplanes, is that a Brisfit with a hiso engine in it?

Hi Paul, been there many times and plan to go again on July 1st. looks as if the museum layout in one of the hangars (eith the biplanes) has chanched. In the old days, less than a year ago, these were standing with the tails towards the wall. But looking at the pics it looks as if there is a walking path between the wall and the biplanes now, giving much better photo opertunities. BW Roger

There are over 100 exhibits there and is well worth a visit – We stayed at Barajas airport (Hotel Tryp Diana) and took the metro from the airport to Nieuvos Ministeros (line 8) then line 10 to Principe Pio then bus No 525 to Mostoles (just ask drive for Museo de Aire) – bus stop is close to a footbridge over the m’way, cross over railway line and follow the road. Journey time was 45 mins but could take longer if unlucky with connections. There is a metro station at Cuatro Vientos but this is a long way short of the museum so the above is the better option. You could take metro to CV stop and then catch the bus though.

A visit to this very good museum last Friday – well worth it and easy to get to. (very cheap entry fee at 60 cents)

Will cost me a fortune in film though LOL

Great photos of a very impressive collection.

Do we want more – I do!!!

This Museum very high up on my wish list for places to visit.

Roger Smith.

That is an impressive and varied collection…
Lovely photos Paulc

Merlin – the museum is only open from 10am to 2pm but is not a problem to get round in less than this

Looks like a full day is needed to get round all the exhibits. Thanks for posting. I had no idea they had such a large collection.

6th batch of pics (more to come if required maybe on a new thread though)

5th batch of pics