Anyone know about Flambards?
I was recently in Cornwall but (swallows hard:( ) was too put off by things that I have heard to spend my hard earned £’s sterling on a visit to what has been described to me as Alton Towers-lite – but you may know it better as Flambards Village Theme Park.
I did go there many years ago (10? 15?) and even then it shocked me how disregarded the outdoor aviation exhibits were. Now there are fewer of them thanks to that favourite business buzz word downsizing. When I went there were lots of rides and a quite large display of flowers so it must have been after it stopped being the Cornwall Aero Park and changed to being Flambards Triple Theme Park.
I have seen that the Gannet COD4 is believed to be in danger (and they scrapped one before so the blood-lust might still be there:( ) but how safe is the Scimitar? There are only two other complete airframes in Britain (and another across the pond) so I would feel a whole lot happier if the mighty Scim was in a more welcoming environment; well, all the aeronautical exhibits naturally.
Does anybody know if Skyraider AEW1 WV106 was ‘repocessed’ from Flambards by the FAAM, or was its time up, or did they just request that it was removed since it was not required anymore?
Has anyone been there recently?
Do you know if the salvaged remains hauled up from the seabed by fishermen – like Hudson V AM561 – still lay open to the elements?
I have heard that the exhibits are in a sorry state from an acquaintance who went there earlier this year, and that is the reason for my enquiry.
Flood
By: macky42 - 23rd August 2003 at 01:04
Just returned from hols in Cornwall, and went to Flambards. I can confirm what David Burke said about the remaining airframes.
The Gannet is still there and looking a bit sorry for itself, although there was a placard saying ‘under restoration’, but there was no sign of any work in progress. I did not take a close look at the Wessex so can’t say much about it. Also outside is a small collection of wreckage recovered from the seabed – DB and Jumo engines, engines and other parts from a Hudson. All this is scrap.
Inside in the exhibition hall is a Concorde flightdeck, and the Shackleton nose. Both are walk-throughs. The Shack’s panels are protected by perspex, but you can sit in the seats and play with the yokes and throttle levers. It doesn’t seem to have deteriorated in the 6-7 years since I last saw it, so perhaps being a walkthrough isn’t a death sentence.
There is also a replica Pearse flyer, and a lot of photographic and other material relating to WWII. Finally, there is a display about Barnes Wallis’s swing wing experiments at nearby Predannack.
By: slicer - 17th August 2003 at 09:09
I remember living on the married quarters patch at Culdrose when I were a small lad, and what is now Flambards was the Captains residence..a nice house at the end of a lane at the edge of the airfield if my long term memory serves me right. Doesnt sound like a change for the better to me. Moral of the story..never go back to your childhood haunts methinks.
By: David Burke - 16th August 2003 at 10:17
There are very few machines there now – the Shackleton T.4 nose,
Gannet ECM.6 and Wessex HAS.1 are all that are left from the old collection so thankfully they are finding good homes.
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August 15, 2003 at 10:21 pm