Restoration milestone for sole preserved example of twin-turboprop airliner in Britain

On 13 December the only Hawker Siddeley HS748 preserved in the UK, the Speke Aviation Group’s Series 1 G-BEJD (c/n 1543), was lifted from the cradles it has sat on for the past few years. It now rests on purpose-built stands that keep the aircraft’s tyres just clear of the ground on the apron at the old Liverpool Speke Airport site. Work will now continue on both the internal and external appearance of the aircraft, which is likely to be painted in the livery of its last operator, Liverpool-based Emerald Airways.

The group owes a great debt of thanks to Danny Coughlin and his Hereford-based company Support Air. They financed the stands, made by HMS Engineering (Hereford), which it now rests upon. Not only that, they paid Gammonds Transport to deliver them from Hereford and funded the crane hire for the day to lift the 748 onto the new stands.