Why has this Beaufighter not been recovered?

Many thanks Robert. Looks lovely.

Willie.

Seeing the great strides the NMOF have made with the Bolly, I have hope !
Willie

This will give you some information about the restoration and who is undertaking it at the MoF.

http://www.apss.org.uk/projects/NMS_projects/blenheim/index.htm

When I was there last year, all work seemed to be going into the Bollingbroke, which was looking very good. It was a flying visit (pardon the pun!), but I am sure it is planned for restoration, but when I have no idea. It would be good for someone in the know to fill us in.

Thank you both for posting pictures of the East Fortune example. Is its restoration still ongoing or presently suspended?

Tim

I have a couple more of East Fortunes Beau. An amazing aircraft, and one which deserves more recognition from the public, aint a Spit though I suppose! Seeing the great strides the NMOF have made with the Bolly, I have hope ! Would love to see TFC’s Beau in the air !

Willie

Even if the money could be found to recover some of these airframes, what next ?
You would need to find somewhere to put them, with the huge cost of stabilizing their condition.
That’s even before you look at cleaning them up.

Then what happens if nobody has space to display them ? The bits end up stored away for years,
until they go for scrap.

After 13 years in Scotland what progress has been made on this example?
Tim

Current condition.

Its also about motivation and vision! The likes of the Maltese Hurricane prove that it can be done and the lengths that various German museums go to show that an ‘extinct’ type doesn’t have to stay that way!

The problem is the expense not just of recovery but of preservation. That pretty much screws both commercial recovery, (it won’t be profitable) and museum recovery, (they can’t afford it). Throw in the fact some of these wrecks are wargraves….

There is also a Beau in shallow sea off Malta that could be recovered if there were funds available to conserve it which there arent!!

Snoopy -No the RAFM Beaufighter is ex Portuguese Air Force with very little if any RAF service. Similarily the East Fortune example is too ex PAF.
The machine sent to Canada whilst not in great condition had seen RAF service . Therefore the RAFM got rid of a Beaufighter with service history for one
without . So acquiring a machine with combat history would make sense to some.

As for Norway :http://www.divetheworld.com/diving/warbirds/Beaufighter/index.htm

After 13 years in Scotland what progress has been made on this example? http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight/things_to_see_and_do/aircraft/1939-1945/beaufighter.aspx

I remember many years ago Peter Thomas telling me he made efforts to obtain one of these from Portugal for his Skyfame Museum but I think the problem was funding transportation in those days.

Tim

Duh..?

I think you will find there are a number of aircraft that could be recovered but arn’t that come in the category of ‘shame’ I would dearly like the RAFM Beaufighter to return to Portugal and a combat veteran to take it’s place!

From memory there is a Beaufighter ripe for recovery in Norway too !

Huh….???? Too much Christmas sherry I think…!:confused:

It’s going /gone to Australia for restoration.It was acquired from the RAFM.

Whats the setup with Skysport one? Is it under restoration? Did they acquire it from the RAF Museum?

The Canadian machine is currently under restoration -it was swapped for a Bolingbroke.

Does anyone know why this Beaufighter has not been recovered. ?

Perhaps because the RAF Museum has one already and another UK museum has one originally from Portugal which was bought from South Africa in 2000 for a reputed £190,000 with a substantial public donation, but no substantial restoration has taken place on it.
Remember also the UK “swapped” one with Canada in 1969.
This suggests to me that there is not much interest in the Beaufighter although I would love to see a fully restored one on an airfield from which they flew.

I’m assuming everyone here knows about this too!

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafnews/latestnews/mysterywreckstillhasexpertsbaffled.cfm

I was with that up to about halfway. I may have missed something, but there can’t have been many Mars or Superforts fitted with Sabres of any description…

And I can’t help wondering how you can reach such a positive id on a barnacle encrusted engine and still have no idea what airframe it’s bolted to. But then I’m not a diver. :confused:

I do remember there being a sunken Messerschmitt Bf 110 in an scene of Bergerac in the episode ‘Late For a Funeral’ (according to Wiki). Any idea where that was (probably not Jersey, but who knows) and what the current status of the wreck is? Or was it just a prop?

All boils down to money. It was going to cost zillions to recover the P38, Zillions again to preserve then restore it but for it only to be worth about 1 zillion. :confused: