Spitfire Propellor Blade Memorial – Cornwall

Rich

RAF St Mawgan will be here for years to come, shame the Airfield was gifted to to the civvies in the first place. Maybe one day it could come back, where it should be, under the military control, actually putting money into the local economy, unlike this bunch of tree cutting, useless ar5e scratchers.:eek:

CO liked the idea of a dome and wants a feasibility study done, we will see how it goes.

Just shows what happens when you get a good CO.

Baz

Baz,

That’s good to hear about the Shackleton, that she is getting some thought from the RAF as well as the love she’s had over the years from the CAS. I’d be interested to see how the Bio dome idea progresses.

Has anything been brought up about her fate should the MOD move out of Newquay altogether? I (and I’m sure many others) would hate to see her pop up on a tender list as happens with a lot of gate guards when the forces move on.

Nice to see that there’s a lot of co-operation from the respective bases over the memorials too.

Regards,

Rich

Yeah that combined age thing really leaped up when Mike and I left!:D
Great guys with some amazing experiences between them aswel.
Sounds like there are some good plans being formulated down there.

I was talking about civilian visitors sorry I did not make that clear.

Baz

I’m hoping you don’t mean that CAS workers have been denied access?

No, far from it but, as they are knocking on a bit, ages are 90 87 and 80something. The 90 year old recently retired and one of the 80 year olds is up and down the ladder with a recent broken leg.

Thats it, 2 members actively working on her. (combined age of 170!:eek:)

As there are no new members ‘coming on’ and little interest in getting ones hands dirty.

An idea (I thank you:rolleyes:) is putting a version of a bio-dome over her in situ, enabling protection for her and anyone working on her. She will have (another) survey soon and hopefully the long term future is assured.

Baz

This includes the Shackleton on the gate (long term) and civilian accessability (denied at the moment)

I’m hoping you don’t mean that CAS workers have been denied access?

This all took a bit longer than anticipated due to ‘ships in the night’ syndrome, however, it was worth the wait. I had a meeting with the CO of St Mawgan and OC Portreath last night and the issue of these blades were discussed. It came across (generally) that the RAF wants to do more (here away) to preserve historic aviation and be involved at all levels. This includes the Shackleton on the gate (long term) and civilian accessability (denied at the moment) also the rebuild of my Canberra cockpit under a long term loan, to allow (under supervision!) the younger generation getting involved, ie ATC cadets etc.
An aviation trail for Cornwall involving (Air) museums and POIs. to bring Cornwalls history to the fore to visitors and locals alike. There was more but not for this thread.

Andy, your blades have deteriorated quite badly and quickly over the last few years and oxidising as we thought, however, OC Portreath will have it surveyed this morning and when I meet with him tomorrow discuss the way forwards. Interesting to note the CO of St Mawgan said take it down, bring it back to the workshops and restore it here, so it may end up on one of my trailers for transport(!)

It took a bit of time to sort out but I think this is the only way to go.

We discussed ACF50 and application but an engineering officer said they had a directive not to use it anymore (H&S) which means they will have gallons of the stuff laying around:diablo:

Baz

Anson Prop, Perranporth August 2005, high res available if wanted
Rgds
DC

Did you get the images taken last week andy
Pobjoy

Pobjoy!

Many thanks. I have just retrieved them from my spam box. Don’t know how they ended up there!

Again, many many thanks for your time and trouble. I will reply later.

Pagen01, many thanks also.

Its certainly deteriorated, but looks as if it is a retrievable situation.
Andy

Taken last year, that’s the original squash courts behind in the last shot.

Porteath Prop

Did you get the images taken last week andy
Pobjoy

Oh dear.

I think it safe to say that it has seriously degraded in the intervening years – perhaps unsurprisingly!

Thank you for posting those images. I will have a delve tomorrow in some files to see if I can find it in its original glory.

Taken a couple of years ago.

Working at Portreath next week, I’ll take a closer look too, I drive by the propeller on a regular basis:o

A few years back I was detailed to drive a Renault road sweeper to make sure the area in front of the prop was uber clean for a remembrance parade, unfortunately the said road sweeper decided to expire & drop its guts right next to the memorial prop, needless to say much panicking & acquiring of a second vehicle to drag the dead Renault away, unfortunately (again) by the time we had sorted a tow bar etc the air had drained from it’s braking system & we had to get a fitter to manually release the brakes.

Oh what fun.

Does this not amount to vandalism, or at the very best severe neglect, on a service level?

How do you think the Shack on the gate at St Mawgan would look without the stalwart CAS members?.

I’m away in a few minutes, off to Castle Drogo with the Spitfire till Sunday night.

I will speak to the RAF on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.

Pobjoy Pete/Andy Mac I will let you know what is happening.

Got to go:eek:

Baz

Salt Corrosion Prop

The corrosion process really gets going when the oxygen gets to it.
Its basically try to revert to its original state. As this goes on “under the skin” it is sometime before it can “explode” into a powder state. Exfoliation and intergranular corrosion is quite common down here with the salt air acting as a catalyst.
Items that have been “rolled or extruded” are particularly affected and the effects quite dramatic.
Anything brought out of the sea should be flushed with fresh water (left in a river or lake ) before anything else is done.
Anyway it can certainly be helped to survive with some relativly simple treatment and an annual check up.
PC

I think “rescue” in terms of what our local team can do with it, pegen01 – RAF station permitting, of course!

It was in superb condition and had been recovered from deep mud, albeit in coastal/tidal waters from where it was lost on 15 October 1940 with Tommy Lund baling out. In a sense, it had been subject to salt corosion (or should I say exposure?) for decades, but there was no sign of that upon recovery or for many years since. I think the rot has set in, literally, since being placed there.

However this prop must have been recovered from the sea so the corrosion would have set in long before it became a memorial.

Forgive me if I’m getting at the wrong end of the stick here, but that dosen’t quite tally with this,

When they had it from me it was in pristine order, black with yellow tips.
I told them it would need regular treatment and inhibitor, but it looks in a sorry state in that photo.

Also I can’t see how it can be ‘rescued’, if it was donated to an MoD establishment and incorporated into a memorial firmly inside the gate then surely it would have to stay?
Unless of course you can restore and look after it on site.
Although it seems disapointing what has happened to the actual prop the memorial itself is a very good one to the station.

Portreath Prop “Memorial”

Fear not folks a rescue mission will be mounted by the Cornish Confederate Airforce and we will stabilise the situation if suitable permission is given.
I will let Barry do the negotiations and a donation of ACF50 would be nice.
However this prop must have been recovered from the sea so the corrosion would have set in long before it became a memorial.
At the same time should there also be a mention of its history and significance.
Pobjoy
Get on to Transair Andy for an ACF donation (large container) good PR for them and the product.PC

Does this not amount to vandalism, or at the very best severe neglect, on a service level?
I actually did think we were talking about two different props as I thought this one came from the sea.