The canoes are basically the aircraft fuselage sans all major components i.e fin tailplane wing engine etc -basically the bare fuse. Work on the basis of no future for the aircraft that are that stripped as some like ZD323 was slotted into the Jump line at the end but hadnt flown for years and now I guess never will . Some of the canoes left I am sure will be some of the aborted JUMP aircraft that were destined to be upgraded but stopped work on when Cottesmore closure was announced last year.

Thanks for that David, my visit on Oct 7th was obviously pre SSDR and that day the BAe staff/RAF personnel were still hard at work on inspections, rebuilds right through to the GR9 awaiting its test flight at the end of the hangar.

When I was lucky enough to get on the visit, I had no idea of the significance then, but what an afternoon it was.