Blackburn B.2 G-ADFV – anyone know where it is now?

I came across this photograph of G-ADFV on the Caterham School website, showing her in an intact state!

Huh, groundsmen, who’d have them! I don’t suppose that anyone has the Autumn 1970 edition of ‘Vintage News’?

 This won’t help find the remains but it does explain what happened to the rest of the fuselage and wings 

http://www.ronandjimsmith.com/books/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/The-Story-Behind-the-Photograph-5.pdf

A section of G-ACBH is available here:

https://antiqurio.co.uk/product/blackburn-b-2-g-acbh-top-fuselage-skin/

Were the elusive remains of G-ADFV ever found? Presumably when recovered from Caterham School they were in a pretty poor state. ‘Cadet Corps Airframes’ records that, in 1951, the school’s ATC still had the forward fuselage but the skeleton wings and the remainder of its fuselage ‘lay on [a] nearby hillside’.

Hi Jon H
Last I heard it was believed to be in store in the Ely/Soham area, a number of people are supposed to have enquired about purchasing it after the last owner (half owner ?) passed away, but nothing came of it. I don’t know if it has moved on since then.

Bob T.

That was G-ACBH – a black and white photograph I took of it was published in an early edition of Wrecks & Relics. At that time the fuselage had yet to be moved up from the scrapyard into a tree! Indeed to get the photo I had to climb a tree to look down on the stored fuselage and use flash on the camera!

Several years later I photographed the forward fuselage of G-ADFV (the example being discussed here) when it was for a short while on show inside a building at East Kirkby.

Tim

Having checked the bookshelf, your picture of G-ACBH was in W&R5 🙂

Also, is there any chance TAC could have a copy of the picture you took of G-ADFV at East Kirkby for their archive?

Jon

Hi Stuart,

No way to be 100% certain but the F1180 is correct more times that it is wrong so a good probablity that G-ACBH was Gypsy III powered when it was recorded as Cat W.

The B.2 in RAF service had a variety of engines (Hermes 4A, Gypsy III, Cirrus Major etc) so model changes during service life look likely.

This is a quick sample of some F1180 B.2 cards for 1939.

http://www.rafaircraftaccidents.com/F1180/1939/February_1939/21_2_1939/00800704.JPG

http://www.rafaircraftaccidents.com/F1180/1939/July_1939/1_7_1939/00800706.JPG

http://www.rafaircraftaccidents.com/F1180/1939/August_1939/13_8_1939/00800710.JPG

All F1180 Copyright RAF Museum

Ross

I was one of the Aeroplane Collection team that collected DFV from the ATC unit at Caterham. At the time of collection it had the remains of its Cirrus engine on the front but we removed it so that we could get it in the van along with the Rover W2B engine that was restored and went to RAFM Cosford. As far as I recall the B2 only went to one airshow at Sleap (where I think that first photo was taken) before going into the Aeroplane Collections deep store at Wigan. I moved away from Manchester shortly after so can add nothing more to the story of DFV, but I would like to see her again.

I see from the accident card that G-ACBH was equipped with a Gypsy III, it was my understanding it had a Cirrus engine, or was that when it was rebuilt?

Is this the one which was recovered from a tree in a scrapyard several years ago?

That was G-ACBH – a black and white photograph I took of it was published in an early edition of Wrecks & Relics. At that time the fuselage had yet to be moved up from the scrapyard into a tree! Indeed to get the photo I had to climb a tree to look down on the stored fuselage and use flash on the camera!

Several years later I photographed the forward fuselage of G-ADFV (the example being discussed here) when it was for a short while on show inside a building at East Kirkby.

Tim

As I get an honourable mention in that report (Jon H = Jon Howard) then I can safely say things have moved on since then. 🙂

When further enquiries were made the Shuttleworth “lead” turned out to be only partially true as that is where some parts of the U/C ended up (having done so in good faith and certainly no impropriety on their part), but the whereabouts of everything else is still to be resolved.

Jon

A quick google shows that The Aeroplane Collection think it has been passed to Shuttleworth?
http://www.theaeroplanecollection.org/minutes/2015-04.pdf

G-ACBH/G-ADFO composite is at Doncaster
[ATTACH=CONFIG]240725[/ATTACH]
Photos is a random one found on the net, credit where due.

Rob

Is this the one which was recovered from a tree in a scrapyard several years ago?

G-ACBH/G-ADFO was recovered from Dixons scrapyard at Ramsden Heath in Essex a good few years ago now. It was looked at and rejected as not worth saving by the Southend museum in the early 70’s and I believe it is in a pretty fragile state.

G-ACBH/G-ADFO

G-ACBH was Cat W in this fatal accident

http://www.rafaircraftaccidents.com/F1180/1940/March_1940/16_3_1940/01101821.JPG

http://www.rafaircraftaccidents.com/F1180/1940/March_1940/16_3_1940/01101822.JPG

F1180 Copyright RAF Museum

Spares recovered later and used with other parts to build composite G-ADFO

Ross

In short – no 🙂

That is G-ACBH/G-ADFO which is in the care of the guys at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, Doncaster.

Jon

Can anyone explain why this frame appears to have a dual identity?

In short – no 🙂

That is G-ACBH/G-ADFO which is in the care of the guys at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, Doncaster.

G-ADFV was acquired by The Aeroplane Collection from Caterham ATC in the mid/late 70’s. It stayed with the collection for a number of years before it was sold to be rebuilt to fly. Sadly one of the leading lights in that project passed away before things got going and so it was placed into store.

Jon

Is this the one which was recovered from a tree in a scrapyard several years ago?