Bristol Brigand.

Have I read too much into FiltonFlyers’ post?

Yes you have. I said ‘As far as I know, restoration is on the cards for some point in the future’. What I meant was that the Aero Collection would like to restore the fuselage to a more ‘displayable’ condition, as it is not in great condition at the moment. If it is to go on display in any future museum at Filton, then it would need to have a certain amount of restoration work done to it. By the way, this is not in any way an official statement, just my opinion as a BAC volunteer. I’m not in any position to comment on any discussions with the owner.

Andy

I have this picture taken in Malasia, wonder if anyone could ID it from the code letter? serial number is not clear enough to read

RH806 was coded J at one time, dosen’t nescesarily mean it is this aircraft though.

Edit, so was WB236! I think you would need to know Squadron and date to positively ID this Brigand

Brigand RH760 from 230 OCU was returning from an navigational training flight while carrying out an asymmetric flying practice the port engine cut out, the aircraft stalled and subsequently crashed.

The pilot was 180387 F/Lt Allan Archibald James Symington, buried at Little Aston, Birmingham on 27th Feb ’53, he was originally from London.
The only other details I have are his promotions;
Commissioned from AC2 21.1.45
Flying Officer (War sub) 21.7.45
Flying Officer (Sub) 1.11.47
F/Lt (RAFVR) 21.7.48
Perm Commission as a F/Lt 10.11.48

I’ve been in contact with a number of people at Little Aston without much success in finding additional information.

The pilot of RH831 was a Sergeant David Hanson he was from Dublin, born in 1923, who had served as a pilot in the RAF from Sept 1941 to Nov 1946, and later reenlisted in Feb 1952.

The Navigator/Instructor was F/O Ronald Crocker who was born in Sept 1933, enlisted April 1951 and was commissioned in Sept of that year.

In addition to the above on 30th July 1954 Brigand WA560 did a wheels up landing , the crew were ok,the pilot was Sgt Lewandowski.

Also on 11am Sept 1954 Brigand piloted by F/Sgt R J R Dalton performed another wheels up landing on RW 20, the AC crashed across the Bath-Colerne road ending up in a ditch, it just missed a small saloon car, in addition to Dalton was F/Sgt J D Lee from Timsbury (Nav instructor) and two commissioned navigator trainees, they were all ok.

……..It is unfortunate that an excellent Brigand site which compiled the memoirs of an ex-Brigand aircrew member, Peter Weston, disappeared around a year ago when the group host pulled the plug on all its sites. There were excellent photos on that. Peter, unfortunately, succumbed to cancer around 2 years ago and I have lost contact with the other ex-Brigand people that I got to know from the RH755 correspondence.

Sad to hear that. It reinforces my fears of how fragile storage of historic material on electronic/digital/internet is and how easily it can be lost (for good?)

Roger Smith.

Talking about the Brigand,

I have this picture taken in Malasia, wonder if anyone could ID it from the code letter? serial number is not clear enough to read

Thanks

Ant.

Ant, the photo looks to have been taken at Tengah. I have seen photos of aircraft from both 45 and 84 Sqns wearing just a single code letter.

It is unfortunate that an excellent Brigand site which compiled the memoirs of an ex-Brigand aircrew member, Peter Weston, disappeared around a year ago when the group host pulled the plug on all its sites. There were excellent photos on that. Peter, unfortunately, succumbed to cancer around 2 years ago and I have lost contact with the other ex-Brigand people that I got to know from the RH755 correspondence.

Lauriebe, do you have any more info on the Brigand sites that have been located/visited? Have these had parts recovered or do substantial remains still exist at these sites.? Sorry to put you on the spot like this but you are somewhat closer to them than i am here in frosty old Duxford.

Rob, sorry, but I don’t have any real details on Brigand crash sites here. The only info that I have comes from books such as those published by Colin Cummings and Jim Halley. The locations in those are not really enough to pin down exact crash sites. The only one that I know for sure to have been located and visited is RH755.

Wish I could be of more help.

Laurie.

Ant, the photo looks to have been taken at Tengah. I have seen photos of aircraft from both 45 and 84 Sqns wearing just a single code letter.

It is unfortunate that an excellent Brigand site which compiled the memoirs of an ex-Brigand aircrew member, Peter Weston, disappeared around a year ago when the group host pulled the plug on all its sites. There were excellent photos on that. Peter, unfortunately, succumbed to cancer around 2 years ago and I have lost contact with the other ex-Brigand people that I got to know from the RH755 correspondence.

That could well be Tengah, or Butterworth it was taken from a Hornet pilot’s album based at Butterworth, there are some of Tenghah I will have to compare, but the photo below shows Hornets at the same airfield ( look at the buildings in the background ).

Will see if I can find out more.

Ant.

[ATTACH]180372[/ATTACH]

Ant, pretty sure that it is not Butterworth. I have photos of that station from the early-/mid-50s and there were no double storey accomodation blocks there and the background scenery, lowlying hills, is wrong. Similarly, the runway pattern in your photos differs from the Butterworth layout which had two runways at right angles, north/south and east/west, to each other.

In your latest photo above, the building on the slight rise behind the two blocks, is very similar in appearance to the old Officer’s Mess at Tengah. In the middle distance, on the righthand side of the photo, behind the two parked Brigands, there appears to another line of aircraft. Wondering if this could be the 60 Sqn pan. Are you able to make out any more detail in the original print?

It seems like only yesterday you could find ’em lying around the ‘home counties’.

Mark

The crash of RH831 at Colerne on March 08th 1956 was witnessed by my father . He was waiting to take off in Balliol 525 and saw it crash . He never mentioned the accident much as it affected him. He had to fly Sqdn (Reverend)Ldr Must on March 09th from North Luffenham to Colerne in Balliol 525 as a result of the accident.
He was rated as Above average on the Balliol and Average on the Brigand . He never felt at home flying them and the Buckmaster was always u/s.

Nice photo John.. thanks for posting. Do you have any details about when and where.?

WB236

Talking about the Brigand,

I have this picture taken in Malasia, wonder if anyone could ID it from the code letter? serial number is not clear enough to read

Thanks

Ant.

[ATTACH]180345[/ATTACH]

John

Nice photo John.. thanks for posting. Do you have any details about when and where.?

The A-B serial register shows WB236 as one of two replacement aircraft delivered in Feb 1951 and as serving only with 84 Sqn until SOC on 20 Mar 53. The location is likely to be Seletar I think, although not sure of that.

Thanks

It is Tengah, after looking at my other pic’s and notes i have of on Butterworth, no buildings like that as you say, the picture of the Brigand is great ! I think that is the one, if taken at the same time and place.

Detail not great on original photo of Hornets , looks like two twin engine aircraft and a small fighter or trainer type in background.

Attached are some more interested Pic’s of Kalang airport, lots of types on the Airfield, How many can you spot ?? 🙂

Ant.

[ATTACH]180420[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]180421[/ATTACH]

…or even dropping in to Hendon for the BoB display.

Mark

In the Kallang pics there are Lincoln, Dak, Valletta,S.51s, Harvards, Mossie, Hornet, Brigand, (though the dark object might be a PR19. Vampire (or Venom), Connie, DC.4, Auster and Tigers and possibly a single Pin.

John

I seem to remember that my poor pic of the Brigand was taken at Tengah by a Flt Sgt Smith who gave me the pic when he was a Nav on Canberra’s c 1960. The occasion was of course the end of the road for the Far East Brigante.

John

I’ve always liked the look of the Brigand as it looks very purposeful and must have sounded great with two Centauraus’ roaring away.
I understand there were major issues with the gun ports but does anyone know what other faults / failings the aircraft had?

Good question, as the airframe is conventional and straight forward enough, and the Centaurus didn’t seem particularly unreliable on other types of the day – on paper it seems the Brigand should have been superb, but it seems to have an uneviable reputation.

I’ve always liked the look of the Brigand as it looks very purposeful and must have sounded great with two Centauraus’ roaring away.

I understand there were major issues with the gun ports but does anyone know what other faults / failings the aircraft had? My father was in the RAF in the 50’s and raised his eyes to the heavens if the Brigand was mentioned.