Britain's 1987 hurricane

The Sunderland was, indeed, damaged by the storm. Securely tied down, in part to Peter Smith’s caravan, it was in the open, at Rochester. It jumped off the rear trolly of the beaching gear, and one wing (port from memory) was bashed repeatedly on the ground. The float was detached and the wing buckled up. A repair was done, using the wingtip from Duxford’s Sunderland which gained the damaged one from G-BJHS. Credit to the IWM for the generous swap, and to the Sunderland team who got to rebuild a wingtip as a bonus.

I recall going with Septic to Old Warden the following day for the flying event at Old Warden. Not a lot flew (the winds were still very high) I can only remember the Chipmunk.

However, bad though it was, it (like almost all weather) was nothing compared to what other parts of the world face regularly. Dave H’s comment in the Florada Hurricane’s thread from NZ is symptomatic of someone else living in a climactically stable environment.

There was a book publisheed by Bob Ogden of the damage at the time. There were pics of damaged spam cans.

Cheers!

I *think* the Sunderland was indeed damaged in the Hurricane.

The Sunderland was severely damaged in a storm and I think it was that hurricane that caused it.
I lived just north of London then and only got the edge of the storm and that was terrifying enough. As I don’t remember hearing of problems at Duxford I guess it missed there.

I don’t think it afected too many “warbird” types. Was the Sunderland still in the UK then (G-BJHS) because I do remember it getting blown around on one occasion.

I know a few Cubs and such like were damaged on a private strip just off the M3 near Basingstoke when a hangar roof collapsed.