Coley's scrapyard

Those were the days!

Bit late for this thread but the contents of Coley’s yard when I went in 17/07/65 were as follows. There was also a large panel with the Bristol Brabazon titles on it.

17/07/65 R.J. COLEY & SON (HOUNSLOW) LTD SCRAPYARD
XJ432 WESTLAND SIKORSKY S-55 WHIRLWIND HAR.10 RAF
XJ433 WESTLAND SIKORSKY S-55 WHIRLWIND HAR.10 RAF
XP348 WESTLAND SIKORSKY S-55 WHIRLWIND HAR.10 RAF
XE454 HAWKER SEA HAWK FGA.6 FLEET AIR ARM
XE447 HAWKER SEA HAWK FGA.6 FLEET AIR ARM
XE389 HAWKER SEA HAWK FGA.6 FLEET AIR ARM
XE411 HAWKER SEA HAWK FGA.6 FLEET AIR ARM
XE371 HAWKER SEA HAWK FGA.6 FLEET AIR ARM
G-9-45 HAWKER SEA FURY FB.11 FLEET AIR ARM EX WZ632
WT703 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT798 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT751 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT752 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT763 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT715 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT750 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT761 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT764 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT736 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT747 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
XE657 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT705 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT771 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT775 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT720 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
XE713 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WW656 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WW655 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT708 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
XF292 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
XF299 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT795 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
WT754 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
G-9-73 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
G-9-87 HAWKER HUNTER F.4 RAF
G-ALDE HANDLEY PAGE HP.81 HERMES 4 AIR SAFARIS NOSE ONLY

I can also confirm I saw a number of Sea Hornet wings at Hanworth Air Park around the same time. They were in a narrow gap between the perimeter fence and a back garden fence belonging to a house on the Uxbridge Road on the North East  side of the drome.

Rob Bevan

Remember now that we used to climb the fence adjoining the railway yards someone mentioned earlier. Scary stuff… but we were never ‘caught’.

Rob

When I was a kid one of the neighbours worked there, he used to bring me bits and bobs now and again, instruments and control grips etc, still got some in the loft.

Ah, the memories. Recall cycling to Coley’s from nearby Whitton, climbing the fence and hiding in a pyramid of Hunter or perhaps Swift fuselages when the watchman was heard approaching. Distictly remember the Hurricane with its exposed tubular fuselage truss and coming upon the TSR-2 fuselage sections during a later visit with their pastel markings and translucent, magenta coloured sealant on the inside of the fuselage skin – something from an another era entirely. I had a piece that included part of the serial XR227 but it’s long since lost.

Another piece of the wonderful, carefree planespotting days that were the 60s.

Rob

Looking through some AIR BRITAIN DIGESTs from 1961, with a view to disposal, and came across a letter from an Adrian C Bowen listing a/c he saw there, probably in late 1960. His list is as follows:

Hunters: WV259/314/364/365/370/XE396
Sea Furies: WJ291/229/WE788/715/718/821/VW572/700/701/708
Shackleton: WR956
Sea Vampire:XA108
Meteor: Wa546/VW443
Seahawk: XE437/443
Firefly: WJ220

He asks for “gen” on the other a/c there.

In later issues, he lists scap at other locations in the Home Counties

I remember Coley’s being reported in LAAS magazines up until the late 70’s and a friend and I got the bus from Heathrow to try to find the yard but although we found what appeared to be the correct gates there was nothing to be seen. It wasn’t a completely wasted journey as we managed to talk our way into the Science Museum store which was a bit further along the road and in those days housed the Gugnuc, Short SC1 and Flying Flea which hadn’t been on public display for a long time. Always been a bit disappointed that we didn’t manage to access Coley’s yard though.

avion ancien wrote:

Perhaps this gives some little indication of why Coley’s yard was so famous in the fifties and sixties.

It was also famous for breaking up the Bristol Brabazon I in 1953 and the uncompleted turbo-prop powered MkII.

R J Coley and Sons, scrap dealer are still going, but now based in Bristol. They seem to have had a number of yards in the past. They may be able to help with their history.

http://www.rjcoleyandson.co.uk

Thanks for that, still at the same location in Bristol
[ATTACH=CONFIG]236697[/ATTACH]

Are any yards still doing Aircraft scrap? Didn’t Hanningfields give up a couple of years back.

Not that much gets left in yards these days (Given the speedy haste they dispose of the Tonkas from Leeming)

Tim S

R J Coley and Sons, scrap dealer are still going, but now based in Bristol. They seem to have had a number of yards in the past. They may be able to help with their history.

http://www.rjcoleyandson.co.uk

R J Coley and Sons, scrap dealer are still going, but now based in Bristol. They seem to have had a number of yards in the past. They may be able to help with their history.

http://www.rjcoleyandson.co.uk

There was a Coleys American car scrap yard in Hays (next to the M4 at Heathrow) up to the mid ’90’s, any relation ?

Just to reiterate, I’d be very interested if anyone knows of anyone who worked at the yard in the late 60s until it was cleared.

A shot at the Failsworth yard while saving the Griffon Engines from the Fireflies in July 1979.

If only we had known.

Mark

1979 only seems like yesterday …
Imagine if that stuff was there now, the queue would go back to the M62!!

I finally got to see the “famous” Blackburn that was rescued from the yard at the Doncaster Aviation Museum SYAM.
It was famous because a tree grew up through the fuselage lifting it into the air.
G-ACBH Blackburn, Doncaster by wwshack, on Flickr

Interesting thread – I’m just wondering, what was the purpose of these yards? Was it just a case of piling scrap metal up – if so why did some things hang around for so long?

Obviously with car scrap yards they hold on to certain vehicles because their value is in the parts which can be sold – was the same true for aircraft back then?

Yes, there were some piccies showing a Sea Hornet wing. I’d like to see the Hornet fuselages that were reputed to have been extant ’till the mid-60’s in a yard.

A shot at the Failsworth yard while saving the Griffon Engines from the Fireflies in July 1979.

If only we had known.

Mark

In the case of the Hornet, it was of mixed construction so the wings and various other bits were metal. I’m sure dcollins will be along shortly to explain just how much metal was on a Hornet, it must have had a myriad of metal fittings even in the wooden sections.

By volume its probably 50/50 wood to metal. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more aluminium than wood by weight too.

Even if you don’t include the engines and frames, the Hornet’s fin, tailplane, nose cone, entire lower wing skin and main spars, and engine/undercarriage fairings are aluminium. This only leaves the fuselage and upper wing skin being wood!

Resurrecting an old thread to ask, I don’t suppose anybody knows of anyone who was working at Coley’s in Hounslow during the late 60’s do they?