Cosford Conservation Centre visit – 22/10/04 (Lots of photos !!)

Wonderful to finally see somebody taking the Javelin seriously!!

Mike – I’d agree, but at least the three ‘V’ bombers will be together and indoors, which has got to be an improvement. The space created in the transport hangar by moving the Dakota, Hastings and York into the new hangar will be used to house a number of aircraft that are outside at present.

They apparently have been promised a F111 for the new hangar and also have a Mig shown on their mock-up model.

Since the Liberator is due to move to Hendon, it might be interesting to see how that’s displayed – but that can be a thread all on it’s own !

Jeepman – I gather that, officially, the 50/50 restoration is still what they’re aiming for, but it seems a bit silly given the effort that’s going into the restoration. Hope they change their mind !

Hampden Resto

Anybody know if RAFM is persisting with the half and half restoration on the Hampden??

The reason was “before and after” I think but to me it always seemed to be about cash – simplistically half the restoration = half the cost although I’m sure it’s probably not a linear equation.

If they want to show “before” point them in the direction of the Halifax and put a complete Hampden on show. Then all we need is the Whitley, a Stirling and a Manchester to name but a few-

ps is it true that the Argosy was the last use of the centre section designed for the Manchester……………….

pps-the Harrier is an altogether more rarer beast – a Kestrel – the stepping stone between P1127 and Harrier GR1 – which has donated it’s wings to the P1127 at Brooklands according to W&R

The RAFM had a Hampden nose section at Cosford which they elected to send to Canada for the reconstruction there. The Brian Nicholls Hampden at East Kirkby was acquired by him after being in storage for a great number of years with the RAFM. The nose section itself underway at East Kirkby is using
new metal and original components inside that structure.
It’s been mentioned a number of times that the East Kirkby machine should travel to Cosford but the guys at East Kirkby rightly view her as their machine and it’s worth pointing out that they decided to do something constructive rather than just keep them in storage as it was with the RAFM.
Cosford has the budget,personnel and facilities to build a first class nose .

Thanks for that Mike – I’d have settled for LVG on static display either at Old Warden or, as Rob suggested earlier, at Cosford. Would be great at either venue.

I think Cosford will be gearing up for their ‘Cold War’ hangar being built and a large part of the Conversation Centre’s efforts will be going on the aircraft that are due to go inside.

Should be excellent when it’s finished

Andy – Thanks for that – work hasn’t started yet on the LVG. I got the impression that they’ll finish the Sopwith Dolphin before starting on the LVG, so it could be a while yet.

Rob – I think you might be right ! They really will need a Hampden cockpit to help them along.

Hi Andrew
you get 10/10 for these, especially the Dolphin and LVG. Did you manage to glean what sort of timescale there is for gettting the LVG back on show somewhere?
Cheers
Andy

And, of course, the Hampden.

I was impressed how much there was of the aircraft and also the quality of the work that’s been done on it. The RAF camouflage and roundels have survived well after 50+ Russian winters. The last photo is the new cupola that’s been created for the lower rear gunner’s position and gives you an idea of the quality of the work.

Enjoy !