There seems to be a depressing lack of information or photographs of this unit. Does anybody know of any links to information? I’d like to know when Meteor ops finished (I believe it was the end of 1971?) and what paint schemes were being worn at that stage. From what I’ve found the Meteors appear to have been Light Aircraft Grey with dayglow trim by that stage. Did Exeter operate the Mossie which was painted silver with dayglow bands? Is there a photograph of this mysterious machine anywhere?
If anyone has any info I’d love to find out more about Exeter’s tugs if possible.
By: John Aeroclub - 8th January 2019 at 14:29
Anthony.
Sadly Tim passed away a little while ago. I can help with the Type G.
John
By: AnthonyG - 7th January 2019 at 23:56
Hi I know this is an older thread, but the pics have disappeared of the TT.35 Mosquitoes with the Dayglo panels. I am also trying to find any info on the Wind driven Type ‘G’ winch carried under the bomb bay, good photo’s or drawings would be very much appreciated to help a friend out.
Kind regards
Anthony
By: alertken - 11th June 2016 at 12:35
OG: very nice of you to thank me for the Shorts ref…but I might be wrong. I visited EXE 8/62 and placed Shorts in my log on the day…but…
Shorts had operated 4 CAACU/Llandow 1/8/51-1/7/54; 3 CAACU/EXE had been operated by Exeter Airport Ltd, 18/3/51-1/7/54. EAL had run the entire airport since its foundation in 1936: it was owned by Whitney Straight (a later MD, still later Chairman of BOAC), as was Western Airways/Weston.
So: assume (EAL) Straight Corp.Ltd operated 3/4 CAACU…until 1964, when EAL was “bought out by Air Holdings to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airwork Services, but it remained autonomous… this incuded operating…3/4 CAACU”. K.McCloskey, Airwork, a History, H.Press,2012, P.245.
By: Old Git - 12th March 2016 at 07:46
I worked for 3 CAACU back in the 1960s and it was never Airwork then.
That is what I was trying to get to the bottom of. Airwork were involved at Exeter Airport in some way in the 1960s and I was told that they had involvement with 3 CAACU indirectly but I have been unable to find definite proof of what that link might have been.
OG
By: mizmaized - 10th March 2016 at 23:50
I worked for 3 CAACU back in the 1960s and it was never Airwork then.
By: Old Git - 9th March 2016 at 20:55
3 CAACU: Short Bros & Harland Air Services Ltd (776FRU/Hurn: Airwork Services Ltd).
Thank you AlertKen
By: alertken - 9th March 2016 at 09:35
3 CAACU: Short Bros & Harland Air Services Ltd (776FRU/Hurn: Airwork Services Ltd).
By: Old Git - 9th March 2016 at 06:36
Could anyone tell me if Airwork had some involvement with 3 CAACU? I believe Airwork had a contract to run the airport at some point in the 1960s I think.
Thanks
OG
By: mizmaized - 8th March 2016 at 22:25
Hi Dave
Just read your post re Meteor WM224 and the incident when it was hit by a shell. Remember it well, I was working at 3 CAACU at the time.
Nobody new they had been hit, until landing at Exeter, and lining up for the runway, no rudder control, on inspection it discovered the rudder control cable was severed.
Lucky, as if the aircraft had been hit a split second earlier, would have hit main fuel tank.
By: Chox - 18th April 2009 at 22:17
Brilliant! A photo at last! Thanks for that.
By: Postfade - 18th April 2009 at 19:43
Tim,
Regarding the silver Target Tug Mossies with the Day-Glo ….I found these two pictures in an article about 3CAACU in the February 1963 copy of ‘Air Pictorial’.
David Taylor.
By: Chox - 7th April 2009 at 01:42
Would love to see a shot of one of the Mosquitos! Interesting to hear that there was more than one machine finished in the silver/dayglow scheme!
As for the Meteors, although some of them did get grey paint before retirement, I’ve never seen any Vampires in similar colours so I assume that they all remained silver with dayglow trim until withdrawal. As far as I know, the only Vampires that received any grey paint were the CATCS machines? That’s excluding a certain well-known CFS machine of course!
By: AMB - 6th April 2009 at 15:53
There is a book entitled “The Long Drag” that was published a few years ago detailing the history of RAF target towing. It’s still available in Australia, so it’s most likely still around in England. It details some of the 3 CAACU aircraft and a whole lot more.
Keith Gaff
Secretary
Friends of the RAAF Museum
I have that book and also several references to 3/4 CAACU aircraft in various books on the Meteor. I can confirm that the last THREE Mosquitos in service with the RAF were with 3 CAACU at Exeter and wore the silver & dayglo-striped scheme with black/yellow undersides when they were retired from service late in 1963. There was an article on them in Air Pictorial around that time, which I’ll dig out. I am responsible for researching the Mosquito TT.35 model for Corgi, so have several pics. The Meteors and Vampires did serve until 1971, but don’t think they adopted the grey finish. The Meteor TT.20s had two patterns of dayglo though and I have several colour slides of them, although no topside shots to confirm roundel size.
By: TempestV - 6th April 2009 at 08:45
Hi Chox
Out of all of the TT20’s WM224’s colour scheme ended up unique.
There were two schemes used in the fleet, but late in its carreer, WM224 damaged its tail according to its movement cards, and was given the complete rear fuselage from another of the fleet. See photo from Robin A Walker.
It ended up with the rear fuselage colour scheme from one type, and the front fuselage colour scheme from another. Compare this with the other photos posted here.
To back this up, when we started stripping the aircraft in the 80’s we found serial numbers from another aircraft (I think in the WD range) on several of the parts.
Sorry, I cannot recall the dayglo markings on the wings.
A photo has just come to light showing the damage made to WM224’s original rear fuselage, when it was actually hit by a shell.
By: Keith Gaff - 24th March 2009 at 22:47
CAACU Mosquitoes and Meteors
There is a book entitled “The Long Drag” that was published a few years ago detailing the history of RAF target towing. It’s still available in Australia, so it’s most likely still around in England. It details some of the 3 CAACU aircraft and a whole lot more.
Keith Gaff
Secretary
Friends of the RAAF Museum
By: Chox - 24th March 2009 at 17:21
Good idea – I’m assuming they haven’t got anything though, judging by their web site which isn’t exactly over-furnsihed with pictures! Like most valuable artefacts they were probably binned?!
By: TempestV - 24th March 2009 at 15:26
Hi Chox
Out of all of the TT20’s WM224’s colour scheme ended up unique.
There were two schemes used in the fleet, but late in its carreer, WM224 damaged its tail according to its movement cards, and was given the complete rear fuselage from another of the fleet. See photo from Robin A Walker.
It ended up with the rear fuselage colour scheme from one type, and the front fuselage colour scheme from another. Compare this with the other photos posted here.
To back this up, when we started stripping the aircraft in the 80’s we found serial numbers from another aircraft (I think in the WD range) on several of the parts.
Sorry, I cannot recall the dayglo markings on the wings.
By: Chox - 24th March 2009 at 14:25
That shot seems to fit the theory that the TT20’s all had the smaller roundels. Did the dayglow orange extend across the wing in the same way as the shot of WM234 above?
By: TempestV - 24th March 2009 at 10:34
Hi Chox
I may be proving myself wrong here regarding upper wing roundel position/size! But see attached photo of WM224 taked circa 1979 at North Weald airfield, shortly after it moved from the carpark of the Kings head pub.
You can see the upper wing roundels clearly. It is still in its TT colour scheme, albiet faded after 10 years outside.
If anyone can tell me who the people are in the photo, I’d appreciate it – I have the original photo.
By: Chox - 23rd March 2009 at 12:00
Great, that would be interesting to see. The more I look into dayglow Meteors, I get the impression that the large-sized roundels were hardly (if ever) used even though they’re often shown like that on drawings in various publications. I think it might be one of these things that has been perpetuated for a long time without any real evidence. As far as I can determine, the vast majority of Meteors in the dayglow period had only small roundels as shown on the photo of WM234 above.
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March 20, 2009 at 1:38 am