Failed aircraft recoveries

Whilst trying to recover a 1:72 Hawker Sea Hawk that had fallen down behind the TV, I slipped and banged my head on the window sill. This might not be quite what you are looking for, but the bang on the head answers a lot of questions! :diablo:

Inherently risky business this :diablo:

It would be interesting to know of any other similar aircraft recovery missions which have gone disastrously wrong

Whilst trying to recover a 1:72 Hawker Sea Hawk that had fallen down behind the TV, I slipped and banged my head on the window sill. This might not be quite what you are looking for, but the bang on the head answers a lot of questions! :diablo:

Would that not be the piece of boston they tried to lift off the mountain under a Wessex? If so it wasn’t in a fit state for much afterwards from what I have been told. Being a wing it was generating lift while being transported and the heli crew worried about it coming to visit them released the sling and it crashed for a second time, shame really it would have been better off where it was.

Pure speculation, but finance?

I’m sure you are correct,but quite why a group who claimed they were going to rebuild a Boston would be so short of funds that they needed the £250 they got from scrapping the wing is beyond me. The question is why scrap it without first offering it to others?

Garry.

Hi Elliott,

I did follow it up and unfortunatly it was melted down. Why the “Boston Havoc Trust”,as a preservation group and BAAC member scrapped the wing without offering to anyone is a question I would like an answer to myself.

Garry.

Pure speculation, but finance?

My reason for asking is I wonder if it is still sitting in a scrapyard somewhere.

Does anyone have any contact details for the people who recovered it? Perhaps it is still saveable….

Cheers
Elliott

Hi Elliott,

I did follow it up and unfortunatly it was melted down. Why the “Boston Havoc Trust”,as a preservation group and BAAC member scrapped the wing without offering to anyone is a question I would like an answer to myself.

Garry.

I’ve seen a pic of the other wing, which was basically complete except for the nacelle – we didn’t see it, though the terrain is very ridged in the area, very easy to miss things lying between the ridges, so I don’t know whether it was still up there or not.

Hi Adrian,

The section you saw was the last one remaining,the other wing was removed the year before,Present whereabouts unknown….

Garry.

My reason for asking is I wonder if it is still sitting in a scrapyard somewhere.

Does anyone have any contact details for the people who recovered it? Perhaps it is still saveable….

Cheers
Elliott

Pics of what was there in (judging by the cold wind!) early summer 1994 can be found at the very bottom of this thread:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49989&page=2&highlight=carnedd+dafydd

Possibly 80% of span was a bit of an over-estimate, but it was still a fair-size chunk. I’ve seen a pic of the other wing, which was basically complete except for the nacelle – we didn’t see it, though the terrain is very ridged in the area, very easy to miss things lying between the ridges, so I don’t know whether it was still up there or not.

Why in God’s name go to the effort of dragging a lump that big off the hillside just to scrap it? I mean -if it had been a Spitfire it’d be flying by now!

😡 Adrian:mad:

Hi Elliott,

The Boston wing section was scrapped as soon as it was recovered,1994 if I remember correctly. It’s all in the BAAC magazine but I can’t remember which edition,I’ll have to find the copy I have.

Parts of the Ventura are still around,although little remains on the crash site. The engines were removed in 1984 for the “Snowdonia Historic Aviation Group”,without the landowners permission. The last large-ish piece of skinning was removed in 1996 by a collector/wreckologist from Cheshire.

Garry.

Hi
I remember the wing well.
any ideas what happened to the ventura stuff that was near there?
Cheers
Jerry

None at all, I’m afraid. On the way up to the Boston we found a few oddments in a gully, but they could have been from anything.

Adrian

F.182Q Skylane G-BFIW 12.01.78 w/o 28.11.79

Having climbed 3000 feet up Carnedd Dafydd to see it I can tell you it was more than a section – it was 80 or so percent of the span from the attachment points out, including the undercarriage leg!

😡 seconded!

Adrian

Hi
I remember the wing well.
any ideas what happened to the ventura stuff that was near there?
Cheers
Jerry

When did that happen Garry?

The recovery and subsequent scrapping/disposal of substantial parts of Douglas Boston Z2186 by the “Boston-Havoc Preservation Trust” here in the UK. This included selling one outer wing section for £250 to a local scrap yard,according to their article in the BAAC magazine.:mad:

Garry.

From memory the original lifting frame for R for robert was a flimsy looking affair,possibly might have been designed without allowing for the effect that water/silt etc would have on the weight to be lifted.Once again from memory I think the 2nd frame was built by an oil rig engineering firm and looked much more capable.

Yup, the second frame was built by Oceaneering, a diving and ROV company from their base in Aberdeen. From what I remember, the divers stuck an Oceaneering sticker on the tail of the aircraft….. Divers, can’t take them anywhere – won’t catch us ROV people doing that….:diablo:

The RAFM recovered substancial parts which were stored at RAF Carlisle until the decision was taken to dispose of them. They were acquired by the Penine Air Museum and later passed onto Davis Stansfield . The cockpit section of one is underway with David.

Thanks for the info David,I volunteered for this expedition while in the RAF
but didn’t get selected and always wondered how they fared !!Any idea how the rebuild is progressing?

From memory the original lifting frame for R for robert was a flimsy looking affair,possibly might have been designed without allowing for the effect that water/silt etc would have on the weight to be lifted.Once again from memory I think the 2nd frame was built by an oil rig engineering firm and looked much more capable.

Cees, the Loch Ness Wellington recovery team made the first attempt using a custom built lifting frame. Due to uneven loading part of the frame broke. A local engineering company then made another lifting frame. This one worked and due to the depth and position of the airframe lifting bags were used.

The recovery and subsequent scrapping/disposal of substantial parts of Douglas Boston Z2186 by the “Boston-Havoc Preservation Trust” here in the UK. This included selling one outer wing section for £250 to a local scrap yard,according to their article in the BAAC magazine.:mad:

Garry.

Having climbed 3000 feet up Carnedd Dafydd to see it I can tell you it was more than a section – it was 80 or so percent of the span from the attachment points out, including the undercarriage leg!

😡 seconded!

Adrian

The RAFM recovered substancial parts which were stored at RAF Carlisle until the decision was taken to dispose of them. They were acquired by the Penine Air Museum and later passed onto Davis Stansfield . The cockpit section of one is underway with David.