Fighter buried at/near Yeovil???(old Thread 2006)

one Peregrine is reasonable, no supercharger housing though, the other is nothing more than half a block, being totally shattered in the crash….

The peregrine had been at Tangmere,then there had been some kind of management altercation and the Peregrine went briefly to the Isle of Wight where Steve has a Spitfire restoration business, before going off again….on loan to Rolls Royce at Derby, apparently there are no plans to restore it. The supercharger housing is shattered, possibly the only feature that marks it out to be a Peregrine Rather than a Kestrel XXX, on the plus side though, it does have a bent airscrew….

This one has gone….from my friend:
Could you repost to those flypast forum the fact that a search was undertaken by Westland Archivist for this prompted by my offer of Geophy’s equipment to track down the cockpit and if found loaning it to BDAC.

He discovered talking to a retired site employee that the cockpit was placed in the landfill but due to it sitting near a river Westlands were worried about contamination issue, so it was removed and scrapped off site. Its not there any more.

Sadly this one has run its course…..nothing there anymore….just imagine what I would like to say to the ATC unit that scrapped the peregrines!!

Hi,
My apoligies for resurecting an old thread but I have been away from the board for a while, I missed the post about the ATC unit scrapping them, any details ? my last info on the engines was they were re used in a test rig and were in storage at westlands.
Of interest I was recently e mailed a photo of the whirlwind before it went ‘underground’ and it was pretty well intact, lacking engines of course, can’t post due to any copyright prob’s.
As a final note the ATC weren’t the worst offenders………

In 1970, when a RN technical college, nr Plymouth , was tidying out it’s instructional airframes it offered a cockpit to the RAF, as they thought it was of historic interest, but the RAF turned down a complete whirlwind cockpit, we have plenty of them…….. ( presumably they thought is was a helo )
A true story, as a family relative worked there at the time and offered me the chance to sit in the cockpit before it was burnt in a fire fighting demonstration on a base family open day…..
Sadly I had no camera in those days.
Ironic really I suppose not wanted by the RAF in 1940 and again 30 years later……

But I would love any info on the ATC unit and the scrappies, or if anyone has anything on the whirwind captured by the luftwaffe and seen near Paris in ’44,
Please post..
Cheers
Jerry

P6966 was put on charge with 25 Sqn June 1940, transferred to 263 Sqn 24 June 1940 at Grangemouth, Scotland. This aircraft was the first to be written off when the port tyre burst on take off. The pilot P/O McDermott managed to take off but Flying Control advised him that his undercart was badly damaged, he was further advised that trying to land the aircraft in such a state would be extremely hazardous, he opted to climb away and bail out between Grangemouth and Stirling. The aircraft dived in and buried itself 30ft into the ground. The ORB stated “Could not be recovered”.

I am reliably told that the wreckage that Steve currently holds is from a 263 Sqn aircraft (P6966)that crashed in Scotland. I believe that he recovered both engines, in fact it appears from the Flypast article that RR Heritage holds both and it is planned to restore them. From the photograph on page 67 of Jan 2005, it seems that the one on disply is in reasonable condition, if a little bit knocked about from the impact of the crash.

anymore info on this aircraft as I hadnt heard of this accident before

Don’t hold your breath!

I tried a while ago enclosing the project plan I prepared for the original WIX initiative

Never even got an acknowledgement……….

Si.

Yeah, am working on a letter to them now actually Ian! Will obviously let the forum know what any reply says.

Cheers.

Rich.

So you can read Italian then 🙂

Yeah, am working on a letter to them now actually Ian! Will obviously let the forum know what any reply says.

Cheers.

Rich.

So (admittedly, having read the latest replies whilst under the influence of alchohol) , can someone please confirm what the exact status is regarding my initial post?!!?

I understand that though many different views/ideas/rumours/opinions exist as to what, if anything, is buried at Yeovil, there actually is no wreckage/airframe etc there at all, or at least, not enough there to warrant an excavation?

No one knows !!!! It maybe there, it may not be, as you have said this is all views/ides/rumours/opinions, but sometimes, that’s how the big finds start. Why not try writing to GKN Westlands and ask the question.

So (admittedly, having read the latest replies whilst under the influence of alchohol) , can someone please confirm what the exact status is regarding my initial post?!!?

I understand that though many different views/ideas/rumours/opinions exist as to what, if anything, is buried at Yeovil, there actually is no wreckage/airframe etc there at all, or at least, not enough there to warrant an excavation?

There was a Peregrine on display in the museum at Tangmere a few years ago,would this have been one of the Steve Vizzard engines?

I am reliably told that the wreckage that Steve currently holds is from a 263 Sqn aircraft (P6966)that crashed in Scotland. I believe that he recovered both engines, in fact it appears from the Flypast article that RR Heritage holds both and it is planned to restore them. From the photograph on page 67 of Jan 2005, it seems that the one on disply is in reasonable condition, if a little bit knocked about from the impact of the crash.

When I spoke to someone at Rolls Royce Heritage I was told the Peregrine is on loan from Steve Vizard.

Think the engine currently with the RR Heritage Trust is on loan from Steve Vizzard according to FP of a few months ago. I may be wrong but I thought a brace of Peregrines were actually recovered by him from a bog up north somewhere (if that’s the source of the substantial wreckage he holds).

I guess if anybody has the technical infrastructure to recreate a Whirlwind it would be him. If he decides to pursue such a project, let’s hope he succeeds

Anybody know if anything else is buried with G-AGOI?

At least one Peregrine still exists with Rolls Royce in Derby.

Sadly this one has run its course…..nothing there anymore….just imagine what I would like to say to the ATC unit that scrapped the peregrines!!

I’ve heard contrary accounts of this, one claimed it’s under one of the hangars the other under an administration block. There is even one that it’s under a runway, but I seem to recall from the many times I’ve passed Westlands, it’s grass !!!

I spoke to someone at the time of the WIX debate, they had been in contact with the works manager at GKN Westlands and he had confirmed that one had been buried on the airfield.

I know the rough where abouts of 4 other, but doubt if much would be left now.

From what was said on this site and WIX, the story seems to be that the wreck was slid down an embankment then covered with earth from some building works at the factory. I would be chuffed to see it raised no matter what state of the wreck, but am not sure if this is practical (due to subsequent buliding over the site) even if funds were available.