G-AGPG cockpit saved

Two images of GPG at Southend. The first was taken by a friend fairly soon after the opening and the second was taken by me in 1982 when the rot had well and truly started. The paint looks pretty uniform in the 1982 picture which makes me wonder if someone had a go at the paint at some time after she left Southend.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]245450[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]245449[/ATTACH]

The warmer brown is the colour that I remember and it does look as if it has been overpainted.
I always got the impression that GPG was pretty much ignored once the fusleage fabric had been slashed so I am very surprised that anyone made even a token attempt to spruce her up.
As far as I remember there was no easy way to spray anything after the museum opened so I would guess that it was probably an attempt by Bill Gent to keep the weather out a bit after he took over as curator so it was probably applied by hand. Bill did try to put right some of the long term neglect but with no budget, a few volunteers and little equipment the main effort was to try to patch things up to keep the weather out for the time being to stop things rotting away completely. Even though the museum was a fair way inland several airframes suffered salt air corossion and that could have contributed to the problems on the Anson.

I’m making what I thought was a fairly safe assumption, WJ244. The original scheme applied by ATEL was a gloss light brown (specifically Bedford Beige) and this would have weathered pretty well for the next few years that Aggie Paggie was used by Ekco.

However, over this gloss brown is a similar colour, almost matt, and poorly applied. It smacked of an attempt by someone to give her a spruce-up at some time and judging by the quality of the application and finish, it didn’t appear to have been done by an aviation finisher.

Here’s a pic of a panel with the two finishes apparent. The original gloss is the warmer brown to the lower left of the main panel:[ATTACH=CONFIG]245441[/ATTACH]

Anon.

I am surprised to see mention of a repaint while she was at the Southend Museum. During the early days of the museum I was a volunteer and worked full time during school holidays shortly before and after the museum opened. As far as I remember she was taxied/towed over from the main airfield and the original plan was to try to keep her airworthy and she was to be kept indoors but I am pretty sure that it was only a very short time before she got put outside along with the CASA 2111/HE111 which was originally indoors. As far as I am aware the Anson was never repainted during her time at the museum although the paint did weather very badly after she was moved outside. She was eventually attacked by vandals who slashed the fabric under the fuselage which eventually meant the stitching gave up and she gradually lost more and more fuselage fabric. I should have some photos of GPG from the last couple of years of the museum ( around 1982) somewhere. if you want scans I will try to find them.

Only to say that work is just about to start again to get the old girl finished in time for THIS year’s Fest!

A replica V1 Flying Bomb project got in the way last time but Aggie Paggie needs to be finished now and out of the workshop. There’s plenty else that needs care and attention.

I’ll post up a few more pics when it’s under way again. Work required is mainly cosmetic, being interior trim and some external paint trim.

Anon.

Any updates?

I think you’re right, Sicobra. Perhaps the remains are still there after all. I shall be going down for a look though I don’t think I’ll be buying them (if they’re for sale), nice as it would be.

Work begins on Aggie Paggie again in a couple of months after I get another project finished and out of the way. I’ll post a few pics up before Fest.

Anon.

Most of the parts shown in the auction catalogue are imported and from Canadian Ansons, which is why they are mainly yellow.

There are probably some Aggie Paggie parts there as it was Richard Parr/Retro Aviation that acquired this aircraft from the Hooton Park Trust a few years back and from whom I later acquired the cockpit.

All of the flying surfaces from Aggie Paggie were in this building at one time but now appear to have gone, along with a refurbished Anson fuselage frame. The original fuselage frame from Aggie Paggie (or what was left of it) was cut up to retrieve the cockpit, the centre area having almost crumbled away. I saved the rear section/fin as well and this is in store but the original fuselage, as a complete unit, is now history – and scrap.

The main reason why Aggie Paggie was never restored was because, after much deliberation and assessment by the Museum of Science and Industry, it was deemed too far gone. Any restoration would have required a new fuselage frame and much more besides thereby rendering any resultant restoration fundamentally non-original. Repairs were out of the question as the frame was irreparable due to the almost complete disintegration of what was left.

For graphic evidence of this just have a look at photos of the cockpit during and after recovery earlier in this thread. Aggie Paggie was in so-called preservationists hands for over forty years and ended up like it did so any further opportunity of it being restored using the original parts has long expired.

Anon.

Thanks for the update Mike, what fought my eye was the two wings in the background of items 49 and 50 which have a G reg and possibly the rest of her reg. It would make a lot of sense after reading your reply that these could be hers. Love your cockpit restoration by the way, fabulous.

Most of the parts shown in the auction catalogue are imported and from Canadian Ansons, which is why they are mainly yellow.

There are probably some Aggie Paggie parts there as it was Richard Parr/Retro Aviation that acquired this aircraft from the Hooton Park Trust a few years back and from whom I later acquired the cockpit.

All of the flying surfaces from Aggie Paggie were in this building at one time but now appear to have gone, along with a refurbished Anson fuselage frame. The original fuselage frame from Aggie Paggie (or what was left of it) was cut up to retrieve the cockpit, the centre area having almost crumbled away. I saved the rear section/fin as well and this is in store but the original fuselage, as a complete unit, is now history – and scrap.

The main reason why Aggie Paggie was never restored was because, after much deliberation and assessment by the Museum of Science and Industry, it was deemed too far gone. Any restoration would have required a new fuselage frame and much more besides thereby rendering any resultant restoration fundamentally non-original. Repairs were out of the question as the frame was irreparable due to the almost complete disintegration of what was left.

For graphic evidence of this just have a look at photos of the cockpit during and after recovery earlier in this thread. Aggie Paggie was in so-called preservationists hands for over forty years and ended up like it did so any further opportunity of it being restored using the original parts has long expired.

Anon.

Are the wings and other various parts shown here part of her? Some bits, wings included seem the be the same yellow/cream colour. It would be nice to bring her back together.

http://www.hinsonparry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Retro-Aviation-Ltd-In-Liquidation.pdf

I remember her being green and called ‘nosey’ or was that another Ecko Anson?

The unusual angle was because the photo was taken from the Beverley cockpit, happy days, the Southend museum was a brave effort. Pity it did not last.

That’s a nice photograph, Bill. Thank you for posting it, and it’s from a different and unusual angle too.

I’d date that one to be quite soon after she was moved outside from the hangar, so that will probably be late ’72. The small but telling evidence for that assumption is the lack of black masking tape along the canopy joints in a vain attempt to prevent water ingress into the cockpit – a significant factor in the aircraft’s degradation in the years following due to the fact that most of it would have ended up on the cockpit floor running down, through the structure, to the tail and causing largely unseen but significant structural damage.

Wood, steel tube and fabric aeroplanes should never be expected to survive very long outside. And as many of the later photographs of it attest, AGPG was no exception.

Anon.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]230944[/ATTACH] I don’t know if this helps, G-AGPG in better days at Southend. Good luck with project. Bill

Looking Good Gentlemen.
Well Done to all involved.
Cheers Mike

Actually I haven’t, Stu. Thanks for that.

The photo was taken at Southend probably mid to late seventies. Although the aircraft is significantly weathered it is still pretty much intact at this stage. She appears also to have had her re-paint at the hands of the museum.

Anon.

You probably already have this one Mike

Those of you who have read the recent Damyns Hall thread will have noted, Anson Aggie Paggie is now well on the way to getting (at least some) of her dignity back.

External paint is nearly complete so if I can get that done before the end of the summer then the autumn and winter days can be utilised painting and re-trimming the cabin and cockpit. The aircraft had a medium blue and cream interior and I have managed to match the blue trim material almost exactly.

Still absent are pictures of the main cabin with positions for the radar test crew’s equipment and seats. Some superb pictures have come to light this year, my favourite being the hangar shot at Southend showing Aggie Paggie in a lovely, flawless gloss finish. Also, it began to be apparent that the matt light brown colour, which was believed to be her original (but faded) colour was in fact not the case. Peeling a layer of that light brown paint off a fabric patch from underneath the wing fillets (obtained this spring) showed the colour to be a much nicer, soft brown and high gloss.

I tried a new paint company near Liverpool for a colour match and they did so perfectly, so Aggie Paggie’s looking a little prettier these days. I didn’t have the time to get the repairs done to the nose area and then prep it for painting in time for Damyns Hall, but it does show the two totally different colours quite well. Hopefully, by the end of August the final finish will be complete ready for the black and white cheat lines to be added.

I was able to obtain both of the original main wing root fairing sets except for the starboard LE section. If anyone has a lead on where I might find one of these I’d very much appreciate it.

My thanks to forumite Terry P for his help in fitting out the main instrument panel. The chap shown in the driving seat at Damyns Hall is Bob Day, who worked on Aggie Paggie back in the 1970’s at the Southend Historic Aircraft Museum.

Anon.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]230936[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]230937[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]230938[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]230939[/ATTACH]

Excellent, have you got these too?

http://www.caa.co.uk/applicationmodules/ginfo/ginfo_photo.aspx?regmark=G-AGPG&imgname=G-AGPG001&imgtype=jpg
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AGPG-1.pdf
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AGPG-2.pdf

From
http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=reg&fullregmark=AGPG

Since last summer I’ve been working with Mike Davey to produce a detailed history of Avro 19 G-AGPG, much aided by the loan of the Log Books.

I have thought of also entering the history as a series of posts on this thread, but it is way, way longer than the average post here. Mods any thoughts? The detailed history can be found on:

http://derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/15011/story-avro-19-agpg

Having reference to the log books enables so much more detail and depth than most airframe histories, so makes a good read for those interested.

I know that Mike is eagerly waiting to be able to show off progress made on the restoration of the cockpit section this summer at selected ‘cockpit fest’ events.