HS 125 Cockpit Panels to give away.

ZF130

I hope I may be excused for going back to the previous subject, ZF130; I have only recently joined these forums, and spotted this.

I was a technical photographer at Dunsfold 1979-93, and remember this aircraft well, I’d heard it had been scrapped, very sad and like the whole Sea Harrier FRS2 / FA2 programme a huge waste of good kit.

130 had a complete Sea Harrier FRS2 ( as then ) cockpit on the right hand side of the flight deck, complete with stick control column.

There were 2 observer stations at the aft end of the cabin, facing aft to view various displays; with this arrangement it was unsurprisingly notorious for upsetting the most cast iron stomachs !

One avionics observer fresh from his survival training refused to fly in it, as there was a heavy chemical toilet out in the open in the cabin, basically unuseable, but the aircraft didn’t carry a liferaft…

While the chances of surviving a ditching are of course slim, I thought he had a good point; unfortunately he had quite a brusque attitude which put peoples’ backs up, so it developed into a matter of who would give in; I have a feeling he did agree to fly in it in the end, not doing so would have been a career limiting move in every way.

God knows what the conversion to Blue Vixen test-bed cost, but I’m sure something useful could have been done with this aircraft – the Captor radar in the Typhoon is a descendant of Blue Vixen…

Scrapping ZF130 reminds me of destroying the jigs for TSR2, the Navy acted with indecent haste to scrap the Sea Harrier FA2, the ultimate indication that winning wars comes a very poor second to glittering careers in the Admiralty !

I believe that G-ADXS “The Fleeing Fly” moved around a bit after Southend closed. Seems to ring a bell that Stan and David Brett looked after her at Andrewsfield in the early days of Rebel Air Museum and I think she moved on to the Thameside Aviation Museum at Tibury Fort where the damp got to the glue and the top wing folded. There is a picture on the web from 2009 of her with The Real Aeroplane Company hung from the roof at Breighton so I assume she is still there.
If you search the web for Pou Du Ciel G-ADXS you will also find a picture of her at Staverton with Skyfame in the late 60’s and also a rather grainy pic of her on display in Storeys Garage in Alexandra Street, Southend in 1961. I remember my dad driving past when I was about 6 years old and telling me to look out for the aeroplane in the garage.

WJ244…… on that subject and resurrecting this thread, what happended to G-ADXS ??? now that would fit in my garage !

Glad there was a happy outcome and that the panels have found a very worthy home!:)

Always happy to help but please no one ask me to store a complete B.747 in the garage as it won’t fit although I might manage a Pou Du Ciel at a push. Glad they have found their way to someone who can use them.

Your welcome Andy, nice to meet you, good luck with the project.

Jamie

Finally got back from epic trip to collect these panels. A big huge thanks to Jamie for these – top bloke . .

And thanks for offer to look after them as well 🙂

Way to go, that’s what I like about this place, folks helping each other out… Nice one guys.

If anyone wants these panels but can’t collect within a week I will gladly put them in my garage for a while. I live on Canvey Island so I can’t be too far away from Jamie-Southend and would hate to see them thrown away if they are of use to anyone..
If you need my help just drop me a PM.

Incedently, any one got an idea what happened to ZF130??

Hey, thanks for thinking of me pagen01 – definitely be interested in those! Would go nicely in my project. Pm on its way 🙂

Unsure if he needs them, but Mistyar66 (http://forum.keypublishing.com/member.php?u=21401) owns and is restoring a HS125 cockpit, hopefully he will see the thread, maybe worth a PM.