The privately run Luchtvaart- en Oorlogsmuseum Texel at the Texel airfield is worth a visit. Went there last week. Some interesting bits of WW2 military hardware, a couple of gliders and aircraft, and some unique displays. Highlights include:
– A lovely 1947 Fokker-built Grunau Baby that came back to its old base at Texel joining a Rhönlerche II that also flew form here.
– A replica De Schelde Scheldemusch under construction. Lovely little aircraft.
– A very nice and flown replica Fokker Spin sporting a wooden engine to replace the one transferred to the original Spin in the Aviodrome museum.
– The nose section of the unique Fokker S-13, all that’s left of this elegant aircraft
– A ramjet NHI Kolibrie helicopter. Two rams at each blade end!
– The unique and illegally flown FB-25 Bravo homebuilt that sparked a whole movement of homebuilts in the Netherlands. Built by two brothers, flown off a beach and into a flying court battle with the CAA, it sported a DAF engine, homemade prop, shortened Grunau Baby wings and a garden chair!
The museum also prominently features the dozens of aircraft and their crews that came down on and around the island during WW2. And covers the fierce April rebellion that saw the Georgian forces rise and fight the Germans in a battle that all but razed the island.
Eye-cather is a Dornier Do217 leg trawled up recently…
By: avion ancien - 22nd November 2022 at 17:20
Any takers?
By: avion ancien - 14th November 2022 at 11:48
Can anyone provide current information regarding the progress of the construction of the Scheldemusch replica in the Texel museum?
By: Fouga23 - 16th August 2017 at 12:08
It looks like a fun little aircraft. I like it 🙂 Would be a good design to start building as homebuilts nowadays 🙂
By: avion ancien - 16th August 2017 at 10:26
There is a full reverse-engineered and approved set of drawings in the Netherlands that would have formed the basis of a replica …
The above quotation, ericmunk, suggests that there are/were substantial remains of a Scheldemusch from which to reverse engineer a set of drawings sufficient to construct a replica. However my understanding is that none survived the sixties (the last being PH-AMG – I can’t now say why I was of the opinion that it survived in the Birmingham area until 1960 but I’ve a feeling that it may have been something said by Don Burgoyne’s son – and the rest succumbing before the end of the last war). If that’s the case, presumably the reverse engineered drawings originated from some other source. Can you please clarify this?
AA
By: Elmdon Boy - 15th August 2017 at 23:11
Great little museum on a beautiful island. I was there in 2015. I loved the model of the airfield just before WW2 as seen in my photos.
Regards the other Scheldemusch which was in the UK during the WW2 which Avion Ancien mentions in a previous thread PH-AMG.
According to the book Aviation in Birmingham by Geoffrey Negus & Tommy Staddon it arrived at Hockley Heath in 1944. From 15-09-45 it was owned by a J Wood and made more than a dozen flights from Hockley Heath.
Wood stored the aircraft behind his fathers motor business on the Stratford road Shirley up until 04-47. He then gave it to his friend Flt Lt David Langford who collected it from Woods home in Solihull. The reason for the gift was that it had been vandilised by some children whilst in Woods care and he felt it would be safer in Langfords care. The aircraft went to Lincolnshire were it is believed to have been damaged when it turned over while being taxied without the tail attached.
I would think the photo in the thread was possibly taken at Hockley Heath.
There is no mention of the aircraft being in Birmingham up to 1960.
Ihope this is of some interest Avion Ancien.
By: Flying_Pencil - 15th August 2017 at 18:51
Great pics!
Yes, that 217 gear is unique! Make it the second largest piece of a 217 known!
By: Chitts - 15th August 2017 at 09:13
Ericmunk habibi. Most interestemong mon ami!(with apology to Duncan Grinnell-Milne) Will send you a PM regarding drawings etc.
By: avion ancien - 14th August 2017 at 20:57
I have a nice Praga B in the shed (ex. W. Joyce as previously documented) …..
Well, Chitts, I never knew that Lord Haw-Haw was a collector of Praga B engines!
By: ericmunk - 14th August 2017 at 20:37
All in all a lovely well-researched museum with fascinating tributes to the many crew lost on and around Texel. I found out a Blenheim had gone done not 30 metres from where I was camped for the night, and later that day visited the wireless operator’s grave in Den Burg on the island. Almost every single crew has a dedicated display, with stories, photos, artifacts, and in some cases fairly chunky bits of aircraft (4 metres of B-17 spar is a fair size!). Brings to life their stories very well…
By: ericmunk - 14th August 2017 at 20:28
Some of the imaginitive displays featuring trawlerfinds from the North Seaa. Prominent is a Bristol Hercules engine, and Wellington sections.
By: ericmunk - 14th August 2017 at 20:21
Just a small selection of the many engines on display, mostly indoors:
– A Beaufort engine with ship’s rigging cables tightly wound around the hub
– A Merlin 22 from a Halifax, trawled from the North Sea in the 1990s
– A DB601 from a Bf110
– A duo of Jumo 211’s
By: ericmunk - 14th August 2017 at 20:15
Aha, Jur: H-NACC was the first model I built. I have an autographed photo by the crew of that remarkable flight…
By: ericmunk - 14th August 2017 at 20:14
There is a full reverse-engineered and approved set of drawings in the Netherlands that would have formed the basis of a replica, but the builder passed away before it got off the ground. The museum does not intend to fly it. It has an original Praga B engine, I think. @Chitts: this is one aircraft that would be feasible to re-build, and absolutely unique. What’s stopping you? Fair amount of data available from Dutch sources, too…
By: Chitts - 14th August 2017 at 15:55
Ditto to above, was going to ask the same. Do you know if they have drawings? I have a nice Praga B in the shed (ex. W. Joyce as previously documented) and the Scheldemusch fits well into the modern SSDR microlight envelope.
By: avion ancien - 14th August 2017 at 14:25
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Scheldemusch since watching a newsreel film of PH-AMA buzzing around at Ramsgate in 1937. Its sibling, PH-AMG, managed to lurk in the UK until, it seems, about 1960, when it was last reported in the Birmingham area before disappearing off the radar (but I won’t re-cover the ground already covered at http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?92083-De-Schelde-Scheldemusch). Is the replica to be static or might it fly?
By: TonyT - 14th August 2017 at 12:04
Another display has the story of a bracelet found in a cache of parts in a fishing net, traced to its owner a Canadian crew member who is still MIA. It was returned to his mother and brother, and is all ever found of their loved one.
I love it when you hear of things like that, in a way it seems such a little thing, but to the mother and brother it is of enormous importance and brings them some comfort. I watched an episode of American Pickers the other night ( Sad I know ) but they traced and returned a Purple Heart to the family of one that had passed on.
By: Jur - 14th August 2017 at 11:17
Eric, thank you very much for your report on this lovely little museum. It certainly seems to deserve a visit!
The Fokker S-13 you mentioned has been on the inventory of the aerospace faculty of the TH Delft, today known as Delft University of Technology, in the 50’s. I lived nearby and as an aviation enthousiast regularly tried to catch a glimpse of the aircraft collection in the university. One of my neighbors was P.A. van den Broeke, who was the caretaker of the aircraft collection of the university in those years. He also had been the mechanic on KLM’s first flight to the Dutch East Indies in 1924 in Fokker F.VII H-NACC.
By: ericmunk - 13th August 2017 at 21:12
An immense collection of WW2 artifacts is displayed very well, mostly indoors, and where possibly is used to illustrate the story of the crews who found their last flight ending at Texel. Some survived, many did not. Some poignant stories there. The radial engine is off a Beaufort that hit a ship’s rigging (still has the cable wrapped around the prop hub). Another display has the story of a bracelet found in a cache of parts in a fishing net, traced to its owner a 156 Squadron Lancaster gunner (W4894 crew) who is still MIA. It was returned to his mother and brother, and is all ever found of their loved one.
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August 13, 2017 at 9:06 pm