Mosquito On RAF Halton Fire Dump In 1970's

84th Bill, 1956 -1959.
The Beaufighter classroom was located on the track where you “trogged” in at the back of the airfield, the first thing you saw on the right hand side. The Canberra and Comet shot must have been taken in 1959 during the final airfield phase. John Cunningham flew the Comet in.

The boost gauge dial was given to me by Tim Moore of Skysport who purchased the remains of the classroom which I believe are now in Australia.

Hi Beaufighter,
Aaarrrrhhhhhhh !! 84th ayyyeeee. ( I well remember the 84th ‘s Entry “national sock week” at Halton during our time there 😀 never did get my own uniform shirts and socks back following morning, had to grab some other persons smelly ones so I could get onto “The March” to work–lol !!! )

The Vulcan and Comet colour pic. was from a slide taken by a chap who lives about 50 yds from me these days. Back then, he was a National Service Fireman stationed at RAF Halton. Thanks for info on the Classroom, so at least some of it was saved. Nice you got a classroom piece too. Nice to see other folks enjoying this thread too.

Bill T.

On the one hand, it’s sad to see all of those aircraft being scrapped or left to rot, but what else could they have done
with them ? Without the gift of foresight .

In 1960 the end of the war was 15 years distant, the same as 2000 is to us, ie not exactly recent, but not that long ago either.

With the country nearly bankrupt and many of the cities still badly scarred from the conflict, one could imagine how people would feel weary and sick of the war, and its weapons, and so preservation was hardly a pressing concern.

It is actually quite astonishing just how many aircraft from the era are still with us.

For those who are interested, Mark12’s images of 1950’s Halton are now over on WIX.

On the one hand, it’s sad to see all of those aircraft being scrapped or left to rot, but what else could they have done
with them ? Without the gift of foresight .

No sooner said than done. 😀

Moggy
Moderator

Mods,

Should this be moved to the main Halton thread?

The 1950’s Halton images…

For those who are interested, Mark12’s images of 1950’s Halton are now over on WIX.

Just follow this link,

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55276&sid=ef8fdae10e15290790a862f5eb1f3869

84th Bill, 1956 -1959.
The Beaufighter classroom was located on the track where you “trogged” in at the back of the airfield, the first thing you saw on the right hand side. The Canberra and Comet shot must have been taken in 1959 during the final airfield phase. John Cunningham flew the Comet in.

The boost gauge dial was given to me by Tim Moore of Skysport who purchased the remains of the classroom which I believe are now in Australia.

Thanks ALL for making this such a delightful thread.

Thanks for explaining Peter.

Beaufighter,
Nice pics and great to see something from the Beau Classroom still around. ( You must have been 82nd entry or earlier.) The shot of Hanger taken past Canberra’s also locates exactly where the Beaufighter classroom was located, thanks for that , my thoughts were always that it was closer to hangar and also the date when 4 Bladed props were fitted. Still hunting my pics down. But here’s one I found.

Bill T.

Which Lincoln is that one?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]235470[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]235471[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]235472[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]235473[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]235474[/ATTACH]

From previous posts sounds like we all “skived” down to the airfield. Pictures taken 1956 – 1959.

A couple more Buckmaster shots plus a boost gauge dial from the cockpit classroom. The engines/propellers were changed on the classroom pre 1956.

It is up to a member if he want’s to mass remove posts on any forum or thread himself… as Mark12 has done.. Your admin team have been trying to keep this topic on topic, hence some of the removed posts by the mod team..

** note.. any further off topic post’s will be removed..**
See here :
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?133963-OFF-TOPIC-POST-S-IN-THREAD-quot-S

Peter, mod

Thanks Mike !!

Cheers Mike,
Nice to be able to add something to a very pleasant stroll back in time and fancy a Prentice aileron being found in 1980 above Henderson /Groves barracks/square in ze woods. Go and get it Sabre !!!!!. Also very nice to see all these pics, by Mk 12 which–( yes ) have now gone from here. ???????????????.

Moderators what on earth is going on ?????????? Come on guys you have to give an explanation for this please.

Bill T.

Talking of Prentices, circa 1980 we found a Prentice aileron in the woods above Groves/Henderson parade square. I wonder if it’s still there?

Cracking input Bill/WV-903. Great to hear this stuff straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

Yes, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go back and save this stuff!

Anon.

Hi fella’s,
Lovely to see all this interest in RAF Halton circa my time there and to learn more about those Mosquito’s ———-here’s some more penny’s worth’s from that time.

Mark 12– that Spitfire 1958 was most of the time parked out front of main hangar and at W/ends I would go down there and wander around the Mossies and found with the Spitfire I could get canopy open.( though it was tight,) I spent many a good 1/2 hour sitting in the cockpit with Spitfire smells wafting over me. It was a lovely way to sit and think, Cannot now remember how well C/pit was fitted out or even if there was a seat in. There were no guards ,dogs, police ,barbed wire, jihadi terrorists ,drill sgts, or anyone around to spoil the moment, you just walked through gate into a todays preservationists paradise totally left to your own devices,( As you well knew and enjoyed, same as me, though you must have been a bit nervous about being nabbed by service police , though in those days they would let you go after a smack about the ears. lol !!! ). This Spit, (I didn’t know it’s Mk. till a couple of days ago and that it is now an airborne wonder, so thanks for that guys ). I’m sure the Mossies were parked up just beyond the Spit. They were starting to be dismantled so I was into C/pit of every one thinking “What a crying shame”.

The Spitfire didn’t have an engine in engine bay, but a great lump of concrete ballast, into which was plunged a pipe of some sort that the Prop hung on. Don’t think prop could be rotated either. Rest of Spitfire was quite complete, but she was an empty shell that had several layers of paint on and I don’t remember any corrosion of note. Because she was a “SPITFIRE” and a rare item to see then, so I was all over her checking everything,(As a trainee Rigger would ).

Also Mark, thanks for the nice larger pics. of the scrap Swifts. Only seen the small ones up to now. Although these Swifts are to be seen on Airfield, my memory of them (Think I’ve mentioned this before in here, apologies for repeats if I have ) is lined up on edge of tarmac outside the (New back then) Airframe Apprentice training Hangar up on the Tech Training site. I did spend much time in evenings wandering around them too, They were ex-Germany RAF ones. but cannot now remember what Sqdns. ) I know these Swifts vanished from there early on in 1958, ( Now I know to the Airfield) but I have no recollection of seeing them on Airfield, :confused:.

Rochford and Dave Burke,
The Prentices, Very sturdily built airframes from what I remember, I really enjoyed taking them apart and re-assembling, made me feel like I had arrived as an Airframe chap. The reason very few pics. exist of Aircraft in main workshops (apart from official ones ), is that we all had to sign the official secrets act and we were duly warned of the heavy penalties that would be inflicted on us if caught doing anything wrong and un-authorised photography, drawings, sketches or taking anything belonging to MOD/RAF was strictly verboten. People don’t realise about the strictness of the services in adherence to orders and one Instrument apprentice I knew there, was dismissed from the Apprentices for getting drunk and into a fight right before his final passing out parade. Met him years later too and we compared notes down about our subsequent lives. Nice chap actually and into aircraft preservation nowadays. So I never took any pics around workshops or Airfield, hoping I could bluff my way out if stopped by the “Snoops”, on account I was carrying out field work for my “schools” thesis, luckily, I never was. Also, I don’t remember seeing the Prentices after they were taken out of Airframes training hangar. Someone will have.
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That’s a great pic. of the Beaufighter Classroom when it had the 3 bladed props fitted, never seen that before. Can anyone tell if it also had earlier Engines (WW2 ) fitted ? because that rig had the 4 bladed props fitted during my time there. And(At the risk of more repeats–(lol) ) they sounded great when being run up. At these times when I was officially on duty/training down at airfield, I would go to great lengths to get out of my assignments (known —–“skiving”— ) and then run the gauntlet of getting into the Beaufighter classroom, while an engine Trainee’s class was in session under a Chief or Sgt Tech by using all sorts of pretexts for being there. The Instructor would shout ” Oi !! what are doing here you little weasel”, then after much wheedling on my part ,they always caved in and said “OK–sit at back and keep quiet.”. Which I duly did. :eagerness: (object achieved ) Each Apprentice would take it in turn to have a go “on” the throttles once engines were up and running, watching the enlarged instruments dials ( On big frontal display panel ) pointers wavering around and full throttle on both engines produced. The whole hut would shake like being in a real Beaufighter on full throttles and noise was tremendous, I just loved it. I got really cheeky at one point and asked If I could have a go on operating the Throttles during engine runs, but “NO” was answer. (Well I really did try , so didn’t feel too bad about never quite getting there). Standing outside, close up, when these things were ground running was exhilarating too. How that hut stayed in one piece I do not to this day know. Looking back on those days, those instructors were really great Servicemen, I think they understood my interests, but had to follow the rules when being observed officially. So fast forward some 56 years and lets take that Beaufighter Rig to Newark and set it up for Cockpit fest. Can you imagine the lads wanting to get in there and have a go on those Hercs. Folks would happily pay for such an experience and many more just enjoy it from a distance. I believe the “Rig” ( Or some of it ) is still in existence somewhere, any one have any idea’s or thoughts on that ?????
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Finally, seeing as so many good pics. have surfaced in here, I’ll go and round up the few I have from those Apprentice Training days and post them in here. I’m sure The Spitfire is in one pic. taken on Halton open day,(probably 1960, as just cannot now remember date ) along with M airframes lined up for the day. So will get back when I find em. Cheers guys, a very pleasant meander down memory lane for me.

Bill T.

Where there every many Prentices at Halton ? -Bill T answered the question as few years ago!

‘At RAF Halton 1958,-60, as an Aircraft Apprentice (88th Entry ) I did my basic Airframe rigging in the Airframe workshops there on RAF Prentices. We dismantled them into lumps and re-assembled them, always remember that.—- very interesting. Every thing then was British and Imperial measurements, fittings and tools. We were even issued with a riggers blue big wooden tool box full of these spanners and stuff, but they were withdrawn before I left Halton. Those Prentices vanished about -oooo-er !! 1959 and were replaced by Piston Provosts that had been flown into Halton Airfield, De-rigged and whizzed up to the Airframe workshops, they were complete in every respect. However, (Getting off the thread here -lol ) Those RAF Halton Prentices must have ended up with these others you see in Atcham Towers Pic. I think we had about half a dozen Prentices at Halton,( but it was a long time ago now. )’

Whether he had his camera would be interesting to know – the airfield seems to have had far more photographs taken there than the workshops.

Did no-one photograph the Prentices?

What a shame a nice thread on Halton ends up infected with more Burma nonsence !

Sorted

Moggy
Moderator