Scatterd airframe sections around the UK, plan?

The Canadians have clearly shown how feasible it is to recover the Halifax and restore
her maybe some of our national museums should explore what still exists underwater.
It would be a massive task to recreate either a Whitley or Stirling faithfully – if the possibility of a fairly intact survivor exists -it needs following up.

Has no one seen the Whitley parked outside at Hendon?

Realistic projects in the making

I too have given this some thought over the years.
This is partly why I decided it was possible to recreate a Hornet. There are parts around.

There are also enough parts around to put another Wellington together.
Elliott is making great progress with the Whitley. This is entirely possible to assemble in time.
The Halifax recreation at Elvington also shows that it can be done.
The Stirling project is another example.
There are several Typhoon cockpits that are growing into full fuselages.

I don’t think that any of these are flights of fancy, they are all possible. They just need dedicated restorers working on them over the years.

A museum/memorial to Bomber Command would be terrific

Were working on it believe me. Hopefully in about 10 years we will have a first class bomber command Museum in Canada

What about the Whitley that’s under restoration… now that would be a great complement at East Kirkby too. Richard

I believe there are TWO seperate groups trying to recreate a Whitley (one in the London area, one in Scotland?) from parts/sections from various crash sites.
Seems a shame there may be duplicated effort going on.
As for location for a Whitley Hendon, Duxford, East Kirby but my vote would be Baginton – where they were all built (excepting the prototype) but then, being a Coventry Kid I’m biased.

Roger Smith.

I think the Bristol Brigand is at the Bristol Collection, same airfield as the Science Museum storage collection (forget the name, will come back to me any second). Think it was rescued from a scrapyard, would be nice to have it restored though

Yes, its at Kemble, but the Science Museum are at Wroughton, t’other side of the M4

.

This is an interesting thread. I think that East Kirkby is an excellent center for these aircraft projects. I had no idea that the Weighbridge Wellington had been fully restored internally and covered… when I saw it last (about ten years ago) it was a bare fuselage, and I was told it was being left that way to display the structure more readily. I think this fuselage would go perfectly at East Kirkby, considering they already have a fully restored Wellington at Weighbridge. If there is a will, there is a way.

What about the Whitley that’s under restoration… now that would be a great complement at East Kirkby too. Not to mention the large sections of Stirling that are in France.

A museum/memorial to Bomber Command would be terrific, and I can think of no more appropriate place than East Kirkby, especially if you could restore all of the exhibits to ground running status…. now that really is a great dream (however impractical or difficult to realize in reality)!

Cheers,
Richard

Yeah East Kirkby would be a cracking home for a 3rd Wellington.

Let’s imagine, Fred and Harold Pinton having an airworthy Lanc AND an airworthy Wellington….

Tis the stuff that dreams are made of….

I think the Bristol Brigand is at the Bristol Collection, same airfield as the Science Museum storage collection (forget the name, will come back to me any second). Think it was rescued from a scrapyard, would be nice to have it restored though

I think you will find the Brigand is still owned by the scrapyard owner (of the ex. failsworth yard, Manchester)
Have a look at this former thread
Failsworth scrapyard
as for other a/c being put together from parts , yes they should be, complete a/c are better than scattered parts !

I think the Bristol Brigand is at the Bristol Collection, same airfield as the Science Museum storage collection (forget the name, will come back to me any second). Think it was rescued from a scrapyard, would be nice to have it restored though

O.K we’ve sorted out a wimpy. What about other rare or eaven extict aircraft?. I think that the best candidate for a “Bitsa” restoration must be the Bristol Brigand. There is a substantialy compleate fuselage in existance (at the N.E.A.M. I think) Are there any crash sites that could have a set of wings and the tail feathers?. The engines are sort of available. What do you think?
There is a group at Dowtys building various Bolton Paul aircraft in the same way and I seem to remember seeing a Hurricane restoration using “time ex” and damaged bits too.

Rgds Cking

Wellington bomber

Cees
I like the idea of a taxiable wellington rather than an airworthy one. Based at East Kirkby it would look awesome!

Nice idea to recreate a third Wellington. However are the wings at East Kirby complete? I got the impression they were from the engines to tip.

Roger Smith.

Not too sure on how complete they are but both port and starboard wings, complete with the fuel tanks are on show, what I assume to be a small piece of the upper fuselage plus an engine nacelle and from memory, a wrecked engine.

If the images aren’t visible, following the link East Kirkby 2004 (2)
All seem to be in remarkably good condition.

I was at Both Brooklands and East K last year and this thought occured to me then – why not join up all the dots and create a third Wellington – would be great – I think most of the airframe could be found and the Brooklands crew have all the techniques for the parts which couldn’t be located .

Very good idea I think

John P

I am personally not a great fan of memorials. Look around London and you will see plenty of memorials to various campaigns and people. My ‘memorial’s’ are the run down buildings at Bardney – the former tower at Coleby Grange and the wealth of other buildings that are slowly returning to nature. Certainly we cannot preserve every fragment of our old airfields but I think the flavour of Bomber Command is firmly encapsulated in the fields of Eastern England and not on the banks of the River Thames. By all means raise money for some kind of rememberance – however be visionary and create something of meaning . For instance Canada is leading the way with their stunning rebuild of the Halifax – it’s time for the U.K to start seriously looking for a Stirling or Whitley underwater that is rebuildable.

Nice idea to recreate a third Wellington. However are the wings at East Kirby complete? I got the impression they were from the engines to tip.

Roger Smith.

mmm nice, must go there before too long! Believe theres a walk-through Halifax fuselage at Yorkshire Air Museum too

I took these about 2 years ago

If the images aren’t visible, they can be found on my Webshots site (see below), follow the link to Yorkshire Air Museum 2003.

If East Kirkby has a lanc, a Hampden and a Wellington, then there is a magnificent opportunity to see a living and breathing wartime RAF airfield.

Cees, why stop there?

Given the right circumstances, why not relocate W1048 from Hendon to East Kirkby and have her properly restored then there would be two Heavies, a Medium and Light Medium Bomber on one semi active base!

Wow, did I just say something positive about a Halifax, i must be loosing my touch 😉

Still as we all know, it will never happen but without dreams….

Cees,

These were taken at Brooklands on the 31st July this year.

Geoff.

Thanks Geoff,

Doesn’s she look great, needs a pair of wings and a tail don’t you think. If East Kirkby has a lanc, a Hampden and a Wellington, then there is a magnificent opportunity to see a living and breathing wartime RAF airfield.

Why couldn’t this happen, the Bristol Bulldog now at the RAFM was rebuild by gathering all parts that had been scattered all over the UK.

Mmmm

Cees

I don’t think we really need another memorial

I’m sure that the 50000+ crew members that died would agree…just as those that survived the BoB agreed that the 500+ pilots and all the others that served during the Battle, don’t need the Memorial that was recently unveiled.

Sorry, I don’t mean to appear brusque and appreciate that your statement is most likely taken out of context but I personally feel strongly about the lack of recognition (outside of the dedicated media) that Bomber Command, her crews and support personel have received since the end of WW2 and feel that they are due some sort of National recognition.

In fact, in the absence of any specific Campaign medal or clasp, surely its not just those that fell, that need the recognition of a grateful nation, but also those that survived!

In truth, I guess that the lack of interest could be said about most areas of our lives, beacuse if I have no interest in old steam trains, the museums that support these interests wouldn’t get my support!

Double edged sword I guess!

As for her flying – she is privately owned and very well cared for

Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more and as I said, any move to make her airworthy would depend upon agreement of her current owners

The operating costs for the RAF must be substantial -however she has the best engineers and a budget which allows for her long term future.

If there were agreement and the financial backing to support a second UK airworthy Lancaster, then again, why not?

Although, as has been mentioned in another post, the UK in general does appear to be apathetic towards the Warbird movement (to be fair, its not just Warbirds but there seems to be a general lack if interest in anything unless money can be made) so is most likely unlikely to ever happen but this doesn’t mean that it might be a possibility!

Re the point about seeing NX611 flying, this seems total madness East Kirby is not a suitable place to fly a Lancaster from

Didn’t seem to stop NX611 from running down the runway, tail wheel up, for that made for TV programme about 2-3 years ago, did it?

And as previously mentioned, if money and the Will were not an issue plus Agreement were obtained , why couldn’t East Kirkby could be made suitable for flight?

Sorry, climbing off my soap box now.