Scrapyard Photos; Any More?

Swift XF113 at Frome

Now we can post pics again, plus a new scanner to copy my old photos… heres a few of the center & rear end of Rocketmans Swift XF113 which was (perhaps still is ?) extant in the scrapyard near Frome. 😀

If you look closely I think there could be 3 in total there (at least one more wing under cover and what looks like part of a firewall under cover). This would make sense as MW-404,MW-758 and MW-401 are all stored with the same organisation. Although work is almost complete on the 4th airframe I am horified to see where and how these are stored. It looks as though the one airframe has literally been dumped!!! Let me have them….they would look good converted to MKV or form the basis of a ‘new’ Typhoon!!!

Dave,

Why not asking the owner? You already have no, you can get a yes. I certainly would try it anyway if I was you. :rolleyes:

Cheers

Cees

I’ve started a thread on NWAN Forum ref scrapyards in Liverpool area and mentioned “Baths”
DC

As well as the well known Harvards yard at Sandhurst, there was also a good yard at Church Crookham in the 60s…..had many Harvard engines in original packing cases, also F86 Sabre bits, at least one fuselage, and a dive brake from an F86 which somehow ended up at Newark – don’t ask !

Suppose these guys all did what was their business, and scrapped the lot

I wonder if any out there just might have some images of that time?

What we need is someone who was active in the Merseyside Society of Aviation Enthusiasts – they were another northern group who got involved in preservation quite early on.

Errr, I believe one blokes name was Ken Ellis? (But maybe not in the late ’50s)

Seriously, I’m not sure if the Society still exists, but I would bet that former members have a stash of photographic goodies to share, if only we could entice them.

The grass is always greener…

In the late 1950’s, viewed from Southern England, the ‘magical scrapyards’, by word of mouth, seemed to be in the Midlands and the North.

One such yard, I think in or near Liverpool, was that of Henry Bath & Son. This yard had quite a number of Spitfires on site right up to 1958/9.

I wonder if any out there just might have some images of that time?

Mark

I’m amazed that someone with enough money to buy such rare airframes should then leave them in open storage under an English sky…maybe they’ve not seen this thread?

Tempests…

If you look closely I think there could be 3 in total there (at least one more wing under cover and what looks like part of a firewall under cover). This would make sense as MW-404,MW-758 and MW-401 are all stored with the same organisation. Although work is almost complete on the 4th airframe I am horified to see where and how these are stored. It looks as though the one airframe has literally been dumped!!! Let me have them….they would look good converted to MKV or form the basis of a ‘new’ Typhoon!!!

Tempest!!!! Horror at location!

Two Tempests here. One fuselage broken down, one not.

The IAF serial is visible but not readable on broken down unit.

In India the wings were separate from the fuselages at the time of sale. I suspect purchasers ‘pick and mixed’ at the front end of the queue when they arrived in the ‘west’. From memory there were about six in the sale.

Mark

Tempest Mk. II

Not old photos, but recently taken by Ian Wilkinson. The location is “in the yard of a small fabrication company at the former RAF Hemswell airbase. This is located north of Lincoln just to the west of the A15 road to Scunthorpe (both in Lincolnshire). The airfield is north of RAF Scampton.”

Posted them on my website, but the mystery is the identity of the Tempest. Is it Tempest Two Ltd’s MW401? The serial painted on the wing says HA591(?), but that’s Nelson Ezell’s Tempest :confused:.
Any clues or good guesses?

Regards
Christer Landberg
The Hawker Tempest Page

One corner of Lichfield is now the Curburough Sprint Track (for racing cars). I’ve competed in few events there and many of the RAF buildings are still in daily use, although there’s no sign of runways etc.

First Post

Excellent pictures – real shame that we’d rather smashing things up, rather than think ahead to the future.

I will soon be spending 3 months in India soon – can anyone recommend anywhere in that part of the world that may be a good place to spend a day sifting through some bits?

Cheers
apc014

I have found this thread to be totally fascinating and of course thinking ” if only!”

One item that may be of interest is that when we were working on the Lanc NX611 at Hullavington back in the 70’s, I remember some kids found some aircraft remnants in the wood behind the hangar, these included a ? Lancaster ladder and some unidentified panels. So far as I know it was never followed up because we were too busy, so if the wood is still there, there may be more.

We had a stash of Bristol Hercules and Mercury cowl gill rings which came out of the old scrapyard at Chippenham in the 90’s, just before they turned it into a Sainsbury’s. Apparently the boss had been given a tip off that there might be something there, rocked up one day with a metal detector and a shovel, got told to ‘feel free to have a dig around over there mate’, got a trace, scraped away a few inches of topsoil, and voila! After stripping them down, cleaning them, inspecting them, and refurishing the ones which would go again, we got two Herc’s worth of usable cowl gill assemblies out of that lot. Just goes to show what’s still out there if you’re willing to go and look. 🙂

Had a similar experience in the Isle of man and our group recovered a complete Barracuda seat and a fair few pieces of Rapide, as well as a few practice bombs which caused some fun for the EOD boys. I firmly believe that there are airframes still around (worldwide) but finding and recovering them is becoming so much harder and more expensive.

Does anyone know of a scrappy near Blackwater/Blackbushe area (not Blackbushe Metals)? He had a Merlin and quite a few other bits in the late 80’s but I didn’t pay too much attention at the time. No doubt he knew of Doug Arnold but I don’t think they were connected at all.

I for one love this thread more than any other. It keeps the quest for the “Holy Grail” alive. My thanks to Mark12 and others who have shared so much treasure thus far.

Being greedy I know but “Please sir, can we have some more….”

I was fortunate in being able to help recover 2 “kettles” from Barry yard

you’ll understand the name spamcan then ted! well done for the kettles, i live very near a busy kettle test track and jolly good they are too. 😉

That’s quick then, pity for Ross’s life’s work I guess. He did some amazing work. But his loss is Europe’s gain.

Cheers

Cees

I thought LZ842 was being restored to static, that’s the one with Ross Campbell at Toowoomba isn’t it?Cees

Cees,

Two owners since then and now in the UK. 🙂

Mark

Well ehm Mark,

Yes, you may have a rest now.

Bl**dy amazing pics.

I thought LZ842 was being restored to static, that’s the one with Ross Campbell at Toowoomba isn’t it?

Cheers

Cees

Scrapyards

Spamcan
I agree about the “No Barry for planes”. I was fortunate in being able to help recover 2 “kettles” from Barry yard, Nos 2807 and 4277. A group of us still owns the former and it is on its way to working order. The latter was sold to a wealthier person and it is currently resting after nearly 10 years “displaying” on the heritage track circuit! Sorry, back to aviation then….. :rolleyes:

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