Shackletons at Pafos Airport

A gentleman fromthe U.K viewed them not very long ago with a view to bringing anything that was viable back to the U.K. Sadly his opinion was that they were past it.

Its very sad to see them like that – and I feel sure that it is not too late to save at least one for static/ground running restoration. I just wish I had the space.

Anyone from Bruntingthorpe fancy a go??

Mind you, they are probably home to various nesting animals, and probably various nesting teenagers from time to time….

Bruce

I was talking to some guys from the Shackleton Association about the Cypriot Shacks, and they said that no-one could get in contact with their owner, though before he went missing he was supposed to have been asking £40,000 each for them.

Rumour has it that the aircraft were impounded for non-payment of parking fees, the only thing that keeps them in one piece is there isn’t a scrappy that can handle them in the area.

Regards
Richard W

I would imagine there’s very little left on them that would be suitable for a ground runner. There’s also the cost involved in stripping bits off and shipping them back to the UK from Cyprus. Sadly, I think the end is nigh for these two. What a shame… 🙁

Thisis so sad to see. If they are going to be left to rot why not let Coventry use them for parts to keep there shack running?

The third aircraft is a Dassault Flamant.

Sad to see the Shacks like this. I was in Cyprus a few years ago but didn’t get a chance to go see them.

Edited to add:

The Dassault Flamant was a French short-range utility light transport aircraft first flown in 1947 as the MD303 prototype, with production aircraft flown in 1949, being in military service from 1950 until 1982. Various models were produced, a MD312 six-passenger liason and communications model, the MD315 a ten-passenger utility transport model and the MD315R which was a radar interception trainer model. The Dassault Flamant was powered by two SNECMA 12S.02-201 Vee piston engines providing a top speed of 380 kmh and a range of 1215 km. The Dassault Flamant carried a pilot and co-pilot and up to six or ten passengers depending upon model.

(from: http://memorial.flight.free.fr/MD311.html)

Looks like they’ve deteriorated a lot in the two years since I saw them – I seem to recall the aircraft parked/dumped with them is French in origin, could be wrong though.

Here’s some pics from last week. WL747 and WL757 parked amongst various bits of airport junk at the side of the new departures building at Paphos Airport.

I guess the aircraft with “47” on the tail is WL747. As you can see, they both appear to be largely intact but rather weathered. Therey are parked about 250 metres from the sea so I guess there will be a fair bit of corrosion by now.

Anyone recognise the aircraft parked with the Shackletons?

These are the best pictures I could grab through the fence; the far side of Paphos is military so I was on the three-line whip from wife and small person.

Tell you what, somebody give me $20 million and I’ll see what can be done 😎

Ah, for $20 million and a bit of time; what a collection… Two shackletons, the B25 from the Cat thread, maybe a vampire and a meteor…

Not so sure even $20m would be able to reverse the ravages of time on the two Shacks and the North Weald B25. The Shacks, by all accounts, are slowly reducing themselves to produce… 🙁

Somewhere at home I’ve got couple of photos of them. I’ll try to find and then post them.

CargoM

Ah, for $20 million and a bit of time; what a collection… Two shackletons, the B25 from the Cat thread, maybe a vampire and a meteor…

Are they still on the RAF’s charge?

Ray,

No, they were sold off to a local business man shortly after they were withdrawn from service and have been slowly deteriorating ever since.

BR,

Laurie

Are they still on the RAF’s charge?

🙂 This may well be old news, but having just returned from Cyprus on Weds 28th April 2004, I was very surprised to notice 2 Avro Shackletons parked up side by side just behind the main car park at Pafos Airport, both with fading RAF colours & markings. Unfortunately as I was passing in a taxi, I was unable to get any numbers or even take a photo.

Jaggersghf,

The aircraft in question are WL747 and WL757.

Check out the link for more details:

http://www.home.aone.net.au/shack_one/marktwo.html

BR,

Laurie.

It is old news, there’s a quite recent thread somewhere, but I think we’d all rather see something reported twice, than to miss an interesting observation.

Moggy

I’m there on Wednesday ( 😀 ). I’ll look out for them. Pics if Minolta give me my camera back 🙁