TFC Beaufighter Listed For Sale

‘Inaccessable to the public’ seems to be a feature at East Fortune at present!

saw No Beaufighter at East Fortune on Sept 2nd and staff denied any knowledge of having, anyone know whats happened to it?

The dismantled components are currently stored in one of the buildings on the airfield at the moment, inaccessable to the public.

Andy

Jager – how many other Beaufighters have been rebuilt to fly in the last thirty years or so? Tends to indicate that its a touch more difficult than a P-51 for example!

Wasn’t having a dig at them at all. Got nothing but respect for that group and their work

I’m sure I read somewhere that it also to do with rules governing twin engine high speed aircraft, that is why the Tigercat is leaving aswell.

I also remember hearing that Mr Grey would not be able to fly it on these shores because of rules governing the age you could fly twin aircraft.

Please correct me if i am misinformed

What you have heard may well be true, from our perspective it does not really matter, as I have already pointed out the current ‘TFC’ policy would now appear to revolve around flying single engine aircraft only.

Still I would have loved to see the Beaufighter fly.

I’m sure I read somewhere that it also to do with rules governing twin engine high speed aircraft, that is why the Tigercat is leaving aswell.

I also remember hearing that Mr Grey would not be able to fly it on these shores because of rules governing the age you could fly twin aircraft.

Please correct me if i am misinformed

No disrespect to TFC, but it must be a hell of a project if they can’t finish it, they’ve had it on the go for well over ten years have they not?

I believe the reasoning in the sale was mainly something to do with the likely time that is likely to be needed to complete the restoration rather than the capability of TFC which is clearly second to none.

Jager – how many other Beaufighters have been rebuilt to fly in the last thirty years or so? Tends to indicate that its a touch more difficult than a P-51 for example!

Yeah, I was tryin to be polite about the project there Wessex 😉

No disrespect to TFC, but it must be a hell of a project if they can’t finish it, they’ve had it on the go for well over ten years have they not?

They have indeed, ‘TFC’ have made a decision to go with single engined aircraft only, as to being a “hell of a project” it is!

No disrespect to TFC, but it must be a hell of a project if they can’t finish it, they’ve had it on the go for well over ten years have they not?

good to see ned kelly is alive and well

The Ned Kelly comment is uncalled for, for anyone who thinks otherwise look at the man-hours spent on the restoration to date and do a quick calculation on the likely cost for these alone!

I don’t know where it is but there is information on their website about it
http://www.nms.ac.uk/flight/collections/1939.asp?m=5&s=5

saw No Beaufighter at East Fortune on Sept 2nd and staff denied any knowledge of having, anyone know whats happened to it?

There’s also a Beaufighter at East Fortune.

Best wishes
Steve P

The other Beaufighter is a Mk 1 – or bits of anyway, s/n X7688 registered G-DINT to Tim Moore at Skysport (thanks G-INFO) who are indeed based at Hatch.

I believe the airframe consists of a forward fuselage and centre section with engines and props only and came from Halton. There is a picture in Wrecks and Relics album of it looking bit tired. Not sure what was used for there, noise generation maybe?

The Skysport project also includes the back end of Australian Beaufighter A19-148, I presume the rear fuselage section and the stern frame. This was recovered by HARS from Drysdale, Australia, along with A19-144. Coincidentally the TFC Beau uses parts from the same cache of recovered parts, hence its allocated serial.
Andy

The front end was used at Halton for teaching engine running,the nose section was mounted onto a control room where the engine controls were mounted and with enough room for a number of apprentices to observe.
Not sure when it fell into disuse but I don’t think it was being used when I was at Halton(1970-72),then again I wasn’t a sooty !!! 😉

The other Beaufighter is a Mk 1 – or bits of anyway, s/n X7688 registered G-DINT to Tim Moore at Skysport (thanks G-INFO) who are indeed based at Hatch.

I believe the airframe consists of a forward fuselage and centre section with engines and props only and came from Halton. There is a picture in Wrecks and Relics album of it looking bit tired. Not sure what was used for there, noise generation maybe?

What happened to the other Beaufighter project in the UK and did it have useable engines and propellors?

It is in Hatch, (where is that you may ask yourself) in Deepest darkest Bedfordshire. It is being restored by skysport engineering and aparently is also up for sale.
If i remember correctly they have 2 engines, but she is alot further off completion than TFc’s machine.

Contrailjj,
wouldnt that be something if he took that project on!

ohh to dream, eh? I’m just imagining the sight and sound of that beastie racing up and down the Ottawa Valley… and see CAM’s forlorn babe finally get some proper treatment as well… as far as I know, the lack of engines is the only thing that’s ‘prohibited/prevented’ work on her – they have the collectors and cowls – mind you, I haven’t seen the outer wing panels.

JJ

Contrailjj,
wouldnt that be something if he took that project on!