TSR2 50 Years After Cancellation

Meddle – PM sent

To keep plugging at XR219 a little, I quote from the following thread:

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?20465-Tsr2-XR219/page2

In the mid 90’s I picked up two small TSR 2 items from an Aerojumble (Shoreham). In about 1997-8-9 I noticed in Aeroplane Monthly Hangers stores section, a wanted advert requesting TSR 2 bits. Noting that the bits I had were not really in my line of collecting but keen to see them go to a good home I phoned the number. The guy on the other end of the phone told my the following story;-
He run a company which was aviation related and sometimes touched on the warbird scene. During one of these warbird scene moments he had recently (within a month or so of that time) come across a TSR 2 forward fuse in a scrap yard covered by a tarpaulin. I asked if this was the forward fuse which was at the time at Farnborough/Brooklands. He said no and he believed it was the forward fuse of XR219! He would not tell me the location but did let slip the yard specialised in handling stainless steel. His advert and attitude of not telling anybody the location was intended to see if enough bits were available so that he (and only he) could put together a reasonable display standard item. He took my name address and told me he would get back to me… but never did. I’ve since lost the phone number.

At the time I was working on Nimrod MRA4 and hence had regular contact with Warton. So I passed the story on to the BAe North West Heritage group. They phoned the number and got the same story and response. They were sufficiently interested to contact Shoeburyness to try to track down just who bought the remains of XR219 when it went up for disposal. Although I don’t think they could do this, but Shoeburyness “confirmed” that XR219 was shredded by the scrapy in the late 70’s.

Some time later I was reading a book on which I think was called “The history of British Aerospace A Proud Heritage” (or something like that), which was published in the mid/late 80’s and hidden await in the text it makes the claim that the scrap yard that handled XR219 was quietly storing significant portions of the aircraft.

Now, there is never any smoke without fire……. (Has anyone got the back issue of Aeroplane Monthly from either 1997/8/9 with that phone number?)

As for other TSR 2 bits, I understand that the Brian Trubshaw horde which was once at Little Rissington consisting of bits from Shoeburyness/Pendine (engines mainly, bit possibly wings as well?) has been disposed of by Marine Salvage of Southampton…. with some bits going to collections and other going for scrap. When RAF Quedgeley/Henlow/Cardington were cleared in the 80’s & 90’s a significant number of TSR 2 bits were found, most if not all of which were passed to Cosford. The guys at Cosford noted that some of these bits were actually from their TSR2 XR220 (apparently the cropped wires still on the equipment matched perfectly those on the aircraft…. when the aircraft was stripped in the 60’s why did they disconnect on the plugs!).

I would be surprised if anything TSR 2 was at Aston Down. I have been connected with Aston Down in one way or another from 1983 to the present day. Although large quantities of aircraft/engine jigs and tools were stored there, on both professional visits (both working for RR and BAe) to some of the hangers and my time connected with gliding, I saw very few aircraft parts and even then these were test parts such as the fatigue test Phantom. However it was the sort of place where stuff could get lost for years…… some Gloster Javelin wing and fuse jigs could still be found there up until the late 1980’s! …so I could be wrong.

The portion I stuck in bold is sufficient to get a conspiracy theory rolling.

Not a problem meddle – I was not aware of any discussion about XR219 at the event, but that said there was a lot of discussions around the site throughout the day and especially after Damien Burke’s thought provoking talk! :applause:

Apologies for letting that slip my mind. With your TSR2 event, did anybody suggest that parts of XR219 are out there but not common knowledge?

As posted previously: The cockpit is identified in Damien Burke’s TSR2 book as: “Test forebody T5 …” and that it was “….Rescued from the Farnborough dump in 1992.”

Perhaps it would be helpful if anybody can say where the Brooklands cockpit came from? XR219, XR221 and the partial XR223 all went to Shoesburyness. The ‘official’ story is that nothing made it back from there that didn’t get shredded.

Another point worth bearing in mind is that there is no evidence to clarify precisely what happened to XR219 when it arrived at Shoeburyness. It was re-assembled after some time, but there’s every reason to suspect that the assembled aircraft comprised of parts from more than one airframe.

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The Brooklands cockpit is currently still at Newark (albeit wrapped to protect it from the elements) – it is my understanding that it is likely to still be there for Cockpit-Fest 2015! 🙂

XR219 = XR220? 219 was scrapped

I did some digging on this forum before, and whilst I came up with largely nothing there are a few posts that suggest XR219 parts may still exist in the hands of a private collector, who answered (or placed) an advert in the ’90s for TSR2 parts. There is a lot of hogwash out there though, so make of that what you will. XR219 went to Shoeburyness, and bits of it were still visible in the ’90s. This was downplayed in the TSR2 documentary that was made during this period, which is hosted on Youtube. What happens next is not clear. Possibly some dodgy chemicals were tested on the XR219 sections, making them unsalvagable. I’ve seen it suggested that XR219’s cockpit was somehow heisted from Hanningfield metals, but this might be a misidentification of the cockpit at Brooklands. TwinOtter23‘s publication brings to light a lot of what is in private hands, but I saw it suggested that there is another off-record collector with parts of XR219 hidden away somewhere. Other claims of parts languishing in the back of hangars was quickly shot down by those that had been to the hangars in person.

Sorry a brain dead day I meant xr220 please forgive me,but it would be good.

XR220 is indeed the most complete aircraft. Duxford’s aircraft is more of a composite aircraft with parts from more than one machine. Cosford’s example also retains its original paint finish.

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Cosford have XR220 I believe it is the most complete of the two remaining aircraft. Does anyone have any good pictures from inside the cockpit from an open day?.

I was discussing TSR2 at BAe Heritage, Farnborough, last week. It would be a very good idea to get in touch with them.

woodspite, I have emailed through some information, which I hope will be of some use.

The following thread might also be of interest http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?129995-TSR2-Anniversary-Event&highlight=Tribute+to+TSR2

XR219 = XR220? 219 was scrapped

tsr2 conservation

Conserving XR219? Tell us more!

Hi since May last year 2 teams of four have been cleaning 40 years of dirt and grime on xr219, also removing all the inspection panels which have not been off since it was moved to Cosford. So far very little corrosion owing to the fact most fittings are stainless steel and all the aluminium alloy is treated and painted, as we remove panels photos are taken of both panel and what is behind it ,we found fuel is in the tanks and the flight recorder with the tapes still in it, but we have nothing to read them on after 40 years. The search is on both at RAF Stafford and Cosford for any missing parts but it’s a bit like an Indiana Jones warehouse, boxes with no labels .On the 14th June weather allowing TSR2 will be out side on the hard standing for Cosford Air Day. The aircraft still gets a lot of praise from people of a certain age who remember the cancellation. So far we are up to wing root height ,the biggest problem is getting the panel fixings out because of chewed up slots.

Conserving XR219? Tell us more!

Welcome woodspite, Newark Air Museum hosted a TSR2 anniversary event last September and they built up some contacts; if you send me your email address via PM (private message) I’ll try to let you have some pointers. 🙂

It might also be worthwhile contacting Brooklands as they proved to be very helpful with the provision of such contacts.