Venoms on the move !

Lightning F1 XM144 nose section

Greetings All,

Lightning F1 XM144 nose along with a F1 ‘Witches Hat’ Lightning tail fin left Spark Bridge, Cumbria some weeks back now for Shannon.

The plan is to have her under cover and restored so I believe.

Fly safe all……

Looking at the Facebook site -it appears to be the Middle East schemed Venom now assembled at the museum . Another picture shows the former ‘Lakes Lightnings’ F.1 cockpit outside -do they have any plans to get these aircraft under cover?

They are looking very sad now!

My wife was out and about yesterday and discovered these four gems sitting in the yard of a haulage company in Portarlington, County Laois.

The wings and booms are also there but they’re hidden behind some trailers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tail-dragger/8624504364/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tail-dragger/8624503704/in/photostream

…….. the fabled F4 that now is resting in a store in Florida! :)………

It continues to rankle with me that the NASM still do not have a Meteor (even in store) whereas an Me 262 is given great prominence 😡

Roger Smith

That was an unashamed plug, T.O. – you just can’t help yourself, can you?:)

You seem to have scored a bullseye there, though:D – long live the Plugmeister!

Yes, the Canberra’s another one to add to the list of unappreciated jets. Perhaps it is because there were so many Meteors, Sabres, Canberras, Venoms etc, that people have been blase about them?

Anon.

Plug or call it whatever – I’m very proud of how NAM tries to help Meteor projects and the like with advice, assistance and occasionally ‘non-accessioned’ parts. 😉

A little bird tells me that there is likely to be an interesting ‘Meteor panoramic’ photograph in the Anniversary Album that’s due to go live later today on the NAM website (now with true plugging a link would have been included here!) This may include the fabled F4 that now is resting in a store in Florida! 🙂

With a lot of luck there might even be a glimpse of a Venom NF3 – freshly arrived from down south (Henlow?) in April 1983!! 😉

They didnt catch the public awareness in the same way as the Spitfire and Hurricane did, although it could be arguedf they did as important a job.

The end to the Source saga is, perhaps, inevitable – they are not in the best shape now, and the prices being asked for them put them out of the range of most of our museums.

I dont see much call for them even as spares, so who knows what will happen to them now…

Bruce

Isn’t the problem with the Canberra the lack of potentially airworthy engines? Apparently each mark of Canberra had a different “mod” state on the engines.

Plug

That was an unashamed plug, T.O. – you just can’t help yourself, can you?:)

You seem to have scored a bullseye there, though:D – long live the Plugmeister!

Yes, the Canberra’s another one to add to the list of unappreciated jets. Perhaps it is because there were so many Meteors, Sabres, Canberras, Venoms etc, that people have been blase about them?

Anon.

A good supply of Meteors, Canberras and even a couple of Venoms on display here! 😉

WOW! Thanks! 🙂

Graeme

A good supply of Meteors, Canberras and even a couple of Venoms on display here! 😉 Plus maybe some cockpit access coming up on 14th April 2013.

Not sure whether Tribute to the Canberra will be repeated as an event, the last two weren’t as successful as the first two; Tribute to the Meteor has a ring about it, but it may have to wait until after Tribute to the Lightning and next year’s re-run of Tribute to the V-Force (May 2014).

Venoms, along with Meteors and F-86 Sabres are the under-appreciated jets of the post-war period. Great classics all of them but no-one seems to be interested too much in saving many of them.
Anon.

And the Canberra as well, bigger beast, early jet, but served so valiantly in many roles till very late in the piece – even as a high altitude PR vehicle… some are still serving for NASA!!

Wiki – The Canberra was retired by its first operator, the Royal Air Force (RAF), in June 2006, 57 years after its first flight.

There does not seem to be many folks restoring any of them. Some are sitting in museums but perhaps they are ho-hum did a job, never flashy fighter action but… what about them? Are they too expensive to maintain, take up too much space?

Sorry – this is a bit Off-Topic…

I was so pleased and impressed seeing a Venom flying in NZ at the Wings Over Wairarapa, a whole reflection on the de Havilland breed based on the FB 26 Mosquito KA114 back in the air, with two Vampires, and many older DH aircraft there too – oh and a Beaver from DH Canada. Long live the Venom!!

Oh, and the same engine designer (Major Frank Halford) who designed the Sabre engine 4 years before – the first was the Vampire’s Goblin (or the H1), then the Venom’s Ghost jet engine (or H2). A remarkable man.

Venoms

Venoms, along with Meteors and F-86 Sabres are the under-appreciated jets of the post-war period. Great classics all of them but no-one seems to be interested too much in saving many of them.

When you think they are at least half a century old (my F.8 is 62 y.o.) you’d think there would be more interest. Now, if it was a (big, fat and ugly) Vampire T.11 there’d be a waiting list!:D

I was contacted about one of these Venoms and the messenger said he would send pics via e-mail. Didn’t arrive. Would be nice to have one in a NW museum, most of them being a product of the de-H line at Chester.

Anon.

What a shame. 🙁

It is very saddening to see a fleet of airworthy vintage jets slide into dereliction in such a relatively short period of time.

I think they lingered on the market for a number of years due to ‘ambitious’ price tags, and once left in open storage, were destined to a one way trip to the breakers.

These could be the ones being offered via BAPC the other week!

The ex Source Venoms ?

At last! Will be good to see them get some TLC and put on display.

I have to say I’m quite surprised they’ve been bought – I thought they’d sit at Bournemouth until scrapping.

Interesting to see the 1-11 forward fuse and a 146/RJ nose there as well.

Wonder why they went for the Hurn Buccaneer rather the one that was up for auction over there? Any news on that?

Would appear Anson VS562 is destined for the same place according to AirVentures Facebook page.

Jon