Vickers Valetta VX573

Why are such incredibely rare parts stored this way? Wings surely don’t take up that much hangar space!
Wouldn’t it be great (though fanciful) to see the completed Wellington, Viking, Valletta and Varsity all line up together?
Three of those at least are on the same site.

Does the Viking at Brooklands have a set of wings ? Seem to remember that it used to be at Cosford, with the old BA collection many years ago, also would the Valetta bits from Sunderland have been of use on the Viking ?

Yes the Viking does have a set of wings. They are stored behind the “Wellington” hangar.

Jon

Does the Viking at Brooklands have a set of wings ? Seem to remember that it used to be at Cosford, with the old BA collection many years ago, also would the Valetta bits from Sunderland have been of use on the Viking ?

The wings from VX577 were scrapped on site at Sunderland.

They were offered to Cosford but were not needed.

A few bits were saved

Interestingly despite been out in the open for nearly thirty years there was not internal corrosion in the wings.

Sadly I know this As I had the mis-fortune to be the one who cut off the starboard outer wing with a sthil saw so that the Canberra could be moved to its current position. The rest of the remains were scrapped shortly after

The date of the last flight may be wrong but was taken from the letter from Len Woodgate in Flypost, As he was the curator I took it to be correct or flypast have a printing error. With others I worked on the aircraft for several years and can corroborate lens comment on the lack of equipment as we pretty well provided all our own materials and tools.
PS.The Varsity was a gutted shell at that time.

The wings do exist and have always been stored on the far side of the airfield to the best of my knowledge. They were moved from the hanger by the fire dump to the current storage hanger some years ago and were next to the aircraft last time I saw it. They are the original wings for the aircraft. It flew into cosford in 1981 bit difficult with out wings! can we finaly kill the tale of it not haveing any wings Please.

I don’t think it flew in. I think it was a long time before 1981 that the last flight of a Valetta took place.

Are you getting confused with the Varsity?

The wings do exist and have always been stored on the far side of the airfield to the best of my knowledge. They were moved from the hanger by the fire dump to the current storage hanger some years ago and were next to the aircraft last time I saw it. They are the original wings for the aircraft. It flew into cosford in 1981 bit difficult with out wings! can we finaly kill the tale of it not haveing any wings Please.

Did this aircraft recieve the wings from Sunderland after their aircraft was destroyed by an arson attack.

Or am I just making this up. there is a similar story I am sure.

One of the reasons I was seeking clarity about its wings was because the rumour machine had it that when the Usworth example was destroyed its wings survived and it was expected by some in the preservation world that the RAFM might seek them to make their example complete. As there was no subsequent confirmation on what had happened to them I assume the those wings had probably gone to a scrappy. Could it be that if Cosford didn’t obtain the Usworth outer panels that the RAFM didn’t need them if their example’s mainplanes survived after all? What is the true situation?

There’s a couple of shots of this airframe apparently dating from about 2000 on the link below sadly without any sign of the wing panels in the shot (though that does not mean they are not in a rack elsewhere).

http://www.oldprops.ukhome.net/Viking%20Photographs.htm

I was fortunate to see it earlier this year, and other than a little dusty is stored in much the same condition as it was last displayed. Would need a good wash and brush up, plus a decent repaint before it could go back on display. There were what appeared to be a set of wings for it stacked with those of the Ventura.

I have a photo but was requested not to publish any of those I took at the store anywhere so cannot share it with you sadly.

Yeah, your making it up 😉

I hope you are wrong Consul, I would love to see that aircraft back on show. The last time I saw her she was in storage at RAF Henlow in the early 70’s.

Easty

Did this aircraft recieve the wings from Sunderland after their aircraft was destroyed by an arson attack.

Or am I just making this up. there is a similar story I am sure.

I noticed that a recent comment by an ex curator of Cosford’s collection reckoned that when he was there it was stored with the wings alongside. Other reports have stated that its outer wing panels don’t survive. Which is true?