Vickers Wellesley: Any surviving components in the world?

Just for the record, I’ve been squinting hard at p&p’s photos of the Wellesley’s interior.

The instrument panel and control column in his first post features in the Putnam book on Vickers aircraft and is described as being from the prototype, K7556.  As such, it is not representative of the production Wellesley.  I think the other interior shots are from the same aircraft (including the trainer conversion).   One of the photos shows the bombing station below the pilot’s position.  It’s easier to understand the photo if you rotate it by 180 degrees!

This is the closest I’ve got to a cockpit photo of a production Wellesley.  Note the very distinctive yoke.  If anyone has a better view I’d be delighted to see it.

Blimey, the journalist must have thought all his Christmases had come at once! That’s like something out of a dodgy novel, isn’t it?

As an aside, here is an interesting tale of one of the record breaking Wellesley bombers from the Auckland Star newspaper dated 29th of November 1938:

BOMBER DOWN.

FARMER NEARLY HIT.

Father Struck Dead in Crash In Same Field.

OLD ROMANCE RECALLED

United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 10 a.m.)

SYDNEY, this day. During a test flight yesterday prior to departing for Canberra and Melbourne to-day, one of the record-breaking Vickers Wellesley bombers has compelled to make a forced landing in a ploughed field near Richmond. The crew of five was uninjured, but severely shaken.

The machine was considerably damaged. The undercarriage was buckled, the wheels were stripped, a wing was torn off, the propellers were severely bent and the engine was embedded in the ground.

Mr. Malcolm Smith, a farmer, who was engaged in harrowing, had to fall on his face to avoid being struck by a wing of the aeroplane, and his horse bolted.

The paddock where the mishap occurred belonged to Mr. Smith, whose father was decapitated by an Air Force plane, which had to force a landing three years ago in the same paddock. Mr. R. Somerville, the pilot of this particular ‘plane later married Mr. Smith’s daughter. Mr. Somerville was afterwards killed in an Air Force ‘plane crash at Point Cook.

That website is quite something, I learnt more about the Wellesley than I ever thought I could. 

I do recall the footprints for walkways on the wing from,  I think,  the Matchbox 1/72 kit, which is odd because I think it was a friend who built it not me!

Can anyone direct me at more pictures of that funky Shell fueller, without disrupting the thread too much, please? Uncle Google is not helping today.

Well, you learn something new every day.  Taken from this chap’s page:-   https://dingeraviation.net/wellesley/wellesley.html

The unusual configuration of the Wellesley often confuses the casual observer. The canopy over the gunner’s position looks a little like a “second cockpit” and some people assume the aircraft could be piloted from there, serving as a two-seat trainer aircraft. In fact, Vickers had designed a complete “drop-in” set of modules and controls, complete with a new fixed windscreen but otherwise open cockpit, to allow for the aircraft to be converted to just that purpose (described and illustrated in the Wellesley’s service manual, AP1524A). However this seems to have been rarely, if ever, used.

I’d love to know how much use was made of this conversion.  If I were still researching down at The National Archives, I’d have added this topic to my to-do list.  Sadly, I doubt I’ll ever get down there again.

More Wellesley info here:

http://crashsiteorkney.com/the-mystery-of-wellesley-k7734.html#/

I wonder what happened to the tailwheel that was found floating off the Norwegian coast and was identified from part numbers as coming from a Wellesley?

Thanks Duggy

Taken at Parafield .

Duggy, great photos, thanks. Can’t recognise the airfield. RAAF Richmond?

AM, I acknowledge being wrong on the LDF Wellesleys, but in honour of the new Trump era I need to say that I didn’t say that and it’s going to be great, really great, when we get to the bottom of this well of Wellesley whimsy. Luckily your AM has date stamped these photos Oct 1937. Surely this is a gunners cockpit converted into a Trainer version?  The AM would not lie, AM.