Wellington discovery

Cees,

The front fuselage was largely stripped for de-salination and cleaning. We’ve almost finished building a workshop to house it. As soon as it’s built, the bomb bay will be jacked up inside so we can strip the bomb beams out and clean them properly. There’s still a lot of conservation work to be done before we can start reconstruction. We’re having some success finding the families of the 142 Squadron crews who flew it and the short-term goal is to get the fuselage laid out so they can see it.

We do plan to rebuild the front fuselage – but this is a very long-term goal. The cockpit floor and front turret are quite complete, so can be done. There are numerous parts missing elsewhere, which we are looking for. Last year we recovered the fuselage frames (big D shaped hoops) from another site, so a restoration of the fuselage is now feasible. We have certain rare items such as canopy and many cockpit parts. We’re looking for seats, control column yokes, bombsight, F.24 camera etc etc. Once we can get original equipment back into the crew positions, the public will be able to appreciate what each of the crew members was doing. Needless to say, leads to any parts will be appreciated. Thanks.

Mark

Mark,

Thanks for the update. Please keep us informed about the progress. Perhaps we can locate any parts you might need. I will keep my eyes open.

Cheers

Cees

Thanks Mark, I have sent another possible parts location to you via PM.

Wellingtons at Lindholme and Lossiemouth

According to this website http://www.geocities.com/skrzydla1/305/305_story.html Wellington W5557 crashed on a farm and also killed 3 civillians. If this is true, it sounds as though it was in the farmyard, rather than in a peat bog. Perhaps there was another one in the peat bog? In addition to the 6 foot of wingtip, we have a Wellington stabilizer and fin, all ex St Athan. I originally thought they were from the Brecon Beacons, but having seen the wreckage of the Wellingtons there, I’m not so sure – when I last looked there were bits of tail on both of the major sites which duplicate the parts we have.

The Wellington parts on the beach at Lossiemouth could be from HD985 which crashlanded on 19/1/43, or possibly LR140 which came down in January 1945.

Status of Wellington Z1206

Cees,

The front fuselage was largely stripped for de-salination and cleaning. We’ve almost finished building a workshop to house it. As soon as it’s built, the bomb bay will be jacked up inside so we can strip the bomb beams out and clean them properly. There’s still a lot of conservation work to be done before we can start reconstruction. We’re having some success finding the families of the 142 Squadron crews who flew it and the short-term goal is to get the fuselage laid out so they can see it.

We do plan to rebuild the front fuselage – but this is a very long-term goal. The cockpit floor and front turret are quite complete, so can be done. There are numerous parts missing elsewhere, which we are looking for. Last year we recovered the fuselage frames (big D shaped hoops) from another site, so a restoration of the fuselage is now feasible. We have certain rare items such as canopy and many cockpit parts. We’re looking for seats, control column yokes, bombsight, F.24 camera etc etc. Once we can get original equipment back into the crew positions, the public will be able to appreciate what each of the crew members was doing. Needless to say, leads to any parts will be appreciated. Thanks.

Mark

Does anyone know the serial number or anything more about the Lindholme Wellington, or possible serials of Wellington parts at St Athan please? And yes, to save you asking, I am the Mark Evans who recovered the Wellington front fuselage from the Isle of Lewis in 2002. In my group’s collection we have a six foot length of Wellington wing tip which sounds remarkably like the one refered to by Scotavia. It came from the RAFM before reaching us, so there is a connection. We have never known which site it came from. What else was recovered from the Lindholme site and where did it go?

Mark,

Could you give us any information about the status of the Wellington?
And will it be restored?

Thanks in advance for any trouble taken.

Cheers

Cees

Meanwhile a bit of googling turned up a suggestion from Jim Corbett that the following is the likely ident..
27.09.41
Vickers Wellington II W5557 305 Sqn. Lindholme

Sgt E Buszko pilot (K)
Sgt J S Leyche pilot (Died of Injuries)
Sgt W Wasilenko navigator (Died of Injuries)
Sgt T Korczuk wireless operator/air gunner (Died of Injuries)
P/O Bardzo wireless operator/air gunner (Injured)
Sgt Pisarek air gunner (Injured)

Aircraft crashed short of fuel on its return from operations on Cologne at Hatfield Moor near Lindholme, South Yorkshire 0315hrs

Wellington parts and wrecks

Hello Mark, I will have to check my back issues of Aviation Archaeologist mag. I wrote about my visit to St Athan in the mag.
Also displayed were sections of Wellington from the Brecon Beacons. Another group who recovered parts from Brecon were the Second World War Aircraft Preservation Society . Still buried on Lossiemouth beach are the remains of a Wellington, a full survey and recovery has not been carried out,I recall bomb release shackles and a camera lens being found near the surface.Should be interesting for another look, need a metal detector,I would be happy to spend a day looking if you are up this way.

No ghosts, one real wing tip

Does anyone know the serial number or anything more about the Lindholme Wellington, or possible serials of Wellington parts at St Athan please? And yes, to save you asking, I am the Mark Evans who recovered the Wellington front fuselage from the Isle of Lewis in 2002. In my group’s collection we have a six foot length of Wellington wing tip which sounds remarkably like the one refered to by Scotavia. It came from the RAFM before reaching us, so there is a connection. We have never known which site it came from. What else was recovered from the Lindholme site and where did it go?

surely for bodies to be recovered there must have been some fuselage?

More like fragmented human remains among fragmented remains of what used to be a fuselage of some description.

Cheers

Cees

re

surely for bodies to be recovered there must have been some fuselage?

ref ghost stations books

😀

……..i personally have found the books to be the biggest load of s*** going!
I never got past a few of them either, as the guy was so far up his own backside, it was unbelievable! One of the things that really narked me was how he kept on going on about himself being ex P & SS (RAFP), etc etc etc.

FACT:- P & SS (p*** and wind as we called them) DO NOT investigate hauntings!

Still, if you’re sat on the loo and miserable……pick up one of the aforementioned books – it’s guaranteed to make you laugh!!

tim

The Wellington wreckage was never proved to be the source of the ghost stories although the recovery was connected by many people to the mixed hauntings.After all no ghost ever came up and said”Could you recover our crashed Wellington ,its at this position……etc” Like many wrecks the Wellington was in a very marshy area and deemed outside salvage efforts during wartime. I can recall only small sections at St Athan including about six foot of wing, it was not a full recovery.

I believe the series ran up to Volume 8, or something like?

I never got beyond Ghost Stations 2, the rest seemed to get increasingly bizarre and more padded out with UFO related stories.

Our own haunted airfields thread is a better read!

Just my opinion but having read these books, they appear to be quite badly researched with various stories based mainly on third party heresay and the conclusions in some cases, pure speculation on the part of the author without any further investigation on what ‘it’ might have been ever taking place, the implication often being that this is totally unneccesary: CASE CLOSED!

Perhaps I’m missing the point but I always prefer books about the paranormal (or anything for that matter) to go into far more detail and not be along the lines of:

‘I was told by a close friend that her old friend, WRAF officer ***** was alone in the control tower one day in the early 1980’s at Scampton and fleetingly saw a black dog out of the corner of her eye on the harstanding’

Then, usually a lot of regurgitated waffle and the assertion that there were definately no dogs on the base at that time (or similar assertion depending on the story) and then the conclusion (again to be altered to suit the story) along the lines of:

‘It must be Guy Gibsons dog as it was two weeks short of the anniversary of the dams raid, quite close to the anniversary of Guy Gibsons death and is believed to be around the anniversary of the time that the dog also died’

I’m not suggesting the stories proffered by Mr Barrymore-Halfpenny and his witnesses are’nt true or are simply made up, I’m stating that I just find it annoying that there is a lot of scope for a cracking set of well researched books here which appears to have been wasted. If I had the time, I would love to have a go myself but alas, don’t have any time to spare for the forseeable future due to work commitments e.t.c.

Ghost Stations 2 is a book.

Moggy

This sounds interesting. Anyone got more info about this one?
Also, what is Ghost Stations 2?
Thanks,
Barry:)

Is that the one connected with “Lindholme Willy”?

yes it was true, parts were displayed at the St Athan museum for a while.