Wings in a shed

Ah, the Welsh Wooden Wings story.

Not far away from here in wild, North-west Wales, near the town of Pwllheli, there is a large estate, known as Broom Hall. Broom Hall is not far from Butlins. Mr Billy Butlin is known to have visited often in his own aircraft (sorry, I don’t know what type).

Ever the businessman, he introduced pleasure flights for the holidaymakers in DeHavilland Rapides operating from Broom Hall.

Back in the mid ’90’s, I was asked to have a look at a couple of wings in a shed at Broom Hall. The grounds were being revamped, and the buildings were being made habitable by humans, so the wings had to go. But at least someone had the foresight to contact the local airfield. Hence my visit.

Leaning against one wall were two wooden wings. Fabric long gone and with corroded metal fittings, but wood in beautiful condition. The channelled spars and leading edge slats made identification relatively easy. Into the back of my van they went.

For the last 15 years or so, they have resided in the museum at Caernarfon, one of them attached to the ‘Tiger Moth’.

One of my minor contributions to the preservation of aviation history.

camlobe

Luton Minor Wings

Nothing wrong with Luton Minor wings that an extra 4 feet would’nt cure.
Per side that is.

Thanks Roger for the background to the Luton Minor wing pics. I hope that you didn’t mind me posting them, they were part of a set of ‘mystery’ images that I acquired when I took over running the Luton Minor website.

Would you have any problem if I ran them as a story on www.lutonminor.com ?

Hi Roger – Nice to see those shots of the now-extinct leather elbow patches so beloved of Physics teachers in days gone by 🙂

Yeah, yeah, so you went to a posh school – at my Secondary Modern they were Science teachers :D:D:D

Roger Smith.

Connah’s Quay “wings” – Update.

The building which houses the “wings” in Connahs Quay has been located but it has recently been vacated and locked up.

A regular eye is being kept on the place by our Man In Wales to see if anyone turns up or the owners who, it has been said, are going into liquidation, can be traced so that a few photographs of the aircraft parts can be obtained.

A local businessman has confirmed that the aircraft parts are there, we just need to find out what they comprise.

More information will be posted when we have it.

Anon

Hi Roger – Nice to see those shots of the now-extinct leather elbow patches so beloved of Physics teachers in days gone by 🙂

A fascinating thread this.

Meanwhile, as a Minor diversion, can anyone shed any light on the story befind these ‘wings in a barn’?

These are two of my photos taken during the recovery of this pair of wings by the Midland Aircraft Preservation Society from a farm near Edinburgh around 1969. Bob Ogden and I (Chairman and Secretary of MAPS) had found them on an earlier “tour” of Scotland and thought them to be from prototype Luton Minor G-AEPD – last heard of at Macmerry, Edinburgh (Jackson I think). The farmer/owner said that the fuselage/tail had been destroyed when a car had reversed into it many years before and was happy for us to come and take the wings away.
So, a few weeks later, I drove the MAPS’ Morris J4 van equiped with several members and camping gear. The moustachioed chap prominent in both pictures is Jim Titford – for many years MAPS ‘chief engineer’. We certainly got dusty getting them down from the barn roof.
We never proved the link with G-AEPD but took the opportunity a while later to take out the registration G-BAPC as it was a long-term hope to rebuild to flight. The Midland AM sold the wings quite a long time back but I believe they still exist.

Roger Smith.

Not quite on-topic either but whatever happened to the GAL Hotspur wings that were in a garage in Aldershot?

Wings in Staffordshire area

sorry if this is hijacking the thread but talking of wings I was told years ago that while searching for aircraft parts in the ‘Staffordshire’ area Mike Cookman found a pair of wings (I think via a tip off from a local ATC unit) that were being used as a fence on a farm. Unfortunately I believe Mike passed away so was never able to confirm anything….anyone else hear about that? Like many area Staffordshire in general was stacked full of aircraft being scrapped in the 40’s and indeed many parts had been rescued over the years from the brownhills scrap yard.

This has been bugging me for years so any confirmation of these (postive or negative) would be fantastic

Dave

Are they Luton Minor?

I was told they may be. However the ‘Comper Connection’ is interesting too!

Meanwhile I can promise that these ‘wings in a barn’, WILL be flying again soon!

Welsh wings

Hi ST,

We’ve had a chap up there but he was unable to gain access to the building.

Some sort of proxy contact has been established so we should be able to take a look fairly soon. I’ve made a provisional arrangement to go there next Wednesday.

I’ll report back any finds with, hopefully, a pic or two.

Anon.

Hi Anon the building in question is behind the monogrammed gates as you come into Dock Road from the High Street. At the alleyway to the left of Willprint. You can see the gates on Google Streetview.

Gloster Gladiator?

This is Shuttleworths Comper Swift wing. Sorry not the best photo. I have a few wings in my shed!

Dave

Barn Wings !!

Low n Slow
A “Production” Comper wing has a large notch (approx 30 degrees) from just behind the front spar “pin fitting” to allow for wing folding.Not quite in your images so unable to confirm.
The aileron control is by a single “push pull” rod under the wing.

Wings i/d

These may be a pair of Comper Swift wings found by a member of the Manchester-based NAPS (now The Aeroplane Collection) way back.

They were in store in the Wigan area for many years after and comprised some of the “re-discovered” Comper Swift parts reported in the aviation press two or three years ago and now with (I think) the RAF Museum.

In fact, on looking at the photo again, the building they are in looks very much like the store near Wigan I just mentioned, as there appear to be other aircraft parts there. I will “phone a friend” and see what he thinks.

Anon.

Are they Luton Minor?

A fascinating thread this.

Meanwhile, as a Minor diversion, can anyone shed any light on the story behind these ‘wings in a barn’?

(pics I now know, from Roger Smith!)

I think I remember Ray saying something about the DH 10 wings, but the wings he told me about had not been recovered in the mid/late 80’s.

The possible Cauldron parts sound interesting, I hope they still exist & are rescued soon.

Cheer’s.
Mark.

In 1976 I mentioned to Ray that an old wing was being used as a shelf in a shed / barn in Warwickshire. It turned out to be a WW1 wing of D.H origin. We were told we could have it if we took the barn down. As a result Ray and I spent a happy three days rescuing the wing, which is now in store at Stafford. The garage doors to the house were made of WW1 wings covered on the outside in plywood.

Strange how these things turn up. In about 1993 I recieved a call from a complete stranger who lived near Henly on Thames. He was converting a barn to a house and wanted rid of three plywood covered wing spars which were placed edge on edge to form a wall. Thanks to the efforts of the Tamworth Aviation group I was able to rescue them, but no museum wanted one. I thought at the time they were Hamilcar but when eventually they were donated to the Horsa project at Shawbury, it turned out that they were Horsa centre section spars to which the undercarriage is fitted. One of the spars is now in America.

What else is still out there?