Woodford aerodrome Avro Cheshire UK

From a thread in happier days.

AVRO 701 ATHENA WOODFORD C1948-50 

Ok, Jason.h, I see where you are coming from regarding the digging, it was obviously a Council Farm .That would make it more of a problem, There would definitely be no human remains as you said it landed undamaged, as for ordnance, they would have been pretty irresponsible to leave anything in it before burying it, but who knows.                                     Good luck with it and keep us updated on your progress.

It does sound an unlikely story but then again, after the fun of the Burma Spitfires, who’d have thought someone would dig up a wing on Orkney?

Perhaps the Woodford ATC and/or fire station logs are available and may provide more information? BAe Heritage?

Hi, in response to Pogno and Sopwith, the land is owned by Macclesfield council, the plane was “government” owned, presumably RAF, and apparently was brand new, but been stood for a number of years after the war- you absolutely cannot just dig it up due to the ministry (and yourself) being liable should human remains or ordnance remain at the site, hence my need to obtain more details- apart from knowing the eye witnesses for 30+ years, i have heard similiar accounts but all lacking further detail.

I had thought of something along those lines but I don’t think I would ever have remembered the aircraft name.

The single engine Avro Athena trainer is a type that could easily be misidentified as a Hurricane or Barracuda, Merlin powered too. They were unusual for Avro who specialised on multi engine bombers and they were flying from Woodford around the time in question, the customer (RAF) was less than enthusiastic about them so the odd one getting lost or misplaced might not be impossible. One was given the civilian registration G-ALWA, that one crashed fatally at Stradbroke in Suffolk in 1951. 

One VR570 is listed as crashing at Woodford prior to delivery 20th March 1950, could this have been outside the airfield and while still Avro owned.

Other Athena ‘s were broken up at Woodford too.

All were scrapped at various places by 1955/56. 

              Richard

Does the land still belong to your friends family, and was the aircraft owned by the Crown or by a private company? Seems to me whoever owned it relinquished the title to it by being awkward and not removing it when they had the chance. Just dig it up.

This sounds horribly like another “Buried Burmese Spitfires” type story.

^^^^   Do you say you know where it is ? someone has stuck a red “new ”  label across your post 🙁 . Mentioning buried aeroplanes on this forum can lead to interesting replies 🙂 .

It was buried out of spite, as the farmer was told it wasnt his to scrap, but they refused to collect it as there wasnt enough space for it to take-off- i know exactly where it is!

I am just wondering what happened to it, if it landed undamaged. Surely your friends would have known where it went to especially as it was on their ground and they were avid plane spotters. If it was intact there would be nothing to dig for unless someone dug a hole and buried it some years later, which seems unlikely as it would have probably been worth more in scrap than all the effort to bury it.

Anyway good luck with your search, hope  you are successful.

There is literally no information about it-  during a visit many many years ago to a air museum ( i have sadly forgotten which now) i spoke to two volunteers there who knew all about it, but didnt give it much thought at the time, as i (wrongly) presumed it was common knowledge.My friend and his brother, both avid plane spotters but sadly deceased now, witnessed the whole event  saying that the craft took off normally, but after gaining height there was a sudden ominous silence and there it landed, undamaged- apparently “it was like brand new” and something they often talked about- i was shown where it ended up and have applied for a licence to recover it but am being asked for more details to commence.I knew them for 30 years and cared for one as he grew old and have no reason whatsoever to doubt the story. 

If it (presumably the wing) stalled on take-off, not having achieved a significant height, I find it rather surprising that the machine glided into the field, landed safely and was undamaged. It’s more likely to have spun or dived in, I would have thought.

If the incident occurred in the late fifties and the machine was then abandoned in the field for some time thereafter, I would have thought that it might warrant a mention in the first edition (1961) of Wrecks & Relics. I’ve looked at that and there’s nothing for Woodford in it.

Apparently it had been sat there for a number of years, and 3 mechanics got it running in their spare time, whereupon it was taken “for a spin” by a pilot at Avro at which point it conked out and glided into the field, the pilot walking back to the aerodrome-

Not at all likely to have been a Hurricane in the late 50’s. The late 50’s is also a bit late for a Barricuda. A few lasted until the mid 50’s and then were all withdrawn.