XP688 lost in the depths(literally) of Lancashire

Apologies for the late input on this one but I have only just realised that XP688 is the first JP that I flew in at Manby on 20 July 72. This was a formation trip around Lincolnshire to mark the close of Strubby. I had not realised it was still around.

Sad to hear of its final resting place.:(

Yet as in other walks of life the minority ruin it for the majority

……. scrappies get annoyed about non serious buyers going just to look at an airframe and take pictures. The thought was these time wasters would just speed up the scrapping process.

Yes thats correct.

RIP XL391 🙁

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Very much agree with you Roy,

I have been in the market myself recently and although sources like wrecks and relics are an invalauble guide to sourcing an aircraft these publications dont hold all the answers.

In fact most of my leads came from people I know or through a friend of a friend.

To pool all that information in one source would be very very beneficial not only to prospective buyers but also with regards to saving airframes.

How feasible would it be though? I remember when I posted a thread enquiring about aircraft in srcapyards whilst searching for an airframe.
THe answers I received back (some being a little short and rude) were we dont do that on this forum as scrappies get annoyed about non serious buyers going just to look at an airframe and take pictures. The thought was these time wasters would just speed up the scrapping process.

Im sure there was somestuff out there I would have loved to acquired but missed out on as I was unable to find out details,

A vicsious circle 😀

If none of us coughed up the cash to buy it and preserve it, how can we moan when someone chucks it in a lake ?

We really need a far better means of spreading news like aircraft available than we currently have, the grapevine is good – but it could be better.

Roy.

Mike, many thanks for posting that. It seems strange that CAW continued using the JP4 in 1973, when all the other FTSs had converted to the T.5.
Tried sending you a PM re Macaws, but you have no contact info. Appreciate if you could PM me, as I have an offer to make you? Thanks.

XP 688

You may be interested in this picture of XP688 that i was flying in the Macaws in 1973. Sorry about the quality but i haven’t taken it out of the frame to scan it.

You can’t help wonder if anyone ‘flew’ it to the lake bed.

Might have been a bit problematical sitting in the cockpit in scuba gear and I’m sure there’s a thousand good reasons why not. But you’d be tempted, wouldn’t you?

Moggy

There are also healthy numbers of Strikemasters in Aus and NZ as well as quite a few JPs –

Regards
John P

Relight -It went down in the lake about twelve years ago- I will find the id for you.

ANOTHER ONE ! Help please

Further to the loss of XP688 to a diving lake in Lancashire, i have found out today about ANOTHER JP that has gone down in a diving lake at Gildenburgh near Peterborough !

Could anyone cast any light on it’s identity ?

Worthy replies guys, and some unavoidable truths.
We can’t preserve all of them, but it should’nt stop us noting the plight of historic aircraft, especially when, as is the case with the JP , there are several being scrapped, burnt, cannibalised and even cut up for simulators each year.

I know of at least four JP’s that will be destroyed or simply cease to be restorable airframes within 12 -18 months.At that rate the JP population will be halved in 10 -15 years.

If our awareness of the situation is raised, or constantly refreshed, perhaps the next one we see that is being cut up might be the one when we walk up to the guy with the torch and say ‘hold on a minute, what’s going to happen to this’ ?

– There are two Mk.1s left, both in the UK, one at RAF Cosford, the other with Kennet Aviation.

– One Mk.2 is preserved in Australia.

– The Mk.3 variant is extremely rare, only one flier left based at North Weald.

– The Mk.4 variant survives in smallish numbers, a number were scrapped in the 1970s due to fatigue problems.

– Surviving numbers of the Mk.3A, Mk.5, Mk.5A and Mk.5B JP are very healthy compared to the others.

M

Wouldn’t it be fair to say there’s ‘enough’ JPs in preservation?

There’s flying examples on three continents, I believe (UK, Australia, USA) plus quite a few in preservation in the UK.

Anyone got numbers?

Do we have to ‘preserve’ EVERY old aircraft? How?

As a veteran USMC jet avionics tech, and historic aircraft lover, who normally desires preservation and restoration, and who is also a diver…. all I can say is that she is still doing the job she was made for….. training people!

There are many Marine archeaologists, historians, and similar people who used to be merely recreational divers, but received enlightenment on some “rotting piece of abandoned metal”!

Sitting on the bottom of a lake, creating interest in otherwise non-aviation aware bubbleheads, is much better than being ground up at the recyclers, or rotting in a field & covered in weeds.

Well I hope, and I’m sure, that yours is better looked after! This could have been a nice little restoration project for someone (I’ve seen much worse things brought back) but now it will inevitably become rotting Al2O3 to poison the fish in that lake 🙁

Any pictures of your one around?

That’s the one Albert, a classic era scheme !

To answer your point TobyV , JP’s are still offered for sale intermittently, occasionally for a comparitively reasonable cost, a fairly complete example went for a touch over a £1,000 on ebay recently!

Whilst i,m sure most might argue that this is a good thing, it does mean that these aircraft are within easy reach of whimsical buyers,who don’t care whether it’s an aeroplane or a climbing frame.
Having said this, my example was obtained at a reasonable cost, so i suppose it’s an occupational hazard for JP’s as to who gets them, i can hear several JP undercarriage knees knocking now!

Thanks for posting the pic of XP688 in much happier times Albert.

I think the Macaws embelishments that adorned quite a few Manby JP4’s in the 60’s and 70’s was the best the RAF made of the tacky red / white /grey scheme.

I,ve done a bit of research into the colour schemes that JP’s wore through their service life, consensus is that the original overall bare metal / silver was universally hated by the groundcrews, they apparently they had to rub the whole airframe down with a kind of Brasso to maintain the finish, on a regular basis!
The second overall light aircraft grey was much more popular ,but the dayglo self adhesive strips were prone to severe fading in sunlight making the aircraft look very tatty very quickly.
Hence the final red/white scheme which we were subjected to for decades, and which annoyingly still adorn a vast majority of JP’s.
XS186 will be re-painted shortly , in her second service(1965 – 1968) scheme of light aircraft grey with (painted) dayglo and College of Air Warfare insignia…. sweet !
Photo’s to follow.

Lovely…you mean like this? The light grey was only applied between 1967-68 and not all JPs were finished like this, with most going from silver & dayglo into the red/white/grey scheme.

Thats criminal 😡 🙁 That looked in really good shape too (beforehand). What is it all about, is someone doing a second remake of “Thunderball” on a very tight budget?

Surely that JP cant have come cheap ( I have seen some really for poor condition ones for sale at not-cheap prices) so I cant believe anyone would be this daft?? Its not my favourite aeroplane but I’m sure its great fun.

I noticed on their website that they emptied more than 250 abandoned cars from the lake, cleaning it up. Seems a little ironic that they are now happy to fill it again with our aircraft… and armoured personnel carriers by the looks of it too. What a strange thing to do! Not to mention, wasteful!

Richard