The accepted wisdom in the spotter fraternity is that two dismantled Su-27 were flown to the US some long time back, with Belarus being the prime cndidate for source.

Or else a Chinese CJ-6

I hesitate to get involved in this one but I have gone back to various ICAO sources.

Articles 17-20 of the Chicago Convention just states the following:

CHAPTER III

NATIONALITY OF AIRCRAFT

Article 17

Nationality of aircraft

Aircraft have the nationality of the State in which they are registered.

Article 18

Dual registration

An aircraft cannot be validly registered in more than one State, but its registration may be changed from one State to another.

Article 19

National laws governing registration

The registration or transfer of registration of aircraft in any contracting State shall be made in accordance with its law and regulations.

Article 20

Display of marks

Every aircraft engaged in international air navigation shall bear its appropriate nationality and registration marks.

Article 21

Report of registrations

Each contracting State undertakes to supply to any other contracting State or to the International Civil Aviation Organization, on demand, information concerning the registration and ownership of any particular aircraft registered in that State. In addition, each contracting State shall furnish reports to the International Civil Aviation Organization, under such
regulations as the latter may prescribe, giving such pertinent data as can be made available concerning the ownership and control of aircraft registered in that State and habitually engaged in international air navigation. The data thus obtained by the International Civil Aviation Organization shall be made available by it on request to the other contracting States.

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You will also find reference to Annex 7

ANNEX 7 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation

Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks

How are aircraft classified and identified, and how can you tell aircraft nationality?

These are but two of the questions answered in the briefest ICAO Annex, which deals with aircraft nationality and registration marks, and, in a separate table, classifies aircraft by how they maintain sustained flight in the air.

The Annex is based on Articles 17 to 20 of the Chicago Convention. The ICAO Council adopted the first Standards concerning this issue in February 1949, based on recommendations from the first and second sessions of the
Airworthiness Division, held in 1946 and 1947 respectively. Since then only four amendments have been made to the Annex. The latest edition is the fifth one, issued in 2003.

The first amendment introduced the definition of a “rotorcraft”, and modified requirements related to the location of nationality and registration marks on wings. The second amendment redefined the word “aircraft”, the use of which
became effective in 1968; it also implemented a decision that all air-cushion-type vehicles, such as hovercraft and other ground-effect machines, should not be classified as aircraft.

Since Article 77 of the Convention permits joint operating organizations, Amendment 3 was introduced to define “Common Mark”, “Common Mark Registering Authority” and “International Operating Agency”, to enable aircraft of international operating agencies to be registered on other than a national basis. The determining principle of the related provisions is that each international operating agency must be assigned a distinctive common mark by ICAO, this being selected from a series of symbols included in the radio call signs allocated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The fourth amendment, adopted in 1981, introduces provisions related to registration and nationality marks for unmanned free balloons.
The fifth amendment, adopted in 2003, introduces a new requirement for the Certificate of Registration to carry an English translation if issued in a language other than English.

The Annex sets out procedures for selection by ICAO Contracting States of nationality marks from the nationality symbols included in the radio call signs allocated to the States of Registry by the ITU.

It sets standards for the use of letters, numbers and other graphic symbols to be used in the nationality and registration marks, and spells out where these characters will be located on different types of airborne vehicles, such as lighter-thanair aircraft and heavier-than-air aircraft.

This Annex also calls for the registration of the aircraft, and provides a sample of this certificate for use by ICAO Contracting States. This certificate must be carried in the aircraft at all times, and an identification plate, bearing at least the aircraft’s nationality, or common mark and registration mark, must be affixed in a prominent position to the main entrance.

Years of considerable effort permit the classification of aircraft to be as simple as possible, and yet encompass as many types of flying machines as the human mind can devise.

—————————-

What you then need to read is Amendment 5 to Annex 7. I can’t find a direct link to the actual ICAO document but on the NZ CAA site you find the following where the list the ICAO text and their statement of compliance with it (deleted below)

CHAPTER 2. NATIONALITY, COMMON AND REGISTRATION
MARKS TO BE USED

2.1

The nationality or common mark and registration mark shall consist of a group of characters.

2.2

The nationality or common mark shall precede the registration mark. When the first character of the registration mark is a letter it shall be preceded by a hyphen.

2.3

The nationality mark shall be selected from the series of nationality symbols included in the radio call signs allocated to the State of Registry by the International Telecommunication Union.

The nationality mark shall be notified to the International Civil Aviation Organization.

2.4

The common mark shall be selected from the series of symbols included in the radio call signs allocated to the International Civil Aviation Organization by the International Telecommunication Union.

Note.— Assignment of the common mark to a common mark registering authority will be made by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

2.5
The registration mark shall be letters, numbers, or a combination of letters and numbers, and shall be that assigned by the State of Registry or common mark registering authority.

2.6
When letters are used for the registration mark, combinations shall not be used which might be confused with the five-letter combinations used in the International Code of Signals, Part II, the three-letter combinations beginning with Q used in the Q Code, and with the distress signal SOS, or other similar urgent signals, for example XXX, PAN and TTT.

Note.— For reference to these codes see the currently effective International Telecommunications Regulations.

CHAPTER 5. TYPE OF CHARACTERS FOR NATIONALITY,
COMMON AND REGISTRATION MARKS

5.1
The letters shall be capital letters in Roman characters without ornamentation. Numbers shall be Arabic numbers without ornamentation.

******
Probably if you had access to the actual ICAO document you would see this there but I’m happy with this.

From the Wkipedia link “West Meon Tunnel is currently used to store caravans and other building supplies together with a large amount of Cold War era scrap left behind from the aircraft storage and breaking during the 80’s”

Is this where the Lasham scrap dump aircraft ended up?

It would be nice if they could get the serial correct…

Another link realting to Lots Road which mentions the removal of two of the chimneys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lots_Road_power_station

Did anybody hear the Radio 4 programm PM the other night? They asked BAA for a spokesperson to comment on the situation but no one was available so they played the sound of a B747 taking off instead.