Well I’d love to see them, Steve, if there’s any way you can bring all the loose ends together. And judging by the views this thread is scoring, many others would enjoy them too!

I wish I’d taken more when I had the opportunity, even tho’ I was on the scene long after the end of the mega-scrap era.

Meanwhile, here’s another one. Not a scrapyard this time but proving that there IS still stuff buried in the ground. This is the famous quarry in Cumbria, not that many years ago. There was plenty of Albemarle structure around, as well as Tiger Moth and other stuff.

What’s disappointing about these scrapyard threads is how so few of us have been able to contribute photos.

I am way too young to have been around in the “golden era” of mass scrapping, but I understand that “scrap spotting” in the ’50s was almost a hobby in it’s own right.

There must be loads of photos similar to Mark 12’s out there somewhere.

Wish a few more would show up here!

[PHP]682al what was the throttle box from?[/PHP]

…specifically, it was from whichever Defiant was the Mk. II prototype. The serial number (cannot recall what it was…N…something or other) was pencilled onto the inside face of the removeable front panel.

No more spade grip piccies for now, but here’s “me mate” surveying the scrap pile that they came out of.

Bear in mind this is c.1980 and some of those sections you can see are Typhoon and Tempest…

These are a bit more mundane.

Chipmunk cockpit sections rescued by individual members of the Northern Aircraft Preservation Society in the early ’70s, from Watson’s Yard in Staffordshire.

I think there were at least three or four and I wouldn’t mind betting that they are all still around somewhere and maybe one or two are now flying.

That Lanc must have been one of the last in service with the School of Maritime Reconnaisance as it’s in the final blue scheme that was introduced for the Shackleton. sigh….

flying Typhoons to be scrapped near Birmingham.

It may have been Lichfield, to the East of Birmingham or maybe High Ercall, in Shropshire, to the North-West. I think both sites “did” Typhoons.

I talked to a bloke who lived in a farmhouse on the edge of High Ercall. As a lad, during the war, he used to sneak onto the aerodrome and watch the flying.

One day, a Lancaster taxied by, along the perimeter track. Someone in the crew must have spotted him, because the Lanc stopped, the rear door opened and he was beckoned. They gave him a ride round the ‘drome but he was disappointed that he didn’t get a flight!

After the war, the fields around the ‘drome were covered in aircraft awaiting scrapping. A favourite game of his was to get into a Halifax, climb through one of the escape hatches onto the mainplane and then cross the field, from corner to corner by jumping the few feet that seperated each wing tip.

“There must have been hundreds of ’em”. 🙁

The spade grips mostly have the Dunlop pneumatic gun firing buttons and are Typhoon and/or Tempest. You will also see quite a few of the later Spitfire type with the rectangular gun firing control for the Hispano/Browning equipped versions. We found the remains of a Lysander column with one of those attached, too.

I don’t get pestered too often these days, I think everyone knows how cantankerous I can be when it comes to parting with stuff. “…find me one I haven’t got and I’ll think about it!” 😉

Here’s my first Frazer Nash FN150 turret (Lancaster mid-upper). This photo was taken after it had been loaned to the Air Gunners Association for a few years. They had done some basic cleaning and installed some (mostly) fake bits to make it look more complete. These are all stripped out and are lying in front of it, so what you see is pretty much the turret that I bought from a Staffordshire scrapyard in 1971 for £5. I don’t recall there being any others in the yard but it’s a long time ago. There were at least two Lanc undercarriage legs lying next to the turret but they were too heavy to shift!

You’re right about the Wellington fuselage and there’s also a Lancaster or Lincoln nose lying next to the Tempest, EJ660 – you can see the Wireless Op’s position quite clearly.