OK Brian just for you…another shot from Ford!

Looking through the notes that I have describing days flying display, try and picture this..Stream take of by 19 sea Hawks of 802, 804 & 898 Sq, display and stream landing of same… Next up RATO take off of six Fireflys + display.

This followed by stream take off of 12 Sea Fury’s, 2 Gannets, 8 Wyverns… ‘Carrier’ take off demonstration by, 6 Avengers, 10 Fireflys, 12 Sea Furys, 9 Wyverns and 19 Sea Hawks! Formation displays, mock attack on airfield by same!! + Choppers, Tiger Moth, Glider and other quieter items!!

Boy did they put on a show, must have sounded awesome. I guess now I can understand why it made such an impression on the young Possel!

Chumpy.

Alas I am far to young and loverly to have been there!!…However several years back I acquired the spotting log that belonged to an old boy from Bournemouth, now sadly passed away.

He was a keen spotter back in the 50s kept very detailed notes, looking back to JULY 3rd 1954 (rather than June). I have his log for the RNAS Ford show, what an amazing day it must have been, vast numbers of aircraft to be seen flying and on static display…Avengers, Fireflys, Wyverns, Sea Hawks, Sea Furys etc!!!

The notes run to about six pages of ‘foolscap’ listing serials, codes types etc. way too much to transcribe, but I am more than happy to send you scans of the pages if you wish? ( let me know you email via PM).

He (Peter) also took a few snaps that day, found one of them amongst the collection, Firefly VH127. Will do a bit more digging se if I can find more.

Amongst the notes a mention of Dragonfly WG720 ‘Flying bicycle and magic carpet, comic item’. The mind boggles!!

Cheers, Chumpy.

Hi there,
The short answer to your question would be ‘several’, without specific knowledge of the Battle, Whitley etc it is difficult to say for sure what was actually used by the different manufacturers.

However the most common material used during the WW2 era, for stressed airframe items (ribs, frames, skins etc) would probably be British Standard L.3 alloy.
For non stressed items such as fairings etc a different grade would be used. Many different, specs. grades etc were available, selected for their suitability, availabilty etc.

As for melted down material, whilst the composition could be considered the ‘same’. Its grade and mechcanical properties would be would seriously altered during the melting process.

Cheers, Chumpy.

All over the place it would seem, the attached shot taken at Portsmouth airport just after WW2. Many aircraft scrapped here I am told, by Hants & Sussex Aviation.

Meanwhile somewhere in the south of England…(Seafire wings, maybe Yeovil?)

Further info..yes Cunliffe-Owen etc.