R6915In the early 1970’s I was working in the Aldershot / Farnborough area and knew one or two of the groups of friends (including the Dan -Air lads) who used to follow up on a variety of stories about ‘lost aircraft stored or forgotten’ in the general area keeping in mind that the RAE, the Army had an enormous portfolio of supposedly non trespass land in north Hampshire and southern Surrey at that time. Around that time the new M3 motorway went through some of the RAE spare land in the general area of the Gas Turbine Research Establishment a sub establishment of Farnborough.
These small groups did find a few artifacts that include the old build plate and panel. Some were identified but I think most were not. That said I was shown two German plates they said came from a Me410. It was accompanied by a story that said the land clearance blokes working through thick (pine and bramble) woodland near the GTRE on the M3 construction job were told to remove all big structures of any kind that they came across. The tale included the comment they had found two or three aircraft badly overgrown in the woodland and were told to dig a pit deeply, bulldose the aircraft into it, cover and move on – fast.
That area always provided a fund of similar stories. It was said, for example, that the OLD main gate at the RAE built post WW1 used a large quantity of Wolsley and or Hispano surplus engines from SE5 production (?) as road hardcore infill when all production aircraft build contracts were cancelled overnight. That cancellation caused the sudden demise of many munitions manufacturers across the country (Sopwith for one example). Needless to say, just one of many local myths never proven to have had any substance!
R6915Re thread Nr. 160 and the Hampshire railway tunnels I would suggest a look at http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/tunnels/gallery/privett.html
There are references to the two tunnels on this rail line and you will see confirmation of this ‘urban myth’. Whilst this website mentions the 1980’s as a time of aircraft scrapping, there was an earlier forage by some Dan Air engineers around 1971 – 1973 in case some useful spares just might be found. Answer then … nothing at all.
In their spare time at Lasham a group of them were working on the Dan Air retired York (now at Dx ?) to see if they could get it flying again. It had been used apparently by a local Scout Troop as a meeting venue alongside a retired Comet (I think) parked alongside the York. I recall they were both parked under the trees with the tails backing on to the lane running past the airfield.
Across the lane opposite the Lasham airfield were the fields where the now nearly forgotten aircraft scrap yard also existed.
All apparently came to nought when they found the York’s main spar had some corrosion. But thankfully the York was saved for static display.
R6915I was able to talk to a number of the old Supermariner’s association about twenty five years ago and one of the topics that caused several of them some amusement was this one. It seems the design office was under a lot of pressure in late 1935 and only easy fix was to use as much of the system from the Walrus production line as they could. Just like adapting the rudder pedals as well some one added!
R6915Re the mention of ‘Salisbury Spitfires’ a slight drift but, have you had a look at
https://www.secretspitfires.com/
A recently produced film showing earlier this month at cinemas in Southampton and Salisbury. A really good worthwhile production of archive that was crowd funded.
R6915After a little delay a few more images. taken by the late Mike Nash and in Bob Ballard’ s archive.. At North Weald, May1968
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R6915It’s great seeing these images again and very interesting to see the increasingly vibrant (NOT over vibrant) colours emerging out of the blue emulsion overcast on the newly cleaned up images. It seems that Photoshop has been improved over the past 7 or 8 years!
Looking closely at an expanded view of https://postimg.org/image/4o4yn13rv/ is that one of the two seat Buchon’s coming in to land ? Or am I going cross eyed again?
R6915Steve 611 asks a question about Castle Bromwich records. A much missed member of the Spitfire Society in the ‘old days’ was Philip Insley. Philip was Chairman of the Eastern Region of the society and was a professional archivist and historian for one of the East Anglian councils if I remember correctly. HIS father was, I believe, the Manager of the Castle Bromwich main stores and saved a large amount of old stores and personnel records plus photographs of the production areas. Phillip inherited the collection and was always able to check information for me when I was editing the society’s journal.
Philip died suddenly possibly around 2002 – 2005. Although ‘we’ made strenuous efforts to find the archive through Eastern Region members we never did find out where it went although a family member apparently said that they had given it away! Maybe someone on this Forum can help further although in common with my friend Steve 611 I too am not connected with the society.
R69151. I echo posts 35 and 37. It is a delight to see Sim’s #34 post and a large selection of his film set photos. Some more of the background story to these photos may be interesting to a few members of this Forum.
In the autumn of 2010 I was editing the Spitfire Society Journal SPITFIRE. A member (Bob Ballard) sent in several images he had taken of the BofB film set at North Weald. I always asked permission of photographers to both use and show submitted images. I scanned Bob’s images and sent them to Mark Xll for his comments as some of the images would go into the journal. ‘Mark’ provided further informative detail that he had accumulated and would be used in the SPITFIRE SURVIVORS volume that he was working at every waking hour of the day at that time!
A day or so later I received an email from an unknown name who said “ I’m SIM I’ve got about forty images I took on slide film when I was seconded from the RAF as a ‘radio tech’ to Tablada in Spain where a fleet of Spanish Air Force redundant Hispano Buchons and airworthy CASA 2.111’s and a couple JU52’s – had been borrowed from the Spanish Air Force. Would the Spitfire Society be interested to have a look at them? I phoned ‘Mark’ and told him that more images had turned up from another source and I had permission to show them to him. The images were copied across to him. Nether of us could believe the coincidence of how two collections had emerged within 48 hours.
The slide images were then about forty years old and the emulsion had suffered. ‘Mark’ asked if I would use them in the society journal? I said – you bet! He offered to clean them up in Photoshop and add some informative captions. Despite the pressure of SPITFIRE SURVIVORS he did them in a just a few days. How, I do not know, but, that’s the way he is. The results were remarkable.
We published them in SPITFIRE in two parts, Spring and Autumn 2011. In terms of the historic aviation publishing world I suppose it was a scoop. From Society members, just a deafening silence. Dilip Sarkar did see them and said that he wished that the late Robert Rudhall had seen them before he died. That would have been very satisfying.
I would add just a last personal thought. There is an image not on Sim’s on line gallery. He took some images of the aerial armada flying to the UK. It included an air to air shot of the by then, only two seat Buchon. Thinking of the work that has gone on at Sywell this year it would make an interesting comparison to see it!
I hope Forumites will excuse my liberty in taking up all this space but SIM, MARK Xll and Bob B at the time never had the thanks that they deserved for all they did for those of us who are interested in this topic. I hope this makes up for it.
R6915Don’t forget the national organisation Mens Sheds google, menssheds.org.uk/ they describe themselves as “A Men’s Shed is a larger version of the typical man’s shed in the garden – a place where he feels at home and pursues practical interests.” .
Their website this morning says that they have 432 affiliated ‘sheds’ across the UK. I’m not a member yet but with one just getting set up locally it has some attraction to me.
R6915I also vote for the Soviet UTI scheme!
R6915Looking at an enlarged photo image on computer screen in post # 15 and the hill beyond the top of the starboard wing it is very similar to today’s view of the South Downs in the area around Halnaker windmill. One website
states that from the top of the Chichester Cathedral tower in 1944 nine airfields were visible. Five were established RAF airfields and four were ALG’s. Most probably any of those nine sites could have provided a similar view. The inland coastal plain is very flat. I also note there’s a serial number of the image shown in the bottom right hand corner – does that suggest any source / archive identity where an alternative view of the Spitfire in question might be uncovered?
R6915For me, it has to be either the Mark l or the T9. Just watch the light weight Mark l Spitfire as it takes off from grass and compare how the heavier Mark Vb is less skitish and more stable. Follow that with a T9 and you notice the greater increased weight and balance on the same grass strip is much more refined – and faster. The Mark l looks as Mitchell’s team designed it in 1934. The nine looks to me as it is, a greatly expanded design and interesting in its own right – and because I got to fly in the back of one!
R6915Hi Steve611,
Two extra thoughts to add the ever increasing lists of suggestions.
Amberley Chalk Pits Museum (don’t laugh!) in west Sussex. There is a small dedicated aviation section within their larger radio / wireless / TV history building. Frequently has a ‘technical gent’ beavering away in the a radio shack. Collection includes a partial Lancaster replica bulkhead / frame that holds appropiate communications equipment.
Next, I think I recall a group using one of the small buildings near the V1 ski slope on Duxford airfield. They had an interesting display – but I cannot remember any details at some distance.
R6915If it’s lost marbles you might wish to find there’s another location – if you are brave – Silvermere Golf Complex, Redhill Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1EF. Barnes Wallis’s home at the time was at Effingham not far away, if I recall correctly. For many years the Silvermere Lakes were just a natural landscape feature in woodland and adjacent to his journey from home to his office at the Brooklands Works of Vickers Armstrongs a further two miles away.
The lakes also happened to be very close to Vicker’s R & D workshops that were two hangars built in the woods and known as Foxwarren. ( Their Metal Mosquito’s were bullt in there and not in Brooklands Works for example). This location in turn was nice and handy for getting aircraft built in there down to the test airfield at Wisley a couple of miles away beside the London to Guildford A3 main road.
These days its a posh building development that includes the Golf Complex. So, be brave, and duck the flying golf balls in the lake area!
R6915This thread jogs my memory. My late father was on the staff of V-A Ltd working at Wisley from 1943. He was aboard the Viking prototype that went into a field at one end of the Wisley runway on June 22nd 1946.
Later he was also aboard the Nene Viking flying at high altitude when it was forced to land after being intercepted by several Meteors whose pilots apparently said later that they could not believe what they were seeing – an ‘airliner’ at that altitude ? At a later date he was nominated by the company to be one the V-A reps loosely attached to the King’s / Queen’s Flight.
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