I am merely pointing out that an aircraft such as the Basset, might have limited appeal to the public in general.

A bizarre way of looking at the preservation of our heritage: presumably the sort of thinking which resulted in all our WW1 aircraft individual RFC record cards being binned. It might have seemed like they had ‘limited appeal’ at the time, but many curse that decision in wise hindsight.

Thank goodness that zoos don’t follow the same ‘logic’.

Its worth needs to be gauged in terms of its historical importance: to a historian these invaluable documents add detail and personal aspects to what can otherwise be dry official documents such as squadron ORB’s.

Monetary value very much depends on someone with the right interest being in the right place to buy it. If it’s something I’m researching I’d pay up to £500, but that’s my budget limit. VC actions etc you can name you price, but sadly these type of documents often disappear into collections, never to see the light of day again.

Am I right in assuming she is the only surviving prototype of any frontline WW2 type?

No – the first prototype XP-51 Mustang survives in the EAA Museum. May be others, but that one sprung to mind.

Some months ago I decided to have a go at building a panel/cockpit section of an extinct WW2 type & have finally made a start.

The aircraft type had to meet certain criteria, these were-

1. Must have served with at least one of the British forces during WW2.
2. There shouldn’t be any known survivors.
3. No one else is working on the same type “to save duplication of effort”.
4. Must be of interest to me.
5. Enough drawings should exist “& be obtainable” to allow the building of at least a cockpit section.

I had several in mind- Blackburn Botha, Shark. Handley Page Heyford, Harrow/Sparrow. Hawker Henley. Vickers Wellesley. DeHavilland Albatross. Fairey IIIF, Hendon, Gordon, Seal. Bristol Bombay etc. In the end I chose to have a go at the Bristol Bombay, mainly due to the lack of drawings for most of the other types.

So far I have had the main instrument panel & the pyrometer panel cut out. The Main instrument panel proved somewhat troublesome as the manufacturing drawing for it is missing at this time, I got passed this hurdle by using a copy of the full sized label positioning GA, there were no actual dimensions drawn on it but every hole for the instruments, switches & mounting screws was drawn on the GA, so I had to measure the possition of every hole etc with a rule, I then used the measurements taken from a book on instruments as well as from some of the instruments & switches that I already had, to work out the approximate sizes & shapes of the main holes & the locations of the mounting screw holes.

I had a prototype cut out of steel & fitted some of the instruments etc into it “see photo”, to make sure everything fitted OK, & luckily there was only one screw hole out of possition, & a couple of the main holes were slightly undersize. The CAD drawing I made has now been modified as required, & I am having the main panel etc cut out of of 22g Aluminium, I hope that this will be with me in the next week or so.

I am looking for the following instruments etc & would be pleased to hear from anyone who may have some spare to their own needs.

MK XIIIB ALTIMETER 6A/443.
MK IIIC BOOST GAUGES (-4 +8) 6A/701 OR 6A/699.
ADAPTOR PLATES FOR ABOVE “EARLY TYPE”.
SMITHS FUEL CONTENTS GAUGES TYPES 96-FG 6A/796 & 98-FG 6A/797 “OR ANY OTHER TYPE”.
FUEL CONTENTS SWITCHES 6A/647.
MK I OR IA ARTIFICIAL HORIZON 6A/599, 6A/1289 OR 6A/1059.
MK IXC AIRSPEED INDICATOR 6A/282 (60-240MPH).
MK I DIRECTION INDICATOR 6A/602 OR 6A/1297.
MK IIC ELECTRIC ENGINE SPEED INDICATOR 6A/442 OR 6A/476 (1600-3200RPM).
MK IA OIL TEMPERATURE GAUGES (TRASMITTING TYPE) ANY LENGTH OF CAPILLARY TUBE.
ROTAX TYPE N5CD PUSHBUTTON SWITCHES 5C/857 OR 5CW/857.
ANY MK IV AUTOPILOT CONTROL PARTS.
4 WAY C0CK (AIRCRAFT FITTINGS Ltd B2670).

I am also looking for photo’s etc which show the internals of the Bombay, especially the front fuselage, cockpit, bomb aimers & radio stations, as well as those showing the aircraft being built at Shorts.

I hope to make the panel etc for the autopilot controls next, & maybe the pilots seat after that.
Not sure exactly how far I will go with this project, guess only time etc will tell.

Bob T.

Ps. Should anyone have or know the locations of drawings for any of the other types, please drop me a line :eagerness:.

Just a thought – have you tried the Bristol Aero Collection at Filton? I was there a few weeks ago and they seemed to have a great deal of drawing sets for their Bolingbroke. Can’t guarantee the same goes for the Bombay, but the origin would likely be the same, should they still exist.

I do know that several years ago the original GA drawings for types going as far back as pre-WW2 were being scanned, and among these were a lot of projects which never reached the hardware stage. Of course, no guarantees that production drawings exist among that particular cache, but worth a look?

Without taking one off of a relatively (in looks) complete airframe I think we can pretty much guarantee that there’s one kicking about in another museum or private collection somewhere.

Um..it’s a P-61!!?? Three in existence and that’s it.

Considering it’s in the usually better informed Air and Space (indeed a regular poster here is one of their frequent contributors) it is a bit disappointing.

Yes, I have to say I was a bit surprised too.

Typical ill-researched BS from someone who likes to use ‘classified’ but doesn’t understand its meaning. It’s likely that full mishap files on this one are available, but it’s easier to say, “It’s classified” (which means nothing anyway), than to admit they couldn’t be bothered to look.

“What about the strange red X [sprayed on the wreckage]?”. Not strange at all, but why let the mundane get in the way of a good yarn?

Still, an interesting story to be researched by someone who’d like to put some effort in!