victor45When it was first displayed, it was the sole known survivor. It is still the closest of the three on display to its original condition, bearing in mind that the Elvington aircraft is a complex composite of different Halifaxes and Hastings, with some new bits thrown in, and the Canadian one has been extensively restored using lots of new material.
The point is that it is the responsibility of a museum to preserve history. As soon as you begin to restore something, you are opening it to your own interpretation of how it might have looked, or should look.
As regards Warbirds – they are privately owned, and it is up to the owner how he treats them. National museums dont have that option.
Bruce
Hendon has a duty, to preserve/restore our aviation heritage for others to enjoy(Beverley anyone?) W1048 hasnt been afforded this basic opportunity,therefore, given the length of time hendon has been seen to do little. the museum should allow a consortium of independant interested parties (with the financial clout of course) to present a feasability study/consultation into a comprehensive restoration programme and include the CWH as the yardstick, everyone in the movement knows only too well that she could be restored and to her correct form (there are millions of photographs to peruse) also bring in the CAF in an advisory capacity, this situation would not exsist if we were talking lancaster and we all know it,its really an “attitude “which prevails whenever The Halifax is mentioned in respect of the 39/45 conflict there are those who would argue that Handley Page aircraft contributed little to the final victory look at any general ww2 aircraft book and you,d be hard pressed to find many HP aircraft mentioned in any great detail ,more a case of they were “also there” with the victorious lancasters a spitfire /.hurricane comparison in heavy bomber form ,basically people believe the myth that Avro aircraft (lancasters)won the air war and destroyed german morale single handed.(read any of the so called factual accounts and its just so)therefore making other ww2 aeroplanes also rans this is why W1048 is left to her own devices ,in the general publics eyes Hendon has done its duty by having a halifax to set the record straight regardless of condition thats the bigger picture ,cut it any way you want it all boils down to this Lancs and Spits won the war (only one ever Halifax VC Cyrill Barton,this speaks volumes)everything else failed so why preserve them,fortunately many fine aviation museums do not concur i applaud these wholeheartedly we should be ashamed of the RAF museums stance on W1048 ,they arent god after all:cool: 😎 😎
victor45Didn’t that one form part of a bigger group of exhibitions on one site? I have a postcard somewhere with the aircraft, a rose garden or something, and possibly a butterfly fam too…..
If its the one I vaguely remember as a kid, the very first aircraft I went into was their whirlwind. Some older kid wou;ldnt let me up the stairs to the flight deck and it scarred me for life.
Pretty sure there was a sea venom there too. As I remember it, all the aircraft were parked out on the grass….
Thats a blast from the past…..
edit: a quick search turned this lot up:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=24500
#11 21st April 2004, 21:13
robbelc
Rank 5 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: on the end of the runway at Farnborough
Posts: 699I remember the place well as (apart from Exeter airport) it was the only interesting place on family holidays in Devon in the 70’s! It was very out of the way on a hill with what looked like converted farm buildings providing some shelter. The Messenger,Avian,Proctor and Tiger were under shelter the rest outside..
list from 23/10/78
XJ393 WHIRLWIND
XN351 SKEETER
WV679 PROVEST
XE995 VAMPIRE
XG629 SEA VENOM
WM961 SEA HAWK
XF877 METEOR
WN499 DRAGONFLY
WB758 DHC1
XG544 SYCAMORE
NP184/G-ANYP PROCTOR
RG333/G-AKEZ MESSENGER
G-EBZM AVIAN
G-ANFW DH82
G-ALFT DOVE
Plus hurricane,Spit and Me109 Battle of Britian replicas
thanks for the info,so what happened to all the aircraft?i was aware the replicas werent particulary liked by mr fordyce have they survived as indeed have any of the airframes:cool:
victor45hercules at leeds bradford
hi there bob
i live on the LBA flightpath ,there are always Hercules passing over mainly carrying out practice approaches and some circuits and bumps, they have been in numerous camoflague configurations, some just matt black they are usually around for about forty minutes then break off,
regards vic:cool: 😎 😎
victor45Hi All,
Though I don’t remember any specific episode where the ‘Bush Tucker Man’ came across a wreck, there are a number of contenders in the outback Kimberley region. I used to fly around there in my early days as a pilot back in the late 80’s and there were still wrecks to crawl over to pass the time while waiting for passengers to return from their business.
(i) B-24 Liberator A72-160 crashed at on take off at Truscott in 1945 killing 11 on board. Much of this wreck is still in place today.
(ii) As for a DC3, there is some rusting wreckage of a Dutch Dakota north of Broome at Beagle Bay that was shot down by the Japanese in 1942. It is the centrepiece in the ‘Dutch Diamond Mystery’, which is now a book.
(iii) At Kalumburu there were a number of bomber wrecks in the scrub that are still visited by tour groups from time to time. I believe that some of these have been recovered in recent years.
All in all, there were quite a few wrecks to see in the remote areas of Australia and I know some are still there today. Many are rightly marked as tributes to the many crews who served and others serve as memorials to those who perished.
Cheers
OZ
thankyou for the detailed info on the aircraft locations
regards vic
victor45NX611
The reason i commenced this thread was to ellicit some positive responses and comments regarding the feasability of putting the aircraft back into an airworthy situation, in 1974 i was able to glean an insight into NX611s condition prior to her being dismantled by an RAF team at Squires Gate having known someone who was associated with her rescue, The main spar at that time had no corrosion issues and a qualified experienced Lanc Pilot (not neil williams)had offered to fly her down to Leeds Bradford Airport(shed already been passed fit to fly) where a scheme was being provisionally set up to have her as the centrepiece of a proposed air museum on the site of the former Avro shadow factory this was prior to Lord Lilfords Agent purchasing NX611 on his behalf (rumour at the time suggested lilford wasnt happy with his agents purchase)however the point is there was no corrosion factor involved, Once at Scampton the RAF removed certain equipment from NX611 to assist PA474, (dual control ,certain mechanical items) lm sure someone will argue against this occuring ,others will comment why not as she was to be static displayed ,the fact is NX611 could and should have been kept airworthy at that time ,had this been carried out(there were lancs/lincolns to be seen in aviation scrapyards ie Falsworth etc as a spares source) two instead of one! the rest is history and controversey.again where were the enthusiasts when NX611 came up for offer?there were only ever two parties that were seriously interested (albeit one who wasnt made aware until after the auction) in her future .hence her laguishing at Scampton until the pantons stepped in.:cool: 😎 😎
victor45czech glider
thankyou all for the brilliant ,informative responses and photos of the Blanik its great getting such good feedback:cool: 😎 😎
victor45I can confirm that Les was a Major in the Australian Army.
i thought i was correct when i said he was a major ,i now remember my father saying as much when series was screening thanks:cool: 😎
victor45Not sure whether this is the wreck which you are referring to:
http://kimberleycruising.com.au/Excursions/DC3wreck.htm
i think thats the one many thanks
regards alan:cool: 😎
victor45The bush tucker man was a guy called Mick Cowling but he never made it above Corporal in the Aussie army more about him here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_Tucker_Man
I used to watch that programme a lot and i remember on about a plane crash in the nothern territories and that could have been a dak, i think it was the one where everyone died because they crashed in in-hospitable country but had a feast of food around them if they only knew it was there.
There could have been a bit with a RAAF dak doing some flying as well?
curlyboy
sorry about the rank rating 😎 😎
victor45If it was a Blanik it would have looked like this….
sorry about the quality but it was taken 24 years ago by somebody with a box brownie !!
it looks right to me many thanks ,they are a beautiful looking glider:cool: 😎 😎
victor45Don’t think there’s much of an issue with ‘474’s flying hours.
IIRC, the ‘official’ view after BAe did the re-spar, was that at BBMF hours usage she was good for another 50 years easily, and the availability of Avgas was more likely to ground her before she ran out of hours…..
thats good to know 😎
victor45steve fossard
look at the facts,he of all responsible aviators didnt file a flight plan why not? maybe he wants to disappear what better way,:cool: pure conjecture of course but this is america:cool: 😎 😎
victor45Really ? So who ~exactly~ are you ?
There’s talking the talk and there’s doing the do, so why not stump up some cash the next time a Hunter comes up for sale (and there will be a next time) and post away to your hearts content for all to see and admire…
:rolleyes:
if i had the financial prowess sure id have bought up those hunters and looked after their future etc,by finances i mean the money and suitable premises to carry out any restoration work as opposed to the large plastic sheet in your back garden, ive worked on many projects aviation over the years and have no need to crow about it through the medium of this forum,the same criteria applies to yourself why arent you the proud owner of said aircraft? i dont intend to dissolve this comment into various diatribes etc,suffice to say if i wasnt pasionate about preserving our aviation heritage id not be commenting on issues like these hunters,im a fully skilled engineer with over forty years practical experience just to set the record straight i know what im talking about end of:cool: 😎 😎
victor45We do the whole ‘Will/should/when/whatever NX611 fly?’ topic about once a year on here, don’t we? :rolleyes:
thats what this forum is about isnt it?:mad: 😡
victor45KB976
Hello Victor45.
Try a search for KB976 on the forum as there have been plenty of threads about this airframe. She was split up after the hangar collapse and Kermit took the best parts of KB976 and KB994 to make a “complete” lancaster restoration project. The Lancaster currently sits instorage in shipping containers with no restoration planned anytime soon.
good afternoon peter
thankyou for your response, ive now looked at the threads etc i wasnt aware she had been sold to several parties id assumed Kermit Weeks held the complete airframe,its terribly sad whats happened to KB976 as i saw her several time at Strathallan in superb order, i doubt she will surface again in the near future,thanks again.:cool: 😎
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