yes your right but i had wondered if it was sold off with one of the Pou spec wings as in the Aeroplane article it says the wing section used in the protype was not that used in the subsiquent minors… I will dig it out and post the exact text. I guess I could also get some idea if the ‘unknown’ wings are possibles by the wingspan, colour (should have been a dark blue) etc
somewhere I do have the wing dimensions.
this is how it was sold… wouldnt know if thats a single piece or two piece?
cannot date or place location of picture (although the hills in the background are very much like Barton), the magister much like G-AEPD lived down south and in Scotland…grrr
Nigel Ponsford purchased a pair of Luton Minor wings off the Midland Air Museum (which evolved out of the Midland Aircraft Preservation Society) some years ago.
I had been on a “wrecks and relics” trip with Bob Ogden (camping, travelling in his Mini Cooper S) around North England/South-Mid Scotland (c. 1970)when we found a pair of Luton Minor wings in the roof of a barn on a farm in the Edinburgh area (working from memory here). Not a million miles from Anstruther we thought they could be from G-AEPD. We negotiated acquisition for the MAPS and, a few weeks later, I drove the Society’s J4 van up from Coventry to get them down and transport (on the roof). They had many years of dust/cr*p on them. Painted dark blue there was no evidence of any markings on them (photos of G-AEPD I think show the registration under the wings) but we still thought they could be from the prototype. We were told that the aeroplane had been run into by a car and only the wings saved and stored in the roof. The MAPS registered them as a rebuild project and acquired the registration G-BAPC (BAPC = British Aviation Preservation Council) but nothing towards a rebuild was actually done.As I said they were eventually disposed of to Nigel Ponsford who has/had quite an interest in Luton Minors. I don’t know Nigel myself – but I know a man who does 🙂 Will try and get contact details (unless anyone else comes up with them).
Roger Smith.
I am now fairly sure that G-AEPD was at Penston Farm/Macmerry Airfield AKA Tranent and H.M.S. Nighthawk II, when it was damaged by a reversing car and then broke up for parts!… she would have been in the mono wing set up but still with the ‘short’ under carriage.
The airfield was used by North Eastern Airways for scheduled flights and was the unofficial home of the Edinburgh Flying Club in the ’30s. The site was taken over by the RAF in 1941 which ties in as I have one reference to F/O A.J. Cook. the site was re used by Edinburgh Flying Club from 1946 and released from the military in 1953 and closing. The site is now a farm and industrial estate…
the farm using the RAF hangers…
sadly the airfield seams to be the last resting place of quite a few aircraft!
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more background on Penston Farm and Macmerry
that yellow-green was probably the primer, we use a hi level zinc rich etch primer in the fabrication of our rally cars/bikes thats an old fashioned formula and when applied is yellow and turns a mid green when dry… depending on the thickness of the coat and the proportion of the paint/activator you do get a very sickly green… being zinc based its specifically designed for use on ally (but still works exceptionally well on steel)
a spare engine having the crankcase/covers cleaned up… that just had a single dust coat and it turns that green-yellow.
lol that makes a lot of sense and gives a link to explain why Marendaz made the jump from automotive to aviation…. I have no information of a fire at Cornwallis though.
the reference to the martin being drafted is a side note on letter about the buzzard, after checking with the source he confirms it was justa rumour he had heard so bears no factual weight, at this time I am happy to not pursue it and as you say credit the Martin to Luton Aircraft at Hollybush Lane.
Cornwallis still exsists, its now part of a larger industrial estate. Thanks to the clarity of the image I shoud at some point in the future be able to either match up the surroundings to the factory interior or not.
the image you have is without doubt a version of the one in Flight magazine…
I also had a look back through my notes and came across this image…
this is listed in my notes as Marendaz MK2, this means there is more information this specific aircraft in the mountain of notes I have not yet managed to get through! 😡
cornwallis works location.
Found these pictures of the first incarnation of G-AEPD with its tandem wings… it’s this a/c that went to Anstruther and the wings could well have came from. These pictures are taken at Barton showing the middle hanger.
other little things that have been un earthed is that fact I am now sure that the buzzard’s first engine was in fact ‘borrowed’ from a Morgan aero ( the Morgan archive as told me that up to 20,000 aero’s were built but only a small majority with the Anzani 8 engine), the Squirrel it was built with had continuous starting problems so pre maiden flight the team removed an Anzani twin from a handy Morgan… this engine was then reworked for the Mk2 Buzzard with an improved valve train and twin magneto set up… it led on to the Luton Anzani engines.
The Bedfordshire & Luton Archive and Records Service holds all the county’s books on vehicle registrations in the 1930’s so at some point i will see if we can find a Morgan registered to anyone that worked for Luton Aircraft or was at Barton Aerodrome…
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