Woooph! I’d forgotten just how hilariously bad some of the SPFX in “633 Squadron” was. That shot of the Mossie falling into the valley, casting its huge shadow on the entire background landscape, is a scream. Overall, I find I like the other YouTube clip rather better…they’ve done a much better, more realistic job on a much lower budget…:D

As to blowing up intact (but not-quite-classic-yet) warbirds for movies, plenty of that went on back in the day, inlcuding the toasting of at least two Mossies–one completely to ashes–for “633” itself. On the up side though, that film did spark at least some interest in Mossie preservation (as “B of B” would do for the single-Merlin stuff later in the decade); several extant Mosquitos are former film stars.

I too take guilty pleasure in smugly pointing out onscreen inaccuracies; I’d guess much of the forum does…have we maybe another “monster” thread in the making here? On the flipside: what films (if any) might members of this forum cite for particularly good attention to historical detail??

S.

Baz–

Right, should’ve clarified my reply…Sanders produced the Smokewinder system specifically to assist in measuring/defining tip vortices, so there are vortices being produced…but the smoke system makes them very visible. These are two of the Sanders family’s own Furies, and “Argonaut”, at least, often sports Smokewinders (their stock T20 used to too).

S.

Peter–

Woooo…PM me any details you have about that…if there are Studebakers in the yard you refer to, it’s a cinch some of the Stude club folks in the Hamilton and Ontario chapters would be interested in recovering spares from there during the clearout. (Me, I’d even be happy to get pix!)

S.

Yale 3459

Peter–

Almost certainly yes, but I don’t know its present location. From the location where the posted pic was taken, it passed to noted Harvard collector/restorer/pilot Hannu Halminen as a project, but Mr Halminen parted with it before completing it. It’s on the WIX registry, incidentally, but the potted history there only shows Ernie Simmons (1946-70) and Mr Halminen (early 1990s) as owners; there was, though, one more owner minimum (and probably two or three) between 1970 and about 1992…

(I spent, cumulatively, quite a lot of time back in the day trying to track all the Simmons collection airplanes; that was how I located 3459 a quarter century:eek: ago…nowadays I’m also keeping an eye out for any ex-Ernie cars, specifically any of the numerous Studebakers he is said to have kept at his farm and which would have been auctioned in 1970. I bought a ’62 Studebaker a year and a half ago, hence the additional interest in that marque of car…)

S.

These two were seen in 1984. Again, this isn’t a scrapyard; this place was a private collection the location and owner of which I won’t divulge here. Neither of these relics is still there. Both had come from other collections that were well-known in Ontario…

NA-64 Yale, RCAF 3459, seen in 1984 looking pretty much as it had when auctioned in September 1970 at the renowned Ernie Simmons farm at Courtland, Ontario. Ernie Simmons, of course, collected vast quantities of anything and everything–cars, trucks, motorbikes, aircraft, you name it–and when he died in 1970 he was in possession of 36 Yales, seven Swordfish hulks, and some Lysander bits and Anson engines. Most of the extant Swordfish, and all but a couple surviving Yales, were once Ernie’s…so if you like either type, tip your cap to Mr Simmons next time you see one!

Anson V (the Canadian molded-plywood version) fuselage. It’s not really evident in this shot, but this fuselage was painted in the black and yellow target-tug stripes. It had formerly been in the Robert Ventress collection at Brighton, Ontario; besides this Anson, Mr Ventress owned several ex-RCAF PBY Canso hulls, one of which he converted into a versatile houseboat! This Anson relic later turned up at CWH, then disappeared. I doubt it survives. Not much useful was left of it in any case…

Once again, hope the forum enjoys this stuff…

S.

OK, here are a few more…not quite scrapyard scenes, these, but similar subject matter. These are from a bushplane “boneyard” in Kenora, Ontario, in May 1995; complete aircraft were also stored in the open here (rather in the manner of boats upland from a marina)…

More-or-less complete Noorduyn Norseman on floats…this one looked yet to have some hope, actually…

Mortal remains of four DHC-3 Otters in two Canadian government liveries.

Norseman hulk and derelict Beech 18, sort of appearing to converse!

The bare frame of another Norseman fuselage, and the remains of a Stinson 108/108A Voyager.

Couple doomed Douglas C-54s to follow…

S.

Hi Cees–

I’m sure there are…haven’t seen any myself, but several ex-maritime patrol Lancs were cut up at the old Dunnville station as late as 1963. One or two escaped from there, including one that was ferried to Goderich under its own power to become a memorial…that of course would be FM213, now functioning as the best kind of memorial aircraft, thundering overhead instead of sitting silent! BTW the Dunnville RCAF station, after decades as a turkey farm, reopened earlier this decade as an airfield, and there is a museum in one of the hangars dedicated to #6 Service Flying Training School which operated there during wartime.

Eventually I’ll be posting a few more boneyard-ish pix, but the Clunks from Barrie are nearest the intended focus of this thread…Warbirds being recycled. (Environmentally sound, maybe, but frequently very hard to look at!)

S.

Last pic of this group shows the one of the three hulks I could not identify. It is, though, presumably another Mk.5 EW trainer like 772 and 775. The presence of the shortlived Canadian Centennial maple leaf logo on the cockpit side suggests this one ended its flying days circa 1967-68…

And that’s that for the Clunk Junk. Hope these are of interest…

Cheers

S.