Is it still possible to collect any parts specific for the Typhoon the UK?

During the early eighties there was a group collecting all sorts of parts all around the UK and they were quoted to have gathered elevators, ailerons, a propeller formerly used on an airbase as a memorial etc.

Also a Typhoon wreck had been found just off the coast of the UK and plans were made for a recovery. Any updates

Cees

I believe it was Fokker-built?

cees

I know the artic York is stil there. Pics of it were posted on WIX some years ago and she was substantially complete and would make a great recovery/restoration project.

A Hastings in Greenland? mmm if aiframe is beyond saving but the wings aren’t then another Halifax reconstruction could be possible. :rolleyes:

Cees

Another myth,

The HP Hampden (yes, I am biased but you already know that) was unsuccesful because the fuselage was too small. In case of an injured pilot it was nigh impossible to pull him out and try to put down the aircraft in one piece.

Fact: it was possible to extract the pilot (the seat back was collapsible) and take over the controls albeit with difficulty 😮 ). But this is repeated over and over again in most articles on the Hampden. I have never read or heard this about the A20 Boston/Havoc where the pilot and observer/gunner are seperated by the bombbay.

And another one
The HP Halifax …………. well, the Lancaster club know what I mean :p :diablo:

Cheers

Cees

Fair enough, and I’d always point this sort of thing out to people myself (when I happen to know). But it’s not on the same order of magnitude on the ignorance scale as “this one time a guy woke up in a bathtub of ice and he had NO KIDNEYS!!!!1111”. There’s more than a grain of truth in both statements, even if they are gross oversimplifications – laymen will always do this to aid understanding, whether we like it or not (and I don’t!). They will rationalise it as:

Compared to the Spitfire, the Hurricane had a lot of wood>it was “made of” wood.
The RR Meteor tank engine was developed from the Merlin>they put Merlins in tanks.

To them it’s “same difference” because they have no frame of reference (and possibly naff-all real interest), aren’t as invested in the subject like we are, and wouldn’t remember the intricacies as we would. Could you relate such details about, say, powerboats from the 1930s? We can each retain only so much knowledge and depth of interest in different fields.

Not that I approve of this stuff being perpetuated you understand!

You would be surprised to find that the Lancaster has also a lot of wooden components in it’s airframe. The leading edges of the fins for example have good quality wooden formers inside where the skins are screwed onto. The outer engine nacelles have wooden formers, the rear section of the canopy is also made of wood, trimtabs etc., etc.

Cees

Tom,

There is only one way to find out.

Contact the landowner, ask for permission to search the land with a magnetometer, if any is found, carry out a trial dig. If this is succesful
ask for permission again to carry out a full excavation.

Etc. etc.

I hear a lot of these stories of buried aircraft of parts thereof in the UK but rarely anything is being done about them and the stories (usually from third parties) persist. Oh if only someone would take the trouble to take a look and prove or disprove these stories. FlyPast was to publish an article about this subject but as far as I know it has never appeared. Pity, as this is such an interesting topic.
Phillip Rhodes, take you shovel and dig up something at Driffield :p

Cees

There you have it, FlyPast bites right back! 😮

On the way home from work I bought the latest copy and there was an article about the excavation of a dumping site at Coltishall where interesting bits have been found.

If I say it again, will another article be published in the other magazine?
But, as I said, very very interesting topic.

Cees

Who cares what people think about it nowadays, it’s a real story that happened over sixty years ago. As was said earlier you cannot just judge historic happenings using todays way of (sort of bloody silly 😉 ) thinking.

If you make a film about the Dambusters without Nigger being mentioned then you aren’t filming the Dambusters but something that looks like it but without the true events in mind.

If people don’t like the film being made then don’t go. Or else do go and judge for yourself without bothering others who just go and see it and form their own opinion.

Cees

Airfix will probably be the only ones to have kitted the Stirling and HP Hampden in 1/72. Or Special Hobby should feel the urge.

Cheers

Cees