WJ244Below is the link to the listing on G-INFO
http://http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=reg&fullregmark=ANFL
According to G-INFO it appears that G-ANFL was sold in Japan on 25/1/54 so she is either well travelled or the sale fell through and she never left the UK.
From the CAA listing it appears that Airspray sold G-ANFL in 1961 and bought her back again in 1963.
The CAA were notified on 8-6-67 that the aircraft was permanently withdrawn from use so it is likely that she was stored from 1967 until 1984 when the current owners reregistered her.
It will be difficult to track down where she was stored unless an enthusiast just happened to know through local knowledge or has photos.
You could try contacting the photographers who have posted old photos on the Air Britain Photos (ABPIC) site or there is also a photographer on the same site called Richard Vandervord who used to run a spotters newsletter called Anglia Aeronews in the 70’s and at that time he seemed to have a pretty good knowledge of most aircraft that were tucked away in barns etc in Essex and the rest of East Anglia.
It is amazing what was tucked away in barns. An example in an area that you may know would be the garage almost opposite the Bell pub at Rettendon, essex on the old A130. In the 70’s the garage was known as SRV Motors and the workshop held a fully assembled Tiger Moth and Auster which subsequently found their way to Southend. The Tiger Moth G-AIDS now operates from the strip at Barleylands farm, Billericay.
You could also try sending a letter to the current owners address given on G-INFO to find out how they obtained the aircraft.
It is always possible that it stayed at Boxted after the airfield closed. If the farmer had no use for the building he probably wouldn’t have been too worried about aircraft in storage there.
WJ244is the Albatross in the main hall?
The Albatross is in the Grahame – White building with most of the other early aircraft.
In view of the fact that it has taken so long to put them back together it is a shame that the two TVAL replicas didn’t stay at Old Warden to finish the season and it is also a pity that the LVG was ever reclaimed for Milestones of Flight and landed up in store but I suppose we were lucky to see any of them fly at all so it hasn’t been all bad.
WJ244First I had was a Revell Spitfire MKII which my dad bought at the newsagents opposite the printers where he worked. He built and painted that one and the Sopwith Camel and a Brewster Buffalo which followed.
I was eventually let loose on an Airfix ME-109G which I built and painted around 1964/5 aged 9 or 10 which was the first of many. The local newsagent began stocking the Frog range which included some of the lesser known types most of which I built including the Oxford, Barracuda, Magister, Tupolev SB2, and Gipsy Moth. I also built a Keilkraft Nomad glider which I could never get to fly because I didn’t understand how to adjust the trim followed by the rubber powered Ace which barely flew because I had no idea how to carve the prop and an Ajax which flew quite well. I had a Hales Froglite balsa sheet Tiger Moth which I got by saving up crisp packet tokens which flew very fast meaning it needed repairs after every “landing” and I also built a Dolphin glider and got a fair way through a Minimoa but the stringers and spars were very thin and delicate and I kept breaking them so it never got finished. Later I built a sheet balsa towline glider by St Leonards Model Supplies which flew much too well for the space available in the local park and spent a lot of time stuck in the park trees.
Seems a shame most youngsters never get to enjoy the achievement of creating something which flies rather than spending their time staring at a computer games screen. For most now the everything has to offer some kind of instant gratification.
WJ244Glad to help. The earlier thread below includes a colour photo at post 23 of Tiger Moth G-ANFL in the checkered tail scheme.
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=91074
There is also a mention at post 45 of a link to a photo album for forum member del1949 which includes a photo of Champion Challenger G-ASSN in which Percy Hatfield was killed when he hit a house at Boreham.
http://forum.keypublishing.com/album.php?albumid=290
Unfortunately there was little awareness in those days of the health problems caused by crop spraying chemicals and many agricultural pilots must have had their lives shortened by the effects of chemicals assuming they managed to survive operating at very low level all the time.
WJ244According to an old thread Airspray operated G_AMIV, NFL, NLE and NRX.
There are black and white photos on the Air Britain abpic site of both NFL and NLE with checkered tails. There is also a picture of NRX dismantled and without a rudder with what looks like the remnants of a checkered tail on the fin.
NRX still survives at Salisbury Hall but is now silver with a red stripe.
WJ244The museum didn’t tender for the airframe in the sense of competing with others to buy it. The Concorde was gifted to the airport who decided they no longer wanted the responsibility of maintenance and the museum took it on rather than seeing it turned into pots and pans.
The website does suggest that the museum site is under threat and that the other airframes face an uncertain future. The opening hours and entrance fee can’t possibly make it a financially viable proposition but it does seem that someone took on some interesting airframes and is doing their best to preserve them – a brave move with such large aircraft. Even if they have taken on too much they have at least used their best efforts which has to be a lot better than doing nothing at all even if they may have only managed to delay the day when the scrappie appears – remember even some our largest collections in the UK have had the scrapman call at one time or another.
It would be a shame to see the Caravelle and Mercure go as there aren’t many Caravelles preserved and I doubt that there is another Mercure in any collection.
WJ244If you translate the post near the bottom of the page on the following link OH-AUC is described as “burned down” in 1969″ which could be burnt out as a result of an accident (which would explain the other photo of a smashed propeller or maybe just put on a bonfire.
In both cases it does appear that G-AIJH / OH-AUC is long gone.
It might be worth a trawl through the complete thread to see if there are any photos.
WJ244The colour scheme appears to be 60’s / early 70’s Air France without the titles.
She hasn’t been abandoned – looks more a case of being kept outside and the museum (who saved her from scrapping) fighting the usual battles with the elements.
http://http://www.concordesst.com/02.html
From the link she has a significant history and it is a great shame that morons with spray cans felt the need to plaster her with graffiti tags
WJ244The BRM P25 I was referring to was raced by Jo Bonnier and I think it may have been run by UDT Laystall. It was a very light Green but was still referred to as British Racing Green. The works cars were generally nearer to Brunswick Green.
Brunswick Green is generally accepted as British Racing Green by most people but my source, a very knowledgable model maker who still runs a business making limited production car and aircraft kits researched BRG extensively and came up with 108 different shades.
I always had the impression that the Comet was much lighter than Brunswick Green but I can’t place where I got that from.
WJ244I think the cockpit in the picture is from a Typhoon. One of the other pictures in the set also shows the Zero cockpit.
Sorry David you posted while I was still looking at the pictures in the link.
WJ244Thurston Engineering – a sister company to Thurston Aviation and the home of the Tawney Owl for many years are still around
http://www.thurstonengineering.co.uk/
You could also try here
http://www.pprune.org/where-they-now/392160-any-old-thurston-aviation-stapleford.html
WJ244I was told years ago that British Racing Green is a generic term that is used to describe something like 108 different shades of green ranging from the light green used on some of the front engined BRM Grand Prix cars to almost Black.
WJ244Very unlikely that I can make it but it does sound like a great idea and hope it is a success.
Sorry to hear that Northern Aeroplane Workshops will be winding down as they have made a great contribution by adding some superb World War 1 types to the flight line at Old Warden.
WJ244Coincidentally I have finished the reading of the history of RAF Southend, and there was a reference to a badly
shot up B-17 with two engines out, crash landing there. They were losing height all the way back, and only just
managed to make Southend.
I rmember my uncle telling me about a B-17 that he said landed on top of Warners Bridge having not quite made the airfield. This may well be the one you are referring to.
The ex-Southend Mitchel N9089Z also known as Bedsheet Bomber was allegedly the camera ship for both the War Lover and 633 Squadron before being abandoned at Biggin Hill. I suppose she counts as a survivor from the film although during her days at North Weald she just about hung on by the skin of her teeth (and with the support of her props) before going to Parkhouse Aviation where I believe Barry Parkhouse is slowly working to bring her back to static display condition.
WJ244Good to see they are all back and the rumours that they had been shipped to Burma and buried in a packing case are totally untrue.
The forum would have been a poorer place without them.
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