WJ244The Beverley came across the grass before the Airport Motel and Zero 6 Nightclub were completed but later someone dug a big ditch across the end of the taxiway which also went around one side of the old Aviation Traders football pitch so any aircraft which landed on the airfield for the museum had to taxy or be towed all the way round Aviation Way.
The museum site start as a grass compound. Three sides of the compound remained unchanged throughout the museums life but the big black gates were originally at 90 degrees to their final position roughly in line with where the prefab building stood at the back of the compound. They literally built the museum around and beside us and I can remember helping to carry the Proctor rear fuselage from NP339 across a ditch that the builders had dug to lay drains.
The Beverley was taxied through the gates when they were in their original position. I wasn’t there on that particular day but from the pictures I saw the inners were running because they fitted through the width of the gates and the outers were stopped so that the props could be moved around to clear the fence. Don’t ask me how they managed to turn the dead props but it can’t have been easy. During the building phase the site and the area around it was always very muddy and I remember being told that the Beverley skated around a bit when they tried to turn her to go through the gates. The general view seemed to be that the Carvair pilot who taxied here performed near miracles to get her safely inside the compound.
You are right when you say that the Hotel complex was the only building on that side of Aviation Way for a long time and there was no fence behind the hotel for many years so it was easy to get pics of the aircraft around Harvestair. There was also a public footpath that went along the brook behind Eastwoodbury church, across the taxiway and eventually came out roughly where the rugby club field is now. If anything interesting was parked near the old Channel Airways hangar the footpath was the best bet for getting photos as you could walk up the taxiway between the runway and Channel Airways hangars so spent the least time possible in the security area.
Airport security were well aware of this and I remember going to photograph an Antonov 2 with several others. Security met us where the footpath crossed the taxiway and asked where were going. “along the rest of the path we replied at which point security said “well I am off up the other end of the airfield and I don’t want to see you around here when I get back” knowing this would give us a good 30 to 40 mins to get our pictures.
It is a pity that it can’t be like that now but often over zealous health and safety rules and too many light fingered people have ruined it for all.
Talking of Health and Safety I joined the museum on the second weekend that they started to move the original aircraft from the old site near the railway line. I cycled to the new compound and hung around until someone appeared (turned out it was Stan Brett). Basically it was a case of “please mister can I help with the aeroplanes” and after being taken across the airfield standing on the back of a tractor to meet Bill Gent I was in.
The first job I was given at about 15 years old was to walk/run along beside a mainwheel of the Lincoln which was being towed nose first on a rope bridle by a tractor. I was told “If the ropes go slack and she starts to catch up the tractor throw this chock in front of the wheel but mind your fingers and don’t get run over !”
WJ244I know both the late Stan Brett and the late Bill Gent had pictures of the Beverley being taxied onto the site by a Carvair captain but I have not been able to find out what happened to their photo collections.
The Saab flew into Southend around 1967 and did two or 3 circuits. I remeber it well a it flew straight over our school playground which was immediately under the runway approach. The Lincoln also flew in around 1967 but I didn’t see that arrive.
From memory other arrivals by air were Dragon G-ACIT, Storch D-EKMU, Beverley XB261, The Anson G-AGPG was airworthy when delivered but only came “across the road” as it was Southend based anyway. Tiger Moth G-ANPE came in by air several times as did Stampe Coupe G-AYLK and its successor G-AYWT all of which were owned by the Museum directors but The Tiger Moth finally landed up arriving by road after the C of A lapsed and the remains of G-AYLK finished it days behind the museum hangar after an arguement with power lines – which the power lines won pretty decisively!
Ansons G-AVHU (latter scrapped) and G-AVVO (passed on to Newark) and Proctor G-ANZJ all arrived at Southend by air but long before they were in the museum.
Obviously many of the loan aircraft came in by air as well but they weren’t actually owned by the museum and there were a fair number of them over the years so it is difficult to remember them all.
WJ244The Historic Aircraft Museum Southend (HAM) and The British Historic Aircraft Mueum (BHAM) were two entirely seperate entities.
BHAM was founded in 1966 at Biggin Hill by a rather colourful character called Tony Osborne and moved to Southend in 1967. As far as I am aware it was never officially open to the public at Southend as the aircraft were parked beside the railway line near to the end of the runway. Anyone wanting access had to go through the gates onto the airfield from the public car park and drive up the peri track past Marmols hangar and security were fairly hot on pulling up any cars that they didn’t recognise.
The BHAM foundered when the council took posession of the aircraft for non-payment of the rent on their site.
The HAM was formed by several local businessmen who were also private pilots. They built a proper museum building on Aviation Way and a motel and night club opposite. The plan was that the motel / night club together with the function suite in the museum building would generate an income and while it was intended that the museum should also make a profit it seemed to be accepted that the earnings from other parts of the complex would support the whole place if the museum was slow to generate an income. The HAM went into receivership along with the rest of the complex and all the owners other companies a few years after the opening (which was on 26 May 1972 with an air display on 27 May which was almost wrecked by high winds and poor weather).
The whole complex was then bought by Queens Moat House but it became apparent that the museum aircraft had been badly neglected due to poor management (one person in particular was chiefly responsible for the decay). Queens Moat House appointed Bill Gent as curator. He had been involved since the original days of BHAM and Bill tried hard to generate income to fund remedial work needed on the aircraft and we cleared th museum building on several occassions to make room for classic car shows and other events. He also worked with Nigel Brendish to display the Leisure Sport WW1 replicas at the museum for a while and arranged several other loans of exhibits to make the museum mopre atrractive to locals. Unfortunately there was just too much that needed doing and Bill advised the complex manager Ian Huddleston that it would probably be best to dispose of the aircraft collection while they were still saleable. I knew Bill for about 25 years and he felt the decision was the best one for the aircraft as he hoped they would go to good homes where they could be restored agian and cherished. Unfortunately this didn’t always prove to be the case.
Incidentally Ian Huddleston bought the Beverley at the museum auction with the intention of turning it into a restaurant but I think the idea foundered due to a mass of health and safety difficulties and eventually the Beverley became unsafe and had to go. The fuselage had significant fatigue tracks at the leading edge of the tailplane and the U/C bogies had rotted away. Once they started breaking her significant spar corrossion came to light as well.
I suspect the pictures at the start of this thread were taken miid 70’s as the fuselage of Gemini G-AKGD is under the Lincoln and I think it was put there after the Gemini was attacked by vandals a few years after the opening but I could be mistaken as it was a long time ago now.
The Fiat G46 mentined in this thread is now back in the UK and under restoration to fly per another thread on this forum.
WJ288 wa sold to Patrick Luscombe and was suppossedly being prepared for an attempt on the World Air Speed Record for prop driven aircraft. Last time I saw her she was sitting at Duxford complete and repainted but without a prop. She is now in the USA.
The other HAM SEa Fury WJ244 sat in pieces against the fence at the back of the museum compound and became G-FURY.
WJ244G-AXPG was owned by Bill Cole who I think was also the builder. He kept it at Hazeleigh Grange at Hazeleigh near Maldon, Essex along with Leopoldoff F-PCZX / G-AYKS. Jodel D9 G-AWFT (I think the reg is correct) and he could have had one or two others which I have forgotten.
I remember cycling out to Hazeleigh from Southend with two friends and we were made very welcome and given easy access to his collection.
Bill still owned the Mignet during the time it was at the museum and it seems to ring a bell that he moved to Seddlescombe area so he may well still own the Mignet.
I remember that the tailskid gave a spectacular display almost like fireworks when he taxied along Aviation Way outside the museum to get onto the airport to go flying. It was quite a long way to taxi so I should imagine the tailskid shoe had a pretty short life.
One of the problems with the museum at Southend was that anything airworthy had to come and go along the road which caused some clearance problems (the owners of the house at the top of Aviation Way were not too impressed when we pulled out their bean sticks one day to get a Stampe past) and it also meant we had to try to stop the traffic as well. Amazing how drivers who ignored our signals to stop took rather more notice when they were confronted with an aeroplane!
WJ244Anyone fancy the arrester hook I have just found in the back of my shed. I have authentic documents to prove it was from the only B-17 to land on the deck of a swiss navy carrier during WW2!
WJ244I don’t understand why it is acceptable for HLF funds to be used to destroy an historic artefact. It certainly goes against all the principles of using HLF funds to preserve our past. I would have thought it would be far more constructive to use HLF funds to move her to a place of safety or if this is not possible then gift her to Australia as already suggested.
WJ244Great to see that they are progressing so well. I must admit I really thought you had your work cut out when we unloaded KEX.
Hope you are going to get Keith to widen the door before they have to come out though !
I see Brian Doherty has photos of G-AOAR – another one that disappeared. Last I saw of her was at Biggin Hill in the late 60’s when she was with HAPS painted as NP181. I assume she went to Blackpool as part of the Reflectaire collection but what happened to her from there?
WJ244I must admit relic collecting is not one of my real areas of interest although I have had odds and ends such as fabric patches but I know where they came from as I took them off the aircraft concerned myself ( with permission) and they have more sentimental value to me than monetary value to a collector.
I am however sceptical of any bent bit of metal which purports to come from a particular aircraft partly because I don’t have the knowledge to tell genuine from fake items and also because I know that there are some less than honest dealers out there.
I have in the past sold race car parts (bodywork etc) and have put what I know of their history and their source on the Ebay listing but I have always told the story as told to me and made it clear, where appropriate, that I have no way of being 100% certain that the claimed provenance is completely genuine even though I knew the previous owner of the parts concerned (who had passed away). I feel that this is the only fair way to list items where it is not possible to be absolutely 100% certain of the provenance of an item and it is a shame that some other sellers don’t appear to be so honest.
WJ244Yes, both of them!
So can we look forward to the Stirling Pair at airshows in the future!
Seriously though I am sure you will enjoy the forum and everyone had to start with little or no knowledge. I have found everyone here is helpful and willing to exchange info when they can and I am sure you will find the same.
WJ244Perhaps it wasn’t a mock-up….much of the Vampire’s fuselage was only made of plywood anyway 🙂
No the mock up definitely didn’t use the Vampire pod. As you can see in the photo it is completely new. I remember the instrument panel had drawings and / or photocopies of instruments pasted to it – definitely nothing that had ever been remotely airworthy incorporated into it. I do remember seeing Vampire XD527 in pieces in the side building at Aviation Traders and had assumed it had gone to Marshalls at Cambridge as I am pretty sure they built the complete but unflown Mystery Jet which was last heard of in the USA. Marshalls must have incorporated at least one vampire into the prototype. I have never understood how the only complete Mystery Jet ever got to the USA. If Marshalls built it surely it would have been better to do the test flying here or maybe everyone in the UK had washed their hands of the project once the funding disappeared and the owner shipped it to the States to try to raise more funds from unsuspecting investors.
WJ244We had a similar sort of experience at Southend around 1971/2 when I was a volunteer. A typical ex military looking man with the mandatory moustache and upper class accent turned up one day claiming he had found some aircraft in a barn. They were all WW2 types and I think they included a Lysander. He returned over several weeks to regale everyone with stories of how the farmer got them after the war and they were all in good condition. I was a teenager at the time and with the naivety of youth believed it all and after several visits others were less sceptical.
Eventually he turned up claiming he had secured a deal with the farmer for us to collect the aircraft (I don’t know if any money was involved) and he later confirmed a date for the recovery so we assembled all the equipment to go get em and he never showed and proved to be untraceable.
The only motivation would appear to be to walk away with the museums money but he never asked for money up front and I don’t remember money being discussed at all. Very strange but the world is full of Walter Mitty characters.
WJ244Not a great quality shot taken from a Southend Museum newsletter. Proctor NP339 / G-AOBW. It looks like the picture was taken beside the railway near the end of the main runway so this must have been taken during the early days of the British Historic Aircraft Museum at Southend around 1968 and was probably soon after the Proctor was cleaned up and painted. After the Historic Aircraft Museum took over the wings of NP339 were fitted to NP303 / G-ANZJ which went on display in tthe museum. The fuselage of NP339 was cut in half and the rear section was sectioned to show the structure and used a a travelling exhibit until eventually the glue rot got so bad it fell to bits. We burned the front half as it was rotten and no one wanted it. .
WJ244The Jetcraft Mystery Jet project was meant to offer several bizjet conversions of the Vampire. From memory I think the most ambitious had seven seats!
Vampire XD527 was acquired from Hawker Siddeley in 1969 and was in a workshop on the side of Aviation Traders hangar. The wooden mock up went to the Historic Aircraft Museum Southend in early 1972. My old newsletters say the Vampire was transferred as well but I never saw it. The mock up was under the port wing of the Beverley for a while wrapped in plastic sheets but was returned to Aviation Traders by April 1972 as the project was supposedly going to be revived. The newsletters say the museum kept the Vampire but I never saw it at the museum and I am 99% sure it never left Aviation Traders. The picture from a Historic Aircraft Society newsletter shows the mock up in the museum compound. I think it ultimately wound up with Sandy Topen but I have no idea where XD527 went. I seem to remember seeing pictures of an unflown prototype stored in the desert in the USA possibly at Marana Air Park.
WJ244Possible repair aside, were they the only options; fly it or sell it?
I suppose there was always the option of a static restoration but it would probably have needed a lot of potentially expensive and time consuming work on the wing simply to get the aircraft standing on its wheels.
There is also the point that the Fighter Collection is a collection of airworthy and potentially airworthy aircraft so they probably weren’t interested in investing time and money in a static restoration. They took the alternative option which was to dispose if the airframe and invest the money and time in maintenance of existing aircraft or another potentially easier restoration.
It is a pity that we seem to have lost an early and potentially airworthy Mosquito to another country but on the other hand it is probably fair to assume that the fact that the aircraft was for sale was widely known and we can only assume that no one in the UK was interested in buying at the offer price.
WJ244The ex Lambeth Mosquito is TV959 and I think it was moved on because IWM had acquired the Skyfame Mosquito which was a far easier proposition to restore / refurbish as it still had both wings attached.
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