WJ244I believe that one of the big problems with the Mosquito was that the spar was cut inboard of the engine when it was hung in the IWM at Lambeth. I understood that there were DH repair schemes for repairing the wing and spar outboard of the engine but there was no approved scheme for a repair inboard of the engine so pretty much a whole new wing was needed to get her back into the air again.
Perhaps Bruce can confirm this as I think he may just know a bit more than I do about Mosquito structures.
Very sad to hear the Beau will be going to Oz as I have been looking forward to seeing it in the air ever since I helped Ed Sexton from Revell measure the parts in the early days of the rebuild to help with dimensions for the Revell 1/48 kit.
WJ244Reasons for building the M11 are pretty obvious – A major road was needed to help service Stansted which was on the verge of expansion at that time and the existing road to Cambridge was inadequate for the traffic.
I think the intial plans had been drawn up before the IWM got hold of Duxford. Don’t forget that the film company quite happily destroyed a hangar because, at that time, it was envisaged that it would be demolished anyway. Although it was suggested that the motorway should be diverted once it became apparent that the airfield would remain it was decided to go ahead with the original route because the goverment claimed any diversion or tunneling would be too expensive. It was a great shame and a lost opportunity to preserve Duxford in its entirety.
Thanks for posting the pictures. As a teenager at the time the flm was made I was fortunate enough to see some of the film aircraft in the Southend area but in those days Duxford seemed a million miles away and there was no hope of persuading dad to take me there.
WJ244I acheived a lifetime wish by going to La Ferte Alais about 20 years ago. Unfortunately the day was marred by a pre show fatal crash which delayed the display for a long time but once it got under way it was a great show.
I went by coach with a UK aviation society and it appeared to me that unless you had a car access would be almost impossible as it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
A great place with a great atmosphere and every vintage aircraft enthusiast should go at least once.
WJ244Seems appearances are deceptive in this case and I have to agree that apart from a good dust the cockpit should be left alone. There are definitely some areas of the floats where rust and corrosion are noticeable so lets hope these get attended to during the current work. I am inclined to think repainting the blue areas may be a good idea simply because it is unlikely that the paint they are trying to conserve is the original finish so I don’t really see how conserving it adds to the history of the aircraft.
WJ244Sounds like the board beside the S6B may not be entirely accurate but the jury is still out on correct colours although it does seem extremely unlikely that the darker blue was applied direct onto the unprimered metal during her flying career as I would have thought it would have been stripped pretty quickly by the airflow.
I hadn’t realised it was the S6A that was displayed at the Festival of Britain although I was aware that this was displayed for a long time at Southampton Docks painted as S1596.
Thanks for clarifying the situation a little.
I know the Science Museum have a bee in their bonnet about conservation rather then restoration but having looked at the corrosion, and in some places rust on the S6B and bearing in mind that much of the paint is almost certainly not the original finish anyway perhaps a full restoration rather than conservation would be more appropriate in this case. I just don’t see the point in conserving non original paint on an airframe which clearly looks like it needs an in depth restoration to ensure it remains structurally sound for future generations to enjoy.
WJ244There are other posts on here already concerning the aircraft from The Blue Max and I am sure others can give far more information than I can but G-ATGV and G-ATGW became EI-ARA and EI-ARB respectively.
Another of the SE5 replicas EI-APW was destroyed in a fatal mid air collision with an Alouette helicopter during filming for a later film and this is covered in other posts on the forum. If you have a look at some of the other posts particular the one about Caudron Luciole G-ATIP which contains a link to some photos of the replicas from Blue Max and a good deal more information.
WJ244Only one I ever saw was the famous Uribel based at Aosta in Italy with the rather dubious registration that certainly wouldn’t have been allowed in the Uk.
Unfortunately it was in a hanger and only viewable through a hole in the cladding so I didn’t get a picture.
WJ244Signed, confirmed and left commentsd in my best french. Maybe if they get enough visits from englishmen who think they can write french they will give in and liberate the connie. It might just be easier than trying to translate our comments.
Connies are getting to be rare birds and for my money are one of the most beautiful airliners of their age.
WJ244Thanks Duxfordhawk. I was going to reply to previous posts but you have already summed up most of what I was going to say.
Some do forget that the majority of airworthy vintage aircraft exist solely because their owners were prepared to put money into them so that they could fly them. As a recent example (though not the only example) I do not believe for one minute that Peter Teichmann would have laid out the huge sums he has spent on his collection if the aircraft weren’t allowed to fly.
There are also many Spitfires out there which would never exist other than as a heap of corroded and in some cases barely identifiable bits if there was no one prepared to put money into an airworthy rebuild. I have no doubt that this statement will reopen the old can of worms about frame 5 specials. I completely accept that some of these aircraft may contain little original material but we should not kid ourselves that all these aircraft would survive as static museum pieces if they hadn’t been restored to fly. Many would still be heaps of bits rotting where they originally crashed or those remains rescued from scrapyards would probably have been melted down long ago.
There is another thread on here giving an idea of the costs to build a static Spitfire replica. It is fair to assume that the costs of restoring a basket case (or worse) to static condition would be similar and could even be more expensive and I don’t see a huge queue of people out there with the sort of money needed to restore basket case projects to static display condition.
Museum aircraft have their place in the vintage aircraft movement but so do airworthy machines.
To me the risks to which a competently and sensibly flown aircraft are exposed are entirely reasonable BUT it doesn’t mean I am any less sorry than anyone else when one does come to grief regardless of the cause of the accident.
WJ244I for one agree with Yak 11 Fan.
There is always a degree of risk in operating anything mechanical but I get a great deal of pleasure from seeing old cars, motorcycles and aircraft used as they were intended to be used. I accept that there is a degree of risk in racing old cars / motorcycles and operating vintage aircraft but while there are people prepared to finance their operation we should enjoy the sight and sound of them while we can.
I saw many of the 70’s airshow acts and some of the low flying was impressive but it did look ( and at times it proved to be) dangerous and we lost too many aeroplanes and pilots.
Modern safety rules have undoubtedly cut down the risk of accidents by creating a framework of acceptable behaviour and standards of competence for pilots and there has been a corresponding decrease in accidents.
While some may have reservations about the risks to aircraft it is worth remembering that there are many aircraft including the Blenheim which would never have been restored by their owners if the end result wasn’t an airworthy machine. Better a flyer operated competently that gives a great deal of pleasure in return for some risk to the aeroplane than a heap of corroded bits that never gets restored.
WJ244I am still digging around on the web to try to find out more but I did come across a website devoted to the history of Baginton. The site had titles for several pictures including one of G-AWML at Baginton which said that the Baifra titles were applied there but unfortunately the links to the photos were missing.
I had always assumed that G-AWML was part repainted at Southend. I do remember it spent some time parked at Southend after delivery as TX166 and then suddenly appeared with the Biafran titles but I was only 13 years old then so maybe my memory is playing tricks.
The site also mentioned Tippers Air Transport which advertised Ansons configured with executive interiors. Tippers owned many of the aircraft mentioned in earlier posts which were broken up. Apparently the more valuable parts (in terms of scrap value) were removed to Tippers Farm. With the possible exception of G-AVVO which I believe came from Halfpenny Green to Southend where it was abandoned it seems unlikely that any of the Tippers aircraft flew again after their delivery flights from the RAF. The same site also stated that Tippers Air Transport, Mercy Mission and LA Osborne were all linked but doesn’t give details.
WJ244Anyone looking to match the paint should be wary of pictures taken during her time on static display at Old Warden. An ex Warden Aviation employee said in a recent article that at one time in the 60’s he was instructed to repaint her with paint from tins marked Fordson Tractor Blue !
WJ244The original British Historic Aircraft Museum (BHAM) as founded at Biggin Hill by Tony Osborne and then moved to Southend owned Anso G-AVHU / TX211 and this passed to the new owners Historic Aircraft Museum (Southend) Ltd.
Historic Aircraft Museum (Southend) Ltd was given G-AVVO – VL348 ex Tippers Air Transport which was impounded at Southend for non payment of parking fees. Historic Aircraft Museum (Southend) Ltd was later also gifted airworthy Anson G-AGPG by Ecko.
At this point a rationalisation took place which saw G-AVVO move on to Newark (I spent several days in the school holidays helping dismantle this one) to replace their Anson G-ALIH (the original Ecko Anson from Southend) which had been torched by arsonists. G-AGPG was retained at the Historic Aircraft Museum Southend and poor old G-AVHU (which by now looked very sorry for herself) joined the other wrecks from all over the airfield at the end of the runway 33/15 and presumerably succumbed to the scrapman or a training session for the airport fire service.
G-AWML was registered to Lesley Anne Osborne who was I believe the wife of Tony Osborne. It had a BHAM badge on the fin but I am pretty sure that by the time it was registered and painted the BHAM was dormant with the museum aircraft left by the railway line and I suspect that by that time the airport held a charge over them for outstanding rent on the site.
It appears that G-AWML never got any further than Weston Super Mare. As I said the story was that it went there for fitment of long range tanks but allegedly undertook unauthorised night flights and was impounded probably by customs. It was certainly scrapped at Weston (a long way from Biafra) and I was hoping someone on the West Country could provide a proper account of what actually went on at Weston as the story has fascinated me for over 40 years now.
AS far as I can tell Leslie Anne Osborne had no part in ownership of the other Biafran Ansons and G-AWMG was registered to a John Smith as trustee of the assets of Mercy Misiions at an address in Hertfordshire.
I suspect the pilot in my picture is most likely Tony Osborne. I don’t remember seeing G-AWML Anson fly after it arrived in RAF colours at Southend as TX166 following demob so it is likely that the photo I have was taken as it was leaving for Weston Super Mare.
WJ244I’ll buy the shed… it looks sufficiently authentic. :diablo:
But does the shed have an original data plate. If not it will be classed as a replica and this will greatly reduce it’s value.
WJ244Weren’t some Dakota sections used for the filming and then dumped behind Aces High. I think they were supposed to have been sold in the deal with the Lincoln and B-25 Bedsheet Bomber which all went a bit pear shaped when the buyers went to jail.
Seems to ring a bell that someone eventually bought a cockpit section from these parts for restoration or is my memory playing tricks?
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