Nice one Adrian. Both aircraft were Bulldogs from 3 FTS at Grantham. They collided over Alderstead Heath, Surrey on 16th May 1934. K2486 and K1651 being the aircraft involved.

Info according to The Scotsman newspaper. Not sure though that 3 (or as they put it – Third) FTS is correct. More likely 3 Squadron?

Hello dhfan,

I first came across the news about Wroughton in a newspaper article which led me to believe the site was fully open. Cue much excitement! However, looking further it turns out it is only open for guided tours on certain dates and that these are already fully booked up well into next year unfortunately. So the news obviously wasn’t kept that quiet in certain quarters!

To find out new dates you can sign up to a newsletter.

BUT – even worse, under Tour Details it states large aircraft are not included in the tour being “stored elsewhere” I suspect that might mean every aircraft other than the little Gugnunc is out of reach over in the old hangar.

My apologies if I raised anyone’s hopes for a quick visit there.

https://www.scienceinnovationpark.org.uk/visit-us/public-guided-tours

Hi Snapper,

Nice video. The C-47 appears to have served with 147 Squadron, 110 Wing of Transport Command, at Croydon between September 1944 and 1946. Postwar the Daks were used for flights to cities in liberated Europe including the route Croydon-Munich-Vienna. When KG783 flew on this route it carried the codes CMV-113 and also CMV-165.

From 18th Jan 47 to 15 March 1950 it flew with Air Transport Charter (Channel Islands) Ltd as “St Helier” , The book “British Dakotas” then has it listed as owned by Lambert’s Trust Ltd t/a Air Transport Charter (C.I.) Ltd until October 1952 (presumably a takeover of the company?)

Avro 504K H3071 and Sopwith Snipe E6617 were the aircraft involved in the Duxford crash. The Snipe was from 111 Sqn and the 504K belonged to 2FTS. Flying Officer Jasper Godfrey Peck was killed in the Snipe and Sgt George Thomas Bond in the Avro.

Vickers Vimy F9181 of 56 Sqn was the aircraft involved at Biggin Hill. Flying Officer W. Smith and Sgt Pilot F. Lister were killed. “The Scotsman” article states “the cause of the accident is obscure” and that the aircraft was “engaged in certain flight practices which were being filmed from another aeroplane for official purposes*. The aeroplane had completed its manoeuvres and was in the course of landing when it crashed”

* much prefer “fancy feats” 🙂

Hi Dave,

The accident appears to have happened on 28th August 1924 and involved Sopwith Snipe F2444 of 19 Squadron. I haven’t seen any reference to a memorial but maybe one of the forum members more local to Duxford might know?

Excellent! What a wonderful gesture and very well deserved recognition of the amazing work you are doing 🙂

Hello Old Towzer,

There is a photo of WS727 in Air Britain’s Aeromilitaria for the year 2000 – https://air-britain.com/pdfs/aeromilitaria/Aeromilitaria_2000.pdf

It’s on page 113. It’s quite a sizeable download so takes a bit of time to load.

I think the only thing I can add which I don’t think has been mentioned before is that C. L. Air Surveys also used a couple of Halifaxes during 1947 – G-AIOH and G-AIOI. Both moved on to Bond Air Services in March 1948. Info from “Handley Page Aircraft since 1907”.