Page 35 – Key Publishing

Lee Howard

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January 19, 2007 at 9:05 pm in reply to: Seafury Info #1329704

Lee Howard
Participant

You can see the mortal remnants of TF956 in the video and DVD “Hawker Sea Fury – the Ultimate Piston-Engined Fighter”, available through the RNHF website (see link below). It also shows Lt Cdr John Beattie “po-going” down the runway – quite a feat of airmanship – before abandoning her over the sea and watching her final plunge into the oggin 🙁

As others have said on here, there really wasn’t anything left of her capable of being used in any rebuild. The wreckage of WG655, on the other hand, was sold and ended up in the US where substantial parts of her were rebuilt to form the new “WG655”. The only discernable external difference being the different wheels (disc brakes as opposed to bag brakes) and the retractable tailwheel (the T.20 having a fixed installation normally).

Anyway, (warning – gratuitous PLUG inbound..) if you haven’t already seen the aforementioned video/DVD it really is superb value for money – 1.5 hrs of Sea Fury footage, including a “from the cockpit” display over RNAS Portland. Buy it now!! 😎

January 18, 2007 at 11:45 am in reply to: Sea Hawk Movements #1331559

Lee Howard
Participant

(this’ll confuse W&R contributors for a while 😀 )

And me (“Fleet Air Arm Fixed-Wing Aircraft since 1946”)! Mind you, it’s just the same as the Chiltern Cantello and Gatwick/Bournemouth Sea Hawks which did swaps of tails and outer wings many years ago. Nightmare to track!

WV911 was the potential flyer out of the three former AES Lee-on-Solent Sea Hawks, and it was this aircraft that couldn’t be made airworthy again due to lack of paperwork. It was a great shame as, in many ways, she was originally in better condition than WV908. Unfortunately, having sat outside for several years now there is no realistic hope of her being considered again in the future – money or no money.

January 17, 2007 at 6:40 pm in reply to: G-SEAH/WM994/N994WM #1332104

Lee Howard
Participant

J-ETH is still around at Gatwick.

She’s undergoing a full strip down to bare metal ready for a re-paint in FAA colours this year.

Peter

What markings are you planning on doing?

Lee

January 16, 2007 at 10:45 pm in reply to: SCRAPYARDS again #1332635

Lee Howard
Participant

A fellow Bradfordian!

I think Enfield Rolling Mills had a yard in Bradford, so maybe this was what you saw.

January 13, 2007 at 10:00 pm in reply to: Stinson Reliant query #1245366

Lee Howard
Participant

MerlinMagic.

I would check out this link.

http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/aircraft/Reliant.htm

Or maybe even check out the Air-Britain books that this site appears to lift all of its content from? 😡

January 8, 2007 at 1:18 pm in reply to: Seafires wrecked at Oakey?? #1249676

Lee Howard
Participant

Where are the pics? Can’t seem to find them on your website.:confused:

January 2, 2007 at 11:58 am in reply to: R.N. Air-Crash Investigation Unit, 1950s. Location? #1255148

Lee Howard
Participant

Well first off, what aircraft is it? Can you post the un-blown-up pic?

JOAC (Joint Officers Air Course) of 781 NAS used to have Disney characters on the nose (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck etc).

December 31, 2006 at 9:57 am in reply to: R.N. Air-Crash Investigation Unit, 1950s. Location? #1257103

Lee Howard
Participant

AIU was at Lee up until the move to Yeovilton during the mid 1990s when it became the Flight Safety and Accident Investigation Centre (FSAIC).

What history is this you’re writing, out of interest?

December 23, 2006 at 6:48 pm in reply to: What is the story behind this?!!!! #1262517

Lee Howard
Participant

Looks like most of it is Vampire, with just a Gannet tailplane for a fin, to me.

Not Vampire – Sea Venom. Longer nose.

December 22, 2006 at 5:37 pm in reply to: MAM's Work in Progress #1263106

Lee Howard
Participant

This airframe (the 2nd prototype I’m told)….

Indeed she is. First prototype was G-ARYA and third prototype, G-ARYC, is preserved in much more complete form at Salisbury Hall.

December 22, 2006 at 10:59 am in reply to: What is the story behind this?!!!! #1263712

Lee Howard
Participant

Flightpath Article few years ago.
Cheers,

Olivier

Good pics! Not seen these shots before – they are the “Sea Snipe” I was referring to.

December 22, 2006 at 10:57 am in reply to: What is the story behind this?!!!! #1263721

Lee Howard
Participant

Excellent story from the days when the RAF was allowed to do daft things could you imagine them doing something like this now? Bex

ROYAL NAVY!!! NOT RAF!

December 22, 2006 at 8:54 am in reply to: Seeking info on Airwork Services #1263922

Lee Howard
Participant

Indeed that is a nice piece on Airwork. Glad to see that you got it right about the “ADTU” at Yeovilton too! Unfortunately the Sea Venoms have perpetually been recorded as Air Direction School (ADS) Sea Venoms, when in fact they were ADTU Sea Venoms. The ADS was the element comprising the instructors and students, housed in the control tower, while the ADTU was the “hardware” side of things, providing the aircraft for the ADS to use.

December 22, 2006 at 8:44 am in reply to: What is the story behind this?!!!! #1263931

Lee Howard
Participant

This is RNAS Abbotsinch (HMS Sanderling) Air Day (off the top of my head can’t recall which year, but early 1960s) and I think this was the “Vennet” – a mixture of two Sea Venoms and a Gannet tailplane as the fin. Abbotsinch was the Aircraft Holding Unit at the time and there were huge numbers in open storage on the airfield all slowly rotting away 😡

They did several spoofs like this specifically for Air Day, more often than not involving Venoms and Gannet parts. One of them was the “Sea Snipe”, and involved the cockpit of a Venom with one of the aux fins from a Gannet. It looked very much like a prototype of the 1950s (BP111 etc) and was actually fast taxied up and down the runway for the amusement of the public by the then-Maintenance Test Pilot, Lt Paul Stevenson. Photographs of it can be found in Flight and Aeroplane of the day.

Hope that helps.

December 21, 2006 at 4:55 pm in reply to: Blenheim project update #1264536

Lee Howard
Participant

Nice pics DH – a superb job they’re doing as ever. Looking forward to seeing it with a “proper” Blenheim nose on instead of the Bollingbroke nose for a change.
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