Jagan

Well you have raised a ‘can of worms’. None of the photos of the supposedly Wapiti V batch, (J9725 to J9759 with the exception of J9728) appear to me to have the revised longer rear fuselage which has been an attributed feature of this RAF version in type histories. I personally think that there has been some confusion with the use of K serialled Wapiti II A fuselages which were used to produce the first production batch of Wallace Mk.1’s which had the extended fuselage frames.
I also believe that J9728 should not be described as a long fuselage Wapiti V but rather the sole long fuselage Wapiti V. I also suspect that this aircraft became G-AAWA which was later revamped as the Wapiti VIII which then became the Westland P.6. It then became the prototype Wallace and later G-ACBR (the Houston Everest Westland P.6).

Another feature of the extended fuselage airframes is that they are fitted with tail wheels and brakes. I think that brakes fitted to the short fuselage versions would have seen more airframes sitting on their noses.

John

Hi Jagan

I have business to attend too this morning. but I will come back to this fascinating thread later. J9724 was the last of the batch built as a IIA, J9725 was the first of the batch (J9725 to J9759) built as Mk V.’s. We need pictures of the a/c post J9725.

Back earlier than I thought.

Type A are fitted with geared Jupiter VIII’s and with direct exhaust ports (these must have been pretty noisy and smelly). Type B have the later exhausts with the larger collector ring chamber developed for the (longer gearbox) geared Jupiter’s (VIII and VIII.F) However to confuse some Mk II.A’s were also produced with the ungeared Jupiter VI ( group C) and these had the smaller diameter props and thinner bifurcated exhaust collectors required by the lesser ‘prop to crankcase’ clearance. The Mk V Wapiti seems to be quite camera shy and if we can find some good side on shots it will be easy to see any length difference.

Regards

John

It would indeed be nice to see this project finished. However the Wallace fuselage is longer than most Wapiti’s except the Mk V and VIII. The V was used by five RAF squadrons in India and may well have been passed on to the Indian Squadrons later. The choice of the Leonides engine is odd as it is physically much smaller than a Jupiter (Wapiti) or Pegasus (Wallace) though a two row Leonides Major might double up for an AW Panther (Chinese Wapiti VIII) quite well. I’d love to get up close to it as I have a Wallace drawing project on at the moment for model purposes.

John

Rumbold made lots of seats. That used in the Canberra was a crude folding seat with a webbing back rest. Most uncomfortable.

John

[QUOTE=SimonR;2269605]In terms of a definitive date – if the pics of the Vulcan prototype VX770 are from the same set as the first post, and the Rotordyne means they can’t be pre 1958 then the photos must date from summer 1958 because VX770 crashed on September 20th 1958.

I absolutely love this pic:

Which is exactly what it was doing when it broke up at Syerston!

John

Sharing the hangar with the Mossie are a Tempest (V), a Martinet (probably a Master II having seen the better later photo’s) and an Auster.

Keep them coming please.

John

The shots of the King’s visit show Hart/ Audax and a Metal Moth tail with I think a Bulldog on the right. The other shot shows the (just) engine of a Wallace and Fairey Seals (or Gordons) with more Hawker types in the background.

John

I’m pleased to have seen this delightful Moth at Woburn a short while ago.

John