WyvernfanI have just recalled that on the first “dig” at the Wyvern site, and when the hook was unbolted, the complete and virtually undamage rudder was recovered. I suspect that has long since gone. Similary, the four x 20mm cannons were also found. All of them in pristine condition. Again, all long gone.
I think i’m gonner cry..
WyvernfanGuys can we stick to the thread title please.. i.e Wyverns.:rolleyes:
Wyvernfan[QUOTE=H.M.S Vulture;1352081]Arrestor hook which i believe came from the Tangmere Wyvern fuselage.
Quite possibly.. can you confirm that it came directly or indirectly from John Lee.? At least something managed to survive.
Also if you wish to sell it to a good home please pm me.. thanks.
WyvernfanCan i just add that the largest items of Wyverns that i have found to date (and its not much) have been on loan and very well looked after by the Fenland Aviation Museum near Kings Lynn for many years. Last year i paid them a visit for the first time in years, and there was my canopy on display, in exactly the same condition as when it was loaned to them.
The museum and area itself has no real connection with the Wyvern, apart from nearby West Raynham being home to a few (four) with 787 Sqdn NAFDU for a year or two, but they have always shown great interest in the type and offered a home to anything i can find.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but had the rear fuselage in question been offered to me two years later then we would not be having this debate.. i guess thats possibly the case with many a scrapped artifact.
Its just a shame that when something does eventually surface to do with the Wyvern, it is not treated with as much care or affection as other better known aircraft types.. possibly due mostly to its lack of cash value.
I may be on my own here, but i’m not giving up searching just yet.!!;)
WyvernfanS/Lt R W Edward was traced and present for a time during the recovery?
Thats news to me, too, unless I have a dreadfully faulty memory!!!
I found the site, carried out an initial hand-excavation (c.1972/3ish), followed this up with a JCB attempt at recovery (when the hook was unbolted) and then organised the last recovery when the fuselage came out.
If Mr Edward was there on any of those occasions he must have kept very quiet about it. 🙂
I was also told, quite recently, that we used a RN Wessex to lift out the tail. It was obviously well camouflaged and – like Mr Edward – also very very quiet!!!
Finally, and for the sake of clarification, I must stress that those involved with the recovery did not loose interest. Au contraire. The fact that certain parties gave away/lost/scrapped the fruits of other peoples labours does not represent a “loss of interest” on the part of those who went to great pains to conduct the recovery in the knowledge that it represented an important and extinct FAA type, with the Yeovilton example being an RR Eagle engined prototype. So; no loss of interest by the recovery team, no instrument panel in a complete cockpit, no fuselage ripped from the remaining wreckage, no helicopter, no S/Lt Edward present, no hook removed by “someone at Tangmere”, no authority for Tangmere to give the fuselage away….oh….and no yellow paint!
As regard the pilot being present i am again merely quoteing what i was told, and yes apparently he was reluctant to be there being somewhat overawed by the whole event.
Am i right to believe then that the recovery was abandoned due to the depth of the remaining airframe.? I ask because as i was not present at the site it has always intrigued me as to why no further attempt was made to recover the rest.. and why the fuselage that was recovered was not given better treatment by the museum.! I understand that it was a minority of individuals who had no interest in it, but what about the rest of the team?
Can i also just say Tangmere that i am not having a dig (excuse the pun) at you or anyone else at the museum.. i am merely interested to know the truth about the recovery/what was left/the aftermath of it all.. as it would appear a lot of what i was told was not true.
WyvernfanI will try to find the photos of the dig.
The fuselage aft of the cockpit was not “ripped off” in the excavation as you suggest or in any way broken away from the bulk of the fuselage by the act of recovery. It was joined by sundry small parts, pipework, cables etc but lifted out quite easily once the surrounding earth was dug away. As to stories about looking down into the fuselage complete with instruments….a nice story but a myth I’m afraid! The hole was flooded – filled with mud and water. Once the fuselage section was out that was it. Nothing could be seen in the hole and so anyone relating tales of the instrument panel in an otherwise complete cockpit is telling porky-pies I’m afraid. I was present on both excavations, as was XTangoMike.
Tangmere, i am only quoteing what i was told by a member of the museum back in the nineties. It was he who also informed me of the hook being removed from the arrester hook arms. The name eludes me but it could of been the John Lee you mention..
Anymore info or pics that you can come up with would be very welcome thank you.
WyvernfanIt would appear that the aftermath of the recovery is a very sad tale indeed. Even the original pilot, S/Lt. R.W Edward who had ejected from the plane on that fateful night, was traced and was present for a time during the recovery.. so much effort and then its seems that those involved just lost interest.!
Edit.. the pilot of VZ795 was not S/Lt Robert Edward as I’ve recently discovered as he was piloting VZ798. It was S/Lt Gerry Smith who was in ‘795 when the two collided.
WyvernfanThanks guys. Anyone know what scrappie was involved.?
It was still a very pale dirty green when i saw it, and it looked as if it had been rolled on its side and half a dozen kids had jumped up and down on it.. hence its crushed appearance.
It was actually first offered to me by Phil Earthey, but i then received a letter and photos of it from Anthony White claiming ownership and saying that it was not Mr Eartheys property in the first place.. very strange.
If it has been scrapped then that is in my mind a great loss in the preservation of naval aviation. When it originally came out of the ground i believe it was in fairly good nick and was quite simply the largest surviving piece of Wyvern S.4 anywhere (that was known about).
I was also informed that when the fuselage was separated (ripped off) from the rest of the airframe, as there was no ejection seat still fitted, you could see right down inside the complete cockpit including instruments.. and thats how it was left when they filled the hole in.!
The ground into which it crashed was very soft and it basically buried itself almost vertically. I would assume that the outer wings would have been destroyed, but the engine, main plane/fuselage and the then still attached rear fuselage would have presented quite a good chance of a virtually intact if somewhat battered airframe.. UNBELIEVABLE.
WyvernfanLet’s start a campaign to buy-back the F8 from Australia – bring back the only “proper” Meteor!:p
The export of the worlds only airworthy F8 Meteor to Australia was i believe a significant loss to the british aviation scene. Kept for so long in superb condition, just before it was sold there was only one airshow booking for it that season.. and that beggars belief for something so rare and ‘different’.
I can remember seeing and hearing it at Dx a few years ago, and will never forget that very distinctive sound from its Derwent engines as it roared across the airfield. Only an early jet could sound that distinctive (much like the ‘blue note’ Hunter), and i for one would love to see it return some day.!
WyvernfanGood point Cees.. incidentally does anything substancial still exist of the AW Siskin.? Is there a fuselage, set of wings still extent? And what about the AS Jaguar engine, any of those still around..?
WyvernfanI have a recollection of reading an article that basicly said Hoagys aircraft was not the one which brought down the MiG , it was another aircraft of the same flight . But I have not been able to find it since , was it in Flypast or Aeroplane Monthly ?
Yes i think it was Flypast.. the pilot who actually claimed to have downed the MiG was an NCO, and the navy were not too keen to have a non comissioned officer credited with such a major headline, therefore the leader of the flight Hoagy Carmichael was officially credited with the downing of the FAA’s first MiG.
WyvernfanNot a confirmation as such, but surely any combat between UN forces and Po-2s in Korea must rank amongst the strangest encounters of that war?
F7F Tigercat vs Po-2 springs to mind.!
WyvernfanAs regard to the replica FW190 at Dx i think the CAA are nothing short of pathetic. How long is it going to take for them to give a straight yes or no as to its first flight.? All our historic aircraft, whether authentic or not, already operate with very strict rules and guidelines as to there operation.. so why do they keep dragging there bloody feet over this one?
Has a similar one not been operated successfully elsewhere without incident or am i missing something.?:mad:
WyvernfanJesus!
Why the hell was he performing aeros with the gear down anyway? That won’t do much for his airspeed!
Maybe he had a premonition of his impending crash landing.. wheels down ready.:D
WyvernfanBrilliant pics David, many thanks for sharing them with us. Do you know the reason why the Gannet has been unloaded at the dock.? Also is the small bottom finlet on the port side tail surface damaged.. can’t quite see for sure. Perhaps i have just answered my own question..
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