Jersey Airways had a DH Express (G-ADVK) which was on overhaul at Jersey Airport at the time of the invasion and so wasn’t able to fly away, but presumably someone would have wrecked it before the Germans arrived. . .
On the British Pathe newsreel “Wings for Pauline”, 1949, there is a brief shot of it being bungee-launched at Camphill. . .
– ten minutes into:
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=78621
In the book “Slingsby Sailplanes” by Martin Simons there’s a photo of it in Derby & Lancs Gliding Club colours. It had blue stripes on the rudder (like all DLGC gliders at the time) and clear-doped fabric-covered wings and tail, but was otherwise painted cream.
History of BGA 680:
Avia 40P (117) ex ? (Built by Roche Aviation, 1942)
British Gliding Association; Don Burgoyne; Hereford GC 5.9.52; Alan Brook, J A Brook & Col. Geoff Benson, Long Mynd .53; Alan Brook & Bill Lewis, Perranporth; Dave Penticost & Bill Lewis, Perranporth; Ron Keeping, John Woolbridge and Peter Arthur, Perranporth by .71; expired 1.74; stored at Perranporth; to Ron Keeping, Culdrose .91; to François Ragot, Booker .92 and restored 5.96; François Ragot, St.Auban, France; expired 7.98; restored 8.06; reserved as F-AZQP 7.07
A lot of people (including some in this thread) refer to something called a “construction number”.
Is this simply a corruption of “Constructor’s Number” or does it have any valid basis? . .
The original Aeronca C-2 G-ABHE belonged to Major Jack Parham. He forced landed at Four Marks, near Alton after the engine disintegrated on 16.7.36. Rebuilt as a glider, with a new cockpit mounted in front of the old firewall, it made its first hops at Bordon on 24.3.37. . .
It is not a coin, it’s a ‘Commemorative Strike’, hence the lack of any denomination, monarch’s head etc. . .
From the Lichfield Mercury – Friday 24 September 1948:
Two Officers Killed in flying Display
Sad tragedy mars Lichfield R.A.F. “At Home”
TRAGEDY marred the eighth anniversary of the Battle of Britain commemoration at Lichfield R.A.F. Station on Saturday. Two R.A.F. officers were killed when the Mosquito fighter-bomber in which they were flying crashed to the ground on the north-west side of the station and burst into flames. The wife of one of the victims was among thousands of spectators who saw the fatal crash in which the well-known test-pilot, Flight-Lieutenant Stanley Hedley and his passenger, Squadron- Leader Frederick Everard Shaw, lost their lives, writes a “Mercury reporter, who witnessed the fatality. Her husband, Flt.-Lieut. Hedley, was chief test pilot at the station. He was demonstrating the capabilities of the Mosquito and after a thrilling aerobatics display, proceeded to demonstrate “slow rolls.” The aircraft rolled over three times and only a short distance from the ground failed to pull out of the fourth roll, crashing not far from a farmhouse on the Curborough side of the flying field. Announcing the accident from the flying control tower an officer said the demonstration would go on. “Man proposes—God disposes,” he said. A fire-fighting demonstration in which a blazing Oxford aircraft was to be extinguished by latest fire-fighting means and a dummy pilot rescued from it, was due to begin at the end of the flying display. But because of the catastrophe it was cancelled. Meanwhile Lichfield Fire Brigade assisted the unit brigade extinguish the flames encircling the blazing machine. The bodies of the two officers were discovered lying clear of the wreckage. Flt-Lieut. Hedley, who was 24, was living at Main Street, Alrewas with his wife and four-year-old son. Squadron-Leader Shaw, a Londoner, aged 40, lived in quarters at the station. His wife is living in London. The Mayor of Lichfield (Ald. R. J. Nevill) was one of many Lichfield visitors to the Station on Saturday when it was ”At Home” to the public.
At the Thanksgiving service to commemorate the Battle of Britain at St Mary’s Church, Lichfield, on Sunday morning, the Vicar (Preb. H. S. Cresswell) prefaced his address with a reference to the accident. “I feel impelled to express not only for myself but I am sure, Mr. Mayor, for you and the citizens of Lichfield, the very deep sorrow which we feel with the commanding officer and officers of the RAF at Fradley in the tragic accident which occurred yesterday,” he said. Preb. Cresswell asked the commanding officer (Wing-commander S. G. Taylor) to express their deep sympathy to those who were nearest and dearest to the two officers who had, so tragically, passed on. Such accidents were bound to happen from time to time, they were always tragic“ but how much more tragic when they occur on such occasions as yesterday,” he said. The Deputy Mayor (Cllr. W. F. L. Salloway) in proposing a toast to the R.A.F. in the Guild Room after the service expressed sympathy with the relatives of the deceased officers.
OPENING OF CORONER’S INQUEST
The Importance of Publicity
An Inquiry into the tragedy was opened at the station on Monday afternoon by the Coroner for South-East Staffordshire (Mr. J. L. Auden). Evidence of identification was given by Squadron Leader Allan who said that on Saturday he was on duty at the station in connection with the RAF At Home commemoration in connection with the Battle of Britain. At about 3 p.m. he was in a staff car on the perimeter track near to the hangar when, in consequence of something told him, he visited a field where he saw a Mosquito aircraft which had been taking part in the air display. The machine had crashed at approximately 3-30 p.m. on the northwest side of the airfield. It was completely disintegrated and was mostly burning. He saw the body of Ft.-Lieut. Hedley just clear of the debris and 20 yards away was the body of Squadron Leader Shaw. He was quite satisfied with the identiflcation of the two bodies as he knew the officers well.
Deprecated hush hush policy
In adjourning the inquiry until Monday, October 4th, the Coroner said in the old days those things had to be hushed up, but to-day there was no reason why the public should not know anything about it at all. The more they knew the better. In the past at those inquiries they had to be very careful what they said, but he thought the more the public knew the better in every way. Therefore, he thought they should hold the inquest where any relatives or the public who wanted to know what had happened should be allowed to attend. He knew there was to be a fairly big inquiry into all those unfortunate affairs, but he considered locally that it would be much better for the general public to realise that in all the millions of miles flown how seldom those things happened. It would be very much better to let the public know than have that hush-hush business. He thought the public should not be muzzled on those things and as a great believer in the Air Force he thought it was a mistake. The general public were rather worried as to whether it was safe to to those shows at all as people in a crowd were not able even to lie down and the crash at Mansion was a typical example of that. What the public were very worried about was whether those displays should be given at the moment, although personally he was all in favour of them.
The closest number to 441 I can find is SSK/FF439 which belonged to a T.7 Cadet TX.1 no. VM521 (later BGA 705).
Here’s a list for Kemble compiled from various sources:
Reg – Type – Last operator – Arrived – Scrapped
A6-GDP – 747-2B4B – Dubai Air Wing – 18.01.10 – 4.10
A9C-LI – A340-313X – Gulf Air – 28.09.13 – 8.14
B-5091 – 737-705 – Lucky Air – 15.11.12 – 9.13
B-5092 – 737-705 – Lucky Air – 26.11.12 – 12.13
B-HOT – 747-467 – Cathay Pacific – 30.09.12 – 5.13
B-HOX – 747-467 – Cathay Pacific – 25.10.12 – 6.13
B-HUD – 747-467 – Cathay Pacific – 22.09.12 – 2.13
B-HVY/N747KD – 747-236F – Cathay Pacific Cargo – 28.04.08 – c.7.08
CS-TQL – A340-312 – HiFly – 11.03.13 – 9.13
D-ADIH – 737-3Y0 – Germania – 10.06.11 – 11.11
D-AGEB – 737-322 – Germania – 25.02.11 – 7.11
D-AGEE – 737-35B – Germania – 14.12.11 – 9.12
D-AGEG – 737-35B – Germania – 11.11.11 – 9.12
D-AGEJ – 737-3L9 – Germania – 20.06.11 – c.9.11
D-AGEK – 737-3M8 – Germania – 30.11.11 – 4.12
EC-GRE – A320-211 – Clickair – 17.06.09 – 2.10
EC-GRF – A320-211 – Clickair – 16.06.09 – Flew out as G-STRP 15.10.09
EC-ICQ – A320-211 – Vueling – 01.08.13 – 3.14
EC-ICR – A320-211 – Vueling – 04.11.13 – 3.14
EC-ICS – A320-211 – Vueling – 26.11.13 – 5.14
EC-ICT – A320-211 – Vueling – 16.12.13 – intact 5.14
EI-DDE/G-CCJC – BAe 146-200 – Air France (CityJet) – 03.01.08 – 12.10
EI-DEZ – A319-112 – Meridiana – 08.11.13 – intact 4.14
EI-DFA – A319-112 – Meridiana – 05.07.13 – 1.14
EI-DTU – 737-5Y0 – Transaero – 04.01.12 – 10.12
EI-DYG – 737-8AS – Ryanair – 14.05.10 (fuselage by road) – 7.10
EI-HCB – 727-223F – Air Contractors – 08.01.03 – 3.03
EI-OZB – A300B4-103F – DHL – 02.05.12 – 11.12
EI-OZC – A300B4-203F – DHL – 03.03.12 – 2.13
EI-OZI – A300B4-203F – DHL – 20.09.12 – intact 9.14
F-GEXA – 747-4B3 – Air France – 07.10.11 – 4.12
F-GFKI – A320-211 – Air France – 08.02.11 – 11.11
F-GFKN – A320-211 – Air France – 22.04.10 – 7.10
F-GFKT – A320-211 – Air France – 18.05.10 – 7.10
F-GHQH – A320-211 – Air France – 24.02.11 – 11.11
F-GHQI – A320-211 – Air France – 18.10.10 – c.3.11
F-GHQP – A320-211 – Air France – 06.02.13 – 6.13
F-GITA – 747-428 – Air France – 20.07.10 – 2.11
F-GITB – 747-428 – Air France – 27.07.10 – 4.11
F-GITC – 747-428 – Air France – 10.08.10 – 4.11
F-GIXI- 737-348(QC) – Europe Airpost – 28.2.13 – Flew out as N809QC 07.06.13
F-HKIS/TF-AMG – 747-422 – Corsair – 23.02.13 – 5.14
F-HLOV – 747-422 – Corsair – 13.08.13 – intact 9.14
G-BDXB – 747-236B – British Airways – 10.06 – ?
G-BDXE – 747-236B – European Air Charter – 16.11.05 – 7.07
G-BDXF – 747-236B – Corsair – 28.11.05 – 10.06
G-BYDA – DC-10-30 – My Travel – 06.05.05 – 7.05
G-CCJP – BAe 146-200 – Club Air – 4.07 – 5.09
G-DPSP – DC-10-10 – My Travel – 17.01.04 – Flew out as 3D-MRR 19.11.04
G-EZKC – 737-73V – easyJet – 21.11.11 – 5.12
G-EZKD – 737-73V – easyJet – 03.11.11 – 2.12
G-EZKG/N583AT – 737-73V – easyJet – 04.04.11 – 7.11
G-JEBV – Avro RJ100 – Flybe – 27.04.05 (Chevron) – to recyling area 10.11; left
by road 14.8.12
G-LGTG – 737-3Q8 – British Airways – 28.04.09 – c.7.09
G-MKCA – 747-2B5B – MK Airlines – 07.08.09 – intact 9.14
G-MKGA – 747-2R7F – MK Airlines – 11.05.09 – intact 9.14
G-MKHA – 747-2J6B – MK Airlines – 26.08.09 – flew out 10.09
G-MKKA – 747-212F – MK Airlines – 02.01.10 – flew out 22.1.10
G-MOND – 757-2T7 – Monarch – 30.01.09 – c.3.09
G-OGBD – 737-3L9 – bmiBaby – 14.02.13 – Flew out as N4973S 25.1.14
G-OOPT – A320-214 – First Choice – 28.03.12 – Flew out as TC-SGN 7.12
G-STRP – A320-211 – Dubrovnik Airline – 06.10.11 – 7.12
G-TAOS – DC-10-10 – My Travel – 17.01.04 – Flew out as 3D-MRS 11.04
G-TDTW – DC-10-10 – My Travel – 16.01.04 – Flew out as 3D-MRQ 11.04
G-VMIA – 747-123 – Virgin Atlantic – 19.01.00 – 3.00
G-VOYG – 747-123 – Virgin Atlantic – 07.11.98 – 1.99
I-EEZQ – A319-112 – Meridiana Fly – 14.12.11 – 7.12
JY-AGP/N416JG – A310-304 – Royal Jordanian – 03.01.11 – 6.11
LN-BRJ – 737-505 – SAS – 21.09.11 – 2.12
LN-KKA – Fokker 50 – Norwegian Air Shuttle – 20.07.04 – 10.04
LX-STC – A320-212 – Strategic – 21.02.12 – Flew out 20.3.12
N176SG – 747-338 – – 09.04.14 – intact 9.14
N2868R – 747-267B – Cathay Pacific – 21.09.09 – 2.10
N355PH/97-0500 – DHC-8-202Q – USAF – 10.10 (fuselage by road) – 11.10
N389DF – 737-3M8 – KD Avia – 12.06.10 (fire trainer by 7.10) – intact 9.14
N435XS – A310-304 – Canada 3000 – 19.03.03 – 1.04
N440XS – A310-304 – Canada 3000 – 20.03.03 – 2.04
N571RY – DC-10-10 – Skyservice USA – 15.04.03 – 7.03
N767HS – 767-204ER – Air Seychelles – 18.01.09 – c.7.09
OE-LNN – 737-7Z9 – Austrian – 12.06.12 – 1.13
OE-LNO – 737-7Z9 – Austrian – 27.06.12 – 2.13
OE-LRE – CRJ-100LR – Austrian Arrows – 17.10.06 – 12.06
OK-SWV – 737-522 – SmartWings – 13.03.12 – 8.12
OO-DIF/EI-OZA – A300B4-103F – DHL – 01.08.09 – 10.11
OO-TCR – A320-232 – Thomas Cook – 04.10.11 – 2.12
OY-EDO – 737-548 – Nordic Aviation Capital – 04.02.13 – 5.13
PH-BDA – 737-306 – KLM – 08.10.09 – 11.10
PH-BDC – 737-306 – KLM – 10.12.09 – 11.10
PH-BDD – 737-306 – KLM – 07.12.09 – 11.10
PR-MAJ – A320-232 – TAM – 14.12.12 – 9.13
SU-MWC – 737-683 – Midwest – 04.05.10 – 12.10
TC-SGN – A320-214 – Ghadames Air – 11.07.13 – Flew out as M-RAFF 18.1.14
TF-AME – 747-312 – Med-View – 14.1.14 – intact 9.14
TF-ARG – 747-236B – Air Atlanta – 10.10.06 – c.5.07
TF-ATC – 747-267B – Air Atlanta – 20.04.04 – 7.04
TS-INM/M-ABCS – A320-211 – Nouvelair Tunisie – 30.03.10 – 7.10
UR-GAL – 737-341 – Ukraine Intl – 19.11.09 – Flew out 18.12.09
V8-RBA/G-CDMR – 757-2M6 – Royal Brunei – 13.07.05 – 12.05
VN-A190 – 737-4H6 – Jetstar – 27.08.12 – fuselage by road to St Athan 7.13
VN-A191 – 737-4H6 – Jetstar – 04.09.12 – 5.13
VP-BBN – 737-330 – Sky Express – 18.04.09 – 9.09
VP-BJW – 737-301 – KD Avia – 29.04.10 – 9.10
VP-BJX – 737-301 – KD Avia – 17.02.10 – 8.10
VP-CMN – 727-46 – International Development Group – 17.06.12 (fuselage by road)
– intact 9.14
VT-EPX – 747-337 – Air India – 06.01.09 – c.6.09
VT-EVC – A300B4-203 – Indian Airlines – 13.06.03 – c.9.03
VT-EVW/N598HS – A310-304 – Air India – 05.03.09 – 9.09
VT-EVX – A310-308 – Air India – 30.01.09 – c.8.09
VT-EYF – A320-231 – Indian Airlines – 22.09.09 – 1.10
YL-LCA – A320-211 – Smart Lynx – 02.12.11 – Flew out 5.4.12
YL-LCB – A320-211 – Smart Lynx – 04.11.11 – 3.12
YU-AOS/N429US – 737-4B7 – JAT – 08.07.10 – 3.11
3D-AIA – DC-8-55F – African International A/W – 29.11.00 – c.2.01
4R-ABD – A320-231 – SriLankan Airlines – 21.06.09 – 9.09
5X-ONE – DC-10-30 – AfricaOne – 11.01.04 – 5.04
9M-MMI – 737-4H6 – Malaysia – 26.10.12 – fuselage left by road 24.2.13
ZD952 – TriStar – RAF – 02.02.14 – 10.9.14
Sagitta in the background – very classy. . .
The problem is that historians cannot accept that an aircraft does not have a manufacturer’s serial number, and instead rely on set numbers, fuselage numbers, works order numbers etc. Which may be useful for identifying otherwise anonymous parts, but are not legitimate identities. . .
I recollect an apparently tidy Bocian lingering at Bicester a couple of years ago, offered to a new owner for free. Hopefully it is now receiving the tlc it needed.
The Bocian at Bicester ended up on a bonfire on St Guyfawkes day. . .
Interesting thread.
My logbook shows 228 flights in eight different K8Bs.
Never been tempted to buy one though.
Flying wing glider is a Fauvel AV.36CR, formerly stored at Camphill; most likely BGA 1999, built by Wassmer. . .