Having been involved in various ways with aviation archaeology for thirty eight years I think I am well placed to distinguish between the “amateurs” and the “professionals”. Steve V and colleagues amateurs? Don’t think so, old chap. Some were doing this kind of work before some of those commenting were even born or out of their prams! 😀

I am not sure who were Steves colleagues were but describing Steve V as an amateur is like calling Barnes Wallis a dunce. The man rebuilts Spitfire’s from nothing, He’s a bloody genius. I understand he cut his teeth on recovery work.
Andy how did you record these early recoveries? Did anyone take picture’s or possibly film any of it. Would be great to see pics of some of the Battle of Britain stuff thats been recovered.

There you go merkle, he’s got one or two lying about according to an earlier post on another topic. Make him an offer:)

I have seen them 🙂

but ,if you knew me i am one of the most modest,un greedy kind of man,I am just so frustrated after spending on and off since the age of 14 years old (now 36Y/O) researching franticly in my hobby of aviation archaeology to find just 1 ,only 1 engine as my dream is to do one up to running standard, doesnt have to be a merlin, a radial would have been nice ,but i must be the biggest loser in the game as all these years i have nothing to show for all the hard work i have put in, purely for the love of it,so the last thing i am is greedy,just frustrated, and now own a new magnetometer ,so trying to improve my chances,I believe that items found in a certain area (Belong) in that area as it is History from the area they are found,all i am after is a engine to rstore I cant afford to buy such a beast so i have to hunt for them, even if they exist,would love a wright cyclone more than anything, old herc engine to big a thirsty and complicated,thats all dennis,so if by helping groups who are searching for a big cache of parts a engines and i got one i would be over the moon,even if it was 50 of them, etc, sorry t sound greedy ,but just drasticly clinging on to my dream, which the way its going will never happen ,but cant be put down for trying
all the best
Chris C:D

Hello Chris I agree you must be very unlucky to search for so long and find nothing. When i spoke to you the other day I thought you were already onto a good dump? and several aircraft. If you need a good digger driver i can recomend Fighter Ace i have seen him in action and he’s a Pro, good luck searching.

Its a tricky question!

I dont know how many hours the aircraft being sold have remaining, but that should influence matters.

I dont believe an airworthy Vampire/Venom is worth more than about £60K stg, possibly less. So the equation becomes one of:

Approx £60K – Cost to put the aircraft through a permit renewal = True value.

I dont think its high – that said, I would love to see more Vampires and Venoms back in the air, so lets hope the right buyer is out there!

Bruce

60K – permit renewal about 3K then LOL 🙂 I think there might be a bargain, how many people have the cash to keep one flying and if they do there are more desirable aircraft to spend your money on.
Bruce what effect does 5 years outdoors have on a wooden Vampire if its not maintained? There used to one at Dunkerswell Devon in quite good nick but outside, after 5 years it was a wreck, looked ok but was rotten.

You can do allot with a Meteor and they are a fraction of the price of a Merlin. A could runner will be around the £3K mark. I only have one left and i am keeping it for our next project. There was a place in Scotland that was selling them. check out this link:)

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=67289