The actual helicopter involved was G-CRST of Castle Air and was en route from Redhill to Elstree, when the pilot required that he put down at Battersea Heliport (York Road SW11 if you know the area).

Not clear at this stage if it was a diversion to due “adverse weather” conditions – temperatures are around or just below freezing, and these was some freezing fog – or if there was a mechanical problem that needed the helicopter to “put down in a hurry”

Despite the helicopter catching fire on impact with the ground – there were rivers of burning fuel running down Wandsworth Road – train services continued through Vauxhall Station (surface and underground rail) as normal. Although not stopping to allow anyone to get off at Vauxhall of course!

Surprising, really, considering that the helicopter came down some 25 yards from the entrance to Vauxhall tube station. Getting home in tonight’s rush hour is gong to be, erm, “interesting”…

Spitfire Incident at East Midlands

Daily Mail reporting the story (with their usual accuracy…) at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2258569/Flights-suspended-East-Midlands-airport-undercarriage-Spitfire-collapsed-landing.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

…but at least there are some pictures. These show the Spitfire back on its wheels, and being pushed away into a hangar for damage assessment. Judging from the damage to the prop blades, the engine has taken a “shock loading”.

There are only three (of five) prop blades visible, and they are sheered off almost “down to the stumps”

Does that indicate that the engine was still turning at the moment of impact?

That TSR-2 engine which keeps popping up on this thread is being listed again: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BAC-TSR2-RAF-Aircraft-Olympus-320-Jet-Engine-TSR-2-UNIQUE-Oportunity-/130574234473?hash=item1e66d4b369&item=130574234473&pt=Motors_Aviation_Parts_Gear&vxp=mtr

Notice that the price seems to have dropped somewhat. Vendor now asking $165,000 (which is equivalent to £102,679.05 at the current rate of exchange). Something of a big drop from the £1 million ($1.6 million) being originally asked. Perhaps the headline should be “90% off in our January sale”(!)

Sea Harrier on ebay

ZD614: (c/no.41H-912053/B47/P26) f/f 14/03/1986, d/d 07/04/1986. Became 124/L and 122/R with 800 NAS. Written off 08/10/2001: Ran off the end of the runway on landing at RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset. The pilot (Squadron Leader Spon Clayton) ejected just before the aircraft slid into the river Yeo.

After recovery it went into the Accident Investigation Unit here and was then transferred to St. Athan. With the announcement during 2002 that the Sea Harrier fleet would be withdrawn from service by 2006 it was not repaired. To Everett Aero at to Sproughton 08/10/2002 – where it seems to have been ever since…

Link to a picture of what ZD614 used to look like [at RAF St Mawgan (NQY/EGDG) England UK – 22nd April 1987]

[found on flickr]

And this is what it looked like when it became a submarine: http://www.davebellamy.co.uk/index.php?MF=crashed_sea_harrier.htm

At St Athan on 16/9/2002:

(Credit SWAG)

and lastly at Everett Aero, Spoughton in December 2005:

[found on flickr]

Cilit Bang Jet

Thanks Dr John

That’s the one, only question now is where was it filmed?

Mark

Best people to ask would be the ad agency involved, Havas Worldwide. Email:
[email]enquiries@havasww.com[/email]

But, IMO, it looks like a soundstage (not a “proper” hangar) and probably in a UK film studio (Elstree or Pinewood perhaps?)

What I want to know is – assuming a) it was real aircraft (not a mock-up) and b) it was filmed in the UK – where is that J-22 Orao now?

Cilit Bang Jet

At first glance I thought Jaguar, but looking closer it actually appears to be a Soko J-22 Orao.

I’d agree your identification: the Soko J-22 Orao does look very much like a Jaguar GR.3A from some angles….

(found on flicker)

Indeed, that was my first thought, but soon realised that the shape of the nose was wrong for a single seat Jaguar (too conical/pointed). Have a look here http://www.hrcappuccino.org/articles/okohodac/Orao.htm (Croatian text – but the web page is mostly pictures)

There’s a pic of the aircraft in question is this item http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/sectors/fmcg/article/1160367/Cillit-Bang-puts-Barry-Scott-back-TV-5m-push The makers of Cillit Bang are spending some £5 million on the ad campaign, so it would be quicker and cheaper to use a real aircraft than a full size model, built from scratch…

P.S. have just found the ad online too … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBAznAdF2pQ

Napier Heston Racer

One additional tidbit is that the details of the registration G-AFOK is available on line at http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-AFOK.pdf

The aircraft is officially described by the CAA as the “Heston Special High Speed Land Monoplane” (sic)

It was registered G-AFOK on 23 January 1939 to D, Napier & Sons of Acton London W3, and the registration was cancelled on 10 November 1945 due to a postwar census.

“In December 1938, construction work commenced on two Napier-Heston prototype airframes side by side, in case there were problems with one or the other. The design followed the Air Registration Board’s formula for civil aircraft and were allotted the registration numbers, G-AFOK and G-AFOL respectfully, work progressed on each very rapidly. By the time war broke out on September 3, 1939, one aircraft, G-AFOK, was nearing completion while the second airframe, G-AFOL, was approximately 60% completed. The start of war effectively put an end to work on the second airframe, G-AFOL. However, work on G-AFOK was ordered to be completed and the engine was run-up, the first for a Napier Sabre engine in an aircraft, on December 6th, 1939 approximately one year after construction began.

Ground engine testing of the “Racer” prototype began on the 9th of February 1940, with Heston’s chief test pilot, Squadron Leader G.L.G. Richmond beginning successful vibration and taxiing tests on the 12th March, 1940 and continuing them for several months. The “Racer” passed all phases of the ground taxiing tests and prolonged engine run-up, the newly designed aircraft seemed to have no faults.

It was decided to wait for perfect weather. Finally on June 12th 1940, Richmond decided to test fly the Heston racer. He taxied out without the canopy. As the aircraft raced across Heston’s grass strip at full power, control and response was more than adequate. Then the racer hit a bad irregularity in the grassy surface very hard, causing the Heston to rotate prematurely into a very nose-high attitude. Thirty seconds or so after hitting the bump and full throttle and becoming airborne, the engine coolant temps went critical. Richmond found himself in an unfamiliar flight attitude in a new aircraft that employed a uniquely designed and sensitive flight control system, the landing gear down and no canopy. His first landing in the Heston was going to be hot.

Six minutes after opening the throttle, he had made a wide circuit at about 200 mph, throttled back, and set up for the landing approach. The ignition was not switched off and the DeHaviland-Hamilton constant-speed prop was not feathered. Witnesses say that he leveled out at about 30 ft, stalled, and “banged it” on, quite possibly because he was being scalded from below – there is speculation that an engine coolant pipe or fitting had fractured during the hard bump incident at takeoff. Whether the aircraft stalled or not, it arrived at the field at an excessive rate of descent, hit the ground hard, drove the landing gear through the wings, broke the tail, and ensued other major airframe damage before coming to rest. The pilot was scalded but not badly hurt, the Heston was a complete write-off.”

source http://www.air-racing-history.com/aircraft/Napier-Heston%20Racer.htm from which it can be concluded that the above was the aircraft’s one and only flight.

Wikipedia also has some useful references at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier-Heston_Racer so try these

Clare, R.A. “Napier-Heston Racer Postscript”. Aeroplane Monthly, August 1976. IPC Media.

Cowin, Hugh W. The Risk Takers, A Unique Pictorial Record 1908-1972: Racing & Record-setting Aircraft (Aviation Pioneer 2). London: Osprey Aviation, 1999. ISBN 1-5532-904-2.

Gunston, Bill. “The Napier-Heston Racer”. Aeroplane Monthly, June 1976. IPC Media.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985, p. 2158.

Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Vol. 3. London: Putnam, 1974. ISBN 0-370-10014-X.

Lewis, Peter. “Heston Aircraft.” Air Pictorial, Volume 34, no. 11, November 1972.

Meaden, Jack. “The Heston-Napier Racer and World Records”. Air-Britain Archive (quarterly), Summer 2006.

Oh, by the way – the other Javelin at Swanton Morely was XH986 (and NOT XH896)

XH986 was based at Swanton Morely as Ground Instructional Airframe 7842M from 7/4/1964 until it was scrapped on site in 1972

XH896 was written off in a fatal collision with another Javelin (XH708) on 30th May 1967 over Tengah, Singapore (see here: http://97th.org.uk/rip.html and here http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/Gloster_Javelin.htm). Both crew of XH708 were killed, the crew of XH896 survived (they both ejected) but the aircraft was destroyed when it crashed 10 miles NW of Tengah