WulfieMy preliminary list for Frazer-Nash turrets is –
FN.1 Dorsal (Demon)
1. RAF Museum On display
FN.4 Tail (Whitley)
1. RAF Museum Stafford ex-wreck incomplete
2. RAFM Stafford ex.wreck incomplete
3. AWM Canberra ex.wreck stored
FN.5 Nose (Lancaster etc.)
1. Elvington Air Gunners Museum
2. RAF Wyton ex-Stirling on display
3. AWM Canberra In Lanc.
4. AWM Canberra ex-wellington on display
5. WA AHM Bull Creek In Lanc,
6. BBMF In Lanc.
7. IWM Duxford In Lanc.
8. East Kirby In Lanc.
9. IWM Lambeth In Lanc. nose
10. RAFM Cosford In Wellington
11. Soesterberg Holland, In store
FN.11 Nose (Sunderland)
1. RNZAF Store
2. RAFM Hendon In Sunderland
3. IWM Duxford In Sunderland
FN.13 Tail (Sunderland)
1. RNZA in Sunderland
2. RAFM Hendon In Sunderland
3. IWM Duxford In Sunderland
FN.20 Tail (Lancaster)
1. BBMF In Lanc.
2. RAFM Cosford In Wellington
3. AWM Canberra In Lanc.
4.IWM Duxford In Lanc.
FN.25 Ventral
1. Australia Private, incomplete
FN.50 Dorsal (Lancaster)
1. BBMF In Lanc.
2. East Kirby In Lanc.
3. AWM Canberra In Lanc.
FN.77 Leigh Light
1. RAFM Hendon on display
FN.82 Tail ( Lancaster)
1. East Kirby in Lanc.
2. WA AHM In Lnac.
3. RAFM Stafford in store
FN.120 Tail
1.RAFM @ Elvington Air Gunners Museum
FN.121 Tail
1. RAFM @ Elvington Air Gunners Museum
2. AWM Canberra in store unrestored ?
3. Queensland Air Museum ??
FN.150
1. Elvington Air Gunners Museum
I know this is not complete – there are no Canadian turrets – does anyone have the status of the various Canadian Lancs, i.e. what turrets they hae fitted.
Looking ahead to the Bristol turrets, What happened to all the Lincoln dorsal turrets with 2 x 20mm cannon ?
WulfieOne correction on the AW turret owned by the RAF Museum. It is actually an AW.38, from an air-sea-rescue launch, not a ‘gun-boat’ and is at Hendon ,not Stafford.
The list of Rose Bros. Type R turrets is not long, so far. There is one, on display at the RAF Museum Hendon.
WulfieMy updated Boulton Paul list, with question marks where I am not sure.
Type A (4 x .303 Dorsal, Defiant)
1. RAF Museum Hendon In Defiant now at Rochester
2. Elvington Air Gunners Museum
3. Canada In Halifax ?
4. Stone Mountain, Ga. Private unrestored ex-scrapyard
Type C (2 x .303 nose/dorsal, Hudson/Halifax)
1. RAF Museum Hendon By.Hudson
2. Australia In Hudson – flying
3. RAF Museum Stored – from Halifax W1048 unrestored
4. RAF Museum Stored – from Halifax W1048 unrestored
5. Elvington Air Gunners Museum
6. Stone Mountain, Ga. Private, unrestored ex-scrapyard
7. Hyde, Cheshire Private unrestored, incomplete
8. Ferrymead NZ Under restoration for Hudson
9. NZ Private, un-restored
10.AWM Canberra Stored, unrestored
Type D (2 x .5 Tail, Lincoln)
1. RAF Museum Cosford In Lincoln RF398
2. RAF Museum Cosford in stand
3. RAF Museum Stafford unrestored, incomplete
4. Baxterley StART, unrestored
5. Buenos Aires In Lincoln B-004 ?
6. San Luis Argentina In Lincoln B-016 ?
7. AWM Canberra in stored, unrestored
8. Queensland Air Museum ?
Type E (4 x .303 Tail, Halifax)
1. RAF Museum Hendon stored from Halifax W1048
2. Elvington In Halifax ‘LV907’
3. Canada In Halifax ?
4. North Yorks Moors Private, incomplete
Type F (2 x .5, Nose, Lincoln)
1. Buenos Aires In Lincoln B-004 ?
2. San Luis, Argentina In Lincoln B-016 ?
Type N (2 x 20mm Nose, Shackleton)
1. St,Mawgan in MR2 WL795, incomplete
2. Duxford in MR3 XF708,
3. Newark in MR3 WR977
4. Gatwick in MR3 WR982 under restoration
5. Gatwick in MR3 WR974 under restoration
6. Long Marston in MR3 WR985 ???
7. RAF Museum Stafford Stored
??? Do the gun mountings still survive in the Paphos Shacks, or in the AEWs ?? Any corrections or additions ???
The Frazer-Nash list will be a lot longer.
Armstrong |Whitworth un=powered turrets
1. Elvington Air Gunners Museum
2. RAF Museum Stafford Stored, ex-gun-boat.
3. Duxford In Avro Anson
Apparently there are ‘many’ in New Zealand, but only cupolas, but then there was not much more to an AW turret as it was unpowered.
WulfieThe Air Gunners Museum at Elvington have a restored AW turret. I better add AW turrets to the listings
WulfieAll good input. I will be including the Shackleton Type N nose mountings (sorry I called it the Type L. There was a Type L with the cannon projecting on each side of the nose, but that did not go into production). I would not dream of attempting to include American turrets (too many), only British turrets which ended up in American aircraft. These were exclusively Boulton Paul, as they were self contained with their own hydraulic pumps. i.e. in the Hudson, Ventura, Baltimore, Liberator. There was also the Rose turret of course.
WulfieGreat input already. I will submit Frazer-Nash and Bristol turret lists asap
The BPA Defiant FSM is an example of the pitfalls. It only has a cupola, with the guns mocked-up inside. They also have a Type E cupola in which the insides have been mocked-up in wood. Neither deserves to be included. The Overstrand turret qualifies more as an FSM than a replica.
I tried to compile this list some years ago, for BAPC, but got too few responses from museums. Of course the Forum did not exist then.
WulfieFlower bombing would indeed be difficult, unless the petals blew off. The guys (and gal) at Baxterley were only missing by 50 metres with the flour bags. Ken was the poorest shot, but then it was his Shogun he was aiming at.
Might I add thanks to No.1444 (Brownhills) ATC Squadron, who were about the most polite, hard-working and efficient I have ever come across.
WulfieThe Anson had a starter problem, but Air Atlantique sent the Rapide instead, though the pilot would not land, which is a shame, because with twelve Tiger Moths, a Gipsy Moth, Fox Moth, Queen Bee, and the World’s entire population of Jackeroos, it was a bit of a Mothfest on the ground. Once more visitors to the Show enjoyed considerable heat, which was alright for those who did not have to sit in a Shogun on the runway being flour-bombed by the Jackeroos, Queen Bee and a Tiger. With hindsight, we could have left the windows open, as they weren’t very good shots !
WulfieIt’s very tight, trees on each side, and a dog-leg, but they landed a Hurricane there at the last Air Show. The beauty of Baxterley is that you are very close to the action. The weather promises to be great, and I’m just off there now, to help push Tiger Moths out of the hangars.
WulfieI have been to 5 or 6 Cockpitfests, and I like the variety,from the lovely shiny completed Hunter of Bob Dunn to the just-starting-out Tempest from Naylan, and it’s nice to see progress being made when projects come back, often unrecognisable from their first appearance.
The best part of the weekend though, is definitely Saturday evening, after the public have been locked out, as we attacked the delicious hog roast laid on by NAM, and you can talk aircraft into the night, watching Bill’s drunken bicycling.
I was struck by the crowd which gathered every time the Vulcan APU was run, people do like to see money converted into noise. I think it would be a great idea to run an Enginefest at the same time as Cockpitfest. I am sure those who restore and run static aero-engines, like Peter Grieve and John Hoole, would derive the same enjoyment in gathering together as we cockpit collectors do. I am sure a small arena would be easy to create (well away from the owls) and people would enjoy the conversion of lots of money into lots of noise. I would.
WulfieI saw the Balliol rear canopy on e.bay. I am almost certainly the only person in the World who has any use for one, and it’s too expensive for me. I shall make do with what I have, unless the price plummets.
WulfieAs a serial Balliol cockpit collector, I would dearly love to know if there are any Balliol rear fuselage/tail sections, or indeed wings still in the Elgin yard, but it’s a long way to go on the off chance. If anyone knows what else is there besides a cockpit, I would be very interested to know.
WulfieThis was the exact scenario I attempted to achieve at Boulton Paul, with the wreckage of Defiant N3378 (With one or two added bits from other Defiants, not least Steve Hague’s engine and prop) laid out as a crash-site diaroma right next to the FSM of Defiant L7005. Sadly, the guys who actually built the FSM did not want what they called the ‘scrap’ aircraft ‘ruining’ the view of L7005. The wreckage was exiled to a distant corner in the belief that the FSM was far more valuable.
WulfieA Valetta landed at Firq in 1958 and broke its back. It was just pushed off the strip, and not removed until the early 70s. I found a prop lying in the desert just afterwards and had it hung on the wall of our clubhouse nearby. I was working for Wimpey building a Police Training Complex, and the site clubhouse was taken over by them, it was such a good facility. Does anyone know if it’s still there clubhouse and prop)?
We used to see the Skyvans coming and going all the time, there was no road up onto the Jebel Akhdar at the time, so the Skyvans were the only way up, apart from donkey trails.
There was another shorter strip just up the road at Nizwa, right next to the army barracks, one end of which met a two thousand foot high mountain. I was told only Police Turbo-Porters ever used it.
WulfieYou will not see the AN-2, the Govier or any of the Slingsby gliders except the Tutor, as they have all long gone.
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