Have just established contact, via another forum, with the present day Historian of the Air Movements School at Brize. I gave him a link to this discussion and he has just replied to me. I post that reply below:

Laurie

Am not a member of the forum so cannot post. Just read it through
though. Can you post that I am looking into it on the school (as school
historian) and will read through the F540 for that time today (better
than doing work).

My thoughts are starting to turn to the frame with ATDU Abingdon as they
were close to our school when it was there. Could be we inherited that
frame.

I will ask if there are any other, clearer, photos than the one in the original post on this thread.

Regards,

Laurie.

As you say, judging by the wing root, its probable it was one of these mock-ups. However the only 300’s with cargo doors were conversions (the first being G-ANCF in 1964, which is now sitting forlornly outside hangar A1 at Kemble looking for a new home….) so why would the mock-up have been converted? Further pressure tests?

Still needs more sleuthing!!

cheers,
Andy

Was the mock-up converted at Brize?

If it had been made available to the Movements School and there was no cargo door, which was needed for the purposes of teaching their students to move freight into and out of RAF aircraft including the Britannia, would the simplest solution not have been to make one?

The cargo door area in the Brize dump photo does not look quite right to me. I would have expected to see more metal around the inside edges, locking latches, etc. In the photo, this area is very flat, almost as if it had been boarded up to disguise a cut. I have been trying to find a photo of another Brit with its cargo door open to compare. No luck so far though.

BR

Laurie.

If you have AFCAD installed, you can set up your own start points in the water at airfields on the coast. Lee on Solent is a good example. It’s fairly easy to do using slew mode and then insert start location. Name these Water 1, Water 2 etc so that you can set up your flight at the start.

I have used AFCAD to add several start locations in the water at Seletar in Singapore. This was an old Sunderland base and I use a Sunderland model from there.

This system was introduced in 1947. AMO 498/47 brought in the ranks:

Master Aircrew –
Aircrew 1 (Pilot 1, Nav 1, etc)
Aircrew 2
Aircrew 3
Aircrew 4

There was also a cadet element in this structure.

It was never very popular and was replaced in late 1950. At that time the Master element survived , Aircrew 1s were reclassified as Flight Sergeants and Aircrew 2 – 4 became Sergeants.

The badges shown in your photo are of Aircrew 2, or Pilot 2, in this case.

BR

Laurie.

Hi,

Does anyone know where HMS Perseus carried out the trials on steam catapults in the early 1950’s?

I caught a clip on a TV show last week of them test firing the catapult with pilotless Seafires, which were then left to crash into the sea. They even test fired the carriers piano for a laugh at the end of the trials!

Just wondered if these aircraft had been located or are just sitting at the bottom of the sea. It looked to be in a harbour, so maybe sheltered from harsh tidal action, but I would think that the salty water will have done its worst if they are still there.

Thanks.

See ‘Flypost’ (P87) in the July 2005 issue of ‘FlyPast’ for a detailed account from N T Wintrip who was onboard HMS Perseus at the time of the trials. The ship was modified at Rosyth, from where the trials seem to have been carried out.

Later tests, with heavier aircraft, were carried out from the Harland and Wolfe Shipyard, Belfast. Shortly after that, Perseus sailed for the US.

I am still trying to identify which Seafires were used on these tests. If anyone can throw further light on the subject, I’d like to hear from them.

BR

Laurie.