As the Provost T1 seems to carry 6 FTS codes, my first thoughts were that the formation might be to mark the withdrawal of that type from service when the unit converted to the JP in 61/62.

However, it seems that XM415 did not serve with 6 FTS. After delivery on 2/3/60, according to the Air-Britain Registers, it served only with No’s 2 & 3 FTSs before being SOC on 28/5/76 and sent to Sennybridge. Although, the UK Serials site shows it as being scrapped at Southampton in the 80s.

Mark, I think you have this one already, Coningsby Open Day 1986:

Amazing photos again, David Many thanks for posting.

WV-903, to try and answer your question:

WP204 seems to have spent its time with V-A and Avro. On 1 Jun 62, it bacame 7753M at St Athan. The UK Serials site shows it as “perished 24/8/65 at No. 19 MU St Athan”.

WZ373 is shown as being used by Fairey, AAEE and then Avro before being sold for scrap 16 Sep 64.

WZ375 was allocated to AAEE, Avro and then RRE before being struck off charge on 22 Jul 66. Possibly scrapped at Pershore.

Maybe someone else will have more details.

David, please don’t take my time as a benchmark. As I mentioned, my internet connection was very slow yesterday. Did anyone else note how long the download took?

It works in FF3 and IE 8RC 1 but takes a while to load, no holding screen, just blank until it loads.

Nice pics 🙂

Thanks, Chris. Will try again. My net connection is very, very, slow today as well. That’s not helping matters either.

Both Sea Furies in Post #6 carry the same codes: 164/R. If they are the same aircraft, the photos must have been taken at different times as the aircraft in the first photo has black & white stripes applied to the outer wings but the aircraft in the fourth photo does not seem to have any.

Have looked through Air-Britain’s “FAA Fixed Wing Aircraft since 1946” to see if there might be any mention of an accident similar to that in photo 1. Never realised there were so many Sea Furies! Although not conclusive, this could fit the bill:

“WE690 801 Sqn (164/R), overturned landing Glory (no date); AHU Hal Far 26.5.52; 801 Sqn 8.52 – 9.52; SOC 11.12.52 RSP”

There is no mention of any casualties.

Did find two other losses for Sea Furies with that code combination. One was due to flak damage and the other was a wheels up landing at Idris. Clearly not the case here.

Further to the dates mentioned for No.803 NAS at Tengah, the Sea Vixen squadron, No. 892 NAS, that served alongside them on Hermes records a further detachment at Tengah from 12 June 1963. It returned to Hermes on 27 June 1963 and the ship then appears to have sailed back to the UK, arriving around 11 September of that year.

Is it possible that XP229 was shipped home for repair aboard Hermes? The Ark appears to have been still in the Far East at that time.

David, Hermes appears to have been in Far Eastern waters from around late-62 until mid-63. No. 803 NAS, which was onboard with its Scimitar F1s at the time, shows two deployments to Tengah then. The first was from 20 Dec 62 until 7 Jan 63. The second was 18 Mar 63 – 24 Apr 63. BTW, Gannet AEW3, XP229, was lost in the South Atlantic on 19 May 73. It ditched some 5 miles ahead of Ark after suffering engine failure 5 minutes into its flight. All occupants were recovered safely.

Old Git, I have that sign on 8mm film somewhere but no photos unfortunately. The sign was slung inside a cargo net ,IIRC. Living in Plymouth, I attended most Navy Days at Devonport. Probably why I later became a ‘crab’!!:)