WZ-367 The end.

Interesting stuff Archer and chaps. Wot a sad fate for 367 !!! Who would want their lower legs yanked apart like that anyway, that brings 2 lots of tears to eyes. 😮 That lovely Low level paint scheme too.

I read somewhere during my search into 367 that this great pic. here of her in Low level camo was taken at RAF Marham, but I cannot confirm that.

So ended the days of the companion Valiant to WZ-366,the one that made the first UK Atomic Bomb drop in Aussie. (Operation Buffalo )

Time to crack a beer or 9 me-thinks and raise glass to WZ-367.

Bill T.

Nice pic Archer !!

Thanks Pagen and Archer, for info and pic. on WZ-367. You are absolutely correct about this Valiant going to Wisley and then scrapped at Coley’s, (Not St. Athan ) as I finally found out a while ago. Shame, but that was a very bad time for rest of UK Aircraft Industry too.

The MB Eject. seat has just about most gear gathered for it now, but still looking for correct lower correct”Pull” handle ,cable assy and parachute “bucket” stowage release handle/cable assy. (Allows pilot to lean fwd. in seat to reach controls .)
I never was involved in moving Valiants or even line/Rect work, just Hyd./Wheel bay servicings and insult ground crew on Aircraft at each visit–lol !!!! So cannot help on panels idents.:D

BillT.

Love these old Scrap-yard Pics !!!!

I hope Mark12 won’t mind me showing one of his photos but this rare prototype Blackburn YB.1 was in Coleys yard circa 1958.

Have you got any pieces of this one PanzerJohn?

Rob

Nice pic. thanks for sharing. 🙂 Looking closer in and around the yard,those centre Sections piled up at rear look like Comet or Valiant, I’m sure I came across somewhere that Coles did scrap Valiants, can anyone confirm that.

And noticed what looks like a line of bullet holes in that 45 gall oil drum on left–lol !!! (Or is that marks on the pic. 😮 ) 😀

Bill T.

Trenchard !!! Definately.

Have to agree with Pagen. Lord Trenchard, set-up all sorts of New idea’s for the growth of the RAF, way back in 1920’s,when all about him was confusion and chaos, no money and Airman almost starving.(remember UK was just about bankrupt after conclusion of WW-1 ) He looked to the future of RAF and took control and put plans in place that saw us ready for WW-2 (Well, about as ready as we could have been)

He set in motion the RAF Apprenticeship Scheme,for one thing. 🙂

Bill T.

Pull this thread then Moderators !!

Yeahh !!! Pull it, in case the thought Police are around. 😀 I’ll remember to never rely on my thoughts and recollections again. 😀

Bill T.

Might as well record it all !!

My father was an RAF LAC Engine Fitter on Blenheims and Battles in the Battle for France. Escaping via a destroyer at Dunkirk, he spent about another 3 yrs. in RAF over eastern side of UK, (West Raynham being one Airfield ) before being invalided out with stomach ulcers and he was on Baders Sqdn. for a while.

Dad died in 1981, but I always remember him telling me how Bader was intensly disliked by other RAF personnel, especially the groundcrews. My fathers own words I cannot print here.

Sorry to burst any bubbles in here, but thats how it was and you cannot change that.

I saw Douglas Bader myself at an airshow at Weston Park near Cosford, around 1980-81. He was the guest of honour and seemed very happy and was most pleasant. The organisers postioned DB up on a scaffolding platform near front of crowd and announced that Ray Hannah was to arrive any time now in a Spitfire for a display routine. ( I was standing about 30 yards to DB’s left).

Sure enough, right on cue, Ray Hannah swept in from behind right at around 20-30 ft, height and on a knife edge pulling hard G right around in front of Bader, shot off to our left, down behind the trees, then up and into his routine. That was a real masterpiece display, one the best I’ve ever seen any pilot do and Douglas Bader never stopped grinning for the rest of his visit there.

These are my abiding memories of Douglas Bader apart from what is well known about him.

Bill T.

Oweeeeee !!!! What Nice pics.

Beautiful pics. of 2 extinct classes of transportation. I never saw a Hampden, but did see those amazing LMS Garratt Steam Loco’s many times at Tamworth (Train Spotting) and using my local (Moseley /Kings Heath) Birmingham diversion line back in early 1950’s. All except one were based in B’ham and that one in pic looks like one of them, with what looks like the aft rotating coal bunker. There are narrow gauge (Ex-South African ) Garratts working here now in UK up on the Welsh Highland Railway,( Caernarfon–Porthmadoc, in Nth. Wales ) that will give you an idea of their majesty.

Bill T.