ARRRRRR !!! not seen ref. to these for a long time.

Always thought these A/C were a good revolutionary design, then as U say, they vanished from sight all of a sudden ,several years ago. The police used them for traffic spotting,etc.Then wasn’t there a bad police Crash in one of these,where it all ended up on a building roof ? and wasn’t there some sort of design fault in these planes ? Anyone able to throw any light on this ?

It would be really good if manufacturers have got that all sorted now and are thinking of maybe re-producing them again, just what this beleagured country needs right now.

Bill T.

WOW !! Had forgot about the Princess Hulks.

Think it was 1966 when I went to Southhampton and took the hovercraft across to Ryde, interesting journey. Remember seeing the 2 Saunders Roe Princess Fuselage hulks cocooned there. Got some slides I took at time (Kodachrome ,——somewhere here-in house) So I guess they must have been towed or a boat load back to Southampton to be scrapped. Shame !! as they were stored for many years.

Anybody know any more about their final demise ? Nice pics !! HP 111

Bill T.

Looks geerait G !!!

Looking a milion dollars now G,

Great stuff indeed, If you’ve got one, the Sea Hawk used an E2A Stand-by Compass. But very folks would know the difference when peering in 838. The technical excellence you is amassing here will baffle even the most astute.–lol!!

Hows your virtual Sea- Hawk C/pit coming along SaginDragin ?

Bill T.

Try Frosts Restoration Equipment !!

I’m sure I’ve seen a black rubber Tyre paint marketed by Frosts Auto Restoration Equipment. (Rochdale ).

Bill T.,

Wooo !!–Yes definately.

Reference my posting on the 15th March regarding the Cheetah 17 port engine from G-AGPG. This is also staying in the North West, not more than 20 miles from its origin. Restoration has started and is going well, only problem so far is a well seized exhaust valve on number 1 cylinder. Who knows in the future we may have a joint display in the “north west” of the cockpit and a running engine. How about it ANON?
All I need is a little help to locate the items listed in my earlier posting.

Regards G-AGPGPORT

Excellent bit of welcome news, Mr.G. We wish you the best in a great endeavour. I think the Nth.West boys have already got Anon in a headlock about assisting you. :diablo: Yers !! A Joint Display (maybe even with both engines running ) would be very well received by all. Isn’t it nice that this is now possible.

Bill T.

Snatch Squad was right.

Some “execs” or Board members went in when they wanted to but the riff-raff (like myself and my ilk there) were not.

There was a Snatch Squad who got Aggie Paggie out before the roof caved in though. It was touted for a time that she would be left and to let the hangar collapse on top of her but whether that was said just to p**s us off or not, I’m not sure. It did, anyhow!

Anon.

The “Snatch Squad ” dragged the centre Section, Engines and ancilleries and cowlings out on a very quiet, specially picked Sunday morning a couple of months after the main hanger collapse. These Aggie Paggie parts were reasonably close inside the section of Hanger that was still standing. ( I say standing as a very loose term, because with those doors open, the rest of roof stayed up on prayers alone. ) ( I think the wings were pulled out the day before ) It was a scary operation, using a grab line, hooks and tow vehicle. Although the second part of collapse didn’t happen till just recently, it was still a high risk worry last ditch rescue attempt. But all came out unscathed, to allow them to be moved into Hanger 1 until our dear mutual new board member arrived and started dragging parts out into Anons compound. (We’ve covered this in other thread mentioned, ):mad:

So as Aggie Paggie has probably now used up her 9 lives, guys, be thankful that what has been saved is not in much worse damage state. I personally am very pleased to see that most of her will be incorporated into other projects if she is not to be re-built as G-AGPG and even more pleased Anon got her C/pit that will stay around North West. 😀

Bill T.

4 FTS Gnats at RAF Valley 65 to 78.

Hi T-21,
I served my RAF time at Valley for some 15 yrs. starting in April 1965. a gap then 72 -81. (On Gnats 2nd time ) I remember the First colour scheme you mention ,but I thought the RED/White Scheme came in earlier than 1970, (However, memory slips–lol !!! ) I thought the paint scheme change was an RAF general big Policy decision, because the FTS Hunters at Valley in early 1970’s had same colour scheme as did Jet Provosts from Leeming and maybe other A/C, etc, The Gnats definately finished at Valley in 1978 as new Hawks took their place,which I moved onto servicing wise. They were in that RED/WHITE Colour Scheme too.

I did post some Gnat 4FTS Pics here about OOOO !! 2 yrs. ago now taken from C/pits of Final Flypast Gnats in 1978. If you can locate them.

Hope this helps a bit. 🙂

Bill T.

Nice actions.

Very heartwarming to see efforts made by Authorities to re-find and re-patriate the dead. Thanks for Noticing this Andy.

Bill T.