[Hornchurch]

Originally Posted by jim

I hear that someone is building a Whitley from parts from crashed aircraft. I cannot find out who is doing this.......

There is a reference to the build in the Flypast. There is a web address that does not work . I shall trawl around and see if I can locate the the team involved. It sounds an interesting project and since the info is 18 months old they must have made some progress. If I find anything I will let you know.

Hi Jim, as usual I'm 'shooting from the hip' here again, & reliant on the Dear-old Grey matter (or should that read Beer addled !!!).

The guy you're after is Elliot Smock (project manager).

He's a very knowledgeable guy & positive thinking - BUT please don't be under the illusion/delusion ? that you'll see an Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley COMPLETE in your (or my) lifetime.

I recall him putting out a request for anyone that worked in Baginton (Coventry Airport), on the A.W. production line.

He has accquired lots of bits, but in comparative terms with many other restorations/rebuilds he's near thestarting block, so for Gawd's sake don't build your hopes up.

There are of course complete examples around & about, that ditched in the North Sea, Bay of Biscay (one crashlanded after being shot into the water by 2 x Arado Ar 196 floatplanes) & the North Atlantic, but sadly these will almost certainly never see the light of day due to their corroded & ocean-tide beaten airframes - one example is regularly dived on in the North-Sea off of the Scottish coast & although no pic's - he HAS furnished photo's of an F.A.A. Grumman Avenger in the similar region - the water is murky, but the nose cowl, engine & prop are unmistakable for those who have built numerous kits of the T.B.D.

The Whitley's sister sibling, the Handley-Page Hampden, has fared much better in recent years, with no less than three (yes, x 3) examples around.

One is completed to static display in Canada & two under rebuild in England - one of which was coming along fine, until the main driving-force of the project succumbed to cancer at a youngish-middle age (R.I.P.).
Progress has been painfully slow since (the 2 x newbies have neither the spare time/drive or know-how of their predecessor), but the nose, main-fuselage & tail-sections are there, so it whet's the appetite & you can see it's basically all there, as far as the external airframe is concered !!!

The third is very hush, hush - & by all accounts been put on the back burner for now, but at least the 'outfit' concerned should have the necessary funds, with (apparently) little materialistic airframe components......IRONICALLY almost the reverse situation of the 2nd example, mentioned above ......such is life

[timbo]

Hornchurch - did any of those Hampdens come out of ther USSR? I though I read somewhere about someone recovering one form there.

[Hornchurch]

Originally Posted by timbo

Hornchurch - did any of those Hampdens come out of ther USSR? I though I read somewhere about someone recovering one form there.

Hi Timbo, yeah, I seem to recall that the third (secretive) project material was recovered from that part of the world...... Petsamo, is the town/village area that springs to mind......on a mountainside (in Sweden !!!).

Airframe Serial No.... P.1344 (Mk I)

I.I.R.C. this H.P. Hampden was shot-down on the transit flight (by an older variant Me.109) on it's way to the Soviet-Union, from where they were intended to operate.

As a measure of support (& to appease Stalin) Churchill ordered No 151 Wing to the Murmansk area, with their Hurricane Mk II's, eventually handing them over, after teaching the Soviet groundcrew & pilots how to use 'em........

Same idea went for No 144 Sqdn Hampdens, later joined by 455 Sqdn.

Both units were based & operated out of the general Murmansk area, primarily as Torpedo-Bombers & apparently, took part in the escort of (what was left of) Convoy PQ.18.

They later trained the Soviets & handed over their a/c (20 +).

P.1344 would have been one of 'em (but for the '109).

I.I.R.C. the crew launched a flare-pistol into the fuselage, to destroy it & prevent any capture of equipment (not being sure where they were).

Not much left, by all accounts - P.1344 now owned by 'A National a/c Museum'.......Hmm (obvious), & apparently dry-stored at Cosford.

The one at East-Kirkby is far more interesting & complete.

The (incredibly stupid) RAF/MoD scrapped one (intact) that was crated up for 'preservation', as late as 1955 !!!

Now they're trying to rebuild P.1344, (basically) rubbish off of a Swedish mountainside

[timbo]

Originally Posted by Hornchurch

The (incredibly stupid) RAF/MoD scrapped one (intact) that was crated up for 'preservation', as late as 1955 !!!

Now they're trying to rebuild P.1344, (basically) rubbish off of a Swedish mountainside

Sounds like the definition on Govenment. Doesn't supprise me. Probably some pen pusher in London deleteing a line from the asset registry thinking it a bit of old junk.

Do you know where the other one came from?

[Hornchurch]

Originally Posted by timbo

Sounds like the definition on Govenment. Doesn't supprise me. Probably some pen pusher in London deleteing a line from the asset registry thinking it a bit of old junk.

Do you know where the other one came from?

As you rightly assume Timbo, most of our historic (a/c) treasures went the way of the 'Pen-Pusher' in Whitehall, written off on paper (S.o.C. = Struck-Off-Charge) & then scrapped, Like Halifax 'Friday the 13th' LV.907, displayed in the centre of London, alongside a Beaufighter, then both scrapped.

But in this instance.... (World's last remaining Hampden, in 1955 - crated-up for preservation)..... apparently it was the Station-Commander or some-such 'Big-Wig'/high ranking Idiot based at the Station (believe possibly RAF Henlow) who was angry at lack of hangar space for his unit, so he ordered the guy's under his charge to get rid of all the 'old-crap' inside the various hangars.

In his defence, he was blissfully unaware that IT was the last Hampden in the entire world (until the Canadians dredged their one, out of the sea, in the Mid-'Ninties)........ consequently it was scrapped without remorse.

At that time (mid-'fifties) there were NO aviation museums (to speak of) in the U.K. (except perhaps Shuttleworth-small grass-strip)......hence why so few of our W.W.II. a/c survive......(yet, for years they kept captured enemy types at St.Athan - Me.262/410 Hornisse/Ki 100/Ki.46 Dinah etc).


In answer to your second question, not off the top of my head, but I'll try & find out.
Looks superb though (East Kirkby - Lincolnshire).
Well worth a visit, as an active, working & taxy-ing (but not allowed to fly, by the C.A.A.) Avro Lancaster, owned by the Panton Bros is also based there (NX.611).

To illustrate & (get off thread ), I've uploaded a superb shot (from Gareth Horne), regarding the rather superb Lancaster, NX.611 taxy-ing along 'under her own steam', at the East Kirkby museum in Lincolnshire, (where one of the 3 x remaining H.P. Hampden's live).
Superb museum, privately run, worth a visit for the Hampden alone.

[Delta Zulu]

Admin-Tks for tip on handlng by wings, mine arrived yesterday and that's exactly what I was doing.
Shamrock, Ted in D.C. Tech specs inside Corgi box-top. "1 x .303 Lewis gun for observer four machine guns 7.7mm." I think I see 1 gun muzzle on each wheel spat.
Good ref. Lysander Special by Bruce Robertson publ. 1977 by Ian Allan ISBN 0 7110 0764 0 which says the black SD V9367 shown by Corgi had a fatal crash 12/17/43 due to fog. I have it on order.

[JETFAN]

I've been MIA having surgery and now confined to bed for 2-3 weeks, so just catching up.

The Canadian collection got its flying start when forward thinking junior officer based at Trenton at the end of WW2, decided to have one of each type they had in storage dismantled and crated. They were placed in a disused hanger and left there until the early 1960s when the RCAF Museum was opened in a couple of hangers at Rockcliffe. I first saw these a/c in 1963.

[admin]

[quote=jim;27533]I hear that someone is building a Whitley from parts from crashed aircraft. I cannot find out who is doing this. quote]

I believe the restoration is being preformed by the Midland Air Museum at Coventry Airport in Baginton, Warwickshire UK.

[jim]

Great info Hornchurch many thanks. You have saved me a lot of time searching about.

[Shamrock]

Welcome to the asylum Delta Zulu! I am now the proud owner of a brace of Lizzies! What beautiful beasts they are. We all moan about Corgi from time to time, along with all the other manufacturers but hats off to Corgi on this one.
I've noticed the notches on the undercarriage legs and I will get my little red square pad out to give the impression of cotton patches over the gun ports.