WIX Archives

Re: A true story........

Posted by Ron Henry on Fri Nov 01, 2002 02:21:27 PM

In reply top Anyone investigated dumpsites at ..... posted by Cees Broere on Thu Oct 31, 2002 09:18:23 AM

: abandoned airfields lately?
:
: The stories about the many dumpsites on disused airfields
: around Britain still fascinates me. Despite all the intere
: sting stories, are there actually any activities recently
: where parts have been unearthed?
:
: Little Snoring has yielded many interesting parts dug up f
: rom pits. Tony Agar for instance found his cowling panels
: for his Mosquito rebuild. Furthermore what happened to the
: dozens of Typhoon firewalls that were found about a decad
: e ago. Where they sent for scrap?
:
: FlyPast promised many years ago to do an article but nothi
: ng has ever been done about that.
:
: Cees


This would be an appropriate time to tell the story about a friend of mine (from Liverpool). The timeframe would be about 20 yrs ago. I've forgotten some detail, but here is the main part of the story.

Like most of us, he was fascinated by the idea of buried aircraft. I can't remember where he got the story, but he heard about the probable existence of some buried aircraft on the edge of the then closed Bramcote airfield, NE of Coventry. It had been a RAF base during WW2 (can't remember what, but not operational sqns, I think), then RN post war. It had probably closed, as an airfield, after the rundown of the RNVR in 1957.

The story was that aircraft had been buried in a pit on the edge of the airfield, and the pit had been filled in when the airfield closed. My friend did all the research he could, and it all confirmed the story. He obtained permission to excavate (can't remember who from), hired an excavator and an operator, and digging commenced. After quite a bit of digging, not a great depth had ben excavated, but pulling out a few very minor parts kept him motivated. Nevertheless, it was an expensive business, and his funds got low. In searching for a cheaper option, he talked to a local Territorial Army (TA) unit who were engineers, and they had just got a new excavator. He persuaded them that his cause would be a good trial for the new kit.

Digging started again, and a few larger parts started to come out of the hole. Sadly I can't remember the detail, but I think there were some nacelle and cowling panels, plus possibly some undercarriage parts. The whole excavation operation covered a few weeks (the TA could only dig occasionally). One day, the excavavator operator went to the chip shop in the local village in search of lunch : following that, the excavation stopped!

At the chip shop, the operator met an old friend he hadn't seen for years. They swapped stories about what they had been doing, and, of course, the local asked the op why he was in the village, and he explained that he was digging for the buried aircraft. The local confirmed that the story was, indeed, true, but, unfortunately, the excavation was 20-odd years too late - the scrapped aircraft had been removed just before the airfield closed !!

The whole thing cost my chum more than he could easily afford, and he needed to get money back. He decided to sell the recognisable stuff and they went to a guy who was going to open a bar with an aviation theme somewhere in Yorkshire (IIRC). The purchaser was going to use them as atmospheric artefacts. My friend also had some other panels he'd collected over the years (including, I remember, a 1950s RN Avenger cowling with artwork - "The Ruptured Duck" ?) and he also sold these to the bar guy. So, if you go into a bar somewhere in Yorkshire, and see this stuff, you now know how it came to be there!


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