WIX Archives

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

Posted by Ron Henry on Mon Nov 04, 2002 12:47:15 PM

In reply top Re: A true story........ posted by TonyD on Fri Nov 01, 2002 03:38:48 PM

: Good story Ron...no doubt th parts your friend sold went t
: o Alan Downings delightful Biggles Restaurant (fast food w
: ith Hurricane burgers etc!)
:
: alas, the restaurant and its lovely museum with working sp
: ot lights succombed in the late 1980s
:

Yes, Tony, that might have been the place. So what happened to the artefacts?


: : : abandoned airfields lately?
: : :
: : : The stories about the many dumpsites on disused airfie
: ld
: : s
: : : around Britain still fascinates me. Despite all the in
: te
: : re
: : : sting stories, are there actually any activities recen
: tl
: : y
: : : where parts have been unearthed?
: : :
: : : Little Snoring has yielded many interesting parts dug
: up
: : f
: : : rom pits. Tony Agar for instance found his cowling pan
: el
: : s
: : : for his Mosquito rebuild. Furthermore what happened to
: t
: : he
: : : dozens of Typhoon firewalls that were found about a d
: ec
: : ad
: : : e ago. Where they sent for scrap?
: : :
: : : FlyPast promised many years ago to do an article but n
: ot
: : hi
: : : ng has ever been done about that.
: : :
: : : Cees
: :
: :
: : This would be an appropriate time to tell the story abou
: t
: : a friend of mine (from Liverpool). The timeframe would b
: e
: : about 20 yrs ago. I've forgotten some detail, but here i
: s
: : the main part of the story.
: :
: : Like most of us, he was fascinated by the idea of buried
: a
: : ircraft. I can't remember where he got the story, but he
: h
: : eard about the probable existence of some buried aircraf
: t
: : on the edge of the then closed Bramcote airfield, NE of
: Co
: : ventry. It had been a RAF base during WW2 (can't remembe
: r
: : what, but not operational sqns, I think), then RN post w
: ar
: : . It had probably closed, as an airfield, after the rund
: ow
: : n of the RNVR in 1957.
: :
: : The story was that aircraft had been buried in a pit on
: th
: : e edge of the airfield, and the pit had been filled in w
: he
: : n the airfield closed. My friend did all the research he
: c
: : ould, and it all confirmed the story. He obtained permis
: si
: : on to excavate (can't remember who from), hired an excav
: at
: : or and an operator, and digging commenced. After quite a
: b
: : it of digging, not a great depth had ben excavated, but
: pu
: : lling out a few very minor parts kept him motivated. Nev
: er
: : theless, it was an expensive business, and his funds got
: l
: : ow. In searching for a cheaper option, he talked to a lo
: ca
: : l Territorial Army (TA) unit who were engineers, and the
: y
: : had just got a new excavator. He persuaded them that his
: c
: : ause would be a good trial for the new kit.
: :
: : Digging started again, and a few larger parts started to
: c
: : ome out of the hole. Sadly I can't remember the detail,
: bu
: : t I think there were some nacelle and cowling panels, pl
: us
: : possibly some undercarriage parts. The whole excavation
: o
: : peration covered a few weeks (the TA could only dig occa
: si
: : onally). One day, the excavavator operator went to the c
: hi
: : p shop in the local village in search of lunch : followi
: ng
: : 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 ha
: d
: : been doing, and, of course, the local asked the op why h
: e
: : was in the village, and he explained that he was digging
: f
: : or the buried aircraft. The local confirmed that the sto
: ry
: : was, indeed, true, but, unfortunately, the excavation w
: as
: : 20-odd years too late - the scrapped aircraft had been
: re
: : moved just before the airfield closed !!
: :
: : The whole thing cost my chum more than he could easily a
: ff
: : ord, and he needed to get money back. He decided to sell
: t
: : he recognisable stuff and they went to a guy who was goi
: ng
: : to open a bar with an aviation theme somewhere in Yorks
: hi
: : re (IIRC). The purchaser was going to use them as atmosp
: he
: : ric artefacts. My friend also had some other panels he'd
: c
: : ollected over the years (including, I remember, a 1950s
: RN
: : Avenger cowling with artwork - "The Ruptured Duck" ?) a
: nd
: : he also sold these to the bar guy. So, if you go into a
: b
: : ar somewhere in Yorkshire, and see this stuff, you now k
: no
: : w how it came to be there!
: :
: :

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