WIX Archives

Birmingham Beaufighter.....

Posted by Tony on Fri Dec 21, 2001 10:45:46 AM

Hi Steve,

Yep, it appears at one point, Birmingham may have had a Beaufighter as well, and from what i gather, not to be confused, with the nose section which is currently at the MAM, which is on loan from Birmingham council.

I started looking into this, then lost interest, when it appeared, it might have gone to Cosford for scrapping in the sixties.

however, I was then told, that they were 2 different aircraft, and Birmingham Council, have in fact, "lost" the aircraft.

An antique dealer I know, says part of the problem, is that Birmingham has substantial council storage space, and no proper indexing of what they posess! Apparently, they still have Victorian Park furniture etc in store, and lots of it,

So, it's easy for an aircraft to get lost, especially in the repositries at Digbeth and King's Norton? (I think)

That also, does not take account of the other aircraft bits, that they have in store.

However , birmingham are quite "air-minded" and Alex Henshaw, is certainly revered locally, for his work at bromwich.

As an aside, there is still the story of the "buried Spits" at Castle bromwich. it's certainly well known hereabouts, but no one knows where they are.

I spoke to Dr. Carl Chinn, an eminent local historian on this, and he felt the story was true, but as to what was actually buried, he wasn't sure..

Suffice to say, the story is so well regarded, that several people have approached birmingham Council, for permission to dig the site, to see what there may be. I believe birmingham University, have geo-fizzed the site, so they might be worth talking to.

I can make some more enquiries re. this beau Steve, and see what happens.

failing that, brum council can always ask for their nose back?

Tony

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