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By: - 2nd October 2010 at 21:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
By heck its many years since I saw that beasty ground running and fast taxying along the runway tail trying to lift.(very hairy !!!!).
Very interested to know what is happening with her ?.
Mike
By: - 3rd October 2010 at 14:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I found a tourist site link dated May 2010 saying that restoration was ongoing and that it was intended to build a small hanger at Carew Cheriton to house the museum aircraft.
http://qualitycottages.blogspot.com/2010/05/carew-cheriton-control-tower.html
There are also pictures of the restored engines on the control tower website so presumerably something is happening but old threads on this forum say that this was a difficult restoration so it could be a long time before she is complete again.
By: - 3rd October 2010 at 19:45 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
By heck its many years since I saw that beasty ground running and fast taxying along the runway tail trying to lift
At Halfpenny Green??
very hairy !!!!
Not when I was in it...
By: - 4th October 2010 at 12:04 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
VM325 was acquired many, many years ago by the Midland Air Museum from the Halfpenny Green Air Scouts. It was to represnt an example of a type that used locally built engines (Armstrong Siddeley Cheetahs). She sat in store outdoors for many years always, seemingly, to low down on the list of aircraft competing for attention from a very limited pot. I remember conceiving a scheme to create a temporaray building by putting 2nd hand roof trusses on top of two 40ft containers spaced so the Anson would sit between them but it never happened.
I don't know how the airframe is faring nowadays with the Carew Cheriton group but they organised that the two Cheetahs be fully restored by the Coventry Branch of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. This has been completed and, by coincidence, the branch's newsheet arrived in the post this am. It informs that one Cheetah is in the restored control tower at Carew Cheriton and the other has gone on display at Pembrokeshire County Museum, Scolton Park Manor.
Roger Smith.
By: - 4th October 2010 at 12:45 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Here you go... VM325 shortly after its arrival at HG
By: - 4th October 2010 at 13:21 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
You got a date for that photo' Nige??
I remember David Ogilvy telling me a long time ago that VM325 appears in his logbooks quite a lot.
Roger Smith.
By: - 4th October 2010 at 13:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Off the top of my head, summer '68...
I have all the pics of her arriving at HG and being handed over to the Air scouts...
By: - 4th October 2010 at 13:32 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Off the top of my head, summer '68...I have all the pics of her arriving at HG and being handed over to the Air scouts...
VM325 went to Carew in August 2005. It arrived in pieces on the back of 2 articulated lorries covered in tarpaulins. The story was covered by BBC Wales, ITV Wales and Radio Wales. I Didn't know about the engine restorations though.
See this thread http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33537
Nige and Roger - Would be grateful to see the pics plus any other Halfpenny Green reminiscences you may have.....
By: - 4th October 2010 at 21:00 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Here's a bit of history behind VM325, the ex Halfpenny Green Anson...
She arrived at HG in about the middle of 1969, flown in from I believe Aldergrove via Benson. She was donated to the Halfpenny Green Air Scouts. On arrival, the tanks were almost full, and the only items removed were the cartridges for the Very pistol, and the crystals out of the radio.
My father is an ex RAF engine fitter and kept her engines in running condition until the mid 70s. Around this time, the weather was taking its toll and the engine runs had to stop.
At the same time, the RAF asked the Air Scout leader if a) They could have VM325 back for the RAF museum and b) Would they like a Hunter AND a Whirlwind in its place...!. For reasons known only to himself, the Scout leader declined the offer...
My father and several others got up and left the group, and the Anson continued to rot until the airfield owners demanded it be removed as it was a safety risk.
Moved to Coventry, what was left of it was then moved on to Jet Age, then Wales
A very sad end to a beautiful aeroplane
Firebex's comments about tail-up runs are true, several were performed not long after it's arrival by a well known pilot who was current on vintage twins - but 'hairy' they weren't...
No idea who the delivery flight crew were, the chap in the scout shirt and glasses was Gordon Emmanuelle, troop leader, the dapper chap in the suit on the left in the third photo was Frank(?) Flavell, chair of the scout group. Neither was involved in the later shenanigans...
Here's some pics of her arrival at Halfpenny Green...
By: - 5th October 2010 at 10:04 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Thanks Nige - an interesting segment of the aircraft's history.
Unfortunately the Anson, with it's size and large amount of fabric covering, is a very difficult type of aeroplane to look after without covered accomodation.
Hopefully '325 will (eventually) be brought back, if not to "life" then to a static display condition at Carew Cheriton.
Roger Smith.
By: - 6th October 2010 at 11:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Thanks Nige, much appreciated
Are the 3 a/c in the background on the runway shot Tippers Ansons ?
By: - 6th October 2010 at 12:07 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I looked over the poor old thing at Baginton many years ago, and fancied rescuing it then. Great shame it got into the condition it did.
Bruce
By: - 6th October 2010 at 12:10 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I looked over the poor old thing at Baginton many years ago, and fancied rescuing it then. Great shame it got into the condition it did.Bruce
Same feeling I have every time I see PG at Hooton.....
Jon
By: - 6th October 2010 at 12:11 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Fancy another project then Jon? I'm game!
Bruce
By: - 6th October 2010 at 13:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Marvellous thread and evocative pictures. It takes me back to my first flight in the CCF in an Annie, on a Field Day to, Abingdon, I think it was, in 1957.....:)
By: - 6th October 2010 at 14:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Here's my little contribution to this thread. VM325 at Baginton circa 1990.
The original tape is of good quality but running it through various programmes to edit and reduce the file size has spoiled it somewhat, e.g. the jerkiness isn't there on the original.
By: - 6th October 2010 at 14:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I pass this Anson at Carew every now and then, and it never looks any better.
I should have pics somewhere and will try and dig them out.
PS the pictures that Nige has posted up are fantastic!
By: - 6th October 2010 at 14:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Alan,
Thats about how I remember the poor old thing, and that's 20 years ago. A very great shame.
Bruce
By: - 6th October 2010 at 14:57 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I have to admit, I do like the Anson.
Jon mentioned the Hooton Park Anson (G-AGPG), wasn't that the one with the funny nose that was the Ekco electronics one?
What's the status of that aircraft now?
Regards,
Ric
By: - 6th October 2010 at 15:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I have to admit, I do like the Anson.Jon mentioned the Hooton Park Anson (G-AGPG), wasn't that the one with the funny nose that was the Ekco electronics one?
What's the status of that aircraft now?
Regards,
Ric
Yup thats the one.
Picture is 2 years old but it hasnt changed in that time as I see it every week.
Jon
Posts: 143
By: Olympus - 2nd October 2010 at 21:02
Demobbed shows the ex Halfpenny Green Anson VM325 looking rather sorry for itself at Carew, Cheriton.
What is the status of the aircraft and is it undergoing restoration at all ?