RAF Abingdon 1968 Part 3 - Prop Aircraft

[TSR2]

Brilliant again Pete... Thank you!

Just out of curiosity (as I don't often get to the big museums down south) are aircraft like the Lincon / Wellington/ Deiant / Tempest still around?

[DaveB]

Great shots Pete. Love these ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[ianhind]

From
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/coll ... ?offset=79

the Wellington, Defiant and Tempest are at Hendon.

The Lincoln would seem to be at Cosford.
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/avro-lincoln-b2.htm

[TSR2]

Cheers Ian. I was at Cosford 3 years ago and don't remember the Lincon... bu thats probably just me.

[steve p]

The Beaufighter above ended up in a Canadian museum where it sat outside, slowly rotting away until it was finally put under cover a few months ago. The Hendon Beaufighter is one of three that were sold to Portugal post-war. There is another Portuguese Beaufighter in bits at East Fortune.

The quality of these photos is just stunning. Who needs a digital auto-everything camera?

Best wishes
Steve P

[TSR2]

Steve, is the Beaufighter (or bits of it) on public display... I can't recall it. :think:

[Chris558]

Cracking shots once again! ;-)

So, Del P's Dove can legally be painted (as a Devon C.1) in that scheme then!

A little final history of XH124 for you. Although Beverlies were based at Abingdon, by 1968 they'd been out of service since the previous October. When the OCU it had served with (Thorney Island) disbanded, '124 spent its last month's service at Abingdon (one of the few camouflaged Bevs there) until April '67, when it retired to 27 MU at Shawbury. (Ironically, not near-to-Abingdon Bicester, where some ended up!) Destined for Hendon, it paid one more visit to Abingdon (which was on the way) for that glorious show in '68. It then left for Hendon a few days later, on 19th June. I believe this was the last ever flight of an RAF Bev, leaving just the A&AEE/RAE pair still flying a while longer - But that's another story!

[Trev Clark]

Thanks for posting those Pete, just about all my favourite types are present! What a day that must have been, super quality camera he must have used too, probably a German one

[steve p]

Steve, is the Beaufighter (or bits of it) on public display... I can't recall it. :think:

Its hidden away in a locked building at the moment. I've no idea when restoration is going to begin but, given the lack of progress on the Blenheim during the last five years or so, I doubt that it will be soon. |-)

Best wishes
Steve P