Vickers Stratosphere Chamber

[Garry Russell]

Article from January

Dave....which nose section do you reckon??...G-APEJ??

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/trave ... -time.html

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

Yup.. it's Ajax Last time I was there (which has been a couple of years now) the Valiant nose was still in there glowing in the dark I remember seeing something to say that Ajax was going in there but you know what Brooklands and plans are like. Didn't think I'd live long enough to see it happen!! Not sure what happened to the Valiant nose

ATB
DaveB

[Garry Russell]

I'm glad they found a use for Ajax as it was not really fit for any purpose in the condition it arrived in.

Look quite smart as a test specimen

Yes Brooklands overall plan strategy...what is it this week?

Quite a rare article this one...I mean something useful in the Daily Mail???...make that unique.

Valiant nose section Perhaps they've donated it to someone they don't like

[DaveB]

That's possible

I regret never being able to have a play inside. I'm sure the radiation given off by the old instruments wouldn't kill unless you actually lived in there but H&S rules As for Ajax.. I played far too much in that! We took everything useful out of it (which wasn't a lot).. donated what we could to the museum at EMA and kept the rest. Where it is now is all it's good for really. Pity the side door never went to EMA as Swifty needed it but the powers that be wouldn't let it go.

Oh, and yes.. something useful in the DM for once. Note this day gentlemen

ATB
DaveB

[Dev One]

Hmmm, never knew what it was like in there, mind you I used to go around the peri-track & round that sharp bend as fast as I could on my BSA Bantam in those days! Could even go up & down Test Hill!....Just.
Keith

[Airspeed]

Interesting to see, chaps. Never knew it existed. Thanks for the link.
I see that the DMs wordsmith had a challenging day, shuffling about six words ad nauseum on multiple pictures.
Now, the big question....how the dickens did you men know the registration code of a nose section shown head-on? Or was there only one to choose from?

[airboatr]

Hello Mate

Yup.. it's Ajax Last time I was there (which has been a couple of years now) the Valiant nose was still in there glowing in the dark

ATB
DaveB

[511Flyer]

I saw it a few years ago, before the refurb. On the same visit, I also met Dave and had the grand tour of his baby.

Just a line on H&S. An old RAF pal of mine visited Cosford museum, and asked if he could go in the Hastings. Not a chance! There is a danger to health from the luminous paint used in the instruments. We both spent 4 years on Hastings, and spent several hours a day inside them. No danger there then?

Maybe if they had ear defenders back then, I wouldn't have to keep saying "what?"

[Garry Russell]

Mike

The very tatty, incomplete nose of G-APEJ was given to Brooklands with no obvious use. It looked like that, the only other nose section is at EMA and didn't look like a test specimen which I think the one at Bournemouth is the only one and the one that was at Brooklands a while back. There is a TCA wooden mock up cockpit procedure trainer at East Fortune but that is the top part of the nose section only. Seemed pretty obvious this was the one, but reluctant to jump to conclusions.

[Archer]

The Valiant nose is now residing in the Wellington hangar, in the corner where the Viking used to be. G-APEJ seems quite happy in its new home!

As for Brooklands' long-term plans, a very significant grant has been secured to embark on a project that will see the finishing straight restored, the Wellington hangar moved and restored and a new annex built next to it: http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.p ... rooklands/