Busman's Holiday - Cobham Hall Visit
Posted: 25 Oct 2013, 13:04
Yesterday a colleague from Tangmere and I took a busman's holiday and went to the Cobham Hall open day at the FAA Museum to view the reserve collection. The aircraft are laid out for storage not display so decent photos were hard to come by but here are a few that interested me.
Supermarine 510, VV106. First flown by Mike Lithgow in December 1948, it was - in 1950 - the first swept-wing aircraft to land on a carrier.
Unfortunately inaccessible was Hawker P1052, VX272, one of only 2 built of this type.
Almost as inaccessible was NA39, XK488, the third development aircraft. Long ago as it was, I can still remember rushing to my local Woolies (they always got Airfix new releases first) clutching my 4/6 to ask if the new model of the Blackburn NA39 had been released only to be bitterly disappointed by the reply, "Blackbird what, dear? No, I don't think we sell that sort of thing."
There was also a chance to see how the Barracuda restoration was progressing. Still a way to go and another £60,000 needed apparently!
The saddest thing for us to see, though, was Harrier GR9 ZD433 in No 1 Squadron (one of Tangmere's most famous squadrons) markings. It's ended up in a museum well before its time!
It was good to see a Phantom in the colours of No 43 Squadron (another of Tangmere's finest) parked on the airfield.
Inside the main museum there were two new (to me - I haven't been there for a couple of years) exhibits:
The newly-restored Martlet in the colours it was delivered by Grumman in 1940 - the wing and tail plane are believed to have the original 1940 paint...
...and a Wyvern TF1, VR137 which, if I read the blurb correctly, has never flown. I think it may have been on display in the museum some time ago in an operational colour scheme but it's now back in bare metal.
All-in-all, a good day out.
Pete
Supermarine 510, VV106. First flown by Mike Lithgow in December 1948, it was - in 1950 - the first swept-wing aircraft to land on a carrier.
Unfortunately inaccessible was Hawker P1052, VX272, one of only 2 built of this type.
Almost as inaccessible was NA39, XK488, the third development aircraft. Long ago as it was, I can still remember rushing to my local Woolies (they always got Airfix new releases first) clutching my 4/6 to ask if the new model of the Blackburn NA39 had been released only to be bitterly disappointed by the reply, "Blackbird what, dear? No, I don't think we sell that sort of thing."
There was also a chance to see how the Barracuda restoration was progressing. Still a way to go and another £60,000 needed apparently!
The saddest thing for us to see, though, was Harrier GR9 ZD433 in No 1 Squadron (one of Tangmere's most famous squadrons) markings. It's ended up in a museum well before its time!
It was good to see a Phantom in the colours of No 43 Squadron (another of Tangmere's finest) parked on the airfield.
Inside the main museum there were two new (to me - I haven't been there for a couple of years) exhibits:
The newly-restored Martlet in the colours it was delivered by Grumman in 1940 - the wing and tail plane are believed to have the original 1940 paint...
...and a Wyvern TF1, VR137 which, if I read the blurb correctly, has never flown. I think it may have been on display in the museum some time ago in an operational colour scheme but it's now back in bare metal.
All-in-all, a good day out.
Pete
EricT
