Any aircraft or relics out there waiting to be found????

280special

With all the recent "discoveries", crated up Spitfires in Burma, P-40s in the desert etc, it got me thinking about what happened to the Air Corps old machines when they were retired? I have seen a few photos of Seafires on the Baldonnel dump, but what happened to the rest of the stuff , the Prop Provosts, the Hurricanes etc. Was there an aircraft scrap yard that was used for this stuff or was it just got rid of in-house?

And what happened to the frames of those Hawker bi-planes that were discovered a while ago in someone's hedge?

Edit; just realised that the original title wasnt very appropraite given what is going on in Monaghan at the moment.

Tenger

Might be a WWII U-Boat at the bottom of River Foyle
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0418/submarine-found-buried-deep-in-foyle-river-bed.html

The official surrender of the German Navy was taken in (London) Derry to mark the importance of the city in the Battle of the Atlantic.




OP: Monaghan?

xflyer

All the Air Corps stuff is long gone. Even this one:




I do remember seeing an Avro Cadet sitting in the back of the hangar in Weston back in the nineties. Not Air Corps but civil. That's been moved on. But it has to be around somewhere. It needed an engine the owner told me at the time. It's pretty rare.

Nforce

There are a few Air Corps aircraft on permanent loan to the air and rail museum in Dromad.

280special

Tenger wrote: »

OP: Monaghan?

This;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17812933

Original tread title was to do with anything being buried and awaiting discovery.....a rather unfortunate title to use

280special

xflyer, is that the aircraft that ended up in a college in Dublin ? Bolton street ?

Also came across this , the sale of the last 3 Spits....if only they had held onto them !!

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1968/1968%20-%200292.html

xflyer

Yes Bolton Street. Various rumours about pieces of it still in existence.

Quaderno

I don't know anything about retired Air Corps planes, but there are some areas in Ireland where foreign planes seem to have been attracted to during the war. Especially Kerry has seen a number of crashes between 1939 and 1945 and some relics can still be found, particularly around and on top of Mt. Brandon. Other places might be of interest, too, depending on your location. A good list of crash sites in Ireland can be found here.

muppet01

In terms of relics, think the Beechcraft is on donedeal for 50euro..........:D

punchdrunk

I grew up playing in Baldonnel (mid 80's),behind the 3 sqn hangars was a field full of wrecks,hulks of old aircraft left to rot that my brother and I would play on

I'm struggling to remember exact models but there wasn't much left of them!

Stovepipe

Hi all,
The Hurricanes were broken up, by order, by the 1st Aptce Class with sledgehammers and the remains set alight. The Spitfires and Seafires? Some were saved and brought to England and the rest broken up and bulldozed. Provost 183, along with Anson 141 and chipmunk 168 is in the Museum, 181 and 184 went to England, a Chipmunk is in Dromod and a lot of the rest were burned and bulldozed and lie under what is now the fuelfarm and the new hangar in Baldonnel.

regards
Stovepipe

Tenger

Stovepipe wrote: »

The Hurricanes were broken up, by order, by the 1st Aptce Class with sledgehammers and the remains set alight. ..........

Bloody hell.

Shades of Yeats perhaps?
And what, God help us, could they save?
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone

280special

Stovepipe wrote: »

Hi all,
The Hurricanes were broken up, by order, by the 1st Aptce Class with sledgehammers and the remains set alight. The Spitfires and Seafires? Some were saved and brought to England and the rest broken up and bulldozed. Provost 183, along with Anson 141 and chipmunk 168 is in the Museum, 181 and 184 went to England, a Chipmunk is in Dromod and a lot of the rest were burned and bulldozed and lie under what is now the fuelfarm and the new hangar in Baldonnel.

regards
Stovepipe

Thanks, even though it breaks mjy heart to read what happened to those beauties ! Makes you wonder that someone, somewhere didnt think that they might be worth a few quid even as scrap.

Nforce

Stovepipe wrote: »

Hi all,
The Hurricanes were broken up, by order, by the 1st Aptce Class with sledgehammers and the remains set alight. The Spitfires and Seafires? Some were saved and brought to England and the rest broken up and bulldozed. Provost 183, along with Anson 141 and chipmunk 168 is in the Museum, 181 and 184 went to England, a Chipmunk is in Dromod and a lot of the rest were burned and bulldozed and lie under what is now the fuelfarm and the new hangar in Baldonnel.

regards
Stovepipe

There's also a Provost in Dromod (complete with bullet holes), with at least one (possibly 2) Vampires in storage off site.


1955 Percival Provost # 184





1952 De Havilland Chipmunk #173

Delancey

My heart breaks a bit when I hear about these aircraft being scrappped/burned/bulldozed . My head does say '' what else could be done with them ? '' - they cost a fortune to maintain ( even in non-flying status ) - who is going to pony up the cash needed ?

Look what has happened to the '' Memphis Belle '' - the US Air Force had to re-possess it from the city of Memphis who allowed it to be vandalised and torn to bits by souvenir hunters on top of corrosion because the city failed to keep it indoors.

Blue Punto

VB-25N 45-8843 XB-HEY (6S) was deliberately crashed on set of "Catch 22"

Flown from Mexico to the film set it was used only for a crash scene after which it was buried beside the runway and still rests there today.

Whats left of it God only knows

RadioRetro

Regarding the breaking up and burning of the Hurris & Spits etc., I believe that it was a condition of sale by the UK MoD (or Ministry for War as it was then) that obsolete aircraft could only be destroyed and not sold on to a third party and that any museum exhibit types could only be given/sold to UK collections, unless needed for the AC's own museum.