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Last Blackburn Beverly


Adam Poultney

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As a aeroplane crazy young boy I will always remember watching the Beverley's lumber their way around the sky above Singapore in 1966-1967.  I could not really say they appeared to be flying as it was so slow.  Watching one take off it only appeared to get airborne when the earth got board holding it down on the runway as it went down the runway, down the runway, down the runway .....

 

I diverge but it was a great time with last visit of a Sunderland and a French Lancaster flying through from New Caledonia to Europe to be withdrawn.

 

Paul 

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4 minutes ago, dcrfan said:

I will always remember watching the Beverley's lumber their way around the sky above Singapore in 1966-1967.

Me too. I'd just been posted to Singapore in late '67, and I remember seeing three Beverleys carrying out a farewell flight in formation. Spectacular sight.

 

John.

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Imagine if (and a big IF!) the RAFM at Cosford could put together a building big enough to house a Transport Command collection,...... containing the Bev, Hercules, VC-10 and maybe some of the aircraft inside the Cold War Museum,.....choosing from Hastings, Dakota, York, Belfast, Twin Pin (making room for other aircraft to be included within the Cold War Museum!),......... a pipe dream I know,...... but it would be superb!

The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Museum, currently at Duxford as `Air Assault' could also co locate! 

 

Anyway,..... back in the room,...... I do hope that the Bev can be saved and hopefully put under cover somewhere,

Cheers

           Tony 

Edited by tonyot
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It would be superb to see if the Beverley could be rescued....but It really will be down to what state it is in and how much it will take to relocate and restore the airframe to museum quality?

 

I hope that it is though.

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I believe that there used to be a small air museum over at Southend Airport some years ago, and one of the exhibits there was a Beverley. When it closed, a lot of the exhibits were relocated to other museums, but not the Beverley. I believe that it was cut up.

 

John.

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8 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

I believe that there used to be a small air museum over at Southend Airport some years ago, and one of the exhibits there was a Beverley. When it closed, a lot of the exhibits were relocated to other museums, but not the Beverley. I believe that it was cut up.

 

John.

That would be XB261...………...history and fate listed here and the reasons it was scrapped...……………..sounds like the reasons for scrapping it may be relevant to the current listing of this Beverley:

 

http://saadonline.uk/archives/88

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On 1/21/2020 at 8:24 PM, Adam Poultney said:

To be honest with the RAF Museum's track record of scrapping rare or unique aircraft I don't really want them to get this...

XA900, XA923 (one of the last remaining Victor B1s but there is one at the IMW), that other Beverly...

Yes, back in the 70s Cosford possessed two shackleton MR.1s, the last two complete airframes, and both of them were later scrapped.

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On 1/27/2020 at 12:26 PM, Harry_the_Spider said:

What state is it in? I used to work at the BP plant just up the road and the weather can be brutal.

I remember when the aircraft was relocated to this museum and much of the aviaiton press was appalled becuase of the weather conditions and salty atmosphere.  The museum made great claims at the time as to how they would maintain the airframe.  Seems the press's concerns were justified.

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On 1/24/2020 at 11:02 AM, stever219 said:

Dismantling and transporting XB259 anywhere will cost well into tens of thousands of £s, look at the “Phantom preservation” thread to see how much it’s costing to get ZE360 away from Manston’s fire pits, and even dismantled Beverley bits are big.

It won't be cheap, and it won't be easy, £300,000 worth of volunteered time and kit back then.   Interesting to note that XB259 completed two road moves, 1983 and 2003.  This is worth a watch.

 

 

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Very sad if the Beverley is doomed. I went in this aircraft when it was in

the sadly defunct museum in Beverley before it moved to Fort Paull. No doubt the RAF Museum will do nothing although they will spend lots on a Dornier but maybe RAF historic aircraft aren't that important.

Disgraceful. Sorry but annoyed to say the least

Paul

 

Edited by ptmvarsityfan
Memory slip
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35 minutes ago, ptmvarsityfan said:

Very sad if the Beverley is doomed. I went in this aircraft when it was in

the sadly defunct museum in Beverley before it moved to St Paull. No doubt the RAF Museum will do nothing although they will spend lots on a Dornier but maybe RAF historic aircraft aren't that important.

Disgraceful. Sorry but annoyed to say the least

Paul

 

Let us hope that they redeem themselves and get the Bev to Cosford. As I said earlier,..... imagine a Transport Command museum building containing the Bev, Herk, VC-10, Brittannia and others from the Cold War Museum! It would be bloody huge mind you!

Edited by tonyot
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I cannot understand why as a country we are richer now than at almost any point in our past yet there is no money for anything......very bizarre and illogical.

 

I have been lucky enough to visit this airframe at St Paull and frankly, walking around the site you did get the impression that this was a real possibility but I applaud all those at St Paull for letting us have the opportunity to see it for the last several years.

 

Apart from a euro millions win I cannot see an answer, did Elvis not fly in it once and sign the inside of the airframe:whistle:

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14 hours ago, 71chally said:

It won't be cheap, and it won't be easy, £300,000 worth of volunteered time and kit back then.   Interesting to note that XB259 completed two road moves, 1983 and 2003.  This is worth a watch.

 

 

£300k in 1983 equates to over £1m today. But how much of that was donated FOC or effort by volunteers?

Comparing it with the Phantom it looks like at least 5 times the load to be transported. Fuselage, wing centre section, tail boom, tailplane, and outer wings. Not to mention the difficulty of breaking it down and reassembling it and the time involved. More crane time and more cost. 

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18 hours ago, Britman said:

Not to mention the Belfast!

 

Keith

That comes under the tag of "and others from the Cold War Museum ",.... which is where the Belfast currently resides,...... I just didn`t want to type all the aeroplanes concerned again,......ie Twin Pin, Dakota, York, Hastings and of course the Belfast!!

 

Cheers

           Tony

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What a great shame. I remember when the Army Transport Museum in Beverley (yup, appropriate, eh?) had to close its doors and the Beverley aeroplane was sold as, IIRC, a sealed bid auction. I’m pretty sure that two of the three bidders had intended to move the aircraft to Elvington, but obviously the highest bidder won and the aircraft was moved to Fort Paull.  I’ve often wondered whether the result would have been different if the other two bidders had knowledge of each others’ intentions.

 

That part of the Humber is tidal and very exposed to the prevailing wind, so maintaining such an enormous aircraft outdoors would challenge the most swept-up museum (think of the fate of much of Cosford’s airliner collection...).  Unfortunately the Fort Paull museum could never be described that way. I last visited several years ago and was so unimpressed that I decided that I wouldn’t grace it with my entry fee again. It has enormous potential as an historic site, but that would obviously require investment that simply never seemed to be available or intended.  Many of the exhibits were poorly presented, some were in dreadful condition and most of the underground rooms housed dodgy waxwork tableaux that varied from cheesy to macabre.  

 

The logistics of moving the Beverley aircraft from Beverley town to Fort Paull were well reported locally at the time, and I expect that the inevitable airframe deterioration in the intervening few years will only increase that requirement and the associated cost, assuming that it hasn’t already reached the stage of terminal decline that was the Hendon Beverley’s fate.  I think I know which way this will go.

 

Jon

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On 2/1/2020 at 11:33 AM, ptmvarsityfan said:

At least there is a Belfast very well preserved indoors at Cosford!

Paul

Yes thank goodness, but in a hall with other transport aircraft  would be a nice Ideal.

 

Keith

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  • 2 months later...
On 1/31/2020 at 11:49 PM, ptmvarsityfan said:

Very sad if the Beverley is doomed. I went in this aircraft when it was in

the sadly defunct museum in Beverley before it moved to Fort Paull. No doubt the RAF Museum will do nothing although they will spend lots on a Dornier but maybe RAF historic aircraft aren't that important.

Disgraceful. Sorry but annoyed to say the least

Paul

 

The RAF museum was content to let its own Beverley stand outside to rot and corrode to the point it actually became dangerous and had to be scrapped.

 

I Certainly would not count on any assistance from that source

 

Allan

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10 minutes ago, Albeback52 said:

The RAF museum was content to let its own Beverley stand outside to rot and corrode to the point it actually became dangerous and had to be scrapped.

The Beverley never belonged to the Museum and it's fate was outside their control.

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  • 5 months later...
5 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Wish I was Rich, Id buy the dang thing just to save it from this fate. 

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