# De Havilland and Brooklands Museums.



## Airframes (Mar 28, 2019)

Last Sunday and Monday, Karl and I headed south to Hertfordshire and Surrey, to visit two important aviation museums, each with some very rare exhibits.
Whilst the De Havilland Museum is dedicated mainly to aircraft produced by that famous company, the Brooklands museum is a much larger site, once the location of the Vickers Armstrong factory, which later became Vickers Weybridge site, and was also the 'birthplace' of British motor racing, with part of the World's first purpose-built race track still preserved, and a fantastic collection of racing cars from the 1920's to the present day, which will be covered in Part 2.
But first, I'll start with the DH Museum, and I'm sure Karl will add some pics once he has some time after moving house.

*Part 1 - The De Havilland Museum.*

This is a relatively small Museum, situated in the grounds of Salisbury Hall, near Hatfield, England, and was, of course, where the DH Mosquito was designed and first built.
Although small, it is very well laid out, and there are lots of interesting, and rare, airframes and artefacts well displayed in the packed hangar and other buildings, with a new hangar currently under construction.
Salisbury hall itself is now a private residence and, although not open to the public, it's frontage can be clearly viewed as one enters and leaves the museum grounds. It's over thirty years since I last had the opportunity to visit here, and there have been many improvements since then, and, at present, it is the only place where three Mosquitos can be seen together, including the prototype, W4050.

So, on to the first set of pics, with the Mosquitos in the main hangar. Due to the construction of the new hangar, the aircraft here are currently crammed in, and photography was slightly difficult.

*PIC 1.* The prototype Mosquito, W 4050, in its later guise as a test aircraft for the two-stage Merlin engines, when camouflage was added to the upper surfaces of the original overall 'prototype yellow' scheme.
*PIC 2.* Mosquito B.35. This was converted into a TT35 target tug, and later converted back to bomber configuration for display. From memory, this is one of the aircraft which appeared in the movie '633 Squadron'.
*PIC 3.* It was only possible to photograph the nose of the now restored FB.VI which, during my last visit, consisted of a bare fuselage and some bits and pieces.
*PICS 4 to 6.* This is the 6 pdr Molins gun, fitted to the 'TseTse' Mosquito. The breech and ammo feed are huge, and the wing and undercart of the FB.VI in the background give some idea of its size and bulk.
*Pics 7 and 8.* Rear views of the B.35.

More to follow soon .......................

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## fubar57 (Mar 28, 2019)

Very cool


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## Wurger (Mar 28, 2019)




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## Gnomey (Mar 28, 2019)

Great shots Karl!


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## Jeff Hunt (Mar 28, 2019)

Very nice. Can never go wrong with a mossie or two.

Thanks for posting Terry.

Jeff


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## Airframes (Mar 28, 2019)

Thanks chaps, more soon.
Hugh - remind me not to visit your surgery - Karl hasn't posted yet !!!

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## Crimea_River (Mar 28, 2019)

Good stuff Terry. 

Not sure that particular B35 was used in _633 Squadron_ but it was definitely used in the 1968 sequel _Mosquito Squadron_


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## buffnut453 (Mar 28, 2019)

Have many happy memories of visiting both museums. The 2 are among my favourites back in Blighty. One highlight of Brooklands, for me at least, is the short section of 1930s vintage banked concrete racing track that once ran around the perimeter and hosted the British Grand Prix. Always loved the DH Museum, too. A lot of dedicated helpers keep that place alive.


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## Airframes (Mar 28, 2019)

Ah, the banked track, near the 'Members Bridge', is yet to come - and with a pic, from Karl, that shows what is probably the smallest, slowest vehicle ever to negotiate that famous, and scary, track !!


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## nuuumannn (Mar 28, 2019)

Looking forward to the rest, Terry and Karl.


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## Airframes (Mar 29, 2019)

As Buffnut noted, a lot of dedicated staff and volunteers keep these museums going, and we found the staff at both venues to be very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, with at least one chap being a pilot himself (flies a Stearman in the UK, and a Cessna floatplane in Canada - and I'm not jealous ... honest ... cough !).
Back to the DH Museum, and the nose section and engine, along with a cockpit view, of the DH Sea Venom.
And a very rare exhibit, the former Air France Comet 1 jet airliner. The interior is stripped on the port side to show the construction, and the flight deck is currently under restoration.
Contrary to popular belief (or perhaps myth), the losses of the early Comets were not caused by the 'square' windows in the cabin breaking (and they're actually almost rectangular, with rounded corners), but by an antenna fairing on top of the fuselage breaking away, and ripping open part of the fuselage skin, causing depressurisation. Bear in mind that this was the first aircraft to have an entirely pressurised cabin and flight deck, as earlier types only had pressurised compartments.
As with many of the aircraft at Salisbury Hall, access is allowed, and free, although some have placards politely requesting that visitors do not sit in the aircraft,

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## Wurger (Mar 29, 2019)




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## Airframes (Mar 29, 2019)

Moving on, and some shots of some of the exhibits in the main hangar, with a section of Airspeed Horsa assault glider, and the detachable nose / cockpit section.
The black and white 'sphere' is a 'Highball 'bouncing bomb', smaller relation to Barnes Wallis's 'Upkeep' dam-busting bomb. Two of these could be carried, in tandem, by a Mosquito.
Under the port wing root of the Mosquito B.35 is a 4,000 lb 'cookie'.
Outside the main hangar is this lump of concrete, often missed by visitors, who probably think it's a garden sculpture. It is, in fact, one of the original moulds for the Mosquito fuselage.

More to follow tomorrow.

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## Wurger (Mar 29, 2019)




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## fubar57 (Mar 29, 2019)




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## Gnomey (Mar 29, 2019)

Lovely shots Terry!


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## nuuumannn (Mar 29, 2019)

Excellent Terry.



Airframes said:


> Contrary to popular belief (or perhaps myth), the losses of the early Comets were not caused by the 'square' windows in the cabin breaking (and they're actually almost rectangular, with rounded corners), but by an antenna fairing on top of the fuselage breaking away, and ripping open part of the fuselage skin, causing depressurisation.



While that is partially true, it's not entirely, as during testing of G-ALYU in the water tank at Farnborough, one of the windows did fail, the forward escape hatch with a gash 8 feet in length. The ADF window was also a source of failure, but these weren't the cause of the Comet's woes, just the symptoms. Stress failures occur in openings cut out of metal, as you're probably aware, but a number of issues caused the failures. Metal fatigue as a result of rates of pressurisation; the Comet would climb and descend quickly, the fuselage flexing all the while, which resulted in explosive decompression as a result of weakened structure. Skin thickness was also identified as being too thin in certain areas. In subsequent airliners, pressure heights were pushed higher to relieve pressure of the fuelages, too. The industry learned a lot from the Comet disasters.

Although in F-BGNX, this is the exact same window that failed in G-ALYU in the pressure tank at Farnborough.




Forward escape hatch


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## nuuumannn (Mar 29, 2019)

The Mosquito Museum is a great place, but it suffers from that same issue that other semi-private museums do, too much stuff cluttering the display spaces. You can see it surrounding the Mosquitoes.




0507 de Havilland Aviation Heritage Mosquito FB.VI

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## Wurger (Mar 30, 2019)




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## buffnut453 (Mar 30, 2019)

One slight correction, Terry. I believe the concrete fuselage moulds at the DH Museum are actually for the Hornet not the Mossie.


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## Airframes (Mar 30, 2019)

Thanks for the additional info Grant. I just posted an abridged version of what the onboard guide told me. He also showed me the same window, and explained how areas of the skin / frame were glued too.
Buff, you're probably correct - I didn't read the small placard, assuming the mould was for the Mossie. Fairly sure there was once one at the museum.

The new hangar, under construction, is in front of the existing small hangar, at 90 degrees to it, and is well underway. This should improve the display lay out considerably.
I'll post some more pics later, when my wrists and habds are working properly, after some pain killers.

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## Airframes (Mar 30, 2019)

Continuing with the final two batches from the De Havilland Museum.

*PIC 1*. Sea Vixen.
*PICS 2 to 4*. Former Swiss air Force Vampire FB 6.
*PIC 5*. Chipmunk, a type I used to get to fly now and then.
*PIC 6*. Replica Comet racer.
*PICS 7 and 8.* Hornet Moth from 1935.

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## Airframes (Mar 30, 2019)

Final batch from the De Havilland Museum.

*PIC 1 *Tiger Moth crop sprayer, with a Tiger Moth 'Queen Bee' behind.
*PIC 2.* De Havilland Cierva Gyrocopter.
*PIC 3.* HS 125.
*PIC 4. *Heron.
*PIC 5.* Dove, smaller relation to the Heron.
*PICS 6 and 7*. Comet 4 flight deck.
*PIC 8.* Dragon Rapide under restoration.

I'll start posting pics from the Brooklands Museum tomorrow.

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## fubar57 (Mar 30, 2019)

Great cockpit shot from the Venom


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## Gnomey (Mar 30, 2019)

Lovely shots Terry!


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## Crimea_River (Mar 30, 2019)

Beauties Terry. Thanks for cobbling these together.


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## Airframes (Mar 31, 2019)

*Part 2 - The Brooklands Museum*


Although Karl and I visited primarily to see the aircraft and aviation exhibits, and in particular the Vickers Wellington recovered from Loch Ness, I also had a great interest in the history of Brooklands itself, as the birth place of British motor racing, and the 'Golden Age' of racing between the two World Wars.
Apart from the aviation connection, this Museum also displays a large collection of historic racing cars from the early days to present day, and there is also a large London Transport Museum on-site (which we didn't visit), as well as the historic buildings and a section of the famous banked race circuit, of which more later.

But first, a little background to Brooklands.
Located at the once small village of Brooklands, near Weybridge in Surrey, north west of London, the World's first purpose-built circuit was opened in 1907, and consisted of a large, semi-oval track, most of which was banked, and a long, sloping start / finish straight, with a concrete surface. The circuit measured 2.75 miles.
The Clubhouse, garages, and member's enclosures etc were at the northern end, where the museum is today, with the central area being Brooklands aerodrome, with the Brooklands Aviation HQ buildings at the south west edge of the field, inside the circuit.
Racing took place between 1907 and 1939, when the site was taken over by the government for the location of the enlarged Vickers Armstrong aircraft factory, and perhaps the most famous name at this time was Dr. Barnes Wallis, who not only designed the Wellesley and Wellington, but also, of course, invented the 'Upkeep' mine, 'Tallboy' and 'Grand Slam' bombs, among others. (more of his work will be shown later in the thread).
Post war, the site was expanded, inside and beyond the circuit to the west, to become the Vickers Weybridge factory, where such types as the Viking, Viscount and VC 10 were built. With nationalisation of Britain's aircraft industry in the 1960's, Vickers became part of the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC), later British Aerospace then BAe, and the site eventually closed in the early 1980's.
The area once occupied by the Weybridge factory and airfield, is now the huge 'Mercedes World' complex, with race and test tracks on the former runway and taxi tracks, with the south west corner of the former racing circuit now a retail park (still enclosed by part of the banked circuit).
The Museum still has such buildings as the original British Automobile Racing Club clubhouse, most of the original race circuit wooden buildings, part of the start / finish straight, banked circuit and 'Member's Bridge', and the original Vickers 'Bellman' hangar, the latter having been moved a few meters and re-clad.

It's not really possible to show all of the exhibits in detail (and there are a _lot _of cars !) without making this thread rather long and packed with photos, so I will attempt to cover the main areas of interest with a few key photos, starting with the Museum site.


*PIC 1.* Taken from the Museum guide leaflet, this shows the layout of the Museum.
*PIC 2.* A period photo showing the Brooklands circuit and aerodrome as it was in the 1920's.
*PIC 3*. This large display in one of the buildings shows the original circuit, with the Brooklands Aviation site at left, and the Clubhouse area (the present museum site) at the right, with start / finish straight. The preserved banked track and 'Member's Bridge' can be seen at the top, right hand corner.
*PICS 4 and 5. *The preserved BARC Clubhouse, part of which is a cafe.
*PICS 6 to 8*. Inside the 'Sunbeam Cafe', named after the Sunbeam racing cars, with some vehicles on display.
*PIC 9. *The Member's Billiard Room, preserved as it was in the 1930's.
*PIC 10.* The Club Secretary / Stewards Office at it used to look.

I'll post some more tomorrow, if I'm still awake after a ten hour session of medication at the hospital !


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## Gnomey (Mar 31, 2019)

Great shots Terry!


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## fubar57 (Mar 31, 2019)

Agreed


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## Crimea_River (Apr 1, 2019)

Interesting history. Never knew.


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## Airframes (Apr 4, 2019)

Thanks very much chaps, and apologies for the delay in posting,
Been resting, under Doctor's orders, after an infusion of 'wonder drug' medication on Monday. Also, the darned central heating has decided it doesn't want to play for the last couple of days, just as the temperature has dropped after a warm spell, and it's bl**dy freezing in my house, so back to stiff hands and wrists !
Anyway, back to the thread.
Being the 'birthplace' of British motor-sport,, Brooklands has a_* lot *_of very rare cars on display, as previously mentioned, from the very early days, to the present. 
I'll start off with a selection of some of them, which I'll attempt to 'spread' evenly through the thread, inter-mixed with the aviation connection and, later in the thread, the star attraction, the 'Loch Ness' Wellington.

One of the first things we saw on arrival, was this beauty.
No prizes for guessing what it is (although I'm blowed if I can remember the model number !!).

More to follow tomorrow.


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## KiwiBiggles (Apr 4, 2019)

Possibly the Ferrari 355 S of 1957


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## nuuumannn (Apr 4, 2019)

> when my wrists and habds are working properly, after some pain killers.



Well, take it easy Terry. I do enjoy your threads though, your additional historic info is always interesting mate.

Ooo Brooklands. It's a great place.


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## Airframes (Apr 5, 2019)

Thanks chaps, and yes KB, you may be right. 
As far as I know, the Ferrari was visiting, and was near two Mustangs (the four-wheeled variety), 'limited edition' types, there for a photo-shoot.

I'll post more later today.


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## Gnomey (Apr 5, 2019)

Lovely shots Terry!


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## Wurger (Apr 5, 2019)




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## Airframes (Apr 5, 2019)

Thanks Hugh and Wojtek.

Concerning the Ferrari, I've just remembered I overheard a conversation, suggesting that this was a replica based on the 355S (of which I believe only four of the originals were built), but I believe that the engine and main parts are genuine Ferrari. The originals had 'vents' in the side panels.
Replica or not, it was a superb car.

A few more of the car collections, with some of the early racers, before moving on to other areas of the Museum site.

*PICS 1 and 2.* Singer 9hp from 1933, Riley (?), Wolsley racer and Morgan three-wheeler two seat.
*PICS 3 and 4*. 1932 Cuthbert Riley 9 hp Special, raced at Brooklands.
*PIC 5.* Bentley, of course, this one from 1929.
*PIC 6*. 1927 Bentley 4.5 liter.
*PICS 7 and 8. * Lagonda (replica, I believe based on original parts.) A stunning example, down to the last detail.
*PICS 9 and 10*. This beast, from 1931, is a Clemons 4.25 liter, on a 1927 Dussenberg chassis.

All of the cars on display are operational, and are displayed regularly at Brooklands, and other events in the UK.

More to follow soon ..................

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## Wurger (Apr 5, 2019)




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## Tieleader (Apr 5, 2019)

Wonderful shots!


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## Crimea_River (Apr 5, 2019)

Definitely.


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## Gnomey (Apr 6, 2019)

Good shots Terry!


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## Airframes (Apr 6, 2019)

Thanks chaps, glad you like them.

Moving outdoors to the aircraft park, and a few of the (mainly) Vickers products, mostly built at Brooklands, or the enlarged Weybridge plant next door.


*PIC 1.* Concorde.
*PIC 2.* ex-RAF Jetstream.
*PIC 3. *Vickers VC10 (VC = Vickers Commercial), formerly the Sultan of Oman's aircraft, built at Weybridge. Still an impressive size, even by today's standards.
*PICS 4 and 5.* BAC 1-11, this one used for Fly by Light Control testing.
*PICS 6 and 7.* Vickers Viscount, one of Britain's best exports, and a delight to fly in.
*PIC 8.* Cockpit section of another Viscount, this one being ex- Royal Aircraft Establishment.
*PIC 9.* Vickers 'Merchantman', a 'Vanguard' converted to freight use. This example first flew in 1961, entering service with BEA. It was converted to freight configuration in 1969/70, and eventually retired in September 1996. Donated to the museum, it actually flew into Weybridge, on a very short remaining stretch of the runway, actually touching down on the grass at the threshold, stradlling some deep holes where trees had been up-rooted to provide approach clearance !!
The scaffolding is in place for exterior renovation.
*PIC 10.* Vickers VC1 'Viking', awaiting restored engines. This was an intermediate short-haul airliner, more or less a stop-gap' before the arrival of such turbo-prop types as the Viscount. It used the wing and undercart design of the Wellington, and a military version, the Valletta, served as a para-dropping, freight, and navigational / radio trainer.

More to come soon.


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## Crimea_River (Apr 6, 2019)

Excellent. I remember almost all of those types flying over my head when I was a lad, having grown up just about 5 miles and in line with runway 27 in Toronto . The VC-10 take-offs were ear busters!


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## Wurger (Apr 6, 2019)




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## Airframes (Apr 6, 2019)

Thanks Andy and Wojtek.
Love the VC10 - still majestic. Did a long flight on a RAF VC10, to Ghana via Dakar, and back, being dragged backwards through the night sky - but very smoothly.

And now for something completely different ...........................

Barnes Wallis had a long connection with Vickers, and Brooklands in particular, designing the Wellesley and Wellington, as well as a range of bombs, among other things. Perhaps less well-known was his involvement with the research and development associated with high-speed, high altitude flight, post war. To this end, he designed, and had Vickers build this huge test chamber, used for atmospheric testing of aircraft sections, and called the Stratosphere Chamber. It was built in 1946 / 47, long before the age of CAD systems, all worked out with slide rule and drawn by hand.

*PIC 1.* The chamber door, with Karl giving some idea of it's immense size.
*PIC 2.* The large bogie wheels, running on tracks, moved the entire structure sideways, into the test building.
*PIC 3*. A view into the cavernous interior of the Stratosphere Chamber, on the opposite side to the previous pics.
*PIC 4.* One of the engines on display in the test building, the Rolls Royce 'Welland', Britain's first production jet engine.
*PICS 5 to 7.* More of Barnes Wallis's work, with the Tallboy, Grand Slam and Upkeep weapons, again with Karl giving some scale.
*PICS 8 and 9. *This Rolls Royce Merlin XX engine was recovered with the substantial remains of a Hurricane MkII from Russia. The Hurricane has now been restored, and will be shown later in the thread.
*PICS 10 and 11*. A 1/48th scale diorama showing a Lancaster about to receive a Grand Slam bomb.

Back soon with more pics and info.


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## Airframes (Apr 6, 2019)

Now on to the remaining section of the original race track, within the Museum grounds. 
Much of the banked sections of the circuit still remain to the south, enclosing part of 'Mercedes World' and the retail park, forming a backdrop to the current road layout in the area.


*PIC 1.* Looking up the slope of the Start / Finish straight, towards the 'Member's Banking', with the original WW2 Belman hangar at left.
*PICS 2 and 3. *This WW2 air raid shelter, in the hillside at the edge of the track, has been preserved. The hill itself carries the hill test track, still used for hill climb trials. 
*PIC 4.* Looking west along the banked circuit.
*PIC 5.* Looking east along the banking to the 'Member's Bridge'.
*PIC 6.* The banking is a lot higher, and steeper, than it looks, as Karl discovered as he climbed the slope.
*PIC 7*. It's possible I set a new Brooklands Circuit record - for the smallest, slowest vehicle !!! (pic by Karl).
*PIC 8.* The original 'Shell' pavilion, on the edge of the Start / Finish straight.
*PICS 9 to 12.* Some visiting classics, gleaming in the sun. Quite a lot of £/$ lined up here. The white fencing in the background marks the edge of the lower section of the test hill.

More pics tomorrow.


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## Wurger (Apr 6, 2019)




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## Crimea_River (Apr 6, 2019)

Excellent.


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## Gnomey (Apr 7, 2019)

Great shots Terry!


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## Airframes (Apr 7, 2019)

Thanks Wojtek, Andy and Hugh.

Back to more of the aircraft collection, and the displays in the Flight Shed.
Although spotlessly clean, and well lit, some of the exhibits were tricky to photograph to include the complete airframe, due to the positioning, but access for viewing was otherwise fine. Again, friendly and helpful volunteers were on duty, and we noticed that one of them, at least, had the time, and patience, to apparently describe the function of every switch and button to the visitor sitting in the Harrier !!!

*PIC 1.* Beautiful Hawker Fury, working replica, with former R.Dan.AF. Hunter F.51 behind
*PICS 2 and 3.* Restored Hurricane Mk.IIA, Z2389, built in 1940 at Kingston upon Thames, in the markings of 71 (Eagle) Sqn, RAF, one of five Squadrons it served with before being sent to Russia in May 1942.
It then served with 767 Regiment, Red Air Force on the Kola Peninsula. On 20th June 1942 over a remote area of Murmansk, when flown by F/Lt Ivan Kalashnikov, it engaged two Bf109Fs and five Bf110's, but was shot down and force landed. The pilot survived.
The remains of the aircraft were discovered in the mid 1990's, and partly restored, when it moved to Brooklands in October 1997. Further restoration commenced in 1999, with the engine now about ready for ground running. The original engine, recovered at the same time as the airframe, was shown earlier in this thread.
*PICS 4 and 5.* Harrier T.Mk.52, the first two-seat trainer built, used as a demonstration aircraft. Access to the aircraft's cockpit is free. Note the civil registration.
*PICS 6 to 8.* Avro 504, displayed as an aircraft used at Brooklands.

More tomorrow ..............


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## DBII (Apr 7, 2019)

Nice trip. Thanks for taking us.


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## Crimea_River (Apr 7, 2019)

Thanks Terry. Good ones.


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## Wurger (Apr 7, 2019)




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## nuuumannn (Apr 7, 2019)

Excellent Terry, excellent. The Harrier G-VTOL was the 'Skyhook' one:

SKYHOOK Harrier Carrier

https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1983/1983 - 1517.PDF


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## Airframes (Apr 7, 2019)

Thanks chaps, and yes Grant, the harrier is the 'Skyhook' trials aircraft.


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## Wurger (Apr 8, 2019)




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## Gnomey (Apr 8, 2019)

Lovely shots Terry!


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## buffnut453 (Apr 8, 2019)

Those photos are making me homesick. Planning at least one trip back to Blighty sometime in the next 18 months...maybe 2 or 3 if I can swing time off work!


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## nsmekanik (Apr 8, 2019)

Boy would I like to get in there and play with some of those, take it easy Terri and thanks for the tour


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## Airframes (Apr 9, 2019)

Be good to see you over here Buff, and no doubt a few of us will be meeting up next year, as it's the 80th anniversary of the BoB.
Glad you're all enjoying the pics, and I can confirm that Brooklands is well worth a visit, a heaven for aircraft and auto fans !

Back to some of the car collections in the next two or three posts, before moving back to the aircraft collection, and the 'Loch Ness' Wellington in particular.
I'll start off with this monster, and I make no apologies for the number of pics. It takes a lot to impress me, but the sheer size, and the exquisite engineering of this machine_ really_ impressed me during our visit.
This is the Napier Railton, commissioned by John Cobb, and built at Brooklands in 1933.
It's powered by a 24 liter, 12 cylinder Napier Lion 'W' 12 aero engine, developing 580 bhp, and holds the all-time lap record for the Brooklands outer circuit, at 143.44 mph, set in 1935. It also holds the 24 hour record at Daytona, at over 156 mph, and has a top speed of 165 mph, driven through a non -synchro 'crash' gearbox.
It was used by GQ Parachutes, in 1951, to test aircraft brake 'chutes !
Due to the available angles, it wasn't possible to photograph the car in its entirety, so I've included a pic of a rather nice, hand-built, large scale model.
The final pic, originally from 'Motorsport' magazine I think, and in the Brooklands collections, shows the car in its heyday, on the banked circuit at Brooklands, with the Member's Bridge in the background. Note all four wheels off the ground !!.

Back later with more cars, and then on to the aircraft exhibits.

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## Wurger (Apr 9, 2019)




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## buffnut453 (Apr 9, 2019)

Airframes said:


> Be good to see you over here Buff, and no doubt a few of us will be meeting up next year, as it's the 80th anniversary of the BoB.
> Glad you're all enjoying the pics, and I can confirm that Brooklands is well worth a visit, a heaven for aircraft and auto fans !
> View attachment 534729



Terry,

I'll give you a heads-up when I might be in the area...that way you can plan your escape bid and get the hell out of town (as most sensible people do when they see me coming)!

That last pic is one of my all time favourites, bar none. The perspective. The car's wheels all off the track, the slight blurring of the nearest car. Just absolutely gorgeous!!!


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## Airframes (Apr 9, 2019)

Thanks again, and no worries about your visit - you haven't been to one of our post-airshow BBQs yet !!!

Continuing with more of the race car collection, this time from the 'Grand Prix Exhibition'.


*PICS 1 and 2.* The Aston Martin Special 'Razor Blade', from 1923.
*PICS 3 and 4*. Halford Special, from 1923. The World's first turbo-charged car, with a 1500cc, twin overhead cam, 6 cylinder engine.
*PIC 5*. Line up showing 1927 Delage 15S8, 1926 Bugatti Type 37 GP, and 1938 Alta.
*PIC 6*. The Dealge.
*PICS 7 and 8.* The Bugatti.
*PIC 9*. Alta.
*PIC 10*. A little more modern, and the Arrows BMW.
*PICS 11 and 12. *Brooklands Riley, from 1932,

More of the car collection later this evening ....................


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## Gnomey (Apr 9, 2019)

Great shots Terry!


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## Airframes (Apr 9, 2019)

Thanks Hugh.

The last selection from the 'Grand Prix Exhibition'.

*PICS 1 and 2. * 1964 Cooper T72 F3 car. Charles Cooper, and his son John, pioneered the use of rear engine layout in 1958, and of course, it is still used to this day. Cooper are also famous, of course, for the rally winning Mini Cooper series. Note that the seat belts shown in the second pic are a 'modern' fitting, required under safety regulations today, as the car is still used in various events. They were not present in the 1960's.
*PICS 3 and 4. *Mikka Hakkinen's 1999 McLaren - Mercedes MP4-14 F1 car.
*PICS 5 to 7.* 'Olympus' Wolf.
*PIC 8*. Jordan Honda F1.
*PICS 9 and 10.* I was offered a 'drive' in this McLaren F1 simulator, but I had to decline, knowing that, if I could even get into the cockpit, I'd have a heck of a job getting out, without the use of a crane or explosive charge - darned arthritis !!
*PIC 11*. Michael Schumacher's 'circuit runabout' scooter.
*PIC 12.* Manx Norton 500cc racing bike, and a 1932 MG Midget, suitably posed in a scene that could be from my childhood. (in the 1950's, not the 1930's, before any smart Rs makes a comment !!).

Back tomorrow with more of the aircraft and other exhibits.


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## Airframes (Apr 9, 2019)

Last lot for today, and moving on to some of the aircraft and exhibits in the Brooklands Aircraft Factory, housed in the original Belman hangar, with, in some of the pics, a hint of the Wellington, yet to come.


*PIC 1* Bleriot replica.
*PIC 2 *Nice SE5a replica, with the wings stored alongside.
*PIC 3. *Hunter fuselage, in the colours of 4 Sqn, again with the wings stored alongside.
*PIC 4.* TSR 2 nose section.
*PICS 5 and 6* Air Canada Vickers Vanguard cockpit procedures trainer.
*PIC 7.* Vickers Valiant nose section, in the original 'silver' finish.
*PIC 8.* Hawker P1127, predecessor to the Kestrel and Harrier VTOL aircraft, from 1964.

I'll post more tomorrow, with the Wellington, and others.
Thanks for your interest so far.


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## Wurger (Apr 10, 2019)




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## fubar57 (Apr 10, 2019)

Just caught up 3 pages, great shots Terry


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## Crimea_River (Apr 10, 2019)

I agree. Note that the Vanguard simulator is painted in the TCA (Trans-Canada Airlines) scheme, Air Canada's earlier guise.


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## Micdrow (Apr 10, 2019)

Just seen all these Terry, Great shots and looks to be a great time. Love the old cars.


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## Airframes (Apr 10, 2019)

Thanks very much chaps, glad you like them.
Just sorting the next batches, to be posted very soon.


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## Wurger (Apr 10, 2019)

Looking forward to them Terry.


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## Gnomey (Apr 10, 2019)

Lovely shots Terry!


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## Airframes (Apr 10, 2019)

Thanks Wojtek and Hugh.

And now to the star feature, and the main reason for our visit to Brooklands - the 'Loch Ness' Wellington.

Vickers Wellington Mk1a, N2980, was built at Brooklands, and had it's maiden flight on 16th November, 1939, with 'Mutt' Summers at the controls.
This is one of only two surviving complete Wellingtons, and the only one to see combat operations. (the other is the RAFM Wellington T.Mk10, currently under refurbishment at Cosford).
The aircraft was first assigned to 149 Squadron, at Mildenhall, and carried the code letter 'R', taking part in a number of operations, including the infamous daylight attack on Heligoland Bight, on 18th December 1939, when over half of the 22 aircraft deployed were shot down.
It then served with 37 Squadron, based at Feltwell, when it completed a further 14 day and night operations, before being transferred to 20 OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) at Lossiemouth, in the north of Scotland.
During a training flight on the night of 31st December, 1940, N2980 developed engine trouble, and ditched in Loch Ness. All of the crew escaped, some by parachute, but the rear gunner was killed when his canopy failed to deploy.
In 1976, a team of American Loch Ness Monster hunters discovered the Wellington on the bed of the Loch, and by 1985, after much publicity and fund raising, a local team recovered the aircraft, in remarkably good condition, on 21st September, 1985. When connected to a battery, the tail lights still worked, and there were still personal effects on board.
The aircraft was moved to Brooklands, and gradually restored to its present condition, leaving much of the geodetic structure on view.

There was only one location in the hangar where it was possible to get a shot of the complete aircraft at ground level, which was just inside the hangar entrance. Unfortunately, there was a small crowd of people obstructing the view, and as I became so engrossed in taking a shed load of detail pics, I completely forgot to take a shot at the entrance later !
This, and the next post, show some general views of the aircraft, both at ground level, and from the gallery above.


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## Airframes (Apr 10, 2019)

More Wellington pics.

Back soon, with more aircraft and other exhibits.


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## Wurger (Apr 10, 2019)




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## fubar57 (Apr 10, 2019)

Cool. I still find it an odd way to construct an aircarft


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## nuuumannn (Apr 11, 2019)

> Note that the Vanguard simulator is painted in the TCA (Trans-Canada Airlines) scheme, Air Canada's earlier guise.



Yup. That was done by the volunteers at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune in Scotland, where that cockpit mock up was on display for many years. It was originally built for TCA and a Canadian guy helped the museum with its colour scheme, if I can recall.

Interestingly, another East Fortune connection with Brooklands Museum is that the Wellington was recovered in Loch Ness by a team from Heriott Watt university in Edinburgh and at the time it was raised it was offered to the Royal Scottish Museum (now the National Museums of Scotland) to be housed at East Fortune, but the museum had to turn the offer down because it didn't have either the funding or space. At the time the RSM only had one hangar at EF, which was already full of aeroplanes, so the Wellington had nowhere to go.

The final connection is that in the mid 80s, once East Fortune had been established as The Museum of Flight, it had a compound and a hangar and in the compound was a Vulcan (Falklands veteran XM597) and a Comet and the museum wanted a Concorde to place next to them. The only airframe available was G-BBDG, which was stored in bits at Filton for years and the idea was to get funding to put the Concorde next to the Vulcan and Comet and place a big tent like structure over the three aircraft. I saw the plans for it once, but the museum didn't have the money. G-BBDG is Brooklands' Concorde, while East Fortune now has G-BOAA, British Airways' first production Concorde and the only production variant in service not retrofitted with the fuel tank liners after the Concorde crash at Gonesse.


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## Crimea_River (Apr 11, 2019)

Great pics Terry and good supplemental info Grant.


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## Airframes (Apr 11, 2019)

Thanks chaps, and thanks Grant for the info.
I remember following the Wellington recovery in 'Fly Past' magazine. There are some videos, on You Tube, showing the actual recovery and beaching.

Back a little later with more pics ................


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## Airframes (Apr 11, 2019)

An unexpected bonus was this 'walk through' Wellington fuselage section.
Although devoid of some interior fittings, and with the crew stations enclosed in 'Perspex', most of the main features were present, and gave a sense of what the interior would have been like, albeit without any 'skin'.
Entry was gained via a set of angled steps, in the approximate location of the nose entry hatch in the belly, aft of the front turret and bomb aimer's positions. Note the modern, 'non-slip' floor covering, and the truncated main spar, cut to allow ease of access to the rear exit.

More of the Museum exhibits still to come.

Reactions: Like Like:
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## Wurger (Apr 11, 2019)




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## fubar57 (Apr 11, 2019)

_C'est très sympa_


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## Airframes (Apr 11, 2019)

Thanks, Wojtek and George.

The next small selection is from the Vimy Pavilion.
Although the remaining exhibits, and the Vimy in particular, were crowded into a corner, and difficult to photograph in full, we were otherwise fortunate, as the Pavilion was being prepared for an exhibition, with some exhibits already removed to storage, and the Hawk due to be moved out the following day.

The Hawk is the Mk.50, with the military serial number ZA101, and the civilian registration 'G-Hawk', and served as a company demonstrator and development aircraft from 1976 onwards. It was donated to the Museum by BAe, and arrived from Salmesbury by road, in January this year.

The Vickers Vimy replica was commissioned by Peter McMillan, in order to re-create three long distance flights, and made its first flight, in California, on 30th July 1994.
It completed the flight to Australia, marking the 75th anniversary of the event, and then flew to South Africa in 1999.
In July 2005, Steve Fossett and Mark Rebholz re-created the first Atlantic crossing, flown by Alcock and Brown, flying from St.John's, Newfoundland, to Clifdon, Ireland, in just under 19 hours.
The aircraft was moved to Dunsfold in 2006, where it was maintained in flying condition by volunteers from the Brooklands Museum, and attended various airshows, including Farnborough and Goodwood.
It was flown to Brooklands on 15th November, 2009, landing on the grass airstrip at Merceded World (on the former Weybbridge airfield), and retired from flying.

A few more odds and sods still to come .................


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## Gnomey (Apr 11, 2019)

Lovely shots Terry!


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## Airframes (Apr 11, 2019)

Thanks Hugh.

My final selection are a few 'abstract' shots, from both museums, with the final pic being a view over part of the vast 'Mercedes World' complex, with its race and test tracks, on the site of the former Vickers Weybridge factory airfield, directly opposite the entrance to the Brooklands Museum.
Thanks for taking the time to view the pics, and I hope you have enjoyed the pictorial tour of these two splendid museums.


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## Wurger (Apr 11, 2019)




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## Tieleader (Apr 11, 2019)

MORE!


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## fubar57 (Apr 11, 2019)

Awesome thread Terry, thanks


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## Tracker (Apr 11, 2019)

Great shots Terry!!


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## Crimea_River (Apr 11, 2019)

Thanks for putting it all together Terry. Next best thing to being there.


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## Airframes (Apr 12, 2019)

Thanks very much chaps, glad you've enjoyed it.


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## Gnomey (Apr 12, 2019)

Great shots Terry!


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