Originally Posted by
mikemmb
Will look forward to seeing a Mossie in action again!
Vividly remember being on the landing compass during compass swings on the CO’s Mossie at Little Rissington in the mid 60’s.
Awesome experience having those two huge props lurching towards you as the throttle’s were blipped and brakes jammed on to slew it round!
......character building?
Aah........B.35 TA639 used on a regular basis from early 1963, just before its use in 633 Squadron filming, up until the end of 1965 by 'Birdy' Bird-Wilson against the wishes of just about everyone in higher command....as it had been deemed a RAF museum exhibit once it had finished filming in 633 Squadron...and had been declared Cat 5 as a museum exhibit and not to fly.
Rumour is that eventually the CFS Ground Engineering Wing deliberately sabotaged the aircraft, by placing it in Little Rissington’s only heated hangar, with the tail carefully positioned under a canvas hot air duct, with the desired effect of glue failure and loss of structural integrity. It failed a glue inspection in March '66, showing serious deterioration of the glue joints, only a mere 4 months since its last inspection which had showed no such issues.
TA639 has been on display at the museum at RAF Cosford since late 1969.