British Army Beavers.

[Noah Zark.]

Folks, how many D.H. Beavers did the Army have, and where did they go when the Army disposed of them?
Thanks. N.Z.

[Thunderbird167]

There were 42 in total serialed XP769-XP780, XP804-XP827, XV269-XV273

11 were written off in service, 3 are preserved at Middle Wallop and the majority of the rest were sold on the civillian market.

for more details have a look at UK Serials under XP and XV

[Noah Zark.]

Thanks for the info. T bird.
N.Z.

[Dan Winterland]

"How many Beavers did the Army have, and where did they go when the Army disposed of them?"

Mrs Winterland used to be a WRAC, if that helps answer your question!

[Noah Zark.]

"How many Beavers did the Army have, and where did they go when the Army disposed of them?"

Mrs Winterland used to be a WRAC, if that helps answer your question!

DAN,
You won't have said that when I tell her!

[renfrew]

Think like a bird by Alex Kimball.
If you havn't come across it this book has plenty of Beaver stories.
EG landing on an aircraft carrier for afternoon tea and forgetting to inform ATC.

[Postfade]

An excuse to post some pics of this superb aircraft:

XP817 being parked at Changi August 1962.

XP804 parked 'into wind' and photographed just after start up on a miserable day. Changi February 62.

XP821 seen in the 390 MU hangar at Seletar 29th October 1962. It moved on become the Laos Air Attache's plane and is now with the Museum in Middle wallop.
Some more pics of the 656 Sqdn AAC Beavers on my website:
Focal Planes Blog Archive From the photo archive: Army Beaver XP820 receives a VIP

[pigboat]

DHC-2.com
Type the British registration into the search function in the green box. You should be able to find where they went.

[Mechta]

British Army Beavers on floats or skis?

There was a picture in the Museum at Middle Wallop of an ex-Army one after being sold, restored and put on floats in the USA. If I remeber correctly it was yellow and white.

It had me thinking, did the British Army ever buy floats or skis for their Beavers, and if so, were they ever used?

[chevvron]

Regretfully I know of one which was written off.
I was operating the Odiham Approach position at Farnborough when a Beaver called asking clearance to operate in the Odiham section of Low Flying Area 1 (LFA 1b) I passed QNH and details of other traffic, and about 20 min later I had a phone call from Wallop Approach asking if I was still in contact. I called him and got no reply. Wallop informed me they had a report of a Beaver crashing on the side of the embankment near Dummer ('spaghetti junction' where the A30 and A303 diverge). Apparently they had been practicing 'touch and goes' in a small field and something had gone wrong, sadly both killed.

[treadigraph]

Think I remember that one Chevvron, wasn't it early 1980s? One was also lost in a flying display accident as I recall - Culdrose?

[chevvron]

It would have been early 80s.
I was devastated of course; I talked to him and 20 min later he was gone; no counselling in those days either.

[wub]

Here's an example, taken at Greenham Common in the late 1970s, a registration search indicates that this one was written off in an accident on February 1st 1983, with no casualties.



I have taken off in a Beaver (civilian) 11 times but never landed in one!

[matspart3]

An AAC Beaver was on a VFR transit through the Gloucester ATZ about 10 years ago. I was the Tower Controller and a rather lovely lady ATCO was on Approach. The appropriate co-ordination took place and a few minutes later I spotted the aircraft approaching from the north. I turned to her and said quite innocently 'I can see your Beaver!' Neither of us could speak for laughing for several minutes aftwerwards!

[Fareastdriver]

FEAF about 1969/70. I had to go to Seremban for an exercise briefing. I was flown up by an AAC beaver with a NCO pilot. I was on 110 sqn as a pilot at the time and in conversation I mentioned that I had flown a Beaver a couple of times at St. Athan.

After the briefing was lunch, quite a lot of it. The army pilot took off and set course for Seletar and then asked me if I would like to fly it for a bit. I did so and in no time the aircraft captain was sawing off logs. I left him to it; I knew the way to Seletar and we cruised along at 2,000ft.

I woke up and there was Jahore Baru passing under the nose at 1,850 ft and I was the only one in the aircraft awake. I thought for some time and then nudged our trusty NCO and informed him that we were approaching Seletar. He came to life, took over control and landed it.

I have never dared to tell this story before.

[India Four Two]

AAC Beavers at Suffield?

Back in the late 80s/early 90s, I occasionally heard an "ARMYAIR" callsign talking to Calgary Tower. I never saw the aircraft but I assumed it was a Beaver. Were there any Beavers at Suffield or was I hearing an AAC helicopter pilot?

[EDMJ]

Did the British Beavers have different engines than the others? The cowling seems different to those you normally see on the civil register...?

[chevvron]

Dunno where Suffiled is, but there was a 'Beaver Strip' notified at Colchester Army base up until the early '80s. There was also an immaculate grass strip at Gypsy Hollow near Longmoor Camp; regretfully this was ruined during the re-routing of the A3 road when some clown decided to leave wheel tracks across it - up 'til then there had been a strict rule of 'aircraft only'.

[treadigraph]

Did the British Beavers have different engines than the others?

I think DH at Hatfield converted one to an Alvis Leonides, but otherwise the Army ones were R-985 as standard.

[brakedwell]

I photographed two brand new SOAF Beavers, XR215 and XR213, in Salalah when they were being delivered to Muscat. I think it was sometime in 1965.