Why does no one want the Beverley?
I flew Beverley's at Abingdon several times as a cadet.
I logged my last trip on 20 Aug 1967 in XB287 (must've been shortly before they retired); I and several other senior cadets were asked by the loadmaser to stay in the main hull ( the rest travelled in the tailboom) and as we came into our parking place, he told us to jump out and grab some of the chocks lying there to place under the wheels.
I gathered there was no parking brake.
I happened to drive past Bicester in about 1970 and sadly there were at least 3 Beverleys parked in the south east corner.
Then the week after I started working at Farnborough in March 1974, an RAE crew flew the last remaining example from Luton to Paull.
I logged my last trip on 20 Aug 1967 in XB287 (must've been shortly before they retired); I and several other senior cadets were asked by the loadmaser to stay in the main hull ( the rest travelled in the tailboom) and as we came into our parking place, he told us to jump out and grab some of the chocks lying there to place under the wheels.
I gathered there was no parking brake.
I happened to drive past Bicester in about 1970 and sadly there were at least 3 Beverleys parked in the south east corner.
Then the week after I started working at Farnborough in March 1974, an RAE crew flew the last remaining example from Luton to Paull.
Last edited by chevvron; 3rd Aug 2022 at 20:17.
Talking about the last Beverley movement, what about the Court Line Beverley? Did it get to their Luton base and what happened to it after the airline's collapse?
Akro
Akro
I was at Paull airfield on 23rd March 1974 to see the last flying Beverley delivered to what was then Hull Aero Club with the intention of it becoming an accessory to their clubhouse. One of the final radio calls from the aircrew just after landing was ' We have just delivered your pub' Attached are a few photos including the last dying gasps of the Bristol Centaurus engines..
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Super pictures walbut- Paull a very small field if I remember rightly - flew into there once in the early 70s on a jolly with the Air Anglia C206 picking up News Film for Anglia TV.
Super pics ! 
Nearly a decade after my last Bev working trip, I went to the Shawbury scrap pile and hand-sawed a couple of landing light motors out ot wing remains to use for an instructional project on helos - sort of cross fertilisation, I suppose ! Still fond memories ...and poor hearing !
Nearly a decade after my last Bev working trip, I went to the Shawbury scrap pile and hand-sawed a couple of landing light motors out ot wing remains to use for an instructional project on helos - sort of cross fertilisation, I suppose ! Still fond memories ...and poor hearing !
I would hazard a guess that it served some function when paras were exiting from the two side doors (as opposed to jumping from the hatch in the boom).
Confirmation (or otherwise) welcomed.
Gnome de PPRuNe
Apparently it was used for parachute supply dropping tests and also to test braking 'chutes - something to do with that perhaps...
Love to have it but as my garden is 60' x 12' I suspect the neighbours might object... Actually, I think it's bigger than my house...
Love to have it but as my garden is 60' x 12' I suspect the neighbours might object... Actually, I think it's bigger than my house...
I saw XB259 land with its brakes on at Farnborough in early 1969. (IIRC)
From then on it sat outside Western Squadron , flying a Union Jack , for years before moving on eventually.
Despite what some may think, the Hendon Beverley was a problem from day one.
It did not belong to the RAFM and was an unfunded orphan .
Internal corrosion was a serious issue.,indeed the RAFM Keeper, Jack Bruce, expressed his grave concerns about it to me at the time
"We will be held responsible for its condition, although we have little control over it. My nightmare is something like an engine breaking off one day, falling and killing a visitor"
It was a difficulr decision to scrap it , not least by those intimately involved in the problem, who would have wished otherwise..
From then on it sat outside Western Squadron , flying a Union Jack , for years before moving on eventually.
Despite what some may think, the Hendon Beverley was a problem from day one.
It did not belong to the RAFM and was an unfunded orphan .
Internal corrosion was a serious issue.,indeed the RAFM Keeper, Jack Bruce, expressed his grave concerns about it to me at the time
"We will be held responsible for its condition, although we have little control over it. My nightmare is something like an engine breaking off one day, falling and killing a visitor"
It was a difficulr decision to scrap it , not least by those intimately involved in the problem, who would have wished otherwise..
As they will pay for delivery you would think somewhere like Wroughton or the RAF historical store at Stafford would be the place so it could be stored disassembled inside to preserve it for the future
