Archive for September, 2020

The Brooklands’ Loch Ness ‘Wellington’ Monster

Monday, September 21st, 2020

Brooklands Wellington

Thirty-five years ago today (September 21st 1985), there was frantic activity on the banks of Loch Ness as a ‘monster’ was hoisted from its depths.

This ‘monster’ was Wellington Bomber N2980, nicknamed ‘R for Robert.’

During a training exercise with 20 Operation Training Unit, based at RAF Lossiemouth, on December 31, 1939, this bomber was forced to ditch into Loch Ness due to engine failure where it remained, hidden and almost forgotten, for 46 years.

In 1985, the year the plane was recovered, Squadron Leader NWD Marwood-Elton, the pilot, recalled the night the plane went down.

“It was New Year’s Eve, and snowing slightly, but not too bad because the sun came out between the showers, and we took off from Lossiemouth (in Moray, Scotland) and headed out towards the west coast of Scotland, and whilst we were over the mountains the starboard engine spluttered and came to a stop.

“That in itself meant the aircraft could not fly back to Lossiemouth. It didn’t mean we had to bail out or force land immediately because we were at 8,000ft and had quite an amount of time, but we had to do something, and the first thing we did was to look round for somewhere to land and all we could we see was tops of mountains through the snow storms, and not seeing anywhere where the plane would have come down without crashing, I gave the order for them to bail out.

“I looked round again to see if there was any chance of a landing and, as luck would have it, Loch Ness came into sight. So I cancelled the order for bailing out and said we would land.”

One of the crew members, Sgt JS Fensome, 20, who did not hear the second order, bailed out and was killed. He is buried at the Holy Trinity Churchyard, in Biscot, Bedfordshire.

Marwood-Elton continued: “Landing on Loch Ness was a very easy thing because Loch Ness stretched out like a runway. The only difference was it was water, and of course below those waters was the monster and we weren’t quite certain what he would think about it.”

“We came on down and kept our undercarriage up, opened our escape hatch above us, and landed quite gently. A certain amount of spray came up automatically and it came in through our escape hatch so we got a nice dose of cold water over us. And the dinghy came out on the wing tip. So, we got out, walked along, got into the dinghy and the aircraft sank. And there it’s been all those years.”

Although the plane was recovered in 1985, the story of its discovery began in 1970 when Dr Robert H Rines, a wealthy patent lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts, Martin Klein, a pioneering American sonar expert, and Tim Dinsdale, embarked on an expedition to Loch Ness. The trio used a Klein side scan sonar to search the waters in a quest to find Nessie.

Subsequent surveys in 1980 and 1981 by Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, revealed that the old aircraft had been seriously damaged since it was first viewed in 1978. To save the aircraft and recover it before the damage became too great, in 1984 Robin Holmes, a senior lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, set up a charity called Loch Ness Wellington Association Ltd. Thanks to donations from the public and a National Heritage Memorial Fund grant, a recovery operation was mounted in 1985.

Robin said: “The first attempt proved to be a total disaster when the lifting frame collapsed. Another lifting frame was hurriedly designed ‘on the back of an envelope’ and sent off to be built at an engineering company located on the Moray Firth. This time, the recovery was successful and old ‘R for Robert’ was craned out of the water at Bona Lighthouse, up at the north end of Loch Ness, on September 21, 1985.”

Following its recovery, the salvaged material was donated to Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey, a suitable home as ‘R for Robert’ was first assembled at the Vickers Armstrongs factory in Weybridge in October 1939.

In the intervening years, over 100,000 volunteer hours have been spent restoring the aircraft. Fully restored, the Loch Ness Wellington today takes pride of place in the museum.

www.brooklandsmuseum.com

Commemorating Battle of Britain 80 at the RAF Museum

Monday, September 21st, 2020

Battle of Britain Commemoration

2020 is the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain (BoB) which is recognised as the country’s finest hour. The Royal Air Force Museum is inviting the country to remember this significant story of bravery, international alliances and ingenuity both at the Museum and online.

On the evening of Thursday 17 September, the RAF Museum London held a small, private and socially distanced ceremonial event commemorating Battle of Britain 80 and the opening of the new Battle of Britain display and art exhibition.

Full precautions were in place to ensure the small group of guests at the ceremony, adhered to the social distancing laws. In attendance were Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston CBE ADC Chief of the Air Staff (CAS); Air Marshal Andrew Turner CB CBE MA MSC BA FRAES CCMI RAF DCOM Cap; Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen John Hillier, KCB, CBE, DFC, ADC; Malcolm Brecht CB CBE – Director C-17 International Field Services at Boeing Global Services; Maggie Appleton MBE (RAF Museum CEO) and Sir Andrew Pulford GCB CBE DL RAF Museum Chair).

The ceremony featured QCS, Sunset Ceremony and a flypast by a BBMF Spitfire. To conclude the evening RAF veteran Benny Goodman was presented with an early birthday present ahead of his 100th birthday by RAF CAS and the Chelsea Football Club Foundation.’

The London Museum is home to the most complete set of Battle of Britain aircraft in the world including the ‘fighter four’: Spitfire, Hurricane, Messerschmitt 109 and Fiat CR42, all participants in the BoB. This year they will be supported by new displays telling the wider BoB story, including an enigma machine, Dowding and Goering’s busts and medals, and Newall’s uniform. Complimenting the new display will be stunning year-long art exhibition: In Air and Fire: War Artists, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. The exhibition will present over 50 works of art created in response to the war in the air by acclaimed artists such as Nash, Kennington, Laura Knight, Graham Sutherland, Nessler, Nevinson and Olga Lehmann.

The RAF Museum is FREE to enter and has sites at both London and the West Midlands. With wide open spaces both inside and out, the Museum is a great and safe day out for all the family and will be commemorating BoB 80 with a series of special events and exhibitions.

www.rafmuseum.org

26th September 2020 Aeroboot Cancelled

Saturday, September 12th, 2020

Newark Aeroboot Cancelled

The Newark Air Museum (NAM) has taken the decision to cancel the Aeroboot /Aerojumble Sale that was due to take place on its Southfield Site on Saturday 26th September, 2020.

This decision has been reached following some detailed in-house discussions; and in response to the legislation changes announced recently by the government, who were responding to the increased levels of coronavirus infection around the UK.

The NAM had delayed sending out the participation passes to sellers as it tried to design a one-way system around the proposed sale. This was aimed at trying to encourage social distancing, but allowed people to access all sellers fairly. Based on observations at previous outdoor sales, NAM recognised that this was going to be challenging. One possible solution was that we may have been forced to request sellers did not put up gazebos and awnings; something that was not perhaps ideal for an outdoor sale of this type.

NAM was planning to use a voluntary listing system to meet our Track and Trace obligations for sellers and buyers attending the sale. However, the recent changes to the Track and Trace legislation, meant that as event organisers NAM would now have a legal obligation to record everyone’s information, or risk a fine. Given the outdoor nature of the event and the challenges of capturing the required information without creating unduly long queues, it was realised this was not going to be a viable option.

Furthermore, a review of the locations that some sellers were travelling from indicated that they were likely to be travelling from areas of the country that were already subject to additional coronavirus restrictions already. As such the trustees felt uncomfortable encouraging people to meet up at a special event.

The decision to cancel, was not taken lightly and NAM does appreciate that this could upset some people. However, many sellers and buyers often travel long distances to attend the event and it was felt necessary to give these people as much notice as possible of our intentions.
The NAM is sorry for any inconvenience these changes may cause but we are convinced that it is the right decision.

www.newarkairmuseum.org

Untold Battle of Britain Podcast to be launched on Battle of Britain Day

Wednesday, September 9th, 2020

Battle of Britain podcast

The National Archives, the RAF and the RAF Museum will release a collaborative bonus episode of On the Record at The National Archives to mark Battle of Britain Day on 15 September.

Listen to the trailer here.

80 years on from the conflict, this episode focuses on lesser-known figures from the Battle of Britain to highlight the variety of people who contributed to the military campaign.

Vicky Iglikowski-Broad (The National Archives) reveals the bravery of three women who kept contact lines open while their airbase was under fire. Lucia Wallbank (RAF Museum) tells the story of Mahinder Singh Pujji and Vincent Bunting, two of the many pilots from overseas who enlisted to fight, while Mandy Singleton (RAF) highlights the engineers who maintained the planes and kept pilots safe.

www.rafmuseum.org

Conway engine arrives at Newark Air Museum

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020

Conway engine arrives at Newark Air Museum

On Tuesday 1st September 2020, the latest addition to Newark Air Museum’s collection of aero engines arrived at the museum site in eastern Nottinghamshire, close to the county border with Lincolnshire. Today’s arrival was a Rolls-Royce Conway engine RC 042-540.

The engine was transported from its former location at Bruntingthorpe, Leics, over to Newark thanks to the generous support by members of the VC10 Preservation Group. As an Accredited Museum, the trustees of Newark Air Museum were able to accept the transfer of the existing loan agreement between RAF Brize Norton and the VC10 Preservation Group.

This is a cutaway R-R Conway engine prepared by British Airways (BA) apprentices in 1981. The cut away engine is powered electrically, with rotating parts, which are displayed behind Perspex covers. The engine is noted for having flown 31,587 hours’ in a BA VC10 and fills another gap in the museum’s extensive aero engine collection. Initially it will be displayed in Hangar 2 close to its off-loading point, but eventually it is hoped that it will be displayed close to the museum’s TriStar CIM at the eastern end of the building.

“We are extremely grateful to Chris Haywood and Jason Kelly from the VC10 Preservation Group for helping us to complete this latest acquisition”, commented museum trustee Colin Savill, he continued. “Based on my own RAF service career the VC10 is an aircraft type that is close to my heart, and it is great that we have been able to secure this Conway engine that in itself was an important part of the VC10 fleet.”

He concluded, “We look forward to being able to demonstrate some of the workings of the mighty Conway to the public in the coming weeks and months!”

www.newarkairmuseum.org