British Phantom Aviation Group

[BPAG]

A couple of vids from the recent move to Manston Airport.

[Key]

Wow, that's a lot of sweating to lay out the carpet! Love the soundtrack, by the way.
Cheers!

Erik

[BPAG]

Wow, that's a lot of sweating to lay out the carpet! Love the soundtrack, by the way.
Cheers!

Thanks. A bit of copyright free heavy metal found on the internet. Glad you like it.

[BPAG]

The glamorous side of aviation preservation strikes again!

[BPAG]

Apologies for the slightly commercial nature of this post. Mods please feel free to delete if it breaches any rules. However, it is relevant to BPAG (see below) and all profits are going to charity- Captain Tom Foundation and BOB Memorial Trust have already received donations from pre-orders and SSAFA are next in line.

Our friend and associate Dave Gledhill is the author of a new publication ‘Groundcrew Boys’ which details the engineering efforts of the unsung heroes of the Cold War, the hard working technicians of the UK’s armed forces who kept the RAF and FAA aircraft aloft during a tense time in world history. The book also includes a chapter detailing some of the BPAG’s work to extract XV582 ‘Black Mike’ from RAF Leuchars in 2016/17.

Published by Grub Street Publishing on 30th June. More details here- https://grubstreet.co.uk/product/groundcrew-boys

[BPAG]

The BPAG are proud to announce that our website is now online. This new resource will allow us to publicly archive media and information and release news and updates outside of the confines of the usual social outlets and hopefully be a way to reach those historic aviation enthusiasts who still shun the Facebook/Twitter/Instagram universe (and there are plenty out there). We will also be preparing and publishing more in-depth features and articles relating to UK Phantoms, much of which will be exclusive.

There will no doubt be some teething troubles (there always is with brand new websites) and the occasional typo that has slipped through the net, but this is our new online home. Please feel to drop by and stay a while- https://bpag.co.uk

[BPAG]

Here's another little side project currently ongoing, which has been keeping our Quartermaster and instrument restoration expert Paul West busy on his days off.

As ZE360's cockpit is some years away from being ready to have its instrumentation refitted, we thought a good way to showcase some of it would be to recreate parts of the instrument panels for use as display pieces at events. The instruments will be lit, and both the ADI and standby AH will be operational. It’s still a bit rough and ready at this point but this is the first fit. As you can see there are a few holes we need to fill and the point of this post is to say that if you have any instruments hidden away that you would consider parting with, then please feel free to get in touch. We know that they are out there somewhere, cluttering up garages and sheds...

[BPAG]

ZE360 at Manston in 1991, in the company of visiting Hampshire Air Cadets. Wonder where all these smartly dressed boys and girls are these days? Many thanks to Dave Palk for the pic.

[BPAG]

Although this might sound like we are slightly late to our own party (as news has started to leak out from elsewhere) we have been so busy over the last couple of days that we haven’t had time to make our own announcement. Therefore, it is with a great deal of pleasure (and not a little relief) that we can confirm that XT597 and XT905 have now both arrived safely at their new home at Cotswold Airport, Gloucestershire. 905 has been there for the last three weeks, having arrived on the afternoon of 29th June and was finally joined by 597 on Wednesday.

After being forced by Covid-19 to abandon the initial intention to settle at Prestwold, Leicestershire, the safe arrival of these aircraft at Cotswold Airport marks the beginning of a new chapter for the BPAG and is the first step toward a bright new future. Plans are in place to develop workshops and visitor facilities on site and a major fundraiser to support this, with a number of special rewards, will be launched in the next few weeks. We will let you know more about this in due course. Thank you to all our members and volunteers who freely gave their time and effort to help make this happen and please feel free to join us in celebrating this achievement and congratulating everyone involved on a job well done.

[Alpha Kilo One]

Thumbs up! Can't hardly wait to come over and visit!

[BPAG]

Thumbs up! Can't hardly wait to come over and visit!

We'll look forward to it too. Many thanks.

[BPAG]

As previously mentioned, here are the first few of the backlog of pics from the recent aircraft moves. On 29th May, before the fuselage and wing sections moved, BPAG members and volunteers loaded up a trailer load of parts from XT597 and XT905 which were taken up to Cotswold Airport for storage. This consignment consisted of the outer wing sections, wing tanks and other smaller bits and pieces. Many thanks to all our members and volunteers who gave up their free time to help out.

[BPAG]

A compilation of various footage from the recent aircraft move to Cotswold Airport. Many thanks to Steve Pope for assembling and editing all this together.

[BPAG]

We were delighted to recently receive a most welcome donation from Charles Ross, who is Chairman of the Lightning Association. Cockpit instruments are high on our priority list, so this will be a valuable boost to the ongoing restoration process. A number of these are particularly notable because (as visible in the detail shot) they date right back to the very earliest days of the F-4K programme.

We would like to give our sincerest thanks to Charles and the Lightning Association for their generosity and also take this opportunity to ask any of you out there who may have any Lightning parts tucked away that are surplus to requirements, to contact them via their Facebook page- www.facebook.com/XR724 or website (www.lightning.org.uk) as they will be most gratefully received.

[BPAG]

We sometimes feel lucky and honoured to have the most amazing set of supporters at BPAG. This rear canopy, which is in excellent condition, was recently donated by a chap called Steve Donald and will be used on whichever of the two aircraft it fits best.

During a conversation over a very welcome cup of tea while collecting it, he revealed that he is the gentleman who took the incredible picture of XV589's final moments, which is arguably the most famous UK Phantom picture of all time. Steve is a life long Phantom fan and it was a privilege to meet him and his family. Suffice to say that we are incredibly grateful to him for his kind and generous contribution to the UK Phantom preservation cause.