Today was supposed to be THE day, with base visits at Culdrose and Predannack. This was the main goal for this trip, and we were looking forward to all those Merlins, Sea Kings and instructional airframes! But since we had an appointment early in the afternoon we did a few other locations first.
But not before we had our first proper breakfast of the trip! We stayded in Travelodges every night, and normally those only have a breakfast takeaway bag available which is no value for money (we have been told so in the past by Travelodge staff!). But the one in St. Austell does have a breakfast buffet, and that was very nice. Especially the full English breakfast, good to taste that again
RAF St. Mawgan (50º 26' 06.10" N, 4º 58' 30.30" W)
(WD954) Canberra B.2 pr, nose, no mks
(WL795)/T Shackleton MR.2C pr gate, no mks
The Shack is preserved on the military side at the main gate. We were not allowed in to graph it, but also not to take a picture from outside. Well, the weather was ==censored== anyway.... It took us some time to find the Canberra, since it turned out I had wrong directions in my notes. The right spot is in the garden of the house in the corner at the threshold of the main runway, on the side of the A3059. The guy who owns it also has a plastic Spitfire here; therefor the place is known with the locals as Spitfire Corner. The coordinates above give the exact spot by the way. I understand that WD954 was built as a B.2 and then converted to a T.4. Did this involve a complete new nose? If I understand the info on the net right this is the original B.2 nose, and the whole T.4 (including the new nose) should still be around in Australia.
I presume the instructional Sea King here (XV372) made the move to Valley? Can someone confirm this, as I still need that one?
Cubert (50º 23' 17.47" N, 5º 06' 53.21" W)
(XR747) Lightning F.6 std, nose, no mks
And another nose. This one is in a yard just north of the village. From the A3075 take a right towards Cubert. When you enter the village take the first right at a roundabout (towards Crantock), and after about a kilometer take a left (this is signposted Treworgans. After about 100 m the road bends right, just before that the Lightning is on your right hand side.
Perranporth airfield
43-1430 L-4B (G-BHVV) no mks
44-80015/44-M L-4H G-AKIB, datablock reads 44-480015!
G-SVIV SV.4C maintenance (c/n 475, no mil history?)
N994K TH-55A ex 67-16733, c/n 480840
The first Cub is a bit of a problem apparently. I have seen it quoted as "real id 43-38385", but that's a B-17.... According to Joe Baughers site the c/n of 43-1430 is 10291, and that's also the c/n it is registered with. But to complicate things he says it became F-BEGF, and G-BHVV is said to be former F-BGXF, which according to Air Britain is explained by a case of frame swopping during rebuilding in the 50´s.... Confusing??
The other Cub used to be based at Bodmin, but moved here some time ago. According to Demobbed also Sedbergh XN153 should be based here. We asked for this at the tower and were told it wasn´t on their side of the airfield, but could be living on the other side with the local gliding club. But we were also told that the club´s almost dead and gone, and when we went to have a look a shabby hangar with only two gliders was found. So this one probably moved on, but the destination....?
And next was finally Culdrose. When we arrived at the gate nobody was expecting us, and when they called the PR guy he didn´t know we were coming either. Oh, oh, something went very wrong! After 15 minutes or so he came to the gate and said he DID remember my call after all, but I never sent him the confirmation email he asked for. And it turned out he was right, apparently I was so happy when the visit was arranged that I didn´t take any other action! You can imagine how we felt. But we were very, very lucky after all, since the PR man was willing (and able) to show us around anyway. He had already been making some quick phonecalls to different squadrons, and made some more while we were underway. In the end every unit was visited apart from one maintenance unit that had already gone home and the storage hangar where 5 Merlins are in deep store.
RNAS Culdrose
829 squadron hangar:
ZH828/CU Merlin HM.1 829 sq, HMS Richmond
ZH840/NL Merlin HM.1 829 sq, HMS Monmouth
xxx squadron hangar:
XV656/185 Sea King ASaC.7 nn
XV672/187 Sea King ASaC.7 nn
XV707/84 Sea King ASaC.7 nn
ZA126/91 Sea King ASaC.7 nn
ZD636/CU-182 Sea King ASaC.7 nn
ZE422/92 Sea King ASaC.7 nn
(I wrote this location down as 824 sq, but that's obviously not correct)
820 squadron hangar:
ZH832 Merlin HM.1 (820 sq)
ZH864/68 Merlin HM.1 (820 sq)
814 squadron hangar:
ZH835/70 Merlin HM.1 (814 sq)
SFDO hangar/outside:
(ZF641)/DD EH.101 SFDO, no mks
XX510 Lynx HAS.1 SFDO, no mks
XZ440/DD-40 Sea King F/A.2 SFDO, 801 sq mks
ZB603/DD-T03 Harrier T.8 SFDO, 899 sq mks
ZD579/DD-79 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, 801 sq mks
ZD611 Sea Harrier F/A.2 std, 899 sq mks
ZE690/DD-90 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, 801 sq mks
ZE692/DD-92 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, 801 sq mks
ZH797/DD-97 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, 801 sq mks
ZH798/DD-98 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, spec tail, 899 sq mks
ZH802/DD-02 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, 899 sq mks
ZH803/DD-03 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, 801 sq mks
ZH809 Sea Harrier F/A.2 std, spec c/s, cannibalised
ZH813/DD-13 Sea Harrier F/A.2 SFDO, 801 sq mks
XV371/DD-261 Sea King HAS.1 SFDO, no mks
XV654/DD-705 Sea King HAS.6 SFDO, no mks
XV657/DD-132 Sea King HAS.5 SFDO, no mks (tail of ZA135)
plus fake Merlin AV511.
MDMF hangar:
ZH834/64 Merlin HM.1 no mks (814 sq code)
ZH837/10 Merlin HM.1 no mks (820 sq code)
ZH847/13 Merlin HM.1 no mks (820 sq code)
ZH850 Merlin HM.1 no mks
ZH855/37 Merlin HM.1 no mks (700 M OEU code)
ZH858 Merlin HM.1 no mks
ZJ123/G Merlin HC.3 28/78 sq mks
ZJ135/T Merlin HC.3 28/78 sq mks
ZJ136/U Merlin HC.3 28/78 sq mks
ZJ137/W Merlin HC.3 28/78 sq mks
plus the tail of ZH857/CU.
storage hangar:
ZD990/DD-T90 Harrier T.8 SFDO, 899 sq mks (apparently here for maintenance)
taking off:
XX159 Hawk T.1A no mks (FRADU)
XX168/168 Hawk T.1 no mks (FRADU)
XX246 Hawk T.1A no mks (FRADU)
XX281 Hawk T.1A no mks (FRADU)
750 squadron hangars:
XX476/CU-561 Jetstream T.2 750 sq, anniversary mks
XX478/CU-564 Jetstream T.2 750 sq
XX481/CU-560 Jetstream T.2 750 sq
XX484/CU-566 Jetstream T.2 750 sq, anniversay mks
XX486/CU-567 Jetstream T.2 750 sq
XX487/CU-568 Jetstream T.2 750 sq
XX488/CU-562 Jetstream T.2 750 sq
ZA110/CU-563 Jetstream T.2 750 sq
ZA111/CU-565 Jetstream T.2 750 sq
(and that's the units complete inventory, including our last and long searched for ZA111; apparently it is very rare to get all nine at home
)FRADU hangar:
XX157 Hawk T.1A (FRADU)
XX170/170 Hawk T.1 FRADU, std
XX198 Hawk T.1A (FRADU)
XX240/240 Hawk T.1 (FRADU) 208 (R) sq mks
XX244/244 Hawk T.1 (FRADU)
XX255 Hawk T.1A (FRADU)
XX301/301 Hawk T.1A (FRADU)
XX303 Hawk T.1A (FRADU)
XX316/316 Hawk T.1A (FRADU)
XX330/330 Hawk T.1A (FRADU)
(clearly they stopped applying unit markings, only the stored XX170 was still recognisable as a FRADU aircraft)
771 squadron hangar/outside:
XV648/718 Sea King HU.5 771 sq
XV666/821 Sea King HU.5 771 sq
XV673/27 Sea King HU.5 771 sq
XV699/823 Sea King HU.5 771 sq
ZA130/19 Sea King HU.5 771 sq
ZA137/20 Sea King HU.5 771 sq
ZA167/22 Sea King HU.5 771 sq
instructional hangar:
XV706/L-017 Sea King HAS.6 GIA, 820 sq mks
plus the tail of XV708 (the rest is stored at Gosport)
824 squadron hangar/outside:
ZH836/87 Merlin HM.1 824 sq, "Gareth"
ZH838/86 Merlin HM.1 824 sq, "Tristan"
ZH841/82 Merlin HM.1 824 sq, "Boars"
ZH842/CU-88 Merlin HM.1 824 sq, "Lamorak"
ZH861/84 Merlin HM.1 824 sq, "Gawaine"
ZH862/CU-81 Merlin HM.1 std, ex 700 M OEU
(the names are knights of the round table; the other three choppers in their inventory are ZH813/85, ZH827/80 and ZH839/83)
preserved at gate:
WF225/CU Sea Hawk F.1 pr, no mks
(apparently Sea Hawks never operated from Culdrose, but since the Navy name for the base is HMS Seahawk they liked having one as a gate guard....)
As you can see our "unplanned" visit was a great succes after all. Too bad it was raining all afternoon, so hardly any decent pictures were made. Well, by now we have seen about half of the Merlin fleet, so we need to come back anyway. Also present here should be the nose of Harrier XV786 apparently, but that wasn't seen.
Even though he wasn't counting on our visit, our guide was willing to drive to Predannack as well to show us around there. And obviously we liked that, since yesterday during the visit to the local VGS we had ignored all instructional aircraft.
Predannack
WT308 Canberra B(I).6 GIA, A&AEE mks
XS738/U Dominie T.1 GIA, 55 (R) sq mks, also 9274M
XV753/DD-53 Harrier GR.3 GIA, no mks (complete aircraft, so I guess ff and rf have been put together again)
XV783/DD-83 Harrier GR.3 std, no mks*
XW271/DD-71 Harrier T.4 GIA, no mks
XZ145/DD-45 Harrier T.4 std, no mks*
XZ996/DD-96 Harrier GR.3 std, no mks*
XZ969/DD-69 Harrier GR.3 GIA, no mks
ZD667/DD-67 Harrier GR.3 std, no mks*
XX479/563 Jetstream T.2 GIA, 750 sq code, on side
ZD581/124 Sea Harrier F/A.2 GIA, 801 sq mks
(XZ570) Sea King HAS.5(mod) GIA, no tail, Searchwater AEW 2000 badge
(ZD631) Sea King HAS.6 GIA, no mks, no tail, on side
XS529 Wasp HAS.1 GIA
XP137/DD-711 Wessex HAS.3 GIA, no mks, on side
XS516/Q Wessex HU.5 GIA, no tail, no mks
XS520/F Wessex HU.5 GIA, no mks, on side
XS522 Wessex HU.5 GIA, no tail, no mks, on side (code ZL according to books, but not seen)
XS885/DD-512 Wessex HAS.1 GIA, 771 sq mks
I had some problems with reading my notes here since my book got really soaked. Our guide was quite amused that at every aircraft we got out of the car into the rain to check serials and take some pictures.... Well, the quality isn't that good but still some nice shots were made! The four Harriers marked * are stored together and are up for disposal; apparently there's enough interest from museums already, and Sea King XZ570 is a recent arrival from Gosport. Compared to the list on Demobbed Wessex XM870 and XT468 are gone, probably sold as scrap?
When we were finished it was almost dark already, so we thanked our guide (again) and called it a day aircraft wise. Land's End is not the most southern point (nor western point either actually) of the British main land, so we decided to drive to Lizard Point which is only some 5 km further south from here. When we arrived the rain was so bad we didn't even get out of the car, but at least we can say we've been there
So the day ended very well, especially considering the great disappointment we thought we were facing just after noon!
As always corrections, etcetera.....
That´s all folks!
Hielko Overeem, Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation
