Bournemouth Aviation Museum

Vickers Viscount 806 G-OPAS was built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Weybridge early in 1958 and delivered to British European Airways (BEA) at Heathrow on 26 March as G-AOYN. It was part of a large fleet of Viscounts used by the airline on its European services. At the end of 1971 it was bought by Cambrian Airways and operated from Cardiff. On 1 April 1974 Cambrian became part of the new British Airways, with G-AOYN continuing in service until the spring of 1980. It was then purchased by British Air Ferries (BAF) in February 1981 and based at Southend. During its time with the airline it was frequently chartered to other airlines on short term leases. Re-organisation saw BAF renamed British World Airlines in April 1993 and G-AOYN continued in service on freight duties. The airline obtained a contract from Parcelforce following which the aircraft was repainted in a distinctive Parcelforce red and reregistered G-OPAS in October 1994. The aircraft was taken out of service in the summer of 1996, being broken up early the next year. The nose section was saved by the Duxford Aviation Society and initially displayed at Duxford. In December 2006 an agreement was made with the society and the nose section moved to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum on permanent loan.

English Electric Canberra PR.7 WT532 was built in 1955 and delivered to RAF Germany 80 Squadron. It also served with 17 Sqn in Germany, before being transferred to 13 Sqn in Malta in the late 1960’s. It returned to Germany again where it served with 13 Sqn at Laarbruch and then only a few months later transferred to 58 Sqn at RAF Wyton. Initially retired from active service in 1981, it was then reprieved and flown to RAE Bedford in February 1982 for trials duties until February 1985. It then moved to 2 School Technical Training at Cosford in April 1986 for ground instruction duties, eventually being put up for sale in 1991 and purchased by Lovaux for spares recovery. It was moved to their site at Bournemouth Airport in April 1992 and when no longer of further use, passed to the Airport Fire Section in June 1994. However after little use the fuselage was donated to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in July 1999 and the cockpit section restored for display.

The cockpit of a Hunting Jet Provost T3 XM404 was built by Hunting Aircraft at Luton in 1959. It was delivered to the RAF on 1 January 1960 initially to No 2 Flying Training School (FTS) at Syerston and subsequently to No 3 FTS at Leeming in December 1961. XM404 was taken out of flying service in July 1968 and transferred to 27 MU at Shawbury for storage. It was then relegated to ground training in 1969 and transferred to 9 School of Technical Training (SoTT) at Newton. In 1974 it was disposed of by the RAF and moved to the Home Office Fire School at Moreton-in-the Marsh for non-destructive training by fire crews. It was then sold in 2014, moved to Bruntingthorpe, where due to corrosion issues it was decided to save the cockpit section only. This was purchased by a private owner and moved to South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum at Doncaster in August 2015. It was purchased by the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in 2017, arriving in March 2018 for restoration and use as a mobile exhibit. Whilst stationed at RAF Church Fenton in 1984-86 I flew in one of these aircraft.

Vulcan B.2MRR XH537 was built in 1959 and delivered to the RAF in August. It was set aside as a trials aircraft for the American Skybolt missile and fitted with two dummy Skybolts under its wings. When the Skybolt programme was cancelled, XH537 then served with 230 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at RAF Finningley. It saw operational service from 1978 with 27 Sqd. at Scampton as a MRR version undertaking maritime reconnaissance. Withdrawn from service by early 1982 it was allocated for ground instruction use at Abingdon in March. It survived until May 1991 when the aircraft was broken up with the nose section being saved. This was stored at Camberley and Ottershaw before moving north to Bruntingthorpe where XH537 was put on display. The owner moved the nose to Bournemouth in October 1991, with ownership passing to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in March 2003.

Built as a B.2 XL164 was first flown from Radlett in May 1961. She was retained by HP for trials work, mostly on autopilots, operating from Boscombe Down in 1964/1964. Due to enter service with the RAF, she was modified for Blue Steel carriage but then entered storage and was never to enter service as a bomber. In 1972 she was selected for conversion to a tanker and after HP went bankrupt, flown to Woodford for the conversion to K.2 standard. She then entered service with 57 Squadron at RAF Marham in 1977. She switched back and forth between 57 and 55 Squadron throughout her career. In 1982 she saw action as one of the tankers used during the Falklands War, supporting Black Buck raids 2 and 6 and also carrying out maritime recce sorties from Ascension Island. She later saw service in the 1991 Gulf War, and gained nose art on her port nose as a result - "Saucy Sal". Ending her days with 55 Squadron, she was retired in 1993 and was flown to RAF Brize Norton for ground instructional use. However, she was scrapped in August 1995. The nose section was quite badly damaged during the scrapping process, but was saved for the Gatwick Aviation Museum, and transported to Gatwick where she remained in open storage. She was put up for sale in 2011 and moved on in 2013 - this time to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. Whilst there, she's had some skin damaged patched and the lower nose section reattached. I have flown in a Victor whilst stationed at RAF Marham in 1980-82.

The Bedford TK Mobile Control Tower (81 AE69) was manufactured by Bedford Vehicles at their Dunstable plant and based on their TK truck chassis. A number of vehicles of this design were produced specifically for the UK Ministry of Aviation and Armed Forces during the period 1960-1990. They were used by Air Traffic Control at UK civil airfields and at military airfields in the UK and abroad. This particular vehicle was built in 1980, served at RAF Manston until 1995 then sold and used at Bournemouth Airport for a while. It eventually arrived at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in 2009 and we have maintained it ever since, although spare parts are now difficult to obtain. The vehicle only has 10,000 miles on the clock, not bad for a vehicle built in 1980! I spent 12 years in the RAF as an Assistant Air Traffic Controller and spent many an hour in one of these at both RAF Marham and Church Fenton.

Westland Wasp XT431 first flew on 24th May 1965 and delivered to the Royal Navy in July 1965. Initially stored, it was issued to 829 Sqn at Portland in October 1966 where it was used to train crews prior to being posted to a frigate. XT431 was based on HMS Scylla from February 1972, transferring to HMS Jupiter in June 1976. It returned to RNAS Portland in December 1979 where it was used by 703 Sqn — the Wasp Flying Training Squadron. From March 1980 until September 1981 it was based on HMS Rothesay, again in training role. With the arrival of the newer Lynx helicopter, XT431 was declared surplus to requirements in October 1981 and sold to the British Rotorcraft Museum at Weston-super-Mare. It later passed to Crawley Technical College in November 2003 as a training airframe and then moved to the Gatwick Aviation Museum in September 2008. The Museum sold a number of their aircraft in 2013 with XT431 arriving at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in December 2013. The Jetstream had a number of owners over the 22 years service. It was delivered new to Eastern Metro Express as N410MX on 27 October 1984. Repossessed by BAe on 19 January 1991 it was then re-registered G-BUFM 08 April 1992. Transferred to Lakeside Aviation as G-LAKH on 07 August 1992 and then to Air Kilroe as G-?OKA by 01 July 1996. It was transferred to Love Air as G-LOVA on 28May 1998 and then finally to Platinum Air Charter as G-PLAH on 21 Nov 1999. It was withdrawn from use in November 2006, the registration cancelled on 22 January 2008 and the aircraft scrapped. However, the nose of the aircraft was preserved and eventually placed at the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection. It was finally transferred to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in May 2020.

WS776 Gloster Meteor NF14 was built by Armstrong Whitworth at Coventry and delivered to the RAF on 22 February 1954, serving with 25 Squadron at West Mailing. It transferred to 85 Squadron in July 1958, then to 72 Squadron at Church Fenton in November 1958 and finally to 228 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) at RAF Leeming in July 1960 before being withdrawn from active service in January 1961 and transported to North Luffenham where it was displayed by the main gate. Disposed of by the RAF in March 1998 it moved to Sandtoft in November 1999, again being displayed by the main gate. It was then purchased by the Bournemouth Aviation Museum on 5th February 2005, carrying its original 25 Squadron markings.

Boeing 737-229(A) (cn 21135) G-CEAH was originally is one of fifteen Boeing 737-200 series aircraft ordered by Belgian airline Sabena. It first flew in May 1975 and then delivered to Sabena in June registered as OO-SDG. It entered service on the airline’s routes across Europe, which expanded over time, leading to further 737’s being ordered. Sabena decided to supplement its 200 series aircraft with a mix of 300/400/500 series aircraft which were ordered in 1988. Sabena later switched to a fleet of Airbus A320’s which entered service in the mid 1990’s. The remaining fleet of thirteen 737-200 aircraft were sold to European Aviation of Bournemouth in May 1998. However, along with some of the other aircraft, OO-SDG continued in use with Sabena for a while longer and was finally taken out of service in January 2000. It was eventually delivered to European Aviation in October 2000. OO-SDG was re-registered as G-CEAH and was overhauled for use by European Aviation Air Charter. Along with their other Boeings, G-CEAH replaced European’s ageing fleet of BAC One-Elevens which no longer met worldwide noise regulations. G-CEAH operated charters around Europe (frequently out of Manchester) for a variety of other airlines including Palmair, Jet2 & BMI Baby. G-CEAH was one of four 737’s still flying with European Aviation when the company went into administration at the end of November 2008. Along with the majority of their fleet it was stored at Bournemouth, but did not find a new buyer. After slowly deteriorating, it was broken up at the end of March 2013 but the main fuselage section was saved and moved to the Museum in December 2013. It was then restored by the volunteers, repainted in the colours of Palmair and named “The Spirit of Peter Bath” as a tribute to the Chairman of the company. The aircraft now contains an exhibition telling the history of Palmair which for a number of years operated out of Bournemouth and frequently picked up Best Airline Awards.

Hawker Hunter F6 XG160 was built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft at Coventry and delivered to the RAF in August 1956. Initially it served with 43 Squadron at Leuchars before being transferred south to 111 Squadron at North Weald in 1958. At the time they were famous for being the RAFs premier aerobatic team “the Black Arrows” and specialised in large formation displays. By the spring of 1966 XG160 was serving with 229 Operational Conversion Unit (OCU days with No 1 Tactical Weapons Unit (TWU) at Brawdy until June 1982. It was then transferred to Scampton as an instructional aircraft with the Trade Management Training School (TMTS) in September 1984. In December 1994 XG160 was sold to Jet Heritage at Bournemouth, where it was allocated civil registration G-BWAF in February 1995 in anticipation of being restored to fly. However, this did not happen and the Hunter passed into the hands of the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. The Hunter restoration project started in 2019 and was completed in September 2021. The aircraft has been completely stripped and is being repainted in the famous Black Arrow paint scheme.

Sepecat Jaguar GR1 (cn S60) XX763 was built by BAC at Warton and first flew in May 1975. It was displayed at the Paris Show in June before being delivered to the RAF. It first entered service with 226 Operational Conversion Unit at Lossiemouth for the continuation training of new Jaguar pilots. It transferred to 54 Squadron at Coltishall January 1980 for a short spell before returning to 226 OCU. XX763 was withdrawn from active service by April 1985 and stored at RAF Shawbury. XX763 was then issued to No 4 School of Technical Training at St Athan as 9009M for ground training. Surplus to RAF requirement by the end of 2005 the Jaguar was sold to Transworld Aviation Trading of West Sussex early in 2007. After a period of storage the aircraft was kindly loaned to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum, arriving in September 2009. It has been restored to the all over camouflage scheme it wore in its latter days with 226 OCU. It is quite possible that I have seen this particular airframe dropping practise bombs and strafing with the internal 30mm cannon at the Air weapons Range at RAF Tain just to the north of RAF Lossiemouth during my tour at Tain in 1982-84.

The British Aircraft Corp Jet Provost T5A XW310/G-BWGS was built by BAC at Warton in spring of 1970 (The wings were built at Bournemouth). Delivered to the RAF in May 1970 to No 1 Flying Training School (FTS) at Linton-on-Ouse. Early in 1973 XW310 was repainted in a special colour scheme for use by No 1 FTS’s display team — ‘The Blades’. In March 1975 it returned to Warton for modification to a T5A after which it was stored at 5 MU Kemble for four years. In June 1979 it was delivered to Cranwell for use by the RAF College, where it continued until September 1988 when it flew to 27 MU Shawbury for storage. Struck off RAF charge in 1993 it was eventually sold in February 1995 to Everett Aero at Ipswich. It was placed on the civil register as G-BWGS in August 1995 but remained in store. One year later it was moved to North Weald and restored to airworthy condition by McCarthy Aviation and repainted in its ‘Blades’ colour scheme. It then flew with various owners, ending up with ‘Where Eagles Share’. Out of service by 2008, G-BWGS remained stored at North Weald, eventually acquired by the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in September 2017.

This Percival Provost airframe has a very interesting history. It was acquired by Bournemouth Aviation Museum in 2005 and during the renovation by Museum staff we discovered that it was actually a composite of two different aircraft: the fuselage is from WW450 and the wings are from WW421. For a number of years it was displayed as WW421 but it has now been restored to the correct registration of WW450 in the colours of No 3 Flying Training School (FTS). WW450 Percival Provost was built by Percival Aircraft at Luton and delivered to the RAF in March 1955. It operated with No 3 FTS at Feltwell until the school closed in May 1958. In 1960 it was fitted with the wings of WW421 by 4 SoTT at RAF St Athan and assigned a maintenance serial number of 7689M RAF. It was apparently common practice on the Provost to change the wings after about 2000 flying hours as that was their flying time limit. In 2001 it was placed on the civil register as G-BZRE with the intention of becoming airworthy again, but it never flew and arrived at Bournemouth Aviation Museum in 2005.

North American Harvard 11B KF388 represents a typical Harvard, being built from a collection of parts from various sources, mainly from a Harvard dump at Camberley in the 1960’s. As such it cannot be attributed to any one aircraft. Most of the fuselage is ex RAF, the fin ex Royal Navy, one wing ex Italian AF, with another part marked as a US Navy SNJ. The fuselage appears to be that of KF388 and so the aircraft has been restored as such. Built as a Harvard 11B by Noorduyn Aviation it was delivered to the RAF in late 1944 initially serving with 7 Flying Training School (FTS) at Peterborough, It ended its days in the mid-1950s with 6 FTS at Ternhill, eventually being sold for scrap in February 1957. It was one of a number that ended its day in the Camberley scrapyard. A Bournemouth aviation enthusiast collected a large number of Harvard parts from Camberley and rebuilt a complete aircraft in the 1970’s. He then started work on a second, but died before the project had reached very far. After years of neglect the parts were donated to the Museum in 2000 with volunteers completing the work over a number of years. This is next in line for refurbishment and a repaint.

Westland Wessex HAS3 XT257 was a pre-production version of the Naval HAS3 built by Westland at Yeovil early in 1965. As such, it never saw operational service, spending its career on development flying, such as with A&AEE Boscombe Down testing flight control systems and radio evaluation in 1966. Its flying days were over by 1980 and it was passed to the RAF as an instructional airframe (8719M) at 1 School of Technical Training at Halton and subsequently to the new 1 SoTT at Cosford early in 1995. At some stage it acquired the yellow colour scheme of a RAF HAR2 rescue variant — which it never was. Sold to a private owner in West Sussex in 1998, XT257 arrived by road in January 2005 for display at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. The tail section is home to many nesting birds, flying in and out of the numerous openings with the sound of chicks demanding food coming from inside!

Ross reads the information board for De Havilland Vampire T11 XE856. It was built by de Havilland Aircraft at Hatfield and entered RAF service in December 1954. It initially served with 226 Operational Conversion Unit at Stradishall training would-be fighter pilots. Transferred to North Weald in 1955 it was used by the Station Flight and also by 219 Squadron at Driffield. XE856 was then placed into storage at St Athan for a number of years before being purchased by Hawker Siddeley Aviation in October 1967 for possible sales overseas. However, this did not happen and the airframe was sold for preservation spending a number of years at various locations. In June 1998 it moved from Yorkshire to Henlow where Dawn to Dusk Aviation intended to restore it to flying condition, placing it on the civil register as G-DUSK in February 1999. However, little work was undertaken and by 2005 the aircraft was moved to Jet Heritage at Bournemouth. It was subsequently sold to Bournemouth Aviation Museum in 2008 and restored to the colours of 219 Squadron.

The flight deck of BAC One-Eleven series 479 ZE432. It was originally built at Bournemouth in 1973 as DQ-FBV for Air Pacific of Fiji and used on their inter island services. It was taken out of airline service in March 1984, sold to the UK’s MoD and delivered to the Empire Test Pilots School at Boscombe Down in February 1985. It was mainly used as a flying classroom for training test pilots from around the world. It made its last flight on 27 November 2009 and was officially withdrawn from service in January 2011 due to corrosion. It was dismantled at Boscombe Down and the foreword fuselage section moved to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum in April 2014. It is fitting that the Museum should have a BAC One-Eleven airliner on display as Bournemouth Airport was the home of the British Aircraft Corporation factory which designed and built the airliner during the 1960/70’s.

The upper control panel on the flight deck to the BAC 1-11.

A general view of the site which is totally open to the elements and is not really suited to the purpose. We enjoyed our visit. Many of the cockpits are open and visitors are allowed to climb in and sit and experience the controls.