Discussion
I'm trying to find the service history, and subsequent ownership history, of this Vampire that has recently been restored to exhibit in a new building.
About a decade ago it was at Sleap, where a group of enthusiasts started to restore her. A few years later she was sold to the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre and the company I work for acquired her last year and commissioned a full restoration that was carried out at North Wield.
The scraps of info I have found via Google are:
d/d 27/10/1952, to MoS 31/12/1952, Vampire T Mk.11, WZ450: flown by No.202 AFS from October 1952 to May 1953 - no code letters traced, which is surprising as the unit was using 'N', 'O' and 'P' prefixes during this period; No.233 OCU May 1953 to February 1955 - the unit's Vampire trainers did not carry code letters; RAF College, Cranwell January to October 1956 - allocated fleet numbers '44'. In the late 60’s/early 70’s about 50 Vampire T.11 were at Woodford for possible resale and were stored on the Adlington site just off the airfield. Nothing ever came of a future resale and they were then given away to many North West schools/colleges/ATC units and start up museums. WZ450 went to RAFA Wrexham.
Records show that of over 3,000 Vampires that were produced that 731 were T.11, hunting for info on WZ450 is proving to be a bit of a needle in a haystack. I have made contact with several people you were involved with her at Sleap but I don't have any info on her prior to their involvement. A different source told me that WZ450 would have spent time as a trainer at Pembrey.
On ebay at the moment there are several pictures of WZ453, 456 and 457 in formation ,apparently taken as press pictures, but no clues as to when and where, perhaps 450 was part of the same deployment.
Any information would be very gratefully received.
About a decade ago it was at Sleap, where a group of enthusiasts started to restore her. A few years later she was sold to the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre and the company I work for acquired her last year and commissioned a full restoration that was carried out at North Wield.
The scraps of info I have found via Google are:
d/d 27/10/1952, to MoS 31/12/1952, Vampire T Mk.11, WZ450: flown by No.202 AFS from October 1952 to May 1953 - no code letters traced, which is surprising as the unit was using 'N', 'O' and 'P' prefixes during this period; No.233 OCU May 1953 to February 1955 - the unit's Vampire trainers did not carry code letters; RAF College, Cranwell January to October 1956 - allocated fleet numbers '44'. In the late 60’s/early 70’s about 50 Vampire T.11 were at Woodford for possible resale and were stored on the Adlington site just off the airfield. Nothing ever came of a future resale and they were then given away to many North West schools/colleges/ATC units and start up museums. WZ450 went to RAFA Wrexham.
Records show that of over 3,000 Vampires that were produced that 731 were T.11, hunting for info on WZ450 is proving to be a bit of a needle in a haystack. I have made contact with several people you were involved with her at Sleap but I don't have any info on her prior to their involvement. A different source told me that WZ450 would have spent time as a trainer at Pembrey.
On ebay at the moment there are several pictures of WZ453, 456 and 457 in formation ,apparently taken as press pictures, but no clues as to when and where, perhaps 450 was part of the same deployment.
Any information would be very gratefully received.
Hi Keep it stiff,
I spoke to my father, who used to fly Vampires (amongst others) in the mid 50's, to see if he had any knowledge of WZ450.
Unfortunately, he thinks it may have been a slightly later RAF aircraft - He flew with the Fleet Air Arm.
A couple of things I discovered on looking in to this that may (or may not!) be of help:
Warbird Registry: In 1996 WZ450 was at Lashenden Air Warfare Museum in Ashford, Kent as a fuselage pod only.
Coningsby Aviation site: (I couldn't find a date!) WZ450 Whole aircraft stored, dismantled, inside in Corscombe, Dorset.
Could you please let me know where this Vampire is now - We would both be interested in seeing it.
Good luck with the search.
I spoke to my father, who used to fly Vampires (amongst others) in the mid 50's, to see if he had any knowledge of WZ450.
Unfortunately, he thinks it may have been a slightly later RAF aircraft - He flew with the Fleet Air Arm.
A couple of things I discovered on looking in to this that may (or may not!) be of help:
Warbird Registry: In 1996 WZ450 was at Lashenden Air Warfare Museum in Ashford, Kent as a fuselage pod only.
Coningsby Aviation site: (I couldn't find a date!) WZ450 Whole aircraft stored, dismantled, inside in Corscombe, Dorset.
Could you please let me know where this Vampire is now - We would both be interested in seeing it.
Good luck with the search.
Edited by Simmos on Monday 4th November 23:36
Simmos said:
Hi Keep it stiff,
I spoke to my father, who used to fly Vampires (amongst others) in the mid 50's, to see if he had any knowledge of WZ450.
Unfortunately, he thinks it may have been a slightly later RAF aircraft - He flew with the Fleet Air Arm.
A couple of things I discovered on looking in to this that may (or may not!) be of help:
Warbird Registry: In 1996 WZ450 was at Lashenden Air Warfare Museum in Ashford, Kent as a fuselage pod only.
Coningsby Aviation site: (I couldn't find a date!) WZ450 Whole aircraft stored, dismantled, inside in Corscombe, Dorset.
Could you please let me know where this Vampire is now - We would both be interested in seeing it.
Good luck with the search.
Many thanks for this info, also to Gareth for his comments.I spoke to my father, who used to fly Vampires (amongst others) in the mid 50's, to see if he had any knowledge of WZ450.
Unfortunately, he thinks it may have been a slightly later RAF aircraft - He flew with the Fleet Air Arm.
A couple of things I discovered on looking in to this that may (or may not!) be of help:
Warbird Registry: In 1996 WZ450 was at Lashenden Air Warfare Museum in Ashford, Kent as a fuselage pod only.
Coningsby Aviation site: (I couldn't find a date!) WZ450 Whole aircraft stored, dismantled, inside in Corscombe, Dorset.
Could you please let me know where this Vampire is now - We would both be interested in seeing it.
Good luck with the search.
Edited by Simmos on Monday 4th November 23:36
I have now made contact with a few of the enthusiasts who started on her restoration when she was at Sleap and I have some pictures of work in progress from that time. Like many Vampires, after WZ450 was demobbed the booms, wings and tail were removed leaving the just the cockpit, I'm told that when that it was broken up very crudely, cables and lines that could easily have been disconnected were just hacked through. We know that WZ450 went into service in 1952 and that it was operational until 1959, it was part of 202 AFS (Advanced Flying School) and 233 OCU (Operational Conversion Unit), mainly based at Pembrey, and possibly as part of 44 Squadron.
WZ450 is now in Bath, it is the centre point at a new Vanguard Self-Store. The store will be open in Jan and visitors will be very welcome. In Bristol, the Vanguard Self-Store has a Lightning, fully restored and suspended in reception, again visitors are more than welcome. There is a gallery of pictures on Vanguard's Bristol website and there will be similar for WZ450 at Bath when construction is complete. The restoration of WZ450 included components from other Vampires, for example the wings had Swiss airforce markings.
This picture is from about a week ago, WZ450 now suspended but still wrapped for protection whilst construction is ongoing. There is a new Vanguard construction project in the pipeline that will feature another iconic ex-military, in what is expected to be Vanguard's most dramatic display to date. I will post info on that next year.
If there are any other snippets of info on WZ450 I would be very grateful to hear.
Boatbuoy said:
Nice!
Are those Belfast Hangar inspired roof trusses, or just a coincidence?
You are spot on. The building we demolished was a Victorian laundry and roof was supported by Belfast Trusses. This was very unusual for a civilian building. This generated a lot of interest from the Bath conservation officer who wanted the trusses to be reused. This was wholly impractical from a construction point of view and as a compromise we agreed to incorporate into our design. What we have ended up with is a few part sections of original truss. I wrote to many museums and similar seeking to give the trusses away but alas there were no takers and we had to cut up the rest. They are a fascinating design, lightweight, so simple and so effective. Having spent months on the this particular issue, which included being up on a cheery picker in the old laundry measuring their deflection, I had no idea that there was so much to learn about the Belfast Truss!Are those Belfast Hangar inspired roof trusses, or just a coincidence?
Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff