Wildcat remains

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20 years 8 months

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I remember when I was a lad of about 12 or 13 seeing what looked like an almost complete Grumman Wildcat (Martlet) in someones back garden just East of Swindon which was readily visible from the train. Its Fleet Air Arm colours were still reasonably easy to spot even then. Does anyone know what became of it?

Original post

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19 years

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What sort of year would that have been?

Roger Smith.

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20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

About 59/60. It has probably long since gone to the scrap man.

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19 years

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Could there be some confusion in your memory with the C-47 fuselage on a farm near Shrivenham which is just east of Swindon? It was very close to the main railway line. No offence meant! I posted pics on here some time back.

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19 years 7 months

Posts: 1,772

Mike

In the early 60s the fuselage of FAA Martlet JV348 was in the grounds of a Civil Defence training establishment near Portsmouth. I never saw it but have seen published photos of it. IIRC, the airframe disappeared and its final fate was uncertain - some reports claiming it was burnt in 1963. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that it was removed, perhaps to a scrappy? This is pure speculation, but you never know!

Tim

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20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

Could there be some confusion in your memory with the C-47 fuselage on a farm near Shrivenham which is just east of Swindon? It was very close to the main railway line. No offence meant! I posted pics on here some time back.
Oh come on, I know the difference between a short barrel shaped single engined fighter and a (for its time) relatively sleek twin engined transport.:D This was not far enough out of Swindon to have been at Shrivenham I would say it is more likely to have been no further out than Stratton St Margaret.

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19 years

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Fair enough, Mike, it was just a suggestion. Another trackside relic to the east of Swindon!

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20 years 8 months

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Yep its amazing just how many collectible machines were rotting away in farmyards and back gardens in those days. All because the owners didn't realise they would be sought after in the future.

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17 years 4 months

Posts: 139

Wasnt there a Gannet in someones garden just outside of Swindon, by a Roundabout I seem to remember - it would have been in the early 90's?. I was sure it was mentioned on here before but I cant find any other listing for it.

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17 years 11 months

Posts: 2,024

Wasnt there a Gannet in someones garden just outside of Swindon, by a Roundabout I seem to remember - it would have been in the early 90's?. I was sure it was mentioned on here before but I cant find any other listing for it.

It was at Cricklade if I remember correctly.

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24 years 2 months

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Sounds like the machine that was at Cirencester and later went to White Waltham.

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20 years 2 months

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The Gannet was XA459.

The Wildcat at Portsmouth was last seen atop a pile of other aircraft remnants in the Sale Pound (scrap dump) at RNAY Fleetlands in November 1963. It had gone by January 1964, we know not where....