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By: 5th January 2010 at 13:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-What sort of year would that have been?
Roger Smith.
By: 5th January 2010 at 17:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-About 59/60. It has probably long since gone to the scrap man.
By: 5th January 2010 at 18:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-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.
By: 5th January 2010 at 20:18 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Silence from Mike - hope he's not annoyed :)
I found my C-47 thread to which there was no response! Certainly doesn't look like a Wildcat ...
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=78516&highlight=c-47+fuselage
By: 5th January 2010 at 21:23 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-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
By: 5th January 2010 at 22:23 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-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.
By: 5th January 2010 at 22:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Fair enough, Mike, it was just a suggestion. Another trackside relic to the east of Swindon!
By: 6th January 2010 at 07:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-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.
By: 6th January 2010 at 17:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-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.
By: 6th January 2010 at 19:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-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.
By: 6th January 2010 at 20:01 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Sounds like the machine that was at Cirencester and later went to White Waltham.
By: 6th January 2010 at 20:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-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....
Posts: 8,505
By: mike currill - 5th January 2010 at 11:46
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?