hello everyone . i have recently been lead 2 believe whether it is true or not , this is why im asking the question 2 you guys and it is ........was guy gibsons dambuster lanc broken up by us (the english )in 1947 ?????? i always thought it was lost on a later mission etc .this i find incredible if true , to think of the significance and a part of our history was not saved by us but scrapped .was nothing saved from his lancaster as well as of course from the other dambuster lancs?????? i find this very sad that our history is destroyed without thought for future generations 2 see and appreciate what our relatives did for the country
I don't know if it's true, but it wouldn't surprise me. It is sad, but you have to see it from the view of the time - then Gibson's Lancaster was just another aircraft that was no longer needed. On a similar subject, at least the famous Lancaster "S for Sugar", veteran of 137 missions, is brilliantly preserved at the RAF Museum at Hendon.
It is the same as all the ships and planes and tanks that were scrapped at the end of the war. Look at all the great battleships that were scapped because they weren't needed, even if they were a part of our history.
AJ-G, ED932 was transferred to 61 Squadron, survived the war at RAF Scampton, was Struck Off Charge on 29th July, 1947 and then unceremoniously scrapped. True, one can say 'swords into ploughshares', 'after 6 years of war we just wanted to forget it', 'couldn't keep everything' etc etc etc but this really does seem to be bureaucracy at its' most short-sighted. But all the 'dambuster' aircraft are gone, and we must be grateful for what we have and for those who struggle to fund and preserve them. Think of that every time you see the BBMF's PA474 fly over.....
if it wasnt for MOD gate guardians then i think there would be a lot less than there is now . it just takes 1 person in authority to say , hang on a minute should we really be doin this? i work in the portsmouth dockyard and even the victory was saved at the last minute from destruction . an old timer in the docks was tellin me they were throwin out and destroyin old WW1 aircraft parts for camels , se5s etc . they could not be saved , had 2 be scrapped . lack of thought and its still goin on 2day.............
It's like the Prototype Mosquito ( W4050 ) which we have at the Mosquito Museum. After the war, it was still sitting at De Havilland's at Hatfield. 'Burn that old 'plane', one of the Directors ordered the Works Manager. Thank God, he disobeyed the instruction and had the old aircraft towed to a remote corner of the airfield. Later, the Chairman got to hear of it and told the Director to put it under cover. The Director called in the Works Manager and said : ' I understand you need a hangar to keep the ashes of that old plane I told you to burn ! ' And that's how the world's only surviving WWII-built prototype warplane comes to be still in existence. Just one match would have done it....
About 15 years ago, i was able to speak with a guy that was a Lanc pilot. He told me that after the war (even though the lanc was still an aircraft that was used) he went onto ferrying lancs from the factory that had not yet been delivered to a squadron. He landed at an airfield, taxied in, stopped the engines. By the time he had got out, a team of men were draining the rest of the petrol from the tanks and cutting the fuel lines to the engines. Once these had drained, they cut the engines from their mounts and let them drop onto the floor.... They then proceeded to cut up the Lanc. He did this with several different types of aircraft, but said it saddened him to see Lancasters, an aircraft that had brought him home safely, so many times, end up this way.
ok prepare for a silly question........" in the Lancs of the 1944-45 era where were the fuel tanks located ?" thanks friends from England ! ~E~
6 tanks in total. 3 in each wing. 1st between the fuselage and inner engine. 2nd between inner and outer engine. 3rd in the wing tip.
great mosquito info martin . it just takes 1 guy with a bit of common sense ........ hoppy thanks for the lanc story . so these were sometimes brand new planes from the factory , broken up straight away........very sad........
New aircraft/Undelivered aircraft/rebuilt after heavy damage. Apparently, any surviving Stirlings were some of the first to get the chop Just imagine having a surviving example of one today !!!! Also, the Valiant (V-bomber) that is now at Hendon, was at RAF Marham. The order came to cut it up, but the Station Commander decided that it should be saved and then set about a quite remarkable effort to make sure it was 'Hidden' (!!) from the view of various High ranking RAF officials, until finally, the Air chief marshall found out and said that it was a wise decision to save it. If only others had shared his foresight...
Just found some further, and very little-known, information regarding the fate of ED932, Guy Gibson's 'Lanc'. The aircraft was dismantled in situ at RAF Scampton during July/August 1947 by a salvage team from No 58 MU. The sections were then taken to the MU's base at Skellingthorpe to be cut down before being trucked away for scrap metal. This is the interesting bit - Mr A C 'Sandy' Jack, A.V. Roe's Chief Inspector of Lancaster production, visited the MU and removed the pilot's control wheel and throttle quadrant as historical mementoes. I wonder where they are now ?
It wasn't just Lancasters that ended their days so "prematurely", Hoppy. Many B-24 Liberators completed after the European War ended were flown straight to the smelters on what would've been their first test flight after leaving the assembly line. Yours, Paul
Absolutely Paul, i just made an example of the Lancs as that was the story i was told. What a sad end for so many great planes
Sorry to *bump* this ancient thread - it was buried in the 'old' forum posts and I wanted to refer to the info that I'd posted in it ! ( The three 'deleted' posts are from when we had some tech-y problems with the forum... )
