Classic Cars, Vintage Planes: The Bonhams RAF Auction

Ferrari 308GTB Fiberglass, 1974. $152,360. Maybe I am getting cynical in my old age but isn’t it strange than when early 308GTBs were worth about £25k they were simply known as fiberglass 308s. Now that they are over £100k they have become 308 GT Berlinetta Vetroresina’s! Madison Avenue at it’s very best! This rare right hand drive 1976 example had been on static display at the Shikoku Automobile Museum since 1991. On the wall behind the 308 is the order of battle and operational availability board covering 7 RAF/RCAF bomb groups as of the 26th April 1945. But that is a mere hint as to the rest of the displays of cars with aircraft, such as the Spitfire, B24, and P51 as you will see in this article.

Alfa Romeo TI Super, $59,946. This 1964 Alfa Giulia TI is generally accepted as being one of the three cars prepared by Autodelta for the 1965 Sebring 12 hour race and driven by works driver Tedoro Zeccoli to 6th place overall and third in class behind the winning Lotus Cortina of Jim Clark.

Messerschmitt BF109
Messerschmitt BF109G2 Tropical W/N 10639 G-USTAV was built in September 1942 by Erla Maschinenwerk GmbH of Leipzig. 10639 was accepted by the Luftwaffe in October 1942 where upon she was ferried out to Libya. Records indicate that 10639 was probably flown in combat by 21 year old veteran of the Russian front Heinz Ludemann. In November 1942 Heinz was slightly injured whilst attacking a force of SAAF Boston medium bombers which were being escorted by USAAF P40s but he managed to return 10639 to his base. 10639 was then ferried to Gambut Maine airfield in Tobruk for repair. Ludemann was later shot down and killed in May 1943 during aerial combat with the RAF.

On the 11th November 1942 Gambut Maine was abandon to the advancing Allies and the aircraft was discovered by Flt Lt Ken McRae of the Royal Australian Air Force. It was somewhat shot up but it was determined that she had only flown for about 10 hours. Using parts from other damaged aircraft 10639 was repaired and then flown whilst being escorted by 2 P40 Kittyhawks to Gazala airfield. 10639 was then test flown and evaluated through most of 1943 before being shipped to RAF Collyweston in Lincolnshire. On arrival it was found that the propeller was missing and the fuselage had been damaged in transit. The aircraft was then assembled using the wing and various other parts from two other damaged BF109s. In 1944 10639 was flown in a comparative trial against Hawker Tempest V JN737 and then in a tactical trial against a Mustang 111FZ107. Further trials took place between 10639 and various marks of Spitfire and Seafires, Corsairs and Hellcats. Following the series of test flights 10639 was taken on tours of various RAF and USAAF bases. This continued until May 1946 when she was packed for museum storage. 10639 was then displayed as a static aircraft at various air display and RAF bases from the 1950s until the October 1990 when 10639 was entered onto the British civil aviation register as G-USTAV. In July 1991 10639 was flown to the Imperial War Museum site to qualify for a permit to fly and was granted the permit to fly as the only original genuine airworthy German combat aircraft of WW2.

Unfortunately 10639s last scheduled flight ended in near disaster. 10639 was forced to land wheels down in a stubble field then ran into a ploughed area where upon 10639 turned over buckling the fuselage and crushing the tail fin and rudder. Damage was also inflicted on the spinner, propeller upper fuselage and one wing tip. If I recall correctly the pilot Air Chief Marshall Sir John Allison was unhurt in the crash refused to be cut from the wreckage so as to avoid further damage being inflicted. It was then decided that 10639 would be resorted to static condition. The work was carried out at Duxford by the same group of volunteers who had restored her to flight the first time. On the 10th March 2002 the restored aircraft was moved to the RAF Museum in Hendon.

1953 EMW 327, $127,339. Following the end of WW2 BMW’s factory at Eisenach ended up behind the Iron Curtain. Rather than strip the factory bare which was their normal modus operadi the occupying Russians decided to restart production of the the pre-war design. Up until 1950 when BMW successfully reasserted its right to its trade mark the Eisenach built examples carried the normal blue and white quartered emblem. Following the court case the Eastern Bloc company changed its name to Eisenacher Motoren Werke. This EMW 327 Cab dates from 1953.

Spitfire F24
Next to the EMW, the Spitfire F24, which was possibly the ultimate development of the breed. However due to the arrival of jet fighters very few were built. Later in January 1946 PK724 along with 56 other incomplete MK22s were taken from Castle Bromwich to South Marsten where they were completed as F24s. On the 9th February 1950 PK724 was placed into storage at 9MU at RAF Cosford. On the 14th December 1954 PK724 along with most of the other F24s were declared non effective but unlike most of her brethren PK724 was not scrapped. On the 27th October 1955 PK724 was allocated with the maintenance serial 7288M then spent the next 12 years at various RAF bases before being moved to RAF Henlow for possible use in the making of the upcoming film “The Battle of Britain”. It was then discovered that she had only flown for a total of 7 hours and whilst she had spent some time stored in the open she fired up easily. Unfortunately she did not take part in the film as when the radio people were fitted a new radio they managed to burn out the wiring harness. Finally PK724 was moved to the museum in Hendon.

Amphicar 770, $37,680. This 1962 Amphicar 770 Cabriolet spent most of its life in central Canada and has only recently been imported to the UK. The auction catalog mentioned that the vehicle had been tested on the River Medway where it performed well and more importantly did not leak!

Bristol Beafort
The Bristol Beafort MKV11 is the only example preserved in Europe. The airframe on display is a composite made from the parts of various Australian built examples. The wrecks used were mainly recovered from the Tadji air strip in Papua New Guinea in 1974 by Dr. Charles Bunny Darby. Dr. Darby recovered 5 air frames from Tadji on behalf of Yesterday’s Air Force based in Chino California. At the time of the recovery 28 Beauforts remained at the airfield in Tadji. In 1990 following an abortive attempt at restoration in Chino parts of three Beafort airframes were moved to Bob Schneider’s RJ Aviation at Hawkins Texas. On the 10th December 1991 the restored airframe arrived at the museum in Hendon for final assembly and on the 3rd August 1998 it was donated to the RAF Museum.

No price found. This 1962 Jaguar E Type Series 1 3.8 liter competition Coupe has enjoyed an illustrious 20 year competition career which includes racing at Spa in the 6 hour race and also at Goodwood. The catalog states that she is fitted with a very tractable 340 BHP Rob Beere race engine.

Spitfire MKV
Considered to be a stop gap measure, you may be surprised to learn that 6500 examples of the MKV Spitfire were built. During the Battle of Britain the Spitfire MKI and MKII just about held their own against the Luftwaffe’s BF109Es. The RAF then turned their attention to the replacement MKIII version. This was to have a redesigned wing and to be fitted with the Rolls Royce Merlin XX. Bu the Merlin XX was having issues so they asked Rolls Royce to fit the Merlin 45 into the MKI airframe in the interim. The MKV was so good that the MKIII never went into production.

This example MKVB BL614 was built at the Castle Bromwich factory in 1941, part of an order for 1000 MKVs placed in October 1940. First flown from Castle Bromwich in December 1941 by February 1942 BL614 was serving with 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron flying from RAF Drem near Edinburgh. Her first operation sortie took place on the 18th February, a patrol over the firth of Forth. On the 8th March BL614 suffered some category B damage but was operational again on the 16th March. For the rest of 1942 and right up until the 2nd November 1943 BL614 flew combat missions almost daily. On the 23rd November BL614 was allocated to No 2 School of Technical training at RAF Cosford.

On the 3rd March 1955 she was moved to RAF Credenhall for gate guardian duties. On the 24 October 1967 BL614 joined the 17 other RAF Spitfires loaned to Spitfire Productions for use in the film “The Battle of Britain”. Once filming finished BL614 along with 12 other Spitfires were returned to the RAF. BL614 then spent the next 14 years being displayed at various RAF airfields before being moved to the new Manchester Air and Museum in 1982. In March 1995 BL614 was moved to Rochester in Kent where she was restored by Volunteers of the Medway Aircraft preservation Society. Finally she was trucked to the RAF Museum in Hendon where we see her in all her glory today.

Jaguar MK IX, $21,409. The Jaguar MK IX was the last model to be built on a separate chassis. Introduced in 1958 and powered by a 220 bhp 3.8 Liter straight six engine, this example with automatic transmission dates from 1960.

Fairey Battle
The Fairey Battle entered service with the RAF in 1937 and was able to carry twice as many bombs over twice the distance of the Hawker Hart and Hind biplane bombers it replaced. By 1940 the Battle was already outdated lacking sufficient speed and defensive armor. It was therefore totally unsuitable for unescorted daylight bombing raids. The Battle is best remembered for the heroic daylight attacks on the bridges at Maastricht and Sedon following the Nazi invasion in May 1940. Six Battles took part in the raids, all six where shot down. Following the raid two Victoria Crosses, the highest award for gallantry in the British Military were posthumously awarded to Flying office Garland and Sargent Gray. Battles were subsequently used for training in Great Britain and Canada.

The example shown here was restored using parts mainly from two salvaged examples. L5343 and L5340.
L5343 is a Battle MK1 built by the Austin Motor Company factory in Longbridge. Delivered on the 13th September 1939 it was allocated to the recently formed 266 Squadron. L5343 was then transferred to 98 Squadron based at RAF Gatwick on the 13th July 1940. On the 27th August the Squadron transferred to Iceland. On the 13th September, whilst on a flight to inspect an airstrip in Iceland it experienced engine failure. The pilot, Flying Officer Clayton Willey Wilcox suffered a twisted ankle during the crash landing. His passenger Lt Col HL Davies of the Royal Engineers was uninjured. The aircraft suffered a crushed starboard wing tip and some crumbling of the lower forward Fuselage. The two men then walked for two days covering 70kms and crossing three rivers before finally encountering some local farms.

The crash site was located by air on the 14th with the crew being picked up on the 16th. On the 17th an RAF team visited the crash site to remove useful equipment. The remains of the aircraft were then destroyed by fire. In 1972 the remains were recovered from the remote crash site. L5340 was also built by Austin. It was allocated to the Royal Canadian Air Force then used for training before being struck off RCAF charge on the 16th February 1945. Later that same year L5340 was sold to a blacksmith who later sold the aircraft to a Mr. Frank Symesku who hoped to use parts of the fuselage to construct a boat. 1975 found L5340 in storage in Manitoba with collector Wes Agnew Hartney. In 1977 restoration work commenced on the remains of both aircraft and following over 25000 hours of work a Fairey Battle was finally on display at the RAF Museum Hendon.

Rolls-Royce Phantom, $77,073. With coachwork by Harrison and Son, this Rolls-Royce Phantom 11 is an enclosed drive limousine on chassis 167XJ. Ordered on the 29th October 1929 by Car Mart of Park Lane London for UJ Phillipson of Richmond Yorkshire. Phillipson’s London address was given as the Marlborough Club in Pall Mall. The four light limousine coachwork can accommodate 6 passengers. Twin spare wheels and a larger 28 gallon fuel tank where also specified to allow longer touring. The car was delivered in April 1930.

B24 Liberator
Consolidated B24L-20-FO KN751/HE807 was built by the Ford Motor Company at its Willow Run plant in Detroit Michigan in December 1944 at a cost of around $10900, one of 296 B24s built by the plant in December. HE807 was accepted by the USAAF on the 5th December 1944 and was delivered to Fairfield Ohio for flight testing which was completed by the 9th December. On the same day KN751 was place in operational reserve at Fairfield as production was by then outstripping demand. On the 27th April 1945 HE807 was allocated to the RAF under the mutual defense act as lend lease material and in June 1945 it was flown across the Atlantic on the normal route via Gander in Newfoundland, Lagens in the Azores, Rabat Sale in French Morocco, Castel Benito in Libya, Lydda in Palestine, Shaihbah in Iraq, and finally to Drigh Road in Karachi for Air Command South East Asia.

Upon arrival on the 23rd June KN751, as it was now known, was allocated to No 231 group in Dhubalia in Bengal. KN751 then flew numerous missions mainly dropping supplies until being retired to a unit at Chakeri Kanpur, where nearly 100 RAF Liberators were dumped following the end of the Lend Lease agreement. Following Indian independence in August, 1947 the dump and the aircraft in it passed to the Indian Air force. Between 1948 and 1949 Hindustan aircraft stripped and rebuilt 36 Liberators for service with the India Air Force. On the 2nd March 1949 became HE807 again of the Indian Air Force. HE807 served mainly in a maritime patrol until January 1969 when it was placed into open storage in Poona.

Following a request from the RAF Museum it was allocated by the Indian Air Force to the RAF Museum in January 1970. Work commenced in May 1974 to make the aircraft airworthy again. HE807 was formally handed over to the museum in July. HE807 was then flown to RAF Cosford where it was displayed until 2005 when she was transferred by road to the RAF Museum in Hendon. In total 18500 Liberators where built by Consolidated, Douglas and the Ford Motor Company making the Liberator the most produced American aircraft of World War Two. Of these 18500 examples 1900 were supplied to the RAF.

No price found. In the foreground, manufactured by Porsche Diesel Motorenbau GmbH in 1959, this 308N Super tractor, which is powered by a three cylinder air-cooled 2467cc diesel engine producing 38HP, has spent all its life in Switzerland. Porsche tractors also figured in the deal between Porsche and Cisitalia in 1947.

Gloster Meteor
The Gloster Meteor was the first production jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. The aircraft shown here is Gloster F9/40 DG202G. Chief designer George Carter, having worked on the first single engined jet research aircraft the Gloster E28/39, submitted a proposal to the Air Ministry for a twin jet engined fighter jet in August 1940. In February 1941 the air ministry ordered 12 pre-production F9/40s to be constructed though only 8 were actually built. DG202G was used extensively during 1942 for ground running tests, finally taking to the air in the hands of test Pilot Michael Daunt on the 24th July 1943. The flight lasted 6 mins. DG202Gs second flight, again in the hands of Michael Daunt on the 26th July lasted longer, 27 minutes. Test flights continued until August 1945 when the aircraft was transported to the Firth of Clyde where DG202G was loaded onto HMS Pretoria to commence trials as to the suitability of jet aircraft for carrier operation. In March 1958 DG202G was refurbished for gate guardian duty at RAF Yatesbury. In 1965 she was transported to RAF Cosford as part of the Air Historical Branch collection. The aircraft continued to be displayed at Cosford until being transported to Hendon on the 26th September 2011.

Volkswagen Microbus, $127,339.This 21 window Volkswagen Type 2 Deluxe Microbus by Devon dates from 1964.

P51 Mustang
The North American P51D 44- 74409 behind dates from 1945 and constructed at Inglewood California and assigned the the 3rd Air Force unit of the USAAF Air Training command. Retired on the 30th December 1958, 74409 was then registered as N6319T to James Defuria and Fred Ritts of Intercontinental Airways of Canastota New York, one of the 71 ex RCAF P51s that Defuria and partners bought from the Crown Asset disposal corporation. 74409 went through various owners before being bought in 1968 by the Cavalier Aircraft Corporation of Sarasota Florida. Cavalier then set to work getting 74409 ready for sale to a South American Air force. This sale did however go through.

In April 1969 74409 passed back into private ownership, this time to Clint R. Hackney in Texas. Sustaining damage to the prop and belly scoop as a result of an unintended wheels up landing at the 1970 Confederate Air Force Air show in Galveston it was repaired but not often flown. In 1981 74409 was bought by Peter Bottome of Caracas Venezuela, returned to the USA in 1990 and then purchased in 1991 by racing driver Robert Tullius of Group 44. In 2003 Tullius donated the aircraft to the RAF Museum. 74409 is painted in the markings of Capt Donald R Emerson of the 336 fighter squadron of the 4th fighter group based at RAF Debden. Capt Emerson was killed by ground fire on Christmas Day 1944 whilst flying over Belgium. The port side of the aircraft carries a painting of Donald Duck in a fighting stance.

Renault Landaulette, $34,254. The vendor of this 1929 Renault 15CV Viva Six Landaulette offered this as a barn find restoration project. It was originally sold new in Austria. The coachwork is by the lesser known coach builder Karl Strakosch of Vienna.

B17 Flying Fortress
Behind it, a B17, of which 12731 were constructed. This example B17G 44- 83868 was part of the last block of 200 B17G that Douglas Aircraft built. A total of 12731 B17 flying Fortresses were constructed. Of these 2395 examples were built by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation in Long Beach California. This example B17G 44- 83868 was part of the last block of 200 B17G that Douglas built. Like classic cars, the warbirds have very precise histories. 868s first flight took place on the 5th July 1945. The following day the aircraft was excepted by the USAAF. On the 14th July 868 was transferred to the US Navy. Various modifications which included fitting an AN/APS 20 search radar in a radome below the bomb bay were carried out at NAS Johnsonville.

From August 1945 until being withdrawn from service on the 26th May 1955 868 flew numerous missions in the role of airborne early warning. On the 2nd December 1957 868 was sold to the American Pressed Steel Corporation of Dallas Texas. There was a rumor in 1958 that 868 and 11 other B17s had been due to be ferried to Cuba for Fidel Castro’s use in his attempt to over-through the Battista regime but that when the crews arrived to fly the aircraft to Cuba they were stopped by federal Agents. In 1960 868 was sold to the Ashland Corporation of Tucson Arizona, again in July 1960 to Marston Equipment and Salvage also from Tucson. 868 was sold yet again in 1961 to Aero Union of Anderson California along with 7 other B17s.

She was sold yet again on the 28th December 1961, this time to Butler Aircraft Corporation of Redmond Oregon to be used as tanker E15 of the United States Forestry Service Region 6. Fitted with a 2200 gallon 868 flew in the firefighting roll until 1967 when unfortunately 868 hit some trees whilst pulling up from a fire bombing run. Whilst substantial damage was caused 868 was repaired and continued to fly missions until 1981 when the B17s were replaced by Douglas DC7s. In 1982 868 was traded to TBM Inc. who restored 868 to military specification. 868 was then given to the RAF Museum by the US Air Force and finally arrived at Hendon on the 9th December 1983.

The car on the left, 1933 Rolls-Royce 20/25HP Sedanca Coupe ($135,679) with coachwork by Freestone and Webb; on the right, a 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom 11 Continental saloon ($110,658) with coachwork by Barker and company.

Avro Lancaster
In the middle is the Avro Lancaster B MK1 R5868/7325, built by Metropolitan Vickers in Manchester, originally ordered as part of a batch of 100 twin-engined Avro Manchesters. R5868 completed 137 operational sorties. The only RAF heavy bomber to take part in more sorties was Lancaster MK111 ED888 with 140 sorties. However ED888 was scrapped in 1947. The aircraft carries the inscription “No enemy aircraft will fly over Reich territory, Herman Goering”.

SS1, $118,998. The 2.5 liter SS1 Sports saloon dates from 1934. Fully restored from the ground up between 1995 and 2002 this example has covered fewer than 100 miles.

Tornado
The Panavia Tornado F3 was designed for the role of long duration combat air patrols and was a development of the GR1 bomber version. The whole Tornado series of aircraft had evolved from the Multi role Combat Aircraft program of the late 1960s set up to design and build a two man multi-role aircraft for use in the European theater of war. This F3 version ZE887, one of 152 ordered, was built in 1988 by British Aerospace.During the first Gulf War of 1991 ZE887 served with the Desert Eagles flying combat air patrols during operation Granby. ZE887 was one of the 18 Tornados dispatched to the Royal Saudi Air Force base in Dhahran. In July 2009 ZE887 was still active with 111 Squadron. During this time ZE887 had become a star of the air show circuit as part of the RAF role demonstration team. Her final flight was on the 4 March 2010. Total airframe flight time being 4966.40 hours. She arrived at the RAF Museum on the 18th October 2010.

Jaguar 340, $30,829. Introduced in September 1967 the 240/340 Jaguar range was the new base model in the very successful MK2 series. The main difference between a 340 and a MK2 was the use of Ambla upholstery for the interior. This multi-concours winning automatic 340 dates from 1968, and has only had three owners from new.

F4 Phantom
Following the cancellation of the TSR2 project the British Government placed an order with McDonnell Douglas for 118 FGR2 Phantoms to be fitted with Rolls Royce Spey engines rather than the normal GE J79 engines. XV424 was delivered to No 23 maintenance Squadron based at RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland having been flown across the Atlantic on the 12th February 1969. On the 22nd March 1973 XV424 was damaged by a bird strike whilst flying low over Scotland. Repairs and modifications were carried out by Hawker Siddeley. During August and September of 1974 she was based in Cyprus on standby duties during the Turkish invasion. On the 21st June 1979 whilst painted in a special multi-coloured scheme to celebrate the first ever transatlantic flight by Alcock and Brown in 1919 VV424 flew subsonically from Goose Bay Newfoundland to the UK in 5 hours 40 mins. On the 12th November 1992 XV424 made her final journey by road to the RAF Museum in Hendon.

No price found. Built by D & A shells of Stratford East London circa 1962/63 this Lotus Mercury is one of three complete racers built along the lines of the Lotus 23. D & A shells had specialized in making complete body shells to convert the open Lotus 23 Sports racer into a closed coupe GT thus allowing the owners to enter another racing class. Power comes from a 1600cc Lotus Twin cam engine.

Vampire
Originally called the Spider Crab work began on the DH100 prototype in May 1942. Renamed the Vampire by the RAF and ordered into production, the first aircraft did not become available until 1945. The Vampire did not enter RAF service until the early summer of 1946. On the 30th December 1948 VT812 was supplied to No 32 Squadron based in Nicosia Cyprus. Damaged in a landing accident in April 1952 VT812 was repaired by De Havillands before joining 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron based at Abbotsinch. VT812’s last flight was on the 23rd November 1953. VT812 was then displayed at various RAF stations before being moved to the RAF museum in Cosford for display in 1976, finally being placed on display in Hendon in July 1978.

Jaguar XK150 Coupe, $56,520. This 1959 Jaguar XK150 3.4 liter Coupe is an original matching numbers right hand drive example. Supplied new to the Henley’s dealership, the car up until its sale by its current owner had only had three previous owners.

Supermarine Stranraer
The Supermarine Stranraer was the final development of the earlier Southampton flying boat and was one of the last biplane flying boats to be put into production. The Stranraer’s career with the Royal Canadian Air force (RCAF) consisted of 40 aircraft, including this example 920 CF-BXO, built by Canadian Vickers of St Huberts Montreal in 1940. On the 23rd January 1942 920CF was delivered to Boeing Aircraft of Vancouver for overhaul, then flew anti-submarine patrols with No 7 and No 9 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadrons until April 1944. On the 28th May 1947 she was sold to Queen Charlotte Air lines (QCA) of Fraser River Sea Island Airport to be used daily as the Stranraer Bus service, flying up the Pacific coast of British Colombia linking 30 outlying communities. Able to carry up to 20 passengers, a crew of 3 plus 2000 lb of freight stacked in what had been the former gun positions, the Stranraers were known as the “99 mph air plane” as they took off, landed, climbed, descended and cruised all at 99 mph.

In September 1962 CF-BXO sank in shallow water at Seers lake after a rock holed the hull. Given a winter overhaul during 1963 CF-BXO was then leased again by Pacific Western Airlines for contract work in Northern Canada. On the 27th June 1967 her certificate of airworthiness expired. By this time the fabric covering of the wings and tail planes had deteriorated and was unserviceable. The aircraft was then advertised for sale before being finally purchased by the RAF museum from TV personality Bob Fortune of Fortune Films Ltd in 1970. The only other Stranraer to survive is also an ex QCA airframe, the remains of which are in Halifax Nova Scotia.

Beacham Jaguar, $142,351.This 1971 RHD Series 3 Jaguar E Type Roadster started life as a V12. The current owner, who acquired the car in 2008, dispatched the car into the care of Beacham Ltd of Hawkes Bay New Zealand for them to upgrade, fitting it with the running gear from a supercharged 420 bhp V8 powered XKR.

Westland Wessex
The Westland Wessex was a Turbine powered development of the Sikorsky S58 helicopter Originally designed for use by the Royal Navy during the 1960s the RAF required a powerful general purpose helicopter. This example however is not just any old Wessex. It is XV732 one of two HCC MK4s ordered for the Royal Flight to be used to transport the Royal Family and other VIPs. Her first major Royal engagement was operating in support of the investiture of the Prince Of Wales at Caernavon in Wales on the 1st July 1969. The next day she flew the Princes of Wales to Newquay to board the Royal Yacht Britannia. On the 29th July she flew HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother for the first time from Kensington Palace in London to the Royal Estate at Sandringham in Norfolk. The next day she flew HRH the Prince of Wales, HRH Prince Philip and Earl Montbatten of Burma from RAF Benson out to the helicopter cruiser HMS Blake and the flights went on. According to her log XV732 had to wait until the 17th March 1976 before being able to transport HM Queen Elizabeth the 2nd although confusingly it is also listed elsewhere that the Queen took her first ever Helicopter flight on the 10th August 1977 during her Silver Jubilee visit to Northern Island. During the 1970s and 80s XV732 was regularly flown BY HRH Princes Charles and HRH Prince Philip, who were both Military qualified pilots, to keep their flying proficiency up to date by flying themselves regularly to and from their various engagements. XV732 did not however only fly in the VIP role. On the 13th August 1970 she was flown from Stornoway to evacuate the crew of the German Trawler Skaagarek 90 miles west of the Hebrides. XV732 also flew various foreign heads of state and visiting Foreign monarchs during her long career. Her last flight occurred on the 31st March 1998. On the 26th March 2002 she was transported by road to the RAF Museum Hendon.

Facel II, $85,637. Tucked under the protective wing of the B17 I spotted this rather forlorn looking Facel Vega Facel II. The car’s first service was carried out by HW Motors (HWM) on the 26th February 1962 , and as a dealer demo, it was road tested by Autocar. Motor also tested the car describing the Facel as having “Brute Strength and Elegance”. The first private owner was a J Hepburn. In November 1970 the log book listed the owner as a Mr Wensley Haydon Bailey. Wensley was at one time one of the 50th wealthiest people in Britain. Wensley rose from rags to riches and at one time owned Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham, one of Europe’s largest and most imposing Georgian era private residences, before going into voluntary liquidation in 1998. The flared wheel arches, racing alloy wheels and 7.2 liter Chrysler V8 engine are believed to have been fitted during Wensley’s ownership of the car. The recently deceased owner bought the car in 1976 with the intention of restoring her but the car was consigned to his garage where it has remained till now.

The Haydon Baileys
Although a relevant aircraft is not in the photo, it is interesting to note that Wensley Haydon Bailey’s brother Ormond Hayden Bailey was also a fantastic character. He was a pilot who flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He went on to own a Sea Fury in which he entered the Reno air races with one year. He also owned a Lockheed T33 jet trainer named the White Knight. It was said that he would arrive over the airfield so low that you could not see him until he was half way down the runway and that his staff would regularly find bits of corn attached to the engine intakes and leading edges of the wings. He was also described as being a proper gentleman of the old school. Very approachable with no airs, a proper stick and rudder man.

My father and I both looked upon him as being up there with the likes of Neil Williams and Ray Hanna as greatest display pilots of their time. Alas as is so often the case he was killed, along with his 16-year old (I think) boy passenger in his recently-acquired P51 Mustang I-BILL at a German flying display in 1977. The circumstances of the accident have never been fully explained. It was also said that he had obtained a stash of Spitfires from the Indian Air Force and even more amazingly was in the process of restoring a twin engined De Havilland Hornet when he died.