Cobham hall and RNHF Hangar visit

[Jeff]

Evening all

A trip out today with a few AFA members (Viv Dean Bill Graham Kevin) to an open day at Cobham hall and after a phone call to the RNHF a guided tour of their Hangars at Yeoviltion. Both can be highly recommended if you ever gat the chance. I will let the others fill in how who where what but here is a basic log of from today, there are still a few gaps which need filling but its a start

Reg'n	Aircraft Type	C/No.	Operator	F/R
G-ASTL	Fairey Firefly Mk.1	F.5607	Royal Navy
G-AWYY	Sopwith Camel F.1 Replica	1701	Fleet Air Arm Museum
G-AZAZ	Bensen Gyrocopter B.8M	RNEC.1	Private
G-BYVF	Grob G-115 E Tutor	82116/E	Ministry of Defence
G-BYVK	Grob G-115 E Tutor	82121/E	Ministry of Defence
G-BYVM	Grob G-115 E Tutor	82123/E	Ministry of Defence
G-BYXK	Grob G-115 E Tutor	82171/E	Ministry of Defence
G-BYXS	Grob G-115 E Tutor	82178/E	Ministry of Defence
G-CCUA	Pegasus Quik	8032	Private
N4172	Fairey Albacore I		Royal Navy
N5459	de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth DH.82A	3727	Royal Air Force
N6452	Amateur Built Replica	6452	Private
VH127	Fairey Firefly TT.4	F.8026	Royal Navy
VR137	Westland Wyvern TF.1		Royal Navy
VV106	Vickers Supermarine 517		Royal Navy
VX272	Hawker Sea Hawk		Royal Navy
WP313	Percival Prince T.1	PAC/P57/63	Royal Navy
WS103	Gloster Meteor T.7		Royal Navy
WT983	Douglas A-1 Skyraider	7427	Royal Navy
XA129	de Havilland Vampire T.22	15407	Royal Navy
XA864	Westland WS-55 Whirlwind HAR.1	WA3	Royal Navy
XB480	Hiller UH-12	540	Royal Navy
XG594	Westland WS-55 Whirlwind HAS.7	WA89	Royal Navy
XJ481	de Havilland DH.II0 Sea Vixen FAW.2	10008	Royal Navy
XK488	Blackburn Buccaneer S.1	B3-03-58	Royal Navy
XL503	Fairey Gannet AEW.3	F.9462	Royal Navy
XL580	Hawker Hunter T.8M	HABL0033??	Royal Navy
XN462	Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.3A	PAC/W/10141	Royal Navy
XP142	Westland WS-58 Wessex HAS.3	WA75	Royal Navy
XS508	Westland WS-58 Wessex HU.5	WA177	Royal Navy
XS527	Westland Wasp HAS.1	F9543	Royal Navy
XT176	Bell 47 G-3B-1	WA335	Royal Navy
XT778	Westland Wasp HAS.1	F9660	Royal Navy
XW864	Westland/Aerospatiale Gazelle SA.341 HT.2	1116	Royal Navy
XZ499	Hawker Siddeley Harrier FA.2	41H-912023/P32	Royal Navy
XZ720	Westland Lynx HAS.3GMS	166	Royal Navy
ZB604	Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.8	41H-212036	Royal Navy
ZD578	Hawker Siddeley Harrier FA.2	41H-912041/P22	Royal Navy
ZJ118	EH Industries EH.101 HC.3i	50049	Royal Navy
ZJ123	EH Industries EH.101 HC.3	50141	Royal Navy
ZJ126	EH Industries EH.101 HC.3
ZJ130	EH Industries EH.101 HC.3i	50169	Royal Navy
ZJ992	EH Industries EH.101 HC.3	50106	Royal Navy
ZZ413	AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2	483	Royal Navy
ZZ528	AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2	535	Royal Navy

[graham]

Thanks Jeff, what a great day out, our guides for the Cobham Hall and RNHF hangar were so knowledgeable and so happy to answer questions. There were about 12 persons in total for the Cobham visit but just us six for the RNHF tour which is thanks to Bill who emailed them "on the off chance" and lo-and-behold, got us the tour. Top marks. I took loads of photos and will upload them tomorrow.

[filair]

Was this advertised anywhere?
I was unaware of it and would probably have attended had I known about it.

[Jeff]

It appeared on their webpage, not sure how many tours of Cobham they did today but there was 12 people on the 10.30 tour, cost was £12.00 each. Think they open up a couple of times a year

[filair]

Thanks Jeff,I know they used to open up once a year for a nominal charge.
I thought that had all been stopped due to the cost of opening the hall,I will have to keep an
eye on their website.

[graham]

OK, the stuff in the RNHF hangar

VR930 - SEA FURY
VX281 - SEA FURY
W5856 - SWORDFISH
WK608 - DHC1
XP924 - SEA VIXEN
ZH800 - SEA HARRIER
ZH801 - SEA HARRIER
XW784 - KITTIWAKE
XV586 - PHANTOM
XX668 - BULLDOG
G-BIRD - PITTS
G-KLAW CHRISTEN EAGLE
G-CBDM - P92
G-ATGY - DHC1
G-BKDR - PITTS
G-BOXH - PITTS
G-BUUF - T67 recently moved from Tiger Airways at GLO
G-BTLG - PA28
1377 - DHC1

There was one other ga with a green reg that I didn't note

A few more to add to the Cobham Hall list.....

G-ABUL - DH82 which is listed on Planebase as "broken up" WAS BB792
AE-331 - A109 Argentine AF, listed with RN as ZE411
XZ574 - Sea King, this was Prince Andrew's chariot in the Falklands Campaign

Also, on the mezzanine floor behind the Sea Fury on the left as we walked in was a small fuselage bearing ROYAL NAVY and the reg P4205. No idea on that at all. Nothing on Planebase or in MAM

[davebasing]

Jun 7, 2018 18:37:42 GMT filair said:

Thanks Jeff,I know they used to open up once a year for a nominal charge.
I thought that had all been stopped due to the cost of opening the hall,I will have to keep an
eye on their website.

Super set of pictures Graham. The next remaining open days this year at the hall are 6 September and 6 December.

The 'replica' Swordfish fuselage marked P4205 commemorates the two crew members named on the side who flew in the famous and incredibly brave Swordfish attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto in November 1940.

[davebasing]

The Tiger Moth marked as "G-ABUL" is actually XL717 (one time G-AOXG) which is painted as the long defunct G-ABUL to represent Sir Alan Cobham's own Tiger (after whom Cobham Hall is named).

[davebasing]

As you no doubt know, the Chipmunk posing as Portuguese Air Force 1377 is really G-BARS previously WK520 and never served with Portugal. The real Portuguese Chipmunks were serialled from 1301 to 1376, with all but the first ten being licence built in Portugal by OGMA at Alverca. Its probably never been closer to Portugal than my cats have!

[graham]

Thanks for the kind words and the updates Dave, most appreciated