Wreck Heathrow Early 1970,s

[oldgit]

Here's a Very Long Shot Question For The Older Members.
In The Early 1970,s There Was a Wreck Of a Twin Propellered Aircraft In The Field, Which Is Now The Long Stay Car Park On The Eastern Perimeter Road Opposite The Grass Banked Blast Wall At The BOAC Maintenance Base.
It Was On The Corner Of The Lane That Used To Run Up Past The Magnatex Factory To The Bath Road, To The Rear Of What Was The BAA Sports Ground.
All That Remained Was The Cockpit, Minus Roof, Front Fuselage To The Wing & Bulkhead With Seat Belts Still Attached.
It Has Been Suggested That It Could Have Been An Ex Saggitair Beech D.18 That Used To Live Behind The Nissen Huts On The North Side.
Any Help With The Identity Of This Aircraft Would Be Most Welcome.

[monarch01]

Hi Oldgit,

I can rule out a Sagittair Beech 18, they had three, (G-AXWL / G-AYAH / N15750), all three were retired at Lasham by 12/1971

I'll see what i can dig out later

Regards

Adrian

[cornwall01]

Hi

Yes, Monarch 01 is correct. G-AXWL was cancelled to the USA in 1972 and crashed in 1976. G-AYAH was also cancelled to the USA and is still believed to be in France. N15750 was withdrawn at Lasham, it was used in a crash scene for a BBC programme and then for spares for the G-ASUG at a museum in Scotland. My memory may be incorrect but I thought that the wreck in the field had faded Canadian Armed Forces markings and I have queried this on a couple of websites before but had no responses so good luck with your search.

Ray

[davebasing]

It was in the grounds of the Lapwing Club at Heathrow exactly where you say it was. The remains were in Canadian Air Force colour scheme and contemporary reports had it as RCAF serial 418. Unfortunately that doesn't tie in with any Canadian Beech serial. There was a 1418 but that become CF-KAK and survived as such in Canada. However 418Sq RCAF did operate the Expeditor and perhaps this caused the confusion? Some of the Canadian ones were scrapped at Prestwick in the 60s including 1527 and 1595 which I saw, so the wreck could perhaps have come from there. As Adrian says, it cannot have been a Sagittair aircraft as all of theirs survived and none were in RCAF colours (G-BYAH to N96240; G-AWXL to N6685, then N1171X & written off in Indiana on 19 November 1976; and N15750 which I photographed at Lasham in 1974 and which left there by road for Scotland for film work is now preserved at East Fortune). Perhaps one of our other "old gits" knows more?

74-ba by dave tompkins, on Flickr

[davebasing]

Forgot Sagittair's short term leased Beech 18 N495F which became derelict in Malta and is now preserved there and was not an ex RCAF machine.

[oldgit]

Hi And Thanks For The Replies, I forgot To Mention That The Wreck Did Have a Canadian Air Force Style Cheat Line.
After 50 Years The Question Could Be Answered!

[cornwall01]

Hi

According to a Beech 18 production list on the Internet, the two Canadian Beech’s mentioned by Dave, were both at least allocated Canadian civil registrations. 1527 was allocated CF-ZHK and 1595 was allocated CF-SFP. Whether they were actually taken up or flew in Canada is another question ! I did have a quick look through the production list at the RCAF aircraft and could not easily identify any that could be the ‘mystery’ machine at Heathrow.

Ray

[oldgit]

Ray, Thank You For Looking & Taking The Time...

[monarch01]

Ray,

Interesting you mention that, are you looking at Geoff Goodall's Beech 18 Production List ?

His Entry for RCAF1527 :-

A-727 / CA-127 Mk. 3TM 1527 RCAF BOC 24.3.52: SOC 7.2.67
(based Europe 55/69. retired Prestwick, Scotland 69)
CF-ZHK reg
CF-UOW rereg

RCAF 1527 noted London Heathrow 25.4.55 1st Air Division, Prestwick 31.5.55;
RCAF 1527 noted Blackbushe 22.1.56;
2.58 report: RCAF 1527 currently based Northolt "VC-527" on fuselage and under port wing;
RCAF 1527 noted at Exeter, England 13.9.63 code "VC-527";
RCAF 1527 noted Prestwick 31.1.65 in full RCAF scheme code "VC-527";
RCAF 1527 stored Prestwick, Scotland 9.69;

The thing is neither CF-ZHK or CF-UOW appear to have been taken up ( I have all the Canadian historical registers going back to 1965 )

I am having a trawl through Air Britain New's & Digest's for that period, if no joy, then I'll drop Geoff an e-mail to see if he can shed any light

Cheers

Adrian

[cornwall01]

Hi Adrian

Yes, it was Geoff Goodalls production list.

Ray

[monarch01]

Sorry, bit of a thread drift, whilst reading through the old Air-Britain Digests looking for a clue to this Beech 18 I came across this :-

" Northeast's last Britannia service was flown by G-ANBK from Heathrow to Woolsington on 31.12. It is reputedly for sale at £600. "

£600 for a Bristol Britannia ?? i'll have two....

[oldgit]

Picture,s Of 1527/VC-527 On The Air Britain Photo Library Definitely Fit The Bill As To The Type & Colour Scheme...

[monarch01]

Record Card for CAF1527 :-

1527 Beechcraft Expeditor Mk. 3TM  / D-18S

Msn - CA 127

first date: 24 March 1952 - Taken on strength at No. 5 Repair Depot, RCAF Station Trenton, Ontario
Brought up to Mk. 3TM standards at No. 6 RD, issued to No. 1 Air Division Comm Flight on 29 April 1953. To AMCJS, London, UK on 29 June 1956. (This is believed to be a staff liaison position.) To storage at Prestwick, UK on 14 October 1965. Available for disposal there from 23 February 1966. Sold to International Aero Sales Company of St. Laurent, PQ. To civil register as CF-UOW. Off register by 1976.
last date: 6 February 1967 - Struck off, to Crown Assets Disposal Corporation for sale

I interpret this as being disposed of from Prestwick, as confirmed by Dave saying he saw it being scrapped there, so we can safely assume that the Marks CF-ZHK & CF-UOW were not taken up, but that does not necessarily mean it was the airframe at the Lapwing club, a contender, yes.....

Cheers

Adrian

[oldgit]

Adrian Thank You For Your Time & Effort! At Least I Have A Good Idea For This Aircraft Now & It's Possible Identity..

[monarch01]

No joy from any Air Britain New's or Digests for that period, I have sent an e-mail to Geoff Goodall asking for his thoughts, and will let you know when he responds

Cheers

Adrian

[oldgit]

Fingers Crossed, Thanks Adrian...

[chrisj]

Hi All , As Dave B says , Old Git here !! around the time first mentioned for the Be 18 fuselage section being seen there was a centre section with cockpit and I think stub wings or very short wing fittings . This was just as Sagatair was setting up and they were Be 18 users so it may of been obtained for parts ? This was found North side , by some Nissen type huts ( lots of them here) and by the perimeter road that ran there . It was in RCAF colours . Whilst I and a friend ( Nigel Carter) were investigating this section a person came out of one of the huts to find out what we were doing . When told that we were trying to identify it he became friendly . I have no recollection of any identity at this time but during our conversation we were offered employment with Sagatair . I declined due to serving in RAF but my companion took him up on the offer and had a good time with them both in UK and Berlin . I only see Nigel infrequently on my few LHR visits and he does not use these magic computer things but I will try to remember to ask him if he ever had any identity for this Be18 ! Oh , I would think the location of the Be18 would be about where North Side viewing area is or just to the east of it ( World Trade Centre 1 ?) . chrisj

[goonybird]

Ok just joined on here as this is the only reference to the Beech 18 Wreck at Heathrow.

Used to live in Hanworth and Heathrow was a regular weekend thing.

A friend mentioned about "The Wreck" and would have been sometime around 1971 (70-72)

So when it went quiet on the approach, we walked diagonally? across the field from the BOAC hangers. 

We found a Beech 18? (C-45 Expeditor) with worn RCAF markings, fairly wrecked and scavenged, roughly aligned to runway 10L, nose pointing towards London

and I have the only number we could locate as 418?

I have posted on various Heathrow related places and spoken to numerous people that were spotting at that time, and in the know.

No one could recall anything about it. So as the Original Post, was it my imagination?

I have checked Production Lists, Crash lists and nothing is recorded. No pictures nothing.

except - I took two bits of it home. A Screw hoseclip and a bit of the wing panel with a Grounding Jack Plug Socket