Hendon Beverley.

[DeltaCharlieKilo]

Just come across this print in my box. The Hendon Gate Guard Beverley, XH124, parked just outside the wire of the RAFM. Photo taken in the late-70s.



Any more images of her out there?

[benyboy]

Nice pic, thank you for sharing.

What an unforgivable act by the RAF Museum.

[Pen Pusher]

Stitched together from a couple of shots.









Brian

[viper3111]

I remember that being there, now that was what you call a gate guardian.

Thanks for sharing, and bringing back memories

[gamecock]

What an unforgivable act by the RAF Museum.

What happened to it?

[viper3111]

I believe this aircraft was scrapped

[Pen Pusher]

What an unforgivable act by the RAF Museum.

What happened to it?

Read Here

Brian

[Doughnut]

The RAF Museum always get an unfair bad press from the scrapping of the Beverley XH124. Since arriving in 1968 the aircraft's ownership was the same as any other gate guard, ie it was the responsibility of the RAF Station or a designated squadron. Due to the withdrawal of RAF personnel from the Hendon camp, the airfield being closed shortly after the arrival of the Beverly, and long time before the RAF Museum was established, the aircraft had no care and maintained applied and its condition deteriorated. With the final sale of RAF land to a private developer in the late 1980's a new home had to be found for the Beverley and she made the short journey to outside the RAF Museum. This was only ever seen as temporary as the overall condition of the aircraft made full restoration an impossible task, and as a safety measure the aircraft was scrapped in February 1990.
What was inexcusable of the RAF Museum was to allow the sole remaining Beverley XB279 to be sold to another private owner in 2004 and be moved to a particularly inaccessible part of Humberside when, if funds had been allocated, the aircraft could have been saved for the nation a placed on display at Cosford. Although one has to expect that the condition of XB259 is not going to be much better than XH124 after many years outdoors.

edit - sorry Brian did not mean to repeat what your link says I was typing a reply at the same time as you.

[Pen Pusher]

The Beverley wasn't flown into Hendon to be a gate guard. It was flown in to be an exhibit of the soon to be established RAF Museum and was the property of the museum.

Brian

[gamecock]

Sad. Reminds of sitting outside LTF at Cosford (2004/5?) watching the various BA liners being scrapped.

[benyboy]

Fort Paull ( http://www.fortpaull.com/ccm/navigation/home/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) is difficult to get to public transport wise but by car not so bad as it is just out side Hull with its links to the M62 ect. I have concerns about the location in terms of salt water corrosion but the museum is excellent and generaly just a nice place to be. Any body planning to visit should also take the RAF Holmpton ( http://www.rafholmpton.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) bunker tour and a trip out to Spurn Point for some Typhoon action.

Ben

[benyboy]

Oh and aswell as been just up the river from its birth place, this aircraft was once the Paull flying club club house so it is quite a good home in my opinion.

If you havent guessed I like this aircraft a bit. My parents used to have a caravan at Hornsea. I never let them pass the Army Transport Museum with out stopping to have a look. It was a great museum even though the dummies scared the out of me .

Ben

[Vulcanone]

....

[DeltaCharlieKilo]

Thanks for adding the other shots, guys. Good ones there.

Heyfordian, the Bev at Finningley in 1971 was XL149/X, previously with 84 Sqn. Allocated to Finningley as 7.11.67, and later scrapped. The cockpit section was at Newark for some time. I believe it has now gone to Aeroventure, Doncaster.

[Sheff]

The saga of the Hendon Beverley was a damned disgrace. Hendon were patently uninterested in the aircraft as they were busy obsessing over wartime aircraft with little consideration for vitally significant post-war aircraft. It's only in recent years that the balance has been redressed somewhat, particularly at Cosford of course.

Hendon had every opportunity to maintain the Beverley in good condition but they chose not to. Just like the unique Vulcan B1 at Cosford, they neglected the aircraft until it could be conveniently classed as "unsafe" and then removed, to be replaced at Hendon by a plastic Spitfire and Hurricane - a bigger cliche one could not imagine. There's no excuse for what happened and it's no surprise that so many people have expressed their disgust over the years. One wonders what the purpose of a museum is if the exhibits are only maintained depending upon the whims or tastes of the museum's administrators.

As for the Beverley at Hull, it was at the Museum of Army Transport and was on show at Beverley for many years. It was a shame that it had to be moved to Paul and left in the open close to the salty sea environment, but if it hadn't gone there it would probably have been destroyed, so anything is better than nothing.

The aircraft at Finningley did indeed eventually get destroyed and the cockpit section ended-up outside the NAM being used as an informal toilet. The powers-that-be decided that the aircraft had to me removed from Finningley in 1977 in order that HM's Review of the RAF could take place on the airfield. The poor old Beverley was judged to be "in the way" even though there was obviously a huge amount of space at Finningley where the aircraft could have been tucked-away for a couple of weeks. It was tragic that the aircraft had to be cut-up (there being no interest in it from buyers) and even more tragic that the cockpit section was abandoned when it arrived at Newark.

Equally sad was the loss of the former RAE example at Southend which was cut-up when the museum closed.

The poor Beverley has enjoyed a sad retirement. Despite being a hugely significant RAF aircraft, it has been treated badly - often by people who should know better.

PS The aircraft at Finningley does have a teensy rope barrier around it - heaven knows why though! The Beverley was usually placed in the main static display area though behind barriers with everything else but some years it was displayed separately so that the public could walk through the interior. I remember the local radio station broadcasting from inside it one year! The Argosy that was at Finningley survived the 1977 clear-out as it was still used for ground training. Most of the museum stuff moved over to Cosford. It's funny, but most of us remember Finningley shows with great affection but in actual fact the static display used to be pretty rubbish back in the 'sixties and 'seventies. Most of the stuff on show was from the museum collection and was there year after year!

[Sheff]

Yes indeed - although they fobbed us off with a mere two-ship scramble on a couple of occasions I seem to recall! The one I can't remember was the 4 x Victor scramble but I must have been in a pram at the time - oh well!

[Sheff]

Did you take any more photos back then at Finningley? Would love to see more - happy days indeed!

[Sheff]

Wow, fantastic photographs! What a nostalgia rush!

The Finningley shots are at the 1973 show. The other Beverley shots are at the old Southend museum which closed many years ago, sadly.

Ahh, all those delicious aircraft, what memories!

[Sheff]

Yes, many years ago!