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Shackleton's scrapyard, Siddal, Halifax, 1979

Got a hole in an old log? Empty lines in your notebook? Request that missing serial here, hopefully someone can help. Requests over 6 months old only please.
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fatherfaff
Posts: 337
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:33 pm
Location: Leeds area

Shackleton's scrapyard, Siddal, Halifax, 1979

Post by fatherfaff » Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:02 am

First off, I'm still looking for a second-hand copy of Ken Ellis, Wrecks & Relics 7th and/or 8th edition!

Anyway I visited this scrapyard at an old mill in Siddal in May 1979 and dug around. I've found a few great photos of the yard on t'internet where there were Lightnings, Vulcans, Canberras, Whirlwinds, Victors, etc. By the time I'd got there most inmates were fairly well broken up but I still like to record aircraft I can identify. Unfortunately (and quite understandably!) Ken Ellis tends to write out of his books aircraft that aren't substantially complete so his 1978 6th edition book writes out many aircraft that were still there but only as a nose section or a fuselage or a wing. So.....

Off-chance someone has a good log from around that time.....

Even smaller chance someone has some photos with IDs at ANY time! I didn't take any photos either!

Or there are some parts where I have some clues which I list below:

Lightning remains with 29 Sqd marks - found "P95198" in a yellow square. If the mark is a c/n then that would make it XR715 which was listed in W&R 1976 5th edition.
Lightning nose section (photo on-line) with what looks like 29 Sqd marks and red outlined white box under cockpit with pilot's name "Flg Off Macleod" therein.
Lightning nose section including s/n "4645" and another code "ES190/CZ67905" which is probably untraceable.
A Lightning F3/F6 tail with a flying bell on it.
Camouflaged Vulcan nose marked R3898.10270, DWG No. D9501-12
Canberra(?) nose in silver with dayglo stripes on the side.
A red fuselage from a single engine jet - thought at time it was a Jet provost but it could have been a Gnat.
At least three seperate Victor noses.
A large section of fuselage pannelling with round windows and blue and white colours - maybe a Hastings?

I definitely identified the following serial numbers at the time: XA901 Vulcan wing, 7812M Vulcan tail (XA899), XG597 yellow Whirlwind, WJ327 Hastings bits.
From notes I made and searching the internet I can identify XT774 Wessex fuselage, XL868 "57" and XM663 "LOT5" Whirlwind fuselages, WR990 Shackleton nose.

I won't get on to Failsworth Yard at this point....!

Is there any good online information anywhere for researching 1970/80s military aircraft histories. Sometimes my internet searches take me to Key-Aero forums which are often useful (will I find more info/databases if I subscribe?), photographs of that era are hard to find (as I suppose most people won't have gone to the bother of scanning their old slides/negatives to the internet), apart from Scramble I don't know where to find logs of airshows of that era. Any thoughts?

Yorker
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:24 pm

Re: Shackleton's scrapyard, Siddal, Halifax, 1979

Post by Yorker » Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:00 pm

The 7th edition of W&R (March 1980) has some limited information on the Siddal Yard.
He confirms the numbers you've identified with the addition of bits of Victor XA922 and Lightning fuselage XP757.
He also states the yard stopped aeronautical scrap in 1977 which may help you in your research..

BARG magazine had some updates of both Failsworth and Siddal in their early 1970s magazines. So maybe worth searching those. The February 1975 issue has a fairly extensive list for Failsworth.

Hope this helps.

fatherfaff
Posts: 337
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:33 pm
Location: Leeds area

Re: Shackleton's scrapyard, Siddal, Halifax, 1979

Post by fatherfaff » Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:23 pm

Thank you.

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