Wyvern burials - Gosport

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24 years 2 months

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Tonight's Portsmouth paper.

Mark

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Mark12/WyvernGosportDSCF4980_6945.jpg

Original post

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14 years 11 months

Posts: 519

This should get Wyvernfan's juices flowing. Keep us inform Mark.

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16 years 5 months

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My 'juices' have been flowing for quite a while Doug :). Just need to be patient.

Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 633

I think there may well be some truth in this one.
I remember , around 1955, seeing some(half a dozen or more) derilect Fireflies close to a rough track that went along the western side of the airfield.

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20 years 9 months

Posts: 252

Rob,

Fingers crossed for you - bit worried about those 'juices' though.:dev2:

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16 years 5 months

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:D Cheers J.

Rob (Wyvernfan)

It would be worth your while talking to Xtangomike.

He knows something about this!

Andy

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13 years 2 months

Posts: 1,101

Wasn't there an article in Flypast some years ago, about a group who were planning to try & recover a load of aircraft spares etc from the exact same place ?. Seem to recall that there was supposed to be a large amount of stuff burried there, including trucks, jeeps & general station waste as well as the aircraft spares.

Bob T.

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19 years 1 month

Posts: 424

could there be another tf1 wyvern in this whole as well as a s4?
i must admit i'd love to see a s4 displayed sometime in the future!!

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16 years 5 months

Posts: 5,999

Thanks to those who have contacted me about this, but i am merely 'in the loop' as regards information at present. As the news article says it has the potential to be a really exciting proposition, but the guys at Gosport need a little more information before venturing further.

Andy (Tangmere) - I believe Xtangomike has already been in touch with someone involved down there.

oz rb fan - There would appear to be a TF.1 down there, and a TF.2. But yes like you i would love to see an S.4 displayed sometime.

Member for

20 years 2 months

Posts: 733

Oh not again!

Firstly we know where the aircraft dump is reputed to have been. During the 1990s a team of Royal Engineers working at Sultan were asked to run their metal detactors over the area and they reportedly went off the scale. All very well, but that only points to large deposits of metal; it doesn't indicate whole aeroplanes, nor of their condition (bearing in mind those who were around at the time of Gosport's closure clearly recall all manner of unwanted material being literally "bulldozed" into the pit).

The area they're interested in is very well-defined. It is, however, also a Site of Special Scientific Interest! Digging, and potentially disturbing old machinery and anything containing oil, isn't going to go down well with the council and the environmentalists. Regardless of whether some company could be brought in to sponsor the excavation, I'd be surprised if one would be willing to pay for or be associated with any clean-up operation as a result of unearthing some toxic substance.

This isn't meant to be discouraging; it's merely reiterating that others have had the same thoughts before but, after some investigation into the possible outcome have decided it's probably best to leave as a bit of folklore.

If I had a pound for every "complete buried aircraft on a dump" story....!

Or, how many airfield dump-sites I have investigated and excavated? The most exciting finds amongst all the clinker from boiler rooms (and once a smashed ip Slingsby glider in fragments) has usually been broken RAF crockery.

Yes, I know, I know....Kenley and the Spitfire was an exception. But......

If it were my time, and my money, I'd invest it elsewhere, frankly.

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15 years 10 months

Posts: 1,311

^^As above^^

If there are any buried airframes they will be well & truly wrecked by the weight of soil & corrosion anyway.

However, in this case I would love to be proved wrong as Wyverns are a bit of a fave of mine also. :)

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18 years 2 months

Posts: 2,245

Any Wyvern that can be recovered is worth the effort!

Well.....just am very sceptical about these stories after so many of them over so many years.

I'm always eager to be proven wrong, though!

I wouldn't say its not worth surveying but if they are deep they are not going to be in much of a good shape I shouldn't think? I think I am right in saying that the Kenley Spitfire was not far under ground, but from what I am hearing this was quite a dep pit with what must be thousands of tons of soil and other matter on top.

Am just having a Doubting Thomas moment.

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16 years 7 months

Posts: 10,647

If there are any buried airframes they will be well & truly wrecked by the weight of soil & corrosion anyway.
:)

And possibly cremated!

Memories of raking through Mawgans dump, hoping to find crated Harley Davidsons, cans of USN paint, and bits of Liberator, all we found was Shackleton firewalls, bent nose framing, and lots of smashed Mess crockery!
Like you though I would love to see a bit of Wyvern dragged out, though I fear Andy and Lee are on the button here.

Member for

17 years 10 months

Posts: 525

If I had a pound for every "complete buried aircraft on a dump" story....!

Or, how many airfield dump-sites I have investigated and excavated? The most exciting finds amongst all the clinker from boiler rooms (and once a smashed ip Slingsby glider in fragments) has usually been broken RAF crockery.

Yes, I know, I know....Kenley and the Spitfire was an exception. But......

If it were my time, and my money, I'd invest it elsewhere, frankly.

Andy! I'm quite surprised at your willingness to scoff this one away....perhaps Kenley was the beginning and proof that such prizes could be found....
These aeroplanes were seen by many locals before their 'disappearance', and it is more than one 'eye witness' that has pointed to the site of the 'pit'.
A Wyvern or two, plus a couple of Firefly fusalages would takesome serious crushing, even with a large tank !!for what purpose, if they were going into a big ready made pit anyhow?

Both types were built for Navy carrier landings. They were built like the proverbial brick sh.t h..se, and would easily suvive:
"If there are any buried airframes they will be well & truly wrecked by the weight of soil & corrosion anyway." yea right!!!!(You should see the Wyvern stuck in the ground at Littlehampton...and that crashed in from 10k feet)

Now I am not saying they are there...or that they might even be there...but I am saying that we shall have to be sure that they are not there..

The biggest problems will be the costs..the timetable...and the reparations to satisfy the local councils.

At least some of us can get down and dirty and recover some valuable treasure on land......can't get involved with the Goodwin Sands...would get wet and probably trip over some 'wannaby aviation celebrity'.

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15 years 7 months

Posts: 116

The Truth about this Dig

Hi everyone,
Firstly I have to lay claim to the article placed in the Portsmouth papers on Friday 2nd of December. This project has been on-going for a number of years now and the time seemed right to go public for further information. Several of the people posting against this thread know of me and the project in general. I have found it quite strange that I wasn't named before this post. I have a personal interest in the Wyvern and some years ago was in talks with a representative of a well known film company regarding a possible dig. This involved various TV companies including the BBC Channel's 4 and 5 Discovery Channel and National Geographic. All movement stopped as a project because of the downturn in the financial world. Money for new projects dried up so the whole thing was put on Ice for a while. It has been placed in The News now because circumstances have changed and the TV people are once again asking us as a group to proceed further. That first move is to get public interest and hopefully further information. I would like to thank Peter Arnold for his permission to use his photographs in the paper article as the News failed to give him due credit.
As and when I have further news on this article I will of course post it here on the forum.
Ollie

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16 years 2 months

Posts: 2,841

Aircraft dig

Go for it, Chaps, and the best of luck.

If it won't cost an arm and a leg and you can afford it, then you should do it. I'd love to see some stuff come out.

If you just get a luvverly, battered, cowled but complete R-R Eagle engine, that would be ample reward:D - anything else will be a bonus!

Anon.

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12 years 6 months

Posts: 65

They are more than likely buried next to our RAAF F111's(TIC) :diablo:

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15 years 10 months

Posts: 1,311

Go for it, Chaps, and the best of luck.

You know what, even though experience has directed us otherwise, the "go for it" still sounds good, certainly won't do any harm, nothing to lose, everything to gain, so the can do attitude gets the Strangelove seal of approval http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/images/icons/icon14.gif