DH 115 Vampire 'WW461' - The 2nd Pre-Production T.11 (c/n 15002)

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24 years 2 months

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Does anyone have any information on this particular airframe please (c/n 15002) ? The last time I came across WW461, in June 1961, she was sitting in a Kent garden, adjacent to a public house - not in a particularly 'loved' condition if I recall.

I know it was the 2nd 'Pre-Production' prototype. built at Christchurch & was used as a pre-evaluation airframe for the Royal Navy's 'Sea Vampire' - originally delivered to the Royal Navy in 'T22' configuration on 22/5/ 1952. I believe it was finally with the Fleet Air Arm at RNAS Culdrose as an instructional airframe & finally 'dispensed with' & put up for disposal on 15th November 1956, so less than 5 years before I saw her in that Kent garden.

I've searched for some time now for any reference to this particular airframe, to no avail. Does anyone on the Forum have access to Ken Ellis' invaluable 'Wrecks & Relics' for 1961 - 1965 period? I'm sure his first edition was in 1961, so may contain reference to this Kent-based airframe.

Any leads please ?

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20 years 6 months

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From Wrecks & Relics 1963 (reprinted & revised second edition}:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]259040[/ATTACH]

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24 years 2 months

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That's brilliant - thank you. That ties in perfectly with my caption on the back of a photo I took on the day in question - "13th June 1961 - WW461 in garden at Goudhurst, Kent - In Royal Navy markings & roundel & displaying a circle on side of its nose, forward of the front cockpit canopy - with '2' above 'A.2370' in the centre circle". I had it as being in a garden next to a public house - that'd be the only difference.

Would you, or anyone else, have later editions of 'W&R' to see if any further info appears, especially as to its move from that site or its ultimate demise (unless of course the airframe still survives - I suspect that's a rather vain hope though !) ?

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There is no entry under Goudhurst in the 3rd edition (1965). But it may have moved elsewhere. However as W&R was not arranged under counties until the 4th edition, the only way to determine if it is listed, in the 3rd edition, under another location would be to plough through the whole book! By the 4th edition, county listings had been introduced but still there's nothing under Goudhurst nor any Sea Vampires listed for Kent.

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Scrapped in the mid 60s but, IIRC, the nose instrument bay fairing was saved and used for an "ulster" rear end on some classic car

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Was there until at least 5 July 1962. There is at least one photo known to exist of it sat on the grass next to the petrol station in snow.

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It sounds as if either Mr Taylor took that photo or his is a second one!

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I'm just thinking in print here..... From memory, Goudhurst, is not a large village and possibly had only one garage / filling station in the early 1960's. The Sargeant family owned such an establishment there around 2000 and maybe in the 60's. I was invited to meet the late Peter Sargeant at the garage to look at a Spitfire - just like that! The family business then rebuilt Rolls-Royce cars to a fine standard. They also had an air strip just outside the village from where Peter would fly his Harvard for the business. Peter was also working with Richard Paver on a photo series for Aeroplane on the rebuild to flying condition of Spitfire PR XI, PL983, that he co-owned with an old school friend Justin Flemming.

PL983 was one of the early airframes released by the Doug Arnold Collection Trustees at that time and had a bit of previous history as a fairly succesful racing aircraft in 1947 - 48 in the hands of Lettice Curtis whilst it was owned by the US Embassy in London for use by the Air Attaché of that time. Peter sadly lost his life flying it whilst in company with a number of familiar names in a multi Spitfire fly past at Rouen Boos airfield in France in 2001 following engine failure in mid display. I'm sure the details of that tragedy resulting in Peter's death are known to many Forumites to go further with that story here and now. Suffice to say, that PL983 has slowly come back to form in the hands of John Romain's team at Duxford and looks to be one of this year's restorations to start flying again.

The question, might the Vampire also have been in the care of the Seargent family in the 1960's?

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That jogged a memory, and a short google turned this up

http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=9861.0;wap2
"Tim Sargeant:
A Morris Minor at Goudhurst in the 1960's - plus a Vampire :)

This photo seems to date from summer 1962. It is on the forecourt of Goudhurst Service Station. The petrol pumps are just to the left of the photo. I bought the Vampire for £100 when Croydon Aerodrome closed down. Somewhere I have a photo of it just as it was unloaded off the lorry that delivered it all in bits. This Vampire was the Navy version being one of the pre-production ones and had been based at Culdrose in Cornwall for a while and then at Ford Naval Air Station in West Sussex. It was sold off and cannibalised for parts and only the fusilage was left. Do any readers remember the Spitfire outside Swandean Garage near Worthing in the 1950s? Michael Wilcock was a friend of my father's and that is where we got the idea from." The photo referred to seems to have vanished, unfortunately.

From here things get interesting. Michael Wilcock was also a garage owner in the area and had Spitfire SL721 on display at Worthing, AVM Robb's famous blue XVI (an airframe coincidentally which is coming back to Europe and lets hope the new Belgian owner sees fit to return it to the blue livery). Michael Wilcock also had bought a number of Merlins, one of which was used in the "Swandean Special" hill racer. He was also a Bentley enthusiast and I think it was one of his cars that had the nose of the Vampire repurposed as an Ulster back, after the Vampire was scrapped. I'm not positive, but it may have been this car.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]259064[/ATTACH]

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As web pilot says, if you go to http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=9861.0 you'll find the story 'from the horse's mouth'. Also there you'll find a selection of photographs of the Sea Vampire but you can only view them if you register as a member.

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24 years 2 months

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Thank you for all your help on this :)

This is the photo of Vampire 'WW461' (A.2370) that I took at Goudhurst on 13th June 1961. The caption that I wrote at the time reads "Vampire WW461 standing in a garden adjacent to a public house - on 13/6/1961 "

I've now registered with that 'Sussex History Forum' site and I'm grateful for the chance to view the photos on there, as mentioned earlier by 'Webpilot' - Very sad ending for an historic airframe .....

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