Boscombe Down Aviation Collection, Old Sarum Airfield, Wiltshire

This excellent collection (BDAC) started life in 1999 inside Boscombe Down, the Ministry of Defence's Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Establishment (A&AEE) airfield and home to the Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS).

Wishing to expand and to be accessible to the public, in 2012 it moved five miles down the road to Old Sarum, itself a historic airfield which has been in continuous use since 1917, and widened its scope to include the many significant aviation activities of the whole local area. The two Belfast truss hangars that they occupy date from around 1917.

It has a remarkable collection of cockpits and nose sections, plus several complete airframes, and most have been restored from complete wrecks by the members of BDAC. Many of the cockpits are available to sit in, an activity which is greatly encouraged.

I was told they were planning for the arrival of the Avro 707A and English Electric P.1A from Manchester's now closed aircraft collection at the Museum of Science and Industry. My visit was on 14 September.

Aircraft Reg'n Thumbs Notes
Armstrong Whitworth (Gloster) Meteor NF11 (mod) nose WD790 Spent its career with the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) as a radar and systems testbed.
Auster AOP5 MS968 G-ALYG Built 1944. Sold as G-ALYG in 1950, came to the museum in 2015 and restored to wartime condition.
Auster AOP5 NJ633 G-AKXP Built 1944, sold as G-AKXP in 1948.
Avro Lancaster B1 Special cockpit section PD130 BAPC.482 Modified to carry Grand Slam or Tall Boy bombs. Reconstruction with several original parts.
BAC One-Eleven 402AP nose XX919 Built 1966. Ex Philippine Airlines PI-C1121 and Aeroflug D-AFWC (not taken up), joined the RAE in 1974, retired in 1997.
BAe Harrier GR3 nose XV784 Built as a GR1, first flew in 1970, converted to a GR3 in 1981, damaged in a fire in 1986.
BAe Hawk T1 XX154 The prototype, first flight 21 August 1974, delivered to BDAC under a Chinook on 21 August 2019. ETPS
BAe Hawk T1 nose XX343 Built in 1981 and operated by the ETPS - crashed at Boscombe Down in 1997.
BAe Jet Provost Mk4(P) T5 nose XS231 A T4 converted on the Warton production line to a prototype T5 around 1965. Was to be G-ATAJ but not taken up. Stored by 1984 and used as a spares source.
BAe Sea Harrier FA2 XZ457 VL-104 First flight 1979. Falklands veteran credited with four kills. Crashed at Yeovilton in 1995.
Bristol Sycamore Mk3 WA577 G-ALST not taken up. Used for development of the Mk3 civil version. Served at Boscombe Down and in Malaya, then spent 40 years at the North East Land Sea & Air Museums before coming here in this June.
De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T10 WD321 Served 1951-75 with ETPS. Became G-BDCC, crashed in 1999 and came to BDAC in 2007.
De Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth G-ANNG Current - probebly just sharing the hangar.
De Havilland DH-106 Comet C2 XK699 Sagittarius. Sole 'surviving' Mk2. First flew February 1957, stored in 1967 and Lyneham gate guard 1987-2013 when it was parted and moved here.
De Havilland DH-110 Sea Vixen FAW1 nose XJ476 First flew in November 1957, mainly a trials aircraft at Boscombe Down until an accident forced a move to the fire dump from which this was eventually rescued.
English Electric Canberra T4 nose WJ865 Delivered to the MoD in September 1954, was used by the ETPS and A&AEE. Retired after its last flight in 1981 and sold for scrap in 1982.
English Electric Canberra U14 nose WH876 Delivered in 1953 as a B2, in 1961 was one of 6 converted to a radio-controlled target. Surviving, it reverted to a B2, used for trials with the A&AEE and Martin-Baker. Stored 1988, parted in 1990.
English Electric Lightning F2A nose XN726 First flight September 1961, retired to Shoeburyness in 1978 as a gunnery target, and the nose wase rescued in 1993. Different markings on each side - 1: 92 Sqn and 2: 19 Sqn.
GAF Jindivik A92-466 BAPC.485 Australian AF composite airframe.
Gloster Meteor U16 WK800 Delivered as an F8 in 1952, converted to a U16 target drone, then with the Australian AF as A77-876 1955-69 and converted to a U21. Back in the UK reverted to a U16 in 1970 and served at Llanbedr until retired to BDAC in 2004.
Hawker Hunter F1 cockpit WT648 First flew October 1954, became a ground instructional airframe in 1957. Sold for scrap in 1990.
Hawker Hunter F2 cockpit WN890 Built in 1953 was a trials aircraft at A&AEE and Armstrong Whitworth. By the 1960s, scrapped but the cockpit preserved in the Aeromedical Training School as an oxygen trainer.
Hawker Hunter F6A XF375 Delivered in August 1955, spent time with the ETPS and the RAE. In the '90s The Old Flying Machine Company at Duxford had it for restoration as G-BUEZ, but that didn't happen and it returned to Boscombe Down in 2007.
Hawker Hunter F6 nose XG290 First flown in November 1956, was used mainly by the A&AEE and retired to ground instruction in 1981. Stored in 1990 and broken up for spares from 1991.
Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 nose WV910 Delivered in January 1955 and spent its career with the ETPS. In 1958/9 became a calibration trainer and was retired in 1991.
Hawker Siddeley HS-748 Andover CC2 nose XS790 First flight June 1964 and served the Queen's Flight until 1991 when it moved to the RAE. Scrapped in 1998.
Hunting Jet Provost T4 XR650 28 First flew March 1963. Retured to become an instructional airfram in 1975.
Meggitt Banshee BTT-3 ZF656 Over 7,000 of these drones were built, used mainly as targets for shoulder-launched missiles.
Murphy Renegade Spirit 912 G-RENE Kit-built biplane tucked away at the back of the hangar, build completed in 1991. CAA register says it went to Thailand in 2006...
Panavia Tornado F2 nose ZD936 First flight 14 June 1985.
Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF) BE2b replica BAPC.332 '2783' Replica, built by BDAC, of the first plane to land at Boscombe Down, in 1917.
SEPECAT Jaguar GR1 XX734 First flown on 5 August 1974. Supplied to the Indian AF as G-27-328 in August 1980, returned in 1982 and stored. Become an instructional airframe in late 1983. Arrived at BDAC in 2013 as a total wreck, they've done an amazing job with it.
SEPECAT Jaguar GR1 nose XX761 First flown on 24 April 1975, an engine exploded on the flightline at Lossiemouth on 6 June 1978. Only the cockpit remained.
SEPECAT Jaguar S (GR1) nose First British single-seat prototype, first flown on 12 October 1969. In August 1972 an engine failure on the ground at Boscombe Down destroyed everything aft of the cockpit.
Shorts MATS-B Mk1A ZA242 Military Air Target System - marked as 'ZA220' which it erroneously wore for its whole career.
Slingsby T21B Sedbergh TX1 'XN149' Actually built in 1962 and exported to Ghana as 9G-ABD, returning to the UK as BGA1085. Crashed in 1997, restored as the last military plane to fly at Old Sarum.
Stolp (Miles) SA-500 Starlet G-AZTV Built 1973
Supermarine 544 Scimitar nose WT859 One of three production prototypes built in 1956, this one fitted with 'super-circulation for flap blowing'. Scrapped at Foulness in 1991.
Supermarine Swift F7 nose XF113 First production F7, first flight November 1956 and used by ETPS 1958-61. The only remaining whole F7 is being restored at Solent Sky museum.
Westland Scout AH1 XP899 Delivered in October 1963, crashed November 1979. came to BDAC in 2015.
Westland Wasp HAS1 XT437 423 Delivered November 1965 and retired 1988, came to BDAC in 1995.

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