2 Transport Digest Winter 2013/4

Duxford Airfield in Cambridgeshire is the home of the Imperial War Museum (IWM Duxford), and one of Europe’s foremost aviation museums, attracting over a quarter of a million visitors each year. Probably only a tiny minority of these visitors realise that the large commercial aircraft that are such a prominent feature of the Duxford scene are not actually part of the Museum, but are owned and maintained by an independent voluntary charity, Duxford Aviation Society (DAS).

The British Airliner Collection traces the development of civil airliners in Britain since the end of the Second World War, and the 12 aircraft on display all represent significant milestones in the extraordinary journey from converted WW2 bombers to Concorde. Next to each other in Duxford’s AirSpace building are the Collection’s Avro York and Concorde 101, graphically illustrating

the pace of that journey – only 24 years separated the end of the war and Concorde’s first flight.

Concorde is arguably the most popular exhibit at Duxford: it is estimated that more than four million visitors have walked through the aircraft since it was first opened to the public in March 1978. Other aircraft, two of which are the last surviving examples of their type, are opened to the public whenever possible, manned by DAS volunteer stewards. We are fortunate that IWM Duxford provides such a prestigious setting for the Collection, and also gives it exceptional exposure. Five aircraft are housed safely under cover in the AirSpace building, and the Museum also provides invaluable infrastructure resources. Otherwise the Society receives no official financial support, and depends entirely on fundraising and the generosity of the public

British Airliner Collection – The Story Of British Civil Aviation Since WW2

David Norman

This Avro York was last operated by Dan-Air. It had a maximum speed of 298 mph.

Concorde 101 was the fastest one, achieving a maximum speed of 1,450mph ©Reeve Photography

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to continue its work. Opportunities for commercial fundraising activity are also limited in the museum environment at Duxford. Nevertheless, cost control and the sale of books and memorabilia via the internet have improved the Society’s financial position over the last few years and we are cautiously optimistic for the future – but we will probably have to rely on sponsorship for major conservation projects or any future acquisitions.

We are also grateful to those who made the aircraft available for preservation rather than consigning them to the scrap heap. In 2000, a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the Society to complete the restoration of five aircraft, but time continues to take its toll and no conservation project is ever really “complete”!

Duxford Aviation Society was formed in 1975 from the former East Anglian Aviation Society to support the aircraft preservation activities that were starting up at Duxford, and played a very significant role in rescuing the airfield from the derelict condition into which it had descended in the ten years between the departure of the last RAF flight and the arrival of the IWM in

1971. The hangars, some of which date from the First World War, and other key buildings had been vandalised and had leaky roofs, broken windows and other signs of neglect. The first DAS volunteers made a major contribution to the renovation of these historic buildings, and also worked on the restoration of exhibits owned by the IWM and the Shuttleworth Trust, including the latter’s Spitfire Vc, which was restored to flying condition at Duxford by DAS volunteers. DAS also collaborated with the IWM on the justly famous Duxford air displays. In fact the displays were organised by DAS and the IWM, each on alternate years from 1975 until 1992, when the DAS involvement ended. The Society’s

activities were not limited to aircraft: DAS also ran the Duxford Fire Brigade until 2000, when it came under IWM management, and from the earliest days, the DAS Military Vehicle Wing had been busy restoring the Museum’s and its own collection of military and armoured vehicles. Today it organises, jointly with IWM Duxford and other groups, the very popular annual Duxford Military Vehicle Show, which attracts some 200 historic military vehicles from around the country.

In 40 years IWM Duxford has changed out of all recognition to become one of the world’s major museums of aviation and military history. The IWM has, understandably, grown to be the dominant presence at Duxford Airfield,

Scenes from the Duxford Military Vehicle Shows.

Awaiting attention – the Handley Page Dart Herald.

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but in the process the role of DAS in helping to establish the foundations of this world class visitor experience tends to be forgotten.

In parallel with supporting the IWM, DAS had embarked on its other main objective, the assembly and display to the public of a representative collection of post-war British airliners. The first of these to arrive at Duxford was a de Havilland Comet 4, G-APDB. This aircraft had been generously donated by the independent airline Dan-Air and landed at Duxford in February 1975 to become the first member of what was to become the British Airliner Collection. Another eleven aircraft followed that between them trace the triumphs and disasters of an airliner industry that in the 1960s served the largest airline network in the world, with routes to the far-flung extremities of the British Empire.

British civil aviation immediately after WW2 was largely shaped

by the conclusions of the Brabazon Committee, set up in 1942 under the chairmanship of Lord Brabazon of Tara, to investigate the future requirements of the British Empire for air transport. The result of its deliberations was a series of specifications for the airliners that would keep the Empire connected after the war. Today, no examples survive of three of the aircraft built to meet these specifications – the huge but commercially doomed Bristol Brabazon, the Avro Tudor, Britain’s first pressurised airliner, and the Miles Marathon “feeder” airliner. The British Airliner Collection is unique in having complete examples of all five others: the Airspeed Ambassador, Bristol Britannia, De Havilland Dove and Comet and the most successful British airliner of all time, the Vickers Viscount. The Miles Marathon evolved into the Handley Page Dart Herald, an example of which is also in the Collection. Several of these aircraft, and those that followed, were technically ahead of their time and

Restoring the Airspeed Ambassador – the sole survivorThis project is nearing completion after many years of dedicated work, funded entirely by Duxford Aviation Society.

ABOVE & BELOW: In Duxford’s Conservation Hangar, a historic building that dates from 1917. ABOVE & BELOW: Restoration progress in the cockpit.

ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: Rolled out for reassembly.

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could perhaps have given Britain world dominance of the airliner market. Unfortunately, in many cases, government interference, poor management and a mixture of indecision and intransigence by the two nationalised airlines, BEA and BOAC, led to delays and competitive weaknesses that eroded this position to an extent from which the industry never recovered. The British Airliner Collection is a testament to that fascinating and, for any admirer of British aviation, at times exasperating story.

Listed in historical order, the 12 aircraft in the collection are :

Avro York (1946) – Developed from the Lancaster bomber. Now in the colours of Dan-Air, its last operator, this aircraft also served with the RAF in the Berlin airlift in 1948/9 and carried the

100,000th ton of supplies into the beleaguered city.

De Havilland Dove (1948) – The first new British civil transport aircraft produced after WW2.

Handley Page Hermes (1950) – (Fuselage only) One of the first pressurised airliners; this is the only surviving Hermes.

Airspeed Ambassador (1952) – The only surviving example. While a popular and reliable aircraft in BEA service, this type is sadly and rather unjustly most remembered as the aircraft involved in the Manchester United FC Munich air crash in 1958.

Vickers Viscount 701 (1953) – The world’s first turboprop powered airliner and that rarity, a commercially successful British airliner. This is the third aircraft built of a total production of 445 and the oldest surviving example.

ABOVE & BELOW: More remarkable restoration, this time in the passenger cabin.

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De Havilland Comet 4 (1958) – This actual aircraft flew the first scheduled transatlantic jet passenger service from New York to London for BOAC on 4th October 1958.

Bristol Britannia 312 (1959) – Called the “Whispering Giant” because of its very quiet engines, the Britannia was the world’s first large turboprop-powered airliner. First operated by BOAC, this aircraft inaugurated the world’s first round-the-world service on 31st March 1959. Donated by Monarch Airlines.

Handley Page Dart Herald (1963) – A short-haul “feeder” airliner, currently undergoing major refurbishment.

Vickers Super VC10 (1965) – A long-haul jet airliner, very popular with passengers because of the low cabin noise level due to its rear-mounted engines. By the time this article appears, the VC10 will probably have made its last flight, as the last RAF aircraft retires 50 years after the first flight of the prototype.

Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E (1967) – The world’s first airliner with a fully automatic blind landing system, enabling it to land in poor visibility, even in dense fog.

British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven (1969) – The last all-British jet airliner, and another relative success, with 244 built.

BAC/Aerospatiale Concorde 101 (1971) – The third Concorde built, a pre-production model used exclusively for flight testing; this was the fastest ever Concorde at Mach 2.23, or 1,450mph This aircraft is open to the public every day that IWM Duxford is open.

Only five of the airliners are under cover. Maintaining such large aircraft, particularly if they are outside in all weathers, is an unending and expensive business. When aircraft are standing idle, condensation can occur in unsealed spaces, leading to accelerated corrosion. This is particularly severe in cold, damp weather as it is uneconomic to heat the aircraft. Indeed, any modern aircraft has a built-in tendency for corrosion: nearly all are built from aluminium alloy, but also include steel and a variety of other metals. When dissimilar metals are in contact in the presence of moisture, corrosion is almost certain to occur, by a process known as galvanic corrosion. This is the bane of the aircraft conservator’s life – even using steel tools on an aluminium structure can leave

behind traces of steel that can initiate galvanic corrosion. Although we use dehumidifiers to keep the worst effects at bay, combating corrosion is a major task. In addition to their service life, some of these aircraft have stood outside at Duxford for nearly 40 years, and inevitably the elements, especially ultra-violet light, take their toll on structures and paintwork.

Some of the aircraft in the Collection have been repainted several times since arriving at Duxford, and repainting an airliner can cost £20,000. At the time of writing the BAC 1-11 has lately earned the epithet “The Green Meanie”, being in the course of a repaint and currently sporting a tasteful lime-green priming coat.

DAS has been fortunate in gaining the support of British Airways for this project but the bulk of the work will still be carried out by DAS volunteers. Fortunately also, the IWM has agreed that the finishing coats can be applied under cover in the conservation area in the AirSpace building rather than at the mercy of the elements. We now hope to complete the repaint early in the new year.

In its constitution, one objective of Duxford Aviation Society is: “The advancement of the education of the general public in items of historical interest......in particular, aircraft.....”. Many visitors to Duxford (and many current DAS members!) are of a generation that recognises in the Collection the aircraft they flew in for business or pleasure decades ago but for our younger visitors they are not so familiar. Having no exhibition space at Duxford in which to tell the story of the Collection, DAS has plans to create displays on board the aircraft themselves that will tell that story. This raises a major issue for any collection: conservation or restoration? Restoration can be defined as returning an object to its original, complete condition, using original components and materials, whereas conservation for display is aimed at preventing any deterioration while making cosmetic changes to aid interpretation. Our plans for on-board displays will of necessity mean changes to original internal layouts like removing some of the seating, but we are confident that we can make these changes reversible so that the original can be recovered. We hope this project will bring the fascinating histories of these aircraft to life for Duxford’s thousands of visitors.

In a future edition of Transport Digest we will describe the individual aircraft in more detail.

The BAC 1-11 in priming coat.