Manston Wrecks

[agripper]

Whilst trying to find any aircraft scrap yeards on the net and found on google maps images of manston airfield. To the North east of the airfield there a few airframes a few which look like they are on the firedump. The question is are the airframes scrap, being stored, or being used for fire crew training.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=51.354738,+1.348228&vps=1&jsv=200b&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=11.823255,39.331055&ie=UTF8&geocode=FXKcDwMdhJIUAA&split=0

[trevor pitman]

Manston was the place were airfield fire crews were trained. Certainly when I served RAF firemen were trained there. I would suggest these are training aids although I can see some purpose steel made rigs which tend to last longer

[Topdog]

A few years ago a mate of mine on the RAF police security let me have a look over them one evening. There were 3 Phantoms in fairly good nick ie instruments and bang seats still there - but the control columns had been removed. One of them was ZE 360 - Flight Lieutenant Hargreaves.

There were also a Wessex and a Jet Provost there. He offered me the control column from the JP but I didn't take it.........OH well.

 

I think they have burned all the Phantoms now though.

[Markheliops]

They are training aids for the fire crews -

 

Kent fire service use a number of facilities at Manston now.

[bizfreeq]

This is the DFSCTE-Defence Fire Services Central Training Establishment. Not sure how many have survived but the following were present a couple of years back:

WK124 CANBERRA TT18

XR503 WESSEX HC2

XS714 DOMINIE T1

XV411 PHANTOM FGR2

XV864 BUCCANEER S2B

XW870 GAZELLE HT3

XX116 JAGUARGR3A

XX655 BULLDOG T1

XZ966 HARRIER GR3

ZE360 F-4J(UK)

They have also just had a Nimrod delivered,though I cannot remember which airframe it was.

Opposite there are two very good museums,well worth a visit.

Cheers

Mark

[Paul Drake]

Hi all,

For those interested in a/c wrecks / fire hulks, this link should take you to Predannack.

 

http://www.targeta.co.uk/predannack.htm

[Smiler]

Wow, that Canberra is in a very sorry state! It's an ex- A&AEE Boscombe Down Aircraft (where I work, only it's sadly long since lost the moniker of A&AEE) and I think it might have been laterly used for icing trials. I might be completely wrong of course!

[Chris Hall]

Theres some wrecks at North Luffanham and the airfield is open for people to walk around. The F700s were burned years ago (They shouldn't have been) and the wrecks have been used for EOD training. Check it out on google maps.

[marvinthemartian]

Just adding on a bit about North Luffenham, when I was a space cadet in the 1990's, we had a weekend camp over there, and I can remember climbing over a Sea Vixen FAW 1 of which there were 3 on the airfield. Also a sorry looking Jet Provost on one of the pans, and a Whirlwind over near the woods. We had to camp in these woods one night in make shift bivvies, and had a large fire going. Some one had taken a piece of the Whirlwind fuselage and dumped it on the fire. It took a long time to ignite but bu99er when it lit the whole area was like day light!!! I guess a lot of magnesium in the aluminium.

 

Simon