Old RAF Planes

[ApusApus]

I was out this morning & came across a couple of old RAF planes on a remote part of the airport site behind the Paphos Sewerage Works. They had 4 propellers & twin-finned tails! Anyone know what these are & what their history is?

A couple of photos are below

RAF Plane Pic 1.jpg (207.56 KiB) Viewed 5740 times

RAF Plane Pic 2.jpg (192.44 KiB) Viewed 5740 times

Shane

[Biggles]

There used to be three planes there - are there just two now?

There were/are two ex Royal Air Force, AEW (Airbourne Early Warning) Avro Shackletons, registrations WL747, and WL757 which were withdrawn from service in 1991 and sold to a local collector. These two aircraft were operated by 8 Squadron, and were affectionately known as Florence (WL747) and Brian (WL757) from Magic Roundabout fame. It's slightly ironic that these two aircraft are now overflown on an almost daily basis by Boeing aircraft bearing type designations with the same numbers.

The third aircraft is/was an ex French Air Force, Dassault Flamant, registration F-AZEN. This is a light utility aircraft equipped to carry cargo, and/or up to 10 passengers. This was also apparently acquired by the same collector.

And a piece of irrelevant trivia - a friend of mine was a copilot on Shackletons many years ago and has flown Ernest on many a sortie.

[ApusApus]

Thanks for the information, didn't see the other thread & yes there are 3 planes, 2 tails are showing in the first photo & the third in the second one.


Shane

[PaphosAL]

RAF Akortiri helpled move these three wonderful old aircraft from SE of PFO (when they built the new terminal) to NW of PFO, diagonally opposite...

Where you can still view them fairly close up, via local farm tracks, through a diamond grid fence, coming down from Geroskipou, as your photos (and Bing or Google sat maps) will show.

Cheers- AL

[PaphosAL]

It's worth mentioning that the two Avro Shackleton AEW aircraft parked at PFO were post WW2 developments of the famous Avro Lancaster bomber, where the RR Merlin V12 engines (as used in Spitfires and Hurricanes in WW2) were replaced with more powerful RR Griffon engines (I think?)

Cheers= AL

[Pafos]

The other aircraft is a Dassault Flamant.

[mike strand2]

Google Earth shows them

[geoffreys]

So what is planned for these 3 planes, and by whome? Or are they just going to be left to rot?
Geoff.

[Pafos]

There is an ongoing court case regarding them. The legal owner has not paid parking fees for them for many years. There is also a third Shackleton on the south side of the airport with the wings detached, an ex AEW trainer aircraft.

The owner of the aircraft was (I believe) Phoenix Aviation, a defunct flight school.

[geoffreys]

There is an ongoing court case regarding them. The legal owner has not paid parking fees for them for many years. There is also a third Shackleton on the south side of the airport with the wings detached, an ex AEW trainer aircraft.

The owner of the aircraft was (I believe) Phoenix Aviation, a defunct flight school.

Thanks for that.
Geoff.

[PaphosAL]

From what I've researched on the web, Geoff, a team of UK Shackleton restoration experts went out to PFO to examine these two babies, before they were moved to their current location. Their idea was to follow the South Africans and get at least one restored and flying again..

They found them both in a very poor and corroded state, sadly. Even sadder, the owner upped the ante and wanted silly money to sell them, something like £500,000 per plane. The team came back to the UK disappointed and empty handed. The two Shackletons are now parked there, slowly rotting. Such a terrible shame...

All this is factually verifiable over the web with google and bing: Paphos Shackletons

Cheers- AL

[geoffreys]

From what I've researched on the web, Geoff, a team of UK Shackleton restoration experts went out to PFO to examine these two babies, before they were moved to their current location. Their idea was to follow the South Africans and get at least one restored and flying again..

They found them both in a very poor and corroded state, sadly. Even sadder, the owner upped the ante and wanted silly money to sell them, something like £500,000 per plane. The team came back to the UK disappointed and empty handed. The two Shackletons are now parked there, slowly rotting. Such a terrible shame...

All this is factually verifiable over the web with google and bing: Paphos Shackletons

Cheers- AL

I agree, a terrible shame.
Geoff.

[PaphosAL]

Here's an interesting read for you, Geoff:

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthre ... tons-Saved

Not exactly the site I was looking for, though (still searching).

Cheers- AL

[Mrblobby]

For people who like to go geocaching ,there used to be a point here called "The Importance of Seeing Ernest" , but sadly is not any more .....it might come back .

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4 ... 5ec345f7a4

[paulok]

You can get quite close to the Shackletons on the road near the Sewerage plant but there are two quite aggressive dogs in a nearby farm. Don;t ask me how I know this ;-}

[PaphosAL]

You can get quite close to the Shackletons on the road near the Sewerage plant but there are two quite aggressive dogs in a nearby farm. Don;t ask me how I know this ;-}

When the RAF helped move the two Shackletons and the French plane from the SE corner of PFO to their current diagonally opposite position on the NW corner of the airfield, the original plan was to create a picnic site close by, for close-up viewing.

This hasn't happened so far. I'm guessing that someone at the local council shelved the idea, on the basis that it's not a good location for a picnic area, right next door to the sewerage works!

As to aggresive dogs on a local farm, were they running free, or chained to a tree with no food and water? I've seen, (and dealt with), the latter kind of situation when walking back from the Baths to Latchi once, by unravelling it's chain, topping up it's water dish and placing it within reach...

Doggie stopped howling straight away and even licked my hand! Cheers- AL (on nightshift)