Call for buyer to save last 1950s RAF transport aircraft from the scrapheap

A charity is appealing for a philanthropist to save a 'truly Yorkshire plane' from ending up on the scrapheap.
The Blackburn Beverley which is going under the hammer in an online auction finishing next SaturdayThe Blackburn Beverley which is going under the hammer in an online auction finishing next Saturday
The Blackburn Beverley which is going under the hammer in an online auction finishing next Saturday

The sole remaining example of one of the Royal Air Force’s most important transport aircraft, the Blackburn Beverley XB259, will go under the hammer next week as part of an online auction of contents of Yorkshire’s only Napoleonic fort, Paull Fort, near Hull.

Dr Robert Pleming, of the charity Aviation Heritage UK, says museums which may have been interested in buying the gigantic aircraft are “hunkered down” in the wake of the pandemic.

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He said: “We have been hoping that one of the national museums would pick it up, maybe the RAF Museum at Cosford (in Shropshire) or the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune, Scotland.

The Blackburn Beverley taken at Abingdon in 1968 Picture: David BradleyThe Blackburn Beverley taken at Abingdon in 1968 Picture: David Bradley
The Blackburn Beverley taken at Abingdon in 1968 Picture: David Bradley

“One of the problems with Covid is that these places are looking after their money very closely, which is why I think the only way we will save it is for some philanthropist to come in and contribute to saving it.”

Dr Pleming said it could cost as much as £200,000 to £300,000 to move the 36-tonne aircraft - which was built at Brough in East Yorkshire - to a new venue.

Dr Pleming, who is also the co chair of the heritage working group of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation, said if scrapped, it would be the first post-war British aircraft for which there are no examples left.

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He said: “Beverley XB259 represents an important part of British aviation heritage, and deserves to be preserved in its entirety.”

The Blackburn Beverley at the Museum of Army Transport in December 1985The Blackburn Beverley at the Museum of Army Transport in December 1985
The Blackburn Beverley at the Museum of Army Transport in December 1985

Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, near York, has ruled out competing in the bidding for the aircraft, which is currently on just £3,000, with over a week to go.

Spokesman Ian Richardson said they’d had a number of calls and emails about taking on the aircraft.

They were outbidded by the owner of Fort Paull last time it went up for sale in 2004, however this time it is “beyond our reach, particularly in the times we we are all facing.”

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Mr Richardson said they’d heard through the grapevine that some of the panels were quite badly corroded and it would be difficult to move.

He said: “We are all fighting for our survival. It is something we can’t contemplate at the moment.”

However auctioneer Andrew Baitson - whose grandfather Gilbert Baitson was responsible for selling the plane in 1983 - is convinced it will find a new home.

He said: "We've had a chap from Switzerland who is interested, and we've also had a local aviation business that is interested.

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"I have spoken to people who are going to prevent it from being scrapped if at all possible."

He was sceptical that it would cost as much to move, with a buyer able to use the know-how from the last occasion.

When it entered service in 1955, it was the largest aircraft in the RAF.

With its large cargo volume, the Beverley was designed for carrying bulk loads and operating from rough runways or dirt strips.

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The main cargo area could carry 94 troops, with an additional 36 in the tail boom.

In RAF service, XB259 served operationally with several squadrons, including 47, 30, 34 and 53, with home bases at Abingdon and Dishforth, but it also deployed overseas in Aden (now Yemen), where two were lost to land mines during operations, Bahrain, Kenya and in Singapore during the Indonesian Confrontation of the mid- 1960s.

The aircraft was also briefly operated in Vietnam to support flood relief work.

XB259 was also the last Beverley to fly – its final landing was on the grass strip at Hull Aero Club near Paull on March 30 1974.

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After serving all around the world, the Beverley was retired from RAF service in December 1967, replaced by the Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

The timed online auction ends Saturday September 19. Viewing will be at the Fort from Monday on a first come first served basis.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson

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