Member of the British Aviation
Preservation Council
WINGS MUSEUM
REGISTERED CHARITY
NO. 1117879
In 2007 several airframes came under threat at North Weald Aerodrome in Essex. The aircraft were at risk of being scrapped, in 2007 Wings Museum founders stepped into the breach to mount a rescue operation to salvage several C-47 "chunks" including a C-47 fuselage and also a Fairchild C-119 cockpit section. The C-47 fuselage had suffered at the hands of vandals over the years so she really was in a sorry state. The gutted & burned cockpit section has since been sold to recoupe recovery costs and is now believed to in France with a private collector. Parts and sections from a total of 3 C-47 aircraft were salvaged and voluteers set about making one complete fuselage from the array of parts and airframes. This is now a major "visitor experience" where visitors can actually walk through the centre section experiencing sounds of the engines and anti-aircraft fire as it would have been on D-Day.
C-119 Cockpit Section
- Arrives at the Museum 2007
During Late September
ex North Weald based C-119 cockpit section was rescued from the threat of potential
scrap by members of the Wings Museum The relic became threatened
by ongoing pressure from the local council
to ‘tidy up’ the outside
aprons around the hangers at North Weald
Aerodrome. The effort and cost involved in moving
these relics was certainly not for the
faint hearted! but members of the Wings
Museum stepped into the breach once
again. The rescue of these otherwise
overlooked relics stands as a testimony
to the museums dedication and love of old aircraft.
If only the same attitude
was adopted during the post war years
many more airframes would have survived
for future generations to enjoy. This
particular C-119 or ‘Flying Boxcar’
served with the US Air Force as 51-2700
and went to the Belgian Air Force as
CP-9. It entered the UK's civil register
as G-BLSW (after being modified from
C-119F to C-119G) and was later re-registered
as N2700.
