Britain at War - 09.2019

REPORTS FROM Duxford suggest

increased engineering work is

being carried out on the Fighter

Collection’s resident Bristol

Beaufighter XIc JM135. The

project has been ongoing since

the 1990s, and the fuselage and

wing structures have largely been

completed, but finding suitable

powerplants to incorporate into

the overhaul has been challenging.

However, recent activity indicates

progress to overcome the difficulties

with high hopes the Beaufighter’s

rebuild to flying condition will

gather pace. Currently, there are

no airworthy examples of the type

anywhere in the world.

According to The Fighter

Collection’s website, the example

being worked on is made up of

centre sections and fuselages

recovered from Drysdale, Australia,

[circa 1981] and subsequently

moved to Sydney. The parts are

said to come from British-built

Mk.XIs A19-144 (JM135) and

A19-148 (JL946). The cockpit was

originally fitted to an Australian-

constructed Beaufighter, the

identity of which is unknown.

http://www.fighter-collection.com ∎

Beaufighter Progress

6 http://www.britainatwar.com

BRIEFING ROOM^ |^ News^ •^ Restoration^ •^ Discoveries • Events • Exhibitions from around the UK

Operation Banner Remembered Half a Century On

STAFFORDSHIRE’S NATIONAL

Memorial Arboretum has hosted

an event to mark 50 years since

the start of Operation Banner,

the active deployment of British

troops to Northern Ireland.

Op Banner saw more than

300,000 members of the

military deployed to Northern

Ireland between August 14,

1969 and July 31, 2007. The

Arboretum’s impressive Armed

Forces Memorial, dedicated in

October 2007, honours all service

those who were killed in Northern

Ireland with a service, two-minute

silence, readings of contemporary

accounts and a fly past. Serving and

veteran personnel, together with the

families of both military members

and civilian staff killed supporting

Banner were in attendance.

Britain’s new Defence Secretary,

Ben Wallace, spoke at the occasion.

Wallace, a former Scots Guard

deployed on Banner in the 1990s,

reflected: “Such a significant number

of our armed forces community were

A late model RAAF Beaufighter in service over the Pacific. (KEY COLLECTION)

involved in Op Banner across four

decades. It was a challenging

and complex operation, and their

dedication and sacrifice must not

be forgotten. The men and women

of the armed services should

be proud of what we achieved

for Northern Ireland. The peace

process, and the vast majority

of the population’s rejection

of terrorism and violence, is

testament to their efforts. We

remain grateful for their service

on the nation’s behalf.” ∎

personnel killed on active operations

in the post-war era. More than

15,000 names inscribed on the

memorial relating to those involved

in conflicts in Aden and the Radfan,

Malaya, and Afghanistan among

others, are 1,441 names of those

killed while deployed to Op Banner

or in related paramilitary acts.

The Royal British Legion event,

supported by the MOD and funded

by government money awarded to

the charity in 2017 specifically for

such commemorations, honoured

FAIREY SWORDFISH II HS

arrived in a shipping container

at White Waltham, Berkshire, on

July 23. The 1942 Blackburn-built

biplane had previously been part

of the Vintage Wings of Canada

collection, based at Gatineau,

Quebec, where it was flown as

C-GEVS. Before that it had belonged

to Ernie Simmons of Tillsonburg,

Ontario. What future plans its new

private owner has in mind for the

biplane are unclear as Britain at War

went to press, but it’s hoped HS

will return to flight status. It leaves

three UK airworthy or potentially

flight-capable examples requiring

relatively modest engineering

work. The other two are based

at Yeovilton, Somerset. ∎

Swordfish Arrives in UK

6 NEWS BAW SEPT2019.indd 6 8/15/2019 4:46:59 PM