CANBERRA – B.2 – WH657
|
B.2 – WH657 |
|
 WH657 at Cranfield with the Royal Aircraft Establishment : Via Ken Delve  (Photo : Frank Beckley via Paul Hartley) |
Built as a B.2 in 1952, WH657 first joined 231 OCU before being transferred to the charge of the National Gas Turbine Establishment at Farnbourgh in 1953 for nine years of high altitude fuel systems developement and engine problems research. In 1962, WH657 was moved onto a joint UK/US project to track British satellites in northern latitudes. After carrying out the satellite tracking for four years, WH657 was transferred to the College of Areonutics, Cranfield, for slush trials. From there it went to RFD Ltd at Godalming and, in 1986, was bought by Booker Air who loaned it to Brenzett Museum in Kent. After lying near derilict for a number of years, work at Brenzett got underway in 2002 to refurbish this Canberra to a better static display state. The Canberra Tribute site was contacted by Mr Frank Beckley of the Breznet Trust to confirm that a repaint and general tidy-up is in progress (see pictures). Frank goes on to say :
“I hope that by now Paul Hartley has forwarded the photograph of WH657 as she is to-day. Whether we will ever be able to put the wings back on her is another matter. Time, Money, Engineers!! Brenzett Museum has improved greatly over the past few years and is well worth a visit. I hope you are able to amend your website to reflect the change. Graham Salt has visited WH657 recently and taken a series of pictures for the Canberra Survivors pages. As you can see, the airframe, cosmetically, looks much better – even the “artic” red nose colouring has been re-done. Good to see work in progress on this interesting Canberra. If YOU can help Frank and his team at Brenzett to bring WH657 back to static disply condition, please get in touch with him.
|
