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Obituary
12th July 2016
It is with great regret that we have to report the tragic loss of member Vaughn Meers on the 12th July 2016 to a blood clot on the brain. Aged 65, one was constantly reminded of a whirling dervish with all the things he managed to fit into his non-stop life. Vaughn’s enthusiasm for all things wheeled, flying or military in arms, was matched only by his enormous circle of contacts and his copious collection of relics.
A penchant for organisation by any means, beg, borrow or cajole, he was a considerable assist to the Boulton Paul Heritage Centre during their many open days. Those same organisational skills he utilised in his own ‘Wings & Wheels’ events for charity, particularly in the support of the Tettenhall Heritage Centre – with whom he was heavily involved. Vaughn was solidly set in his opinions, which remained virtually unchangeable once decided, with a never give up attitude and, in his own words, “a hide like a rhinoceros”. This bounce back undefeated mind-set made him both friends and foes over the years but he was guaranteed to stand firm on his thoughts. Whichever camp, you may have been in, his presence will be sorely missed by all who knew him; his passing undeniably much too soon.
His funeral will be held at Streetly Crematorium on Friday 29th July 2016, at 10:30 am.
Blue Plaque Unveiled for John Dudley North CBE
W/C 27th July 2015
On the 25th July 2015, members of the Boulton Paul Association joined with the Bridgnorth Civic Society, the Bridgnorth Mayor and Mayoress and specially invited guests to attend the unveiling of a Blue Plaque on the former Bridgnorth home of aviation pioneer John Dudley North CBE, former Managing Director and Chief Engineer of Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd.
In 1936 the renamed Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd moved to Pendeford, Wolverhampton and North took up residence at Eversley House, Bridgnorth. He lived there until his death in January 1968, remaining a crucial and integral part of BPA and the aviation industry thoughout this time.
The Association would like to thank the Bridgnorth Civic Society, the Mayor of Bridgnorth; Cllr David Cooper and Mr and Mrs John Murphy for their efforts to get North’s contribution to aviation recognised and the unveiling and refreshments on the day.
Breaking News
Boulton Paul News Update by Archivist Les Whitehouse
W/C 19th January 2015
The Boulton Paul Defiant has been in the news more than normal in the last three years with the refurbishment of serial N1671 in 307 squadron guise as EW-D by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society on behalf of the RAF Museum. Then more recently the problems of finding a home for the Boulton Paul Association’s own replica, currently stored by the RAF Museum on behalf of the Association. Classed as a full size model (FSM), this replica is wood clad with Alloy and fabric skinning.
Finished as L7005, 264 squadron PS-B, this replica represents the aircraft last flown by Flt Sgt E. R. “Ted” Thorne and Sgt F. J. “Fred” Barker on 26th August over Herne Bay. Following the combat with Dornier Do17Z bombers and their escorting Bf109 fighters, L7005 was crash landed and wrecked, while one of the bombers attacked by the squadron went on to ditch on the Goodwin Sands, subsequently being the subject of a the recent raising for preservation by the RAF Museum.
The Association is pleased to announce this week that it has completed the deal to preserve the replica L7005 by donating it to the Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge in Kent. It only remains to arrange a specific date for the replica to be moved from RAFM Cosford deep store to its new home.
Also this week saw the transport of other Boulton Paul Association’s artifacts into permanent preservation. The Boulton & Paul P.6 replica; Boulton & Paul P.75 Overstrand replica nose; Gnat ground trainer nose and the nose of a two seat Hunter (finished as the sole Hunter Mk 12, the “Green Hunter” used for extensive Boulton Paul Aircraft “fly-by-wire” flight control tests) have been transported to their new home at the Flixton Aviation Museum in Norfolk – a fitting location for the Boulton & Paul machines, the originals of which were manufactured in Norwich and assembled at Mousehold Heath Aerodrome, on its outskirts.
For modellers this was also a “red letter” week as Airfix made good on its announcement of the release of a new Defiant kit in 1/72nd scale at the International Plastic Modellers Society annual international event at the Telford Exhibition Centre last November. The new kit series is finally released to the public this week.
Anyone involved with building plastic kits will remember the original Airfix Defiant, bagged and sold when this writer was but a child, and available in “Woolworths”. The kit suffered from some serious shape inaccuracies based upon poor source drawings and the then Airfix perchant for raised rivets. As one employee put it to me years ago the standard design brief at the time was “-and we must have lots of rivets, the kids love rivets…..” With those sort of problems this model kit has long been ripe for improvement, including a complete nose re-graft, done by many of us over the years.
The top of the range is a “dogfight double” with glue and paints, covering the previously mentioned L7005, PS-B and Do17 5K+AR, the machine which has recently been raised and preserved by the RAF Museum. The basic Defiant kit on its own features PS-U L7013 of 264 squadron in the Battle of Britain (which survived the battle) and DZ-Z N3328 of 151 squadron (with sharkmouth), an aircraft frequently flown by ace Sgt Henry Bodien and his gunner Sgt D. E. O. Jonas . A third kit, defined as a starter kit (because it is supplied also with glue and paint) features N3333 YD-B 255 sqn when it was first being worked up in day fighter scheme.