At the end of February 1972, Receiver Kenneth Cork acknowledged that Channel Airways could not be saved. The sale of some assets was agreed quite quickly: BAC 1-11 G-AWKJ had been handed back to BAC at Hurn on February 9th, two Herons had been sold to Peters Aviation and flown to Norwich on May 8th (G-APKW) and May 11th (G-AXFH). The fifteen years remaining on Channel’s lease of Ipswich Airport was sold to Lonmet (Aviation) on May 31st 1972. The newly-formed Alidair, spun-off from Midlands company Alida Packaging, had declared an interest in the Viscounts. The Hucknall-based company was looking to start passenger and freight operations and Managing Director Roger Dadd flew to Southend on April 15th to lodge a successful bid for the three remaining airworthy Viscounts. G-ATUE, G-AVIW and G-AVJL were all flown to Castle Donington in late May/ early June although G-ATUE never entered service and was dismantled for spares. Channel’s long-serving Dove, G-ANVU, had last flown at the end of 1971 and was sold to private owner Gerald Lee on 1st August.
Over the years, I had frequently visited Southend and crept down the footpath which passed the Channel/ Tradair hangars. As the photos earlier in the article show, I had been fortunate enough to see the remnants of the Viking and Dakota fleets as they decayed in the long grass. In March 1971, as a member of an ATC squadron, I had written to Channel asking whether they might like to part with any relics. unfortunately, by then, the remaining five DC-3s, the DC-4 and the old Viking G-APOP had been chopped-up although parts were rumoured to remain in the hangars. When news of Channel’s demise was broadcast, I wrote to Cork Gully to enquire whether any propliner parts remained for sale at scrap prices. I duly received a reply from Kenneth Cork himself, Receiver/ Manager of Channel Airways, on May 12th 1972, telling me that the sale of spares was being handled by Edward Symmons & Partners, valuers and auctioneers, of London SW1. A visit to Southend for the 1972 Air Display on May 27th gave a glimpse of what was left outside: four Viscounts being axed and Comet G-ARDI, also almost completely gone. Interestingly, the remains of a long-stored East Anglian Flying Services Tiger Moth, G-ANNN, were also there along with the skeleton of Short Scion G-AEZF, once a company hobby project for Tradair. A week later, on June 2nd, not much Channel-related hardware was to be seen at Stansted although a number of their ground-handling vehicles had been gifted to the DTI Fire Service Training School.
After a hiatus of six weeks or so, I visited Southend on July 26th 1972 and was allowed to walk around the hangars and inspect the airline’s archive in the old Tradair hangar. I knew it was the Tradair hangar as hundreds of unused Tradair tickets were scattered around. Deducing that it was an archive was harder as the relevant room was just a series of huge piles of paperwork, files and record cards! This was the first time I’d had a chance to chat to the guys tidying-out the hangars – one was Jack Jones son, Ian. They were under pressure to finally clear-out the hangars but were remarkably friendly and helpful. Outside, the demolition work continued: Peters Aviation were continuing to remove bits and pieces from the Heron G-AOZM and the other three Heron hulks. This must have been just ahead of Staravia removing all four to their Lasham scrapyard. Field Aircraft Services were reputed to have purchased many of the more expensive spares from the remaining Viscounts. Two of the Viscounts were rumoured to have been bought by ‘John of Channel’ (G-ATVE and G-AVHE) while the others (G-APPC, G-AVHK and G-AVNJ) were being unceremoniously sliced-up for scrap. The final unaccounted-for Viscount, G-ATVR, had been stripped of spares at Stansted and moved to the Fire School training pan.
The Tiger Moth fuselage previously at Southend had disappeared but the fuselages of the two early EAFS Rapides, G-AKRN and G-AEMH, had been brought out of the hangar ready for collection by truck. There were various other Rapide components scattered around and, inside the hangar, three Gypsy Six engines and at least one Gypsy Queen. Ian Jones had acquired the Rapide remains and was preparing to transfer them to his sister’s farm near Burnham-on-Crouch. Although he planned to restore them to airworthiness, he had already been offered the princely sum of 200 pounds for ‘the one with the better wings’.
Returning to Southend on Sunday July 30th and Monday 31st, both sides of the airport were busy. A selection of smoky old Carvairs were evident in both BAF and Transportes Aerien Reunis titles. Viscounts of Kestrel and Alidair dropped in and there was a Cargolux-titled CL-44D over at Aviation Traders. Work progressed on the new Historic Air Museum building and Newark Air Museum were loading their newly-acquired Andon G-AVVO onto an artic for transport to Nottinghamshire. At the Channel facility, breaking-up of three Viscounts was in the final stages. The Edward Symmons administrator allowed me access to the hangar again to continue sorting through the logs and records.
It would be another month before I visited Southend again on August 24th. The remains of the Herons had been removed to Staravia and very little remained of the Viscounts. BAC 1-11 had been flown-in from Stansted and was in the Channel hangar having failed to sell quickly. The two Rapides remained, as did the Gypsy six and Queen engines, a Cirrus Major and a couple of RR Dart turbines. Other interesting bric-a-brac included seats, propeller spinners, superchargers, propellers and undercarriage components. By Monday August 28th, the Keegan organisation had collected some DC-4 propellers and C-47 undercarriage parts. Some components had been sent across the road to the Historic Air Museum.
On Thursday August 31st, the two Rapides were loaded onto an Aviation Traders truck to go to storage. One side of G-AEMH had sustained some damage earlier when a truck reversed into it. Some parts of the Comet G-ARDI still remained and a Link trainer had reportedly been removed from what was now called the ‘Symmons hangar’. I had negotiated to buy one of the Gypsy Six engines (I think I paid five pounds for it!) and a slightly less-than-complete Gypsy Queen (two pounds fifty?) and friends arrived on Saturday October 7th to collect the prizes. Once the engines were loaded into a VW T1 Transporter (with some difficulty), there remained some spare space which I proceeded to fill-up with as much of the Channel paperwork as possible. By the time I next visited Southend (October 28th 1972), the Tradair hangar was mostly empty although a lot of paperwork remained scattered around inside along with various anonymous oily components.
Meanwhile, up at Stansted, the vultures had professionally stripped-out the Viscount G-ATVR and ex-Mexicana Comet XA-NAP. Windows, undercarriage, instruments and the floor had all been removed from G-ATVR while the Comet was minus engines, undercarriage, seats and most instruments. The Mexicana titles were still painted on top of the port wing.
The Channel Herons G-AMUK, G-APKV were shipped to Staravia at Lasham and, in November 1972, hadn’t been fully stripped-out; at least one still contained some time-expired instruments. They were surrounded by a lot of structural debris: tail planes, wings and the tail of G-ANCI.
Edward Symmons sent out a final communication in August 1973 advertising a variety of BAC 1-11 400 series inspection and maintenance tools, Trident 1E 140 airframe and undercarriage parts, instruments, radio equipment, tooling and Spey engine parts. Ironically, after all the problems Channel had experienced with their Trident spares inventory, they were now struggling to get rid of them! The parts were sold by closed bid and removed by September 21st 1973, eighteen months after the airline had ceased flying.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FINAL FLEET?
* The BAC 1-11s were assured on a home, but not immediately. G-AWKJ had been ferried to Southend from Stansted in October 1971 and was flown on to Hurn on 9th February 1972. It had been repurchased by BAC who re-registered it G-B111. It moved on to Air Hanson before being sold in 1974, becoming the presidential aircraft of the Republic of the Philippines. Appropriately registered RP-C1, it retained a golden tail and remained with the President for 12 years. G-AWEJ proved harder to sell and was eventually sold to Cambrian as G-BBMG. Delivered on September 5th 1973, it was probably the last airliner painted in Channel colours.
* Comet G-ARDI was finally broken-up at Southend in autumn 1972. XA-NAP was finally stripped-out at Stansted and destroyed at the Fire School during the next year or so. The balance of spares may have gone to Dan Air who picked-up the four serviceable Comets at a very reasonable rate. Despite the dilapidated appearance of the Channel aircraft, they went on to have a reasonable career with Dan. G-APMB and G-APYC were retired in December 1978. The former was sold to Gatwick Handling as a cabin trainer and remained in use at LGW until around 2004 when it was broken-up. G-APYC was sold to the MoD and briefly used to train SAS troops at RAF Kemble. G-APYD has been preserved at the Science Museum’s Wroughton collection, G-APZM was scrapped at Lasham during September 1980. Dan Air also picked-up much of Channel’s IT business out of Berlin.
* Viscount 812 G-ATVR had been stripped for spares at Stansted and moved to the Board of Trade Fire School in 1971. Little remained of the hulk by 1978 and it was finally scrapped in 1980. G-ATVE was cut-up at Southend, the cockpit section passing to the British Historic Air Museum just across Aviation Way, Southend. Oddly, it was subsequently painted in British Midland colours. When the BHAM closed in 1983, the Viscount cockpit was sold to Dussledorf and was displayed on the observation deck at the German Airport. It subsequently moved to Stuttgart and Bad Honnef. G-ATUE, G-AVIW and G-AVJL were all sold to Alidair and flew from Southend to East Midlands. G-ATUE, however, was only used for spares following its delivery flight on 28th May 1972. Subsequently broken-up by Tame Valley Alloys around March 1977, the majority of the scrap was taken to their Wilnecote yard in Tamworth. The forward fuselage and cockpit was due to go to 1122 Squadron Air Training Corps, but this never happened and the nose section joined the rest in March 1978 (details from www.vickersviscount.net). G-AVIW and G-AVJL flew on with Alidair for almost three years before being sold to Far Eastern in January and April 1975.
* Dove G-ANVU proved to be a great survivor. Sold to Gerald Thomas Lee on 1st August 1972, it departed Southend for Biggin Hill. It was later bought by Dove enthusiast Mike Keegan to act as a company hack following his sale of C-47 G-AJRY in South Africa. Joining Keegan in early 1984, the Dove sported a similar colour scheme to the C-47, complete with the large ‘K’ on the fin. It was later sold via Aces High and left the British register in 1986. In the 2010s it joined Osterlens Air Museum in Sweden, where it remains along with a lot of SAABs!
* Four of the Herons were purchased by Staravia and road-freighted to their Lasham parts yard. G-APKW and G-AXFH were both sold to Peters Aviation. Delivered on May 5th, ‘KW was registered to Peters on 9th June 1972. It had a spell in Cyprus as 5B-CCD post-January 1976 but was back with Fairflight in Kent by 23rd May 19(77?). The Heron later departed for Thailand as HS-EAA in 1980 and was scrapped at Bangkok in 1986. G-AXFH was delivered to Peters at Norwich on 11th May 1972. It was registered to owner Brumstead Holdings on 7th December 1977 and passed to Air Anglia on 28th December 1978. They owned it until autumn1979 when it was bought by Channel Islands dealers Pan Universal Aircraft Services.It probably flew on lease with (sanctions busters) St.Lucia Airways at some stage during this 1978 to 1981 period before returning to nominal UK-ownership with Surrey car hire company Hurst Rent-a-car and Topflight Aviation of Fairoaks. Cancelled by the CAA on 19th December 1990 it was reportedly axed the following year at either Southend or Exeter.
* The fate of the two Rapides G-AEMH and G-AKRN has prompted much speculation over the years. I saw them loaded onto an AT(E)L truck on August 31st. They were delivered to Ian Jones’ sister’s farm at Latchingdon, near Burnham-on-Crouch and, despite intentions to restore them, they remained there in poor condition in September 1975 (1). It seems likely that parts of both aircraft were transferred to Ley Farm, Chirk, near Wrexham at a date sometime between 1978 and 1981 to assist with the rebuild of G-AIUL. The latter Rapide was reportedly previously owned by the BHAM at Southend before being sold to Ian Jones and trucked to Chirk in September 1978 – more supporting information would be useful to confirm the sale. Rebuild work is reported (1) to have commenced in October 1979 and been ongoing as late as September 1995. Photos taken at Ley Farm in 2022 (see below) confirmed that Dragon Rapides G-AJBJ, G-AKOE and G-AIUL continued to be restored. The hangar looks like it is filled with Rapide components, so there may even be parts of the two Channel aircraft hidden away!
(1) From Air Britain DH89 history. The CAA database G-INFO records both as being ‘destroyed’ on 14th February 1973.
* Tiger Moth G-ANNN appears to have fared slightly better than the Rapides. It had been purchased by EAFS in 1954 but never restored to flying condition and cancelled from the register as ‘reduced to spares’ in 1959. However, the fuselage emerged from the Tradair hangar in 1972 and was duly sold to Tom Pate of Hollybush, Ayr, as a source of spares for Tiger G-AREH. Nonetheless, the same owner registered ‘NNN in its own right on 14th July 1986 and it remained on the British register until 20th February 1996. Sold (officially on the following day) to Henry Cox of Bristol, the Tiger was stored at Frogland Cross. Permanently withdrawn from use on November 6th 2000, the Moth moved steadily north-eastwards to Eccleshall, Staffs, Stixwold, Lincs and, eventually, the Thorpe Camp Museum adjacent to the old Woodhall Spa air base. Components were use to build a Tiger Moth replica, British Aircraft Preservation Society # 409, more recently G-JHAW. Some parts may also have been use in the construction of replica Fokker DV-111 G-CIHU. (2)
* Perhaps one of the most surprising survivors from the 1972 disposal sale is the Short Scion G-AEZF. Built in 1937 at the Pobjoy factory in Rochester as one of 7 Scions due to be completed under licence to Shorts, ‘ZF had a fascinating history. Constructed as a floatplane, ‘ZF was first flown from the River Medway on December 9th 1937 by Short’s Chief Test Pilot John Parker before being shipped to Elder’s Colonial Airways in Sierra Leone. Shipped home at the start of WW2, the Scion was fitted with a conventional undercarriage and allocated to the Empire Test Pilots School. Demobilised in 1947, the Scion joined Air Couriers and served with various civil operators until CofA expiry at Croydon in May 1954. Moved to Redhill in 1958, the aircraft was acquired by the newly-formed Tradair and moved to Southend for restoration. Following Tradair’s sale to Channel in 1962, the Scion sat outside the Tradair hangar in an incomplete, and steadily deteriorating, condition until 1972. It moved to the British Historic Air Museum in 1972 but no restoration was accomplished before the museum’s closure. The hulk moved a couple more times before returning, once again, to Redhill. It was rescued by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society who, with six main volunteers and a 40,000 pound grant from the Rochester Bridge Trust, managed to restore it to static dispaly condition. During August 2025, it has been displayed inside the nave of Rochester Cathedral (3).
(2) Air Britain history of DH82.
(3) From the Facebook page of Short Bros- Aviation Pioneers- Kent.
* The two aero engines which I bought passed on to 1163 Squadron Air Training Corps in Earls Colne. 1163 already had a complete Gipsy Queen engine from the Stansted Fire Training School and it was planned to use the partial Gipsy Queen from Southend to make a sectional model of an aero engine. Easier said than done! A couple of cylinders were cut in half and the engine partially dissembled and labeled. But the result was never as good as anticipated. The Gipsy Six was too good to mess around with. Eventually, the Squadron had to move when the school where it was based closed in 1977. I reacquired ‘my’ two engines and offered them via the British Aircraft Preservation Council. Through the good offices of BAPC’s Paul Schofield, Mike Hodgson of the Lincolnshire Aviation Society requested the two Gipsy Queen engines and these were delivered during late June 1977.
The Aeroplane Collection, formerly the Northern Aircraft Preservation, were keen to obtain the Gipsy 6 and I delivered it to their workshop at Barton Airfield, Manchester. The Collection’s current website gives a list of their inventory of engines: they have one stand-alone Gipsy 6 which, they say, is from a Vega Gull. Consequently, it seems likely that the ex-Channel Gipsy 6 was fitted to the Collection’s Rapide G-ADAH.
* The Channel documentation which I had gathered at the last moment before it was destroyed took-up a good deal of space. Loughborough & Leicester Air Museum expressed an interest and, I believe, picked-up much of the paperwork from Essex in 1977. I kept some of the more interesting items: Dakota C of As, Bristol Freighter log books, Channel’s operational logs etc. The rest included substantial numbers of freight manifests, record cards, aircraft servicing information etc.
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