DeHavilland Vampire F.3 Walkaround

[PaulBradley]

With the imminent release of Airfix's 1/48 Vampire F.3 kit, here's a small walkaround of the former RCAF F.3 at the Planes of Fame Grand Canyon.

[Stuart]

Nice pic's Paul - it's in a bit of a state isn't it - are they planning on repainting it at some point?

[PaulBradley]

Cheers, Stu! These were taken about 10 years ago, and, yes, she was in a state. The plan at the time was to restore her, but I've no idea whether that happened and their website is distinctly unhelpful; and I no longer know any of the folks working there. I had asked to boss to notify me if they were going to scrap her, as I wanted some bits, but they have never called.

[Stuart]

Cheers, Stu! These were taken about 10 years ago, and, yes, she was in a state. The plan at the time was to restore her, but I've no idea whether that happened and their website is distinctly unhelpful; and I no longer know any of the folks working there. I had asked to boss to notify me if they were going to scrap her, as I wanted some bits, but they have never called.

That's sad to hear.

[PaulBradley]

Just a follow-up. The museum closed its doors last winter forever. Apparently, Planes of Fame is building a new museum at Santa Maria, CA, to replace this and the one at Chino - airspace issues, in the case of Chino.

[PaulBradley]

Also, some walkaround photos of the F.3, VT812, at the RAF Museum:

[JamesPerrin]

I've just finally clocked why the corner of the nose wheel door is missing - I think it's so it doesn't foul the wheel when that turns. That's bugged me for years; was it short shot, is there another piece etc.

[TeeELL]

Just a follow-up. The museum closed its doors last winter forever. Apparently, Planes of Fame is building a new museum at Santa Maria, CA, to replace this and the one at Chino - airspace issues, in the case of Chino.

I visited during my Canada/USA grand tour in 2019. The Vampire was in a heap and badly deteriorated, covered in tatty tarpaulins iirc - so much so that I’ve no photographs. Even then the ‘museum’ was in a state of slow decline - not entirely surprising as it was a bit a bit off the beaten track.

[PaulBradley]

Just a follow-up. The museum closed its doors last winter forever. Apparently, Planes of Fame is building a new museum at Santa Maria, CA, to replace this and the one at Chino - airspace issues, in the case of Chino.

I visited during my Canada/USA grand tour in 2019. The Vampire was in a heap and badly deteriorated, covered in tatty tarpaulins iirc - so much so that I’ve no photographs. Even then the ‘museum’ was in a state of slow decline - not entirely surprising as it was a bit a bit off the beaten track.

I used to work there, back in the day, and the museum was perpetually short of money. The director was pretty handy and built a lot of display cases, and I built a lot of models for them, and put together a bunch of the displays . All in the best tradition of bodging.

The museum was opened halfway to the Grand Canyon in a hangar at the old GC Airport, with the thought that people would stop in either on their way to or from the Canyon, but most people just wanted to get to the Canyon or get on to their next stop and very few actually stopped. It didn't help that the tiny place where it was located was a pit. A new hangar and museum space was built but that didn't help at all. When I worked there, we were lucky to get 50 people in a day coming through.

Eventually, it was seen by the higher-up at Chino as merely more of an overflow storage facility. Investment dried up completely and I guess they eventually decided to cut their losses.