Saying 'Goodbye' To RAF Marham's Victor Aircraft Gate Guardian ✈️ | Forces TV
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- Опубліковано 12 жов 2020
- Read more on this story👉www.forces.net/news/sad-day-f...
Farewells have been paid to RAF Marham's gate guardian which is to be scrapped after falling into near disrepair.
A small event has been held at the Norfolk base, with those who have an affiliation to the Victor aircraft invited to see her one last time.
Marham's Victor will be replaced by a Tornado in the near-future.
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#Victor #RAFMarham #Aircraft
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All the British planes from that period looked so futuristic. They often remind me of that tv show the Thunderbirds.
RTL 2 rocket transport in The Cham Cham.
Worlds 5th largest defence budget but can't look after its proud history. Sad state of affairs.
From what I am lead to beleive is that the Victor was owned by a local farmer who asked for it to be displayed, when he died his son was sole beneficiery and he had no interest in the aircraft and because it was not a MOD recognised gate guardian there was on budget for it upkeep and thats whey it is in the condition it is in now.
Looking after a rusty plane?
What’s the point of wasting our very limited budget on the past? Yeah, it’s sad, but we don’t have the budget to spend on things like this.
@@dartt51 I also heard the same when I asked someone on the base why she looked so shabby 10 years or so ago.
@@j.4354 well yh - it's called having a peacetime budget and priorities. If you haven't realised spending money on a rusty aeroplane isn't the best use of resources at the moment, no matter how sensitive or sentimental.
Very poor advert for the Royal Air Force, the aircraft looks in a terrible state of repair and the Stn Cdr with his hands in his pockets
Why put pockets on the uniform if not to put your hands in them? It's not like the guy is on parade.
@@slacko1971 officers are always on parade!
@@slacko1971
If the lower ranks did this they would soon get a b*llocking
The Station Commander is a disgrace.
The other state of repair would be in pieces at a scrap yard
I've seen far worse looking outdoor displays. You mean to tell me they couldn't find volunteers to paint and seal it? Take donations to cover costs. Hell, here's one American who would gladly contribute to such a fund!
Shameful.
itll probably just collapse in respray, the whole thing is just as fragile as paper, you can see the closeups of it with the paint peeling off, exposed rust etc etc
I know it's your money but given everything going on right now - you'd rather donate to a rusty airplane on a roundabout 5000 miles away than everything else you can donate to? No offence but....
Somebody ring Jeremy Clarkson he has a big enough garden !!!!! Save the old girl
😁
And in 20 years that Tornado will be in the same sad state and willbe scrapped to be replaced by a plastic JSF.
It's a shame she has to go, such a beautiful aircraft. If you are interested in seeing her sister XH672 is at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, just down the road from me. Stunning aircraft.
Hiya.Just made a late but similar comment.Len,Shifnal.
"near disrepair" I've seen a hell of a lot worse.
Apparently the inside is barely holding together 🤷♂️
A disgrace it's been allowed to get in that state in the first place 😡
True. But if she wasn't put there shed have only been scrapped decades ago.
We dont have the money to waste on maintaining old aircraft - thats what museums are for
No surprise given that the RAF changed N's gravestone at RAF Scampton (Guy Gibson's black labador), and are now allowing dreadlocks and pony tails to be worn rather than a haircut because ticking diversity box! Balls to diversity. Make me feel ashamed to have been part of the Air Traning Corps as a teenager..
On a brighter note, at least Marham's getting a Tonka to replace the Victor.
@@TachyonDriver oh I thought that comment was bad enough until I read the air cadet part. I'm sure your glorious service as a air bear was well appreciated. But besides that what does new dress regulations have to do with the upkeep of a gate guard?
@@TachyonDriver wow, your a hero air cadet. My grandad served with distinction in WW1. Wounded and the last man at his machine gun post, given a medal for his troubles. He taught me to never judge people by race, colour or creed.
The role the Victors undertook refuelling Vulcan 607, and each other during the mission to bomb Port Stanley runway during the Falklands conflict was amazing.
Yes, probably doesn’t fit in with the modern F35 image for Marham. Another miss by the RAF a bit like the grave at Scampton!
British engineering at its best, never to be repeated.
English grammar at its best lol. Apostrophe alert!
@@tonylockhart1963 ?
@@Dandeknee there was an “it’s” in the above post. 😉 Edited since my reply.
Hands in pocket! Not in my day. Where is the SWO?
Poor decision, this airframe deserves better and the RAF need to review their plans. Typical shortsighted bean counting . Disgraceful really.
J. We already have more of these planes that are still in good shape. You can’t rescue every plane. This one will keep the others in shape
@@damedusa5107 indeed. We have four in museums. Maybe a home could be found for it in a US museum, as I don’t believe there is a Victor there?
I will always have fond memories of RAF Marham. I was TDY there in 1977 for six weeks flying a B-52 H as part of the annual SAC-RAF Bombing competition. It was like stepping back to WW II in 12 O'clock High. I will never forget the elderly groundskeeper trimming the shrubs while wearing his coat and tie and whistling the songbirds down to perch on his finger while he talked to them. Great memories of the Brits and the countryside around Marham.
RAF hands in pocket say no more !!! Slack !!!
@Rob Wilton - Oh? What Air Force is he from? I’m intrigued as he’s clearly wearing RAF insignia.
When you do an Ally job, you can do what you want.
@Rob Wilton - Wales does not have it’s own Air Force. As I stated previously, the guy is very clearly wearing RAF insignia.
Whatever Air Force he should not have his hands in his pocket- lacking discipline
He's Harry Staish. Does as he pleases...
During the early 70's I was an ATC Cadet and in 1974 our summer camp was at Marham.
A "highlight" of that camp was the the mobilisation of what appeared to be all of the Victor tankers on the base in the middle of the night, at about 4am if my memory serves (I was 17 at the time, I'm 63 now). It was the occasion of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and apparently the Victors were off to set up a relay so that some fighters could position to Cyprus, I believe it was a bunch of Lightnings on their way there.
While there we all got shown around the inside of one of the K1's that were still on the airfield and being replaced with K2's. They wouldn't let us into the K2's and there were a number of holes in the instrument panels of the back seats of the K1 which I assume were where certain instruments had been removed.
There were also Canberra's operating from Marham at the time, I can't recall the unit.
They had also "borrowed" a couple of Chipmunks from the local UAS or AEF for us to have our air experience during camp.
Our camp photo was taken in front of the Valiant bomber gate guard. It was the last of it's type and was in grey/green camouflage at the time, it's now at Cosford painted white.
Our ATC Squadron (342) had a soft spot for the Victor, back at our Squadron HQ we had the Victor trophy presented annually to the best cadet it was a wooden model of a Victor mounted on a column attached to a wooden base. It was painted in camouflage colours and was slightly bigger than 1:72 scale, I believe that it may have been a donated wind tunnel model.
Hands in pockets?
Shoddy!!!!
This is absolutely staggering, it is repairable, anything is repairable, it’s just time and money, the money that’s wasted and the RAF can not set aside some budget to save her. Sad times
Just a destruction of history. Once there we're 5 Victors in preservation, now there is only 4. It's a waste, once it's gone it's gone, and it's a real shame that it's the RAF who are scrapping it
@@SteveDentonClassics Quite. They should donate it to a museum, including abroad where it would be a fantastic advert for British design and engineering. This aircraft is a work of art.
It was offered to the open market, but, the poor old thing was beyond recovery. The fuselage was sagging. It was cracked and corroded beyond help. The uk armed forces don’t have spare cash and manpower laying around for this sort of project. Just take a look at the Duxford Victor: horrifically expensive, and it’ll take many, many years.
The taxpayer needs a streamlined RAF, now it has one.
@@tonylockhart1963 No, no, no, if the RAF spent a fraction of it's current budget on preservation, cutting waste and concentrating of what they are there for, protecting the public, this airframe could still be saved, indeed if it had not been neglected over the years it could still be flying. Are there RAF people on the base who would give a few hours of their spare time, if not RAF personnel
interested aviation groups to maintain this Victor...... but wait, I forget, like so much else in our great Country, serving in our forces or public services might just now be considered just a job by the employers but not so by the majority of the public I know so get your hands out of your pockets Base Commander. Within 100 miles radius of where you are standing over 150000 British and American airmen lost their lives during WW2 fighting Nazis, for all the people of what we now call the Free World.
Imagine Marham having to find somewhere to put this lot, just for old time’s sake lol:
Victor
Tornado
Canberra
Hendon
Harrow
Wellington
Stirling
Mosquito
Washington
Valiant
Where on Earth would you put them? Who would pay for it all?
It's a hard one isn't it!
I'm a child of the 60s so grew up with the whole plethora of different types in the RAF , Hunters,Buccs,Nimrod, Vulcan, Canberra,Phantom,Harrier etc ...the list is endless and I was lucky enough to see them all fly at airfields and airshows throughout the 70s 80s and 90s ....but we just don't have the climate in the UK for aircraft to stand outside and you only have to look at the many wonderful Museaum up and down the country that struggle with aircraft outside in all weathers.
It's a shame but in these economically stretched times we have to put sentimentalism to one side.
I was privileged to visit the wattisham Phantoms graveyard , it was enough to make you want to cry. Once mighty aircraft confined to a sad end at the smelters.
Maybe if she had been put under a shelter 25 years ago we would not be at this sad state of affairs :(
Officer with hands in pockets. Idle
First time I am seeing this aircraft.She is absolutely gorgeous
Such a shame she has to go, but all good times must come to end. Long live the Victor.
All things have to end but a shame these birds weren’t designed with being able to be modernised. Had that been thought out in the design stage, we probably would’ve still been able to see her in the RAF 100 flypast. We could afford a carrier with catapults and f-4s but couldn’t afford to make sure our platforms could be modernised like the b-52.
My Late Father, Bill McGuire MBE, worked his last posting at Marham, as a Warrant Officer (AE) on the Victor Simulator. God Bless the RAF and all of those who serve
BBMF is proof it doesn't.....
another piece of UK history going,be nothing left soon,stop foreign aid budget and keep our history alive and more importantly look after our ex service personnel
It’s nothing to do with foreign aid. If we stopped contracting everything out to the private sector, throwing away money and income, constant downsizing of government, we might have the income and capability to better maintain history. It’s the free market economy and constant destruction of the public sector in favour of corrupt private contracts that results in this mess.
@@finol6127 Complete nonsense. The Private sector contracting is far from perfect and there are plenty of things I'd like them kept out of but they are only able to gain government contracts because the public sector has been so grossly wasteful.
Government hasn't been downsized. It's been growing rapidly since the 90's and now 45% of our GDP is spent on it and yes, foreign aid is a part f that and for all the good it does it would be far better spent on Defence.
@@highlands ha ha very carefully worded I notice ‘since the 1990s’. Yes of course it has expanded since the 1990s 😂 what we were left with at the end of the 1980s was a government that had destroyed every source of its own income it had and whilst it left the working and middle class with more money in the short term, it opened the flood gates to foreign buyouts and the growth of the top 1% in the service sector boom. All whilst leaving public sector workers unemployed and British industry a burned out husk of its former self.
@@highlands want more spending on defence? Stop the Tories from failing to tax giants like Amazon and Apple. As well as giving colossal tax breaks to TNCs that only invest money in the country to drain it of wealth through the service sector rather than actual infrastructure or industrial sector investment.
Pima County Air and Space Museum in Tucson, AZ will take her and a Valiant And a Vulcan if you can. Plenty of dry storage. We've A B-29/50/36/52/58 /66 (Canberra) a Shacklleton and soon a B-2. Be wonderful to see the V Force there!
doubt itll ever be able to get there, whole thing is just rust and fragile as hell
There is only one Valiant and it is secure at Cosford.
@@GLee-lk3rf - Just the kind of plane for Kermit Weeks at Fantasy of Flight - a man that will restore anything that comes his way......
@@RA76951 Hasn't he had a Lancaster for 30 odd years and done nothing with it.
Still one is the coolest looking aircraft in aviation history.
I did 2 tours at RAF Marham, I remember getting voluntold to help clean the Victor when my Sqn was away on det . (didn't go for some reason!) this was about 2002 it was a wreck then, really badly corroded, and covered in green slime/algae. As the guy said in the VT it was designed to fly not to sit out in the open. At least there are a few preserved Victors around, and I'm sure there's a UA-cam video of one at bruntingthorpe 'accidently' getting airborne.
Such a futuristic stunning design. I has the pleasure of seeing this old girl 20 years ago when I visited Marham to carry out work on the fire trucks. It's very sad that it can't be preserved. The V bombers epitomised all that was great about our country and its aerospace development.
The Victor has always been my favourite of the 3 . . .
Such a shame , we can restore medieval ships, but lack any imagination in looking after these wonderful planes 😢
I think, it’s a beautiful bird, truly artistic, always a favourite of mine. 🇬🇧👍👍👍
Had the pleasure of working on the Victor at the Handley Page factory from 1964 to 1969 when it closed. Best of the V bomber force, a beautiful aircraft.
Insane that this valuable and historical AC is going to the scrap yard.. dozens of museums worldwide would jump at the chance to restore this bird.
My late Brother, Ronald Gill, was a Fireman at RAF Marham.
He demobbed I believe in 1968, after injuries sustained in a Hit and Run road accident.
We lost him April 5th 2019 to Cancer.
RIP Aer Kid! 💔
Badly turned out, slouching stance, senior Officer with hands in pockets. They couldn’t even jet wash down a trusted old gate guardian who served well in the Falklands and Gulf War I for the camera crews. What a really poor advert for the RAF.
The whole video has angered me beyond words! From Stn Comd with hands in pockets to what will be the final destruction of this iconic aircraft. I shall stop there........
Absolutely agree! Maybe the SWO should have gone to have a word in the Staish's shell-like 🤔
I was in Duxford IWM on Thursday and they’re refurbishing a Victor it’s back to base metal at the moment they have an awful lot of work ahead of them.
Awesome, you mentioned the crew chiefs. Thank you for sharing. Awh, the days of real wrench turning... No I didn't work on this type but same era.
Such a shame. Still an incredibly futuristic looking aircraft even now. Pleased that she is being replaced by a Tornado, but I hope they will look after the Tornado better than this, otherwise this sad state of affairs will be repeated again in another 25 years😢.
A full enclosure to keep out the UK weather would do the job.
Sadly, the fate of former gate guardians aren't always happy ones. I remember RAF Lossiemouth had a Fairey Gannet as one. Nowadays, she's somewhere in the Scottish countryside, exposed, rusted and rotting away.
@@commandingjudgedredd1841 very sad
I can't believe that the Tornado's are becoming gate guards. They were cutting edge when I was in the RAF.
Where is the SWO? He/She needs to pass on advice regarding hands and pockets to the "Staish"
Here's an original thought, how about keeping the Victor in situ, doing her up a bit to preserve, AND stick the Tornado on a pole next to the Victor.
That way the bean counters get two for the price of one, look how much money that would save !!
The victor is gorgeous, crazy futuristic looking
You can’t save everything. There are Victor’s that have been saved and can be viewed. Life has to move on. The one thing I do find strange with RAF heritage though, is why they never considered having a Cold War equivalent to the BBMF, where they had a memorial flight of V bombers and fighters. However the RAF Cold War display at RAF Cosford is well worth a visit.
You do know that both the BBMF and the Red Arrows have escaped being axed in the past? It is clear that the UK suffers badly compared to many other countries from lack of pride in military heritage...
@@RA76951 The Red arrows will go, their jets are approaching their 30th birthday, they are worn out and cost at least £100 million a year to run. BAe would have loved to keep a line open to replace them but it costs money. It's goodbye to Scampton, fine, Government MOD cost cutting policy. Along with Biggin Hill the two most famous RAF stations in our history. After all the 'new' University of Lincoln will need extra housing space to thrive, just up the road that Scampton can provide. I never saw a need for a University of Lincoln during the many years I lived near there. It had a world beating engineering industry. It will only become aware to Governments of any political persuasion that they are wrong when it is too late. Look back to what a Labour Government did to ours, one of the finest aircraft industries in the world by penny pinching in the 1960's. No wonder we don't teach history in our schools anymore. Guess who picks up the bill though.
RAF pilots with their hands in their pockets - whatever next!!
Cut that crew list off the fuselage, mount it and keep it safe for their families to see. Those are the Crabs that kept this wonderful aircraft in service.
Thankyou for your SERVICE GOD BLESS YOU 💎
got cold hands mate?
A sad ending for such a distinguished Bomber!
She was actually a 3-point air-to-air refuelling tanker as she stands there in her last incarnation.
It’s not the fact it has to go, it’s the fact that looking at it nobody on the station bothered to look after it. Just let it sit there and rot. Cosford has a great selection of V bombers to see, and they are looked after. Served two years here, with the Vs, and it was great, the planes the crews and the station, now we are down to 9 to 5 Air Force, a station that needs a coat of paint, married quarters that are run down. Now to add insult, they can find resources to dump a tornado there, how? All because of a lack of pride in the best service and sadly the station itself, how?
I love Victors, properly sci fi, wish more planes had followed this style.
She seems to be going to the same fate as her predecessor the Valliant that used to stand guard at Marham across from opps block as you go around the hangers. At my time at Marham 70-74 the old Valliant watched over the airfield whilst the Victors did their stuff. What happened to it I wonder?
XD818 is in the RAF Museum at Hendon, resplendent in all-over white anti-flash paint job!
She's the one that dropped the H-bomb on Christmas Island in the 50's.
@@gargk999 It was moved a few years ago to Cosford. Back in the 80’s during my time at Marham I had numerous chances to go inside the Valiant but never did. Kick myself now!!
@@juleshathaway3894 lucky went inside the Valiant a few times during open days at Marham.....i lived there early 70s
I think it's more the people at the RAF who need replacing, not so much the aircraft
I love the RAF but the modern RAF have made some truly abhorrent decisions
I remember stumbling out the rugby club absolutely bladdered. Me and another few rocks climbed inside this from the undercarriage, and got chased by the RAF Coppers 😉😉😉😉 Oh the memories of SD814!!!!
Shocking, so sad it can't be kept and restored, an amazing looking aircraft.
There four preserved, two in taxi-able condition at Bruntingthorpe and Elvington, one at RAF Cosford and one at Duxford. And yes it IS an amazing looking aircraft, best looking of the V Force.
What a shame it is being scrapped! Surely there is a museum it can go to?
How things have changed, a Group Captain with his hand in his pockets, shocking. 😭😭
The RAF should be ashamed of letting this Victor go to ruins. How difficult is it. Are there no volunteers?
beautiful aircraft.
Surely as a gate guardian for the last 25 years it should have been maintained in good condition to make an impression as you enter the base.
Intellectually i can fully understand the advantages of breaking for spares but emotionally I still remember the Victors carrying liquid sunshine to her Majesties foes.
I still think they were the most visually arresting Aircraft this Country has ever produced, not exactly beautiful like a Mosquito but quite overtly menacing.
Damn! These were flying here at RAF St Athan when I was a kid. V Bombers were the dinosaurs of the skies to us. Sorely missed.
It's a crying shame... It's a beautiful aircraft, l hope at least one is saved... Inside out of the elements, perhaps more? Thanks for the story! Melancholy for sure.
They have a couple saved already. From what I gathered reading the comments someone private owns this plane. He died and his son didn't want it. The base itself didn't own it either. So I guess no one wanted to pay for it to get repaired. Apparently the training program it's going too will use it well.
What a saddening story of failure. What a shame .
My Dad used to be liaison between RAF and Rolls Royce for these great looking aircraft. He regularly visited Marham supporting the engines. Sad to see it go.
A very sad day indeed. Sadly totally understandable. Another piece of history lost to the reclaimers.
It's a shame , that is a gorgeous piece of futuristic art and one of the best ever, as our wasrships and historic aircraft in US end up destroyed or in the boneyards wrapped up
Disgraceful state of affairs that this legacy is being destroyed and on the other end of the so called lack of funding spectrum employing 110 cultural diversity officers.
Sad. She's beautiful.
Remember walking past this to go and get keys from the guard house to open up the painter and finisher Bay just my luck station commander R F Garwood driving past so had to salute felt like a right div good times.
Disgraceful. Where's the SWO? "GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF YOUR POCKETS. - SIR"
No mate. Concord flew at mach 2.
I hope it finds a new home and not scrapped or dumped somewhere
We should be so proud of our RAF. Similar age, similar role, B-52H about to be given another 25 years service life, last flying V bomber was kept in the air by charitable donations.. and now we watch this old girl get scrapped along with all the other great British planes of days gone by. Also very surprised to see an RAF Stn Commander with hands in pockets!!
Get that grow bag off and put on your blues!
Still looks futuristic
What a disgrace, it should be kept in better condition. Get those on confined to barracks for breaches of conduct, volunteers, Air Cadets, dole recipients as part of their responsibilities to look after it. Think outside the square to get things done at minimal cost.
RAF officer using American gloves where was the SWO then you need him.
It just looks like it means business.
The USA puts us to shame in preserving aircraft, why not donate to a museum? , what a way to preserve history
Wow amazing.
It will fit in my garden, happy to take it.
If they just build a roof structure over these they wouldn't get wrecked by the weather.
@Viktor Sligo By that logic a bus stop shelter is a museum also?
I hope the cockpit gets saved. It would be a shame to have her completely scrapped and nothing left for people to see. I know the cockpit is empty but it would still make a good display piece in a private collection.
Reminds me USS Enterprise CVN-6
Still a mean looking aircraft
Why couldn't they've put her in a museum I think it's wrong for it to be scrapped
They never thought of a roof over it, would of saved it from massive rot! How the mighty have fallen.
Group Captain James Beck says of the Victor
Black Buck really showed 'em - they had to content themselves with sinking 6 British ships (7 counting Glasgow) & many more damaged. All of those attacks originated from the mainland, their own centres of gravity I supposed you'd call them.
Black Buck achieved nothing - it was just an eye-catching stunt.
Harriers, both RN & RAF were much more relevant.
Neither the Harriers nor Vulcan/Victor could reach the mainland & the chance of ditching in freezing waters well away from British shipping was very high(for Black Buck crews).
The submarine threat did however scare them a great deal.
Fleet carriers(R05 & R09) would have scared them even more as Buccaneers could have easily demolished mainland assets.
Walked and drove by this beaut for 2 years on way to TPF UETF Good days
looks absolutely fine
I’m ex 57 and 55 , I remember the guys moving this old girl. Such a tragedy. Sat and rotted and couldn’t be given away.
This is outrageous! No amount of corporate rhetoric can argue for this wonderful aircraft's destruction. There must be a benefactor who would rescue it..
No. It really was well past being rescued.
If you want to see a Victor, just go to Duxford or Cosford!!!
A truly tragic state of affairs.
I've been to Marham a few times, but I've never been through the gate!
Where have they gone ? RAF pilots are brilliant. The chinook guys picked us up in any situation.
How could they do such a thing? I flew in the jump seat in 1971 when refuelling. Nerve wracking.
Please someone just buy it and please dear God save it from being scrapped
All things must come to pass. built when we we could build designed without limitation
It's a sad that we know have to import
How can he stand there abs state how important the aircraft was yet vindicate the decision to destroy it? Should have been looked after not left to rot.