Sploosher wrote:One of my contacts on flickr asked me if I knew of this at Wyton.
Apparently one of 51sqn Comets caught fire in its hangar, because security was that tight around 51 access was limited to certain personel which didnt include the firemen. So when this thing went up the MPs wouldnt let them in to put the fire out.
Can anyone throw some light on this please
This was discussed on a thread on PPRuNe some years ago.....a 'nearly' first-hand account has it like this:
"Apparently, the story goes, that the duty key orderly forgot to turn off the main hanger power. 663 was undergoing (unspecified) major modification in 4 hanger and a lead lamp was left live in the a/c. During the early evening, it ignited some part of the fuselage near the rear entrance door. The fire smouldered all night, gradually getting more severe, but still only smouldering. Apparently, the lack of available air in the sealed hangar, contributed to the smouldering, rather than a full fire. By the morning, the aircraft was virtually totally destroyed internally. Regular fire picket patrols, (because of lack of appreciable flames) failed to notice anything amiss. In their defence, they only patrolled the hangars externally and therefore the interior of the actual hangar floor space was out of vision. I actually knew one of the pickets on duty that night.
When the hanger was opened in the morning, the influx of air caused the whole fuselage to burst into flames, the nose undercarriage collapsed and the tail assembly punched a hole in the roof. The tail assembly then snapped off. As you said, the aircraft was destroyed."
Not quite as dramatic as the "your name's not on my list" but probably more realistic I would think!
By the way, the aircraft was at RAF Watton, and I believe the date of the fire was 3 June 1959
by Sploosher » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:17 pm 
