Shuttleworth collection, The

Flight Journal, Oct 1999 by Gosling, Peter

German reconnaissance L.V.G. C.VI appears low over the trees, closely followed by a Sopwith Pup. The two aircraft circle slowly with all the appearance of an aerial ballet. There is a crackle of machine-gun fire from the Pup, and the L.V.G. slowly sinks to land on the grass close to a clump of trees. The Pup glides down to land beside it, and the pilot climbs out waving a pistol menacingly at the German crew. Within minutes, a Crossley staff car pulls up next to the downed L.V.G., and the pilot and observer are driven off into captivity. There is a roar of applause from the onlookers.

No, it wasn't the Western Front in 1917, nor was it an Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome display, but one of the highlights of a typical day's flying at the Old Warden Airfield in Bedfordshire, England, home of the Shuttleworth Collection that Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth started when he was 21.

Shuttleworth was born and raised at Old Warden Park-a typical English stately home in the Gothic style in the county of Bedfordshire. His father was a partner in a company that manufactured agricultural machinery and aircraft in WW I. After an education at Eton College, Shuttleworth joined the army. At that time, an officer in one of the "better" regiments had plenty of time to indulge in sporting pursuits; Shuttleworth concentrated on motor sports, and by 1930 had a collection of 10 vintage automobiles. In 1931, he took his first flying lessons, and when not flying, he was motor racing. In 1932, on becoming of age, Shuttleworth inherited 2 million and bought a de Havilland Cirrus Moth, G-EBWD. This aircraft was the first of his collection of vintage aeroplanes, and it still flies at Old Warden today.

His next purchase was a Comper Swift, and the collection grew slowly over the following years. By 1939, some five veteran aircraft had been acquired and renovated. Among these were a Sopwith Dove that had been restored to its original state of being a Sopwith Pup, a Bleriot, an original Deperdussin and a Blackburn monoplane. All are still in the collection and flying today.

By 1940, Pilot Officer Richard Shuttleworth was in the RAF (despite a hearing disability caused by a motor racing accident in 1936) and flew Fairey Battle light bombers at an operational training unit. Then tragedy struck. While flying a Fairey Battle at night on August 2, 1940, Richard Shuttleworth crashed and was killed. His estate, including his collection of vintage cars and aircraft, passed to his mother who, in 1944, formed the Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth Trust for the "Promotion of education and training in the science, practice and history of aviation and automotive transport."

The collection is housed at Old Warden Airfield in seven hangars in which restoration and maintenance work is carried out by a staff of four full-time and a dozen volunteer engineers. These volunteers are all members of the 2,000-strong Shuttleworth Veteran Aeroplane Society (SVAS). These dedicated enthusiasts are crucial to the preservation and restoration of the collection, which currently numbers over 40 aircraft. Some enthusiasts drive more than 100 miles to give their services; that's considered to be a long drive in England!

The first hangar was erected by Richard Shuttleworth as a storage area for his original collection of aircraft and cars. During WW II, the airfield was used as an RAF maintenance unit for training aircraft. The hangars are not heated because the collection is almost exclusively of pre-1942 aircraft. As these aircraft are mainly of wooden construction, any exposure to rapid changes of temperature would seriously compromise their structural integrity and safety, despite the use of modern materials.

Attached to the hangars are a number of workshops that aren't normally available for public view. In the workshops, we saw a complete rebuild of such rarities as a Southern Martlet, an ANEC II monoplane and a strange device known as the "Blake Bluetit," which is a homebuilt consisting of parts from other aircraft such as an Avro 504.

Not all of the collection's resources are devoted to its own exhibits. In one hangar, we saw a WW I Bristol F2B Fighter having its Rolls-Royce Falcon engine rebuilt; the work was being done on behalf of the "Brisfit's" owners, the Duxford-based Fighter Collection.

Probably the most interesting work in progress was on what is certainly one of the stars of the collection, the de Havilland DH 88 Comet Racer, G-ACSSthe collection's only twin. This elegant, wooden, two-seater named Grosvenor House was built specially to compete in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from England to Australia. Crewed by Scott and Campbell Black, G-ACSS covered the 11,200 miles in less than three days, averaging more than 230mph and beating a Douglas DC-2 by more than 20 hours. The technology that was used to build this incredible aeroplane was later used to good advantage again when de Havilland designed and built the famous Mosquito fighter/bomber of WW II.

Fifty-two years after its victory, the Comet was back in the air again, resplendent in its original all-red finish after a rebuild that had taken 14 years. Over the years, the all-wood airframe had been subjected to a number of damaging experiences. After its last flight in 1938, it had languished out in the open for many years. In 1951, its exterior cleaned up for display, it was hung from the roof of an exhibition hall at the Festival of Britain. At the close of the exhibition, the Comet was stored at the de Havilland Engine Co.'s museum. In 1965, what was left of the Comet, now little more than an engine-less shell, was acquired by the Shuttleworth Trust, where it was on static display with the propellers nailed to wooden blocks attached to the engine cowls.