A visit to the Midland Air Museums Whitley wreckage at Coventry:

As you may know, the largest section of Whitley 'in captivity' was
the fuselarge section at the Midland air museum in Coventry. They
also have a small display there dedicated to the Whitley (which is
the name of the place where the Armstrong Whitworth factory was
located) with various artifacts.

I visited the museum today (4/07/02) to see what state the wreckage
was in. They have a section of fuselarge, about 8 feet long, ending
at the rear turret position. They also have one tail plane with a
fin. Both of these are recognisable for what they are and even have a
little of the original paint scheme visible but both are in very poor
condition. The sections are from N1498 which crashed near Inverness.
It doesn't say so, but I suspect the wreck has spent some time under
water judging by the corrosion.

They also have the pilots rudder pedals and throttle console and the
front gun-turret pedals plus two prop blades (off a different
aircraft).

The labels on the wreckage say that this is 'all that remains of the
Whitley'.
Oh no it isn't! This wreckage is now drawfed by the wing sections
from Glen Esk, which seemed to have survived the years much better.

I've opened a new folder in the photos section called "Midland air
museums fuselarge" and uploaded some pictures there.

There has been talk of including this wreckage in the rebuild. It's
not for me to say but I would have thought the condition is so poor
it might be harder to restore these components than to start again!
They are of course valuble as patterns - note the complete fuselarge
frame on the wall.

Steve Reynolds.