English Electric Canberra - Survivor XH568
B.6(mod) XH568 - Privately owned, Lakeport, California, USA
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Canberra B.6(mod) XH568 at Bruntingthorpe, 18th February 2006; Francis Wallace
Built as a B.6 and delivered to the Ministry of Aviation in February 1955, XH568 entered service with the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and was used by the Radar Research Establishment for Sea Skua missile homing head trials. She was converted to her unusual long nose configuration in 1970, using a nose from WG788 modified for the purpose (XH568's B.6 nose was then put on WK163!). She went back to the RAE in 1976 and flew with them from their new base at RAE Thurleigh until the airfield's closure in 1993.
She was disposed of and bought by Peter and Frances Gill in October 1993, being put on the civil register as G-BVIC ("B.6 C"anberra!), and flown to Bruntingthorpe. They formed Classic Aviation Projects in May 1994 to operate the jet on the airshow circuit, soon acquiring another pair of Canberras - WT333 and WK163 which also went to Bruntingthorpe. They had big plans for WK163 but in the mean time flew XH568 throughout 1995 and 1996 whilst work continued on returning WK163 to her record breaking configuration of 1957. Once WK163 was back in the air, XH568 was retired to become a spares source in open store at Bruntingthorpe.
By 2001 CAP were now part of Air Atlantique at Coventry, and WK163 was based there - XH568 remained at Bruntingthorpe, her engines were removed and by 2003 she was effectively derelict. CAP put her up for sale but had little luck until 2006, when Air Platforms in the USA (who were operating WT327 and XH567) expressed interest in the nose section and some assorted spares. XH568 had her nose removed and transported to the USA and the rest was then sadly scrapped in April 2006. Air Platforms became High Altitude Mapping Missions and then themselves got scrapped, with their aircraft put up for auction. Updates welcome on current ownership/whereabouts!
She was disposed of and bought by Peter and Frances Gill in October 1993, being put on the civil register as G-BVIC ("B.6 C"anberra!), and flown to Bruntingthorpe. They formed Classic Aviation Projects in May 1994 to operate the jet on the airshow circuit, soon acquiring another pair of Canberras - WT333 and WK163 which also went to Bruntingthorpe. They had big plans for WK163 but in the mean time flew XH568 throughout 1995 and 1996 whilst work continued on returning WK163 to her record breaking configuration of 1957. Once WK163 was back in the air, XH568 was retired to become a spares source in open store at Bruntingthorpe.
By 2001 CAP were now part of Air Atlantique at Coventry, and WK163 was based there - XH568 remained at Bruntingthorpe, her engines were removed and by 2003 she was effectively derelict. CAP put her up for sale but had little luck until 2006, when Air Platforms in the USA (who were operating WT327 and XH567) expressed interest in the nose section and some assorted spares. XH568 had her nose removed and transported to the USA and the rest was then sadly scrapped in April 2006. Air Platforms became High Altitude Mapping Missions and then themselves got scrapped, with their aircraft put up for auction. Updates welcome on current ownership/whereabouts!
Information on this page current as of 12/08/2021, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XH568 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net