de Havilland Sea Vixen - Survivor XJ607
FAW.2 XJ607 - Queensland Air Museum, Caloundra Aerodrome, Queensland, Australia
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Sea Vixen FAW.2 XJ607 at Caloundra, 13th March 2020; Grahame Bann
The Queensland Air Museum at Caloundra is not only the home to the only full example of a Sea Vixen in the Southern hemisphere (XJ490), it also has the only Sea Vixen nose there!
XJ607 first flew in 1960 as an FAW.1 and served with 893, 890, and 899 NAS before conversion to FAW.2 standard. After that, it saw service with 893, 892, 766, and finally 890 NAS before retirement to ground instructional duties at RAF Cranwell in 1971.
By 1980 she had moved to Cosford and was disposed of in poor condition in 1987. After some attempts at restoration, the airframe was finally scrapped near Dunsfold in 1996, with QAM purchasing the nose section and transporting it to Australia in 1997, intending to use it for spares for their full Sea Vixen. However, they had a change of heart and instead restored it for use as a traveling exhibit to help promote the Museum. Bizarrely it seems some of the bits from the scrapping were buried - a tail boom from XJ607 was unearthed on a farm some miles away from Dunsfold a few years back.
The cockpit used to be kept undercover, but today it seems as though she has been pushed outside alongside their complete Sea Vixen. Hopefully, they can be put back undercover again in the near future.
XJ607 first flew in 1960 as an FAW.1 and served with 893, 890, and 899 NAS before conversion to FAW.2 standard. After that, it saw service with 893, 892, 766, and finally 890 NAS before retirement to ground instructional duties at RAF Cranwell in 1971.
By 1980 she had moved to Cosford and was disposed of in poor condition in 1987. After some attempts at restoration, the airframe was finally scrapped near Dunsfold in 1996, with QAM purchasing the nose section and transporting it to Australia in 1997, intending to use it for spares for their full Sea Vixen. However, they had a change of heart and instead restored it for use as a traveling exhibit to help promote the Museum. Bizarrely it seems some of the bits from the scrapping were buried - a tail boom from XJ607 was unearthed on a farm some miles away from Dunsfold a few years back.
The cockpit used to be kept undercover, but today it seems as though she has been pushed outside alongside their complete Sea Vixen. Hopefully, they can be put back undercover again in the near future.
Information on this page current as of 09/05/2022, last updated by Jake |
Find other photos of XJ607 on the following sites:
Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net