Offered to Brooklands, 1989
On 29 June 1989, after some negotiation, G-APIM was offered to Brooklands Museum.
In July, Brooklands' Curator of Aviation, Julian Temple, and Roger Hargreaves of Proteus Aero Services inspected the aircraft and agreed with British Air Ferries a long-term loan to Brooklands Museum for preservation and static display.
The webmaster of this site, Andy Lambert, then Managing Director of Brooklands-based National Rescue, was approached and asked to co-ordinate the recovery.
Dismantling at Southend
Between August 1989 and February 1990, Proteus' Mick Bates carried out temporary repairs to the aircraft and dismantled it ready for transport. To help him, Andy drove his AEC Militant crane, Miss Milly Tant, down to Southend. You can read more about Milly on her own website, millytant.com.
Milly spent three months at Southend as the guest of British Air Ferries, dismantling VSP. On 10 February 1990 she was joined by the Brooklands Belle, the Brooklands Conveyor and members of the Brooklands Recovery Engineering and Salvage Team to bring the fuselage home to Brooklands.
The journey home
After loading the main fuselage in appalling weather, the convoy set off for the museum. The route took it round the M25, making VSP the only Viscount ever to travel under the River Thames, through the Dartford Tunnel, on its way back to its birthplace.
Essex and Kent Police helped the team on the way to and around the M25, but the convoy was stopped by Surrey Police just one junction before the Brooklands exit. The reason given was that it was "getting too dark to travel", even though the escorting vehicles were lit up like Christmas trees! So VSP spent the night in a lay-by on the Leatherhead spur road before continuing to Brooklands the next morning.
Arrival at Brooklands
National Rescue was one of Surrey Police's official recovery operators, so after a few phone calls the next day, two very nice traffic officers met the team at the lay-by and escorted VSP the last few miles.
At Brooklands the official unloading took place in the presence of Stephen's family, together with Sir George Edwards, Morag Barton, the Mayor and Sir Peter Masefield. Over the following weeks the rest of VSP was retrieved from Southend, and Andy drove Milly back home to Brooklands. Again he was stopped by Surrey Police this time for driving too slowly on the M25 climbing Reigate Hill!
Rebuilding VSP
Mick Bates, with occasional help from Milly and other volunteers, began rebuilding the aircraft, first inside the famous Wellington Hangar and later outside on the hangar apron, where the inner wings and engines could be fitted. Working in difficult conditions, Mick rebuilt every last component to his usual high standard.
Eventually the apron was needed for work on other aircraft, so VSP was winched by the Brooklands Belle right through the museum site, sometimes with only inches to spare, and into the Aircraft Park, a short distance from where it is located today.
Once she was there, Milly fitted the outer wings, and within a few days VSP was open to the public. Ever since, a strong team of volunteers has kept her in tip-top condition.
The Friends of Viscount Stephen Piercey
In May 1990 a group called the Friends of Viscount Stephen Piercey was formed to help meet the escalating cost of restoration.
With the help of BAF and under the guidance of Tom Singfield, the Friends began running fundraising Viscount trips, usually in Viscount G-AOYN with Captain Colin Towle at the controls. They flew to all kinds of interesting places, including Le Bourget in France, Basel-Mulhouse, Jersey and Duxford, as well as several local tours, one of which included beating up Heathrow's main runway at a few hundred feet.
Trips were also laid on to fly modern jet simulators at Crawley, and to tour BAF's hangars at Southend.
Andy filmed the recovery operation and the fundraising flights.
Watch those videos on Andysvideo