This Page will be updated to keep you informed of what ARGOS is up to over the months. Projects, Events News.
30/07/2010. The group has just completed it`s first large scale excavation, a Seafire in Rendall,Orkney, that collided with another Seafire on 3/2/1943. A successful dig with around 30-35% of the aircraft being recovered, 2x20mm hispano cannons, engine, supercharger parts,oil pump, and many other parts which are now undergoing treatment for preservation and display. More on this event can be found on the Seafires page of Orkney Projects, also in our ARGOS Media page. Some footage showing the type of exercise carried out by these aircraft can be found on our videos page and an interview with group member William Shearer recorded on the morning of the dig can be found on the fore mentioned Seafire page in Orkney Projects.
29/07/2010. It is sad to relate that Mike Crossley RN D.S.C.& Bar died on 20th July 2010. Mike was Commanding Officer of 880 Squadron at Hatston,Orkney and was also author of the excellent book `They Gave Me A Seafire`. You can read his obituary here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/naval-obituaries/7907413/Commander-Mike-Crosley.html
09/07/2010
01/07/2010. In the `Orcadian` this week was report of a seaplane that landed in Kirbister Loch, a float struck a rock after the aircraft drifted after landing but no damage was caused, the American Pilot Martin Pickard and companion Marga Garcia who is a phographer stayed at nearby Foinhaven B&B before departing on Sunday for Norway. Some video footage of the aircraft a Cessna reg N206MX taking off from the loch can be seen on our video page, it is understood that this is the first aircraft to ever make a landing in the loch.
19/06/2010. The Summer issue of our magazine `The Argonaut` has now been published is is available either direct from Kevin Heath, or at two outlets in Kirkwall and Stromness (See our Group Mag page for details) Also four new members joined the group this month and more interesting items have come to light around the isles. Talks continue regarding a future museum and a number of buildings have been inspected for a potential site. We continue to build our website adding new features when we can and you can find what`s new on our Updates page. Thanks to all the families of aircrew that have been in touch and donated info and photographs from their personal collections, it really makes everything worthwhile in ensuring that their relatives are not forgotten.
05/06/2010. The Spitfire display along with a replica WW1 SE5A and Pitts Special aerobatic plane, was greeted by cheers from the crowds at Kirkwall and as Spitfire pilot Anthony Hodgson thrilled a massive crowd with great weather and blue skies, ARGOS member Bobby Forbes was ready with his camera to take some great shots of the stunning performance, here are a couple of those great pics by Bobby. See more on this event and the Spitfire history and arrival at Kirkwall on Neil Thain`s site here: http://orkneyairpower.blogspot.com/ Also see our Videos Page for some great footage taken by ARGOS member Andrew Brown.
Spitfire MK IX PT462 Over Kirkwall Harbour. Photos: Bobby Forbes.
Royal Aircraft Factory replica SE5A F5447. A great display by the owner and pilot Neil Geddes. Photo: Bobby Forbes.
Pitts Special over Kirkwall Harbour. Photo: Bobby Forbes.
Finally another low pass over the harbour by PT462. Photo: Bobby Forbes.
01/06/2010 From `The Orcadian` Spitfire display funding in place.
After surpassing the amount of money needed to take historic aircraft to Orkney, a June date has now been set for the visit of a PT462 Spitfire.This week alone, £1,350 has been donated for the event, which is planned for 7pm on June 3. Organiser, Neil Thain, said he was very grateful for all the individuals and businesses who had helped raise the £4,000 to make the show possible, with the total amount standing at £4,150. He said: "The display itself will take place over Kirkwall Bay, in a line North to South, so it will be viewable from Hatston all the way round to Carness.
29/5/2010 ARGOS members Kevin Heath and Dan Wise return to Orkney after completing a Seabotix ROV course in San Diego USA. The course was kindly funded by the Scapa Flow Landscape Patnership. The ROV will help ARGOS locate and identify aircraft underwater down to depths of 150 meters. The ROV is aso equiped with a Tritech scanning SONAR and SULA Diving kindly funded a 1 day course with Tritech in Aberdeen.
06/04/2010. Today marks the 65th Annivarsary of Capitainne Sassards crash on Skelday Hill which is marked by a composite Spitfire flying over the hill on the front of our magazine. Other news is William has been informed of a radial engine in a farm shed from a crashed aircraft, this has yet to be examined. More info has been found on local airmen for inclusion in future ARGOS magazines, and we are getting closer to identifying a mystery aircraft in Scapa Flow.
31/03/2010. A couple of articles appeared in the `Shetland Times` and `Shetland News` this week asking for interested parties to join our group,as a result we have a few more members of the team. Also in the `Orcadian` last week local man Neil Thain of St.Ola with a keen interest in wartime aviation asked for sponsers to enable an Edinburgh owned Spitfire PT462 and the BofB Hurricane R4118 to fly up to Orkney, there is already a lot of interest in the event which he hopes will take place in June, and landowner of Skeabrae Stewart Wood has given permission for the aircraft to land there should the sponsorship funding be successful. Neil, who took some aerial photos for ARGOS a while back would like to hear from anyone offering sponsorship or wanting more information, he can be contacted at 01856 878626 eve or weekends, or via e-mail at : thain@thenookorkney.com
23/02/2010. More info has come to light on the Hurricane in the Peedie Sea, and more relics have been found around the island. This month has been spent preparing the Spring edition of our magazine `The Argonaut` and cataloguing photos and updating the website.
28/01/2010. Another busy start to the new year with William having made several new contacts and discovered more relics dotted about Orkney. The airborne lifeboat used on the Warwick has been found on Hoy though in need of some restoration it is in better that expected condition. Divers have discovered further remains of a Grumman Wildcat off Hatston and ARGOS now have their licence for the Seafire in Evie.
31/12/2009. The latter weeks of 2009 were busy as ever with Kevin giving a talk on Scapa Flow aircraft wrecks on the 14th in Kirkwall, a mystery Spitfire crash landing on Faray isle has now been identified, and parts of the Warwick of Fara Isle in Scapa have been located and photographed. All in all with the formation of the group, building of the website and the launch of our quarterly journal `The Argonaut` it has been a very productive first year for ARGOS and members of the team would like to express their appreciation and heartfelt thanks to all those people who have contacted us and cooperated in our searches during the past 12 months. Happy New Year everyone.
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06/12/2009. In last weeks `Orcadian` was a small article on a Stromness man Colin Steven who after reading the two A.R.G.O.S stories on the Spitfires at Rendall & Skelday Hill placed wreaths at graves in Sandwick 3 of the airmen killed in crashes.
28/11/09. The Kirkwall branch of the Royal British Legion has paid tribute to a number of aviatiors who were killed in WW2 on and around Orkney. The legion also honoured 4 New Zealand airmen and info can be found here:
http://www.rbls-kirkwall.org.uk/Anzacdelegation.html
Other news is that the RAF fighter command building know locally as the Black building has now been completely demolished despite a number of local petitions to try and get it saved and preserved for future generations. Yet another piece of wartime heritage has been lost.
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The crash site of Spitfire TB914 has been located on Skelday Hill on Remembrance Sunday by ARGOS members Kevin Heath & William Shearer with the help of locals and in commemoration an account of the events surrounding this loss have appeared on the front page of this weeks (Thur 12 Nov) Orcadian.
Other news is that work began on publishing the first ARGOS group magazine which will be called `The Argonaut` and Issue 1 should be ready by early December.
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New Exhibition at the Orkney Museum, Tankerness House, Kirkwall
Orkney from the Air
by
Craig Taylor
The new winter season of temporary exhibitions at the Orkney Museum, Tankerness House, Kirkwall, begins this Saturday, 3rd October, with a photographic exhibition with a difference. 'Orkney from the Air' by local photographer Craig Taylor uses not only a light aircraft to get stunning shots, but also a camera suspended from a kite. This exhibition will act as a taste of what is to come, as Craig is publishing a book of his aerial photographs in November. The book and exhibition are the culmination of many years work with aerial photography, as he explains.
"I took my first aerial photographs of Orkney nearly 15 years ago and have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to photograph the islands from the air on many occasions since then.
I have taken aerial pictures throughout the changing seasons, showing Orkney in the summer months showing blue skies and blue/green seas, to later in the winter months when the islands have been covered in a thick blanket of snow and the clear northerly air gives fantastic visibility.
I discovered kite aerial photography in 2006. The idea is simple, attach a digital camera to a kite line and send it up in the air to take photographs.
However, it can be a bit like fishing as you never really know what you are going to catch if anything at all!
I have found kite aerial photography very satisfying when I get the picture I am looking for. When the wind and sun are right, using the kite camera equipment I can capture Orkney scenes from unique and unusual angles.
Aerial photographs from my kite and from aircraft both feature in the exhibition and within the pages of my first book 'Orkney from the Air' which will be launched on November 12."
'Orkney from the Air' by Craig Taylor opens at the Orkney Museum on Saturday 3rd October, and runs until the 24th October. The Orkney Museum is open Monday - Saturday, 10.30 - 12.30, 1.30 - 5.00, admission is free.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/craig_taylor_orkney/
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12/9/2009. ARGOS reports with great sadness that Sgt Colin Acton, Wireless Op/Air Gunner in F/O Jack Murray`s crew from Warwicks BV411 & BV417 passed away on 3/9/2009 aged 86, he was the youngest member of the crew.
Sgt Colin Acton.
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26/8/2009 Great new book by BAAC members Nick Wotherspoon,Alan Clark and Mark Sheldon, Aircraft Wrecks - The Walkers Guide, which includes 85 sites in the Highlands & Islands. Highly Recommended! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aircraft-Wrecks-Walkers-Historic-Mountains/dp/1844159108
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21/8/2009 Survey of Seafire MB369.
21/8/2009 ARGOS members Magnus Ritch, William Shearer and Kevin Heath relocated and surveyed the crash site of the Martlet FN284 (Brett) (see Orkney land crash sites) after being told where to search by David Earl, and local farmer Mr Flett. Work is now underway to get for a licence for this site.
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10/7/2009. People have e-mailed saying they tried to leave notes on our guestbook but kept on getting rejected, it would appear that the problem is that apart from typing in the code numbers you need to give your e-mail address, this of course is not disclosed on the guestbook but is a means of cutting down spammers. Hope this helps and we would be pleased to receive your comments on our site.
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9/7/2009 Despite Ken Hamblys best efforts it has now been decided that the Black Building WILL be demolished !!!
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16/6/2009 Well at long last myself, William Shearer, Dave Earl, Dave Ramsey and Geoff Bland did a search for one of the two Evie Seafire's. Having been shown a location by two locals who remember the crash we did a survey with the Mini Geo. The survey did show a few large deep metalic objects. A licence will now be applied for. Data from the Mini Geo will be added to the site soon !! a great bit of survey kit !!! www.lrlman.com
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28/5/2009 A new ''Membership'' page where the ARGOS membership forms can be downloaded. By joining ARGOS your membership fee will be helping us maintain the website and myself and Dave will be doing regular newsletters for ARGOS members keeping you informed of what ARGOS and BAAC are up to. It is also hoped that ARGOS members will join in on projects, like the Evie Seafire project which we hope to complete in June and a trip to Cava & Fara to look at the Balloon and AA sites.
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Black Building News
Good news at last regarding the Black Building. Historic Scotland have told me that they have asked for a delay in the demoliton of the BB to allow time for their officers to investigate the building and consider the possibility of listing it. We don't know what the outcome of that will be, but it offers the chance of a reprieve. Our case has been that it is of historic importance, so we believe that it will be listed. If Historic Scotland decides otherwise then we have no case at all. So here's hoping!
What do we do if the building is reprieved? That's when our problems (?) and hard work starts.
Ken.
Ken Hambly,
This summer we have a few sites marked out to look at, these include the Hammars Hill Spitfire and the Skua on Stronsay. Also would like to get to the bottom of the Evie Seafire story !
The TM808 and Arc Geo have now arrived so these will be a massive help in the searches giving us more depth than the standard metal detectors see: http://www.lrlman.com/ for details.
Anyone interested in helping with these projects or any others please email. We especially need more members in Shetland.
Shortly we will be sorting out ARGOS membership so anyone interested please email so I can send out membership forms !
ARGOS has now been added to the BAAC website on the Groups page !
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