Moving XR220

The following is an account by Peter Corfield of the operation to move XR220 across the airfield at RAF Henlow in April 1975 so that it could be taken to the Cosford Aerospace Museum.

"I was stationed at Transport Command, RAF Upavon, in 1965 and saw XR219 on several of its flights from Boscombe Down. It always evoked great interest and the Headquarters building would empty as my colleagues joined me outside to witness the flights. At that time the Royal Air Force was looking forward to TSR2, the supersonic Harrier (P1154) and the tactical STOL transport aircraft, the HS681. It made an impressive package. The horror that greeted the cancellation of all three projects, and the way in which TSR2 was destroyed created despair and de-motivation throughout the Service.

By 1973 I had moved on and was posted to HQ Training Command, Brampton where I found that hidden in my job description was a one-liner �'Training Command representative, RAF Historic Aircraft Committee'. My predecessor dismissed this as a waste of time, but a good excuse for a day out in London! Fortunately the Committee met shortly after I took up my post and I was able to discover that there was considerable potential to explore my own personal interest in aviation history.

I started by discovering what 'historic' aircraft existed in Training Command (apart from the ones that we were flying!). On a visit to Cosford I was shown the private collection that was used for VIP visits and trainee education, which was housed in two black hangars (now 2 and 3). A small group of enthusiasts wanted to open the collection to the public, but there was considerable opposition from the Station hierarchy. I set about finding and transferring exhibits to widen the appeal of the collection � such as the Bloodhound missile, various engines and the collection of WWII German rocketry from the Rocket Projectile Establishment.

I felt that the Collection (by now re-named The Cosford Aerospace Museum) still lacked a star turn and on a visit to RAF Henlow I found it. Sitting in a hangar on the wrong side of a soggy grass airfield stood XR220, covered in bird droppings and with a flat tyre. I immediately resolved to move it to Cosford. With the promise of TSR2 as an exhibit, the Station hierarchy relented and the Museum was allowed to open to the public on a number of trial occasions � it was of course an immediate success.

So, by the end of 1973 I had arranged for 71MU to be tasked with moving XR220 � only to run into considerable opposition! Initially it was claimed by Maintenance Command that they didn�t have the resources, but my contacts within 71MU indicated that the manpower and equipment was available and for much of the year under-utilised. I continued to press the issue, only to be told that it was too costly. My response that the equipment and manpower was idle, and therefore the only cost would be a few gallons of diesel, earned me a very terse telephone call from Sir Reginald Harland, Commander in Chief of Maintenance Command. He said that the only time 71 MU was under-utilised was during the winter months, during which time the airfield at Henlow would be too wet to tow TSR2 across to a hard standing for loading. As a lowly Flight Lieutenant I was clearly in danger of being brow-beaten into abandoning the project! As a last thrust, therefore, I told him that I would get XR220 across the airfield somehow and it could then be moved when 71 MU were available. Clearly under the impression that this couldn�t be achieved, Sir Reginald agreed to my terms!

"I then had several frustrating months in 1974 of trying to get the airframe across Henlow�s airfield. The US Air Force offered to help with a Jolly Green Giant helicopter from Bentwaters � but after being advised by our engineers that XR220 weighed 'at least 16 � 22 tons' they withdrew their offer. I was staggered at the weight estimate � there were no engines installed and in many respects the fuselage was a mere shell. Eventually, I came across a firm from the south coast called Hovertrailers International who had designed platforms, on the Hovercraft principle, capable of moving awkward loads across unstable ground. To my delight, Hovertrailers were delighted with the prospect of showing off their kit to 71 MU and offered their services free of charge. The move was on.

"However, it was not until April 1975 that I was able, finally, to get 71 MU and Hovertrailers together for the move. In the meantime, the Officer Cadet Training Unit at Henlow undertook to clean XR220 before its journey (someone had scrawled 'Nice one Harold' in all the bird lime on the port side of the nose).

And so to the photographs of XR220�s only flight � six inches above the ground! You will see the ruts in the soggy ground and the difficulties in keeping the skirts of the Hovertrailers inflated � the airframe was far lighter than the engineers had estimated. But we made it � as evidenced by my cheesy grin of delight in the photo of me and the PR Officer for Training Command, Keith Ansell. Which causes me to recall that even then the aircraft was politically sensitive as Whitehall withdrew all Press facilities covering the move. We counteracted that by parking XR220 at Newport Pagnall services on the M1 for 3 hours without the covers on! Apart from getting the wing section stuck under the bridge at Cosford (hence the repair where the leading edge joins the fuselage) the actual move went well."

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