Graveyard

Phantom Grave yard.

Living in the South East, I was fortunate that the Phantom ended it's days at RAF Wattisham in Suffolk. It was relatively local, and well worth the journey. Little did I realise that I was about to get even closer to the Phantom than I could ever had imagined. Just 5 miles down the road from me, Hanningfield Metals, located at Stock in Essex was about to become one of the major breakers of Phantom airframes. Over several months, I visited this breaker many times, and witnessed some sad sights.

Stock - October 1993. Unknown FGR2 forward fuselage sections, Ex 56 Sqn.

Snow covered FGR2 - Dec 1993

The piles grow larger!

The initial breaking took part at Wattisham - here, wings and any other major or awkward parts would be removed to aid transportation back to Stock. Once there, the fuselages then underwent more precise destruction.

Anyone with a few bob to spare, could easily acquire the entire front fuselage section - and many did! These once great defenders of our skies, now hang in component form in many a loft....like mine! The front fuselages were removed, and many easily identifiable panels were removed including tails, for sale - almost all else was crunched up.