A Brief Intro
This going to be a relatively short report since well. It's only a small thing, but the significance of it is somewhat interesting.
I found myself one night after work aimlessly flying across google maps in search of something interesting, being that a place to check out or a comedic town name. A few minutes in something came up which I had to look twice at. A rather isolated jet fighter on a grass airfield. I got down to street level and couldn't see anything. It went onto a small list of places which could be visited if I was near and that was it.
Fast forward a month or so and occasionally coming back to this jet in a field to do a little digging. I found some photos which revealed very little, but at least I knew it existed.
Eventually I was near enough to warrant a visit eventually pulling up to the airfield and gingerly walking over to the plane using the smaller light aircraft as cover.
History
I'm not going to go too far into the history of the airfield apart from mentioning that it is the remains of a former second world war US base originally designated RAF Great Sailing and later renamed Andrews Field in honor of USAAF General Frank M Andrews in 1943. Today only a small portion of the airfield remains.
The plane itself the report is centered around I eventually found to be a Dassault Mystere IV, a late 1950's French bomber.
The aircraft's design was one of the first Transonic, the speed between subsonic and supersonic around mach 0.72 to 1.0, aircraft to be introduced to the French Airforce used also by the Israeli and Indian Airforce.
The exact aircraft here was hard to find, I tried numerous attempts with typing 8-ND into searches with little reward apart from more photos from aviation enthusiasts. Eventually I came across a list with each aircraft documented including the prototypes but with no easy search function I had no option to spend a few hours looking for the exact one. It appears most of these carried multiple registrations overtime so 8-ND came up a few times giving me false hope of finding anything. After some time I saw something which made sense.
The entry was rather vague but it would do. The aircraft there had been noted under several registrations 2-EI, 2-FI, 2FN, 8-MQ and finally 8-ND. The plane was number 319 being one of the Mystere IVA Fighter-bomber variants, powered by a Rolls-Royce Tay 250 engine, produced between 1953-58. Between 1961 and 63 this aircraft flew within the Patrouille de France aerobatics team, I have no idea what it was doing between the late 50's and early 60's. The next piece of info come from 1980 noting the aircrafts retirement from the USAF and I couldn't find any reference to its usage in the USAF which raises a question or two.
Presumably within this time the jet purchased for restoration with it being taken by the Rebel Air Museum until it left with either due tot he death of the owner or that it relocated to Duxford unfortunately I can't be certain on this although the only exhibit left was this lone aircraft. It isn't said who owns it or what the plans are even more so with most sources simply stating it's "Abandoned".
Sources
Wikipedia
forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org
and a few aviation forums.
And that's all I really have.
Here's some photos.
You can tell from a distance that time has taken its toll of the airframe.
The yellow line and lettering slowly becoming invisible.
The intake for the now non-existent engine.
I did try seeing if I could get into the cockpit but with no luck unfortunately.
This going to be a relatively short report since well. It's only a small thing, but the significance of it is somewhat interesting.
I found myself one night after work aimlessly flying across google maps in search of something interesting, being that a place to check out or a comedic town name. A few minutes in something came up which I had to look twice at. A rather isolated jet fighter on a grass airfield. I got down to street level and couldn't see anything. It went onto a small list of places which could be visited if I was near and that was it.
Fast forward a month or so and occasionally coming back to this jet in a field to do a little digging. I found some photos which revealed very little, but at least I knew it existed.
Eventually I was near enough to warrant a visit eventually pulling up to the airfield and gingerly walking over to the plane using the smaller light aircraft as cover.
History
I'm not going to go too far into the history of the airfield apart from mentioning that it is the remains of a former second world war US base originally designated RAF Great Sailing and later renamed Andrews Field in honor of USAAF General Frank M Andrews in 1943. Today only a small portion of the airfield remains.
The plane itself the report is centered around I eventually found to be a Dassault Mystere IV, a late 1950's French bomber.
The aircraft's design was one of the first Transonic, the speed between subsonic and supersonic around mach 0.72 to 1.0, aircraft to be introduced to the French Airforce used also by the Israeli and Indian Airforce.
The exact aircraft here was hard to find, I tried numerous attempts with typing 8-ND into searches with little reward apart from more photos from aviation enthusiasts. Eventually I came across a list with each aircraft documented including the prototypes but with no easy search function I had no option to spend a few hours looking for the exact one. It appears most of these carried multiple registrations overtime so 8-ND came up a few times giving me false hope of finding anything. After some time I saw something which made sense.
The entry was rather vague but it would do. The aircraft there had been noted under several registrations 2-EI, 2-FI, 2FN, 8-MQ and finally 8-ND. The plane was number 319 being one of the Mystere IVA Fighter-bomber variants, powered by a Rolls-Royce Tay 250 engine, produced between 1953-58. Between 1961 and 63 this aircraft flew within the Patrouille de France aerobatics team, I have no idea what it was doing between the late 50's and early 60's. The next piece of info come from 1980 noting the aircrafts retirement from the USAF and I couldn't find any reference to its usage in the USAF which raises a question or two.
Presumably within this time the jet purchased for restoration with it being taken by the Rebel Air Museum until it left with either due tot he death of the owner or that it relocated to Duxford unfortunately I can't be certain on this although the only exhibit left was this lone aircraft. It isn't said who owns it or what the plans are even more so with most sources simply stating it's "Abandoned".
Sources
Wikipedia
Forgotten Jets - A Warbirds Resource Group Site
Forgotten Jets tracking the service histories of military aircraft.
And that's all I really have.
Here's some photos.
You can tell from a distance that time has taken its toll of the airframe.
The yellow line and lettering slowly becoming invisible.
The intake for the now non-existent engine.
I did try seeing if I could get into the cockpit but with no luck unfortunately.
Im hunting these things down!