On 23rd October, 1978, Kenley’s last original hangar was destroyed in a fire, when a heater was accidentally left on in a room used to store newspapers for charity.
Besides the destruction of this historic building 615VGS had their gliders in the hangar and these were also lost…
Three Slingsby T.31B Cadet TX.3 gliders were completely destroyed (WT875, XA300 and XN242). Another (XA288) was severely damaged, but was later rebuilt/repaired and re-designated, G-BPCW, thence to EI-CJT at Rathcoole, Ireland.
615VGS Fleet included two Slingsby T21’s – WB940 & WB932. However 932 was away being smartened up as it was the spare for Prince Andrew’s solo (it wasn’t used) while it was away we had WB922 which was in the hanger with WB940 when it burnt.* WB932 was returned to 615 and made the first launch of the recommenced operation on 17th Feb 1980.
NB: it appears that WB940 was destroyed in the fire but WB922 survived.
Comments about this page
The newspapers were being collected by the local Air Cadet Squadron, 450, and stored in one of the side-rooms of the unused half of the hangar. It was generally thought, as it turned out, wrongly, that the electrical power on that side was switched off at the mains. Over a period of time the papers heated up and spontaneously combusted. The saddest part of the story is that WB940 was the first glider I ever flew in as a cadet and, later as an instructor, the first glider I looped in.
Add a comment about this page