Barracuda history and restoration

I'd like to ask your members for help.

There is now a project to take two badly damaged Barracuda carcasses and a collection of salvaged bits and pieces and turn them into a single restored aeroplane suitable for display. In due course there will be a detailed record of the technical and engineering side of the restoration, In the meantime, I am working to produce a less specialist story of the Barracuda.

I live less than two miles from the Fairey site at Heaton Chapel where so many Barracudas were built, and not too far from the old FAA stations Blackcap and Ringtail which were prominent UK bases. I have already appealled locally for anyone who worked at Heaton Chapel to come forward with their memories of their working lives and I have a number of contemporary photographs of the factory. I would be extremely grateful for any Barracuda memories your members would be prepared to share, particularly of operations, and on a personal note, as a former Bootneck, I would be delighted to hear from any Royal Marines who flew the aircraft. I should add that if I can bring the idea to a satisfactory conclusion and the standard it merits, all proceeds will go to the restoration fund. 

Many thanks,

Ken Brotherhood

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0161 442 0618