Handley-Page 0/400 Parts Discovered in Garage

Nothing short of a miracle they survived this long.
"Wooden wing sections from a First World War bi-plane have been saved by RAF conservation experts - after being spotted propping up a garage roof.
It is not known how several parts of the Handley Page O/400 bomber ended up at business premises in Connah's Quay in Flintshire, north Wales.
But experts based at the RAF Museum in Cosford, near Wolverhampton, are sure the 25ft wooden artefacts originally formed part of the lower wings of the historic aircraft.
Members of the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at RAF Cosford were first alerted to the existence of the wing parts in April, in an email suggesting the roof of a building due for demolition had been constructed using components from a Second World War Wellington bomber.
However, the museum's curatorial staff instantly recognised the wings were from a much earlier aircraft.
Senior curator Al McLean said: "A visit to the site revealed that these were wooden wings with a type of construction known as box spars.
"This suggested that the aircraft dated from the latter part of the First World War and given the size of them, there were only a few aircraft types they could have originated from.
"The Handley Page O/400 was the obvious candidate and after a brief look at a manual we were fairly positive that that was what we were looking at."
The garage's owner, Alan Sullivan, then allowed RAF museum staff to remove the wing parts while the site was being cleared for development."
http://home.bt.com/news/oddnews/ww1-biplane-wing-parts-discovered-11363853210412

 

Amazing - the 0/400 was a massive aircraft for its day ( nothing like the single-seater biplane shown in the link ).This famous painting has been used to illustrate T E Lawrence's 'Seven Pillars'...

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/22567