The historic Reid and Sigrist Desford plane – the only ever produced copy of this very interesting type – made its last flight on August 19. He successfully completed it at the Newark Air Museum in Nottinghamshire, central England. The machine bearing the number VZ728 and G-AGOS registration landed without problems on the runway by the museum, and then it was manually pushed onto the premises of the facility.
On a flight from Spanhoe in Northamptonshire, where Windmill Aviation restored its ability to fly, Desford was piloted by Dan Griffith. According to Ben Dunnell, the twin-engine machine is currently in hangar number 2 at the Newark Air Museum, but it is soon to be moved to hangar number 1 and made available to the public.
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Reid and Sigrist is one of the least known British aviation companies from the period before and during the Second World War. Only two types of aircraft were built there, and each of them only in one copy. The company was much more successful in the field of aircraft repair, as well as the production of avionic devices. The first Reid and Sigrist prototype was the RS1 Snargasher advanced training aircraft, which was flew in the spring of 1939. A few years later, the RS1 was used as the basis for the RS3, which was given the name Desford, from the city under Leicester, which was the company’s headquarters.
The machine took off for the first time on July 9, 1945, and was unveiled the following year at the Farnborough fair. It is known that the test flights at its controls were performed, among others, by the outstanding Polish test pilot, Janusz Żurakowski.
Such a shame not seen in public in the air pic.twitter.com/BDzN1RvT33
– Rob (@Robhereagain) August 21, 2022
In 1951, Desford was subjected to modifications, after which it was given a new designation – RS4 – and the name Bobsleigh. At that time, the nose of the plane was lengthened, in which the pilot’s cockpit appeared. This one occupied a lying position, which was to allow him to easily withstand high overloads. It should be emphasized that it was not a crazy idea, although it may seem so from today’s perspective. The RAF was seriously interested in this configuration, and one Gloster Meteor F.8 (WK935, known from the configuration description as Prone Pilot, i.e. a pilot lying on his stomach) was also rebuilt for testing. The plane was flown in its new form in June 1951.
The Reid and Sigrist RS4 Desford at twilight on Saturday pic.twitter.com/Qih9zn610c
– Martin Needham (@mwneedham_) June 4, 2021
When the trials of the RS4 came to an end, the plane was used for some time to take aerial photos (unfortunately the tiller in the cabin in the nose was removed), after which its future was questioned and it was in danger of being scrapped for a long time. There is no complete information on who it belonged to in the available sources, but it is known that the last flight was in 1978. Later, it remained in oblivion for a long time, until in 1991 it was loaned out by Snibston Discovery Park, but there was no place to put it on display. When it was decided to close the museum, black clouds hung over the plane again.
HAA support for Desford airplane to be kept flying.
➡️ https://t.co/L6Cjpirx6x pic.twitter.com/PxDMgsJLQ3
– Classic Warbirds (@classicwarbirds) December 13, 2020
In 2014, it ended up in Spanhoe, where real experts finally took care of the monument. Windmill Aviation personnel, led by Carl Tyers, made a detailed inspection of the airframe and began a project to restore its flight capability. These efforts were successful on April 22, 2018, when the restored machine was tested.
Desford / Bobsleigh could become the new star of the British air show scene. However, this would involve a high risk, which we were recently reminded of by the tragic accident of the Hurricane Mk. IV in the Czech Republic. If Desford crashed, it would be an irreparable loss. So G-AGOS did not appear at any aviation event, aviation enthusiasts could only see it in Spanhoe during subsequent test flights.
The scheduled flight test cycle ended in December 2020. Leicestershire County Council, which owns the aircraft, has decided that it will not continue to fly. Soon after, the decision was made to donate it to the Newark Air Museum. The chances that after the day before yesterday’s flight Desford would take to the air again are practically zero.
See also: The historic American destroyer USS The Sullivans sank
