Valetta C.2 (VX577)
Valetta C.2 VX577 first flew on 9th January 1950 and was delivered on 8th February 1950 to 24 Squadron. It's time in service was spent with the following units:-
- 2TAF Comm. Sqn : 05/12/1952 - 20/01/1953, 11/10/1954 - 19/05/1955
- 24Sqn :08/02/1950 - 03/11/1950
- 30Sqn : 01/12/1950 - 01/05/1952, 05/05/1954 - 04/08/1954
- 70Sqn : 13/02/1961 - 08/06/1963, 20/04/1964 - 22/06/1964
- AHQ Malta : 27/02/1956 - 03/03/1956
- Benson : 01/05/1952 - 05/12/1952
- Gibraltar Stn. Flt : 22/05/1956 - 15/11/1956
- Malta Comm. and Target Towing Sqn : 03/03/1956 - 22/05/1956, 08/06/1963 - 19/09/1963
- Middle East Comm. Sqn : 15/03/1957 - 26/10/58, 11/04/1960 - 13/02/1961
- Near East AF : 14/04/1964 - 20/04/1964
- Northolt Metropolitan Comm. Sqn : 17/06/1965 - 24/04/1968
Between active service it spent most of its time with 5 and 12 Maintenance Units (MU), but did spend some time with 49MU after suffering a category 3 accident (49MU repaired the aircraft on-site). VX577 retired on 24th April 1968 with 5MU before being sold to Mr G A Bambrough of the Sunderland Flying Club on 14th January 1969. It was flown to Usworth where it was intended to be used as a restaurant. Subsequent use by the Northern Parachute Centre saw it adopt their titles. The aircraft was donated to the museum in 1979 on a permanent loan by Mr Bambrough.
The aircraft remained in NEAM care until Friday 24th January 1997, when a well-known local arsonist set the aircraft on fire.
The damage caused meant that the aircraft couldn't be saved.
VX577 in August 1991 (credit : Malcolm Clarke)
VX577 in May 1971 with additional 'NPC' titles (credit : Trevor Hall)
VX577 at Akrotiri, Cyprus in 1957