Date of Delivery - 3 February 1970 ( 1st known show 19 weeks later )
Sold to USA - October 1995 - as N166A,
Sold to UK - 23 November 1998 - as G-BYED,
- Written Off - 12 February 2001
During a sortie from its home base of North Weald the pilot was forced to make a forced landing short of the airfield at Eglinton, Londonderry, Northern Ireland after the engine failed while in the circuit. It came down in shallow water on the mud flats of Lough Foyle, the pilot escaped without injury. An RAF Chinook performed the recovery and set down the intact airframe on the grass at Eglinton
Information courtesy of www.ukserials.com
| Date | Venue | Pilot | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 April 1970 | Swinderby | Dave Coldicutt | - |
| 25 May 1970 | Henlow | Dudley Carvell or Joe Whitfield | - |
| 25 May 1970 | Hucknall | Dudley Carvell or Joe Whitfield | - |
| 7 August 1970 | Hereford | Dave Coldicutt | - |
| 9 May 1971 | Dijon ( France) | Dudley Carvell | - |
| 9 July 1972 | Topcliffe | - | spotted |
| 19 August 1972 | Woodford | - | spotted |
| 26 August 1972 | Bitburg | - | spotted |
| 27 August 1972 | Ramstein | - | spotted |
| 16 September 1972 | Leuchars | - | spotted |
This photo , showing the 1970 Blades Pre-take off, was in Dave Waddington's personal collection.
Here's another from Dave's personal collection, showing the 1970 posing in front of XW302 / 61.
This one shows quite clearly the Blades Rose & Swords on the air intake & tail fin.
XW302 / 61 features in the 1972 Blades Brochure.
Willy Metze took a slide of XW302 at the Bitburg show in 1972.
Photo © Willy Metze
Peter Nicholson took a slide of XW302 / 61 at the Leuchars show in 1972.
I picked this 1972 picture up off eBay. XW302 / 61 can be seen in the lineup here.
Whilst registered in the UK , as G-BYED, it was painted in striking Black & Yellow scheme. This picture was taken by ( © ) & Bill Teasdale at North Weald in March 2000
The next picture was taken by & ( © ) Charlie Verrall.
Details of the crash can be found here => Here
Only the cockpit of XW302 / 61 survives now. It can be regularly seen at the various meetings in the UK. Here's a link to a Webpage for "Cockpitfest 2008" featuring XW302 ( or G-BYED ) as it was later known =>Cockpitfest 2008