6 May 2014
The XR-944, the “military sister” to Ken Wallis’ Little Nellie, may be for sale. The autogyro was designed and built by Wing Commander Ken Wallis and is his only autogyro which isn’t secured at the Wallis Collection at the Shuttleworth Trust Aviation Museum, belonging instead to Wallis’ son, photographer Jake Wallis.
In the hand-written log book that accompanies the XR-944, Wing Commander Wallis wrote, ‘XR-943 had a ‘military sister’, XR-944 in 1963… re-engineered and updated in 1981, she has been very successful in military exercise ‘Green Lanyard’, ‘Gryphon’s Gold’ etc and in N.A.T.O. trials and exercises in Germany. She can attack.”
However, the future of XR-944 is now uncertain. XR-944 is secured in a secret location while Matt Wilkins at Old Buckenham Airfield is accepting proposals on behalf of the owner. Wilkins describes this as “an opportunity available to all aviation fanatics, collectors and Bond enthusiasts to acquire a completely unique and truly exquisite Wallis autogyro with a comprehensive history.”
For more information, contact Matt Wilkins +44 (0)1953 860 806 or email [email protected].
