G-BEYF
Photo © Ian Haskell
G-BEYF was the nineteenth production Herald leaving the production line at Radlett as a Mk.401. Delivered new to No.4 Squadron of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) as part of their order of seven, she made her first flight from Radlett on January 3, 1964 and was delivered fourteen days later as FM-1022.
She was repatriated back to the UK in August 1977 when British Air Ferries (BAF) bought all of the RMAF Heralds and following an overhaul and repaint entered service with BAF as G-BEYF on October 6, 1977. Leased out to numerous operators during a seven year career with BAF, she then entered service with Elan International before being sold to Channel Express in August of 1988.
Channel Express managed to get a further eleven years of flying out of her before retirement in the early hours of April 9, 1999. A noteworthy date in the Herald history timeline as this was the types last ever flight. Later the same month Channel Express donated her to the Bournemouth Aviation Museum and she was placed on external display. However, with notice being served on the museum that the site they occupied was required by the airport, the museum was forced to close at the end of 2007, having to look elsewhere to display their exhibits. A new, albeit smaller site was secured just off the airport southern perimeter but it was reported at the time the airport would not allow the Herald to be moved to a position where a possible crane lift across boundaries could have been achieved. So with nowhere to go, in June 2008 she was broken up on the old museum site.
The nose section was saved by the company contracted to break her up. Being based at Booker Airfield they placed the nose section into store there and put it up for sale. Acquired in 2015 by the now much smaller Bournemouth Aviation Museum, the nose section was transported to their new location just off the airport and placed on display. It is currently undergoing a repaint back into to the colours of Channel Express. The photo above taken by Ian Haskell on 31st July 2020 depicts the white almost complete with the Channel Express green yet to be added.