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Fort Paull auction: Museum sale raises 'six-figure sum'

Gilbert Baitson The Last Remaining Blackburn Beverley Transporter AircraftGilbert Baitson
The Blackburn Beverley was a transport aircraft in use by the Royal Air Force between 1955 and 1967

A military museum's entire collection - including RAF aircraft, deactivated weapons and a royal waxwork - has been sold at auction.

Fort Paull, a gun battery and fort on the north bank of the Humber Estuary, was a museum before closing in January.

The last surviving Blackburn Beverley Transporter Aircraft earned the biggest sum, selling for £21,000.

Auctioneers would not disclose the total sum raised by the 1,048 lots, but said it was a "six-figure amount".

The Blackburn Beverley, which was one of 49 built in the 1950s in Brough, near Hull, was bought by a local buyer who has access to a private airfield.

When it entered service, it was the largest aircraft in the RAF and could carry more than 100 troops and a range of military vehicles.

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Gilbert Baitson The Last Remaining Blackburn Beverley Transporter AircraftGilbert Baitson
An important part of the Beverley's work was in the air-dropping of supplies

Fort Paull's top sellers

  • Blackburn Beverley Transporter Aircraft - £21,000
  • Pair of George III cannons - £17,000
  • Hawker Hunter aircraft (without engine) - £13,000
  • Military train dining car - £9,000
  • An unexploded German bomb which was dropped on Hull - £8,500
  • Avery 1940 field gun - £8,000
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Gilbert Baitson Auctioneers said 909 registrations were made to take part in the online auction, which closed on Saturday, with offers coming in from as far as Australia, the US and Hong Kong.

Socially distanced viewing sessions took place at the closed museum earlier in September, with hundreds of visitors coming to view the items prior to the auction.

Auctioneer Andrew Baitson said: "It was a challenge due to the size of the property, there was so much stuff - we kept finding rooms full of bits and bobs.

"It'll all now be taken around the country and the world, hopefully some of it will stay within the public domain and end up in other museums for people to enjoy."

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Gilbert Baitson Waxwork models of the Queen and Prince PhilipGilbert Baitson

Unusual buys

  • Replica collection of the Crown Jewels - £5,500
  • Life-size waxwork model of Henry VIII - £2,600
  • Life-size waxwork model of Adolf Hitler - £750
  • Waxwork model of Queen Elizabeth II - £600
  • Human skeleton - £700
  • Bouncy castle - £320
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Fort Paull was built in 1861 to defend the approach to the port at Kingston-upon-Hull.

Earlier, it was a strategic base for Charles I during the English Civil War and was used as an ammunition store during World War Two.

It opened to the public as a museum in 2000, looking at the past 500 years of conflict, complete with exhibits and aircraft displays.

The owner has retired and a buyer for the museum never materialised.

The Herman German bomb
The Herman 2250lb German bomb was dropped in Shiphams Car Park in Hull in 1942
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