aeroplane magazine

http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com

Continuing an era of iconic aircraft

Be the first to ownthis unique collectors model

ORDER YOUR MODEL NOW ON

023 8024 8747Our lines are open 8am-8pm, 7 days a week.or order online at www.corgi.co.uk

only 1600 made

Cockpit style,speciallydevelopedcontrol column

Authentic

Engine Sounds

Return to: Corgi's Aviation Archive, FREEPOST SCE3001, Southampton, SO14 0SP (no stamp needed)

Yes! Please send me ____ Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 model(s) @ £150.00 each with free P&P.

Orders met on a first come, first served basis only.

Mr/Mrs/Miss/ Ms: ______ Intial (s): ______ Surname: _________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________ Postcode: ___________________

Tel: _____________________________________________________________________________________

Priority Order Form

Offer not open to under 18’s. Mainland UK and Northern Ireland orders only.

MOPS protection only covers the direct ordering of product(s) advertised at the price(s) specified in this advertisement.

AM0506

Corgi Classics Ltd.,Meridian East, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1RL

Limited edition of 1600There are only 1,600 of this uniquecollectors item available

worldwide.To highlight its

exclusivity, your modelwill be presented in

unique displaypackaging and willcome with aLimited Edition

Certificate. Each model has beencarefully designed and finished to thehigh standards that Corgi is renowned.

Don’t miss out on thisreal collector’s model!

■ Authenticmarkings of No.74 Squadron

■ Working Lightsand propellers

■ Detailed armoury■ Fully operational

undercarriage

August 1940.With Europenearly

defeated, Britainstood aloneagainst Hitler.Outnumbered bythe Luftwaffe, theRAF began one of themost defining momentsin British history, ‘TheBattle of Britain’.

Superb Collector’s ModelAs a special tribute to the hundreds of courageous pilotswho lost their lives, Corgi is proud to present the nextfantastic limited edition model of the greatest fighterplanes of the Second World War - The SupermarineSpitfire Mk.1.

This 1:32 scale model brilliantly captures inglorious, intricate detail the plane piloted byFlt. Lt. Adolf "Sailor" Malan.

Authentic, workingcontrolsThe specially developed‘control column’ stand letsyou operate the Spit’sworking propeller andnavigation lights, retract andextend its undercarriage and listenagain to the spine tingling song ofits V12 Rolls Royce Merlin engine -the sound of hope, defiance andfreedom in Britain’s darkest hour.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1Flt.Lt. Adolf ‘Sailor’ Malan

£Please charge my credit/debit card for

Card No. Issue No.

Mastercard Visa Maestro

£I enclose my cheque/postal order for made payable to AVIATION ARCHIVE

Start Date Expiry Date Signature

Wingspan350mm

(13 3/4 inches)Scale 1:32

http://www.corgi.co.uk

From the Editor

Michael Oakey – EDITORPS — Our Airshows & Events Preview for the 2006 season includes the dates for our Aeroplane reader holidays to Paris and South Africa, both of which I will be accompanying. See the inside back cover of this issue for details

HOW TO CONTACT US:Aeroplane Monthly King’s Reach Tower, Stamford St, London SE1 9LSInternet: www.aeroplanemonthly.com

EDITORIALEditor Michael Oakey (020) 7261 5846Assistant Editor Tony Harmsworth (020) 7261 5551Design Editor Tanya Caffrey (020) 7261 5668Sections Editor Nick Stroud (020) 7261 6401General enquiries & back issuesLydia Matharu (020) 7261 5849 • Fax (020) 7261 5269 e-mail: [email protected] assistance

Philip Jarrett, Mike Hooks, John Donaldson,Amanda LockWebmaster David Siddall e-mail [email protected]

ADVERTISINGAdvertising Manager Lee Morris (020) 7261 6459Advertising Executive Ashlyn English (020) 7261 2739For all insert sales – Innovator (020) 7261 7710List Management (020) 7261 7098

PUBLISHING AND MARKETINGPublishing Director Angela O’Farrell (020) 7261 5285Associate Publisher Gareth Beesley (020) 7261 7692Marketing Manager Gavin Bonthron (020) 7261 7541International Editions SiriliyaNawalkar+44(0)20 7261 7082

e-mail [email protected]

READER SERVICESBack issues (020) 7261 5849Subscription enquiries +44 (0) 845676 7778/ e-mail [email protected]

Published on the fi rst day of the month preceding coverdate by IPC Media Limited. Distributed by Marketforce (UK) Ltd, 5th Floor, Low Rise Building, Kings Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS. ©IPC Media Ltd

2006. ISSN 0143-7240.

Periodicals postage is paid at Rahway, NJ. USA distribution by Mercury VMD. Postmaster: please send address corrections to Aeroplane Monthly,

c/o M.A.I.L. America, 365 Blair Rd, Avenel, New Jersey NJ 07001.

While every care will be taken with material submitted to Aeroplane, no responsibility can be accepted for loss or damage. Opinions expressed in

this magazine do not necessarily refl ect those of the Editor.

Origination by Wyndeham Graphics Kent Ltd, 2–4 Powerscroft Rd, Sidcup, Kent DA14 5DT. Printed by St Ives Plymouth Ltd. Covers printed by CSM

Impact Ltd.

Aeroplane® is a registered trademark of IPC Media Ltd ©IPC MEDIA LTD, 2006

This periodical must not, without the written consent of the publishers fi rst being given, be lent, sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated

condition or in any unauthorised cover by way of trade or annexed or as part of any publication or advertising literary or

pictorial matter whatsoever.

A LITTLE WHILE AGO Aeroplane author and

former Crosswind columnist John Maynard

suggested to me the idea of a memorial to

British test pilots and other flight test crew

who lost their lives in the course of their duties. They

surely deserve to be remembered with just as much pride

and gratitude as airmen who died in war, and yet no

national monument to them exists anywhere in Britain.

John and I reckoned that a realistically achievable

initial target would be to produce a Roll of Honour

document, and then — given enough support from

enthusiasts who share our sense of indebtedness to these

airborne heroes of both peace and war — to consider a

permanent Test Flying Memorial of some sort.

Where to place such a Roll of Honour and monument?

Farnborough, the cradle of British aviation and

aeronautical research, seems the ideal place, and the

Farnborough Air Sciences Trust has offered its full

co-operation. So, see pages 30–32 of this issue for our

proposal, and let me know what you think.

This month’s front cover photograph, by RICHARDPAVER, depicts Jonathon Whaley flying Supermarine

Spitfi re Mk I AR213/G-AIST in May 1996. The prototypeand Mk I Spitfi res are the subject of this month’s

special 70th anniversary Database section

RIGHT THE AEROPLANE, MARCH 29, 1939This issue’s cover carried a Rolls-Royce advert featuring a stylised Spitfi re;inside was a feature on the 21st anniversary of the formation of the RAF■ Launched as a monthly magazine in 1973 by Richard T. Riding(Editor for 25 years until 1998), Aeroplane traces its lineage back tothe weekly The Aeroplane, founded by the legendary C.G. Grey in1911 and published until 1968

DON’T MISS YOUR AEROPLANE...Subscribe now to make sure of your copy every month. Call our credit-card hotline

on 0845 676 7778 or buy online at www.aeroplanemonthly.com


mailto:[email protected]





2 AEROPLANE MARCH 2006

ContentsMarch 2006 Vol 34 No 3 Issue No 395 (on sale February 1)

Features13 A Mitchell ResurfacesMark Sheppard takes an in-depth look at the history and recovery of a North American B-25C from a lake in South Carolina

22 Alpine AdventuresTim Skeet dons his g-suit for a dramatic trip in a two-seat Hawker Hunter jet trainer over the Swiss Alps

28 Aeroplane ExplainsThis month Ralph Lewis unravels aircraft carrier deck arresting gears

30 Think of The Risks . . . John Maynard unveils the new Test Flying Memorial Project, being launched by Aeroplane in conjunction with the Farnbor-ough Air Sciences Museum

34 “Dizzy” Addicott A look back at the colourful life of the test- and display pilot, who died in December 2005

Air Shows & Events Preview 2006

A special eight-page pull-out — time to organise your diary!

64 Pilot Biography: Lord TebbitThe pilot-turned-politician speaks to John Maynard about his fl ying career, both in the RAF and with BOAC

72 Gemini DaysHumphrey Wynn recalls his fl ying experiences while on thestaff of Flight magazine in the 1950s and 1960s

78 The Cold War GenerationBarry Jones’s third article on the history of British military aircraft specifi cations

INSIDE BACK COVERReader Holiday OffersA Grand Aviation Tour of South Africa and a trip to Paris and the La Ferté-Alais show, accompanied by the Editor

Regulars4 NewsAll the latest news from the aircraft preservation world, compiled by Tony Harmsworth — includes Mike Hooks’sconcise Preservation Review of the Year

17 Contact!Paul Coggan comments on the preservation scene

18 SkywritersReaders’ letters on a wide variety of topics

21 Flying VisitA potted interview with chief microlight designer and builder/test pilot of the Pilcher Triplane replica Dr Bill Brooks FRAeS, by Melvyn Hiscock

33 Looking BackNick Stroud browses in TheAeroplane of 90 years ago — March 1916

38 DatabaseSupermarine Spitfi re Prototype & Mk ITo celebrate the 70th anni-versary of the fi rst fl ight of the Spitfi re prototype, Dr Alfred Price describes the genesis and development of one of the world’s most famous fi ghters.Includes a pilot’s perspective by Alex Henshaw and scale drawings by Tim Hall

63 Picture of the MonthThis month’s reader offer from Aeroplane’s photographic archive features a Fleet Air Arm fi ghter, the Blackburn Roc

71 High SocietyThis month we go lighter-than-air with a look at the work of The Airship Heritage Trust

87 NavigatorAeroplane’s monthly reviews and listings — see opposite for details

96 CrosswindJohn Fricker provides sideways comment on the aviation world

EDITOR’SCHOICE

64

COVERSTORY

38

22

TIM

SKE

ETLO

RD T

EBBI

T

AEROPLANE MARCH 2006 3

Navigator

Our Navigator section at the back of the magazine tells you all you need to know about what to buy and where to go:87 Book reviews89 Internet review 90 Information Exchange91 Reader offers 98 Airshows & Events92 Next month in Aeroplane

93 Aeroplane services — back-issues, binders, subscriptions, newsagent order form, annual index and more

MAIN PICTURE Hawker Hunter T.68 J-4206/HB-RVV Double Victory, piloted by Paul Ruppeiner, shows off its belly-mounted twin 30mm ADEN cannon to TIM SKEET’s camera over the Swiss Alps near Sion in October 2005. Tim was in the right-hand seat of another T.68, J-4201/HB-RVR, piloted by Yves Rossy;they were taking part in a three-aircraft sortie as part of the annual “October Campaign” organised by a group of Swiss Hunter-operating organisations. See pages 22–27 for Tim’s from-the-cockpit report and further dramatic photographs.

78

72

A HOME FOR JET AGE? ■ Unprecedented plan for museum at a school may be the way forward

THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE-based Jet Age Museum has announced an innovative plan in the heart of the community where Britain’s fi rst jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39, was designed and fi rst fl ew. It involves constructing a display hall for the currently homeless museum in a joint venture with Brockworth Enterprise School.

Partnership with the school should resolve some of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) objections to Jet Age’s funding bid, which was rejected in November 2004 (see News,February 2005). The £3m pro-ject will also include a shared engineering faculty. Lecture

rooms and a café, together with the 200ft x 100ft display building, will have a separate entrance, offering access to visitors out of school hours.

The educational aspect of the museum will be greatly strengthened, with pupils having the opportunity to learn hands-on engineering skills, which should be of great value to local aerospace businesses.

On December 14, Jet Age chairman John Lewer, head teacher Paul Elliott and Matt Peplow from Gloucestershire County Council visited the HLF regional offi ce in Exeter to discuss the proposals.

First reactions indicated that

the unique idea could be a very good solution for the museum. Paul Elliott enthuses, “Studentswill help run a business based on that which was born and bred in Brockworth, and is part of the local heritage. The pupils would run the museum on a ‘live’ basis, every day, with the help of Jet Age Museum staff. We are already running a hospitality and catering course, and the pupils will run their own restaurant where they can serve the public. This is a phenomenal opportunity.”

The Jet Age collection aircraft which would go into the museum include a Gloster Gamecock reproduction (see

December 1998 Aeroplane), a Gladiator, Meteor 3 cockpit, Meteor 7, Meteor 8, Meteor NF.14, Javelin FAW.9, and a full-size replica Gloster E.28/39. Although the “offi cial”maiden fl ight of the E.28/39 was from RAF Cranwell onMay 15, 1941, it had already made three hops of 100–200yd on the grass at Gloster’s Brockworth airfi eld during high-speed taxying tests onApril 8 with test pilot Jerry Sayer at the controls.

ABOVE An artist’s impression of the project; the curved building links the engineer-ing and display hangars.

ABOVE Stephen Grey (right) and Peter Teichman with G-KITT at Duxford, and ABOVE

LEFT Stephen fl ying the P-40 with Peter in the jump seat.

P-40 moves to North Weald

NewsR E S T O R AT I O N • R E B U I L D S • R E P L I C A S •A I R C R A F T• M U S EU M S


THIS MONTH

B-25 progressesPage 13

Vulcan expiresPage 9

Swallow migratesPage 7

Fortress sells

Meteor movesPage 7

CURTISS P-40M G-KITT has left The Fighter Collection (TFC) at Duxford. It arrived at North Weald on December 14 for new owner Peter

Teichman. Travelling in the opposite direction was Teichman’s Beech 17 Staggerwing G-BRVE, which has joined TFC. Teichman

will operate the machine with it’s “Bengal Tiger” nose art this season, with a possible repaint in RAF markings for 2007.

DA

RREN H

ARBA

R

DA

RREN H

ARBA

R

THE FUTURE STATUS of the British Airways airliner col-lection, currently on display outdoors at the RAF Museum, Cosford, is under review by the British Airways Board and the RAF Museum board of Trustees. The collection includes several signifi cant aircraft, including the fourth production Vickers Viscount, G-AMOG, Boeing 707 G-APFJ (the only surviving Rolls Royce Conway-powered example), and Vickers VC10 G-ARVM, the only standard example in airliner confi gura-tion on display in Britain. The collection is completed by Trident IC G-ARPH and BAC One-Eleven G-AVMO.

The airline no longer undertakes maintenance on

the aircraft, none of which qualifi es for covered accom-modation in Cosford’s new Cold War museum building, now under construction and due to open next year.

An initial RAF Museumpress release was leaked on the internet on January 9, and contained the state-ment, “The collection, which is rendered incomplete

Cosford’s airliners face review

without a Concorde . . .”. This was soon withdrawn, leaving enthusiasts wondering about what appeared to be either a swipe at BA for not allocating a Concorde to Cosford, or an indication that the collection’s preservation value is much diminished without an example of the Mach 2 airliner.

A spokesman for BA says, “We used to send trainees and apprentice engineers up to Cosford to work on the airliners, but the structure of the training courses has changed, and we no longer have the facilities to support

maintenance on these air-craft. Regular work tailed off in 2001, and it has been on an ad hoc basis since then”.

Two of Cosford’s airliners not included in the review are Britannia G-AOVF and Comet IA G-APAS, which are owned by the RAF Museum but displayed in BOAC markings. The Comet is due to be hangared, but the Britannia will remain at the mercy of the elements.

Boeing 707 G-APFJ entered service with BOAC in September 1960, and is the only preserved Rolls-Royce Conway 707.

Fw 189 PILOT DIES – BUT REBUILD GOES ON

ABOVE Looking like an Fw 189 again: WNr 2100 at Jim Pearce’s base in Sussex in January, with the nacelle almost complete.

ABOVE Viscount G-AMOG, seen at Cosford on January 14. Retired in January 1976, it escaped the scrapman and arrived at Cosford that April.

News compiled by: Tony Harmsworth

Tel: 020 7261 5551 Fax: 020 7261 5269

E-mail: [email protected]

OR Write to our usual address

R E S T O R AT I O N • R E B U I L D S • R E P L I C A S •A I R C R A F T• M U S EU M S


JUST AFTER THE Christmas holidays the sad news came through that former Luftwaffe reconnaissance pilot Lothar Mothes, who was fl ying Focke-Wulf Fw 189 WNr 2100V7+1H when it was shot down on the Eastern Front in May 1943 and lived to be reunited with his aircraft 53 years later, had died aged 85.

Jim Pearce, the owner of the twin-boomed spotter aircraft and the man who brought it back to the UK in 1992, tells

Aeroplane that Lothar’s death has not affected his deter-mination to have the aircraft restored to fl ying condition: “Iwant to see it done”, he says.

“Of all the warbirds I’ve been involved with”, continues Jim [and it’s close on 50 — Ed],“this one has been the most amazing, because we found the pilot! In East Germany he was treated as a nobody, but when we brought him to the UK in 1996 he was treated like a hero.”

ABOVE Lothar Mothes, back at the controls of his Fw 189 after 53 years, at Biggin Hill Air Fair in September 1996.

JIM

PEA

RCE

MICH

AEL O

AKEY


News


Tel: 020 7261 5551 Fax: 020 7261 5269 E-mail: [email protected]

R E S T O R AT I O N S • R E B U I L D S • R E P L I C A S

B-17G FUDDY DUDDY SOLD■ Fortress swaps East Coast for West to join collection of ex-USAF general in California

News in Brief

THE LATEST PROJECT for the Memorial Flight Association (MFA), based at Dugny on the military side of Paris’s Le Bourget airport, is the Musée de l’Air’s Heinkel He 162A-2 Salamander. The former Luftwaffe “panic fi ghter” had been on display in the museum since 1952, and was thought to be WNr 120223. During the recent strip-down, however, WNr 120015 was found on a rear fuselage bulk-head, making it an early A2 variant from the fi rst production batch.

The Salamander is missing several parts, and a list of what is required for the rebuild may be found on the MFA website at http://memorial.fl ight.free.fr/indexuk.html by following the “parts wanted” link.

The aircraft was one of 27 of the type surrendered to the Allies at Leck in Northern Germany, seven of which were shipped to France for fl ight testing. The museum example fl ew 18hr on test between April 1947 and July 1948. A major feature on the French testing of the He 162 will appear in Aeroplane soon.

BOEING B-17G Flying Fortress N9563Z Fuddy Duddy was sold by the New York-based National Warplane Museum (NWM) to retired USAF General William Lyons in late December 2005 for more than $3m (£1·7m).The historic bomber arrived at its new home, John Wayne Airport in southern Califor-nia, in early January, where it joined Lyons’s two other historic bombers, North American B-25J Mitchell Freedom’s Guardian and Douglas A-26C InvaderFeeding Frenzy.

Problems at the NWM meant that Fuddy Duddywas grounded at its base at Elmira-Corning airport, New York, during 2003–04, but a

JUST DAYS AFTER Culture Minister David Lamy announced that several historically- important aviation sites would be given listed status (see News in Brief, February), the Offi ce of Communications (Ofcom) sold off the Offi cers’ Mess and surrounding land at the Battle of Britain base at RAF Kenley to residential developer, Comer Homes.

In 2005 the Friends of Kenley Aerodrome was formed to help preserve the airfi eld, and the site was granted conservation status by Croydon Council and Tandridge District Council. The move comes despite the efforts of two local MPs, East Surrey’s Peter Ainsworth and Croydon South’s Richard Ottaway, to persuade the Government to respect the wishes of local

people and to enable the land to be saved for public access.

The MPs issued a joint state-ment, saying “Kenley Airfi eld played a key role in the Battle of Britain, and represents an important environmental asset. The decision to sell to a house builder is mean-spirited, unimaginative, insensitive and typical of a Government that has no respect for history or the environment. We congratulate the friends of Kenley Aerodrome on their heroic effort and deeply regret that the Government has ignored all our representations. We will be seeking an early meeting with Comer Homes Group in order to discuss their plans and to see whether there remains scope for negotiating an outcome which respects the wishes of the community.”

deal was struck with the Oshkosh-based Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) that saw the B-17 brought back to life by an EAA crew as a temporary replacement for the EAA’s B-17 AluminumOvercast, damaged in a

landing accident at Van Nuys Airport in May 2004. The EAA fl ew Fuddy Duddy on a highly successful tour in 2005, including an appear-ance at the Thunder over Michigan B-17 gathering (see Aeroplane, October 2005)

but with repairs to AluminumOvercast now nearing completion there was a danger that Fuddy Duddy would once again be parked.

The NWM fi rst developed at the grass fi eld at Geneseo, New York, where some of

the world’s best warbird airshows were held. Sadly, since the museum moved to Elmira-Corning, the atten-dance and number of visiting warbirds at shows quickly fell, and the museum hit fi nancial problems.

Salamander ID revealed at Dugny

KENLEY THREATENED?

ABOVE Boeing B-17G Fuddy Duddy flying over New York State in July 1997, while operated by the National Warplane Museum.

ABOVE He 162 WNr 120015, after being stripped back to baremetal in the Memorial Flight hangar at Dugny, Le Bourget.

■ THE CUATRO VIENTOS-basedFundación Infante de Orleanshas obtained BA Eagle G-AFAXand D.H.60 Moth G-EBXU fromUK owners. They hope to takedelivery of both aircraft in thenext few months, ready for themonthly summer displaysstaged by the Fundación.

■ A CHALK’S Ocean Airways turbine-powered Grumman G-73T Mallard lost a wing while fl ying justoff South Beach, Miami, on December 19, killing all 20 people on board when the amphibian crashed. Inspectors from the FAA and NTSB examining the wreckage soon discovered a major wing spar crack. The four other aircraft in the Chalk’s fl eet were immediately grounded.

■ AT WEYBRIDGE, theBrooklands Museum Concorde,G-BBDG, is now open to thepublic, its cabin doors openingfor the first time on the 3Othanniversary of the firstcommercial flight on January 21.Access is available onTuesdays,Wednesdays,Saturdays andSundays.Watch out for a featurein Aeroplane soon.

MELV

YN H

ISCOCK

GA

RY R

. BRO

WN

N

ICH

AEL

O’L

EARY


http://memorial.flight.free.fr/indexuk.html


Write to: Aeroplane, Kings Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS Web: www.aeroplanemonthly.com

F I N D S • P R O J E C T S • A I R C R A F T• M U S E U M S • A U C T I O N S • P E O P L E

THE COMMEMORATIVE Air Force (CAF) sold Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero N58245 to the new Pacifi c Aviation Museum at Ford Island, Hawaii, in December 2005. The fi ghter had been in storage with the Southern California Wing of the CAF at Camarillo, California, for several years, and current plans call for the Zero to be trucked to Chino where B-25 rebuild specialists Aero Trader will prepare the aircraft for static display.

ON DECEMBER 18, 2005, BA Swallow 2 G-AFGE, which has been seen only rarely over the past few years, left its base at Benson’s Farm, Laindon, Essex, for a new home near Boscombe Down, Wiltshire. The new owner of the distinctive mauve-and-yellow-painted tourer is expected to take it to various fl y-ins during the 2006 season.

Recovered from Ballale Island, Bougainville, by Canadian collector Bob Diemert back in 1969, the Zero was restored by him at Carman, Manitoba. Fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engine, the fi ghter was damaged when the tailwheel came off during an attempted fi rst fl ight duringSeptember 1973, and suffered an undercarriage collapse on landing the following month.

After acquisition by the

CAF, the Zero arrived at Harlingen in late 1985; but operation of the fi ghter proved problematic, and a great deal of work was needed to keep it service-able, including a couple of partial rebuilds. In the late 1990s the fi ghter was transferred to the Southern California Wing of the CAF at Camarillo, where a valiant attempt to re-restore it got

This BA Swallow, the 71st built, was the last example to be fi tted with the 90 h.p. Pobjoy Cataract engine, before the Cirrus-powered version was introduced. Delivered from the Hanworth factory in April 1938, the machine was impressed into RAF service in August 1940 as BK894, and after having its engine removed was used on various glider trials.

TWO YEARS AFTER Gloster Meteor TT.20 WM224 left North Weald for a new home at the East Midlands Airport Aeropark, the former target-tug/night-fi ghter was fi nally moved round the airport’s perimeter road into the Aeropark’s exhibition area in mid-December 2005. Since arriving at East Midlands, it has been under restoration at the Aeropark’s old site by a team led by Graham Vale and Steve Sims, but it still lacks ailerons and elevator trim-tabs, components that Graham and Steve are desperate to locate to complete the restoration.

The Meteor joins another recent arrival, a replica Spitfi re Mk IV, on loan to the collection from Kevin Wheatcroft, son of Tom Wheatcroft, owner of the adjacent Donington Park racing circuit. The replica was recently repainted by long-serving Aeropark Volunteer Association

(AVA) member Brian Rose to represent PL256 of No 504(City of Nottingham) Sqn.

Another new addition to the Aeropark site is an ex-RAF Romney building, which is now nearing completion. It will be used for restoration of aircraft, the fi rst in line being de Havil-land Vampire XD382 and one-off Britten SA-1 Sheriff G-FRJB. It is hoped that the Aeropark’s

collection of aero engines, large airliner models and other artefacts will also go on show in the Romney. The fi nances for the building came from entrance fees and fundraising activities such as open-cockpit days, and most of the ground preparation, erection of the building and the internal fi nishing has been undertaken by AVA volunteers.

AEROPARK PROGRESS

Zero for Ford Island museum

under way. It was dismantled and, although a lot of work was completed, it really needed a new wing;the cost of the project, in both time and money, rapidly escalated. After the CAF was able to acquire airworthy A6M3 Zero NX712Z from David Price, N58245 became surplus to requirements, and was put up for sale.

Among the other exhibits

already gathered for the museum is Boeing N2S-3 Stearman BuNo 07103, in which former President George Bush Snr went solo on December 15, 1942, and North American B-25JN9753Z, the former Hickam AFB gate guard. The latter aircraft is in bad condition, however, and consideration is being given to acquiring a replacement Mitchell.

Swallow flies west to a new home

ABOVE Meteor WM224 being moved off the East MidlandsAirport perimeter road into the Aeropark compound.

ABOVE The rather sorry-looking dismantled Zero, seen recentlyin the Commemorative Air Force hangar at Camarillo.

ABOVE Zero N58245 being fl own by Randy Wilson over Mojave, California, in the late 1990s.

ABOVE BA Swallow 2 G-AFGE about to depart Benson’s Farm ona sunny December 18, bound for a new home in Wiltshire.

MIC

HA

EL O

’LEA

RY

MIC

HA

EL O

’LEA

RY

TREV

OR

FIT

CHET

T


News




REGISTER REVIEWCompiled by Mike HooksIT IS A QUIET TIME of year for new registrations of elderly aircraft, with two helicopters and Super Cubs added to the UK register. A pair of odd-balls are former Romanian air force SA.316B Alouette IIIsbuilt by IVA Brasov — G-CDSGand ’DSJ, respectively ex 07and 21.Oldest of two SuperCubs, a 95, is G-CDPR exOY-AVT/D-ELFT/OL-L05/L-128/53-4802 for an owner in Guernsey, and the other, a 150, is G-CUBN ex SE-ECN.

For reasons which are not obvious, Rutan VariEzeG-EZOS becomes G-EZDGand as there are few fl oatplanes on the UK register a new one is welcome, Cessna U206G StationairG-LEMO ex LN-ALX/N6300Uregistered to Garden HouseProperties at Kings Lynn.Restorations include BulldogG-CBBU/XX711, a CAA cancellation on 1.9.05, so may still be a candidate for conversion. Two CAA cancellations are Autocrat

for rebuild by Raymond Cuypers at Antwerp before return to Switzerland where German Super Cub D-EEKUhas become HB-PQP.

In Austria, Pink Aviation Services have registered Skyvan Srs 3 OE-FDN ex9M-FAT/OC-2/G-BGFR/G-14-132, while an AirbusA310 with a long history is OE-LMP ex N410AN/S7-SGS/S7-RGQ/PK-AWR/F-WQLE/A40-OB/HB-IPI/F-WWCT.An Australian restoration is Auster 5 VH-ABA, once G-AJJR, while Auster J/5VH-KSH has been withdrawn owing to corrosion. BeechF-17D VH-AME was once VH-ACU at the Air WorldMuseum, Wangaratta, and in New Zealand RapideZK-SWR, undergoing rebuild, was formerly Dutch air force D-7 and originally NR777.

■ We are indebted to Air-Britain News for much of the above information

G-AJRB (28.11.05) whoseC of A expired on 8.3.04 and Chipmunk G-TRIC (8.11.05),but this left Spanhoe on 6.9.05for delivery to Ocana, Spain, for a fl ying museum.

Casualties are TaylorcraftF-21 G-BPJV which crashed near Winchcombe in bad weather on 28.11.05 and CubG-KIRK belonging to famous fl ying vet Maurice Kirk. He was on a return trip from Australia on 22.10.05 when the power went, necessitating a forced-landing on a road under construction, where it struckthree vehicles and was severely damaged; fortunately the vet was OK! Sales abroad are Shorts 360 G-BOEI to N3735W and StrikemasterG-UPPI to South Africa. CASA-built Jungmann G-BZVS is now in Swiss air force colours as A-52, Lycoming-powered;the real A-52 became HB-USDand is current as such.

A cancellation from the French vintage register is Yak-9UM F-AZYJ which has gone

to Germany as D-FENK for its new owner Herr F.H. Enk of Magdeburg. Two ex Buzz/AirUK BAe 146-300s for Lufthansa Regional carrier Eurowings are D-AEWL exG-UKHP/EI-DEV/G-5-123 and ’EWN ex G-UKRC/G-BSMR/G-6-158. Other airliner movements include the one-

time Condor Boeing 757D-ABNC to Poland as SP-FVKand Dornier 328 HB-AEE to TF-CSC. German cancellations for reasons unknown include Stampe SV-4C D-EBET, SIATFlamingo D-EHDS, SuperCub 95 D-EJRR and HarvardD-FAME, but SportaviaRS-180 Sportsman D-ENKYwas written off on 25.9.05.The Me 262A reproduction D-IMTT, fi rst fl own on 15.8.05as N262MS at Paine Field, Everett, was to be fl own to Europe inside a new CargoluxBoeing 747 freighter on delivery, and is to be re-assembled at Manching.

In Holland, Pilatus PC-7PH-JWF has gone home to Switzerland as HB-HDF, Fuji200 PH-MBM is cancelled and PH-SOP is a Sopwith Pupreproduction ex N1915K, thus demolishing my theory and photograph in the January issue that it might be a Camel!Belgian news is the arrival ofOberlerchner Job 15 HB-KEV

ABOVE Three airliners arein the news this month:Condor Boeing 757-230 D-ABNC seen landing atFrankfurt in August 1995 was later PH-DBA, thenN723BA; now with FischerAir Polska as SP-FVK.LEFT Also on the move,BAe 146-300 G-UKRC, seenlanding at Gatwick in August 1991, is now with Eurowings at Nuremburg as D-AEWN.LEFT Dornier 328 HB-AEE of Air Engiadina seen atFrankfurt in June 1995, hasbecome TF-CSC for City StarAirlines at Aberdeen.

ABOVE LEFT A cancellation this month is Auster AutocratG-AJRB, seen here in its familiar silver, red and black scheme in June 1996.LEFT Most unusual shapethis month is Rutan VariEzeG-EZOS, seen in a line-up of the type at the 1984 PFARally, Cranfi eld. It hasrecently been re-registeredG-EZDG.LEFT Oberlerchner Job-15 HB-KEV arrived at Antwerp in October for restoration by Raymond Cuypers and work began immediately. It willreturn to Switzerland on completion.M

IKE

HO

OKS

PH

OTO

GRA

PHS



■ BRISTOL 170 Freighter C-GYQS, which made what was expected to be the last ever B170 fl ight when it was delivered to Canada’s Reynolds-Alberta Museum at Wetaskiwin in September 2004, may fl y again. It is on loan from former operator Hawkair, and legal diffi culties surrounding the refi nancing of the company require the sale of the portly transport. Prospective ownerswill be pleased to hear that prep-aration and crew for a ferry fl ight will be included in the deal.

■ REASSEMBLY of the world’s only surviving Vickers Valiant, XD818, began at the RAF Museum Cosford during the third week of January, four months after it arrived in sections from Hendon. During that time, the aircraft, which dropped Britain’s fi rst live H-bomb on Christmas Island in 1957, has been stored outside with absolutely no weather protection, opening the RAF Museum up to severe criticism among many preservationists. The Valiant will go on display in Cosford’s new Cold War hangar.

■ THE FARNBOROUGH Air Sciences Trust (FAST) opened itslatest exhibit, the fuselage of BAC One-Eleven G-AVMJ, on November 29, 2005. The former BEA airliner was last used as a cabin trainer by European Aircharter at Bournemouth. The fuselage will be used by FAST for an educational scheme, to enlighten and inspire children in aviation history and technology.

News in Brief



BUD WHEELER’S Allison Competition Engines (ACE) in Latrobe, Pennsyslvania, is building up a specially-modifi ed Allison V-1710 12-cylinder engine, right, for FlugWerk’s new-build long-nose Focke-Wulf FW 190D, currently under construction at Gammelsdorf in Germany.

A respected company in thewarbird world, ACE is followingdesign criteria provided by FlugWerk, the Allison having been selected as the most suitable engine in the absence of ser-viceable examples of the 190D’s original Junkers Jumo 213.

The Allison’s propshaft and reduction-gear housing have been redesigned to allow an extension of 30cm (12in), simi-lar in shape to the Jumo 213,the mod being necessitated by the need to position the oil

In total 175 Convair 340s and 440s were remade into 580s, the type becoming the most successful of the turbo-prop Convair conversions.

The prototype Allison 501- powered 580 fi rst fl ew on January 19, 1960, the conversion being subcontracted by Allison to Pac-Aero at Santa Barbara, because Convair was occupied with the four- turbojet 880 programme.

The 580 has primarilyseen service with airlines

FOUR CONVAIR 580s, recently retired from use with DHL/Swiftair in Spain, were being overhauled at George Airport, Western Cape, South Africa during November 2005, before entering service with Skyhaul Pty. The type has now disappeared from European skies, the last DHL fl ight — on September 18, 2005, from Luton to Brussels — bringing down the curtain on 20 years of DHL Convair 580 operations.

fl ying DHL Courier service routes. Two of the four Skyhaul 580s, ZS-SKI (formerly EC-GHN), above,and ZS-SKG (previously EC-GDY), fi rst entered service as 340s with United Airlines,

FOURTEEN MONTHS after it was acquired by Manchester pub landlord Christopher Ollerenshaw in an eBay auction, Avro Vulcan B.2 XL391 was broken up for scrap at Blackpool Airport on January 12.

Having paid £15,102 for the V-bomber in November 2004, Ollerenshaw had proposed putting it on show in the beer garden at the Snipe Inn at Dukinfi eld. Extensive corrosion, and the cost of moving it, put paid to his plan, but last October a more manageable British warplane — Sea Harrier

F/A.2 ZE693 — was placed in the Snipe’s beer garden.

The only part of XL391saved was the nose section, but even this suffered dam-age during the scrapping. A Falklands war veteran, having fl own to Ascension Island in May 1982 as a reserve air-craft for the Black Buck raids on Stanley airport, XL391was offered for disposal upon 44 Sqn’s disbandment in December 1982, and acquired by the Manchester Vulcan Bomber Society for £5,000. It was delivered to Blackpool Airport, but the Society’s plans failed to

Blackpool Vulcan cut up

ABOVE The sad but inevitablesight at Blackpool Airport onJanuary 12, as Vulcan B.2XL391 was torn apart by amechanical digger.

and coolant radiators betweenthe propeller-disc and theengine block as on the original 190D. This quite radical taskinvolved a substantial number of stress calculations.

Design and manufacture of

the new assemblies has been achieved using the latest state-of-the-art CAD-CAMprocesses. Rigorous trialscentred on the lubrication and cooling of the forward bearing are currently under way on ACE’s unique test-stand, whichmonitors and analyses all engine parameters. Once theengine has been fi tted to thefuselage of the FW 190 at Gammelsdorf, an exhaustsystem will be manufacturedwhich will allow the exhaustgases to exit in exactly thesame location as on theoriginal Jumo installation.

Convairs gravitate to the Cape

the former aircraft in October 1952 as N73117, the latter as N73156 in May 1954. Both went to Frontier Airlines in the mid-1960s for conversion to 580 confi guration.

V-1710 FOR FLUG WERK 190D

come to fruition and the bomber was acquired by Brian Bateson, boss of the Blackpool Air Centre fl ying school, in late 1994.

GEO

FF JO

NES

FLUG W

ERK

Hangar Stores is a free service for museums, vintage aircraft collectors and operators to advertise their wants and disposals. Items should be sent to Hangar Stores, Aeroplane,King’s Reach Tower, StamfordStreet, London SE1 9LS. Please include a name and contact telephone number for editorial use

Wants■ Concorde passenger steps needed for G-BBDG at Brook-lands Museum. Contact Julian Temple, Curator of Aviation, on 01932 857381, e-mail [email protected].

Hangar Stores

RUSS

ELL

PIN

FOLD




News




THIS SUMMARY OF preserved warbirds and lighter civil aircraft in the news over the past year was collated at the end of 2005. The period covered in issues of Aeroplaneis between March 2005 and March 2006 coverdates.

Accidents/IncidentsSome aircraft destroyed,others substantially damaged:Aeronca C-3 N13002;Airacobra N6968; Auster 6N3675; Bf 109G-4 D-FWME;Camel replica N7157Q;Convair BT-13A N49646;Cornells N26GA, N53656;Goose N327; HarvardsN453WA, N494S, N3617F,N15797; Hellcat N4964W;Jodel DR.1051 HB-EBZ;Jurca Spitfi re HB-YIZ;Mustangs N6327T, N10607;Porters N346F, N908PL;Strikemaster N399WH;T-28B N9060F; Tiger MothsG-ACDJ, I-EDAI, I-JJOY;Yak-3 N134US, N20669.

Movements Aircraftmoved between registers, or civil marks allocated to military aircraft. Immediately preceding marks are quotedafter the new marks.UK additions: Beech 17G-LAJT/ZS-AJT; CAP 10sG-CDIF/N126SM, G-CDCE/F-BNDC; Cubs G-KUUI/N2MD, G-RRSR/N1315V;Fiat CR.42 G-CBLS; D.H.9G-CDLI/E8894; HarvardG-TEXN/G-BHTH; HurricaneG-HRLO/RCAF 5403;Jungmanns G-CDLC/N46923, G-CDJU/OO-OLE;Mustangs G-MRLL/44-13521, G-CDHI/G-SUSY;Nipper G-NIPR/G-AVXC;Pitts S-2B G-ZIII/G-CDBH;Spitfi re I G-CDGU/X4276,Spitfi re V G-CDGY/A58-149,Spitfi re XIX G-CDGK/N219AM (to F-AZJS);Stearmans G-OBEE/N5580S, G-CCXB/N1363M;Super Cubs G-CVMI/SE-CEE,G-OVON/OY-ELG; Stampe

Pfalz D III N905AC to ZK-JPI;Pitts S-1S PH-PUP to D-EIRV;Pilatus P.3 HB-RBV to N830AD; Porter OO-JDV to PK---; Ryan PT-22 N1799 to HB-RDD; Seabee LN-IKK to SE-AXR; SIAI S.205 HB-ELLto N205AB; Silvaire ZS-BVZto SE-AZL; Sokol OK-BXW to D-EMYH; Spitfi re IX ZU-SPTto VH-IXT; Stearmans N131TPto D-EPTD, N5379N to OE-AMM, N54426 to D-ECAL,N56188 to SE-BEU, N64386 to D-ERAX, N68494 to SE-AMW,N75664 to OE-AWW; StampeSV-4 OO-SVF to D-E---; TigerMoths OY-DNR to 4X-AAA,VH-AHB to ZK-BAR, ZS-DLK to PH-DLK, Waco YMF-F5CN7022S to D-ESEI; Yak-3UMN234BJ to D-FYAC; Zlin Z.126OK-IGL to D-EYGL. Z.526LZ-713 to D-EEBH, LZ-720to D-EEBY, LZ-710 to D-EEBX,SP-CPI to D-ERCI, Z.381OE-ACE to D-EAOL.Cancellations — no details:Aeris A-200 HB-YIL; BeechC-45G F-BHMM; Cubs D-EJIX,HB-OBP, HB-ONH (damaged);Horizon D-EMUS;Jungmanns D-EBAD,D-ELSK; Klemm Kl 25DOH-ILI; Taylorcraft Plus DHB-EUL; Tiger MothsD-EHXH, PH-TYG, VH-HPH,ZK-BJR. Withdrawn from use:Bölkow Junior D-EABJ;Job-15 D-EEAG;Tiger Moth VH-BXF.Restorations:KZ III OY-DAA; Tiger MothZK-BFF.Ex-military:Stampe SV-4 OO-KRL exV-54, OO-MCI ex V-47.

Museums (aircraft received)Air Atlantique/Canberra T.4WJ874; Air Museum Planes of Fame/Yak-3U G-BTHD;Australian National Museum/DC-2 NC13782/A30-9 and parts of Beauforts A9-320and A9-501; Bournemouth Air Museum/Venom J-1611/

SV-4A G-NIFE/F-BBBL; TigerMoths G-YVFS/G-ANDE,G-CDJO/VH-BGH; WacoYMF-F5C G-WOCO/N770MM;Wassmer WA.52 G-OELZ/F-BTLO.Sold abroad: Beech D.17G-BUXU to F-GUZZ; Bf 109EG-BYDS to N342FH; HarrierGR.3s G-CBCU and ’CBGK to USA; Jungmann G-BUTA to F-AZ--; L.200 MoravaG-BNBZ to OK---; TerrierG-ASAK to F-AZTJ; TigerMoths G-AMTF to OO-TMW,G-ANMV to D-ECTM;Turbulent G-ASPU to VH-UVW;Waco UPF-7 G-WACOto OO-UPF; Yak-3s G-BTHD to USA, G-BWOE to ZK-YYY.Restorations: AutocarG-AOHZ; Autocrat G-AHAV;B.E.2c G-AWYI; D.H.60GsG-AAJT, ’ABDA ex N1284A;Gnat G-NATY/XR537; HornetMoth G-ADUR ex N9026Y;

Jackaroo G-APAJ ex VH-KRK;MS.230 G-AVEB ex N230EB;Proctor G-AHTE; Globe SwiftG-AHUN; Tiger Moth G-AMIV.Cancellations: Auster AlphaG-APRF; Auster 6A G-ASNB;Autocrat G-AGYH; MitchellG-BWGR; Brochet M.B.50G-BADV; Cessna 120 G-BRJCand 140 G-BTBV; CondorG-AYFE; Dove G-OEWA;Gannet G-BMYP; Jet ProvostG-BYED; Lancaster G-BVBP;Lincoln G-APRJ; LutonMinor G-BKHR; MusketeerG-ASJO; Provosts G-AZREand ’ZRF; Pup G-AXNL;Silvaire G-AKUG; StearmanG-BRHB; Terrier G-AVYK;Lockheed T-33 G-BYOY;Tri-Pacer G-ARDV; VampiresG-BZRC, ’ZRD; ’EBIX; WilgaG-BTNS.

Overseas registersAgCat N8227K to F-GZDJ;

Auster J/4 OY-ECG to D-E---;CAP 20LS HB-MSF toF-GOSL; CASA 212 SE-LDG to N192PL; Cessna 140 N418Rto D-EXOB; Cessna 170N3088A to D-E---; CubsD-EGMG to N29EG, D-EGZGto SP-KUB, D-EMOT to S-P---;D-EMUG to OY-EEE, HB-ONC to N79731, HB-OXT to F-GOXT;LN-KLT to SE-CMC; DevonG-BLRN/WB531 to D-INKA;EKW C.3605 HB-RDB to D-FOOT; Fokker S.11OO-MCH to N17FK; HarvardsHB-RCP to D-FRCP, C6-125 to D-FWAC; N7465S to D-FFCI;Jodel D.112 HB-SUF to F-PMAB; JungmeisterN35133 to D-EIIV; KZ.VIID-EKOF to OY-DBO; MentorOE-CCW to N4208F; Meta-Sokol D-EHOL to OK-BAR;Navion N25TF to SP-KPP;Mustangs N11T to PH-PSI,N5551D to ZK-SAS;

ABOVE Turbo Porter OO-JDV landing after a busy period uplifting parachutists at the August 1999 Fly-in at Schaffen-Diest; it has since been sold to Indonesia, marks not yet known.

PRESERVATION REVIEW OF■ Our annual survey of gains, losses and changes, compiled by MIKE HOOKS

ABOVE Devon G-BLRN was painted to represent D-INKA of LTU in celebration of the airline’s 50th anniversary, and was giving pleasure fl ights at the Tannheim Fly-in in July 2005.

MIK

E H

OO

KS P

HO

TOG

RAPH

S





G-DHTT, Vampire T.11 XE856and Chichester-MilesLeopard G-BRNM; BrusselsRoyal Army Museum/TigerMoth T6534 ex OO-EVT/G-AMTP; Delta Airlines Heritage Museum/StinsonSR-8E Reliant NC16181;de Havilland Heritage Centre/Otter VP-FAK; EAA Museum/Pitcairn PCA-2 AutogiroNC11609; Fundación Infante de Orleans, Cuatro Vientos/Polikarpov I-16 ZK-JIN;Imperial War Museum/D.H.9 in exchange for Me 163 191660to USA; Korean Airlines Collect-ion/ C-121A ConstellationN494TW; Malta Air Museum/Sea Venom XG691; Midland Air Museum/Sea HarrierZE694; Musee de l’Air/Mauboussin M.123 F-PCIT(now F-PJKQ), Nord NC.856A111 and CL.215 F-ZBAY;Prague/Kbely Museum/MiG-21UM 9332 and Viggen 56;RAF Museum Cosford/ValiantXD818 from Hendon and F-111F 74-1077; San DiegoAerospace Museum/BoeingFB-5 A7123 and StinsonSM.8A Junior NC416Y;Sinsheim Museum/CL.215F-ZBBH; Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center Lysander 2346/N7791; Solent Sky/WalrusW2718/G-RNLI; Speyer Museum/CL.215 F-ZBAR;Tangmere Aviation MuseumHunter F.5 WP190; Wright-Patterson for USAF National Museum/B-17F 41-24485.

Museums — notesDeutsches Technik Museum,Berlin, opened 10.6.FAA Museum completesrestoration of Corsair IV KD431.Imperial War Museum,Duxford rolls out Swordfi sh NF370 (24.10) and TSR.2 XR222 (16.12).Italian Air Force Museum,Vigna di Valle, unveils Fiat CR.42 restoration.Liège-Bierset air base,Islander B-11 unveiled (4.6).Museum of Flight, East

Lothian opens ConcordeExperience (16.3).RCAF Museum, Trentonunveils Halifax A.VII NA337restoration (5.11).Stadtmuseum Schöndorfunveils Halberstadt CL IVD-71 restoration.

First fl ights after restoration/rebuildStinson 108 F-BFPM(6.12.04); Hurricane R4118(23.12.04); Spitfi re Tr.9

IAC161/G-CCCA (13.1);Nakajima Ki-43 NX43JE(21.2); Rearwin CloudsterG-EVLE (9.3); Yak-3 G-BWOE(12.4); Devon “D-INKA”(11.5); Tipsy B OO-EOT(11.5); Sea Fury WG655(24.5); Grumman DuckN63850 (26.5); BeechTravel Air G-APUB (-.5);Stinson L-5 N57797 (-.5);Po-2 YU-CMY (18.6); HunterFGA.9 G-ETPS (21.6);Bronco N338RC (-.6);Venom G-DVDM (25.7); Me262 D-IMTT (15.8); SpartanThree-seater ZK-ARH (8.8);Harvard G-BKWZ (1.9);Foster Wickner WickoG-AFJB (2.9); Fokker D VIIIN111EV (24.9); HaydenWright Flyer replica (27.9);Dusenberry Wright Flyerreplica (-.10).

RecoveriesP-39Q 44-2911 (11.1);P-47D 42-29150 (13.6);L-19 51-5038 (14.8);B-25C 41-12634 (-.9);Indian Navy Sea Hawk (-.9).

2005

ABOVE Also present at the Tannheim Fly-in was newly-registered Stearman OE-AWW decoratedwith Airmen’s Beans adverts, presumably giving a built-in tailwind!

ABOVE Another Swiss cancellation, SIAI S.205 HB-ELL, seen atthe 1995 RSA Rally, Moulins, has been sold as N205AB.

ABOVE Among Swiss cancellations was the strange Aeris A-200homebuilt HB-YIL, a visitor to the 1999 PFA Rally, Cranfield.

ABOVE Beech C-45G F-BHMM seen at the 1995 RSA Rally, Moulins, has recently been restored but was soon cancelled.

ABOVE A UK register addition, Waco YMF-F5C G-WOCO, was atthe Great Vintage Flying Weekend, Hullavington, in May.

French vintage registerSome older marks indicate previous allocations now taken up

Reg Type Remarks

F-AZHS Hunter F.58 To C-GZKYF-AZJJ Mustang To N8093ZF-AZJS Spitfi re XIX Ex G-CGDK/N219AMF-AZKE Aeronca C-3 c/n A-517F-AZKL Yak-50F-AZKT MD.311 FlamantF-AZLH Fournier RF.3 Ex F-BLERF-AZNJ Albert A-110F-AZOE CAP.20E Ex F-TFVV/F-BTAI etcF-AZOU HarvardF-AZOY CAP.20E Ex F-TFVW/F-BTAEF-AZPU Pilatus P-3 Ex HB-RCC/A-827F-AZPV SO.1221 Djinn Ex F-BHZKF-AZPX (1) SO.1221 Djinn Reserved, not takenF-AZPX (2) Aeronca Champion Ex F-BFPX/OO-TWGF-AZRJ Bearcat To N224RDF-AZSV* Stampe SV-4 Ex CN-TUI/F-BDKQF-AZSZ Stearman Ex N5367NF-AZTI Yak-50F-AZTJ Beagle Terrier Ex G-ASAK/WE591F-AZUJ Potez 60 Ex F-PNUJ/F-ANUJF-AZUT Stampe SV-4 Ex F-BCXJF-AZVC Croses B-EC9 Ex F-PYBGF-AZVJ Corsair To USAF-AZXI Tri-Pacer Ex F-GHXI/PH-RCHF-AZYD Yak-50F-AZYP Yak-50F-AZZA Yak-50

*Believed reservation, but became SV-4YD c/n 01 F-PRSV


News




HOPE FOR ANOTHER ‘HALI’ ■ Signed print offer kicks off fundraising campaign to raise another submerged bomberFUNDRAISING is now under way to lift Handley Page Halifax B.III LW170 from the bed of the North Sea off the Hebrides, where the 28- mission veteran 424 Sqn bomber ditched after a fuel leak while on a weather reconnaisance fl ight during August 1945. The project is being run by 57 Rescue Canada, the organisation behind the 1995 recovery of the Royal Canadian Air Force Memorial Museum’s Halifax, NA337, from Lake Mjøsa in Norway (see News,January Aeroplane).

After a textbook ditching, LW170 fl oated for 7hr before sinking into deep water. The co-ordinates of the ditching are known. Over the past year Karl Kjarsgaard, the project manager at 57 Rescue, has spent hundreds of hours researching; the experience gained with NA337 will be invaluable to

FORMER SWEDISH Air Force de Havilland Vampire FB.5 28391, above, was moved in November 2005 from Peter Kempe’s aircraft collection in Gothenburg to a new home near Umeå in northern Sweden, where it will be restored before going on display in a museum at Vännäs.

Starting in 1946, the Swedish Air Force took delivery of 70 Vampire F Mk Is, designated J28A, followed by no fewer than 31 Vampire FB.5s (J28B). The last examples were withdrawn from service in 1968, after which 28931 ended up as a target on a missile test range. It was rescued by Kempe in 1999.

Today only fi ve other J28s survive in Sweden: a J28A at the Swedish Air Force Museum, Malmslätt, with a J28B in storage;two J28Bs at the High Chapparal attraction at Hillerstorp, and another J28B at the Svedinos Flygmuseum at Ugglarp.

Lost & Found

I HAVE HAD this rather fuzzypostcard for many years, but the aeroplane still defi es identifi cation. There is a possibility that it was photographed in Sussex, and I estimate a date of about 1910–11. It is typical of amateur-built machines

Anonymous Monoplanewhich appeared around Britain at the time; it seems a little on the small side for practicality, and structurally weak. The apparent absence of the port aileron and the hanging deep-chord eleva-tors suggest that it is unfi n-ished. Like many of these

RIGHT Who can identify for us the location of this WorldWar One RNAS Airship station?

early monoplanes it shows Blériot infl uence in its bracing cabane and general structure and confi guration. Perhaps a regional historian has come across referen-ces to such a machine in a local newspaper.

PHILIP JARRETT

Vampire moves

the recovery of LW170, and the lifting device used in Norway can be re-used. The special sonars required to pinpoint the exact location of the aircraft are available, and estimates are being tendered. After recovery, LW170 will go to the Nanton Air Museum in Alberta, to be displayed close to Avro Lancaster B.X FM159.

As part of the fundraising campaign, a painting of LW170 homeward bound after its 26th combat opera-tion on August 1, 1944, has been produced by Canadian artist Michael McCabe, whose cousin died in action as a Halifax tail-gunner. Amazingly, Kjarsgaard has traced 11 crew who fl ew combat missions in LW170 61 years ago, and has criss-crossed Canada to visit the veterans, who gladly signed limited-edition prints. One of the signatories is Russell

Earl DFC, who piloted LW170 into combat 11 times during 1944.

Prints are now available, with all funds raised going to the recovery of LW170, which, Karl hopes, will happen during 2006.

■ There are only 500 signed prints, which are available at C$165 including p&p. Each print comes with a letter of authenticity from 57 Rescue and an information sheet listing all signatories and their combat history. There are also

250 unsigned prints priced at C$90. For details on the pro-ject, or to order a print, contact Halifax 57 Rescue, Suite 212-2980 Colonial Road, Sars-fi eld, Ontario K0A 3E0; tel 613-835-1748 or e-mail [email protected].

VIA KARL K

JARSG

AA

RD

MIK

AEL

OST

BERG

ABOVE Prints of this painting are being sold to raise funds for Halifax Mk III LW170’s recovery.



South Carolina, where it was issued to the 376th Bomb Squadron (BS), 309th BG(M). The bomber fl ew further training missions until January 19, 1943, when it was involved in an incident at

Myrtle Beach gunnery range in South Carolina. The pilot, 2nd Lt K.T. Blakely, crashed on take-off from the auxiliary airstrip at Myrtle, but further details of the mishap are unknown. The B-25 was

repaired and returned to training duties until its last fl ight, on April 4, 1943. The information regarding that fl ight comes from the crew’s accident report, written two weeks after the ditching.

“On Sunday 4 April 1943 41-12634 was being fl own on skip-bombing practice over Lake Murray. The fl ight crew consisted of pilot, 2nd Lt W.C. Fallon, and in the right-hand seat Lt R.O. Davison, on his fi rst B-25 copilot trip. He replaced Fallon’s regular copilot, Lt G. R. Apai, who was on 24hr leave. The navigator/bombardier was Lt J.R. Carney, who was accom-panied by instructor bombardier Lt H.W. Mascall. S/Sgt R.J. Burns was the gunner on the mission, armed with a camera to take pictures of the bombing practice. The B-25 had 380gal of fuel on board, enough for a 75min mission, and took off at 0900hr.

“Arriving over Lake Murray, Fallon circled the target at 2,000ft, waiting for another B-25 crew to to complete their bombing practice. With the other aircraft out of the way, the base range gave Fallon permission to bomb from 500ft, and he circled down to 900ft. (The target elevation was 375ft above sea level.) Fallon approached Target No 4 with both bombardiers in the nose and the gunner/camera operator in the tail. The bomb load

News Feature

A MITCHELL RESURFACESThe latest vintage aircraft to be recovered from a lakebed is a North American B-25C in South Carolina, fi rst reported in our November 2005 issue. MARK SHEPPARD updates us with details of its history and recovery, and reveals the plans for its conservation and display

NORTH AMERICAN B-25C 41-12634 was the 200th C-model Mitchell to

be completed, and after roll-out at the company’s Ingle-wood factory in California, USA, it was ready for issue on March 24, 1942. Originally given the red “meatball” to the centre of its national insignia, 41-12634 started its career as a training aircraft for the new medium-bomber units of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), which were formed and trained in the USA before going overseas.

On March 30, 1942, the Mitchell was issued to the 12th Bomber Group (Medium) (BG(M)), part of the Third Air Force, and fl own to Esler Army Air Base (AAB) in Louisiana. On May 20 the unit was transferred to Stockton AAB in California, and 41-12634 fl ew patrols off the west coast. The unit returned to Esler on June 23.

In early July the 12th took delivery of 55 new desert-pink B-25C/Ds, but when they left, fl ying to North Africa via the South Atlantic route, 41-12634 remained in the USA and was put into storage. On September 17 it arrived at Columbia AAB,

TOP A profi le of 41-12634 as it looked during 1943. No squadron markings were carried. By this time the red “meatball” on the national insignia had been painted out. ABOVE The B-25C being lowered on to the dam at Lake Murray in September 2005.LEFT A side-scan image of 41-13634 shows that the starboard engine is missing.

JIM G

RIFFIN

ROBERT SEIG

LER

KJETIL AAKRA



News Feature

the B-25 came to a halt.“Davison, Carney and

Mascall rapidly exited via the cockpit escape hatch and on to the starboard wing, while Fallon released the liferaft. Burns escaped out of the emergency hatch in the radio compartment. The crew members were picked up by

a local resident in his motorboat, and after staying afl oat for 7min 41-12634 slipped beneath the surface. Mascall made a note of the spot where the Mitchell sank, roughly two miles to the west of Lake Murray’s Dam.”

Upon the crew’s return to Columbia an investigation

was started. At the time of the accident Fallon had 228 fl ying hours, including 32hr on B-25s, of which 20hr were on the B-25C. In the accident report Fallon shouldered 95 per cent of the blame for the accident, being accused of exhibiting bad technique, only 5 per

cent being attributed to the faulty port engine. Even so, no recommen-dations were listed against pilot or crew.

Five B-25s crashed or ditched into Lake Murray during the war. Two of those accidents saw no loss of life, but the other three cost the lives of 13 men. Sadly, four of 41-12634’s crew were to die on active service, only bombardier Mascall surviving the war. He is still alive today, but poor health prevented his attendance at the recovery, 62 years after the ditching.

During April 1943 it had quickly been established that the B-25 was irrecoverable. Even 60 years later, with far more advanced equipment, its salvage was not going to easy. A US Naval Reserve diving and salvage unit discovered 41-12634 in 1993, but salvage rights were not pursued until Dr Bob Seigler, head of Paedi-atric ICU at Greenville, South Carolina, requested the rights from the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company, owner of the lake. Seigler had heard the story of the Lake Murray B-25C many times, and after reaching agreement on the rights he spent the next 12 years searching for a museum to house the Mitchell. His only requirements were that the recovered aircraft was to be a non-fl yer, and that it would be displayed under cover.

Seigler originally wanted the bomber to stay in South Carolina, but could not fi nalise a deal with any museum there. After a similar lack of success with several other museums across the USA, Seigler eventually found a willing recipient in the Southern Museum of Flight (SMF) based in Birmingham, Alabama.

With a fi nal home now located, it was time to raise the aircraft. Bob Seigler formed a charity called the “Lake Murray B-25 Rescue Project” with Columbia aviation attorney/pilot John Adams Hodge and Bill Vartorella, a media company

consisted of 12 x 100Ib bombs, and with the bomb doors now open, and the airspeed at 190 m.p.h., Fallon informed the bombardiers that they would fi rst make a dry run to take a look at the target, and the next heading would be 180°. Just as 41-12634 fl ew over the target the starboard engine cut out, and the nose swung to port. Checking the instruments, Fallon noticed there was no fuel pressure on the port engine, and he advanced the throttles, registering 33in manifold pressure, and initiated the booster pumps, but still no fuel pressure was indicated.

“Carney and Mascall hurriedly vacated the nose, and the practice bombs were jettisoned into the lake before the bomb doors were closed. The port engine then unexpectedly started again, but after a couple more stop-starts it shut down completely. At this time the airspeed was 160 m.p.h. and the Mitchell was losing height. Fallon increased the starboard engine manifold pressure to 42in, and feathered the port propeller. At this power setting Fallon tried to maintain altitude, with the airspeed remaining at 150 m.p.h., but after an attempt to climb the airspeed dropped off and the rate of descent increased.

“Copilot Davison then warned Fallon that they were rapidly reaching the end of the lake, so rather than crash-land into the pine trees, Fallon made a shallow turn to starboard. He then ordered everyone to remove their parachutes and prepare for a water landing, and copilot Davison released the emergency hatch above the pilot’s compartment. At 1045hr Eastern War Time, Fallon levelled the B-25 out at about 5ft above the Lake surface, gently raised the nose, and 41-12634 mushed into the water at 140 m.p.h. The turning starboard propeller violently wrenched the bomber to port, but after skidding across the surface

“At 1045hr Eastern War Time, Fallon levelled the B-25 out at about 5ft above the lake surface, raised the nose, and 41-12634

mushed into the water at 140 m.p.h.”

ABOVE North American B-25Cs over Esler Field, Louisiana,where 41-12634 was basedbetween June and Septem-ber 1943. The aircraft with yellow cowlings are from the82nd BS, those with red from the 83rd BS, and the plain olive drab-cowled B-25s arefrom the 434th BS. Thesecolours were used onlyduring training, not being carried over to North Africa.

ABOVE A sister-aircraft to theLake Murray Mitchell, B-25C 41-12630, displaying thewhite engine cowlings of the81st BS, 12th BG(M), fl ies overLouisiana in early 1942.LEFT The nose of 41-12634 undergoes anti-corrosion treatment in the Southern Museum of Flight hangar atBirmingham, Alabama, thebomber’s new home.

ALEX A

DA

IR/12TH BG A

SSOICATIO

NA

LEX AD

AIR/12TH

BOM

E GRO

UP A

SSOCIATIO

N

JIM G

RIFFIN



W A R B I R D R E C O V E R Y

owner and scientifi c expedition co-ordinator.

Seigler assembled a recovery team of divers, riggers and environmental control offi cers, and also recruited warbird recovery expert Gary Larkins, who oversaw the whole project. The US Military, the lake owners and the Institute of Archaeology and Anthrop-ology of South Carolina also collaborated in the $200,000 recovery.

The recovery team used a sectional barge, anchored over the crash site by four 4,000Ib cement weights. Once this was in place, volunteer cave divers from Florida, who were used to the depth and low visibility, gradually installed the lifting straps at specifi c locations. Having been carefully located to ensure even weight distribution, the straps were then tied to steel lifting beams positioned over the bomber. Divers had previously removed a foot of silt that had accumulated on the airframe over 62 years. To compensate for the absent starboard engine, 1,000lb of ballast was added in 55gal drums.

On September 18 the lift began, and the two air-compressed winches were started, initially to break the bomber’s suction with the lakebed. After the B-25 had risen 20ft, divers were sent down to get a fi rst look at its underside. On the fi rst dive it was noticed that a critical lifting strap was loose, and the nose section, which had suffered a large vertical gouge on the starboard side, seemed to be in danger of breaking away. It was decided to lower 41-12634 back down and add additional supports.

Three days later, on September 21, the lifting re-commenced. Although the normal empty weight of a wartime B-25C was a little over 20,000Ib, 41-12634 now weighed 43,000Ib, owing to the accumulation of silt in the fuselage. It was lifted to

within 50ft of the surface and then very slowly moved towards the dam.

Traffi c at the dam stopped, and crowds of onlookers watched as the Mitchell gradually emerged from the water and was gingerly set down on top of the dam.

The extent of the damage

to the B-25 could at last be seen. Besides the missing starboard engine, there was signifi cant damage to the undercarriage fairing, the fuselage underside and around the nosewheel bay. When the B-25 veered to port during the ditching, the starboard engine had

sheared off and hit the fuselage, cutting a 4ft-long vertical gouge in the fuselage side before the aircraft bounced over the detatched Pratt & Whitney radial engine.

Following its recovery the B-25 was thoroughly cleaned, and equipment and personal items were

removed. Four 0·5in heavy machine-guns were recovered, two from the dorsal turret and two from the ventral turret. In addition, there was an 0·3in machine-gun in the nose. Once the interior had been cleared of silt, the team found the bomb-aiming equipment and the crew’s parachutes, gloves, caps and log books.

One unique item on 41-12634 is its Bendix ventral turret. This is the only surviving example of this unsuccesful and almost useless addition to the Mitchell’s armament, which was often removed in service.

On the dam, volunteers spent two days cleaning mud and silt from the bomber with a fi re hose. The B-25 was then dismantled and loaded on to a fl atbed truck for transportation to Birmingham, Alabama, thus ending the recovery team’s custodian-ship of 41-12634.

The SMF restoration team is currently cleaning and stabilising the cockpit area. During this work they discovered a watch that had belonged to the copilot, Robert Davidson, lodged behind the instrument panel.

Immediately following the recovery, SMF director Jim Griffi n stated that it would take seven years or more to restore the B-25C to complete static display condition, depending on funding. The present plan is to complete the anti-corrosion treatment and, at least in the short term, put 41-12634 on display in a lakebed diorama to depict its dramatic recovery.

The History Channel fi lmed the recovery, and the programme is due to be screened during February/March 2006.

■ Thanks to William Vartorella, Robert Seigler, John Hodge of the Lake Murray B-25C Rescue Project, James Kitchens, Jack Martin, Ben Gilbert, Alan Renga, Jerry Jerome, Alex Adair and Mary Bushnell for all their help, and to Kjetil Aakra for the profi le

ABOVE The dual-control cockpit of 41-12634 after it had been cleared of silt in the museum’s hangar at Birmingham. BELOW LEFT The B-25’s rear fuselage outside the museum hangar.

ABOVE RIGHT The well-preserved upper turret glazing from 41-12634. BELOW RIGHT The B-25 wing and centre-section on a trailer attract a couple of well-fed members of the broadcasting media.

ABOVE The starboard fi n and rudder in very good condition, clearly showing the serial number. The black leading edge is the de-icing boot. RIGHT Copilot Robert Davidson’s watch, presented to him on March 5, 1943, exactly a month beforethe accident. It was discovered behind the instrument panel.

JIM G

RIFFIN

JACK MERTIN

JUN

IOR

JIM G

RIFFIN

JACK MA

RTIN JU

NIO

R

JIM G

RIFFINJIM

GRIFFIN



http://www.collectorsaircraft.com



PAUL VA

N D

ER HO

RST


Contact!Aircraft preservation comment and analysis, with PAUL COGGAN

■ PAUL COGGAN

joined the RAF in 1973 in the

trade of air traffi c control.

After various assignments,

including postings to RAF

Wittering, RAF Watton

(Eastern Radar) and then 12

Sqn Operations at RAF

Lossiemouth, he resigned

from the RAF in 1986 to

start his own publishing

company. He has been

researching and writing

about warbirds for almost

30 years.

■ MY PIECE ON the DC-3 in last month’s Contact! elicited a response from Charles Oman, who pointed out that myfigure of 10,631 DC-3 variants manufactured in Santa Monica was incorrect. It was in fact 961 — 579 civil DC-3s plus 382 military variants — the balance having been manufactured at Long Beach and Oklahoma City, makinga grand total of 10,655. So I duly stand corrected, andthank Charles for writing in.

■ TALKING OF AGELESS DC-3s, I was most interested to receive news from the producer of a forthcoming docu-mentary on the type. Peter Ochs of HearISee Films in Los Angeles, California, in the USA, sent me a portion of the script to view, and very interesting it is, too. Entitled Diary of a Warbird, the fi lm will trace the history of a particularC-47 from the Second World War and the Berlin Airlift to the war in Indochina and beyond in a docudrama style.Peter is currently looking for pilots and aircrew who fl ewthe C-47, particularly in the China-Burma-India Theatre as well as on D-Day, during the Berlin Airlift, and of course in Korea and Vietnam. However, time is running out, with fi lming taking place in London, Paris and Berlin over the next few months. HearISee is also looking for aural histo-ries, letters and diaries of airmen associated with the C-47that might be suitable for use in the fi lm. If you can help,drop me an e-mail at the usual address and I will put youin direct contact with the producers. We really need moredocumentaries of this type to further the effort to attractmore interested young people. Judging by the section ofscript I have seen, this will be a very different fi lm. Lookout for it.

■ MUCH HAS BEEN SAID and written about Ray Hanna’s passing at his home in Switzerland on December 1 last year. Looking back now, no-one fl ew a Spitfire (and several other warbirds, for that matter) quite like “the Master”. I have often seen those who fl ew the type in anger moved to tears as they watched Ray coax a warbird through its paces in an instinctively planned display, with skill and

panache that others could only strive to achieve. He couldturn on a penny, and the turns were always smooth and perfectly timed. The full repertoire of aerobaticmanœuvres was held together by the unique skill he hadacquired in a very full life as an aviator.

Although he would never forgive me for saying so,somehow Ray always stamped his personality on a flyingdisplay. For me the most memorable one was a ClassicFighters event on one stormy summer afternoon. Little ofany note had been achieved that day, mainly owing to the inconsiderate weather and low cloudbase, and in truth I had spent most of the afternoon dodging showers, in con-versation with John Rigby in the pilot’s tent. The next slot was Ray in Spitfire MH434. Almost as if by magic, as the due time arrived to display, a hole appeared in the scudand the aircraft entered its first roll straight into bright bluesky and perfect sunshine, much to the delight of the crowdcoaxed from the hangars by the sound of the Merlin. The scene was perfectly still. In crystal clear air, the Merlin sang and I vividly recall how the audience stood, eyes ele-vated, totally captivated, ignoring even the colourless commentary as the Spitfire touched the peaks and falls ofits display. I wonder how many more spectators have this occasion etched in their memory?

Not only did Ray set high standards in airshow flying,even in front of not-always-appreciative audiences, but he firmly stamped his mark on aviation involvement in manyother ways. His role as “aerial consultant” for several major feature fi lms, including Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987), David Puttnam’s Memphis Belle (1989) and,lastly, another Spielberg fi lm, Saving Private Ryan (1998),complemented his countless TV appearances in a multi-tude of different aircraft.

We will all miss the irreplaceable Ray Hanna, always ap-proachable no matter how hard-pressed he was for time. I hope, if the Hanna family so wish, that a permanent me-morial will be unveiled at Duxford, perhaps also to cele-brate the aerial contribution of his son, Mark, who so often dazzled the aviation-minded public.

This month Paul brings news of a forthcoming docudrama fi lm devoted to the ageless and

ubiquitous Douglas DC-3/C-47, and refl ects on the immaculate fl ying of the late and greatly

lamented Ray Hanna, undisputed king of warbird display pilots

RIGHT Ray Hanna fl ying Old Flying Machine Company Spitfi re LF Mk IXC MH434 at low level over West Malling in 1985, against a quintessential Kent backdrop.

■ To contact Paul, e-mail

[email protected] or

write to him via AeroplaneEditorial, King’s Reach Tower,

Stamford St, London SE1 9LS



at DAT. They had been sent by sea from the USA to London Docks (crated?) and then transported to DAT, where at intervals until the late 1960s they were subjected to trials. The fi rst sections in June 1962 were described by the ledger-keeper as “B-29A”, but thereafter they were described as just “B-29”. Whether this is of any signifi cance is not known. The aircraft serial numbers (presumably USAF) were unfortunately not recorded.

TONY HILLBurnham-on-Crouch, Essex

Honouring John LloydSIR — Staffordshire University wishes to honour John Lloyd, the forgotten aircraft designer from Etruria, who attended classes there when it was Stoke Technical School.

Born into a Welsh-speaking family in South Wales, John had to learn English when he came to the Potteries, where his father worked at Shelton Bar.

Educated at Hanley High School, he became Armstrong Whitworth’s chief aircraft designer and produced the Siskin III, the RAF’s fi rst all-metal fi ghter. He also designed the Whitley long-range heavy bomber powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlins. A fi rst-line aircraft

Cosford treasuresSIR — Congratulations on November’s Database by Joe Picarella on the Kawasaki Ki-100 fi ghter, which has to be one of your best to date. Joe’s cutaway drawing is a real work of art, well complemented by the cracking scale drawings, and both are welcome additions to my collection.

It brought back memories for me, too, as I fi rst met the Ki-100 that is now in the RAF Museum back in 1961, when it was in storage for the Imperial War Museum, I believe, at RAF Cosford. I was then an RAF Boy Entrant, U/T Air Radar Mechanic with the 42nd Entry. The Ki-100, Messerschmitt Me 410Hornisse and Mitsubishi Ki-46-III Dinahwere all together in the then No 3 work-shops, where I managed to sit in the cockpits of them all one evening. They were permanently locked up soon after-wards. I did not realise at that time what a miracle their survival was, as there was little or no visible sense of the historical signifi cance of any aircraft within the leadership of the RAF at that time.

The outstanding example of this “just get rid of it” frame of mind was the de Havilland Mosquito NF.30 held by the Aircraft Servicing Training Flight and kept then at the back of “Hinaidi West” hangar, fl anking the parade square at Cosford. This very-low-hours airframe, complete with its AI radar fi t, was certainly in one piece when I graduated in June 1962, but by the time I returned to Cosford, in December 1964, for my fi tter’s course, the Mosquito, which was most likely the last of its type extant, had been struck off charge. Instead of joining the other historic airframes still at Cosford, it had been towed to the other side of the airfi eld and burned. The two Merlins sat for the next ten years or so in the station scrap compound, mute testament to the quality of Cosford’s decision makers at the time. Forty years on I still have the same seething sense of frustration, disillusionment and loss as I did then. If my boss at Waddington in 1968, GpCapt “Boots” Griffi ths, had had the same attitude, where would Lancaster PA474 be today?

On the plus side, by 1964 No 4workshops had a spectacular new resident; the fi rst prototype GlosterMeteor, DG202/G, just up from a St

Athan repaint after being “rescued” off the main gate at RAF Yatesbury. Rumour had it that the airframe was Yatesbury’s gate guardian, painted at the time dark blue and in a poor state, when a passing motorist spotted what it really was. It did look wonderful following its restoration. The plans were well advanced for the RAF Museum at Hendon by the time I left Cosford for Feltwell to do the equipment phase of my fi tter’s course to get to grips with H

2S 9A, but that really is another story. PHILIP R.E. WILLIAMSDunholme, Lincoln

Recalling the OxfordSIR — As I have (mostly) happy memories of the Airspeed Oxford, David Ogilvy’s article thereon (Aeroplane,December 2005) was a delight, but I was surprised he did not mention the prime reason for its poor single-engine performance, viz the fi xed-pitch wooden propellers. I believe some later models were improved in this respect, but sadly not in my experience.

The rudder bias was about the only poor item I recall; not only was it very low-geared, requiring many turns to achieve much in the way of results, but it also worked in the opposite to natural

sense — that is, for left bias one cranked the rather puny handle to the right (or vice versa).

HARRY LIDDELLvia e-mail

The Washingtons’ fatesSIR — With reference to the very interesting Database on the Boeing B-29 (September 2005 Aeroplane): on reading the section concerning the RAF Washingtons by Robert F. Dorr, I gained the impression that all these aircraft were returned to the USA. In fact, according to the records of the Damage to Aircraft (DAT) Section at the Proofand Experimental Establishment (P&EE)at Shoeburyness, nine Washingtons were sent to that establishment from No 23 Maintenance Unit at Aldergrove;WF434, ’435 and ’436 arrived on September 2, 1957, and WF441, WW346 and ’355, ’WZ966, ’967 and ’968 on August 25,1958. Over the period from mid-1958 to mid-1961, a considerable number of main aircraft sections were sent for trial, both at DAT and also in 1961 to P&EE Pendine.

One mystery which has yet to be resolved (even by Chris Howlett) is that between June 18 and November 9, 1962, the sections of six B-29s arrived

SEWELL

“Buy him a pint and he’ll tell you about the Battle of Britain . . . buy him 3, and he’ll re-enact it.”


F.D.2-and-fro-ingsSIR — Congratulations on yet another splendid issue of Aeroplane. I enjoyed the Fairey F.D.2 Database, (December 2005)but I would like to make a few points.

It was F.D.2 WG774, not WG777,which went to France. It fl ew from Bed-ford to Cazaux, via refuelling at Bretigny, on October 11, 1956. Research fl ights in France with WG774 began on October

from 1939 to 1942, the Whitley played a major role in the RAF’s bombing offensive against Germany and Italy. During the Battle of Britain it attacked Berlin, and in 1942 took part in the fi rst 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne.

After creating the Whitley, Lloyd produced the Albemarle, a twin-engined bomber that was used as a special transport and gilder tug which dropped

paratroops in Normandy on D-Day and towed gliders carrying airborne forces to Arnhem. When the war ended John designed the A.W.52 fl ying wing experimental research aircraft used by scientists at the Royal Aircraft Establishment until the mid-1950s.

Staffordshire University has asked us to evaluate John’s contribution to aviation history. To do this we need to

speak to research scientists who conducted experiments with the fl ying wing, and members of the RAF and airborne forces who had links with the Whitley and Albemarle.

If you can help, please contact me.DAVID MARTINHeritage Associates, Silver Birches, 127 Close Lane, Alsager, Stoke-on-Trent ST7 2TZ; tel 01270 875656

Write to: Aeroplane,King’s Reach Tower,Stamford Street, London SE1 9LSor email us at [email protected]

LETTER OF THE MONTH To fl y or not to fl y?

SIR — Gerard Casey (Skywriters, January), in common with many other contributors on the subject, seems to suggest that there is a clear and easy choice between deciding whether vintage aircraft fl y, or are preserved in a museum. This simply is not the case.

A very signifi cant proportion of the vintage aircraft now in existence would never have been dragged from lake-bottoms, jungle crash-sites and kibbutz playgrounds to be lovingly restored and maintained if it were not for the burning desire of enthu-siasts to see them fl y again. Few of the wrecks and relics that are now airworthy airframes would ever have been recovered or restored to even static condition under the funding regimes and space restrictions suffered by museums in the UKor worldwide. The private interest, effort, and money are forthcoming only because of the seductive promise that one day that lovely machine will fl y again. In a very real sense, these airframes only exist at all because they can and will fl y.

The private subscriptions from the members of restoration societies, the thousands of unpaid hours of work by enthusiasts, the investment by wealthy individuals and by companies that make a business from fi lm and TV work with historic aircraft would simply dry up if the only goal was static restoration.

Does anyone really believe that Robs Lamplough’s lovely “real warbird” P-51

Miss Helen would ever have been recovered from an Israeli kibbutz playground for any purpose but to fl y again? In effect, it had already been scrapped. The alternative was not to be a static display in a museum: it was to be melted down. Without the desire to make it fl y again, it would have been lost for ever.

Does anyone really believe that B-17 Sally B would have such a huge and successful following if it did not fl y? It continues to be preserved and funded because it fl ies. If ever it is grounded, the romance will fade and the so will a large proportion of the fi nancial support. It is at best doubtful that alternative support would then be forthcoming from public funds or a museum.

Does anyone really believe that Duxford would be the thriving and expandingcentre of excellence in the restoration fi eld that it is now if the old aircraft stopped fl ying? I personally doubt that there would have been suffi cient public interest in the museum to justify either the American Air Museum or the AirSpace hangar if it were not for the promise of hearing and seeing old aircraft fl ying.

Without the urge to make these old aircraft fl y, the sum total of historic aircraft would actually be a fraction of what it is now. Our real choice is: do we want both fl yers and a few static museum pieces, or just a few museum pieces?

ROBERT PENDRY Devizes, Wiltshire

Letter of the Month is sponsored by Shepherd Neame’s Spitfi re Ale

Each month, the sender of the letter selected as Letter of the Month wins a generousmonth’s supply — 36 x 500ml bottles — of Spitfire Premium Kentish Strong Ale,

originally produced in 1990 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle ofBritain and now one of the UK’s best-known beers

Letter of the Month is sponsored by Shepherd Neame’s Spitfi re Ale

Each month, the sender of the letter selected as Letter of the Month wins a generousmonth’s supply — 36 x 500ml bottles — of Spitfire Premium Kentish Strong Ale,

originally produced in 1990 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle ofBritain and now one of the UK’s best-known beers

Write to: Aeroplane, King’s Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS or e-mail us at [email protected]

ABOVE Armstrong Whitworth’s chiefdesigner John Lloyd, who is to behonoured by Staffordshire University.His designs included the Siskin III fighter, RIGHT, represented here by aformation of 43 Sqn machines upfrom Tangmere in August 1930, aswell as Whitley, Albemarle andA.W.52. See David Martin’s letter.





MAIN HEADER NEWS MAIN15, 1956, and by Friday November 9 it had logged 39 experimental fl ights in 13fl ying days. It was returned to Bedford on November 15, 1956. The pilots were Slade and Twiss.

A second French expedition byWG774, to Istres or Cazaux, was not allowed by the French, who offered the use of their base in North Africa. The heat made this unacceptable. (The British were willing to let two Frenchtest pilots fl y the F.D.2 in Cazaux.) The aircraft went instead to Norway on June5, 1958 (Bedford—Acklington—Sola).The stage across the sea was fl own with the ventral tank fi tted, in company with an Aeroplane and ArmamentExperimental Establishment Hawker Hunter chase aircraft. The return journey was on July 2, 1958 (Sola—Leuchars—Bedford). The pilots were Twiss and Jimmy Mathews (one “t”, not two). Twenty-four fl ights were madeduring the Norwegian expedition. Fairey F.D.2 WG777 was last fl own on July 13,1966 (Flight 429), and not July 1.

HENRY MATTHEWSAuthor and publisher of: The Saga of F.D.2/BAC.221 due to be released in February 2006 by HPM Publications;www.HPMPublications.com;e-mail [email protected]

Civil Condor crashSIR — The civil Focke-Wulf Condor(page 78, January Aeroplane) crashed at White Waltham and I was one of a crowd gathered on the apron who saw the prang, with, I might add, dismay!

I was one of the rather privileged ATCcadets employed by the Air Transport Auxiliary as messenger boy/pilot’sassistant (when required). One of our number had already “tapped” Captain Hansen for a ride in this rare bird and we were eagerly anticipating our fl ight.

Captain Hansen survived only to lose

his life later in an unfortunate accident at Whitchurch, when another Anson landed on top of his Anson, or so we heard. What rotten luck.

The Condor was painted in usualgreen/brown camoufl age with yellowundersurfaces. It still carried the civilregistration G-AGAV, as I recall.

RONALD NEALLydd, Kent

Aussie in a BritSIR — Re the Database on the Britannia(August 2005 Aeroplane), at least one of those Lloyd International Britanniasmust have been able to be used as a passenger aircraft, as I fl ew on G-ANCEin December 1970 and January 1971.

I was in the Australian Army at the time in Vietnam, and a call came out for anyone whose tour fi nished at the right time to fill a Christmas charter fromMalaya. It seems that they were thinking of Brits in the Australian Armyand they really didn’t know how to handle applications from a couple of Aussies who wanted to go to the UKinstead of home after 12 months away.

We had to have passports issued bythe Australian Embassy in Saigon (myfi rst, and a real rarity I would think)before they would let us go, and we were fl own from Vung Tau to Butter-worth by RAAF C-130. This was not without drama either, as we were stranded for some days with no money,no change of clothes and no accom-modation after the Herc lost an engine in a birdstrike on arrival from Australiaand had to have a new engine fl own in.

From Butterworth we caught the ferry to Penang (no bridge in those days) and a MAS Boeing 737 to Singapore at our own expense. The Britannia picked us up from Changi and we stopped over for refuelling in Karachi.

At one point it began to “rain” in the

cabin — obviously a known problem,because the male fl ight attendant (FA)appeared with a stepladder, removedsome of the “ceiling” and disappeared into the upper fuselage armed with justabout the biggest screwdriver I had ever seen. Presently the “rain” stopped and the FA reappeared. We disembarked at an icy Stansted on December 13, 1970,wearing tropical kit: what a change after a year in Vietnam!

The return fl ight was about a monthlater in January 1971. We lost an engine over the Med and had to divert into Athens where we spent 24 hours in the transit bar waiting for another replacement engine. Every time we bought a drink we received change in the most incredible range of foreign coinages, none of which the barmanwould take back to buy another drink.

We heard that there was a red-lightdistrict just down the road and decided that the airport was too boring to hang around in, and that lack of visas wasn’tgoing to stop a bunch of battle-hardened Vietnam vets. We trooped back into the bar when the Airport Police drew their guns on us and we realized that ours were back “in country”!

The offi cer who had been assigned to watch over this rabble of ORs found that he liked ouzo more than it likedhim, and we had to carry him aboardthe aircraft when it came time to leave.We also carried him off in Singapore,still unconscious. From Singapore the RAAF again came to the rescue, fl ying us by A- model Herc to Darwin, then Laverton (Melbourne) and fi nally to Richmond (Sydney). I then caught a TAA DC-9 to Brisbane and walked in the front door of the family home for the fi rst time in 15 months, and within a few weeks was a civvy again.

BOB LIVINGSTONEBrisbane, Queensland, Australia

CF-100 correctionSIR — After reading the captions to Personal Album in December 2005’sAeroplane, I would like to offer the following correction regarding the Belgian Air Force Avro CF-100. The aircraft in the picture is not “18535” as stated, but AX-35, which is in fact RCAF18719. It was fl own by 349 Squadron,part of 1 Wing (All-Weather), based at Beauvechain. On the intake is the 349Sqn insignia of two crossed “morningstars” (Goedendags in Flemish).

As a small side note I would like to add that the CF-100 Mk 5 18534,which is currently preserved in the Brussels Air Museum, never saw actualservice in the Belgian Air Force and was obtained from the Royal Canadian Air Force in the early 1970s for one symbolic Canadian Dollar, because allthe original Belgian Air Forces exampleswere sold for scrap after being struck off charge in 1963–64.

LAURENT HEYLIGENBeringen, Belgium

Pakistan FreightersSIR — Whilst having my usual enjoyableread of your excellent magazine I noted one caption to a picture in Skywriters(January Aeroplane) that may be slightlymisleading. It was illustrating Ray Chapman’s fascinating letter on the New Zealand Karakoram Expeditionwhere you printed an excellentphotograph of RPAF Freighter G793.

You state (quite correctly, I hasten to add) that the RPAF had 38 FreighterMk 31Ms. However the aircraft depicted is quite clearly a Mk 21P, which the RPAF also had in service in largenumbers, 35 of them in fact. To set the record straight the RPAF bought 35Mk 21P Freighters which were serialledG775 to G809, and 38 Mk 31Ms which were serialled S4401 to S4438.

This total made the RPAF (later justPAF) by far the largest single operator of the type anywhere in the world. The aircraft were fi tted-out for a wide range of duties; paratroop and supplydropping and VIP transports, in addition to more normal passenger and cargo carriage. Several were even converted to carry two 1,000lb bombs under the wings and several others were converted to insecticide sprayers during a locust plague that caused great crop devastation.

How do I know all these details? Well,I am the Air-Britain specialist for the ABOVE Lloyd Bristol Britannia G-ANCE, in which Bob Livingstone flew from Singapore to Stansted and back in 1970–71.

http://www.HPMPublications.com


Avro InfoALTHOUGH WE STILL do not know the event depicted in the study of the group posed in front of an Avro XIX (Lost & Found, September 2005), reader George Jenks of Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, has identifi ed the aircraft as G-AGPB (c/n1271), which served its entire life with the Ministry of Civil Aviation betweenJanuary 1946 and September 1950. Readers Vardre Holland of Chichester, West Sussex; Michael Sullivan of Ealing, London; Lance Grainger and aviation artist John Young of Chesham, Buckinghamshire (who also identifi ed the aircraft), have all named the “unmistakable” gentleman in the pinstripe suit and bow tie as George Lindgren MP, who became Labour MP for Wellingborough in 1945 and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Civil Aviation in Attlee’s government. In 1964, in his sixties, the then Lord Lindgren became Junior Private Secretary to the Minister for Transport in Harold Wilson’s Labour government, but held the post for only some 18 months. Reader Chris Price of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire,believes that the naval offi cer on the left could be Capt F.R. Twiss RN, who was COof RNAS Bramcote (HMS Gamecock), near Nuneaton, where Chris trained as a naval air mechanic in 1956. Captain Twiss was a brother of Fairey Aviation chief test pilot Peter Twiss. PHILIP JARRETT


Flying Visit

Chief designer and test pilot for microlight builders P & M Aviation — and intrepidtest-pilot of the 1899 Pilcher Triplane replica in 2003 — Dr BILL BROOKS FRAeStalks to MELVYN HISCOCK about his flying career

What is your fi rst aviation memory? My dad gave a Frog

Buccaneer rubber-powered aeroplaneto a cousin. It made a great impressionon me and I was so envious I designed my own. I was about seven at the time.

When was your fi rst fl ight? In 1976 a modelmaking friend and

I went on a gliding course. I was not very impressed with the course, and spent most of my time driving tractors and heaving cables. I liked the T.21 as it had an open cockpit but I found the closed-cockpit gliders too claustrophobic.I then saved enough money for a hang-gliding course.

What prompted your career in aviation? It was always inevitable.

I made and fl ew models and always won-dered what it would be like to be in them.

When was your fi rst solo? In a hang glider, probably on the

second day of the course in 1978 at Dunstable Hang Gliding School. It took nine months to learn to fl y a hang glider properly and a lot of application and effort as I had to trudge through 50miles of ice and snow to get there.

Who or what has been the biggest infl uence on your

aviation career? I think your instructors are always infl uential. I started with an absolute dynamo calledHoward Edwards. We got into modifyinghang gliders with chainsaw engines!

Do you have any unfulfi lled ambitions in aviation? I would

quite like to design, build and get approval for a four-seater and then go touring with the family.

What do you consider your best aviation achievement?

Making it possible for a couple of thou-sand people to fl y safely and cheaply.

Do you hold any aviation records? I suppose you could

say making a biplane in three days and fl ying it on the fourth is some kind of record (on TV’s Scrapyard Challenge).

We should go for more records here with the Pegasus Quik. We couldprobably get the fl exwing speed record.

Was there a time when you looked out of the cockpit and

thought, “This is what aviation is all about”? I get that on most fl ights but as memories fade you need to keep going back and getting more! Recently I was halfway across the Channelbetween Cherbourg and the Isle of Wight at 6,000ft and I could see bothcoasts. I looked up to see this tiny wing and thought “How is this possible?” I was just suspended mid-Channel.

What has been your worst aviation moment? I had a share

in a Rallye and took it from Elstree to Cranfi eld in bad weather. I got disorientated in cloud and turbulencewhen I looked down into “the offi ce” to reset the transponder. Luckily I remembered my training and pulled it out. My instructor at Cranfi eld, Harvey Britten, had drummed it into me with a rolled-up newspaper!

What is your favourite aircraft? The trouble is that all

good aeroplanes have their charm. The Booster is a powered hang-glider that uses 2lit of fuel an hour and you feellike a bird; the Quik is lovely, fast and manœuvrable and the CT2K is agreat performer. It is good to see a microlight doing everything a GA aircraft can and much more. The 172 I have is also good as I can take the family places.

And what is your least favourite? It has to be the fi rst

glider I built for Scrapyard Challenge.It was directionally unstable. It was just appalling.

Which aircraft from history would you most like to have

fl own? The Wright Flyer would besuch an interesting challenge. Stabilityand control had yet to be explored.The Pilcher triplane was fascinating. It would be good to see what they were up against.

Letter of the Month is sponsored by Shepherd Neame’s Spitfi re Ale Letter of the Month is sponsored by Shepherd Neame’s Spitfi re Ale

Lost & Found — Your Replies

Bristol Freighter and Wayfarer, and amin the late stages of writing a history of the type, due to be published as an Air-Britain monograph in the not too distant future. My project will contain a wealthof previously unknown, and indeed unsuspected details of the Freighter in service around the world. I would like to hear from any other readers who may have some details they might like to share with me.

DEREK A. KINGBritish Transport Aircraft Histories4 Coldhams South, Huntingdon, Cambs PE29 1UN;e-mail [email protected]

Low blowSIR — The picture of the Conway-powered Avro Vulcan doing a low pass at Farnborough in 1958 (The LowDown, December 2005 Aeroplane),brought to mind an even more excitingdisplay during the Battle of Britain Day event at Thornaby Aerodrome, on Teesside, that same year. After doing a high-speed runway pass, the Vulcanpilot turned off and fl ew along and

just above the line of the crowd for wellover half a mile. I doubt whether the Vulcan was doing much more than about 200 m.p.h., because one couldhear shouts of amazement fromspectators further up the line as the Vulcan fl ew overhead.

When it came over my group I realised why people were so surprised. As the bomber passed over there was a sudden pressure on the top of my head, probably equal to about5–10lb force. It lasted just a few seconds. No doubt some moremathematically-minded reader will beable to work out the height of the Vulcan exactly, but as ground effect dies away at not much more than halfwingspan, the height cannot have beenmuch above 60ft. Was the pilotcharged, I wonder?

More likely there would be a commendation, with the remark: “A bitlower next year, but get the underside cleaned up fi rst. You know how white shows the dirt.”

FRED STARR via e-mail

SUBSCRIBE TO AEROPLANE— Call our credit-card hotline on 0845 676 7778or subscribe securely at www.aeroplanemonthly.com

ABOVE We now have some answers about this puzzle picture — see text.



http://www.amicidellhunter.ch.

http://www.amicidellhunter.ch.

http://www.clindailes.ch

http://www.fliegermuseum.ch

http://www.hunterflying.ch


Explains...

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT AVIATION

How aircraft arresting gears work

A RRESTING AN aircraft landing on a carrier deck is a tricky business. Until mirror guidance systems

were introduced, machines could arrive over the stern at a variety of speeds and altitudes to be captured and stopped on a short deck.

Small wonder, therefore, that arresting gears took more than 20 years of trial and error to evolve. Cross-deck ropes and sandbags, longitudinal wires and undercar-riage claws to snare them, simple manhandling to catch aircraft and keep them straight, weights being

lifted up towers, even automotive brakes, were all tried. Finally, in the mid-1930s, defi nitive units appeared in the UK and USA, although without any co-operation. These systems saw us through World War Two and are still used today in the US Navy (USN).

Designs were based upon hydraulic rams, connected through block-and-tackle systems to transverse wires held just above deck level to engage trailing hooks on the aircraft.

The requirements for arresting gears are i) To capture the aircraft reliably; ii) To bring it to a stop on the available deck length, 150 to

200ft, without damage; and iii) To enable it to be freed from the gear, which can then be reset for the next arrival. These operations must take the minimum time, for the carrieris at its most vulnerable when holding a straight course and quite probably veering away from the rest of the fl eet.

Transverse wires, suspended a few inches above the deck on steel bow springs, look after the engage-ment. Their ends are taken through guide pulleys to the arresting unit suspended beneath the deck, then wrapped around it in the form of a

block and tackle. As the deck span pulls out, a ram is forced up to 20ft into a cylinder, displacing the con-tained fl uid through control valves into a pressurised air-over-fl uid reservoir. The further compression in this then provides the resetting facility, through a non-return valve, leaving enough pressure to re-tension the deck wires ready for the next arrival. A typical system diagram is seen below.

The control valves are the heart of the gear, and virtually all development effort has been expended upon them. They manage the discharge of the fl uid, which in turn governs the pres-

Aviation Reference



http://www.rafmuseum.org

http://www.cambridge-covers.co.uk



TEST FLYING MEMORIAL PROJECT

BELOW Halifax II V9977, which crashed fatally during a radar test fl ight on June 7, 1942.

ABOVE A recent view of Farnborough Airfi eld from the Farnborough Air Sciences Museum, looking over the famous “Black Sheds” and down the runway to Laffan’s Plain at the far end. The sky above echoes with almost a century of test fl ying.

BRIA

N L

UFF

ON JUNE 7, 1942, Handley Page Halifax II V9977 of the Telecommunications Flying Unit took off from its home airfi eld at Defford, in Worcestershire. The aircraft

was being used in the most secret trial of a pro-totype H2S radar ground-mapping and bombing aid which would help to confer war-winning potential upon Bomber Command’s strategic bombing offensive against Germany. On board was an RAF fl ight crew of fi ve, a senior Bomber Command scientifi c liaison offi cer, an offi cer of the H2S development fl ight, three vital employ-ees of manufacturer EMI, including the H2S

Think of the Risks . . .. . . faced by generations of test pilots and other fl ight-test aircrew in furthering the cause of aviation: some

400 of them died on test-fl ying duties in Britain alone. No national memorial exists to mark their sacrifi ce —

an omission which, with the support of readers, Aeroplane would like to rectify, as JOHN MAYNARD reports

project leader, and a civilian fl ight test observer. These 11 men shared the Halifax with a valuable prototype radar set and all its associated scan-ning equipment.

Shortly after the aircraft left Defford a tappet locking nut detached in the starboard outer en-gine and caused a fatigue fracture. This resulted in an outbreak of fi re in the fl ame trap, which ig-nited the induction charge. In no time at all a fi erce blaze occurred in the supercharger induc-tion casing. This spread to adjacent fuel tanks, burning through the outboard wing structure, which soon broke away. The resulting crash at Welsh Bicknor from 500ft, inverted, was not sur-vivable, and all on board were killed instantly in what was probably the worst aeroplane fl ight-test accident of all time.

As recently as 1985 an unoffi cial further inves-tigation by the Radar Research Establishment, aided by Rolls-Royce, fi nally accredited the blame to an engine fi tter who had failed to lock the vital nut. The impact of the disaster on H2Sdevelopment and delivery to Bomber Command was reduced only by superhuman efforts driven by the imperatives of the time.

During the fi ve years of the Second World War, fl ight-test accidents accounted for a total of

“. . . and everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed rest and their native country”

— SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE



some 219 deaths among aircrew, engineers, sci-entists and tradesmen who were test fl ying while courageously serving their country in the armed services, the scientifi c civil service, the aircraft industry, and numerous other organisations as-sociated with the pursuit and understanding of the science of fl ight. Casualties in like circum-stances have been a sad but inevitable feature of British aviation since S.F. Cowdery (“Cody”) made the fi rst powered and sustained fl ight in the UK, from Farnborough on October 16, 1908. Indeed, in the fi rst fi ve years of peace following the Second World War a further 88 men and women died in test-fl ying accidents.

As the 100th anniversary of Cody’s pioneering fl ight approaches, Aeroplane believes that there is a strong case for drawing up a Roll of Honour of all those who have lost their lives while serv-ing as members of fl ight-test crews.

So who will qualify for inclusion? These are the proposed criteria:■ Members of fl ight-test crews on fl ights in ex-perimental or prototype aircraft, and in other aircraft undertaking trials of new powerplants, propellers, control systems, armaments, com-munication systems and radars, as well as in the proving of ground-based systems such as ground-controlled approach and other landing aids, catapults and deck-landing equipment.■ “Members of fl ight-test crews” are defi ned as pilots, navigators and operators of navigational equipment, radio and radar operators, fl ight test observers, armament specialists and crafts-men undertaking specifi c tasks on structures, systems, or equipment. They will include mem-bers of the armed services, of British-owned air-lines and aircraft manufacturing or equipment companies, of the scientifi c civil service, or of regulatory authorities and other recognised aviation agencies.■ Test fl ying is taken to mean participating in offi cial test programmes with the objective of proving experimental or prototype aircraft, engines, propellers and any ancillary equip-ment. It will also include trials of production air-craft before customer acceptance, to fulfi l either standard airworthiness requirements or specifi c test objectives and investigations within a de-fi ned programme.

■ In the context of this proposition a fl ight-test accident is one occurring in an aircraft of British manufacture, or one of other national origin un-der test while the subject of actual or possible acquisition by the British armed services, or by British airlines. The same qualifi cation will ap-ply to the testing of engines, propellers or ancil-lary equipment of non-British origin. Offi cial programmes covering the testing and evalua-tion of enemy aircraft are also within the terms of this proposal. Accidents occurring during dis-play fl ying will not be included unless an experi-mental or prototype aircraft fl ying within its test programme is involved.

We do not underestimate the many diffi culties likely to be encountered in the course of trans-forming this proposal into reality. However, Brit-ish aviation is not yet 100 years old, and its com-paratively brief existence has been exhaustively covered by detailed military and company histo-ries, authoritative biographies and, not least, avid media attention. Aviation has been accor-ded the status of front-page news, and the occur-rence of two world wars during the fi rst century of fl ight has, if anything, exaggerated this treat-ment. Accordingly, the establishment of an ex-haustive and accurate listing should not prove an insurmountable hurdle. More diffi cult may be the application of the criteria we have proposed to the circumstances of each individual incident.

ABOVE Royal Aircraft Factory test pilot Frank Goodden in the cockpit of the fi rst S.E.5 prototype, A4561, at Farnborough on November 23, 1916. Goodden was killed in the second prototype, A4562, on January 28, 1917, when it suffered an in-fl ight structural failure.

BELOW The Westland Wyvern naval fi ghter claimed the lives of several test pilots. This is the fi rst prototype, TF Mk I TS371, powered by a 2,690 h.p. Rolls-Royce Eagle. The similarly-powered second prototype, TS375, crashed during an attempted forced landing on October 15, 1947, after its propeller stopped. Westland test pilot Sqn Ldr P.J. Garner was killed.

With this in mind we propose to invite a com-mittee to assist the process of listing and to en-sure overall consistency.

Once the listing is fi nalised (we have in mind a target date of January 2007), work will begin to produce a high-quality manuscript Roll of Hon-our, which will be kept and maintained up to date for public display at the Farnborough Air Sciences Museum. We intend also to publish copies of various versions for public sale. Each entry will include details of the date and place of accidents and of the aircraft type involved.

It has also been suggested that perhaps a sim-ple memorial should be placed nearby, looking down the runway towards Laffan’s Plain or framing the sky above it. It would carry a tribute and dedication.

The Editor would greatly appreciate readers’ comments and opinions on all aspects of this proposal, so that an indication of support can be obtained. Given a generally favourable reaction,

the process of listing can begin, and this may well include information submitted by readers to amplify offi cial accident records. It is our aim, once the project is under way, to publish period-ic progress reports, and possibly to make the listing available for review via the internet. Our intention is to open the completed Roll of Hon-our for display at Farnborough exactly 100 years after Britain’s fi rst powered, sustained and con-trolled fl ight — made by Cody over Laffan’s Plain on October 16, 1908.

Editor’s NoteAre you keen to support the Test Flying MemorialProject? Send your comments to me, Michael Oakey,

Editor, Aeroplane, King’s Reach Tower, Stamford St,

London SE1 9LS. The project is still in its earliest stages,but if you would like to make a donation towards theproduction of the Roll of Honour and an eventualmonument, please send a cheque to Farnborough Air

Sciences Trust, Trenchard House, 85 Farnborough

Road, Farnborough, Hants GU14 6TF. Make the chequepayable to Farnborough Air Sciences Trust, but pleaseclearly mark it (and the envelope and any covering letter)“Test Flying Memorial Project”. FAST is RegisteredCharity No 1040199

ABOVE The three-man crew of Cierva Air Horse VZ724, test pilot Sqn Ldr F.J. “Jeep” Cable, test pilot Alan Marsh and fl ight test engineer J. Unsworth, were killed when the machine broke up and crashed on June 13, 1950.

“The Roll of Honour will be kept at the Farnborough Air

Sciences Museum. It has also been suggested that a

simple memorial should be placed nearby”


About the DVDTHE IMPORTANCE of test flying has been pivotal throughout aviationhistory. Many of the early pioneers had to be aircraft designer, engineer and chief test pilot all rolled into one. The task, fraught with danger,attracted a range of colourful characters including the Wright Brothers,Frank and Harold Barnwell, Samuel Cody, and Geoffrey de Havilland.This special DVD, produced for Aeroplane by Amity Media, captures theessence of test flying and features unique footage from the FarnboroughAir Sciences Trust film archive which covers much of the research anddevelopment carried out by the Royal Aircraft Establishment.■ Early deck trials — hazardous and at times unsuccessful■ Vickers Wellington engine testbed trials■ John Cunningham breaking the altitude record in a Vampire■ Eric “Winkle” Brown making the fi rst deck landing in a jet aircraft■ Bill Bedford recalls Hawker P.1127 testing and a Harrier demo-flight

incident■ Buccaneer testing and early deck-landing trialsIncluding interviews, recollectionsand phenomenal footage, this is aDVD you will want to keep — and it isabsolutely FREE with the next issue.

About Farnborough Air Sciences TrustFORMED IN 1993 to save Farnborough’s historic Main Factory Site — thecore of the former Royal Aircraft Establishment — from wholesaledemolition, Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) saw a uniqueopportunity to revitalise the birthplace of British aviation as an Air andSpace Sciences Centre of international cultural importance, with anevolving exhibition featuring flight simulators, interactive displays andspace technology. Where possible, surviving historic buildings would beused, thus linking the past, present and future of this world famous site.

Helped by SAVE Britain’s Heritage and others, FAST’s efforts led to thelisting of four key historic buildings before the site was sold by theMinistry of Defence in 1999. More recently, a fifth building was added andthe two main windtunnels were upgraded to Grade I, putting them on apar with Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope and Coventry Cathedral. The newowner of the site, Slough Estates plc, is now restoring them in a £20million project, and it is hoped to put them back into commercialoperation. FAST also saved priceless artefacts and archive material asRoyal Aircraft Establishment departments closed down, eventually settingup a museum which is open to the public.

For more details see the FAST website at www.airsciences.org.uk, orwrite to the address in the Editor’s Note above.

FREE with next month: Test Flying DVD*(*UK issues only)

Farnborough Air Sciences Trust


http://www.airsciences.org.uk


Compiled by Nick Stroud

Looking Back 90 Years — March 1916

A New “Battleplane”IN DECEMBER last year, remarkable fl ights made at Readville, Massachusetts, by one of the US Army expert aviators, revealed to the public for the fi rst time that a notable development in aviation had quietly been made by the Sturtevant Aeroplane Co, under the direction of Mr Grover C. Loening, former Aeronautic Engineer of the US Army.

There are many novel features on the company’s new machine, including its steel construction and the placing of gun turrets on either side of the central body. The single-motor tractor that has been puz-zling aviation experts is made into a simple, effec-tive fi ghter by the novel idea of placing a gun turret on either side of the fuselage. These turrets, in each of which a gunner/observer is located, are placed out on the wings, with an excellent clear view ahead and below and a range for gunfi re on all sides, with the added advantage that the two guns can be con-centrated forward.

Perhaps the most imporatnt feature of this new battleplane is that, unlike some of the fi ghters being used at the front now, this machine is an extremely good fl yer, so much so that, despite its huge size and great weight, the most diffi cult manœuvres, includ-ing looping and side tumbling, have actually been performed with this machine to the satisfaction of expert fl iers.

Attached to the RFCA TOUCHING LITTLE STORY is being circulated, for the authenticity of which one is unable to vouch. It is to the effect that a certain pilot engaged to test a new machine found at the last minute he had mislaid his safety belt. Not caring to lose time by searching for it, he placed on the seat of the machine a little Croid, the well-known liquid glue, which is now being used so largely by aircraft manufacturers.

He fl ew for the prescribed period and executed several loops in complete safety, but on descending was unable to get out of the machine. The construc-tor refusing to have the woodwork cut away, the unfortunate pilot was compelled to leave a portion of his clothing behind, and the next morning there was a new customer in the aviation department of Messrs Robinson & Cleaver in Regent Street.

A Public ProtestON FEBRUARY 21, the Lowestoft Town Council passed the following resolution: “That in view of the fact that about 11 o’clock in the forenoon of Sunday, German aircraft were able to visit this town and to drop at least 17 bombs, which exploded in various parts of the town, and that they succeeded in leaving without injury, this Council protests against the de-fenceless state in which the persons and property of the inhabitants were found to be; that a full and impartial investigation is called for into the circum-stances under which any attempt at resistance proved so completely futile; and the Council calls upon the Government to take immediate measures for providing adequate and effective defences, and that such defences shall be in instant readiness, both day and night, to repel hostile attacks either by air or by sea.”

A Further Case of Dope PoisoningAN INQUEST was held at Peterborough on March 7on the death of John Steels, aged 63, employed in the doping department at an aeroplane factory in that town. Evidence was given which showed that thor-oughly adequate precautions had been taken by the proprietors of the factory, but that apparently the deceased had increased the risk entailed in common with other men by taking his meals in the doping shop without the knowledge of his employers.

The superintendent of the doping department said that dope containing tetrachloride of ether had been in use since last July and medical evidence deposed that death was due to toxæmic poisoning of the liver, doubtless caused by tetrachloride. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned by the jury.

An Australian SquadronAN OFFER made by the Australian Commonwealth of a complete squadron for the Royal Flying Corps has been accepted by the War Offi ce. This will include 28 commissioned offi cers and 186 men. The squadron has already been provisionally organ-ised in Australia, under the command of Colonel Reynolds, Commandant of the Werribee Flying School. The aeroplanes, it is stated, will be sent from England.

ABOVE The Grover Loening-designed 50ft-span Sturtevant “Battleplane”, with a primitive gun turret mounted on each wing. The aircraft, it was claimed, was capable of aerobatics — but presumably without the gunners at their stations!

ABOVE An advert for “The Hen-don” fl ying coat, from The Aeroplane of March 1 1916.BELOW The Australians did in-deed make it to the Western Front. These R.E.8s of 3 Sqn, AFC, are at Prémont in 1918.


A S REPORTED BRIEFLY in last month’s Aeroplane, Desmond Gerald “Dizzy”Addicott died suddenly on December10, 2005, aged 83.

At school, Addicott was not known as a happyperson, and was nicknamed Dismal Desmond— which became “Dizzy” when he joined theRAF in 1941. After doing his flying training andgaining his wings, he was sent to Canada as an instructor on types from ab initio to the Mosqui-to, a type which became his favourite. Commis-

OBITUARY

“Dizzy” Addicott

ABOVE Dizzy Addicott was a senior test pilot at Luton in the 1950s, working on the Jet Provost; he is seen here in a T.4. BELOW The bright yellow Hunting H.126 research aircraft on which Dizzy, with John Farley, undertook stalling trials at RAE Bedford. It is preserved at the RAF Museum, Cosford.

sioned as a Pilot Officer in June 1943, he servedin the Far East for a year until July 1946 with Nos 110 and 84 Squadrons on Mosquito FB.6s beforereturn to the UK and promotion to Flight Lieut-nant in November 1947. He later served with 173Squadron, a ferry unit with Varsities, until leav-ing the Service on September 2, 1957.

On demob, he joined the Royal Navy as a civil-ian ferry pilot, a job which he said was his most interesting because of the opportunity to flymany different types of aircraft, some beforetheir introduction to Service. During this periodhe flew a Hawker Sea Fury from the UK to Malta in just over three hours, close to today’s airlinetimes. On one occasion, on a ferry fl ight to a naval base, he parked some way from dispersal and was walking towards the Mess when thebase captain drew up alongside in his car andbellowed “Airman, get off my ship!” — to whichAddicott replied, “Yes sir”, saluted and leaptbackwards on to the grass shouting “SPLASH!”It was his last visit to that station.

Becoming a senior test pilot at Luton with Per-cival Aircraft, soon to become Hunting Percival,Dizzy worked on the Jet Provost, which had first fl own in June 1954. Ten years later, he performedstalling trials on the Hunting H.126 research air-craft with John Farley at RAE Bedford, and in

1922–2005VIA JA

NEY A

DD

ICOTT JO

NES


OBITUARY

1966 made the first fl ight of a Vickers Gunbusreplica built by the Vintage Aircraft and FlyingAssociation (VAFA) at Brooklands to celebratethe centenary of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Between times, Addicott was a keen racingdriver and inventor. He designed the DART (Diz-zy Addicott Racing Team) Mini Special racingcar based on a damaged Minivan which was purchased for a fiver. It was built for him byGeorge Smith and David Lockspeiser; validation in the Weybridge wind-tunnel suggested that it could reach 148 m.p.h., and the Dart Mini was shown at the 1964 Racing Car show. The projecteventually moved on, but surprisingly the Dartsurvived, owned by a student in Leicester, and is under restoration in Japan.

Addicott realised that car projects were hold-ing back his flying career and returned to test flying, first with BAC and then as an air displaypilot. This also involved flying for fi lms, andamong the types were a Junkers Ju 52/3m forDirty Dozen: The Next Mission, Mosquitoes forMosquito Squadron, various World War One rep-licas (Pfalz D III, Fokker Triplane, S.E.5) for TheBlue Max and the B-17 and B-25 camera aircraftfor the for the 1989 remake of Memphis Belle.

In June 1969 Addicott made the first fl ight of VAFAVickers Vimy replica G-AWAU from Brooklandsand subsequently flew it to the Paris Air Show.The following month, while it was standing in the sun at Manchester/Ringway Airport, the Vimycaught fire; Addicott fi lmed it. Later rebuilt, theVimy is now in the RAF Museum, Hendon.

On production test flying, Dizzy flew Viscounts,Vanguards, Valiants and One-Elevens, latermoving to the company’s communications fl ight on Doves, Herons and D.H.125s.

Addicott flew a number of types on the displaycircuit including the Gunbus, Vimy, Catalina,B-17, Dakota, Ju 52/3m and, later, the LockheedT-33. Other jobs included flying a FairchildC-119 at Manston for Mike Woodley of Aces High,and the Fleet Air Arm’s rotary-engined Sopwith Pup replica for air-to-air photography.

In the mid-1980s Addicott taught pop star GaryNuman to fly, and the latter became well-knownon the airshow circuit with his Harvard G-AZSC,painted to represent a Mitsubishi Zero.

Experience with the Vimy proved invaluablewhen Addicott assisted with the first fl ight ofPeter McMillan’s Vimy replica NX71MY in Cali-fornia during 1994 — and, more than a decadelater, he was to witness it landing at Clifden,Ireland, on July 3, 2005, after its re-enactment ofAlcock and Brown’s 1919 transatlantic fl ight in the hands of Mark Rebholz and Steve Fossett.

Many will have memories of Addicott’s seem-ingly inexhaustible supply of anecdotes (muchof his repertoire was totally unprintable); DickRichardson recalls that when he visited Popham as guest speaker at The Spitfire Flying Club hesigned the visitor’s book as “British — NOT European” under nationality!

No doubt many of these anecdotes wouldhave featured in his meetings with the Catalina Society, with whom he had a great association since he had brought a Cat back to the UK from South Africa. He was on his way to a Societymeeting on December 12, 2005, but died of an aneurism en route, at the wheel of his car on the M11 near Stansted.

LEFT In 1966, Dizzy made the fi rst fl ight of this Vickers Gunbus replica built at Brooklands by the Vintage Aircraft and Flying Association. After several years on the display circuit, the Gunbus was retired to the RAF Museum, Hendon.

ABOVE Dizzy fl ew Catalina G-BLSC at a number of airshows from its Duxford base. Here it is seen in RAF Coastal Command colours but lacking the side fuselage blisters typical of the type.

ABOVE The rollout of VAFA Vickers Vimy replica G-AWAU in 1969. Dizzy (in suit) is standing by the port lower wingtip; he was soon to pilot the aircraft on its fi rst fl ight. BELOW LEFT Six Vimy pilots gathered together at the Aeroplane/Brooklands Museum Vimy Night in March 2001. Back row, from left: Mark Rebholz, Peter McMillan, Jeremy Palmer; front row, from left: John LaNoue, Dizzy Addicott, Peter Hoar. BELOW RIGHT Dizzy inspects the preserved differential throttle control of Alcock & Brown’s original transatlantic Vimy in Clifden, Ireland, in summer 2005.

■ Thanks to Janey Addi-cott Jones, Julian Temple, Peter Baker and Peter Hoar for their help in the prep-aration of this obituary

CLIF

F KN

OX

MICH

AEL O

AKEY

ARTH

UR G

IBSON

VIA RICHA

RD HITCH

INS

Complete this form and send it with your payment to:

UK: Aeroplane Subscriptions, FREEPOST CY1061, Haywards Heath,

West Sussex, RH16 3BR (NO STAMP REQUIRED)

Overseas: Aeroplane Subscriptions, PO Box 272, Haywards Heath,

West Sussex, RH16 3FS UK (PLEASE AFFIX CORRECT POSTAGE)

NEVER MISS AN ISSUEOF AEROPLANE

36R

Subscribe to Aeroplane today and SAVE up to 25% by Direct Debit,plus enjoy all these great benefits:

■ Huge savings on every issue■ Superb features on fighters, civil and

military aircraft■ Guaranteed direct delivery to your door

every month■ FREE postage and packing

✂

Originator’s identification – 764 221

A/C

■ UK 3-monthly Direct Debit £7.95(save 25%)

■ UK 1 year £36.20 (save £6.40)■ UK 2 years £68.10 (save £17.10)

■ Europe 1 year €73.90 (save €8.26)■ Europe 2 years €131.45 (save €32.87)

■ Rest of World 1 year £55.00(save £6.20)

■ Rest of World 2 years £97.90(save £24.50)

■ USA 1 year $95.00 (save $10.55)■ USA 2 years $168.85 (save $42.25)

Yes! I would like to subscribe to Aeroplane

Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms: Forename:

Surname:

Address:

Post/Zipcode:

Country:

Home Tel. (inc. area code):

If you'd like to receive emails from Aeroplane and IPC containing news,special offers, product and service information and online market researchquestionnaires, please include your email below

Email:

Date of Birth: ■■ ■■ ■■■■Choose from 3 easy ways to pay:

1. I enclose a cheque/international money order for £/$/€ made payable to IPC Media Ltd.2. Or please debit my:

■ Mastercard ■ Visa ■ Amex ■ Switch/Maestro

Card No. (Switch/Maestro)

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■

Expiry Date:■■■■ Card Issue No/Start Date: ■■■■

Signature:(I am over 18)

3. Pay by Direct Debit

Simply complete the Direct Debit instruction.

Name of bank:

Address of bank:

Postcode:

Account holder:

Account No: ■■■■■■■■Sort code: ■■ ■■ ■■Please pay IPC Media Ltd. Direct Debits from the account detailed onthis Instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct DebitGuarantee. I understand that this Instruction may remain with IPCMedia Ltd and if so, details will be passed electronically to my Bankor Building Society.

Signature:

Date:

All subscriptions will begin with the first available issue. Offer only available tonew subscribers and the £7.95 offer is only available to UK Direct Debitsubscribers. Please allow up to 8 weeks for delivery of your first issue.The offer closes 31st March 2006. For enquiries please call +44 (0)845 6767778, fax +44 (0)1444 445599 or email: [email protected], published by IPC Media Ltd (IPC), will collect your personal informationto process your order. Aeroplane and IPC would like to contact you by post ortelephone to promote and ask your opinion on our magazines and services.Please tick here if you prefer not to hear from us. ■ IPC may occasionally passyour details to carefully selected organisations so they can contact you bytelephone or post with regards to promoting and researching their products andservices. Please tick here if you prefer not to be contacted. ■

D D M M Y Y Y Y



THE DIRECT DEBIT GUARANTEE This Guarantee is offered by all Banks and Building Societies that take part in the Direct Debit Scheme. The efficiency and security of the Scheme is monitored and protectedby your own bank or Building Society. If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change IPC Media Ltd. will notify you at least ten days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If anerror is made by IPC Media Ltd. or your Bank or Building Society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid. You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by writing to yourBank or Building Society. Please also send a copy of the letter to us, Direct Debits can ONLY be paid through a bank or building society. Your Direct Debit will stay the same for one year from start date.

Order Hotline:

0845 676 7778quoting code: Lines open 7 days a week 9am - 9pm (UK time). Please have your payment details ready when you call

Order online:www.aeroplanemonthly.com/iaml

36R

2

U

http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com/iaml


http://www.transmac.net

http://www.flyingzonedirect.com

http://www.motorbooks.co.uk

NICK STROUD selects this month’s picture for readers to acquire from Aeroplane’s 70,000-strong archive of original glass-plate photographic negatives

WHILE OTHER PAGES in this issue feature the early development of Supermarine’s superlative Spitfi re, a far more typical fi ghter of the era was the Fleet Air Arm’s Blackburn Roc, developed

from the same company’s earlier Skua fi ghter/dive bomber.Powered by the same engine as the Skua, the 890 h.p. Bris-

tol Perseus XII, the Roc prototype made its fi rst fl ight on December 23, 1938, the type entering frontline service with No 806 Sqn FAA at Eastleigh in February 1940. Along with the RAF’s turret fi ghter, the Boulton Paul Defi ant, the Roc could not compete with other contemporary fi ghters with fi xed for-ward-fi ring guns and/or cannon, and gradually faded out of service, the last two being withdrawn in August 1943.

This month’s photograph shows a trio of Rocs up from RNAS Donibristle in Fife in November 1939. For your own copy of this splendid portrait of an often forgotten British World War Two-era fi ghter, simply fi ll in and return the adjacent coupon.

AEROPLANE MARCH 2006

The

Photographic ArchiveP I C T U R E O F T H E M O N T H

AEROPLANE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE ORDER FORMSend to: Picture of the Month (March 2006), Aeroplane Photographic Archive, King’s Reach Tower, Stamford St, London SE1 9LS. Offer closes: March 31, 2006

Size Qty Price VAT @ 17·5% Total £7in x 5in £9.75 £1.71 £11.4610in x 8in £10.90 £1.91 £12.8116in x 12in £20.90 £3.66 £24.56

£

Please send me the

Blackburn Roc print(s)

specified at right. Prices

include UK p&p. I enclose

a cheque/postal order for

the amount of £

made payable to IPC Media Limited

OR please debit my

credit card; the

details are as follows:

Expiry date / Signature

Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms

Address

Postcode

If you prefer not to cut up this page, a photocopy of this form is perfectly acceptable. IPC Media Limited, publisher of Aeroplane (“IPC”) will collect your personal information to process your order and to gain a better understanding of our magazine readership. We may send you details of our magazines and services. Please tick here if you prefer not to hear from IPC. We may pass your details to other reputable companies whose products and services may be of interest to you. Please tick here if you prefer not to receive such offers.

GRAND TOTAL (Please add £2 for overseas p&p)


IN MID-1986 I read in the humorous maga-zine Punch a brief autobiography encom-passing Norman Tebbit’s flying years, and hugely enjoyed its style, precision and gen-

tle humour. He was just a year or two older than me, and his schoolboy recollections of wartime skies brim-full of aeroplanes, and of the headyexcitement of the fi rst days of jets and the chal-lenge of the sound barrier, closely mirrored myown. He recalled the names of great pilots suchas Duke, Zurakowski, Derry and Cunningham,and listed fascinating aeroplanes of the era whose names even now come more readily to my mind than those of my grandchildren.

I decided that this was a man I would like to meet, and last year I got my chance. My wife and I were invited to a reception at the House ofCommons to celebrate progress on the Battle ofBritain London Monument, to be unveiled on the Embankment in September 2005 . Lord Tebbit is a patron of the Battle of Britain HistoricalSociety, whose inspiration it was to erect the monument, and he hosted this occasion. Hekindly agreed to meet me subsequently and let me write about his early career in aviation.

FROM PILOT TO POLITICIAN

Lord TebbitAlthough most readers will associate Lord Tebbit with the cut-and-thrust of politics and government,

he previously spent many happy hours fl ying with the RAF and BOAC. Here, in an exclusive interview with

JOHN MAYNARD, he reveals the continuous thread of aviation interwoven through his life’s tapestry

OPPOSITE Specially commis-sioned for this feature, this portrait of Lord Tebbit was taken by IAN FRIMSTON/ SIGMA at the House of Lords in June 2005.

Lord Tebbit spent his early youth in north Lon-don in the 1930s, and shared in the dominant in-terest in aviation that marked the decade. The prospect of another confl ict with Germany pro-foundly depressed his father and uncle, both ofwhom had fought on the Western Front through-out the First World War. Stories of their ex-periences, which were only very occasionallyrelated to the young Tebbit, convinced him that he had no wish to fi ght as a soldier. On the other hand, aerial combat appeared far more clinicaland detached from the detritus and discomfort of land battles. Such considerations further pro-moted his interest in aviation. Busy aerodromes abounded. Northolt, Radlett, Hendon, Hatfi eld,North Weald and Hornchurch ringed the City to the north, and provided an endlessly varied diet for aircraft recognition.

When the war fi nally came, London soon fellvictim to air raids, progressing from the awfulwinter blitz of 1940/41 through a number of onlyslightly less frightening and damaging on-slaughts to the wholly indiscriminate arrival offlying bombs and rockets as the fi ghting ap-proached its climax in 1944. Although Norman was evacuated to Cardiff during the Battle ofBritain, he was in London at the time of subse-quent attacks and drew much satisfaction from later reports of Bomber Command’s massivenightly response. He also remembers cycling with his grandfather to Bassingbourn, whenceBoeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the United States Army Air Forces’ Eighth Air Forcelaunched many of their daylight attacks against Germany. The awfulness of the war was veryapparent there, battle damage often being evi-dent as the great aircraft passed low overhead on fi nal approach. Sometimes red fl ares were fi red to indicate they had seriously wounded men aboard, and waiting ambulances hurtled off around the perimeter track to meet them.

Peace returned as he embarked on the fi nalstages of his school career. He left full-time edu-cation when he was 16 and joined the FinancialTimes as a trainee journalist, working hard to make his mark until his 18th birthday, when he was called up for National Service.

Unsurprisingly he chose the RAF and volun-teered for aircrew selection, aware that just 200conscripts were accepted for pilot training eachyear. After call-up and arrival at Padgate he

RIGHT Dressed to kill on the morning of the Wings Parade. Offi cer Cadet Tebbit in the last moments before being commissioned, in November 1950.

Pilot Biography


SIGNPOST


went with a handful of hopeful young men to Hornchurch for the aircrew selection process, and passed the physical examinations, the apti-tude tests and the interviews. Less auspicious was the pronouncement that there were no va-cancies for pilots, and that training for other air-crew specialities required the candidate to sign on for eight years! Since he wanted to be a pilot and eight years seemed a lifetime to an 18-year-old, he declined, returning miserably to square-bashing at Padgate.

A week or two later he was on the parade ground at Padgate with other recruits when he and two others were summoned to station head-quarters. They were asked if they were still in-terested in pilot training and told that they could now be accepted within their two-year National Service commitment. (Lord Tebbit told me that after a week or two at Padgate he would have been interested in almost any option.)

Amazed at their good fortune, all three were soon on their way to Wittering for initial train-ing. There Cadet Tebbit soon acquired a reputa-tion for having a mind of his own, coupled with a certain outspoken bolshiness. To harness this trait he was given charge of the sports activities of his fellow course members, and duly arranged games fi xtures for those wanting exercise on free Wednesday afternoons. It occurred to him that others seeking less-energetic amusement might just as well make use of the Service trans-port laid on for the sportsmen, so he compiled an entirely spurious fi xture list for them. This all worked admirably until, after making one of his regular Thursday-morning reports to the Wing Commander Admin, he was asked: “Tebbit, if pressed, would you be able to assure me that all these sports fi xtures were genuine, arranged by you and did in fact take place?” A less-than-con-vincing opening response soon became a frank admission of what he had been up to. A little later Cadet Tebbit became Corporal Cadet Teb-bit, perhaps proving that initiative, however mis-placed, seldom goes unrecognised.

Soon they moved to South Cerney, then the last operational grass airfi eld, for the start of fl y-ing training on the Percival Prentice. “It was a stodgy, lumbering but friendly beast, the Serv-ice’s fi rst side-by-side trainer,” Lord Tebbit re-calls. “Spinning needed to be executed with care for a quick recovery after four or fi ve turns. After six the spin fl attened and it became progressive-ly more diffi cult to regain normal fl ight with the

heavy and somewhat unresponsive controls. One had to resort to rocking the stick and the throttle in unison, or lowering the fl aps, but with all this in mind we used to climb up to about 10,000ft before entering a spin! I don’t think I could ever claim to have been a natural pilot. I always had to think to establish what was hap-pening and then react accordingly.”

“Being a grass airfi eld, South Cerney was not much fun in the winter, becoming a sea of mud. Accordingly we moved to an alternative, Blake-hill Farm. A few days later, fl ying from there on a cross-country detail, I had been away a bit too long, so when I saw what I thought was the air-fi eld, and there were Harvards and Prentices in the circuit, I got a green and went straight in. Soon after landing I realised that I was at the wrong airfi eld, and was sneaking around the pe-rimeter track, hoping to make a discreet geta-way, when I got a fl at tyre. When a fi re tender came out I discovered I was at Fairford! I tele-phoned Blakehill from Flying Control and my instructor came over with a fi tter and a spare wheel, so fi nally I made it back to base and an interview with the Wing Commander Flying. He asked me why I hadn’t looked at the signal square, and I said I had been satisfi ed by the air-craft types in the circuit that I was at the right airfi eld. He was not over-impressed: ‘Had you looked at the signal square,’ he said, ‘you would have seen it was marked FF for Fairford, rather than BF . . . for Blakehill Farm. Need I say more?’

“I went on to the North American Harvard, one of the great aeroplanes, and although there were occasions when I anticipated being ‘scrubbed’ I had a marvellous instructor, Barry Byrne. I found instrument fl ying particularly diffi cult, but Barry would take me into thick cloud and say: ‘Now you are going to do a loop’. Noticing my hesit-ancy he would add: ‘Now, Tebbit, what is the worst thing that can happen?’ ‘Spin or spiral dive, sir,’ I replied. ‘Can you get out of both?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Then let’s get into a loop.’ Thanks to Barry I got my wings in November 1950 and went to Middleton St George, commissioned as a pilot offi cer for training on the Meteor. All three of us who start-ed out at Padgate made it through fl ying training. One stayed in the air force and retired a group captain, the other became a university lecturer in Canada, and I’ve had a good life too!”

In 1950 two types of jet fi ghter, the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Vampire, were the only jet-propelled aircraft in squadron service with the RAF. Both are remembered with great affection by all who fl ew them — the Vampire as a sports car of an aeroplane, agile and respon-sive, and the Meteor as a reliable if rather unexciting fi ghting machine. Both suffered from dangerously low endurance without external tankage, and the Meteor in particular was pos-sessed of traps for the unwary that Lord Tebbit describes as “character forming”. At that time the instructors did not know a great deal more about fl ying jets than their students, and the Meteor cockpit was almost indistinguishable from that of a 1940s fi ghter. True, the gunsight was greatly improved and there was a four-channel radio, but the awful three-pointer alti-meter remained standard. This still caught out the unwary, bringing a very sudden end to high-speed dives in marginal visibility, known


ABOVE Wings prominently displayed, Pilot Offi cer Tebbit poses for his portrait in December 1950, when he had just begun to train on the Gloster Meteor.

ABOVE Norman Tebbit began his RAF fl ying training on the “stodgy, lumbering but friendly” Percival Prentice, represented here by three aircraft of No 19 Flying Training School, RAF College, Cranwell, being fl own by instructors in 1949.

Pilot Biography

LordTebbit


in the pilots’ gallows humour as “tent-pegging”.Norman Tebbit loved the Meteor and learned

his fi ghter pilot’s skills almost exclusively in the single-seater, spending only a little time in the T.7 trainer, which was a little faster but very con-siderably colder at 35,000ft with its unpressu-rised cockpit. At Middleton St George Advanced Flying Training Unit he logged many hours of instrument fl ying in a range of disarmingly unusual attitudes using the partial panel. He re-members it as being very demanding indeed, es-pecially when inverted and approaching the stall. He stayed two months beyond his National Service obligation to complete his operational conversion unit training at Stradishall. Then he was out of the RAF and back at the FinancialTimes and, as a member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, fl ying a de Havilland Chipmunk at Panshanger. Somehow it was not quite the same, despite the Chipmunk’s pleasant qualities.

A friend of his was serving with 604 (County of Middlesex) Sqn Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAux-AF) at this time. In common with other auxilia-ries the squadron had achieved a brilliant war record, principally in the nightfi ghter role, home-based, within Fighter Command. At the war’s end it disbanded, but was re-formed at Hendon on July 31, 1946, fl ying Supermarine Spitfi re LF.XVIs. The fi rst Vampires arrived in 1951, by which time the squadron had been at North Weald, Essex, for two years.

Already bored, both by his employment, now in publishing, and weekend or evening fl ying in VR Chipmunks, Norman Tebbit decided to apply to fl y with 604 Sqn, having sought the blessing of his employer, as absence at a summer camp for two weeks each year was a condition of service. The Auxiliaries proudly maintained the highest standards, which had marked their recruitment policies since their formation from 1925 on-wards, in a stroke of Trenchard’s inspiration. Folklore had it that 601 (County of London) Sqn came into being as a result of a meeting at White’s Club, at which Lord Edward Grosvenor, the fi rst CO, chose his offi cers. The effect of this quiet fi nesse was that one did not “join” an Auxiliary unit; one was chosen as appropriate for membership. Thus a weekend stay, during which one was expected to fl y immacu-lately, drink at least moderately, converse intelligently, eat properly and behave either impeccably or exuberantly, was de rigueur. Nor-man Tebbit was duly invited and passed muster,

thus beginning one of the best times of his life.The RAuxAF squadrons successfully main-

tained both the spirit and high motivation that had marked them from their several beginnings. They had also won the respect of the regular squadrons of Fighter Command, and the week-end warriors were treated as equals in every re-spect. Their equipping with jet aircraft, fi rst Vampires and, by 1952, Meteors, served to con-fi rm their professional capabilities, and there is no doubt that they could have survived eventual conversion to Hawker Hunters had not a politi-cal decision declared such a move “unsafe” for Auxiliaries when the honest reason was fi nan-cial constraint. The US Air National Guard, equipped with Mach 2 aircraft, demonstrates to this day what can be done by part-timers.

In many ways these last years were a fi tting cli-max for the Auxiliaries. Unlike the crises of the 1930s, the Cold War threat was ever-present, making their task particularly worthwhile. Exer-cises with the regular squadrons against in-coming “attacks” by Bomber Command added a palpable zest to training, and Lord Tebbit re-members with great nostalgia the occasional “big wing” interceptions of incoming United States Air Force Boeing B-29s by up to 100-plus Meteor 8s, appearing to fi ll the sky in a manner that will never be seen again. He would not have missed a single moment of it, though there were less happy incidents.

Refl ecting Cold War exigencies, someone de-creed before a major exercise that “the weather was not to be allowed to interfere”, and typically it turned out to be appalling. No fewer than eight Meteors crashed, including his own, which ended up a heap of burning wreckage on Waterbeach airfi eld. He was fortunate to have made his successful minimal-visibility approach

ABOVE Ready to fl y; Fg Off Tebbit of 604 Sqn, RAuxAF, in fl ying gear at North Weald, Essex, in 1954. Note the squadron number stencilled on the Mae West.

LEFT Gloster Meteor 8s of 604 (County of Middlesex) Sqn, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, over Malta in 1954. The nearest aircraft is WH309. Norman Tebbit had “one of the best times of his life”(and a number of “less happy incidents”) while fl ying with this unit in the 1950s.

LEFT Flying Offi cer Tebbit carries out an external pre-fl ight check of a Meteor 8. The Seax on the nosewheel door was taken from the armorial bearings of the County of Middlesex, and commemorated the close association of 604 Sqn with that county.


over fenland, for no approach aids were available.Next morning he crashed on take-off. Driven

back to North Weald with his face scorched, fi lthy and cut, and his fl ying overalls torn and blackened, he decided he needed a drink. The Air Offi cer Commanding (AOC) happened to be at the bar, and was saying: “What you chaps must realise is that fi ghter aircraft are expenda-ble”. From behind, the battered Norman Tebbit tapped him on the shoulder and enquired: “May I quote you at my Court of Enquiry, sir?”.

The AOC turned and studied him before reply-ing: “No you can’t, but would you like a drink?”.

He also suffered a mid-air collision when his number two drifted into him, but both aircraft survived, landing back at North Weald. Such incidents were obviously serious and conse-quently diffi cult to forget, but the real memories centre upon Summer Camps at Takali, Malta, as well as in Germany, and upon great times at the home base with the regular residents, 111 and 74 Sqns, and the fellow Auxiliaries of 601 Sqn.

Tebbit resigned with enormous regret just be-fore the fl ying squadrons of the RAuxAF were disbanded and consigned to splendid history in 1957. By this time he had long since left the Financial Times, married, and was fl ying with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).

It was in 1953 that he gave up his job in pub-lishing and joined BOAC, having responded to its advertisement for pilots. Soon afterwards the vast airline decided in its wisdom to train all its new pilots as navigators, and navigators as pi-lots. Although it was at fi rst diffi cult to deduce any personal benefi t from this, he soon saw great advantage in the mental and intellectual discipline that could be found in navigation, 1950s style. The study of advanced mathemat-ics, spherical trigonometry, meteorology, the form of the Earth and the theory of fl ight was both demanding and highly rewarding. Sadly, he refl ects, such knowledge has little place in avia-tion today, when a mobile telephone appears to

be the only navigational essential. Having achieved competency, and a licence to prove it, he became a navigator on the Avro York, the transport derivative of the Lancaster bomber, freighting to the Far East and West Africa.

There was something profoundly satisfying, he thought, in navigating a York across the desert using astro-navigation and relying on self-discipline to get it right. He also enjoyed the company of many wartime Bomber, Coastal and Transport Command pilots and navigators who had made their careers in BOAC. They included Capt “Bismarck” Briggs, who had shadowed the German battleship until it was sunk by ships and aircraft of the Home Fleet, and Capt Rodley, who fl ew on the 1943 Dams raid with 617 Sqn. Just a few of the pre-war Imperial Airways stalwarts remained, still fl ying with BOAC in professional harmony with a much younger generation.

The Yorks continued in service as freighters until November 22, 1957, when the last one was retired, albeit to join others in a holiday charter airline. Still a navigator, Norman Tebbit was by then fl ying in Argonauts, Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered Douglas DC-4s built by Canad-air, and therefore currency-friendly to Britain’s dollar-strapped economy when the fi rst aircraft were delivered in the 1940s. The Argonauts served on many of the original “Empire” routes to the Far East and Africa, and remained with BOAC far longer than originally intended owing to the grounding of the de Havilland Comet 1 fl eet after the Mediterranean accidents.

After a long spell on the Argonaut Norman Tebbit fi nally returned to piloting as a second pilot on the newly-introduced Bristol Britannias, which were more than two years late into serv-ice, mainly owing to icing problems with the air-craft’s Proteus propeller turbines (see Database,August 2005 Aeroplane). The Britannia began services, fi rstly to Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 1, 1957, by which time several had participated in a prolonged development, route-proving and crew training programme.

Coming on top of the Comet 1 disasters, this was not a happy time for the airline. “I recall that virtually everything on the Britannia was elec-tric, but without solid-state electronics,” says Lord Tebbit. “An essential crew member was a fl ight engineer weighing at least 12 stone, with an exhaustive knowledge of under-fl oor control runs so that he could jump up and down on the right place to unstick stuck electrical relays! I thoroughly enjoyed fl ying it, and it was certainly a sea change from the Argonaut. In particular its stopping power was truly memorable. With re-versible-pitch 16ft-diameter de Havilland steel propellers and four-wheel undercarriage bogies with Maxaret anti-skid braking, it could be re-lied upon to come to a dead stop on demand.

“I was not long on Britannias, and my ambition was to join the Boeing 707 fl eet when the -436s were delivered, starting in mid-1960. However, I needed to get some North Atlantic experience fi rst, and set about gaining this on the Douglas DC-7C Seven Seas, which had been bought by BOAC in 1956/57. This was the ultimate piston-engined Douglas airliner, and had full non-stop transatlantic capability. They were, however, powered by ultimate engines as well, 3,400 h.p. Wright turbo-compound radials that drank oil.


RIGHT Left to right: Fg Off Tebbit, Plt Off “Buster” Browne and Plt Off Mike Allen, plus the 604 Sqn cat, in the crew room at North Weald in 1955.

BELOW Avro York G-AGNV Morville of BOAC at Heathrow in 1947. Norman Tebbit joined the airline in 1953 and became a navigator on Yorks carrying freight to the Far East and West Africa. He then went on to do a long spell on Canadair Argonauts.

Pilot Biography

LordTebbit


Our aeroplanes had an extra 50gal oil tank in the belly compartment, from which oil could be pumped into any engine. We crossed the ocean at altitudes appropriate to reduce headwind problems, sometimes as low as 6,000ft, and tak-ing anything up to 14hr. The ’7C was a challeng-ing aeroplane with a reputation for occasionally shedding a prop, but in the end their safety record with us was impeccable.

“When I got on to the Boeing 707-436 I felt that at long last I had found ‘my’ aeroplane. Its four Rolls-Royce Conway engines provided very ade-quate power, although there were some idiosyn-crasies to beware of, such as Dutch rolling, and inadvertent descents at high Mach numbers fol-lowing unnoticed autopilot drop-outs causing ‘tuck’ into extreme nose-down attitudes from which recovery was diffi cult. However, the 707 was one of the world’s great aeroplanes, and I had ten happy years fl ying it, by which time I had reached the top of the airline’s copilot seniority list. I did the captain’s course, which was con-ducted at St Mawgan in Cornwall, not on some simulator but in a 707 with an examining in-structor who would knock out a couple of en-gines, or create some other dire emergency in fraught circumstances as the spirit moved him.

“I had successfully completed the course in the winter of 1969–70, but I had by then made up my mind to seek election as a member of parlia-ment. Politics and government had always been of great interest to me, and I envisaged a career as an MP providing me with a worthwhile and fascinating occupation extending years beyond what I could anticipate as an airline pilot. I was also particularly well motivated by self-belief that I could help bring about major change in Britain to fi re up an enterprise society full of dynamism to reverse the false values and inad-equacy so much a feature of national life in the Sixties. I was a Conservative and proud of it, and radical change, the encouragement of free enterprise, control of the Trades Unions, and limiting the power of the State, was essential to restore Britain to its rightful place in the world.

“As a member and offi ce holder of BALPA [the

British Air Line Pilots’ Association], the airline pilots’ union, I had been frankly horrifi ed by BOAC’s performance as an uninspired, misman-aged and complacent monolith. I was principally involved with the union’s stance on technical issues, such as defi ning the additional demands that Concorde operations were likely to make on crews, and the development of air traffi c control to cope with the burgeoning increase in the number of fl ights over the UK. I became chair-man of BALPA’s Technical Committee, and this inevitably brought me into closer association with senior management, and I am afraid that I was very unimpressed. Nationalisation was a disaster, and had created a stodgy, infl exible or-ganisation which used public money to make up for its inability to be competitive. Change was necessary, and if I wanted to help achieve it I would need to leave the airline business and fol-low my political ambition.

“I think that fl ying was an excellent prepara-tion for this apparently disparate new career. Politics was all about judgment, weighing-up risks and benefi ts (and, as in fl ying, sometimes none of them was obvious), and then arriving at the best option to yield a reasonable result, even if things went pear-shaped. It wasn’t too differ-ent from fl ying over the Pacifi c in poor weather at the margins of endurance on astro-naviga-tion and deciding whether to overfl y Wake Island or go in to pick up fuel just in case. For the record, I once landed at Wake Island in such circum-

ABOVE A brief period as second pilot on the Bristol Britannia followed the Argonaut experience. Tebbit regarded the turboprop as a “sea change” after the Canadair aircraft, and enjoyed flying it. His nextmount was the DC-7C, “the ultimate piston-engined Douglas airliner”.

BELOW Despite its idiosyncra-sies, Tebbit describes the Boeing 707 as “my aero-plane”. He spent a happydecade flying it, and completed a captain’s course in the winter of 1969–70, but then entered parliament instead. This is 707-436G-APFB, previously N31241.


stances, so perhaps I had the attitude to be a Minister of the Crown!”

Norman Tebbit contested the Epping, Essex, seat at the 1970 General Election and won for the Conservatives, entering Westminster as an Opposition MP under the leadership of Edward Heath. As a backbencher he built a reputation as a forthright, clever man, well able to look after himself in the turmoil of parliamentary debate. After the 1974 election, and with Margaret Thatcher as Leader of the Opposition, his skills were further honed as one of her advisers, craft-ing the questions and planning the stage man-agement of her then twice-weekly performances at Prime Minister’s question time. These ques-tions were often examples of great political ingenuity; namely how to ask about a specifi c issue in such a way as to open out the dialogue into wide-ranging supplementary questions for which the Prime Minister was ill prepared. Fur-thermore, all this had to be done in such a way as to illuminate the Leader of the Opposition in the best possible light. During these early years Norman Tebbit made a lot of friends and a few enemies across the party divide. He particularly treasures the excellent relationships he had with Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan and George Thomas, who became Lord Tonypandy when he retired as Speaker of the House.

In 1979 the Conservative Party was returned in the General Election and Norman Tebbit was made Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Trade under John Nott, Sec-retary of State. This gave him considerable lee-way to take on many responsibilities, since John Nott had no great desire to be involved with Brussels issues, which frankly bored him, and he did not like civil aviation or, for that matter, shipping. He was content therefore to leave his Under Secretary of State to get on with things in these areas. Thus Norman Tebbit handled a number of delicate issues, including the deci-sion not to ground British-registered Douglas DC-10s in the aftermath of the terrible Turkish Airlines Paris crash, although the Americans had done so. The pragmatic British view was that the cause was known, namely the faulty latch mechanism on the door of the underfl oor luggage hold, and a remedy in the shape of a correct closing and locking procedure was put in place. This, coupled with periodic checks and careful handling, seemed to the British to repre-sent a cure until modifi ed doors became availa-ble. Freddie Laker, the British DC-10 operator, welcomed this approach, and only the Ameri-cans remained restive, perhaps because the pol-itics of safety had grounded their aeroplanes while a British competitor continued his opera-tions into the USA.

Another signal success was the decision to privatise British Airways (BA), transforming the airline and making it an effi cient global competi-tor. Lord King, appointed chairman, was the principal architect in this success story. He was much admired by Norman Tebbit, and the two of them were instrumental in constructing a new management structure for BA and in placing people of exceptional ability within it. Today Lord Tebbit enjoys the irony of a confi dential re-port on him while he was a pilot in BOAC; “Not suitable for management”, it concluded.

He also played a major role in establishing routes for Concorde to Singapore. These entailed crossing large tracts of Russia or the Middle Eastern states. Opposition intensifi ed, most of it purporting to be from environmental groups en-compassing everything from noise to carbon emissions, from supersonic bangs to sleep dep-rivation, and from terrifi ed elks to miscarrying camels. In the end the Singapore route had to be abandoned. However, there was some consola-tion in his successful conclusion of negotiations with China for the opening of air routes into Bei-jing, jointly on behalf of BA and Cathay Pacifi c.

On the shipping side he was unwise enough to make an unguarded remark to the effect that he ought to go out on a fi shing boat, the better to understand the hazardous work of fi shermen. He quickly found himself in far-from-encourag-ing weather on a mackerel boat en route for the Minches. No-one seemed inclined to take much notice of him, and he ended up in the wheel-house with a Loran set, plotting fi xes. When a crewmember asked how a politician had ac-quired such skill, he replied: “I am actually li-censed to navigate any aeroplane anywhere,” and immediately became a respected member of the ship’s complement.

His next job was as number two to Keith Joseph in the Department of Industry, with a respon-sibility for “aerospace”, as well as other areas. In this capacity he saw through investment in the Airbus A320, despite heavy opposition from the Treasury. “You will never see sales of more than 20”, they said. He also maintained spending on the RB.211 family of engines and on collabora-tive engine projects.

His early political career fell well short in terms of income compared with his earnings as a BOAC captain, and he supplemented his cash fl ow by undertaking reviews of aeroplanes for National Aviation Review. This meant fl ying many types, including the Learjet, Rockwell Turbo Commander, Piper Aztec, Arrow, Apache and Navajo, Hawker Siddeley HS.125 and DC-10. He lived close to Stapleford Tawney, from where he fl ew light twins of all types, which he greatly en-joyed. In 1976 he visited Dunsfold and was intro-duced to handling the Hawker Siddeley Harrier by test pilot Duncan Simpson. He found it an amazing experience, and felt that few people would believe that the only additional control in this remarkable, revolutionary aeroplane was the nozzle defl ector. It was, he thought, proof of the wisdom of the aircraft designers’ maxim: “simplicate and add more lightness”.

In 1980 Tebbit decided not to pilot an aeroplane again, on the grounds that he lacked practice and “there is no fool like an old fool”. He retains the happiest memories of his fl ying days, and credits them and the RAF for many of the at-tributes which have shaped his success and per-sonal standing in public life. The self-reliance and integrity, the leadership qualities, the judg-ment and concept of service have been with him since he fi rst put on uniform. There is also a un-swerving honesty about him and a most engag-ing humour. He told me that in fl ying there were mistakes you could make and gain stature by admitting. There were other mistakes you make fi nally and just the once! It was much the same in politics.


“He saw through

investment in the

Airbus A320, despite heavy

Treasury opposition.

‘You will never see

sales of more than 20’,

they said”

Pilot Biography

LordTebbit

HIGH SOCIETY

The Airship Heritage Trust

BELOW RIGHT One of the most signifi cant British airships ever built, the R34, which made the fi rst ever East—West crossing of the Atlantic by air on July 2–6, 1919. It is seen here its home base, Pulham, in Norfolk, to where it returned on July 13, 1919, completing the fi rst ever double Atlantic crossing. BELOW The R101 memorial at Beauvais, a site visited by a group from the AHT on October 5, 2005, the 75th anniversary of the loss of the most famous British airship.

1. To foster and promote the study of the history of airships and to present this to the public

2. To stimulate interest in the role of Cardington as an airship base and to encourage the preservation of its principal buildings

3. To promote the development of a national museum and study centre devoted to the airship

Society aims

THE AIRSHIP HERITAGE Trust can trace its origins back to the formation of the Friends of Cardington Airship Station (FOCAS) in 1985. At that time, membership included

relatives of those who had worked on the con-struction of airships at Cardington before the closure of the Royal Airship Works in 1936, as well as relatives of crew members, and other dedicated enthusiasts. Incorporated as a limited company in 1986 with Sir Peter Masefi eld as President and renamed the Airship Heritage Trust in 1995, this charitable organisation now has more than 300 members worldwide and is recognised as the foremost body dealing with the history of lighter-than-air fl ight in the UK. Al-though many of the original FOCAS members are still involved, the Trust’s membership now refl ects the fact that a new generation of enthusiasts is growing up with an undiminished fascination for airships.

One of the principal aims of the Trust is to safe-guard the collection of archives and artefacts originally salvaged by Leslie Speed when the Royal Airship Works closed — a collection subsequently expanded by the acquisition of photographs, a large number of models and some full-size airship gondolas — including one from a US Navy K-Class “Blimp”. The Trust has been determined to establish a national airship museum at a suitable location, but changes in ownership and use of the airship sheds at Card-ington has meant that the Trust has had to look elsewhere for a home. An alternative venue at the nearby Shuttleworth Collection was explored but proved unsuitable. The Trust is now in active discussions with the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton for some of the Trust’s collections to be incorporated into their displays – refl ecting the historic links between British airships and the Royal Navy. Throughout this period, the

AHT has been supported by the Rope Trust, a charitable organisation linked to the family of Sqn Ldr Michael Rope, a highly talented airship engineer who died on the R101.

From the very start, the Airship Heritage Trust has aimed to be a focus for airship knowledge and information. Dirigible is the Trust’s in-house magazine, issued free of charge to members three times a year, and which covers a wide range of airship topics from the early days of lighter-than-air travel to more recent decades. In an informative style, each issue is packed with articles appealing to all with an interest in air-ships. Dirigible is an internationally-recognised source of information and is distributed to museums and other organisations throughout the world. The AHT website (www.airships-online.com) is also full of news, information and historic airship images. The Trust often receives requests for assistance from authors and schol-ars undertaking research and recently provided a number of images for display at the Post and Telegraph Museum in Copenhagen.

A recent visit by AHT members to France to mark the 75th Anniversary of the loss of the air-ship R101 proved a great success and the Trust intends to organise more visits to places of lighter-than-air interest in the future.

Contact:Brian HarrisonMembership Secretary9 Quaggy WalkBlackheathLondon SE3 9EL

Website: www.airships-online.com

Subscription rate:Annual: £20 (£19 if paid by Standing Order)(£25/£24 overseas)Reduced rates for over-65s

Membership:Over 300

What you get:High-quality journal,invitations to Trust functions and visits


The Airship Heritage Trust

http://www.airshipsonline.com





W HEN MAURICE SMITH, the editor of Flight, interviewed me for an edito-rial post in early 1956 he said: “Youdon’t quite fi t the vacancy we had

in mind, but we’d like to have you on the staff”.This qualifi ed approval led to some of the mostsatisfying experiences I have ever had. After sixyears in newspaper journalism I was to learnabout good writing from Rex King, the maga-zine’s associate editor, and about magazinesubediting, make-up and so on from Roy Casey,the production editor, with the splendid addi-tional dimension of flying as part of the job.

Flight already had a team of skilled pilots: Mau-rice himself, ex-Bomber Command Avro Lan-casters with two DFCs; Mark Lambert, who wasjet-qualifi ed and fl ew with No 600 (City of Lon-don) Sqn, RAuxAF; Ken Owen, wartime-trained with the US Navy; Alastair Pugh, who joined the editorial staff a week before me; and Blick Hodg-son, the Dorset House manager, ex-Fleet Air Arm (FAA).

POST-WAR CIVIL FLYING

Gemini DaysWhen HUMPHREY WYNN joined Aeroplane’s former rival magazine

Flight in 1956, flying was part of the job — mainly in the

journal’s own Miles Gemini, G-AKHC. Even better, the little twin

opened up opportunities for air experiences in such types as

Vulcan, Canberra, Gannet, Vampire and more, as he recalls here

ABOVE The author fl ying Flight’s Miles GeminiG-AKHC and using the handmike in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Maurice and Mark did all the test flying for the In the Air assessment articles. At that time Flighthad a Miles Gemini that was hangared at Croy-don Airport and used for editorial assignments.I had my fi rst fl ight in it, with Maurice, on Sep-tember 8, 1956, from Croydon to Fairoaks, where I did some circuits and landings, and back. Thiswas the aeroplane I came to love over the nextseven years, G-AKHC (“Hotel Charlie”), a livelyfour-seater, highly manœuvrable, with twin finsand powered by two 145 h.p. de Havilland GipsyMajor engines.

I had done more than 2,000hr RAF/RAFVR fly-ing when I joined Flight, but still needed to ac-quire a Private Pilot’s Licence, so was packed off to school at Fairoaks. In that green classroom,under the genial tutelage of Wg Cdr Cyril Arthurand his deputy, Ron Cobbett, I did circuits andlandings, stalls, single-engine flying, glide ap-proaches and map-reading exercises. There, onJanuary 13, 1957, I took my test with the “Wing-co” and fl ew back to Croydon.


The door was open for me to match my flyingwith my job, which was what Flight called “Serv-ice Aviation” — the coverage of RAF, FAA andArmy Air Corps activities.

I discovered that there was no better way of getting on terms with Service aircrew than to flyin to their stations; you were then on the right footing. I also experienced what I can only call the catharsis of flying; that purging of the emotionswhich Aristotle originally ascribed to drama, butwhich also applies to flying. There is nothing likeit, I often found, to put the surface world into per-spective. I wish many more young people couldfly: it would help them to get their priorities right.Here was I with a lovely twin-engined type avail-able as part of my job, and which I could also usefor pleasure flying at the weekends if no-oneelse had booked it. I used to fly down to Shore-ham airport for lunch in the art deco terminalbuilding, or to Bembridge in the Isle of Wight for a quick swim, looking down disdainfully, as I fl ew back, on the traffic crawling northwards.

One Saturday at Croydon I noticed a small boypeering over the fence. He was Richard Wood, whom I had known a few years earlier in Chesh-ire. I said: “Come and have a ride, Richard”. Wefl ew to Shoreham, making that familiar approachbetween the cement works with its smokingplume (now extinct) to port and Lancing Collegechapel to starboard. Later I gave him some localflying practice. Perhaps these experiences sowed a seed for Richard. He got into Air Traffic Con-trol, serving at Gatwick, then won a place for pilot training with BKS. He then got into BritishEuropean Airways as a fi rst officer on BAC One-Elevens, and became a captain with British Air-ways on Boeing 757s and 767s. He is now retired, which makes me feel old.

The 1950s–60s, when I did my Gemini flying,were the post-war heyday of British civil and mili-tary aviation, with many aircraft companies andthe Services at a technological peak. The RAF hadV-bombers, Hunters, Lightnings and Javelins,and the Royal Navy was flying Scimitars, Sea

ABOVE The author’sfi rst Gemini fl ight was in G-AKHC with Maurice Smith on September 8, 1956, at Croydon, but here it is fl ownsolo by Mark Lambert. Thisaircraft was fi rst certificatedon October 24, 1947, and in 1954 was converted to a Mk3A. It was fi nally withdrawnfrom use at White Walthamin September 1965.

74 AEROPLANE MAY 2005


Hawks, Sea Vixens and Buccaneers; golden days.In the late 1950s the RAF introduced ab initio

all-through jet training, and I fl ew up to Syerston in Nottinghamshire on October 15, 1958, to a press conference laid on by the Air Ministry to tell the aviation world about it. The Station Com-mander, Gp Capt J.H.L. Blount, was so intrigued by the Gemini that he fl ew across to nearby Swinderby with me. Sadly, not long afterwards,when he had become captain of the Queen’sFlight, he was killed in a Westland Whirlwind helicopter which suffered rotor-blade failure.

My Syerston visit was to have infl uential con-sequences, but a more immediate one was that I fl ew from Swinderby to the V-bomber base at Scampton, Lincs, to fl y in an Avro Vulcan of 617Sqn, and was allowed to land on the perimeter track because of an unacceptably high cross-wind component on the main runway. That night (October 17) I fl ew in Vulcan B Mk l XH499,captained by Flt Lt Thomas, on a 5hr 20min sor-tie; Exercise Sunbeam and routine training.

After the debriefi ng I took off in Hotel Charlie for Croydon, and from there drove into London,where I had breakfast with my father at his club

in Whitehall. I was able to tell him that only a few hours earlier I had been at 40,000ft in the cold night skies over Norway.

I used the Gemini for another RAF sortie of a different kind in March 1959. At that time Signals Command had come into being, and one of its stations was at Tangmere near Chichester, where 245 Sqn was based with Canberras for calibra-tion duties, checking radar sites. As I was writ-ing a series of articles about the new Command,I fl ew down to Tangmere and got airborne in Canberra T.4 WT488 with Sgt D. Brennan and Flt Lt J. Morgan for a calibration run, plus asymmet-ric fl ying and landing procedures. Unfortunately I was not allowed to reveal any details of our track in my article, for security reasons, but was able to highlight this role of the new Command.

On that visit I had the privilege of meeting GpCapt Dennis “Hurricane” David, who had just taken over command after being Air Attaché to Hungary during one of the most dangerous peri-ods in that country’s history; the uprising against Soviet rule. Quite apart from his outstanding record as a Hurricane pilot in the Battles ofFrance and Britain, he was a man of exceptional

RIGHT The Gemini nestles beneath a Vulcan at RAF Scampton in 1958 on the occasion of the author’s visit to fl y in a 617 Squadron aircraft. He was allowed to land on the perimeter track because of an unacceptably high crosswind component on the main runway.

RIGHT The Flight team poses for a photograph on the Warsaw tarmac during a visit in July 1961.

BELOW The Gemini took Maurice Smith to Shoreham in April 1960 to take part in a Business and Touring Aircraft Competition. Here, he starts against a stopwatch; the Gemini came third in the twin class and made the shortest landing by twin-engined aircraft in 121yd.

“I fl ew to Scampton to fl y in a Vulcan of 617 Sqn, and

was allowed to land on the peri-track because of a high crosswind on the runway”



charm. In 2000 he published his autobiography (Dennis “Hurricane” David; My Autobiography,Grub Street, 2000), which I reviewed, and he tel-ephoned to thank me, full of excitement about the Queen Mother’s l00th birthday parade in Horse Guards, in which he had just taken part. Only a few days later, on August 25, he died.

Because G-AKHC had to work for its living,my usual companions on trips were the photo-graphers L.W. McLaren and Ian Macdonald, the latter more regularly, because he specialised in air-to-air photography, while “Mac” McLaren did jobs for other Iliffe journals such as Autocaror Farmer and Stockbreeder. In June 1958 I fl ewwith Blick Hodgson to pick up photographs ofthe Isle of Man TT Races for Motor Cycle.

On June 17, 1959, Mac was with me, as was Ann Tilbury, who looked after Flight’s photographic library, for a royal appointment: taking air-to-air pictures of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Druine/Rol-lason Turbulent, a diminutive single-seater fl ownby his Equerry, Sqn Ldr (now Air Vice-Marshal,retired) John Severne. Where better to pose this little white aircraft, with Prince Philip’s badge on its side, than against the backgrounds ofWindsor Castle and Ascot racecourse? So round the battlements we went, and along the course (while a race was in progress) until Mac was satisfi ed that he had the shots he wanted.

At that time the RAF operated short take-offand landing (STOL) Scottish Aviation Twin Pio-neers in an Army co-operation role, so Ian and I fl ew to Benson for an air-to-air photographic sortie with 21 Sqn, and I was given a ride in a “Twin Pin” by Flt Lt Sandbach, who demonstra-ted its STOL characteristics and very-low-speed stall. Then, in September that year, Flt Lts Reith and Norton Craig fl ew me from Benson in Oxfordshire to Upavon in Wiltshire, from where

we participated in the SBAC show at Farnbor-ough. Then back to Benson, where I picked up Hotel Charlie and returned to Fairoaks.

Early in 1960 the FAA came into my sights when I fl ew down to Culdrose with Mac for a Fairey Gannet AEW.3 sortie. This time I was in the “tar-get” aircraft, fl ying with Lt-Cdr W. Hawley. The following day’s fl ight back to Fairoaks took us an hour longer than our outward one: 2hr 20min as against 1hr 25min down to Cornwall.

In May that year the Royal Aero Club held a concours d’élégance at Shoreham for which G-AKHC was entered. I fl ew down with Maurice Smith on the 19th, Hotel Charlie was spruced up by a team of Flight girls, Maurice did the com-petitive fl ying (which included “spot” landings),and I remember we all bowled along to Brighton to sample the fi sh restaurants, and to Arundel,where we propped up the bar in the NorfolkArms Hotel. After a couple of enjoyable days and nights I fl ew back to Fairoaks with Alastair Pugh and Anne Porteous, one of our secretaries.

My trip to Syerston in October 1958 to hear about the RAF’s all-through jet training pro-gramme paid off in two subsequent visits there,

ABOVE Mark Lambert demonstrates the Gemini’s quite reasonable rate of climb.

BELOW The Flight team and friends at Shoreham in May 1960 for the competitions. Left to right: Liz Hussy (Autocar); Mark Lambert; Sylvia Pugh; Peter Riviere (Autocar); Maurice Smith; Viv Smith; Rex King; Carol Brunt (Autocar); A.T. Pugh; Dot Robinson with Giles Pugh; the author; and Anne Porteous. In the background are two more competing twins, Aero 45 G-APRR and a Piaggio P.166.

VIA AN

N TILBU

RY



when I became briefl y “jet-qualifi ed” and experi-enced aerobatics such as I never tasted before, or since. On March 22 I fl ew up with Ian Mac-donald, then Flt Lt Stapleton took me in hand after an appropriate briefi ng and kitting-out. We did 35min indoctrination, then landed at Church Fenton. On the way back I was the pilot, and found the Jet Provost a joy to handle; easy to take off and land, and very responsive in the air. How would I have fared without any previous fl ying experience? The “JP” was probably easier to get off the ground and land than most elemen-tary piston-engined trainers, but in the air things happen much more quickly. There’s the rub, for a u/t pilot without any previous air experience.

Sterner things awaited me, however, when I went up with Ian again to Syerston on July 18. Suitably briefed and clothed on the following day, we took off for a photographic sortie with Flt Lt Norman Clayton as my pilot, with aerobat-ics added, of which he was a master. None of your straightforward spins, loops and rolls. Ham-merhead stalls, with the JP hanging vertically in the empty sky, and other masterly manœuvres not in the book, were the order of the day.

Those were in XM364; then we took off again in XM457, with me (technically) as pilot, for more aerobatics, some low fl ying and a practice over-shoot. In these sorties I felt I made a realistic acquaintance with the agile Jet Provost. When we got back to Fairoaks I considered the two days at Syerston well spent, and was grateful for the opportunities I had been given.

By contrast, Alastair Pugh and I used our faith-ful G-AKHC as a business aircraft on August 3, going up to Scotland with Anne Porteous, who made a quick visit to her family in Glasgow, and across to Northern Ireland. I cannot now recall the specifi c objectives of that business, apart from giving Anne the bonus of a few hours at home, but our fi rst stop was Blackpool, and from there we fl ew to Prestwick, where she and Alastair disembarked. I then crossed the Irish Sea to Newtownards, returning to pick them up. Alastair took command for the return fl ight to Fairoaks, where we landed after 7hr 15min air-borne time; a rewarding day in the air.

We were lucky that day, meteorologically, but weather plays an unavoidable part in light air-craft fl ying in the UK, with its unstable climate. I was sharply reminded of this on two occasions.

One was in August 1958, when Ian Macdonald and I were bound for Naval Air Station Brawdy in South Wales, where he was to photograph the FAA’s Hawker Sea Hawk aerobatic team, which was going to appear in the following month’s SBAC Show. We set off from Croydon, but had to land at Rhoose, Swansea, because of a cracked cylinder head. We were then airlifted to Brawdy in an Auster fl own by a local pilot, R. Exelby. This meant that Ian was in position to do his photog-raphy, helicopter-borne on the airfi eld boundary, while the Sea Hawks swept down and up in im-peccable formation, but I had to get back to Rhoose to collect the repaired Hotel Charlie.

The Royal Navy obliged magnifi cently, in the form of a de Havilland Vampire T.22 fl own by Lt Leeson, who took me to RAF St Athan (Rhoose being unacceptable for jets), with a scintillating display of aerobatics en route. So far, so good; but when I collected one serviceable Gemini from Rhoose I had to land at Fairford Common because of unserviceable weather, and the fol-lowing morning had to put down at St David’s before creeping into Brawdy, which was persist-ently shrouded by low cloud blowing in off the sea. However, Ian and I got away from there suc-cessfully. It took us 1hr 50min to get back to Croydon, after a trip involving a lot of hassle for me, but he got some magnifi cent photographs of the graceful Sea Hawks.

Another occasion (or, rather, two occasions) was when I fl ew up to Warton, the English Elec-tric/BAC test airfi eld in Lancashire, each time having with me one of the company’s PR men, Alan Brothers and Trevor Tarr, in 1960 and 1961. On one of these occasions Warton was being assailed by a frontal system from the Irish Sea, with a 40kt crosswind, unacceptable for a light aircraft. But Hotel Charlie settled down carefully and comfortably on tarmac more used to the thud of Lightnings. When I fl ew back to Fairoaks, alone, the front had gone through, leaving be-hind a cloud-wracked sky with fi tful gleams of sunshine fi ltering through. I experienced that wonderful sensation of calm and aloofness that only fl ying can give, and which occurs only in cer-tain conditions such as the aftermath of a storm.

I had gone up to Squire’s Gate, Blackpool, be-fore setting course for Fairoaks (I think this had something to do with Warton being a manufac-turer’s airfi eld), and when I took off I could not help thinking of Amy Mollison leaving there on her last fl ight, in the Airspeed Oxford she planned

ABOVE In this photograph dated July 1961, the Gemini shows off its easy cabin access in front of the control tower at Bornholm, Denmark.

BELOW At Manchester Ringway on May 22, 1961, the Gemini is refuelled. Although rather a dark image, this shows the aircraft’s dark-blue-and-white colour scheme with dayglo fi ns.



to deliver to Kidlington, which she never found. On that bleak January day in 1941 the whole country was cloud-covered. I was lucky. Not only had the frontal system cleared south-east-wards; the tailwind swept me along and I was back at Fairoaks (whose green grass never looked more welcoming) in an hour and a half, compared with the 1hr 50min it had taken me to get up to Warton. What a useful aeroplane the Gemini was.

In October 1960 I attended the annual confer-ence of the Aerodrome Owners’ Association (AOA), held in the stately Edwardian surround-ings of the Grand Hotel in Folkestone, on the Leas, that wide green sward fronting the English Channel. I went down by train to cover the fi rst day; a tedious journey indeed. So, as G-AKHC was free, I decided to fl y down on the second day, which had a delightful consequence. The AOA’s secretary, Sqn Ldr (Ret’d) Alan Day, had a very attractive PA/secretary, Mrs Essingman, and it transpired during the proceedings that she would like to get home that day. She asked whether she could fl y back with me, and conse-quently I had delightful company on my return from Lympne to Ferrifi eld and thence to Fair-oaks, not an arduous fl ight. As my fair passen-ger, a doctor’s wife, lived in Esher, I was able to drive her home on my way back to London. Not every day is one so lucky.

It was when G-AKHC was unavailable that I missed my favourite aeroplane so much. In November 1960 I used a hired Piper Caribbean from Panshanger to go up to Leeming with Ian Macdonald for a Gloster Javelin photographic sortie, fl ying with Flt Lt Eric Ginger in a T.3. On the way back we called in at Holme-on-Spalding Moor, the Blackburn Buccaneer development airfi eld, where test pilots J.G. Burns and David Lockspeiser were very intrigued with the Carib-bean and insisted on “having a ride”.

But my greatest “miss” was when I planned to fl y off on honeymoon to Jersey on March 12, 1961, and G-AKHC was still undergoing a Certifi cate of Airworthiness check, and unavailable. I had to be content with an unfamiliar Gemini, G-AKEL, lent to me at very short notice (the afternoon before my wedding day; cutting it fi ne indeed). But that is another story.

I think my most momentous trip in Hotel Char-lie was fi ve days with Ian Macdonald on March

19–23, 1962, to Landsberg in Bavaria, where the RAF had a training mission to the German Air Force. Our objective was to photograph the Ger-mans’ Fouga Magisters, those graceful jet train-ers with their distinctive butterfl y tails, against the majestic background of the Bavarian Alps.

We cleared Customs at Gatwick and crossed to Ostend, fl ew from there to Luxembourg to refuel and thence to Landsberg; 5hr 5min airborne. I shall never forget that Bavarian episode. Ian and I were very well looked after, in the air and on the ground. We were taken into Munich, a bus-tling city, and I was ineffably moved at the sight of Dachau, the fi rst concentration camp, with its gas chambers. I was given a splendid familiari-sation fl ight in a Magister by Sqn Ldr Ray Loft-ing, with aerobatics and touch-and-go landings. Then I fl ew with Flt Lt C. Simmons in the forma-tion set up for the photo sortie, against that superb mountainous background. On the 23rd Ian and I set off on our return fl ight; 4hr 45min via RAF Wildenrath, Ostend and Gatwick, where we cleared Customs. We got back to Fairoaks just as the lights were winking on in Woking.

Apart from a photographic sortie with “Mac” McLaren to Shelsley Walsh for Autocar, and some local fl ying with an ex-Middle East Air Force friend, my German outing was my last in Gemini G-AKHC, a graceful, nimble, reliable aeroplane for which I had a huge affection. It was then replaced as Flight’s mount by a Beagle Aire-dale, sadly marking the end of my joyous Gemini Days.

“We set off on our return fl ight from

Landsberg in G-AKHC via Wildenrath, Ostend and Gatwick. We got back to Fairoaks

just as the lights were winking on in Woking”

LEFT The Gemini had a neat and business-like instrument panel with a Plessey VHF transceiver installed in the glove pocket, leaving ample space for other uses.

LEFT A memorable visit in March 1962 to Landsberg in Bavaria to photograph German Air Force Fouga Magisters against the background of the Bavarian Alps gave an opportunity for the Gemini to pose with them. The fl ight took 5hr 5min airborne time and the author was given a familiarisation fl ight in the butterfl y-tailed trainers, plus a formation photo-graphic fl ight.


IN HIS SPEECH AT Westminster College, Ful-ton, Missouri, USA, on March 5, 1946, Win-ston Churchill coined the graphic phrase “Iron Curtain” to describe the increasingly

dangerous political feud between the USA and the Soviet Union that began soon after the end of the Second World War. This became known as the “Cold War”, and in Britain it was the cata-lyst for the forces to place great demands on an almost exhausted arms industry. For the RAF and Fleet Air Arm it generated aircraft designs exploiting the projected capabilities of the tur-bojet, intended to operate in regions far beyond those in which they had fought during the war.

English Electric was building prototypes to meet Specifi cation B.3/45, and would receive the follow-on Specifi cation B.5/47 to put its Caberra tactical bomber into production. In keeping with the policy of issuing separate spec-ifi cations for additional roles, the company was also awarded PR.31/46 for a long-range photo-graphic reconnaissance variant, B.22/48 for a target marker, and T.11/47 for a trainer. To a cer-

In his third article on British offi cial specifi cations and the requirements they were intended to satisfy, BARRY JONES

explains the various systems of nomenclature adopted byoffi cialdom through the tense post-Second World War decades, and surveys the extraordinary variety of aircraft produced bythe manufacturers in response

MAIN PICTURE Operational Requirement 302 resulted in Specifi cation IB.122, for which Canberra B.5 VX185 was converted into the prototype intruder bomber B(I).8, the fi rst Canberra to have the offset blown canopy.

tain extent these could be regarded as de Havil-land Mosquito replacements, but the need for long-range heavy bombers for the turbojet and nuclear-weapons era had yet to be addressed.

Operational Requirement (OR) 229, resulted in Specifi cation B.35/46 being issued to the industry on January 24, 1947. Six companies, Armstrong Whitworth, Avro, English Electric, Handley Page, Short Brothers and Vickers-Armstrongs, submitted designs. Those tendered by the last-named and English Electric were discarded, but the others were radical enough to bring about the creation of the Advanced Bomber Project Group (ABPG), led by Morien Morgan, head of the Royal Aircraft Establishment’s (RAE) Aerodynamic Flight Section.

The ABPG’s fi ndings resulted in Avro and Han-dley Page each receiving a contract to produce two prototypes, which would evolve into the Vulcan and Victor. Because the two designs re-quired additional aircraft with which to conduct research into their aerodynamics, many years would elapse before operational aircraft could be introduced into squadron service. As the Blue Danube atomic bomb would be available much sooner, Short Brothers was awarded a contract to produce two prototypes to a lesser specifi ca-tion, B.14/46, from which came the Sperrin, which remained purely a research aircraft.

The Cold War Generation

BELOW Specifi cation B.5/46 is encapsulated in this shot of the fi rst Handley Page Victor and two Vulcan prototypes in a security compound at the 1953 SBAC Display at Farnborough.

A History of British Military Aircraft Specifi cations


However, Vickers-Armstrongs managing di-rector George (later Sir George) Edwards, known by all as “GRE”, promised to produce a prototype sooner than any other manufacturer, and to have production aircraft fl ying within fi ve years. On the basis of this guaranteed programme the company was awarded Specifi cation B.9/48, the design being allocated the company type number 660 and emerging, on time as specifi ed, as the Valiant. It is possible that the Valiant was unique, as the whole programme, including the 104 production aircraft, was kept fully within every projected timescale.

In the fi ghter fi eld, both the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire were in squadron service by 1946. Turbojet engine power was increasing to an extent that enabled more-advanced air-craft to be designed. Hawker Aircraft’s P.1040project had Specifi cation N.7/46 written around it to provide the Royal Navy with the Sea Hawk. Careful projection of the format into a swept-wing design, via Specifi cation E.38/46 to the P.1052 and P.1081, culminated in Specifi cation F.3/48, which produced the Hunter.

De Havilland expanded its single-seat Vampire by designing a new wing, producing the Venom to Specifi cation F.15/46, and based a side-by-side two-seat nightfi ghter on the twin-boom confi guration, which had already been proved

on the private-venture D.H.113, to meet Specifi -cation F.4/48. The D.H.113 went into production as the Vampire NF.10, followed by the D.H.115 Vampire T.11. Gloster undertook a similar exer-cise with the Meteor. The necessity for a trainer led the company to produce a private-venture two-seater variant with the crew in tandem, and Specifi cation T.1/47 was written around this to produce the Meteor T.7. A later nightfi ghter two-seater to Specifi cation F.24/48 was designed

BELOW Conversion of the Hawker P.1040 on the path to a swept-wing fi ghter resulted in the P.1052, built to Specifi cation E.38/46. This aircraft, VX279, was the second of the two produced.


SPECIFICATIONS

and manufactured by fellow Hawker Siddeley Group company Armstrong Whitworth.

Supermarine’s progress into the high-subson-ic-fi ghter era was more adventurous than that of Hawker. The company’s design to Specifi cation E.41/46 for an experimental aircraft had wings and tailplane with 40° of sweep married to an Attacker fuselage that required only minimal adjustments to take the new fl ying surfaces. Given the company designation Type 510, the design matured through Types 528 and 535. It entered production as the Swift, manufactured to Specifi cation F.105D in accordance with a new specifi cation system introduced at the end of the 1940s that started at 100.

This system had prefi x letters denoting the role as before, but the year of issue was dispensed with. In addition to F (fi ghter), B (bomber) and T (trainer), experimental research specifi cations were prefi xed ER, and the new roles of fi ghter ground attack (FGA), strike reconnaissance (SR), ground attack (GR), maritime reconnais-sance (MR), intruder bomber (IB) and unmanned bomber (UB) were introduced. There were three separate stages to a specifi cation’s progress, each indicated by a suffi x letter. When initially drawn up and issued for the industry to tender designs, the specifi cation number was followed by a T. Further development was indicated by a D, and the suffi x P was used if and when the de-sign reached the prototype construction stage.

The fi rst design to originate under this system was the Short SB.5 swept-wing research air-craft, built to Specifi cation ER.100, and the sys-tem followed on from a revised OR numbering policy begun a few years earlier, which again had started at 100. The English Electric Light-ning, built to Specifi cation F.23/49 from OR.268, was possibly the last aircraft to go into produc-tion having stemmed from the old system that included the year of issue. Operational Require-ments were drawn up in conjunction with the Air Staff, and from these specifi cations could be issued, though many did not progress beyond the provisional design stage. This could be be-cause the Air Staff changed its mind or require-ments in respect of a particular role, because a particular design was considered impractical, or because the Treasury exerted pressure to stop a certain path being followed.

It was inevitable that the new system would come into force with designs that were already under way to meet previous specifi cations, and rather complex designations sometimes oc-curred as a result. When OR.302 was issued for an intruder bomber variant of the Canberra, originally built to B.3/45, Specifi cation IB.122 re-sulted in the production of the Canberra B(I).8. In the case of the Hunter, by the time the fi ghter reconnaissance FR.10 was designed the evalua-tion was conducted under Specifi cation FR.164D. The Swift’s progress was even more complex, with various stages originating from F.105D for the Type 535, F.105P for the Type 541 Swift, F.105P2 for the Type 545 (one of which was partly built), and F.105P3 when the Mk.7 went into produc-tion. An Operational Requirement, with its OR prefi x, was sometimes abandoned in favour of

“Many specifi cations didn’t progress because the Air Staff changed its mind, ABOVE De Havilland’s private-venture D.H.113 at the 1949 SBAC Display, before the type went into service as the Vampire NF.10 without any specifi cation being raised.ABOVE RIGHT Armstrong Whitworth expanded the two-seat Meteor into the NF.11 nightfi ghter to Specifi cation F.24/48, represented here by the fi rst prototype, WA 546.

Meeting requirements, 1945–1950Representative specifi cations, requirements and resulting aircraft between 1945 & 1950

Spec Role Aircraft

Fighters

N.7/46 Single-seat naval fi ghter Hawker Sea HawkN.40/46 Two-seat naval nightfi ghter D.H.110 tendered designE.41/46 Single-seat fi ghter Supermarine Type 510F.44/46 Two-seat night-fi ghter updated to F.4/48 D.H.110 tendered designF.3/48 Single-seat fi ghter Hawker HunterF.4/48 Two-seat all-weather fi ghter Gloster GA.5 and D.H.110F.24/48 Two-seat night-fi ghter (F.9/40 variant) A.W. Meteor NF.11N.14/49 Two-seat naval all-weather fi ghter D.H.110 Mk 20XF.23/49 Single-seat supersonic fi ghter E.E. Lightning

Bombers

R.5/46 Maritime bomber/reconnaissance Avro ShackletonB.14/46 Medium-range bomber (raised from B.35/46) Short SperrinPR.31/46 Photo-recce aircraft (B.5/47 variant) E.E. Canberra PR.3B.35/46 Medium-range bomber Avro Vulcan and H.P. VictorB.5/47 Three-seat tactical bomber E.E. Canberra B.2B.9/48 Medium-range bomber Vickers ValiantB.22/48 Target-marker bomber E.E. Canberra B.5

Trainers

T.11/47 Dual-control trainer E.E. Canberra T.4T.2/49 Dual-control trainer (from T.11/47) E.E. Canberra T.11

Experimental

E.27/46 Delta-wing research Boulton Paul P.111/111AE.38/46 Swept-wing research (for N.7/46 development) Hawker P.1052E.41/46 Single-seat swept-wing fi ghter development Supermarine 510/528/535N.9/47 Single-seat naval fi ghter development Supermarine 508/525/529E.10/47 VTO research Fairey F.D.1E.6/48 Crescent-wing research (for H.P.80) H.P.88E.15/48 Delta-wing research (for Avro 698) Avro 707 and 707BE.10/49 Delta-wing research (for Avro 698) Avro 707A, 707B and 707CF.23/49 Single-seat supersonic fi ghter E.E. P.1 and P.1A

(leading to Lightning)E.27/49 Delta-wing research Boulton Paul BP.120


SPECIFICATIONS

an Air Staff Target (AST), Air Staff Requirement (ASR), Naval Air Staff Target (NAST) or Naval Air Staff Requirement (NASR). Even later, a Staff Requirement/Air (SR/A) was introduced.

By 1946 the RAF was aware that it did not have a dedicated nightfi ghter, all those operating at the time being adaptations of day fi ghter de-signs. This generated ORs 227 and 228, from which specifi cations F.44/46 for a two-seater and F.43/46 for a single-seater emerged. The Service also wanted new armament for its fi ght-ers, and the Aden 30mm cannon was selected after considering Vickers and Molin projects, as well as the 4·5in Halstead recoilless gun.

However, so many different proposals were submitted to the specifi cations, including Haw-ker’s P.1054 and P.1057, Gloster’s P.234 and P.248 and the Supermarine 511, that the two ORs were put on hold while the Air Staff re-evaluated their needs. Consequently OR.227 was redrafted and a new F.44/46 was issued to cover development of the Meteor nightfi ghter variants. Specifi cation F.43/46 was discarded, and two years later OR.227 was again amended to a new specifi ca-tion, F.4/48, to which Gloster and de Havilland tendered designs. Gloster had proposed delta-wing designs in its bids for F.44/46, and retained this confi guration in its P.272 design to F.4/48. De Havilland also retained an existing feature in the twin-boom D.H.110 which it tendered to the new specifi cation. Both companies received contracts to build prototypes, the Gloster GA.5 being selected for RAF service as the Javelin.

Later the Royal Navy showed interest in the de Havilland design after considering projects ten-dered by Blackburn, Fairey and Westland in response to Specifi cation N.40/46, which had been open for several years. The D.H.110 was redesigned to produce the Sea Vixen, the fi rst British fi ghter to carry air-to-air missiles as its sole armament.

Before the advent of the Sea Vixen the only Royal Navy aircraft with a high-subsonic per-formance was the Supermarine Scimitar. This was sired by a naval interest in having an under-carriageless fi ghter, for which Supermarine initially designed the Type 505. By 1947 the Admiralty had gone off the idea, and a new specifi cation, N.9/47, was drafted. Supermarine modifi ed its design into the Type 508, with an undercarriage and a butterfl y tail. The design underwent further amendments to produce the conventionally tailed Type 525, and Specifi ca-

tion N.113D was issued to cover the design’s development into the Scimitar, Specifi cation N.113P covering its production.

As will be seen, the Royal Navy had entered into the new specifi cation system, prefi xing its numbering for fi ghters with an N and for strike aircraft with an M. When the Blackburn Bucca-neer went into production it was covered by Specifi cation M.148, originating from the Admi-ralty Requirement NR/A.39, which led to the aircraft being referred to as the NA.39 until it received its swashbuckling name. The Royal Navy’s GR.17/45, evolved from OR.220, went into production as the Fairey Gannet to Specifi -cations GR.117P and, in its trainer role, T.117P. Interest was also being shown in a lightweight anti-submarine aircraft, and Specifi cation M.123 was issued, to which Short Brothers produced the Seamew, but the Admiralty cancelled the project and only a few were manufactured.

During the war, Coastal Command’s needs for long-range land-based aircraft had mainly been met by the Vickers Wellington and Warwick and Consolidated Liberator. Early in 1946 OR.320 was raised, and Avro submitted its Type 696 to meet the resulting Specifi cation R.5/46. The name Shackleton was bestowed upon the de-sign, and its eventual production was covered by Specifi cation 42/46. When the aircraft was fi rst issued to 120 Sqn in 1951 it could not have been imagined that the type would growl away in RAF service for another 40 years.

Helicopter requirements for both the RAF and the Royal Navy saw a number of new specifi ca-

or a design was considered impractical, or the Treasury exerted pressure”

BELOW The Supermarine Scimitar evolved from the Type 508, initially designed as the Type 505, an undercarriageless fi ghter project. Admiralty reconsideration produced Specifi cation N.9/47, and this, the fi rst Type 508, VX133, made its maiden fl ight on August 11, 1951. The second prototype Type 535 Swift, VV119, keeps it company here.

ABOVE LEFT The uncompleted Supermarine Type 545, to Specifi cation F.105P2, ended up at Cranfi eld along with other unique types such as Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 TG263, Westland Wyvern TF.1 VR137 and Hawker Tempest II prototype LA607. ABOVE The fi rst prototype D.H.110 was originally built to meet Specifi cation F.44/46, later amended to F.4/48. Following Royal Navy interest it was developed to Specifi cation N.40/46, which, in turn, was amended to N.14/49.


SPECIFICATIONS

tions raised. The Bristol 171, originally designed to Specifi cation E.20/45, evolved into the Syca-more to Specifi cation 34/46, and the company designed its Type 173 twin-rotor helicopter to Specifi cation E.4/47, which went into production as the Belvedere to Specifi cation H.150. In the mid-1950s the concept of the winged helicopter generated Specifi cation E.4/46, from which emerged the Fairey Gyrodyne. Its development was covered by Specifi cation E.16/47, but one of the two examples built crashed and the project faded. However, Ministry of Supply (MoS) inter-est in a larger winged helicopter brought about the Research Helicopter Specifi cation RH.142D, which was fulfi lled by the Fairey Rotodyne, with a pressure-jet at the tip of each of its four rotor blades. Then OR.314 was raised to investigate the aircraft’s ability to meet an army require-ment, but only one was built for both military and civil applications. A principle reason for it being abandoned was the high noise generated by the tip-mounted pressure jets.

During the second half of the 1940s, and con-tinuing into the 1950s, aerodynamics progressed

at a prodigious rate by virtue of the rapid strides made in turbojet engines. To further the devel-opment of both aircraft and engines a large number of experimental specifi cations were issued, some of which came to fruition while others were abandoned. The earlier E.6/44 specifi cation, written around Saunders-Roe’s SR.A/1 jet fi ghter fl ying-boat, did not progress beyond three prototypes, and this was the stage reached by many experimental designs, though they performed to the requirements of the roles for which they were designed. Some progressed into production aircraft, while others proved that a certain idea, often mooted by the MoS, was not viable. One type that performed an enormous amount of valuable research in both electronics and engine development was Avro’s “fl ying laboratory”, the Ashton. However, the six aircraft built were produced without any OR or specifi cation being raised.

Research into wing planforms featured promi-nently during the 1950s, the delta confi guration receiving the attention of several manufactures in meeting MoS requirements. Boulton Paul met Specifi cation E.27/46 for a research aircraft with its P.111/P.111A, and Specifi cation E.27/49 for the later BP.120. Avro had adopted the layout for its Type 698 Vulcan bomber design, and Specifi ca-tion E.15/48 was issued to provide two small Type 707 aircraft to further its development, this later being rewritten as E.10/49 to produce three additional aircraft to extended the research pro-gramme. In reality their input to the bomber programme was mainly confi ned to curing a wing-leading-edge vibration problem.

At the behest of both the MoS and RAE, Hand-ley Page designed and built a small-scale ver-sion of the crescent-wing profi le chosen for the Victor. It was attached to a basic Supermarine Attacker fuselage to produce the H.P.88, VX330, and Specifi cation E.6/48 was raised to cover its manufacture and research, but its affect on the Victor was nil, as the aircraft broke up in mid-air after only two months’ fl ying.

In 1947 the MoS gave serious consideration to the idea of a ramp-launched interceptor. Fairey’s Research and Armament Development Division at Heston was invited to participate, and via a programme of models fi red from the RAE rocket range at Aberporth and the Long-range Weap-ons Establishment at Woomera, Australia, the company produced the delta-winged FD.1, VX360, for which Specifi cation E.10/47 was raised (Delta One, March 1994 Aeroplane, and Database, December 2005 Aeroplane). Flown with a conventional undercarriage, the aircraft

TOP LEFT Admiralty requirement NR/A.39 resulted in the Blackburn NA.39, later named Buccaneer. This is XK486, fi rst of the breed. TOP RIGHT Fairey Gannet prototype VR548, the result of Specifi cation GR.17/45. ABOVE A trio of prototypes at the SBAC Display, Farnbor-ough, on September 11, 1951. From nearest to camera: Boulton Paul P.111 VT935 (E.27/46), Hawker P.1067 WB188 (F.3/48) and Short Sperrin VX158 (B.14/46).

BELOW Avro Type 707B VX790 was one of fi ve of its kind built to Specifi cations E.15/48 and E.10/49 as delta-wing research aircraft for the Type 698 Vulcan bomber.


SPECIFICATIONS

existed for fi ve years, though the concept had long since been abandoned. Like many other re-search aircraft of the time it was consigned to the Proof and Experimental Establishment (PEE) at Shoeburyness to become an expensive target to perfect armament development. Fairey took its delta-wing research into the high-subsonic/supersonic fl ight envelope, as laid down in Spec-ifi cation ER.103, by producing the two F.D.2 pro-totypes, WG774 and WG777. The former took the world absolute speed record into four fi gures on March 10, 1956, when it attained 1,132 m.p.h., while WG777 was converted at Filton in the early 1960s to further the development of Concorde. An original specifi cation, ER.193, was issued to cover the programme, but this was later super-seded by ER.221D and the aircraft became des-ignated the BAC.221. The original specifi cation was amended to ER.103B and ER.103C to de-velop the F.D.2 into a supersonic fi ghter, but the project was abandoned because English Electric was going well in turning its P.1 project into the production Lightning.

By the early 1950s turbojet development had advanced to a stage where available thrusts were reaching parity with the all-up-weight of a small fi xed-wing aircraft capable of researching the possibilities of direct lift. Rolls-Royce had built its Thrust Measuring Rig (TMR) to prove the basic principle, so the MoS raised Specifi ca-tion ER.143 and Short Brothers was awarded a contract to build two prototypes, allocated the company designation S.C.1 and serialled XG900 and XG905. Power was provided by four Rolls-Royce RB.108 lift engines, plus an additional one in the rear fuselage for conventional fl ight. From a fi rst fl ight on April 2, 1957, the S.C.1 performed well until the project was closed 14 years later.

The idea of carrying dead-weight inactive en-gines around in conventional fl ight was negated when Bristol Engines’ technical director Stanley (later Sir Stanley) Hooker converted French en-gineer Michel Wibault’s provisional ideas into a practical engine with swivelling output nozzles, the BE.53, which evolved into the Pegasus of to-day. Then GOR.345 was raised for an aircraft de-signed around the new engine. Hawker offered its P.1127, around which Specifi cation ER.204D was written, for the company to manufacture two prototypes, later increased to six. Thus be-gan the Harrier story, which evolved via the Kes-trel into development to meet Specifi cation SR.255D, production being covered by SR.255P and P1. Specifi cations SR.250D and P were raised for Hawker’s P.1150 and P.1154 supersonic derivatives, but were abandoned.

Another consideration in the same era was the mixed-powerplant fi ghter. In August 1951 OR.301 was issued, and Specifi cation E.124T, written for a concept trials aircraft, was taken up by Saunders-Roe, and culminated in two SR.53 prototypes, powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Viper AS.V8 turbojet and D.H. Spectre rocket motor. Specifi cation E.124T was super-seded by F.137D, and the company designed a large practical fi ghter, around which Specifi ca-tion F.177D was written. The aircraft became known as the SR.177, but did not progress be-yond an unfi nished mock-up. Specifi cation E.124T also generated interest at Avro, which produced the Type 720, but like Saro’s 177 it came to a halt at the mock-up stage.

TOP LEFT A unique British fi ghter was the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1, around which Specifi cation E.6/44 was written, TG263 being the fi rst of three prototypes .TOP RIGHT The fi rst prototype Avro Shackleton, VW126, to Specifi cation R.5/46, had a pair of cheek-mounted 20mm Hispano cannon. BELOW Specifi cation ER.143 produced Short’s S.C.1, the world’s fi rst practical S/VTOL research aircraft; XG900 was the fi rst of two built.

Meeting requirements, 1951–1960Representative specifi cations, requirements and resulting aircraft, 1951 to 1960.

Spec Role Aircraft

ER.100 Swept-wing research Short S.B.5ER.103 High-speed delta-wing research Fairey F.D.2B.104/OR.285 Pathfi nder/bomber Vickers Valiant B.2F.105P/P2/D2 Single-seat fi ghter Supermarine SwiftF.108 All-weather fi ghter D.H. Venom NF.2N.113 Single-seat navy fi ghter (dev from N.9/47) Supermarine ScimitarGR.117 Naval anti-submarine production Fairey Gannet AS.2 and AS.4GR.117/OR.220 Naval early warning Fairey Gannet AEW.3T.117 Naval trainer Fairey Gannet T.2 and T.7IB.122 Intruder bomber E.E. Canberra B(I).8HR.127 Helicopter production (all variants) Westland WhirlwindB.128P Medium-range bomber production H.P. Victor B.1 and B.2B.129P Medium-range bomber production Avro Vulcan B.1 and B.2C.132 Long-range transport Vickers V1000 (cancelled)ER.134 High-speed research Bristol Type 188F.138P Mixed-powerplant interceptor research Saunders-Roe SR.53N.139P Naval all-weather fi ghter D.H. Sea VixenER.143 S/VTOL research Short S.C.1M.148T Two-seat naval strike Blackburn BuccaneerH.150 Twin-rotor helicopter production Bristol Belvedere

http://www.flightstore.co.uk


CLASH OF WINGSBased on the international best-selling book by Walter Boyne,this is the definitive film historyof aerial warfare during WWII.This four-disc DVD set includestwo hour-long bonus specialson fighter and bomber types.10 hours 37 minutes approx.DD.21755

WAR IN THE AIR

The BBC's outstanding documentary series on aerial warfare from 1935 to1950, featuring the pick of nearly 2 million feet of Allied and Axis footage.

Once required viewing for all new RAF recruits, this stunning series has neverbeen repeated since the 1950s and is presented here complete in a three-disc

DVD box set with accompanying 32-page booklet.7 hours 30 minutes approx. DD.21461

Available at selected stores and at www.hmv.co.uk

http://www.hmv.co.uk

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/spitfire

Navigat rBOOK S•VIDEOS•INTERNET•OFFERS•EVENTS•INFORMATION

Navigat rBOOK S•VIDEOS•INTERNET•OFFERS•EVENTS•INFORMATION


CONTENTS

DE HAVILLAND D.H.60 MOTH (by Stuart McKay; ISBN 1-85780-212-8; Midland Publishing, 4 Watling Drive, Hinckley, Leicestershire LE10 3EY; 11½in x 8¾in hardback; 192 pages, illustrated; £24.99).

Subtitled The World’s Most Successful Light Aeroplane, the salesslogan used by de Havilland for its then-new Moth, thisaffectionate record of the D.H.60 by the founding secretary ofthe Moth Club is essential reading for anyone interested in lightaircraft. It follows his earlier acclaimed book on the Tiger Moth(still available), and begins with some details of the company’searlier designs, the D.H.51 and D.H.53, before starting on thestory of the D.H.60.

The new design, a two-seater with folding wings, was ofsimple construction, intended to be suitable for flying clubs but with sufficient performance for touring and the like, and the firstof the two prototypes, G-EBKT and ’BKU, fl ew on February 22,1925. Tests proceeded well, and de Havilland announced that aMoth “ready to go” ex-factory would cost £885.

From these early days the story runs chapter-by-chapter, year-by-year, so it is easy to trace a particular period in the type’shistory. Moths took part in long-distance fl ights, aerobaticdisplays, air races (winning the 1927 King’s Cup) and manyother events. Examples were supplied to the RAF and other airforces, some were fi tted with floats or skis, and they were built in Australia, Canada, Finland, France (by Morane-Saulnier) andthe USA. It is difficult to state categorically the number of D.H.60

variants built overall, but it appears toexceed 1,650.

Readers of our Information Exchange pages may recall a queryin May 2004 about the use ofimpressed D.H.60s as decoys, andpage 189 mentions this and theirmodification to resemble currenttrainers or Hurricanes to theuntrained eye (very untrainedfor the latter!). Other examplesthat it was not consideredworthwhile to keep in airworthy condition were relegated touseful ground instructional duties throughout the country.

An appendix lists more than 100 survivors throughout theworld, and there are 16 pages of colour illustrations. A sourceof delight is the specially commissioned painting by KeithWoodcock for the book’s jacket, showing a trio of Moths anda pavilion-style clubhouse at a typical 1930s club airfi eld.

This is a book to dip into at leisure, and detailed study will be worthwhile and interesting. Reproduction is excellent, makingthis a worthy Book of the Month. MIKE HOOKS

BOOKSPAGES 87–89

SERVICESPAGE 92

INTERNETPAGE 89

READER OFFERSPAGE 91

CLASSIFIED PAGE 95

INFORMATION EXCHANGEPAGES 90–91

NEXT MONTHPAGE 92

AIRFIELD HISTORY

SHROPSHIRE AIRFIELDS (by Toby Neal; ISBN 0-9548530-2-4; Langrish Caiger Publications, PO Box 1916, Telford, Shropshire TF7 5XZ; 11¼in x 9in hardback; 140 pages, illustrated; £17.99 plus p&p £1.99).Many readers will be familiarwith the excellent ActionStations series covering Britishairfi elds from publisher PatrickStephens, now being updatedby Crécy Publishing, but thisnew book on Shropshire’sairfi elds approaches thesubject from a more personalangle. Many of its 200

photographs will be new toreaders. Twenty airfi elds arecovered, probably the mostfamiliar being Cosford andShawbury, but many are nolonger recognisable.

An introduction describesearly aviation in the county, thefirst illustration dating from1907, and the first airfi eld described (they are inalphabetical order) is Atcham,used by USAAF P-47Thunderbolts. Other airfi elds,such as Hinstock and Peplow,were used by the navy, sothere was a wide variety ofaircraft in Shropshire skies.

Rednal is remembered asthe airfi eld where a GermanPoW tried to escape in aSpitfire before being spotted bya WAAF. Sleap is reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of twoWAAFs killed when a Whitleyhit the control tower in 1943,while Tilstock illustrationsinclude Stirling EF210, whichbroke through the airfi eld boundary and finished up on aroad. It was towed back little

the worse for wear. Anamusing one on page 47shows a Turbinlite aircraft, soheavily censored as to be laughable! This is a great bookto browse in, with manypersonal reminiscencesbringing incidents to life; agood read for just under £18.

MIKE HOOKS

USAAF MEMOIR

READY OR NOT: INTO THE WILD BLUE (by J. Francis Angier; ISBN 0-9544507-7-9; Old Forge Publishing, 39 Backgate, Cowbit, Lincolnshire PE12 6AP; 9¼in x 6¼in softback; 274 pages, illustrated; £12.95).Subtitled The aviation career of

a B-17 pilot, 457th BombGroup 8th Air Force, thisautobiography concentrates onthe author’s “small part” in theair war over Europe. It begins,however, with some familybackground and his pre-warflying. His military flying beganin 1943 on the Fairchild PT-19basic trainer, followed by theubiquitous Vultee BT-13Valiant, or “Vibrator” as it wasaffectionately known. He finallygot to Boeing B-17s viaBeechcraft AT-10 twins, andgained Martin Marauderexperience before departing forthe UK in mid-1944.

About half of the book isgiven over to Angier’s wartimeexperiences, including agraphic account of his sevenmonths as a PoW after hisaircraft was shot down overGermany on October 25, 1944.His vivid description of thisevent, and his miraculousescape from the plummetingwreckage following theexplosion of the B-17, makesgripping reading.

BOOK OF THE MONTH


Navigat r Web: www.aeroplanemonthly.com

B O O K S•V I D E O S • O FFE R S

another volume, title to be decided but with tales of the 1940s as its theme, will be available at the 2006 Great Vintage Flying Weekend to be held at Keevil, Wiltshire, over the Bank Holiday weekend, May 26–29, hopefully with better weather than in 2005. It will be the tenth anniversary of G-VFWE, so please support it. Hope to see you there!

MIKE HOOKS

YATESBURY’S PAST

RAF YATESBURY – THEHISTORY (by PhilTomaselli; ISBN 0-9548236-0-5; availablefrom the author, 146Stockwood Lane, BristolBS14 8TA; 11¾in x 8½inhardback; 278 pages,illustrated; £18 plus £5p&p UK, £7.50 Europe).The RAF station at Yatesbury, nestling in the Wiltshire Downsnear Calne, was the home of No 2 Radio School and also a square-bashing camp. I know, because I bashed there in 1946 during National Service, not a particularly happy memory. This new book is a labour of love by the author and publisher, who took an Air Radar Fitter’s course there some years after me, and later became a member of the RAFYatesbury Association.

He has dug deeply and come up with much information, beginning in 1086, but the Royal Flying Corps did not arrive until 1917, when there were two aerodromes separated by a road.

Little happened until August 1935, when the Bristol Aeroplane Company was awarded a contract to operate a Reserve Flying Training School on the former western aerodrome, and it opened on January 1, 1936. Furtherexpansion included the site which became the training camp and Radio School, and the author has managed to amass a considerable number of personal reminiscences throughout the period Yatesbury was in use, with complementary monochrome and colour illustrations.

Also covered are RAF Cherill, the later name for the

aerodrome, and RAFTownsend, which I never knew existed. Appendices cover the Servicemen buried in the churchyard, First World Warsquadrons based there, aircraft accidents by type and date (noserials, unfortunately), a list of aircraft at the airfi eld in 1960,giving the maintenance serials, a breakdown by year of almost 151,000 trainees, and other details.

Anyone who served at Yates-bury will fi nd much of interest here, well-produced on good paper; a splendid effort in self-publishing. MIKE HOOKS

MAC SHIPS

ACHTUNG! SWORDFISH!MERCHANT AIRCRAFTCARRIERS (by StanleyBrand; ISBN 1-86029-805-2; AMS Educational,Woodside Trading Estate,Low Lane, Horsforth,Leeds LS18 5NY; 5¾in x8½in softback; 209 pages,illustrated; £14.99 plus £2p&p from Allison Dufosee,PO Box 2456, WarminsterBA12 7YP or online atwww.royalnavyhistoric-flight.org.uk)Stanley Brand was a Fleet Air Arm pilot during the Second World War, and although the Swordfi sh he fl ew were considered obsolete at the beginning of the war, they saw extensive action throughout the confl ict. The meat of Stanley’s book tells in humble and matter-of-fact narrative the story of 836 Sqn, charged with the protection of the North Atlantic convoys using Swordfi sh fl own off impossibly small converted merchant vessels, known as MAC ships.

It recounts the real lives of men who fought the sea, the appalling weather conditions and the U-boats to bring home convoy after convoy of desperately-needed supplies.

After some physical and psychological diffi culties readjusting to peacetime conditions, Angier joined the Vermont National Guard, completing seven tours and fl ying a variety of types, including the Lockheed T-33and F-94 Starfi re and the Cessna L-19 Bird Dog. Then came a spell with the Army Guard, fl ying DHC Beavers and Bell 47 helicopters. Owing to an extraordinary clerical error he almost got to fl y the North American B-45 Tornado bomber, but politely declined, fi nishing fl ying on an old Beech 18 with Northern Airways.

A considerable amount of entertainment and insight is packed into this volume, which is amply illustrated with black-and-white photos throughout.

PHILIP JARRETT

YORKSHIRE AT WAR

AIR WAR OVER EASTYORKSHIRE IN WORLDWAR II (by Paul Bright;ISBN 0-9545605-7-4;Flight Recorder Publica-tions, Ashtree House,Station Road, Ottringham,East Yorkshire HU12 0BJ;11¾in x 8½in hardback;176 pages, illustrated;£24.99).The publisher evidently had more than business interests at heart in producing this volume. The fi rst enemy aircraft to fall to the guns of a Polish fi ghter squadron in the RAF, a Junkers Ju 88, came down at Ottringham on August 20, 1940 (though the victorious Hurricane pilot was actually the unit’s English commanding offi cer). So this is really local history, but it certainly looks at this bit of the air war over the UK from a variety of different angles. In 13 chapters the author covers such aspects as the Phoney

War, the Battle of Britain, the attack on RAF Driffi eld, the raids against Bridlington, Hull and York, and nightfi ghter operations.

Throughout, the volume is profusely illustrated in both colour and black-and-white, the pictures embracing contemporary photos and memorabilia. In addition, several pages of full-colour artwork side elevations of specifi c aircraft related to the events recounted are interspersed among the text. Of necessity, some of these are reconstructions based upon limited available information, but it is clearly stated when this is the case.

There is much here both for students of the region’s wartime history and for those with a more general interest in Britain at war. An index helps to make the information accessible, and the standard of reproduction is high.

PHILIP JARRETT

CLASSIC FIGHTER

BOULTON PAUL DEFIANT(by Mark Ansell; ISBN 83-89450-19-4; MushroomModel Publications, 36Ver Road, Redbourn, HertsAL3 7PE; 9in x 6½insoftback; 120 pages,illustrated; £9.99 or £11including p&p).The Defi ant has not attracted many authors, so this new softback is welcome. The early pages describe the prototype, mentioning its competitor, the Hawker Hotspur, and it is interesting that the Belgians showed interest but that Boulton Paul was prevented from accepting export orders.

The fi rst squadron to receive Defi ants was 264 at Martle-sham Heath in December1939. While operations over Dunkirk in May 1940 were successful because enemy

fi ghters attacked from behind, presumably mistaking the Defi ants for Hurricanes, it was not long before before the Luftwaffe realised the type’s weaknesses. Its performance carrying two crew and the heavy four-gun turret, on the same Rolls-Royce Merlinengine as the single-seat fi ghters, was not up to day fi ghting, but when switched to night-fi ghting the Defi ant stood in until better-equipped twin-engined aircraft were available.

For several months Defi ants helped in air-sea rescue, but the type’s fi nal role was as an unglamorous target tug. The book covers all of these aspects, and has some good clean drawings, fi ne colour artwork by Artur Juszczak and plenty of detailed colour illustrations, a boon to model- makers but also of interest to historians. It is well-produced on good paper, and value for money. MIKE HOOKS

MEMORABLE DECADE

SHADOWS OF THE FIFTIES(by Peter G. Campbell;ISBN 1-902807-21-9;Cirrus Associates (S.W.),Little Hintock, KingstonMagna, Gillingham, DorsetSP8 5EW; 8¼in x 6insoftback; 254 pages,illustrated; £13.95).Anyone who bought the three earlier books in this series will certainly be ordering the latest, which follows the pattern. It is an anthology of true aviation stories, with contributions by more than 20 pilots and enthusiasts. A wide-ranging collection, it includes chapters on post-war South America, weekend AOP squadrons, the 1959 London—Paris air race, farm-strip fl ying, Air America and fl ying with Howard Hughes, to name a few, in fact something for everybody.

The good news is that


http://www.royalnavyhistoricflight.org.uk

http://www.royalnavyhistoricflight.org.uk


INTERNET Compiled by Jim Winchester

THE INTERNET HAS BEEN a boon for scale-model makers, providing reference material, product news, chat rooms for hobbyists and inspirational galleries of fi nished models.

There are several well-established sites. The king of these is Australian Brett Green’s Hyperscale, http://www.hyperscale.com/, which has the highest standard of models and photography, a very active forum and hundreds of reviews and previews of new kits and accessories. Locating articles related to a particular kit or vehicle can take work, as the search function is a bit fi ddly, and you need to know or guess the approximate date and type of feature before you start.

Similar in concept but not quite as polished is Scott van Aken’s Modeling Madness (note the single “l” as used by American sites) at http://modelingmadness.com. The concentration is on smaller-scale aircraft, and it is a good place to fi nd builds of older kits.

The Aircraft Resource Center at http://www.aircraft-resourcecenter.com/ features models built by a very international readership. Occasionally, when the site owner is away, he lets it be edited by a “monkey”, leading to a lot of frankly tedious jokes.

Michael Benolkin’s Cybermodeler Online at www.cyber-modeler.com is particularly good for industry news and reviews of aircraft, armour and ship kits and accessories.

All of the above are updated most days, but Internet Modelerhttp://internetmodeler.com is a monthly magazine. It covers aircraft mostly, but also armour, ships and cars. Like the sites above, it is good for potted histories of the subject vehicles as well as the nitty-gritty of the models themselves.

Many branches of the International Plastic Modellers’ Society (IPMS) have websites, but IPMS Stockholm (in Swedish and English at http://ipmsstockholm.org) is one of the best. As well as the usual reviews and discussions, there is a large reference library including paint charts and a “tech tips” section with advice on numerous techniques.

USA-based magazine FineScale Modeler (FSM) at www.-finescale.com has a site full of content, but has recently re-launched, and the “premium content” is now only available to subscribers and purchasers of the latest issue at the newsstand.

Many model makers specialise in particular themes, and Sea Wings at http://www.seawings.co.uk/, run by Bryan Ribbans, is devoted to 1⁄72nd-scale fl ying-boats and seaplanes. It includes build articles, kit lists and reviews on the model side, and aircraft profi les, plans and walk-around photos of the full-size machines. Another niche interest is fi refi ghting aircraft, which tend to be colourful and can be made relatively simply by converting existing kits. Scale Fire Bombers (http://www.scalefirebombers.com/index2.html) has features on virtually all the types used for fi refi ghting, and lists of available kits, conversion parts and decals.

Helicopter modellers are catered for at Heli Kit News http://www.helikitnews.com, which largely consists of new product info and model galleries.

If some of the above has inspired a desire to purchase kits, there are many online outlets. The best include the UK’s Hannants (www.hannants.co.uk), Squadron mail order in the USA (http://www.squadron.com) and Hobby Link Japan (www.hlj.com) which specialises in Japanese-manufactured kits. Happy Model(l)ing!

For monthly reviews of the best on the web. . . subscribe to Aeroplane quickly & easily at www.aeroplanemonthly.com

Write to: Aeroplane, Kings Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS

I N T E R N E T• S E R V I C E S • I N F O R M AT I O N • C O M P E T I T I O N S • E V E N T S

ABOVE High standards are set by hyperscale.com, which also offers a lively modellers’ forum.

ABOVE News and reviews of a wide range of kits, inclu-ding aircraft, will be found at cybermodeler.com.

ABOVE One of the prime International Plastic Modellers Society sites is ipmsstockholm.org.

ABOVE helikitnews.com caters for modellers with a special interest in rotorcraft kits.

We hear of last-chance attempts to locate and rescue stragglers, of many a landing with nothing but vapour in the fuel tanks, of conditions so cold and fl ights so long that pilots had to be winched out of their cockpits, of building one good Swordfi sh from the remains of three in mid-Altlantic, and the subsequentnear-disastrous test fl ight.

There is considerable humour in this straightforward account of the everyday actions of very brave men who played an unsung yet vital part in the winning of the Second World War. The story is a quiteexcellent read, and diffi cult to put down once you start. Stanley is now in his 82ndyear, but his memory is still lucid and his penmanship masterly. He retains incredible energy and motivation, despite considerable mobility problems caused as a result of his war service. All author’s royalties from his book will be given to the Royal Navy Historic Flight, in his words “to keep Swordfi sh W5856 fl ying, which I had crashed in 1944”.

JOHN BEATTIE

A HERO’S LIFE

WITH A SMILE AND AWAVE: THE LIFE OFCAPTAIN AIDAN LIDDELLVC MC (by Peter Daybell;ISBN 1-844151-160-3; Pen& Sword Books, 47Church Street, Barnsley,South Yorkshire S70 2AS;9½in x 6½in hardback;304 pages, illustrated;£19.99).This well-produced biography traces the life of its subjectfrom his childhood and education at Stoneyhurst College and Balliol, into the army as an offi cer of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders before the outbreak of the FirstWorld War, and fi nally into the

Royal Flying Corps as a pilot.Following the outbreak of

war, Aidan Liddell served on the Western Front on the Marne and Aisne, in Flandersand in the fi rst battle of Ypres. Using hitherto unseen family papers and photographs and Aidan Liddell’s papers in the National Archive, among other sources, Daybell provides a unique insight into life in the trenches, often by means of Liddell’s own diaries and letters, and describes the actions for which his subjectwas mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Crossin February 1915.

Aidan was lured by aviation in his early years, and learned to fl y at the Vickers School at Brooklands in 1914, special terms being offered for military offi cers. The motivation for his later transfer to the RFC is unknown, but on July 25,1915, he joined 7 Sqn at St Omer, principally fl ying the rather cumbersome Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.5reconnaissance aircraft.

Only six days later, on July 31, while on a long-range sortie (only his second reconnaissance), he was severely injured when his aircraft was attacked by an enemy two-seater. Recovering consciousness after passing out, Liddell managed to regain control of the badly damaged R.E.5 and, despite his terrible wounds, brought the aircraft and his observer down to a perfect landing at La Panne. The event was recorded by a photographer, whose dramatic pictures of Liddell being gingerly lifted from his cockpit made the front page of the Daily Mirror. They also form the most moving images in this well-illustrated volume.

By August 3 Liddell was able to write home, but his condition deteriorated. He was gazetted the fourth VC to be awarded to a member of the fl ying Services, but after having his right leg amputated he fi nally succumbed, aged 27, on August 31. Well researched and lucidly written, this volume pays a belated tribute to one of the RFC’s true heroes.

PHILIP JARRETT

http://www.hyperscale.com/

http://www.hyperscale.com/

http://modelingmadness.com

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/

http://www.cybermodeler.com

http://www.cybermodeler.com

http://internetmodeler.com

http://ipmsstockholm.org

http://www.finescale.com

http://www.seawings.co.uk/

http://www.scalefirebombers.com/index2.html

http://www.scalefirebombers.com/index2.html

http://www.helikitnews.com

http://www.helikitnews.com

http://www.hannants.co.uk

http://www.squadron.com

http://www.hlj.com


http://hyperscale.com

http://cybermodeler.com

http://ipmsstockholm.org

http://helikitnews.com

http://www.finescale.com


Navigat r Web: www.aeroplanemonthly.com

B O O K S•V I D E O S • O FFE R S

■ Michael Howell responds to the unarmed B-17 query(July) to say that there were four B-17s in Alaska used foranti-shipping patrols, but there is no record of a B-17 missionto Japan. If it had been shot down the mission would havebeen compromised and the Army Air Corps had gone to great lengths to keep it secret.Most of the intelligence for the mission was provided byLt Steven Jurika, the NavalAttaché in Tokyo during the 1930s, who had travelledextensively noting strategictargets. He briefed Doolittle’screws and provided Japanese medals that were attached to one of Doolittle’s bombs.

■ John Bale, 35 DoverdalePark, Hampton Lovett,Droitwich Spa, Worcs WR90NU, is seeking to help a neighbour who fl ew a numberof sorties during OperationManna, dropping food to the Dutch towards the end of the war, and asks if there is a video on the subject. I knowthere is a Dutch book and a recent TV short piece but do not know the channel — can anyone help?

■ Brian Goulding, LancasterLodge, 1 Bailey Court,Radcliffe-on-Trent, NottsNG12 2DN, is looking for new photographs of the East KirkbyLancaster NX611 for possibleinclusion in the rewrite of Story of a Lanc, proceeds fromwhich will go towards maintenance of the LincsAviation Heritage Centreexhibits. Particularly wanted are photographs in Aéronavaleservice in the Mediterranean and Pacifi c, under constructionat Austin Motors, test and delivery fl ights, delivery to France in 1952 etc.

■ Zoran Kirchhoffer at the Technical Museum, Savskacesta 18, 10000 Zagreb,Croatia, is restoring a two-seat UT-2 (Po-2). On the fi n is 3775 and the engine, an M11Amanufactured in 1947, hasnumbers 21301A and 16-993.Help is requested to fi nd the origin of the aircraft, approxdate of build and originalRussian colour scheme — it is currently in Yugoslav marks.

■ Mike Beach, 24 Cole ParkRoad, Twickenham, Middx TW11HW, bought a 5ft span modelaircraft recently, and examination revealed it was made by the Bunch Motor Coof Los Angeles, who ceased production post-war. Made to a high standard, it has manyinspection stamps and is covered with aircraft linen. Theengine is a Bunch Tiger Aero,manufactured between 1940and 1945, and the model has all the signs of a productionitem for military use. It was originally trainer yellow, but its RAF markings are probably not original. Any ideas?

■ Tim Nicoll, The fforstal,Barton le Willows, York YO607PD, asks on behalf of the local RAFA, who wish to erect a memorial plaque, whether anyone can add further namesto two crashes — 18.7.41Blenheim L1449 of 54 OTU(Church Fenton) at CockayneRidge, Cleveland Hills, pilot PltOff J. Woodhead, and 23.6.44Halifax JD106 of 1666 HCU(Wombleton) into high groundnear Burton Howe, Yorks, pilot Fg Off A.F. Haacke.

■ John Sheraton suggeststhat the Twin Pioneer 9N-RF6,derelict at Lukla in October1977, was probably the sourceof the Leonides enginesfound at the same location byRoy Probert and illustrated in our November issue.

■ David Millere, 5 Alder Close,Newton Abbot, Devon TQW124TJ, is researching delivery ofmail between belligerentsduring World War Two. He has found references to a servicefrom England to Lisbon where it was transferred to a Germanservice to Stuttgart and viceversa. Can anyone give himinformation on these services,or suggest a source?

■ Albert Pritchard, NorthLodge, Wakefi eld Road,Swillington, Leeds LS26 8DT,asks if anyone can provideinformation as to whether the de Havilland/Hamilton hydraulicvariable pitch propeller mechanism which included a counterweight system as fi tted to the Wellington IC was designed to include propeller blade feathering?

■ Uwe Beckers, Furthstr 13A,D-47877 Willich, Germany, is researching the circumstancesof a mid-air collision betweenWellington DV612/PM-J of103 Squadron with a GermanBf 110 nightfighter during a raid on Cologne on the night of13–14.3.42. The Wellingtonreturned to Elsham Wolds with minor damage, its crew con-sisting of Plt Offs J.H. Brookesand D.A.T. Churchward, FltSgt A.D. McConnell and Sgts K.H. Frith, H.E. Simmondsand B.W. Vaughan. Anyinformation regarding the military service and fates of the above would be appreciated.The Wellington lasted another six months, and after beingtransferred to 11 OTU it was posted missing on 17.9.42during a raid on Essen.

Are you trying to fi nd the answer to a thorny aviation question? Or trace an old aviation

Sponsored by

Corgi Classics Die-cast Models for the Adult Collector

Senders of photos and replies to questions on this page will receive a model from the Corgi Showcase Collection, which

comprises a careful selection of historically signifi cant aircraftfrom the past 100 years of fl ight. For more details visit the

website at www.corgiclassics.com

InformationExchange

■ David Darnley replies to the photograph (January 2006) ofthe R.E.8, quoting from Cross& Cockade Vol 13 No 4. Thepilot is Capt R.G.D. FrancisDFC of 3 Squadron besideR.E.8 A4397, which held the record for service flying on the Western Front with 440hr35min, mostly fl own byFrancis. With Lt R. Hainsworth as observer, he forced down a DFW of Flieger Abteilung(A)291 fl own by Lt Petz with LtMoesner (observer), and this aircraft was subsequentlyregistered G160 for the RFC.

■ Cyril van Beers, Kerkstraat 39, 5056AB Berkel Enschot,The Netherlands, seeksinformation on Fg Off C.O.Bibby of 19 Squadron, whose Mustang III FZ195 was shot down south of Rotterdam on 18.9.44 by Obst L.T. Voght’sFw 190 of JG26. Bibby baledout and became a PoW at Stalag Luft I, Barth Vogelsang.Voght, who had 48 victories,was killed on 14.1.45 in combat with a Mustang of the 78th FG near Cologne. Cananyone give Mr van Beersinformation on Bibby’sbackground?

ABOVE Mike Beach’s mystery Bunch model aircraft — what was it used for? See his query in column three.

ABOVE Lancaster G-ASXX/NX611 arrives at Biggin Hill in April 1966 — see request for new photographs in column three.


http://www.corgiclassics.com


friend? Then this page may help

Write to: Mike Hooks, Information Exchange, Aeroplane, Kings Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS

I N T E R N E T• S E R V I C E S • I N F O R M AT I O N • C O M P E T I T I O N S • E V E N T S

■ Jim Tjelios, 2298 des Harfangs, St Laurent (Montreal)QC, H4R 2V5, Canada, recalls seeing in 1948 an apparentlydamaged aircraft — he thinksan Me 262 — at the edge ofthe Aylmer, Ontario, airport runway, and asks if anyone can confi rm this and say what happened to it?

■ Ron Priddle, 4 Park View,Chirton, Devizes, Wilts SN103QT, says that a local historywebsite mentions a Meteorwhich reportedly crashed in 1944 at Easton Grey,Malmesbury, killing the pilot.A local fi reman who attended the crash said that the emergency services had to give an undertaking that theywould not divulge details of the aircraft “which had no engines”. I can fi nd no mention of this crash in anyMeteor information — can anyone else?

■ Rob Evans, 4 Meadow Fields, Hengoed, Oswestry,Shropshire SY10 7EX, has details of the crash ofAvenger FN821 of 848Squadron on 3.2.44 with fourfatalities — Sub-Lts Green,Lupton and Appleby — and asks which was the pilot and who was the fourth fatality,named only as a passenger.

■ John Johnston, a formerairborne radar mechanic in Bomber Command, answers the question about RDF(January). He says radar was not so called until 1943, when we picked up the acronymfrom America. Being highlysecret, it was given the covername radio direction fi nding.Even at radio school,notebooks were kept in safesovernight, made availableunder supervision in eveningsfor study, and burned after the students qualifi ed.

■ For more questions and answers, see the “YouWrote” section ofAeroplane’s website:www.aeroplanemonthly.com

■ Internet users — Pleaseinclude a postal address with your e-mail query as we often have to includehard copy (e.g.photocopies)with a reply

READER OFFERS

READER OFFER COUPON Please send me the item(s) specifi ed below

■ After National Service in the RAF in 1946–48, Mike Hooks maintained a strong interest in aviation and became Editor of Airports International during1967–75. He then joined the SBAC,where his duties included managing the Press Centre at the FarnboroughAir Shows; he retired in 1993. Mike is an Honorary Life Member of Air-Britain and a member of the Croydon Airport Society

I enclose a cheque/postal order (address on back)for the amount of £_________ made payable to IPC Media Ltdor please debit my Visa/Mastercard, number:

Expiry date .... /.......

Signature ..................................................................................Mr/Mrs/Ms .......... Forename .....................................................Surname ...................................................................................Address......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Postcode ......................... Day Tel No ........................................

Item Quantity Price Total £

p&p TOTAL £

Aeroplane Magazine published by IPCMedia Ltd (IPC), will collect yourpersonal information to process yourorder. Would you like to receiveemails from Aeroplane Magazine and IPC containing news, special offersand product and service information and take part in our magazine research via email? If yes, please tickhere. Aeroplane Magazine and IPC would like to contact you by post or telephone to promote and ask youropinion on our magazines and services. Please tick here if youprefer not to hear from us. IPCmay occasionally pass your details to carefully selected organisations so they can contact you by telephone or post with regards to promoting and researching their products and services. Please tick here if youprefer not to be contacted.

Brass Spitfi re Airframe Model KitIRRESISTIBLE FOR ANYONE who ever built a KeilKraft or similarbalsa flying scale model kit:Bigwing has produced a gorgeous,beautifully-presented brass versionas a sculptural luxury desktop model.Spanning 18in, it is self-jigging;the 1·5mm brass sheet parts snap together after minimal cleaning-up.It takes about 30hr to build, and the kit includes everything youneed except the liquids (e.g. brasspolish, lacquer, superglue, beer/whisky while you work). Order yours now for £149.99 (incUK mainland p&p), using the coupon below, or by telephone on 0870 727 4156.

Send your completed coupon to: Aeroplane reader offers, J.E.M. House, Littlemead, Cranleigh,Surrey GU6 8TT OR call the order hotline on 0870 727 4156

Instant Answer

Despatch is within 28 days. If you’re not completely satisfi ed, please return goods within 14 days for a no-quibble, money back guarantee on goods returned in pristine condition. Offer subject to availability.

QPaul Wilkins asks the fate of Spitfi re F.21 LA255, at one time on the gate at RAF Cardington.

A He doesn’t quote the Cardington date but I understandthat it was there in 1960–62, then to West Raynham

1964–67, used in the Battle of Britain fi lm at Henlow 1967 —presumably in the distance — and RAF Wittering 1969–96. Itis now on display with the No 1 Squadron Association at RAFCottesmore, Leics.

ABOVE Spitfi re F.21 LA255 during its time at West Raynham.

Forever FlashlightTHE FOREVER FLASHLIGHT needs neither battery nor electricity. Simply shake it to provideall the light you need, as it transforms the movement into electrical energy by means of a magnet — the Faraday Effect. The energy produced is stored in an accumulator that can be recharged thousands of times. Shaking for 1min will provide up to 3hr of continuousbright light. The bulb is a new-generation diode without fi lament, giving off no heat, and therefore has an extraordinary lifespan (10 years). The torch is powerful, projecting a cold,blue/white light. Its synthetic case is virtually indestructible, waterproof, can even fl oat,and will withstand extreme weather conditions. Not to be confused with earlier versions,this model features: ■ Double loop technology to produce double power ■ Super brightLED visible for over 1 mile ■ Waterproof ■ Rechargeable capacitor ■ Length: 11¾in.£24.99 or two for £44.98 inc free p&p on all UK Mainland orders (for overseas orders call 0870 727 4144 for a postage quotation). To order, simply use the coupon below or call our hotline on 0870 727 4156.



http://www.airsupply.co.uk

http://www.ianallan.com



http://www.gpaerotours.com

http://www.ianallantravel.com/travel/aviation

http://www.stewart-aviation.co.uk


http://www.trainsandplanes.co.uk



http://mailto:[email protected]


http://www.air-britain.co.uk


CrosswindAsides — and broadsides — from the wings, with JOHN FRICKER

■ JOHN FRICKER FRAeS has

been writing on aviation for

more than 60 years, during

which he has fl own in some

470 military and civil fi xed-

and rotary-wing aircraft

types, including 312 as pilot.

He still fl ies and contributes

regularly on mostly military

aviation subjects to several

leading publications, and in

2003 received Boeing’s global

Aeronautical Journalist of the

Decade award

■ I’VE BEEN TAKEN gently to task by reader Michael Watkins for my “out-of-date” references to RAF VC10s and Queen’s Flight BAE 146s in a recent column, and I’m grate-ful for his comments to put the record straight. He points out that The Queen’s Flight was effectively disbanded by the government in 1986, just a few months short of its 50th anniversary. “Unlike decommissioning of the Royal yacht Britannia, no offi cial disbandment parade was authorised”, he said. “Its assets were transferred to an expanded No 32Squadron at RAF Northolt, the Government communica-tions squadron”. (In other words, The Queen’s Flight was quietly axed, without public reference).

He adds: “The VC10 originally equipped 10 Squadron, disbanded at RAF Brize Norton in 2005. The remaining VC10s are now operated by 101 Squadron, mainly in air-refuelling roles, although its air transport capability remains. I doubt whether the current Prime Minister has ever fl own in a VC10; his long-range overseas fl ights now seem to be undertaken in aircraft chartered from British Airways”. Regrettably, however, from the country’s point of view, he seems to retain an almost infi nite capacity for taking ’planes.

■ NASA’S LATEST space spectacular, jointly with the Uni-versity of California, and completed by successful recov-ery on January 15 of Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ Stardust spacecraft, involved extraordinary achievements covering a wide range of technologies. Launched in 1999 from Cape Canaveral, Stardust accurately targeted its ob-jectives over circuitous ranges of 2·9 billion miles, to inter-cept the tail of Comet Wild 2, and bring back interstellar dust possibly dating back 4·9 billion years.

As a complete space layman, I must confess to being awed by contemplating the navigation problems of unlim-ited omni-dimensional space. With untold billions of stars, there are no shortages of astro references, but on what basis are headings computed? Fortunately, vastly superior brains have evidently solved these problems, and are now planning to start analysing the collected Wild 2 dust-

grains. These, they hope, may provide invaluable insights into conditions extant during early formation of the solar system, and possibly give clues concerning how life began on Earth.

Meanwhile, with quoted re-entry speeds of 28,600 m.p.h., Stardust press reports fête it as the fastest man-made object to date. This may be true enough, so far as re-entry vehicles are concerned, but remains well below NASA’s 1977 Voyager probe, still coasting in deep space at 38,518 m.p.h.

■ WHAT AN APPALLING indictment of current British society standards is implicit in the recent public auction of the many decorations and associated memorabilia of ex-World War Two fi ghter leader and record-setting Hawker chief test pilot Squadron Leader Neville Duke DSO DFC &2 Bars AFC OBE Czech MC, to whom profound commiser-ations are expressed. As previously mentioned in Aero-plane, the £138,000 raised by these effects was partly re-quired to fund a hip replacement operation in a private hospital for his vivacious wife Gwen. It also seems, however, that the police would no longer guarantee the security of the memorabilia, after three break-ins of the Dukes’ home.

Despite increasing hearing problems, as a follow-on to many years in noisy cockpits, Neville has continued fl ying light aircraft, and, with Gwen, was to be seen at many sport-ing air events. Back in the 1950s, even when heading the Hawker test-pilot team, Neville participated, usually in last surviving Hawker Tomtit G-AFTA, in many sporting shows and air races. In some of these I was also displaying the little Zaunkoenig, and further acquaintance followed in 1953 when hanging around Tangmere waiting for suitable conditions to cover his world air speed record attempt along the South Coast in the sole P.1067 Hunter 3, WB188.

Powered by an afterburning Rolls-Royce Avon R.A.7Rdeveloping up to 9,600lb-thrust, the Hunter 3 was pushed by Neville to a new (although short-lived) absolute world speed record of 727·6 m.p.h. on September 7.

This month John sets the record straight about the Queen’s Flight, salutes the mind-

boggling achievement of NASA’s comet-chasing Stardust research spacecraft, and laments a

society in which a great military and test-flying hero is impelled to sell his medals

RIGHT Test pilot Neville Duke in the cockpit of Hawker Hunter Mk 3 WB188 at the time of his setting of the world air speed record at 727·6 m.p.h. in September 1953.

The immensely popular 777 is readyto fly in Flight Simulator 2004 in the -200LR, -200LRF (Freight) and -300ERvariants. With an extensive set of 26airline liveries that span the globe,authentic sounds and refined flightmodel, this is one airliner that everyarmchair Captain will want to fly!

©2005 PSS, Just Flight Limited. All rights reserved. Just Flight and the Just Flight logo are trademarks of Just Flight Limited,2 Stonehill, Stukeley Meadows, Huntingdon, PE29 6ED UK.All trademarks and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners and their use herein does not imply any association or endorsement by any third party.

Expansion for Flight Simulator 2004

Extensive animation Accurate panels Attention to detail Range of liveries

The Spirit of Flight Simulationwww.justflight.com

Available from , selected stores and other good game retailersor direct from www.justflight.com

For further product information and screenshots visit www.justflight.com

Featues the worldrecord breaking777-200LR model

http://www.justflight.com



http://www.pegi.info

http://www.askaboutgames.com

aeroplane magazine

Documents