Off to America

This Aces High Dakota, the longest operated of its type un the UK, has been sold. After a few final appearances scheduled for Spring next year it will be off to a new home Stateside. Seen here at a Duxford D-Day event a few years ago.

Now at Shuttleworth

Hawker Hurricane G-HURI moved to Shuttleworth today. It used to live at Duxford but lost the previous hangarage agreement and now has a new home. Seen here undergoing off season maintenance at Duxford last year.

Moved to Germany

This Dornier 28 A-1, one of only three that are airworthy and the only one in Europe has been British owned of late. It has had the odd mishap including wing damage from clipping trees at Spanhoe in 2022 and a couple of months ago was damaged again whilst returning from an air show in Germany. It has now been sold to new owners in Germany and moved to Paderborn where it will be repaired and re-registered.

Oft seen at Old Warden in the past I last saw it there in May of this year.

Award winners

The De Havilland Aircraft Museum at Hatfield was awarded the Preservationist Of The Year trophy recently by the National Transport Trust for their long term restoration of this Mosquito FBVI, seen here 3 or 4 years ago. Even then it was looking impressive and it had an official roll out earlier this year.

This is the second time in five years that the trophy has effectively gone to a Mosquito as Tony Agar won the award in 2020 for his restoration of the ground running Mosquito at East Kirkby.

Under threat?

The future of Nimrod XV232, which is currently with a preservation group at Coventry airport, has been thrown in to doubt as the group has been given notice to vacate their site by May next year. The aircraft is currently in ground running condition. Hopefully a new home can be found and there are certainly a couple of museums that spring to mind that have space but its a question of money, logistics and practicality for the future. Lets hope there is a good outcome.

Here's a couple of shots of the Nimrod from when I saw it in 2023.

Getting ready for Wanaka

Sadly not me as my visit last year is likely to be a one off but Duxford based Spitfire PL983 is making the journey to New Zealand to help mark the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the Spitfire at the 2026 Warbirds over Wanaka show. It will be displayed by John Romain.

Now at Cotswold Airport

Often found at Duxford over the last couple of years P51 Mustang Marinell, part of the Northwind collection, arrived at Cotswold Airport today where it will apparently now be resident. Seen here outside the ARCO hangar at Duxford.

F84 Thunderstreak

This Airfix offering of the Republic fighter bomber is a 1/72 scale kit from 1974 that I was building at the same time as the Skua below whilst I was waiting for copious amounts of filler to dry. It all went together quite well and I opted for the Luftwaffe markings partly to keep the USAF set as spares but also as they looked a little less fragile and made a bit of a change. Long out of service I have seen a couple in museums including one in Sunderland Land, Sea and Air Museum.

Lest We Forget

DH Dove VP952

Continuing the theme of departures from Cosford is this De Havilland Dove. Seen here outside at the RAF centenary show in 2018 it was moved last month to Gatwick Aviation Museum. It is a little while since I was last at Gatwick but there are some images of the visit in my galleries section. The Shackleton, which we had a tour of at the time, has since been repainted.

Now at Duxford

The BBMF Lancaster has now arrived at Duxford where it is due to undergo a significant maintenance programme that will keep it off the air show circuit for all of 2026. Presumably it will once again be in the Stephenson hangar so progress can be monitored from the viewing window.

Blackburn Skua

Old Novo kits can't compare to modern fare but some are better than others. This 1/72 Skua wasn't one of the better ones! The canopy was fairly ropey but I already had a Falcon replacement but that highlighted the poor interior so I fabricated a few extra bits. The cylinders in the engine were very spindley so I made a replacement from a couple of old Halifax engines and also added an arrestor hook which wasn't part of the kit. The biggest issue though was the wings. The ailerons looked too shallow so I increased the size and I also added a new leading edge because the wings should extend in front of the cockpit and the kit wings didn't. I made a new exhaust as well and found a better tail wheel in my spares box. Anyway, plenty of filler and sanding later and thus is what I have ended up with. Decals also came from the spares box as the aged kit decals fell apart, naturally.

Stearmans

Much like the Harvards mentioned below there were a number of Stearmans present at the La Fert Alais show and here are a few images from the day.

307 Squadron Memorial

307 Squadron was a Polish Night Fighter Squadron formed at Blackpool in 1940. Initially it operated the Boulton Paul Defiant and spent a short while in the Isle of Man before moving to RAF Exeter and, in August 1941, converting to the Bristol Beaufighter. It was with these aircraft that the squadron shot down 4 of 40 JU88s that were attacking Exter on the night of 3/4 May 1942 and are consequently credited with saving the city from more extensive destruction. Exter Cathedral sustained damage that night although restoration was complete by the early 1950s but a memorial to 307 squadron and this raid can be found within the cathedral.

Beer Bomb Shelter

Not exactly as the name suggests as the 'shelter' is a small building that has a display/exhibition area. However there is a permanent display realting to a WWII incident where the pilot of a badly damaged Ju88 bomber took action to avoid crashing his doomed aircraft in to the town of Beer thereby saving a number of lives. The pilot survived the crash and is consequently considered a hero for his actions. Many years later the wreck was excavated and a large bomb was found and diffused. The bomb has been cleaned and restored and is now on display along with various information boards relating to the mission and it is worth 20 minutes of your time to check it out if in the area.