Spies in the Skies

This is the name given to a temporary exhibition in the front of the Duxford super hangar, running for a couple of months form 27th December. The exhibition highlights the work of photo reconnaisance aircraft in WWII and showcases a Westland Lysander, Lockheed Electra 12A, two Spitfire PRXIs, a Spitfire XIV and a replica Spitfire 1G along with examples of the aerial phootographhs taken. It was an interesting display and made a good excuse for an early season visit to the museum.

Saved?

The last remaining Blackburn Beverley was under threat of being scrapped following the closure of its home at Fort Paull. A rescue plan was put in place which was to see the aircraft moved to Yorkshire to be fitted out as holiday accommodation. This got no further than the aircraft being dismantled but not moved due to the costs involved. Now, however, Solway Aviation Museum have stepped in with a plan to move the aircraft north to their Carlisle based site for reassembly and restoration. Funds are still required and an appeal has been launched but it sounds more encouraging. Hopefully it can get back to looking as it was when I last saw it alnost 10 years ago.

Hangar collapse

There has been an ongoing saga about Hangar 3 at Old Sarum for a few years. This is a WWI hangar that is listed but has been left to fall in to a state of disrepair amidst a planning campaign to develop the airfield including the addition of housing. Sadly storm Isha last weekend caused its collapse.There are calls for it to ve fully restored but it remains to be seen if it actually happens.

Here it is a few years ago not looking pristine but at least in one piece.

Sywell Air Show

This is a new event on the calendar this and is sounding like a successor to Flying Legends. Only time will tell but a decent aircraft line up gas been announced and us being added to so I have taken advantage of the early bird discount and got tickets for the Saturday.

Heading north

This Jaguar, a long term resident of Cosford and caught here about 5 years ago, was dismantled last month and moved to a new home at RAF Lossiemouth.

Spitfire sold

Spitfire MkIX SL633, which had a minor landing accident back in the summer, has been sold and will start a new life in Australia. I believe that the only time I have seen this aircraft was at Flying Legends back in 2015 when I took this shot.

Duxford departure

The fourth Eurofighter Typhoon prototype, which has been on display at Duxford since 2009 has now moved on. It's disposal had been rumoured with small panels having been removed some while ago. The airframe was dismantled last month and moved to RAF Cosford where it will be used for ground instructional purposes.

Newark Canberra to be scrapped

Canberra PR7 WH971, which has been on display at Newark Air Museum since 1998, is likely to be scrapped next year. The airframe is on loan to the museum and the owners are responsible for its upkeep. The loan actually came to an end last year and the Canberra needs significant repairs which are beyond the capability of the museum to deal with and, as no alternatives have been proposed, scrapping after stripping for parts, seems the inevitable outcome.

Here is the aircraft in 2016 when I last saw it - marked as WH972.

Flying Legends cancelled (again)

After a 3 year hiatus Flying Legends returned in the summer this year although because its new Churh Fenton location was so much further away I was unable to attend. It seems like the new venue was a one off as the 2024 event has already been called off😕

Off to the USA

Apparently Contrary Mary or Miss Velma as she was for many years has now been sold and will have a new home in America. Seems a shame but there should be a couple of new Mustangs on the show circuit next year.

Junkers JU88 C-2

I posted some pictures of a completed 88 a few weeks ago. That was an A-1 bomber version of the Luftwaffe twin, this is cannon equiped fighter. It started life as the old Airfix A-4 many years ago and I bought an after market C-2 conversion kit which sat on the shelf for a long time. I have at last completed the task which involved quite a bit of surgery and tweaking, especially joining the new engine nacelles to tge wings, but here it is finished.

Nakajima B5N Kate

Next off the production line is this Kate torpedo bomber. The Kate served Japanese forces throughout WWII including the infamous raid on Pearl Harbour.

This is a Hasegawa 1/72 kit with after market decals which were actually a bit of a pain!

Catalina N423RS

Looking through some old snaps I came across this image of a Catalina in Greenpeace livery that I had forgotten all about, taken around 1998 after the plane had been used in the Med in the fight against illegal fishing. On checking I realised that it was the same Catalina, by then sporting RAF Coastal Command colours, that I had seen at North Weald when visiting with my mate Gaz back in 2010. On that day work was being undertaken to get the engines running and a very smokey affair it was too. Subsequently the aircraft was dismantled and went over to America in 2015. The good news is that, although still in bits, the aircraft was acquired by The Tunison Foundation of Poughkeepsie in June of this year as a restoration project. Hopefully this means that it will fly again.

Boeing Kaydet/Stearmam

An old Revell kit of the American biplane trainer.Introduced in the 1930s over 10,000 were produced and many stil fly today. This kit is straight out of the box with some after market stars and stripes.

Lest We Forget