Last of 'The Few'

Sad to hear of the passing of Group Captain John Hemingway, the last surviving pilot from The Battle of Britain. As great as it is to see Spitfires and Hurricanes flying today it is easy to overlook the role they and pilots like John Hemingway undertook back in 1940 in defending our shores. They did us proud and most did not have the long life of John Hemingway who reached 105. Respect to them all.

Destined for the outdoors

There are a number of changes coming at Duxford over the coming months/years with a lot of aircraft movements expected in the Air Space hangar. One of these moves will apparently be to place the Avro York on permanent display outside. Whilst it might be possible to get some better pictures as a result it doesn't sound like a great idea to me. Perhaps if it was in military markings instead of the Dan Air get up it would be viewed differently. The Comet and Dove will join it outside.

Fifty years in the making!

Back when we were young I somehow talked my sister in to sharing in my hobby of making model aircraft and she made around a dozen. Some years later when we each left home most of her kits ended up in my spares box. One of the models was a RA5C Vigilante but it was partially painted and unfinished. I also had one of these which got damaged and at one point I started to rebuild it knicking a few bits from my sister's kit but I painted it badly, broke it again and chucked all the bits in a box where they sat for many years. Recently I dug it out to see if it could be resurrected. Basically my kit was pretty awful but my sister's was kind of OK so I rebuilt that and sacrificed mine where bits were missing. Not perfect, especially the transparencies but not too bad. So, around 50 years down the line my sister's Vigilante is complete at last!

Tea Room added!

I visited Hornchurch museum in September 2023 and a nice museum it was too (see here) and they have now opened a little tea room on site to improve things further 😀

Back on line

Two seat Spitfire PV202 has undergone major maintenance over the winter with the engine coming out and sent away for servicing and a thorough airframe inspection carried out. Arco announced that the aircraft is now complete again and undergoing engine tests prior to flight. I caught it here last July

Returning to the skies

We saw this Me262 back in 2016, albeit from a bit of a distance as it did not land on at the Virginia Beach air show we were attending. It is one of a handful of very authentic modern replicas built to airworthy standards. This one is owned by the Military Aviation Museum and tends to operate from a relatively short runway and has suffered brake over heating issues resulting in it being grounded. However, news is that a solution has been found and it should be in the air again this year.

Here are a couple of shots from when we saw it.

LTV A-7 Corsair II

An old Airfix 1/72 scale kit of this light attack aircraft, built straight out of the box.

End of the line

There has been a Douglas C-54 at North Weald for several years which was the subject of an ambitious plan for a return to flight and I attended a special fund raising day a few years ago. However, to fly once more new spars and wings were going to be required and fund raising could not cover these costs. Sadly the airframe has been dismantled/cut up since the beginning of this year and in the last few days removed from site. Part of the fuselage will apparently become a glamping pod.

It's a shame that the aircraft has basically been lost but big aeroplanes cost big money. Here are a couple of snaps from a few years back.

Operation Fuller

Today is the 83rd anniversary of Operation Fuller or the Channel Dash as it is better known. The British lost a number of aircraft including all six Swordfish that were sent to attack German ships in the Channel. There is a memorial at Ramsgate Harbour to those that lost their lives which has had fresh wreaths laid today.

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter

It's nearly 12 years since I saw this reproduction aircraft part way through its build but I am pleased that the project has reached a successful conclusion and flew in December. What a great effort.

Me 109 G6

A little Italeri kit in 1/72 scale.

RNZAF Hercules retirement

The RNZAF retired its remaining Hercules C130H aircraft this week. They are being replaced by the revamped C130J. However I was lucky enough to catch the iconic old Hercules last March when a couple of aircraft did some special flypasts over Wanaka. Seems a good excuse to pop up a few pictures.

Lysander V9546

A couple of months ago it was confirmed that this Westland Lysander had been acquired by The Fighter Collection. It was previously owned by the Sabena Old Timers Foundation in Belgium and was airworthy until a landing incident back in 2001. Hopefully this change of ownership means it is going to return to the air.

I was pretty sure I would have seen this aircraft in the past and after eventually rummaging through the archives I found a couple of shots at Duxford from Flying Legends 1994 and here are the  scans from over 30 years ago.

Hawker Hunter E430

I saw this Hunter a while back looking a little forlorn at the Gatwick Aviation Museum. However it has now been acquired by the Sussex based Wings museum and moved to Dunsfold where the plan is to restore the aircraft and place it on display in a new hangar alongside the museum's Hawker Kestrel.

Hunter XL563

I last saw this Hunter at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust a few years ago when is was wearing a 'raspberry ripple' scheme and looking a bit tired. However it has recently had a repaint in to a scheme it wore in the early years after first flying in 1957 where the second picture dates from.