Aeroplane 12 2019

INSIDE… OUR LEGENDARY CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE
December 2019
Issue No 560,
Vol 47,
No 12
HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911

Aeroplane 2020 Calendar_v1_cc
CALENDAR 2020
FREE! WIN! SIGNED DH9 BOOK
C.indd 3
Closing date: 20 January 2020

2020
CALENDAR PLUS: flight
WW2
LEGENDS
World War
test report
O N S O R E D BY
SP
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, 204 Churchill

Two Legends
29/10/2019 10:21
Way,
‘MOSSIE’ MAGIC
Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16
3BN
www.flyaspitfire.com
www.key.aero
RR299 remembered
Join the fight to get a Mosquito
flying in the UK again
Archive t
g t he firs
Flyin
er tu rbine
ev
DC-3
RUMBLE IN ALBATROS FODDER DECEMBER 2019 £4.99
THE JUNGLE Fair comment on the

Portugal’s ‘Ginas’ at war Martinsyde Elephant?
01_AM_UKCover_Dec19_V1H C.indd 1 31/10/2019 09:05
50
82
32
66 111
40
Contents Make it an
December 2019
Christmas
NEWS AND FEATURES See pages 14-15 for de
tails
COMMENT 32 FLIGHT-TESTING THE DH9
‘Dodge’ Bailey reports on preparing
4 FROM THE EDITOR and executing the flight-test
6 NEWS 72 AEROPLANE MEETS…
programme for the world’s only ROB MILLINSHIP
• DH9 replica unveiled at Aviodrome airworthy First World War bomber —
• Another Spitfire IXT for Biggin The homebuilder and Pitts expert
PLUS! Win a signed DH9 book whose talents have stretched to a
• Hunter F1 moves to Montrose 40 PORTUGUESE OVER GUINEA
…and the month’s other top aircraft huge range of vintage aeroplanes
Waging a guerrilla war in its African 82 KAMIKAZE MUSEUMS
preservation news colonies, Portugal faced a gap in
16 WORKSHOP Harrowing stories from the Japanese
combat aircraft capability — until the collections that remember the
Probably Sweden’s most ambitious Fiat G91 arrived
aircraft restoration project — a Heinkel kamikaze pilots
Aeroplane 2020 Calendar_v1_cc
CALENDAR 2020 TECHNICA
FREE! AEROPLANE
DETAILS L There was
a degree
DATA
when it came of ‘trial and
He 111 with a notable tale attached ABASE

to refining error’
C.indd 3
the Elephant
DATABASE MARTINSYDE
ELEPHANT
91 DATABASE:
A6289 rejoiced
Kim and in the
later Mount names Malaya
pre-delivery Lofty, South No 4, the
background. at Brooklands, Australia. Wi-Cheng
It is pictured
Development
Development
Fitted with with the
2020 CALENDAR
joined No a ventral racetrack
27 Squadron bomb in the
in Septemberrack, the machine
1917. KEY COLLECTION
27 HANGAR TALK
Technical
Technical Details
MARTINSYDE
15
Details
G100 serial 7266 was

among
Elephants flown to France the first 10 Martinsyde
March 1916. It later becameby No 27 Squadron on 1 IN-DEP
T
one of three fitted with
Legendary warbirds from

the Royal Aircraft Factory
and served with No 49
Periscopic Bomb Sight
MkII,
PAGE TH
Squadron. CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY S
he Martinsyde
Steve Slater’s comment on the historic

Elephant
MARTINSYDE
In
around the
In Service
was a two-bay
staggered
biplane, asymmetric,nose area was
Service
powered the front a portion The engine’s

Beardmore-bu initially by to cut out at
Austro-Daimle ilt 120hp
a reach the allow maintainers mounted radiator was
ELEPHANT
magneto to internally,
in-line engine r six-cylinder Later machines installation. powerplant, aft of the The fuselage
in the G100 had bigger was 50.5 while fuel decking aroundsides and
version,
and later
openings,
while the gallons. Th tankage were plywood-coverthe cockpit
side radiator did without e prototype
ELEPHANT
powerful by the more starboard
but
reliable 160hpless mechanically enlarged, air intake
fillet was manifold, an exhaust fuselage ed, the aft
being fabric-covered.
though it but,
complained after pilots On the starboard
Insights
Insights
powerplant form of that this could was found

which allowed in the G102 lead to carburettor
icing. Pilot-controlled fumes and of ingesting exhaust below the fuselage
cockpit, a side
variant, consequent
World War
bracket could hardwood
World War Two

greater bomb carriage of were introduced, shutters production nausea, accommodate
a manifold, machines received a vertically
The type’s loads. carburettor and the mounted,
were of equaltwo-spar wings
system was these were though sometimes semi-automatic 18-plate
O N S O RED BY
lagged. modified camera. Th
removed camera was
broad parallel 38ft span and of altogether. or even
SP
e
aircraft world
chord with gap betweenaimed through the
tips. The
WORDS: PETE LONDON lower
inboard just wings terminated
raked the lower the fuselage
wing. From and
Two Legends
sides and short of the fuselage the
employed
plywood
end-plates; substantial
It’s not the best-known

the resultant through
were visible. gaps the spars
fitted to all Ailerons were
four
flight surfaces, wings. Like its
fuselage the machine’s
was of wood
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, 204 Churchill
29/10/2019 10:21
fabric construction, and

Way, rectangular being of
Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 by curved section surmounted
3BN decking.
www.flyaspitfire.com fuselage
portion
The forward
engine cowling around the
www.key.aero with aluminiumwas skinned

field this sheet —
29 FLIGHT LINE
part in the
grey, perhaps was often painted
the amount in order to reduce
of British types from

of
At the outset glare.
50 MOSQUITO RR299
prototype, the G100
serial
a three-bladed 4735, employed
15
but production Lang propeller,
a two-bladed machines had Martinsyde
type. The
cowling production. built an experimental
An Elephant of No 14 during 1914. In the foreground single-bay,
Squadron, its stands young shorter-span
undercarriage reinforced VIA PETE LONDON
variation
with a cross- design offi
brace to allow carriage
of greater 94 www.aeroplanem ce worker of the Elephant,
loads than originally envisaged. bomb Sydney Camm, but it didn’t
it has no bomb racks fi That said, onthly.com who’d joined enter
tted. VIA PETE LONDON the company
91-105_AM_Databas
Reflections on aviation history with

AEROPLANE DECEMBER e_Dec19_cc
2019 C.indd
94
the 1914-18 war, but

AEROPLANE
www.aeroplanemonthly.com DECEMBER
As efforts to get a Mosquito flying

91 2019
91-105_AM_Database_Dec19_cc
C.indd 91
03/11/2019 18:35 03/11/2019

18:36
Denis J. Calvert in Britain gather pace, former pilots the Elephant deserves greater IN-D EPTH
PAGES
remember the much-missed RR299 recognition — and, here, Pete
REGULARS 62 UK MOSQUITO PROJECTS
The two projects aiming to see an
London provides it
20 SKYWRITERS airworthy ‘Mossie’ back in British skies 111 AEROPLANE ARCHIVE

22 Q&A — and how you can help A flight-test from 70 years ago of the
Your questions asked and answered 66 MODERN AIR IN BERLIN first ‘Turbo-Dak’
80 HOOKS’ TOURS The American airline that brought the
More superb colour shots from the late grace and pace of the Convair CV-990 Cover image: British Aerospace’s Mosquito TIII
Mike Hooks’ collection — the subject to the divided city RR299 photographed in 1992. RICHARD PAVER
this time is the Ilyushin Il-18
106 REVIEWS: CHRISTMAS SPECIAL See
A bumper festive crop of the latest page 60
aviation books and products in the for full
spotlight details Your Aviation Destination SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE
114 NEXT MONTH
AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 3
03_AM_Contents_Dec19_cc C.indd 3 04/11/2019 12:10

From the
Editor CONNECT WITH AEROPLANE…

www.facebook.com/AeroplaneMonthly
@HistoryInTheAir
T
here is definitely something DH9, which we feature this month,
to be said for ‘out-of-season’ was probably the individual highlight, CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH
airshows. As I write, on the but there have been many others. Old
first weekend of November, it Warden and Duxford, it almost goes ‘DODGE’ BAILEY
seems hard to credit that the last proper without saying, provided most of them. Roger Bailey joined the RAF
in 1969 and served for 20
flying display of 2019 took place just two Between the two venues, just consider years, retiring as officer
weeks ago. This was IWM Duxford’s final what we’ve seen in 2019: massed DC-3s/ commanding the Aerospace
Research Squadron at RAE
Showcase Day of the year, an excellent C-47s, a seven-Hurricane formation, a Bedford in December 1989
afternoon’s aviating involving no fewer vic of five Buchóns and a fabulous Fury/ to become chief test pilot at
what was then Cranfield
than 19 based aircraft from several of Sea Fury trio, to name but a few. Given College of Aeronautics, later
the local operators. It was the latest of such richness at the heavier end, it Cranfield University. It was
also in 1989 that ‘Dodge’ joined the Shuttleworth
these events, smaller and less formal may seem surprising to cite the English Collection as a volunteer pilot. He became chief
in nature than a full Duxford airshow, Electric Wren as another stand-out, but pilot prior to the 2011 season, retiring as such at the
end of 2018, though he continues to fly for the
but which have proved highly popular, anyone who saw the machine making collection. During 2019, he conducted test-flying of
and presented some unusual and its longest public flight for many, many the Historic Aircraft Collection’s DH9, and reports
on that process in this issue.
imaginative spectacles. For example, years at Shuttleworth’s May evening
August’s showcase featured a Desert War display will concur. There have been CHARLES BARRETT
duo of P-40F and Spitfire Vc; October’s stars elsewhere, too — the Mosquito Charles’s long-standing
fascination with aeroplanes
included several rare formations, and Lancaster taxiing together at East is the stuff of family legend:
among them a Lysander and Hurricane Kirkby, the return to Britain of the when his father was on a
hijacked airliner in the
I tailchase. After Swedish Air Force 1970s, Charles’s first
so much of the Activity outside the Historic Flight’s question — allegedly — was
to ask what aircraft he was
flying programme jets at several
at the Shuttleworth regular calendar is very seafront shows. As
on. He has covered the
Lusophone world for
newswires since 1997. His favourite job involved
Collection’s Race welcome indeed we look forward to giving local radio traffic reports from the back seat
of a Cessna 172 during the Lisbon 1998 World
Day a fortnight 2020, and another
Expo, often darting over the April 25 Bridge and
earlier was canned due to strong winds, big Battle of Britain anniversary, the the nearby Cristo Rei monument under the
Duxford was, by all accounts, a delightful prospects are exciting. glidepath of heavy traffic approaching runway 03 at
Lisbon Airport.
way to end the season.
Many years ago now, there used That goes for the longer term as well. PETE LONDON
to be a rich and varied schedule of The newest developments with the Pete is a former manager
with BAE Systems and
motorsport throughout the autumn two projects to return a de Havilland Finmeccanica. Now a full-
and winter, bridging the gap between Mosquito to British skies seemed a time writer, his interests
focus on British aviation
the end of one main summer season good excuse to feature both — and history. He has written for
and the start of another. Brands Hatch to remember our last flying ‘Mossie’, aviation magazines since
1983 and is currently
was famed for its very well-supported the hugely missed RR299. It was a researching the life of
Boxing Day meetings. Of course, it’s great pleasure to interview two fine aviator-designer John
Porte. Pete got the aero-bug as a six-year-old,
simply not possible to hold air displays gentlemen, former British Aerospace when his father took him to see two beached Saro
year-round in the UK. But these extra test pilots Tony Craig and John Sadler, Princess flying-boats at Calshot. His other interests
include music and walking.
bits of meaningful activity, outside the about their memories of flying the
regular May-to-September calendar, famous warbird. The recollections JOSÉ MATOS
are very welcome indeed. That goes for flowed freely, whether of saying no to José is an independent
researcher on military
any chance to see historic aeroplanes in the Chief of the Air Staff, potentially history in Portugal and has
proper action. scaring the horses at Chester races, or conducted research on the
operations of the
Indeed, it’s been a very good year many more. I hope you enjoy them, too. Portuguese Air Force in the
for the vintage end of Britain’s airshow colonial war, mainly in
Guinea. He is a regular
scene. The Historic Aircraft Collection’s Ben Dunnell contributor to European
magazines on military
aviation and naval subjects, and collaborated on
Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane, the Portuguese book The Air Force at the End of
founded by C. G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was the Empire (Ancora Editora, 2018). He worked with
relaunched as a monthly in 1973 by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25
Charles Barrett on their Guinea feature this month.
ESTABLISHED 1911 years until 1998.
4 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019
04_AM_Editorial_Dec19_cc C.indd 4 04/11/2019 10:57

COMING SOON!
1:72
MiG-17F
MiG-17F ‘FRESCO’
A03091
MIKOYAN-GUREVICH
MIG-17F ‘FRESCO’
(SHENYANG J-5)
The MiG-17 was designed to perform the
role of bomber killer and was never intended
as a dogfighter, however its exceptional
agility would allow this aircraft to score
combat victories over more modern American
designs. The Vietnam War proved to be
something of a sobering experience for the
US Air Force, as some of their most modern
aircraft would fall victim to the guns of the
MiG-17. An extremely cost-effective aircraft,
the rugged MiG-17 became the standard
Warsaw Pact fighter for a decade from the
mid-1950s with aircraft produced under
licence in both China and Poland.
MIKOYAN-GUREVICH MiG-17F ‘FRESCO’ (SHENYANG J-5)

Aircraft flown by Le Hai, 932rd Fighter Regiment, Vietnam
People’s Air Force, Tho Xuan, August 1969.
MIKOYAN-GUREVICH MiG-17F ‘FRESCO’

Gosudarstvenny Nauchno-Ispytatel’ny Krasnoznamenny Institut
Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1970s.
Length 155mm Width 134mm Pieces 84
Airfix.com
and all good retail stockists
Official Product
6881AX_AMW-fp-Ad-Mig_17_A03091.indd 1 24/09/2019 14:20

News NEWS EDITOR: TONY HARMSWORTH
E-MAIL TO: tony.harmsworth@keypublishing.com
TELEPHONE: +44 (0)7791 808044
WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
The hugely impressive DH9B replica after unveiling at

the Aviodrome at Lelystad on 10 October. VIA JEROEN FLOOR
DH9B replica
completed at Aviodrome
T
he centenary of Dutch of a replica of the first type flown engaged the Cradle of Aviation F2B. An example of the very
flag-carrier KLM was by the airline, an Airco DH9B. Museum in Long Island, New rare Puma engine could not be
celebrated at the The project was initiated by York to build the wings. The found, but measurements were
Aviodrome at Lelystad the Stichting Replicabouw de replica was originally intended taken from the 230hp unit fitted
on 10 October with the unveiling Havilland DH9/HW, which to be a military DH9, destined to the Aviodrome’s Fokker F.III,
for the National Military and an accurate facsimile Puma
Museum at Soesterberg, but was constructed in plastic using
SEVEN KILLED IN a change of plan saw the

Aviodrome acquiring the aircraft
a 3D printer.
The replica has been painted
COLLINGS B-17 TRAGEDY in late 2016. During January up as H-NABO, which started
T
2017 volunteer technicians at life as DH9 H9187, and was
he Collings Foundation’s Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, Lelystad began converted into
44-83575/N93012 Nine-O-Nine, was destroyed in an construction a three-seater
accident at Bradley International Airport in Windsor of the fuselage, A Siddeley Puma civil transport
Locks, Connecticut, on 2 October. Seven of the 13 with reference engine could not be by Handley
occupants were killed, including both the pilot and co-pilot. The to original DH9
bomber was engaged in a passenger-carrying flight as part of the drawings. In
found, but an accurate Page in the
summer of
foundation’s Wings of History Tour. the final phase facsimile was made on 1920, registered
According to a preliminary report by the National of construction, a 3D printer G-EAUO.
Transportation Safety Board, the B-17’s crew had requested a with the Delivered to
return to the airport shortly after take-off, reporting a “rough mag” unveiling Royal Dutch
on the number four engine. The report goes on, “Witness deadline looming, a total of 15 Airlines for the Netherlands
statements and airport surveillance video confirmed that the volunteers were working on the and Colonies on 25 May 1921, it
airplane struck approach lights about 1,000ft prior to the runway, aeroplane. Members of the team operated on the carrier’s London
then contacted the ground about 500ft prior to the runway also visited Duxford during the route until being damaged at
before reaching runway 6. It then veered right off the runway summer to examine the two Amsterdam in November 1922
before colliding with vehicles and a de-icing fluid tank about DH9s housed there. and subsequently written off.
1,100ft right of the center of the runway threshold. The wreckage Original parts on the aircraft Four DH9s were operated in
came to rest upright and the majority of the cabin, cockpit, and include the wheels, which were all, the last of the quartet being
right wing were consumed by post-impact fire.” located in Switzerland, and a retired during 1924. The type
See also our Hangar Talk column on page 27. Ben Dunnell propeller, which was fitted to a completed 450 flying hours in
Siddeley Puma-powered Bristol KLM service.
06-10,12-13_AM_News_Dec19_cc C.indd 6 04/11/2019 10:58

News December 2019
Spitfire IXT TE308 at

Oshkosh while under
the ownership of Bill
Greenwood. MIKE SHREEVE
Spitfire import for Biggin Hill

T
he former Irish Air Corps Supermarine Spitfire IXT under rebuild at Fort Collins, Colorado. Once it is airworthy
TE308/IAC 163 was sold by long-term owner Bill again, TE308 is expected to join the three other two-seaters —
Greenwood of Aspen, Colorado, in early October, and MkIXs MJ627 and MJ772, and MkVIII MT818 — used on the
will soon arrive at the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar for ride programme at Biggin Hill. One possible colour scheme
restoration. The two-seater hasn’t flown since being damaged under consideration for TE308 is a Royal Australian Air Force No
in a collision with Hawker Hurricane XII RCAF 5708/N96RW 457 ‘Grey Nurse’ Squadron shark’s mouth livery, as seen in the
on the ground at Galveston, Texas in April 2008, and had been Pacific theatre in 1945.
RAN TRACKER
MOVES TO HARS
Australia’s only airworthy Grumman S-2
Tracker, RAN 844/VH-NVX, made its first
flight for 10 years from HMAS Albatross at
Nowra, New South Wales to the Historic
Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) Aviation
Museum at Albion Park on 14 September.
It will now be operated by HARS following
the sale by tender of the entire, nine-strong
aircraft fleet of the Royal Australian Navy
(RAN) Historic Flight in February 2019.
HARS engineers spent several months
testing and preparing the former submarine-
hunter — one of 32 Trackers operated by the
Australians between 1967-84 — for the short
delivery flight, and will now look after the
S-2G as it embarks on the next phase of its
display flying career.
Tracker crew chief Terry Hetherington
says, “It is anticipated that the Tracker will
appear at most of the major airshows in
the coming years, including HARS’ own
Wings over Illawarra in May next year and
the Temora Aviation Museum’s Warbirds
Downunder event later in 2020. The RAAF
will be celebrating its centenary in 2021 and
it is expected that many of HARS’ fleet of The characterfully rotund S-2G Tracker RAN 844 makes a low pass at Albion Park before landing
ex-Australian Defence Force aircraft will be after the ferry flight from Nowra on 14 September. The anti-submarine aircraft had not flown for 10
participating in the centenary activities.” years until that day.

News December 2019
NEWS IN BRIEF
STAMPE GOES HOME
Former Belgian Air Force Stampe
SV-4B V-27/D-EIHD arrived at
Antwerp on 26 October after
spending many years based at
Aachen-Merzbrück, Germany.
Now registered OO-RAY to new
owner Raymond Cuypers, it
becomes the 15th airworthy
Stampe at Antwerp.
TROOPSHIP BACK TO
NETHERLANDS
Fokker C-31A Troopship serial
85-1608, recently retired from
use as a jump platform for the US
Army’s Golden Knights parachute
The very convincing Bristol F2B replica, ZK-PRK, following roll-out in the markings of Keith Park’s No 48
team, has been acquired by a
Squadron machine at Omaka on 25 October. GRAHAM ORPHAN
‘Brisfit’ tribute to Park

new group in the Netherlands,
the Stichting Vliegend
Nederlands Cultureel Erfgoed
(Flying Dutch Cultural Heritage
T
Foundation). The F27, a -400M
model, is scheduled to be flown he first of four Bristol Park — the future air officer had its Ranger engine run up
back to its birthplace in 2020. F2B Fighter replicas that commanding-in-chief of No 11 in preparation for a first flight.
were acquired from the Group, RAF, during the Battle A second Bristol is progressing
USA by Omaka, New of Britain — when he earned at Omaka for its owners, the
Zealand-based Graham Orphan the Military Cross while flying Classic Wings syndicate. The
emerged from the JEM Aviation with No 48 Squadron, RFC, in Bristol replica activity at Omaka
hangar there on 25 October. northern France in August 1917. is most appropriate, the first
It has been finished wearing Five days later, the aircraft — aircraft that ever landed at
the markings of a ‘Brisfit’, which is registered ZK-PRK, and Omaka aerodrome after its
VIA COLIN TYSON
serial C814, that was flown by was originally built for the film opening in 1928 having been
New Zealander ACM Sir Keith High Road to China in 1983 — an F2B.
Horsa in the Netherlands

TARRANT TOWER
DISPLAYED IN DORSET
Part of the RAF Tarrant
Rushton control tower, from
which the signal from the War
Office to start the D-Day The Shawbury-built Airspeed Horsa I replica that the first week of October. During September the
parachute assault was was recently donated to the Overloon War Museum huge troop-carrying glider had been displayed
transmitted to the waiting in the Netherlands (see News, Aeroplane October under a large awning at Oosterbeek as part of the
aircraft, was on display at the 2019) arrived at its new home in instalments during Arnhem 75th anniversary commemorations.
Great Dorset Steam Fair at the
end of August. It is owned by
the Smith family of Okeford
Fitzpaine, Dorset.
DUTCH B-25 AIRBORNE AGAIN

B-25N Mitchell PH-XXV of the
Royal Netherlands Air Force
Historic Flight made its first flight
for three years at Gilze-Rijen on
31 October. BEN DUNNELL
MOHAWK LOST IN FLORIDA

On 1 November, Grumman OV-1D
Mohawk 68-15958/N10VD
crashed during a rehearsal for
the Stuart Air Show in Florida, The lovingly created Airspeed
pilot Dr Joseph Masessa being Horsa replica after its arrival at
killed. BEN DUNNELL Overloon in early October.

News December 2019
Hunter F1 moves to Montrose

H
awker Hunter F1 The machine made its maiden
WT619 arrived at the flight first on 29 July 1954 and
Montrose Air Station is now one of the few surviving
Heritage Centre on 28 examples of the F1. Earlier this
October following donation from year the Montrose museum
the RAF Museum. The semi- signed a memorandum of
sectioned airframe spent many understanding with the RAFM
years on display at the Museum to establish a partnership to
of Science and Industry in foster the interests of both
Manchester, and more recently museums through collaborative
was tucked away in the RAF programmes and other shared
Museum store at Stafford. opportunities. Currently in the
This Hunter is an appropriate workshop at Montrose is Miles
arrival in Scotland, having been M2H Hawk Major G-ADMW/ The sectioned port side of Hunter F1 WT619, shortly after arrival at
based at RAF Leuchars with No DG590, which was donated by Montrose from Stafford on 28 October. Later that day it was fully
43 Squadron during the 1950s. the RAFM in February 2017. assembled. NEIL WERNINCK
Klaus Plasa tucks the

gear up quickly as
Flug Werk FW 190
D-FWAA gets airborne
in its new scheme at
Heringsdorf on 28
September. HUW HOPKINS
FW 190 RETURNS AT HERINGSDORF

The Air Fighter Academy/Hangar 10 Collection Flug Werk FW 190, D-FWAA, made its post-rebuild
display debut in the hands of Klaus Plasa at the Hangar 10 fly-in at Heringsdorf on the Baltic Sea island
of Usedom, Germany, on 28 September. The machine has been rebuilt in the MeierMotors workshop in
Bremgarten, south-west Germany following its ditching off Hyères, France, on 12 June 2010 after
experiencing engine failure during a display with the late Marc Mathis at the controls. The fighter now
wears the ‘Yellow 4’ markings of a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 flown by Jagdgeschwader 1 ‘Oesau’ while based
at Garz, also on Usedom, during early February 1945. More next month.
A-25A HEADING FOR

PENSACOLA MUSEUM
The National Museum of the US from Lower Otay Reservoir near
Air Force’s Curtiss A-25A Shrike, San Diego in August 2010.
42-80449, was transferred The A-25A was salvaged off
to the National Museum of Sand Point, Lake Washington
Naval Aviation at Pensacola, during 1986. Following
Florida, during October after restoration work by Mike Rawson
it was judged to be surplus to at Anoka County Airport,
collection needs. The Shrike Minneapolis using the outer
— the Army Air Forces’ non- wings and tail from a Helldiver
folding wings version of the recovered from a mountain
SB2C Helldiver — will be used crash site in Utah during 1999,
to progress the restoration it was roaded to the restoration
Part-restored Curtiss A-25A 42-80449 in the restoration hangar at the of Pensacola’s SB2C-4, BuNo hangars at Dayton, Ohio in 2008
National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton. NMUSAF 19866, which was recovered for completion as an A-25.

News December 2019
Corrigan’s Robin emerges

at Planes of Fame
take off heading west towards

Behr’s office building with all
that fuel on board. With fuel
tanks mounted at the front,
allowing vision only out of the
side windows, and a 20-year-
old compass in the cockpit, at
05.15hrs on 17 July Corrigan
took off, heading east before
disappearing into a cloud bank.
He later claimed to have only
noticed his ‘navigational error’ a
The totally original fuselage of ‘Wrong Way’ Corrigan’s Curtiss Robin in the Planes of Fame museum on 27 whopping 26 hours later.
October. The wings are currently stored there. INSET: The unmolested cockpit of the Robin, in which Corrigan Corrigan landed at Baldonnel
was confined for more than 28 hours during his chancy Atlantic crossing on 17 July 1938. FRANK B. MORMILLO
D
near Dublin after 28 hours 13
minutes in the air. After getting
ouglas ‘Wrong Way’ his transport pilot’s certificate though the ‘feds’ contacted out of the Robin he is said to
Corrigan’s famous in October 1929 started a the management at many have exclaimed, “Just got in from
Curtiss Robin, NX9243, passenger service between small Californian airfields to say New York. Where am I?” After
appeared in public towns on the east coast, also his Robin was not airworthy, professing to the authorities that
for the first time in more than giving ‘barnstormer’ displays. resulting in it being grounded he had lost his way in cloud due
30 years at Chino, California During 1933 he acquired the for six months. to a malfunctioning compass
on 27 October following its OX-5-powered Robin and began On 9 July 1938, Corrigan left they suspended Corrigan’s
acquisition by the Planes of Fame to modify it for long-distance California for Floyd Bennett licence, not believing a word
Air Museum. The 1929-built flying, installing extra fuel tanks Field, New York in the Robin, of his story. But even before
machine had been locked away and a replacement powerplant, which was now named Sunshine, returning to the USA with
in a garage in Santa Ana since built up from two old Wright having obtained permission for his crated aeroplane on the
being displayed at the California J-6-5 Whirlwind engines. a transcontinental flight. The steamship Manhattan, Corrigan
Air Fair at Hawthorne in south- During journey took had become an international
western Los Angeles County in 1935 Corrigan him 27 hours, celebrity, and was mobbed as
July 1988, when the 82-year-old approached The 1929-built the Curtiss he walked down the gangplank
Corrigan made his final public the Bureau of running low after arriving back in New York
appearance with the aeroplane Air Commerce
machine had been on fuel due on 4 August. He was honoured
during the 50th anniversary for permission locked away in a garage to a fuel leak with a ticker-tape parade down
celebration of his famous flight to make a in Santa Ana, California which filled the Broadway, and his licence was
across the Atlantic. non-stop flight since July 1988 cockpit with returned after a lenient, 14-day
During 1926, as a mechanic at from New York fumes. Corrigan suspension.
the Ryan Aeronautical Company to Ireland, the had conditional Corrigan became a staple of
in San Diego, Corrigan worked application being firmly rejected consent for the return trip west, popular culture, catching the
on Charles Lindbergh’s Ryan on the grounds that his aeroplane but during a commotion at Floyd imagination of the public as the
NYP Spirit of St Louis, being was unfit for such a flight. Bennett — due to the presence of Great Depression dragged on.
responsible for wing assembly Over the following two years Howard Hughes who was about He endorsed a series of ‘Wrong
and fuel tank and instrument Corrigan persisted with extensive to embark on a world tour — he Way’ products, including a watch
panel installation. Shortly modifications but continued to quickly logged a flight plan back that ran backwards, and was
before 07.50hrs on 20 May 1927, be refused authorisation, the to California with the airport referenced in the Three Stooges
Corrigan pulled the chocks away authorities now even judging manager. Having taken on 320 film Flat Foot Stooges. Corrigan
from the Ryan at Roosevelt Field, the Robin as too unstable and US gallons the previous day, went on to work as an airline
Long Island, as Lindbergh set out refusing renewal of its licence. Corrigan asked the manager, pilot in California. He retired in
on his epoch-making adventure. Corrigan is then thought to Kenneth P. Behr, which runway 1950 and moved to Santa Ana,
Corrigan resolved to emulate have hatched a plan to make to use. Behr told him to use any where he lived until passing away
Lindbergh, and after gaining an unofficial crossing, even runway just as long as he didn’t on 9 December 1995.

News December 2019
RCAF Hurricane for Calgary

Boundary Bay, British Columbia
— which was still being built
— for home defence duties
with Western Air Command.
Once runway construction was
completed, at 11.00hrs on 27
October RCAF 5389 became
the first Hurricane to officially
fly from the base, when Fg Off
F. H. Sproule got airborne on a
practice scramble.
In addition to the unit
flying coastal protection and
reconnaissance sorties to guard
against possible Japanese
attack, instrument training was
undertaken in the Harvards.
Every month five qualified
fighter pilots were scheduled
to be posted overseas, mainly
to the UK. The departing pilots
were then replaced by five new
graduates from service flying
training schools in Canada. On
14 July 1943, 5389 was damaged
ABOVE: One of the more impressive
in a landing accident, and a
road-running vistas, as the City of week later was loaded onto
Calgary’s Hurricane XII is carefully a ship for transportation to
moved from Wetaskiwin towards Vancouver for repairs. With the
Calgary Airport on 30 October. Hurricane now disappearing
VIA RICHARD DE BOER
from front-line duties, fixing
LEFT: The Packard Merlin 29 in 5389 wasn’t a priority and the
RCAF 5389 is run up after the roll- work wasn’t completed until
out at Wetaskiwin on 26 October.
RICHARD DE BOER
March 1944. It went into storage
at No 2 Reserved Equipment
Maintenance Unit at Moose Jaw,
at Wetaskiwin for the roll-out, Saskatchewan, and, with Curtiss
the two fighters representing P-40s having now replaced
half of the restored Hurricanes Hurricanes in RCAF fighter units,
currently extant in Canada. would most likely have ended up
S
Built by Canadian Car and being scrapped had the Japanese
Preservation Society in October Foundry at Fort William, not begun attacks with hydrogen
even years less one 2012, the work then being sub- Thunder Bay, 5389 was taken on balloons on the continental USA
day after it arrived at contracted to Byron Reynolds charge by the RCAF on 23 June in November 1944.
the Historic Aviation and his team at Wetaskiwin, 1942 and originally delivered The Fu-Go fire balloons,
Services workshops, whose previous restoration of to No 4 Training Command of armed with anti-personnel
Canadian Car and Foundry-built Hurricane XII RCAF 5418 to the British Commonwealth Air and incendiary devices, were
Hawker Hurricane XII RCAF flying condition culminated in Training Plan at Calgary. It was designed to start fires in forests
5389 was rolled out into the Byron firing up its Rolls-Royce soon allocated to No 133(F) and prairies in the USA and
autumn sunshine for engine Canada. Carried by the jetstream
runs at Wetaskiwin, Alberta at about 30,000ft across the
on 26 October. The following The Hurricane would most likely have ended Pacific, between 9,000 and
Wednesday, the former Royal up being scrapped had the Japanese not begun 10,000 of them were ultimately
Canadian Air Force machine launched from the home islands
began the journey to its final
attacks with hydrogen balloons on the USA of Japan. During January 1945
resting place in the Hangar a new, top-secret second line
Flight Museum, previously the Merlin 29 in June 1988. Although Squadron and, after arriving of defence — the government
Aero Space Museum, at Calgary restored to airworthy trim, 5418 at RCAF Lethbridge, Alberta, feared the balloons may be
Airport. did not fly, and is now displayed began its service career on 1 carrying biological weapons, so
Owned by the City of Calgary, in Canada’s Aviation Hall of July 1942 flying on general pilot total censorship was enforced
responsibility for the restoration Fame at the Reynolds-Alberta training. On 5 October 1942, 16 — was established by the RCAF,
of RCAF 5389 was entrusted to Museum in Wetaskiwin. 5418 Hurricanes and four Harvards giving several stored Hurricanes
the Calgary Mosquito Aircraft was positioned on the ramp from 133 were flown to RCAF a reprieve. On 12 March, 5389

News December 2019
Combat vet Hudson

was flown to No 8 Repair Depot
at Winnipeg and modified for
balloon interception duties:
upon going into storage the 12
joins Dangerous Skies

0.303in machine guns fitted
to the Hurricane XIIs and the
armour plating and radios were
removed, and to keep weight
to a minimum for high-altitude
balloon interceptions only one The Dangerous Skies World
machine gun and a radio were War II exhibition at the
refitted at Winnipeg before the Omaka Aviation Heritage
aircraft was despatched to No Centre near Blenheim, New
2 Air Command at Yorkton, Zealand, reopened at the end of
Saskatchewan, two days later. September following a revamp
5389 began anti-balloon patrol that has seen the world’s most
duties, although no contact was historic Lockheed Hudson,
made before its final mission, at NZ2049, going on display in a
21.55hrs on 8 June 1945. Pacific jungle crash tableau.
During August 1946 5389 was Operated by No 3 Squadron,
sold off, ending up on a farm Royal New Zealand Air Force,
in Regina, Saskatchewan, from Hudson IIIa NZ2049 was
where it was recovered in 1962 attacked by three Nakajima
by Lynn Garrison of No 403 E8N floatplanes while on its One of the world’s truly historic bombers, Hudson IIIa NZ2049, in the
Squadron, RCAF, and moved first patrol from Henderson new Pacific theatre crash scene tableau in the revamped Dangerous
to Calgary Airport. Garrison Field, Guadalcanal on 24 Skies display at Omaka. GRAHAM ORPHAN
also saved Avro Lancaster X November 1942, becoming
FM136, which is now on display the first RNZAF aircraft to
at the Hangar Flight Museum. encounter the enemy in air-to- the Boulton Paul turret out of The battle-scarred machine
Following several moves around air combat during the South action. Gudsell clambered up continued to serve with No
Alberta and Saskatchewan, Pacific campaign. The pilot, Fg into the astrodome to direct 3 Squadron and then with
5389 was acquired by the Off George Gudsell, descended operations while the second Nos 2 and 9 Squadrons in the
City of Calgary in 1972, and to wave-top height to escape pilot, Roy McKechnie, flew the bomber/reconnaissance role.
following storage at the Calgary the pursuing Imperial Japanese Hudson. Gudsell kept watch It later flew as a transport with
Centennial Planetarium was Navy aircraft, which continued on the three attackers, calling Nos 40 and 41 Squadrons.
moved to the Aero Space to attack the Hudson with their out to McKechnie which way After storage at RNZAF Base
Museum in 1988. twin 7.7mm machine guns to turn as each attack came in. Woodbourne post-war it was
Richard de Boer from the for about 20 minutes until The action lasted a scary total sold for scrap, but was saved
Calgary Mosquito Aircraft they broke off and headed for of 17 minutes, during which by collector John Smith of
Preservation Society says, “The home. After landing, half a one bullet passed through the Mapua in 1969 and stored until
engine in 5389 is a Packard- dozen bullet holes were found astrodome hatch, into the cabin he sold it to current owner Bill
built Merlin 29. We actually in NZ2049. and out of the second pilot’s Reid in 2007. The Hudson’s
have the original engine, which Just three days later Gudsell windscreen. There is still a small airframe still exhibits several
was another 29, but decided and his crew were again on riveted repair patch on the sets of wartime markings and
to install a replacement as it patrol in NZ2049 when they front coaming of the astrodome its original paint.
is essentially ‘new/old stock’, spotted a Japanese naval task where a bullet went through, Another new diorama at
never having been installed force. As the radio operator was and another towards the top of Omaka features a Nord 1002
in an aeroplane. It had factory reporting the position of the the door post into the cockpit. (Messerschmitt Bf 108), c/n
test time only on it. We did a ships, Gudsell decided to take Following these two actions, 285, which was owned and
top overhaul on the heads and the Hudson in for a closer look, George Gudsell was awarded flown by 28-kill Luftwaffe
banks, and sent the carb, pumps when three Mitsubishi A6M the US Air Medal, becoming the fighter ace Franz Stigler from
and mags out for overhaul, Zero-Sens came out of the sun. first New Zealander to be given Vancouver between 1983-99 as
which will make it safe and During their first pass they put a medal during the Pacific War. C-GRIT.
serviceable for ground running.”
HFF DEBUTS NEW MUSEUM

The Historic Flight Foundation’s new 20,000-square aircraft on loan to the HFF at Spokane are the world’s
foot display hangar at Felts Field in Spokane, only surviving Hamilton Metalplane, N879H, owned
Washington was inaugurated on 18 October with a by Pole Pass Airways, and Addison Pemberton’s
gala dinner, following a recent move from the HFF’s former Fleet Air Arm Grumman JRF-6 Goose, FP511/
previous home at Paine Field, Seattle. Started by John N95467. Sessions, who is originally from Spokane,
The Pole Pass Hamilton Metalplane at left, and T. Sessions in 2003, the HFF collection includes says, “This project was hatched about three years
on the right the 1941 Boeing-Stearman A75N1
Douglas DC-3 N877MG, which came to Europe for the ago. It pleases me to bring such a project to an
Kaydet, N940V, which was recently restored
by Larry Tobin for the HFF. One of the most D-Day commemorations in the early summer, Spitfire appreciative community, and my home town. The
original examples in the world, it was a single- IX SL633/N633VS, and the ex-Fighter Collection support has been terrific”. The new museum opens to
owner aeroplane from 1945-2005. HFF B-25D Mitchell 43-3318/N88972 Grumpy. Among the the public on 17 December.

The magazine for all scale modellers
Find the perfect gift

We have an amazing
range of subscriptions
A tribute to our fighting past and stocking fillers
for lovers of all-things
aviation.
Christmas all wrapped up!
*£5 gift
The Heart of Aviation Heritage voucher when
you subscribe
* Redeemable on shop
purchases of £20+
TWO EASY WAYS TO ORDER

ORDER ONLINE CALL US NOW
www.aeroplanemonthly.com/xmas19 UK 01780 480404

Credit and debit card payments will show as Key Publishing. Key Publishing
Customer code: AM021219 will hold your details in order to process and service your subscription only.
720 AM Christmas19 DPS.indd 14 31/10/2019 09:31

Treat your friends
and family to a
gift subscription...
The perfect gift idea!
Affordable, no fuss
easy ordering.
From
£39.99
Subscriber offers, events
and discounts
bit
Annual Direct De
Delivered direct + postage free
...and we’ll send you a free gift card Save up to
33%!
A little something to let them know their
subscription is on its way.
Digital editions
available Visit
FREE
*Gift cards/E-gift cards are available with all
subscriptions. Gift subscriptions will start with the first
issue after Christmas, so we won’t spoil any surprises!
subscriber
access
720/19
Overseas +44 1780 480404

Readers in the USA may place orders by telephone toll-free 757-428-8180 or by writing to
Aeroplane, International Media Service, PO Box 866, Virginia Beach 23451.
Alternatively, order online at www.imsnews.com/aeroplane quoting/entering AM1219 Your Aviation Destination
720 AM Christmas19 DPS.indd 15 31/10/2019 09:32
WORKSHOP
Lady of the Lake
In a workshop in western Sweden, one of the country’s most

ambitious aircraft restoration projects, a Heinkel He 111H-3,
is gradually taking shape WORDS: JAN FORSGREN
I
ABOVE: n August 2008, the wreck of a Forening’s (Nord-Østerdal Aircraft landed in Lake Sitasjaure on
He 111H-3 Heinkel He 111H-3 was recovered and Military Historical Society) 15 May 1940 after having been
Werknummer 6830 from the shore of Lake Sitasjaure, Museum at Tolga, Norway. The damaged over Narvik by Fleet
in the Falkenberg
in the far north of Sweden. purpose of the FLC is to document Air Arm Blackburn Skuas of 800
workshop this
summer. It is planned The sole survivor of this variant, the nearly 350 foreign aircraft which, Squadron. The restoration will
to start fitting the Werknummer 6830 has since been for various reasons, arrived in ultimately result in a complete
outer sheet metal under restoration at Falkenberg, neutral Sweden during the Second He 111H-3. Only four other
later this year. Sweden, by the volunteer-run World War. The He 111H-3 is one of complete, German-built He 111s
ALL PHOTOS VIA Forced Landing Collection (FLC), very few to have survived. survive: an He 111E-3 in the Museo
BENGT HERMANSSON/FORCED
LANDING COLLECTION in co-operation with the Nord- Coded 1H+DN while in service del Aire at Cuatro Vientos, Spain, an
Østerdal Fly- og Militaerhistorisk with 5./KG 26, the He 111 force- He 111P-1 in Norway’s Forsvarets
16-19_AM_Workshop_Dec19_cc C.indd 16 01/11/2019 10:02

flysamling at Gardermoen, a late-
production He 111H-22 with the
RAF Museum London at Hendon,
and an He 111H-2 recovered from
a Norwegian lake and stored by the
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin.
Back in 2002, Swedish enthusiasts
Bengt Hermansson and Nicklas
Östergren recovered small parts
of an He 111. The H-3 model —
Werknummer 7155, 1H+HK of
2./KG 26 — had crashed into the
Hundskampen mountain on 9
November 1942. The pilot, Fw
Anton Günther, died, with the rest
of the crew sustaining injuries. The
Jumo engines were taken away
by the Germans as sabotage was
suspected. The rest of the wreck
was left in situ. Post-war, the He 111
was sold to a scrap dealer at Hamar.
The wreck was largely recovered,
although for some reason small
pieces of the nose were left behind.
The recovery of the few remaining

parts was made with the permission
of the Norwegian authorities.
The idea was to assemble them
into a nose section for display at
Hermansson’s small museum at
Lake Grövelsjön. Although many
bits were missing, particularly
from the lower sections, the nose
was successfully put together in whose relatives still own it. They are agreed to attempt to rebuild the ABOVE:
Hermansson’s garden. The idea then reluctant to sell the remains, which Heinkel parts at their workshop This photo of the
arose of attempting to reconstruct a today consist of a stripped centre outside Falkenberg. He 111 at Sitasjaure
was taken some time
complete nose section. section. During the late 1970s, Just over a year later, the bent in the 1960s, when
The missing parts came from the Norwegian Forsvarsmuseet components had been transformed the starboard engine
He 111H-3 Werknummer 5607, managed to obtain some parts for into a structurally complete He 111 was still in situ.
1H+CK of 2./KG 26, which on 2 June use in the restoration of He 111P nose. Viewing the excellent results,
1940 ditched into Lake Grövelsjön 5J+CN. Other elements, including the idea of trying to find additional
on the Norwegian-Swedish border. the nose section, had been spirited He 111 parts was discussed at
The bomber had been damaged by away by various individuals. length. Where could further wrecks
RAF fighters, and came down on Following negotiations, the nose be found? Norway and Russia were
the Norwegian side of the lake. The was obtained by Bengt Hermansson. suggested as potential sources, but
crew survived and was recovered by He contacted Ingvar Johansson and the answer was in northern Sweden.
a Luftwaffe He 115B-1 floatplane, Sune Andersson, both of whom Following the German invasion
S4+LK, the following day. The had worked wonders in recovering of Denmark and Norway on
He 111 wreck became a source of and restoring parts of 354th Fighter 9 April 1940, the numerically
materials for people from both sides Group P-51B Mustang 43-12126 inferior Norwegian army retreated
of the frontier. which crashed at Skummeslöv, northwards to continue the fight.
On 18 September 1947, the He 111 southern Sweden, on 15 April 1944. Within a couple of weeks, the
was bought by a private individual, Both Johansson and Andersson hard-pressed Norwegians were
reinforced by British and French
forces.
The Luftwaffe units included
Kampfgeschwader 26, which during
the early stages of the campaign
was based at Stavanger-Sola.
However, due to the range involved,
the bombers had to be redeployed LEFT:
further north. The Norwegian The only known
photo of 1H+DN
military airfield at Værnes near
shortly after the
Trondheim had been captured on 9 belly landing on Lake
April, but was unusable due to wet Sitasjaure on 15 May
and muddy runways. Instead, the 1940.

WORKSHOP Swedish He 111
ABOVE: He 111s of KG 26 were temporarily Harstad. After just a few minutes operator Uffz Helmut Benninghof
The Heinkel’s heavy based at Lake Jonsvattnet. However, in the air, the Skua crews observed and flight engineer Uffz Werner
centre section by 17 April, the thawing ice four He 111s in loose formation Wamser escaped uninjured, though
flies for one last
rendered Jonsvattnet unsafe for over Lake Hartigvann. The Luftwaffe their aircraft was badly damaged.
time under a Royal
Norwegian Air Force further operations. No fewer than bombers were attacking Bjerkvik, The inhospitable terrain in the
Sea King on 14 200 Norwegian carpenters were where Allied forces had landed two border area between Norway and
August 2008. enrolled to construct a wooden, days earlier. Sweden, seemingly stretching to
planked runway at Værnes. infinity, did not appear to offer
TOP RIGHT: By early May, there was heavy many chances for a successful
The restored nose
fighting around the strategically Upon spotting the quartet of forced landing. Ahead, though, was
section during late
2008, with Sune important town of Narvik. Luftwaffe Heinkels, the Skua crews attacked. Lake Sitasjaure, about a kilometre
Andersson and bombers attacked Allied forces at The Luftwaffe bombers tightened inside Sweden, where the icy surface
Bengt Hermansson Narvik, through which Swedish formation and climbed towards had begun to thaw. Blume executed
in the cockpit. iron ore — vital for the German the cloud cover. It seemed as if the a textbook belly landing close to
war machine — was shipped to Heinkels deposited their bombs the shore, the crew exiting through
ABOVE RIGHT:
Germany. During the morning of into the sea while flying on a the right-hand escape hatch in the
All the frames and
stringers have been 15 May, six He 111s of KG 26 took southerly course. Several minutes nose. They walked westwards back
repaired from the off from Værnes, the target being later, a solitary He 111H, 1H+DN, into Norway towards Skjomen,
original parts. Allied shipping in Narvik harbour. appeared, dropping its bombs where they had seen a few houses.
Four were intercepted by three on ships in Narvik harbour. The However, they were captured by
Fleet Air Arm Skuas belonging Skuas attacked the He 111 over Polish soldiers, and sent to Canada
to Red Section of 800 Squadron, the Herjangsfjorden. The German as prisoners of war.
launched from HMS Ark Royal to crew of pilot Uffz Siegfried Blume, The wreck was discovered by the
protect shipping at Tjeldsund and observer Fw Karl Grube, radio Swedish authorities on 22 May and

examined, several bullet holes being there drove 70km towards Narvik on is not correct, Werknummer
observed. Due to the inaccessibility a narrow, twisting road. The car was 2501 being an He 111P-1 built at
of the crash site, the wreck was left parked on the Norwegian side of the Rostock-Marienehe by Heinkel. The
at Sitasjaure. Soon afterwards, the border, and the team trekked from Sitasjaure Heinkel is an H-3 sub-
Heinkel was dragged onto the shore there to the wreck. variant, Werknummer 6830, built at
and left to the elements. Through The arduous task of dismantling Oranienburg. It is possible that the
the years, ‘souvenir hunters’ slowly the remains of the He 111 began on wing was intended for an He 111P‑1,
stripped the He 111. 11 August. Hundreds of rivets were but fitted on the production line
During 1977 the Heinkel, along removed in order to separate the to an H-3. Both the P-1 and H-3
with the wrecks of a Junkers Ju 88 fuselage from the bomb bay area. were built simultaneously for brief
and a Messerschmitt Bf 110D-0 in The tail section was said to remain periods. It is also conceivable that
northern Swedish Lapland, was in the lake some 60m offshore, but it the Heinkel was modified in the
claimed by a serving police officer at could not be located. Many smaller field, exchanging its DB601 engines
Kiruna, Roine Nordström, according parts, including one radiator, sat for Jumo 211s. The aluminium steel
to the law relating to lost property. beneath the main section of the plating shows signs of having been
Nordström intended to recover all wreckage. repaired while the aircraft was in
three aircraft, for the purpose of At noon on 14 August 2008, Sea Luftwaffe service. Incidentally, both
offering them to a Swedish aviation King serial 189 arrived over Lake Jumo 211D-1s had previously been
museum. Sadly, Swedish interest Sitasjaure. It took three flights recovered from the crash site. One
was non-existent, which resulted to carry the parts to the road on has since been obtained for the
in both the Ju 88 and Bf 110 being the Norwegian side, where they project, the second being owned by
sold to Germany. The He 111 was were loaded onto a trailer for a German enthusiast.
deemed beyond rescue and thus of transportation to Falkenberg. The As of now, says Bengt
no interest. Swedish Tourist Board initially Hermansson, “work is
Bengt Hermansson contacted opposed the plans to recover the concentrating on various detail
Nordström in 2005 regarding wreck, saying it was a popular components of the interior. Some
the possibility of recovering the tourist site. However, the starboard of these components have to be
Heinkel. By this time, ownership of wing was left in situ, thus ensuring manufactured. It is hoped to start
the wreck had been transferred by that at least part of the Heinkel will attaching the fuselage outer skin
Nordström to Swedish enthusiast remain on the side of the lake. panels in late 2019.”
Magnus With When completed, it is intended to
Löwenstein, who
was more than Work is everything
loaded and
display the He 111H-3 in a full-scale
diorama, showing the Luftwaffe
happy to donate
the He 111 to the
focusing on detail secured, the
team headed
bomber soon after its forced
landing. The FLC team is on the
FLC. However, components of the for Bodø, where look-out for contemporary drawings
the recovery had Birger Larsen and technical information to assist
to be approved interior. It is hoped from the aviation in the completion of what counts
by the Swedish
provincial
to start attaching the museum had
promised further
as one of Sweden’s most ambitious
historic aircraft restoration
authorities. outer skin panels in He 111 items. projects to date.
BELOW:
Following Among those
a year-long late 2019 were a complete ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Work on the engine
is well advanced,
investigation, Jumo 211D-1 Thanks to Bengt Hermansson and
a splendid job by
they saw no problem with it going engine, rudders, flaps, tyres and Niclas Östergren of the Forced Gunnemar and Ulf
ahead. two pallets of small components. Landing Collection — Christersson at
In the autumn of 2005, the wreck There was no room for the starboard www.forcedlandingcollection.se Torstorp.
was visited for close inspection. wing, in better condition than the
Formal planning of the operation one left at Sitasjaure, but this will be
began in 2006, which included collected at a later date.
contacting the Royal Norwegian Upon arrival at Falkenberg on
Air Force for the use of a Westland Sweden’s west coast, work to clean
Sea King helicopter from 330 and log the parts was initiated prior
Skvadron in lifting the wreck to a to the start of restoration. The nose
suitable location. The Norwegian was fitted to the fuselage centre
Forsvarsmuseet and the aviation section and they went together
museum at Bodø provided great nicely, only the upper fitting being
assistance in securing a Sea King. out of alignment by just 8mm.
Initially, the recovery team was Work is under way to fit out a
to consist of up to 10 people. That complete cockpit, an instrument
number soon dwindled to three: panel having been built by Horst
Swedes Bengt Hermansson and Rienecker of Hanover. The KG 26
Sune Andersson, and Norwegian emblem has been painted on
Thor-Peder Broen. Special tooling the nose, and the bomb bay area
needed to dismantle the bomber is receiving attention. On the
was collected from Bodø on 9 main spar, the number 2501 was
August 2008. The team left for the painted. This has been reported
Ballangen holiday camp, and from as the Werknummer, but this

Skywriters
In association with…

E-MAIL TO: aeroplane@keypublishing.com,
putting ‘Skywriters’ in the header
In every issue, the writer of our Letter of the Month wins a £25 book voucher to spend with leading military and transport publisher Crécy.
Knowing the score LETTER

I read with interest the item in the of the
September issue by François Prins
MONTH
regarding the score for the film Battle
of Britain.. I was aware of the situation
regarding Sir William Walton’s music being
seriously reduced, but it was not until I
considered the contents of a chapter in the
book Battle of Britain: The Movie by Robert
Rudhall, which was based on an interview
with Ron Goodwin, that I became aware
of the shenanigans that ensued once Sir
Laurence Olivier began his remonstrations.
Apparently, Ron Goodwin had written a
piece of music to accompany the section of
dogfights which occurs towards the end of A period performance of part of the Battle of Britain score.
the film, as had William Walton (Battle in
the Air). “However, the producers were very
crafty”, remembered Goodwin, “because watching the film with either the Goodwin the EMI Production Music Library,
they suggested that Walton’s music could be or the Walton soundtracks throughout. which can be found online, there are a
slotted in without any problems. ‘Why don’t But there still remains a conundrum number of pieces previously written by
we listen to your music for that section regarding the Battle of Britain soundtrack. Goodwin which have never been issued
of the film and then listen to Walton’s If Ron Goodwin wrote music that failed commercially. On KPM 399 can be found
and decide which one we like the best?’ to replace Walton’s Battle in the Air, what a track called Victory Parade, described
[producer] Harry Saltzman said to me. It became of it? I have a theory. Readers will as a stirring patriotic march. Elements of
was all a bit of a joke really because it was no doubt recall the flypast over London on it were used in Ron’s September 15 1940
obvious which one they were going to pick.” 15 September 1990 that marked the 50th which begins with a subdued start, leading
However, it wasn’t until the press show anniversary of the Battle of Britain, but to the stirring patriotic section from Victory
on 15 September 1969 that Ron Goodwin not all will remember that Goodwin was Parade. I have played the piece issued
discovered that Walton’s Battle in the Air commissioned to compose music which on CD against the film and found some
had been used. “To make matters worse, could be played afterwards while the cues quite acceptable, and remarkable
after the press show, someone at United Queen inspected RAF personnel parading considering the time the composer had to
Artists dubbed in several bars of William outside Buckingham Palace. The piece is complete his commission. I must conclude
Walton’s end theme as the closing credits entitled September 15 1940, and to date that he used part of this previously
were rolling on the screen, then it faded out only one recording exists, played by the composed piece in order to meet his
and my theme was faded in.” Band of the Parachute Regiment on its CD, deadline.
To date three versions of the film, with Those Magnificent Men. The recording is of As speed was essential, adaptation
alternative end title music, have been comparable length to Battle in the Air, and was also necessary; consider the track
issued on VHS and DVD: one as described it is my contention that this is the piece Work and Play, which is first heard in the
above, another with the whole of Walton’s which was deselected by the producers of background as the Luftwaffe fighter pilots
end theme complete, and the third with the film. gather in happy mood just before two
Goodwin’s. To hear both the reader is As we are aware, Goodwin was given of their number are sent to Wissant. The
referred to the deluxe edition of the film just three weeks to produce an entire main section of the accompanying piece
soundtrack on CD Rykodisc RCD 10747, score, most of which, he records, was is Luftwaffe March carefully transposed in
while some recent editions of Battle of spent composing Luftwaffe March for the slower time.
Britain issued on DVD provide a choice of opening credit sequence. By interrogating Tony Beard
Last of the Devons? a listening station at Portpatrick — the

From 1995 to 1999 I was part of the Ministry range was in the Irish Sea and we used it
of Defence procurement team tasked with to test all types of sonobuoy. We used DH
buying the new Nimrod MRA4 — a disaster Devon XM223 to drop the buoys through
not of our making, I hasten to add — and a specially fitted pair of chutes, although
part of my responsibilities was the purchase there may have been an earlier example
Devon XM223 post-retirement, in the hands of of sonobuoys for the existing Nimrod fleet prior to ’223 being allocated for our use. This
Air Atlantique at Coventry during 2000. and the Royal Navy. The process involved was certainly ongoing in 1996 and possibly
ADRIAN M. BALCH a test facility based at West Freugh and into 1997, as I was able to enjoy a flight in
20-21_AM_Skywriters_Dec19_cc C.indd 20 01/11/2019 10:03

it which culminated in the buzzing of our
listening station.
The Devon had at least two zero-hours
spare engines and sufficient spares, but was
deemed to require a re-spar, so was replaced
by a surplus ex-RN Jetstream with Astazou
engines. This particular airframe was not as
reliable as the Devon and we tried to replace
it with another of the many surplus RN
examples, but by this time West Freugh had
been privatised as DERA — or ‘Dearer’, as we
called it — and it wanted too much money
for what were worthless aircraft as they did
not meet civil regulations and the cost of
upgrades was more than their market value.
As a result, after 1999 we moved the facility
further north and used helicopters. Since the
withdrawal of the Nimrod fleet the number
of buoys requiring testing has plummeted,
so I do not know the current status. However, The long and the Short of it
given that XM223 was still in use into 1997, As a fan of early naval aviation, I very much referred to by the number allocated to the
does this make it the last Dove flown by the enjoyed the Cuxhaven raid feature in the first aircraft produced. This, however, was
military/MoD? It was certainly well-liked and October issue. With regard to the aircraft not always the case! Incidentally, the two
preferred over its successor. featured in the middle photograph on men sitting on the floats are there to act as
As a postscript, the current series of Grand page 35, the readers may be interested ballast, once the aircraft is hoisted clear of
Designs on Channel 4 featured a couple in some further details of this particular the water.
building a cliff-top house on the site of our machine. The image in question does in 136 had a long (for the time) and
old sonobuoy listening station. I would have fact depict Short 136, seemingly identical incident-filled career. Following
kept the tower to improve the mobile signal, to 135 but a slightly larger machine, its Cuxhaven exploits, it was embarked
though. both in wingspan and fuselage length, on Ark Royal in early 1915 and employed
Keith Hazell, Old Basing and identifiable by virtue of its double-row throughout the Dardanelles campaign. She
14-cylinder Salmson Canton-Unne engine. was declared worn-out and dismantled
Sound advice Regarding the mention in the text of a in June 1916. The accompanying photo
Having read your article on the film The War coincidence as to the numbering of 135 shows my grandfather sitting in front of the
Lover, it took me back to a memorable day and 136, this was due to the Admiralty old warrior.
I had at Bovingdon. My late father was the custom of the time whereby types were Peter Cowlan, Ottery St Mary, Devon
sound editor on the film and he took his
10-year-old son, me, to Bovingdon where
they were recording post-production sound a taxi ride along the runway. My father also UK, Aviation Heritage UK understands the
effects. During the day they were operating told me that John Crewdson offered to ditch financial and other pressures under which
one of the B-17s for sound recording and he one of the B-17s in the English Channel, but even large state-funded organisations like
was obliged to fly in it. He was very aware the offer was declined. the Science Museum Group operate, and
that it was a tired aircraft. Apparently the The icing on the cake was that, following appreciates that the reasons behind the
recording went well until they were required completion of the film, my father arrived decisions which they have to make regarding
to record an effect of the engines backfiring. home with a 3ft-wingspan model B-17 that the futures of particular exhibits can be far
At this point my father decided it sounded a was used for some of the mass formation more complex than they might appear on the
bit risky, so they landed. With me on board, shots. I still have it. surface.
the engines were run at high revs and a Neil Lancaster Our over-riding concern in all these
member of the groundcrew banged the cases is to try to ensure that any historic
belly access door to simulate the backfiring National assets aircraft or other exhibits which are, or could
engines. I guess this worked. Not only did I As the body which represents the interests be, affected by these decisions are found
sit in it on several occasions, but I also had of all of the aircraft collections across the appropriate new homes, and that none of
them is lost to the nation.
The financial and logistical challenges in
One of Neil Lancaster’s shots of low- finding secure, long-term and appropriate
level B-17 flying during the making of homes, especially for large aeroplanes, are
The War Lover.
immense, and we are currently pursuing
some initiatives with government and others
aimed at establishing a safer environment
and a national policy for these hugely
important assets.
Dr Robert Pleming, chairman,
Aviation Heritage UK
The editor reserves the right to edit all

letters. Please include your full name and
address in correspondence.
20-21_AM_Skywriters_Dec19_cc C.indd 21 01/11/2019 10:03

Q&A COMPILER: BARRY WHEELER
E-MAIL TO: aeroplane@keypublishing.com,
putting ‘Q&A’ in the header
Are you seeking the answer to a thorny aviation question, or trying to trace an old aviation friend? Our ‘questions and answers’ page might help
THIS MONTH’S QUESTIONS
View from the terrace

Q Geoff Dobson came across this
undated photograph he took from the
Queen’s Building at London Heathrow and
would like to know if the melee at the foot
of the stairs was an extreme case of
‘overbooking’ or the arrival of a notable Washington WF561 served with Nos 207 and 44
personality. As a time guide, British Squadrons and displays the over-large serial.
European Airways’ Vanguard G-APEL was
delivered in October 1961, the colour
scheme was introduced in the mid-1960s Washington serials
An interested crowd around BEA Vanguard

G-APEL at London Airport, but when?
and the aircraft was converted to
Merchantman standard in October 1970.
Any ideas on the event would be welcome.
Q Further to Brendan Cowan’s question
on Boeing B-29 Washington deliveries
in the November issue, Charles Harding was
prompted to ask why some, if not the
majority of, Washingtons with RAF Bomber
Racing Siskin information racing MkIV seem almost non-existent. It Command received over-large serials
Q Lynn Williams is researching details

on the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin IV
G-EBLL which came second in the 1925
appears the aircraft was withdrawn from
use in 1926 and cancelled from the register
on 1 January 1927, possibly being sold
displayed across the fin? Bruce Robertson
notes this unusual application in his book
Aircraft Camouflage and Markings 1907-
King’s Cup. He says, “While photographs of abroad, but where?” Lynn is interested in 1954, remarking that the standard 8in-deep
the parallel-strutted MkII and MkV are whether it incorporated the fin and serials were retained on the rear fuselage, but
quite common, together with the V-strutted under-fin/skid fairing of the early marks, or he gives no reason why it was repeated in
MkIII and IIIa flown by the RAF and RCAF, whether it had the simpler tailskid and such a prominent way. Does anyone have the
pictures of the short-spanned civilian enlarged fin and rudder of the MkV. answer?
THIS MONTH’S ANSWERS

Post-war airlines
Q In the August issue, Christopher Vella
requested details on Airspeed Consuls
given G-AELO’s colour of a blue-tinted
silver overall, with fuselage lettering and
stripe in silver and thus barely visible, the
A Former Vulcan captain Bill Turnill
recalls with fondness his time as a
co-pilot on No 543 Squadron flying Valiants
operated by Air Malta in 1947. Consul’s top and outer wings could, from 1959 to 1961. He made two trips to
A Mark Miller has sent a photo of Consul

G-AIKS taken at Luqa on 8 April 1950.
It was taken by Alan Wells who, with Ron
coincidentally, be the same silvery-blue.
The fuselage sides and starboard engine
nacelle appear a metallic-looking blue.
Salisbury, the first with Sqn Ldr Bill Davies,
arriving on 12 September 1959 and
departing on the 14th, staging back to the
Mitchell, had hired DH Hornet Moth UK through Nairobi and El Adem. He says,
G-AELO — one of Mark’s current mounts ‘V-bombers’ in “My second trip was on 17-19 December
— from Wg Cdr ‘Titch’ Holmes at Croydon Southern Rhodesia 1960 with Flt Lt Gordon Harper who later
for a flight round the Mediterranean via
France and Corsica into North Africa. They
returned via Malta where they parked near
Q In the October issue, David Russell
returned to an earlier query regarding
‘V-bomber’ deployments to Southern
became squadron commander of 543 when
it had converted to Victors. He was a great
one for ‘Lone Rangers’ and I saw much of
one of the Consuls. Mark suggests that Rhodesia in the 1958-63 period. the world thanks to his enthusiasm. As a
photo-recce squadron, we were armed with
nothing more harmful than photo-flashes
for practice night photography. I agree with
the former ‘V-bomber’ crew member that it
was highly unlikely nuclear weapons would
have been carried abroad, especially on
‘Lone Rangers’, and the ‘V-bomber’ force
was probably confined to the more boring
‘Rangers’ to Goose Bay and Cyprus, while
543 went to more exotic places, such as
Air Malta Consul G-AIKS on the left of Hornet Moth G-AELO at Luqa in April 1950. ALAN WELLS Thailand and Malaya.”
22_AM_Q&A_Dec19_cc C.indd 22 31/10/2019 15:13

Christmas Gift Guide
2 Goodramgate
York - YO1 7LQ
01904 659423 Unforgettable
experiences!
Established 1963 info@monkbarmodelshop.co.uk
Diecast and Plastic Kit Planes

Diecast Vehicles - Plastic Figures - Model Railways - Scalextric - Jigsaws
New Visit us in York

Only 2 minutes walk from Vintage
York Minster
Tiger Moth
Open Monday - Saturday
9am - 5.30pm
flights...
AA28601 Bristol Beaufighter TF.X
Stockists of Corgi, Hobbymaster, Oxford Diecast, Aviation 72, Atlas, Easy Model,
Airfix, Tamiya, Revell, Italeri, Wingnut Wings, Academy, Zvesda and many more
monkbarmodelshop.co.uk
...and aerobatics
HOUR
F I N EX PSE T
RIENC
ES
E
R
C H E
V O U
G I F T
Gift vouchers available for:

Tiger Moth lessons • Aerobatic Experiences
Tiger Moth Themed Tours:
Midsomer Murders • Inspector Morse
The Cotswolds • Ancient England • English Civil War
Railway Tour • Aviation Heritage
www.finesthourexperiences.co.uk
info@finesthourexperiences.co.uk
FINEST HOUR
07415 735683 EXPERIENCES
Enter Code: HOBFLYPAST for 10% Discount off Model Aircraft Kits
Stockists of hundreds of scale Model Aircraft Kits

The perfect Christmas gift for any aviation enthusiast
Balsa wood aircraft kits
which can be made to fly.
Highly detailed wood &

metal display aircraft kits.
Accessories, tools, paints

& so much more.
We Stock Plastic Aircraft Kits from Leading Brands such as:
Shop online: www.alwayshobbies.com - Call on: 01508 549330

THE
AIR FORCE FRIEND OR FOE
SHOP LEGENDS
Officially Licensed Royal Air Force Gifts OF THE AIR
Our hand finished timepieces
pay tribute to the superb
Supermarine Spitfire and
Hawker Hurricane, beautifully
styled in Australian Jarrah
timber with zebrawood
highlights. Each comes
in its own bamboo
presentation box.
£79
SPECIAL OFFER!
2 £120
FOR
each
Friend or foe aviation themed timepieces created from

the world's finest timbers. Where traditional wood
working skills meets contemporary design.
www.theairforceshop.co.uk www.friendorfoewatches.co.uk
t: 01279 833215 Wholesale enquiries welcome Free UK postage
JU
ST
B R A V O D E LTA M O D E L S LA
THE WORLD’S FINEST HAND CARVED MAHOGANY MODELS
ND
ED
BD226cc BD243CCAUS BD245cc

Seafire Curtis Kitty Hawk Hurricane Bomber
BD189 BD223 BD149b

ME109 “Adolf Galland” Eurofighter Seaking Junglie
www.bravodeltamodels.com | +44 (0) 1884861011 | aircraft@bravodeltamodels.com

Treat yourself...
or friends and family
this Christmas!
Save 33% and
claim your
FREE GIFT
from
£39.99 LEGENDARY AIRCRAFT DVD BUNDLE
it
Annual Direct Deb Featuring three of our best-selling DVDs – B-29 Superfortress, Warbird Air Racing and Royal
Save 30%!
Air Force Classic British Airpower.
We have an amazing range

...and we’ll send you a free gift card
of subscriptions and stocking
fillers for lovers of all-things
aviation. Visit our shop at
*Gift cards/E-gift cards are available with all subscriptions.
www.keypublishing.com/shop Gift subscriptions will start with the first issue after
Christmas, so we won’t spoil any surprises!
TWO EASY WAYS TO ORDER 721/19
www.aeroplanemonthly.com/xmas19 (0)1780 480404

Lines open Monday
to Friday 9.00am
until 5.30pm GMT
Price shown is UK Annual Direct Debit offer. For alternative subscription

Customer code: AM011219 terms and overseas offers please see website.
721 AM self Subs fp.indd 26 31/10/2019 09:34

Comment
Hangar Talk
STEVE SLATER
Comment on historic
aviation by the chief
executive of the UK’s
Light Aircraft Association
The EAA’s B-17G Aluminum Overcast

has restarted experience flights
in the aftermath of the Collings
Foundation Fortress tragedy. USAF
T
he return to the skies in mid- the National Transportation Safety Board, coincidence was only 30 miles away from the
October of the Experimental Aircraft have been more measured. Impressively location. That added further pressure to the
Association’s B-17G Flying Fortress quickly, as reported in our news pages, the EAA team, but they were resolute in wishing
Aluminum Overcast at Westfield, NTSB issued a preliminary report, which to keep flying.
Massachusetts, was of specific importance to outlined the circumstances and confirmed “After hosting ground tours only on
warbird experience operators, as it marked the B-17’s good pre-accident maintenance October 5-6 in Hyannis, Massachusetts,
the type’s comeback to passenger flights state — Nine-O-Nine’s most recent out of respect for the Collings Foundation
after the fatal accident on 2 October to the progressive inspection, a 100-hour check, and those involved in the accident, it was
Collings Foundation’s B-17 Nine-O-Nine in was completed on 23 September. essential to us to get the B-17 flying once
Connecticut. Both the EAA and the Collings The Collings Foundation is, of course, again”, said Sean Elliott, the EAA’s vice-
Foundation have for many years offered now the subject of intense scrutiny of its president for advocacy and safety. “The
passenger-carrying trips in a wide range operations. However, it has a long-standing response we received in Westfield was not
of World War Two aircraft, from the four- history. Since 1989, the Collings Wings only extraordinarily gratifying, but also
engined B-17 and B-24 Liberator, through of Freedom Tour has allowed tens of an important public statement about the
twin-engined B-25 Mitchells to single- thousands to join its importance of flying
engined fighters such as the P-40 Warhawk
and P-51 Mustang.
living history flight
experiences (LHFEs).
‘It was essential for us these aircraft, giving
us an opportunity
The accident to Nine-O-Nine, which A recent request from to get the B-17 flying once to explain the
claimed the lives of two crew and five the foundation has operations of the
passengers, as well as injuring seven others, asked those who have again’, said the EAA aircraft and why
naturally made worldwide headlines and taken part to help get this airplane is so
potentially brought into question the wider the tours reinstated. The Collings statement important to tell the story of the greatest
safety case regarding experience flights says, “In the coming months, federal generation during World War Two.”
in vintage aircraft. The Collings B-17 was agencies will be reviewing the LHFE program The EAA believes a key point is that
part of the foundation’s Wings of Freedom for not only our organization, but many other public interest in the aircraft and the story
Tour, with five such aircraft visiting selected organizations nationwide who continue to fly of the heroic crews who flew them in World
locations across the USA through the vintage aircraft as a part of their educational War Two is still very high. “People want to
summer months. As might be expected, the mission. As these reviews take place, we experience this airplane”, Elliott said. “They
tour has been abandoned for the remainder feel it is important for the voices of those want to fly in it, whether that’s to connect
of the 2019 season and the aircraft have impacted by the Wings of Freedom Tour over with a family member who served at that
returned to Collings’ winter maintenance the years to be heard”. If anyone has flown time or for their own interest. Through the
base in Florida. with the foundation and wishes to record nine flights we made over Westfield that
While one or two headline-grabbing their thoughts, they can respond at www. weekend, that connection was evident and
politicians may have made rash, and frankly collingsfoundation.org. our conviction to fly Aluminum Overcast was
ill-informed, comments in the immediate The EAA’s Aluminum Overcast was also on strengthened. The events of the past weeks
aftermath, America’s accident investigators, tour when the fatal crash occurred, and by make our conviction to fly even stronger.”
27_AM_HangarTalk_Dec19_cc C.indd 27 01/11/2019 10:04

BIRD PLAYING CARDS
c.1920
1956
1937
Unique collectors packs. Every card illustrated.

See the full range and order now at birdplayingcards.com
or contact nicky@nickybirddesign.com
In our case it’s trust. Because

Aeroplane Monthly is
independently verified by
ABC, our advertisers know
they are getting the exposure
they’ve been promised.
Our circulation is 21,327

for the period January to
December 2018.
ABC. See it. Believe it. Trust it.

To advertise, call Gemma Gray
on 01780 755131 or email
gemma.gray@keypublishing.com
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Comment
DENIS J. CALVERT
Flight Line Recollections and

reflections — a seasoned
reporter’s view of
aviation history
B-58A 59-2440 of the 43rd BW, at Mildenhall’s Open House on 17 May 1969. This was the final visit to the UK by a Hustler. DENIS J. CALVERT
S
etting out to produce a supersonic By August 1953 Convair had a B-58 public loss was the crash of 59-2451 Firefly —
airliner proved to be something engineering mock-up ready for inspection itself a record-breaker, having just flown from
of a blind alley, as Concorde by SAC commander Gen Curtis LeMay. Washington DC to Paris in three hours 39
demonstrated so conclusively. Mach LeMay was known to be unconvinced by the minutes — at the Le Bourget Salon on 3 June
2 bombers have been similarly thin on the concept of a supersonic bomber, preferring 1961 while performing a roll.
ground, and it is arguable that only Convair’s the superior unrefuelled range and payload So, did the B-58A’s 10 years of SAC
B-58 Hustler, the world’s first supersonic offered by types such as the Convair B-36 service represent a success, or another
bomber, achieved true success in its original and Boeing B-52. Nevertheless, everyone at blind alley? By 1963 both wings were well
configuration and its intended role. Convair was hoping that he would approve of established, holding the nuclear alert
In the early 1950s, the USAF wanted a what he saw and of the undoubted progress and making deployments to USAF bases
strategic bomber that would be capable made with the B-58. In the event, as LeMay overseas. Although the fleet was small — it
of sustained Mach 2 cruise yet could still descended to the never represented
be operated from normal Strategic Air
Command (SAC) bases and flown by
ground from visiting
the B-58’s cockpit
Curtis LeMay more than 12
per cent of SAC’s
regular squadron crews. Convair’s proposal, he announced descended to the ground bomber assets — the
designated MX-1964, was selected over a simply, “It doesn’t Hustler’s ability to
competing Boeing design in 1952. To meet fit my ass”. Despite from the B-58’s cockpit, fly at Mach 2 and
the requirement needed radical thinking. The
B-58’s design featured a delta wing and, in
this, Convair’s
engineers wisely
announcing simply, ‘It to penetrate enemy
defences at low
some respects, resembled a scaled-up F-102 decided against doesn’t fit my ass’ level undoubtedly
with a three-man crew seated in tandem, compromising the complicated the task
but with four podded General Electric J79 aircraft’s area ruling by reworking the forward of Soviet defence planners. Yet by the end
turbojets mounted underwing. The wing fuselage to accommodate it. of January 1970, the type was out of service,
employed a novel aluminium/fibreglass The flight test programme proceeded at a victim of its perceived high operating
honeycomb structure, while the sleek, area- a pace, with a first flight by XB-58 55-0660 costs. B-58As were occasionally seen in
ruled fuselage had no bomb bay, but instead from Carswell Air Force Base near Fort Worth, the UK, the last visit being to Mildenhall
featured an external, jettisonable weapon/ Texas on 11 November 1956. Production, by serial 59-2440 for static display at the
fuel pod under the centreline. Another ‘first’ though, was cut back to 116 examples and base’s Open House in May 1969. While a
was the contract, under which Convair only two SAC wings would receive the B-58A: flight demonstration there would surely
became the prime contractor responsible the 43rd and 305th Bomb Wings. Service have been impressive, one can only imagine
for every aspect of the aircraft’s design, entry in 1960 gave the USAF the opportunity the sight and sound of a minimum interval
production, training and support, and for to showcase the B-58A’s performance, the take-off (MITO) launch, in which a stream
managing an army of sub-contractors. This type setting 19 world records. The attrition of Hustlers got airborne in afterburner at
was the first application of the weapon rate, though, both during the test programme 15 second intervals — something the SAC
system management concept. and in early service, was high. A particularly wings practised regularly.
29_AM_Flightline_Dec18_cc C.indd 29 31/10/2019 15:14

PREMIUM GIFT IDEAS
TREAT YOURSELF OR A FRIEND
London Heathrow Extreme Airports

Airside 2020 Calendar DVD Bundle *£5 gift
voucher when
you subscribe
* Redeemable on shop
purchases of £20+
The perfect accompaniment to

2020 for any commercial aviation
enthusiast! A3 Calendar.
Three of our top-selling DVDs!
Taking you airside at some of the
world’s most extreme airports.
Christmas all
ONLY £14.99 Code: M212 ONLY £14.99 Code: DVD836
wrapped up!
STOCKING FILLERS AND SPECIAL OFFERS
From Nighthawk Schooldays to

to Spitfire Spitfire
The Aircraft of R.J MItchell. The story of the legendary
Hardback, 208 pages. Spitfire. Softback, 384 pages.
From
£19.99
ONLY £7.99 Code: B578 ONLY £9.99 Code: B564
Warbird Air Rac- Aeroplane Why not subscribe

ing Binder to Aeroplane?
Available in blue or plum
The Early Years of Air Racing. Keep your Aeroplane
Region-free, 60 mins. collection in pristine See pages
condition with these
high-quality binders. 14-15 for our latest
ONLY £7.49 Code: DVD826 ONLY £9.49 Code: AMBINDER subscription deals.
TWO EASY WAYS TO ORDER 731/19
Lines open Monday
www.keypublishing.com/shop (0)1780 480404 to Friday 9.00am

until 5.30pm GMT
Credit and debit card payments will show as Key Publishing. Key Publishing
Customer code: AM011219 will hold your details in order to process and service your supscription only.
731 Aeroplane Xmas19 MO fp.indd 69 04/11/2019 12:03

Aviation Genius on Film
Eric Brown - A Pilot’s Story / Whittle - The Jet Pioneer
Buy these DVDs or downloads online at

www.quantafilms.co.uk
or ring Quanta Films on 07435 973397
£15.99 +P&P for DVDs • £7.99 for downloads
PILOT REPORT DH9 flight-testing
The
whole
9 yards
Retrotec’s magnificent restoration of

the Historic Aircraft Collection’s Airco
DH9 has brought this First World War
bomber back to the skies for the first
‘Dodge’ Bailey
time in many decades. For the pilot
conducts a taxi
trial of the DH9
entrusted with its flight-testing, the
a week prior to
its maiden flight. painstaking programme proved a most
DAVID WHITWORTH
insightful affair WORDS: ‘DODGE’ BAILEY
32-39_AM_PilotReport_Dec19_cc C.indd 32 04/11/2019 10:06

W
hen he was chief Towards the start of World War system, whether by warp or aileron, ABOVE:
designer and test pilot One, polymath Edward Busk took a was provided only so that the wings The Historic Aircraft
for the Army Balloon hand and implemented changes to could be held sensibly level to avoid Collection’s DH9,
E8894, being flown
Factory, subsequently what became the BE2c to make it a the dreaded ‘capsize’, or, for the more by Clive Denney
the Royal Aircraft Factory, Geoffrey so-called ‘inherently stable’ aircraft. adventurous, to ‘hold off bank’ when — the only person
de Havilland designed, built and The concept of inherent stability turning with a deflected rudder. other than the author
personally flight-tested the BE1 and required that the aircraft possess This philosophy seems to have had to have piloted the
BE2 series of aircraft in the years generous levels of longitudinal, more in common with the physics bomber thus far — en
before World War One. Looking at directional and what was known as of displacement vessels than with route back from Old
Warden to Duxford
the layouts of these machines, it lateral stability so as to be entirely the flight mechanics of aeroplanes. this August.
would appear that by any measure ‘self-righting’. All the pilot needed While the strategy works after a RICHARD PAVER
the flying qualifies were likely to to do was influence the direction of fashion — being suitable for free
be woeful, but they did at least fly, travel by use of the rudder and the flight models, for example — it was
which was something of a triumph height by varying the output from not the completely correct answer
at the time. the powerplant. The lateral control for a human-piloted aircraft as

the primary roll control inceptor

I anticipated poor roll power,
notwithstanding the presence of
four large ailerons. In 1918, what we
now call differential ailerons had
yet to be invented, so in the case of
the DH9 the down-going aileron
deflects further than the up-going.
This presaged excessive adverse
yaw if the ailerons were ever used to
generate a roll rate in isolation. Of
course, this would not have been a
concern to GdH since in his control
philosophy all turns would be made
using the rudder, which would
ensure proverse yaw.
Another design oddity was that
the two sides of the elevator were
not connected by a torque tube,
each half having its own control
wires. While such an arrangement
provides some redundancy in the
event of battle damage, it does
ABOVE: the Wrights had demonstrated textbooks. Armed with that and render an aircraft vulnerable to
Tail up for the with their diametrically opposite the weighing results I was able to the possibility of a torsional tail
DH9’s maiden post- system of an ‘all control’ with ‘no anticipate the likely longitudinal flutter mode driven by the separate
restoration take-off
stability’ approach. Nevertheless, stability and control characteristics elevators deflecting out of phase and
on 13 May 2019,
angling off into wind this somewhat archaic philosophy and propose a candidate range of coupling with the torsional natural
across Duxford’s continued in de Havilland’s designs centres of gravity for flight test. frequency of the rear fuselage.
grass. DAVID WHITWORTH up to the 1931 DH82 Tiger Moth. Given that this was a classic Torque tubes are a design necessity
Lying along that Neanderthal Geoffrey de Havilland design I in modern aircraft with reversible
evolutionary line are such aircraft as expected some measure of controls- controls, but not so in World War
the BE series, the DH2, DH4, DH9, fixed and controls-free longitudinal One as a reasonably complete
DH51, DH60 and DH82. static and longitudinal manoeuvre understanding of flutter had to
In his book DH9: From Ruin to stability, but, given the requirement wait until the late 1920s. Guy and
Restoration, Guy Black describes the to be able to taxi out of wind his team took great care that both
discovery, recovery and painstaking without the benefit of wheel brakes, elevators were at the same angle and
restoration of DH9 E8894/G-CDLI. that the controls-free directional that there was little or no free-play.
I will not dwell on that 20-year static stability would be near-zero,
labour of love, for which Guy was although controls-fixed directional
awarded the Darrol Stinton Trophy stability would be acceptable with The recorded history of the
by the Historic Aircraft Association. the rudder restrained. The desired BHP (Beardmore-Halford-
This article will concentrate on self-righting characteristic is often Pullinger) engine does not make
the preparation for, execution and referred to as lateral stability, which happy reading. It had proved to
results of the flight test programme is something of a misnomer, in that be unreliable in service, and by
for the aircraft’s CAA permit to fly. an aeroplane reacts to aerodynamic this they meant it was prone to
forces resulting from its angle partial if not complete mechanical
Flight test process and of sideslip — it has no innate failure. Without going into details,
preparation knowledge of bank angle per se, covered in depth in Guy’s book, it
save for any sideslip that arises from was a concern we had to address
Guy was good enough to ask me to that bank. Therefore, this aspect is a to mitigate risks in the flight test
undertake the test programme well combination of the rolling moment programme. Mostly this entailed
in advance. This enabled me to have generated by a sideslip angle (for me taking every opportunity that
some influence on the cockpit area, example, through dihedral) and presented itself to carry out ground
and in particular the specification the rolling moment generated by runs to familiarise myself with the
of the safety harness which the yaw rate, which induces slightly engine characteristics and, as the
introduced its own challenges. I different air speeds over the left first flight drew nearer, taxiing and
also took care to be present when and right outer wing panels. In carrying out accelerate-stops to
the complete aircraft was weighed this case I anticipated moderate assess throttle response to and from
so I could follow the process and ‘rolling moment due to sideslip’. full power and cooling challenges.
see how the moment arms to the Furthermore, this characteristic Overall, I was anticipating an
various disposable load masses might well exceed the rolling aircraft which would handle like
were determined. Using a general moment generated by the lateral a somewhat sluggish Tiger Moth
arrangement drawing I estimated control system. Under certain flight and which would require broadly
the location of the equivalent conditions this undesirable trait can similar piloting techniques, with
monoplane standard mean chord, be demonstrated in a Tiger Moth. excess power giving a largely similar
using techniques described in Now, given that GdH viewed rate of climb. Close monitoring of
Darrol Stinton’s excellent range of ailerons more as wing-levellers than engine temperatures, pressures and

vibration would be the main areas range of travel, sense of operation 10 minutes’ running time. Normally
of difference and therefore where and backlash — the following the water temperature will continue
most attention would be focused in comments were made on the report. to rise while running on the ground,
the early flights. The tailplane angle is adjustable but depending on the OAT it should
over a small range using a wheel stabilise around 75°C if the aircraft
Ground tests on the left-hand side of the pilot’s is into wind with 700-800rpm. Using
cockpit. The wheel is spring-loaded more power and taxiing downwind
I carried out engine runs and taxiing to retain the tailplane in any chosen to the take-off point may well result
assessments in November 2018. A position; it is necessary to pull the in excessive temperature, and take-
Hucks starter was used to turn the wheel away from the cockpit side, in off should not be commenced if
engine for starting, but since then order to adjust. This was provided the reading is more than 80°C. Fuel
we have had moderate success just to permit a wide range of permitted pressure will be about 1psi when
using the on-board hand-cranked CG positions but may not have been selected to the gravity tank and 3psi
starting magneto. The starter designed to enable the pilot to trim if selected to a main tank.
magneto is located under the pilot’s hands-free throughout the entire
seat with its handle facing forwards. range of flight conditions. Taxiing: Controllability during
This acts as a very effective anti- Fuel is pumped from the main taxiing proved to be similar to or
theft device as, firstly, it is hidden tanks to the gravity tank by way somewhat better than a Tiger Moth
and, secondly, it needs to be turned of immersed mechanical pumps. up to a wind strength of 10kt.
the ‘wrong way’ — but don’t tell These are powered by small wind
anyone! turbines driven by the propeller Take-off: Typical take off data
The aircraft is not equipped slipstream and flight airflow. was: rpm 1,340, oil pressure 48psi,
with wheel brakes, but the The ignition advance/retard oil temperature 25-30°C, water
tailskid is steerable through an control is mounted under the temperature 70°C, unstick speed
interconnection to the rudder. In throttle/mixture quadrant. The in the region of 60 MIAS (miles per
light winds up to lever is moved hour indicated air speed). All take-
10kt the aircraft aft to retard offs were straightforward. There
proved more There was no the ignition for was no marked tendency to swing
manoeuvrable
than anyone
marked tendency starting and
fully forward
and the rudder was effective in
maintaining the desired direction. It
expected. to swing on take-off to advance the was easy to raise the tail to the take-
A couple of ignition for off attitude. A take-off on runway
accelerate-stops and the rudder was normal running. 06 with a wind of 110-130°/10kt was
with the tail up A spring clip can BELOW:
were made and effective be used to ensure
demonstrated. Satisfactory take-
off handling was observed at the The author was able
to familiarise himself
there were no that the lever extremes of the cleared CG range with the cockpit at
control difficulties, but the tail did remains in the advance position and with the adjustable tailplane set an early stage of
lift rather too readily, suggesting the while in flight. both fully nose-up and fully nose- his involvement.
need for some rear ballast before down. Instrumentation
first flight. Engine ground run: After a comprises an air
successful engine start the pilot Climb: On the second and third speed indicator in
mph, a non-sensitive
The first flight and should check that the oil pressure flights, three-minute climb tests altimeter, a ‘period’
the test results has risen to 30-40psi and, if so, fully were carried out with the radiator compass and a
advance the ignition advance/retard fully extended. The adjustable lateral inclinometer.
For non-flight test-related reasons, lever, apply the clip and set about tailplane was set to achieve DAVID WHITWORTH
the first flight had to wait. As the 800rpm without dwelling in any
aircraft was an unknown, sensibly resonant condition. The radiator
we had set conservative wind can be retained in the retracted
limits for the maiden flight and this position to expedite warm-up until
further reduced the opportunities. the water temperature reaches 50°C
Eventually it was undertaken on 13 when the radiator must be lowered
May 2019 from Duxford’s 06 grass fully. When the water temperature
runway. reaches 60°C the run-up can be
Between 13 May and 22 June, six made. A dead-cut check should be
test flights were made at a selection made before advancing the throttle
of loading conditions up to 90 per to achieve 1,300rpm, where running
cent of the MTWA (maximum total on a single magneto is checked and
weight authorised) and cleared a should result in a drop of about
usable CG (centre of gravity) range 60rpm; a brief maximum static
of 13.5-20.5” AoD (aft of datum). test should produce 1,340rpm.
The results of individual tests are Oil pressure should be above
described below. 19psi and is typically 35-45psi. Oil
temperature should never exceed
Cockpit assessment: The pilot’s 80°C; however, there is a lot of oil in
five-point safety harness and the engine and it takes a long time
the seating arrangements were to heat, so what is observed is more
satisfactory. The flying controls and a function of the OAT (outside air
engine controls were assessed for temperature), typically 25-30°C after

ABOVE: longitudinal stick force zero and this be controlled with unreversed use to glide. The characteristics were
Rate of roll tests was near-neutral in both cases. The of controls up to the stall. It was found to be acceptable with a
indicated a maximum climbs were made with full throttle, not necessary to add power to codicil that, by modern standards,
of 12° per second.
and at 80 MIAS engine readings recover from any stall. On those aileron forces were high and
In turbulent
conditions, ‘Dodge’ were 1,380rpm and oil pressure occasions when a wing dropped it rudder forces too low. Expanding
feels roll upsets 38-45psi, with water temperature was not always possible to prevent on that difference between this
“may be difficult to typically increasing to and the roll-off with roll control alone, aircraft and one designed to a
counteract, making stabilising at 85°C. The rates of climb but intuitive use of the rudder was post-World War Two airworthiness
accurate formation achieved were 633ft per minute always effective in checking the specification, it should be noted
flying something of a
and 600ft per minute, which were roll. It was always possible to regain that the longitudinal characteristics
challenge.”
RICHARD PAVER
broadly in accord with published 65 MIAS promptly from any speed during the transitions were entirely
1918 performance reports. above the stall by pitching the nose conventional while the lateral/
down. The turning stall tests were directional characteristics of
Stalling: Stalling speeds and accomplished using 1,200rpm as the aircraft, which are typical of
qualities were assessed in straight approximating 75 per cent power. most aircraft of this era — and
and turning flight on most test In left and right turns the aircraft in particular of de Havilland
flights. Straight stall tests were made stalled at 50-55 MIAS with some designs — are not conventional by
with power idle and with 1,200rpm. buffet warning about 5mph prior to ‘modern’ standards. The pilot must
The results of the power-off stalls the stall. In every case the aircraft understand that the primary turn
were characterised by an absence rolled out of the turn at the point control in those days was seen as
of classic buffet warning and a of stalling. Overall the stalling the rudder, with ailerons being used
minimum speed of 50 MIAS. With characteristics were considered to only to maintain wings level or to
the centre of gravity in the forward be very benign, so that the absence ‘fine-tune’ the bank angle required
half of the range the speed was of buffet warning in the wings- to achieve balanced flight. When
limited by full control deflection, level stall at the more forward CG such a control strategy is used it
while with the centre of gravity positions is not considered to be eliminates adverse yaw, because
further aft the speed was limited hazardous. the rudder produces proverse
by separation-induced behaviour, yaw before the aileron is deflected
meaning the actual stall. Typically, Transitions: This is a series of tests significantly. However, a ‘modern’
height loss from the fully stalled which are made throughout the pilot (one trained after World War
condition was in the region of 200ft. flights and address the handling Two) expecting to enter and exit
The results with power on were characteristics during the transition turns using the aileron to effect the
similar except there was no altitude from one flight condition to roll angle change will experience
loss. In all cases roll and yaw could another, for instance from climb significant adverse yaw unless close

attention is paid to balance and the nose-down position. At 0.9 VH power climb at 65 MIAS, level cruise
rudder used generously. It should (90 MIAS), still with the adjustable at 50 per cent power (1,200rpm)
be recognised that the lateral/ tailplane set fully nose-down, the at 80 MIAS, and in an approach
directional stability and control aircraft was just beginning to pitch glide with idle power at 65 MIAS.
characteristics described above are up. At the CG position pertaining In the climb and level flight tests,
little different to and no worse than on flight three it was possible to pitch control forces were required
those of the DH82 Tiger Moth. trim with power for level flight at 70 to deviate from the trimmed air
MIAS and at air speeds up to about speed; these were detectable and in
Rate of roll: The maximum rate of 95 MIAS. the correct sense between 55 and
roll was assessed by reversing from Although at the more forward 75 MIAS and between 70 MIAS and
30° bank in one sense to a 30° bank CG position it was not possible to 90 MIAS respectively. In addition,
in the opposite sense. Bearing in meet the trimmability requirements the out-of-trim forces, though
mind the ‘period’ control strategy at idle and at the high end of the small, were such that if plotted they
discussed above the standard speed range, it is believed that the would have a stable slope, and a
roll rate test was somewhat adjustable tailplanes fitted to World slow release did result in a return
inappropriate, but the test was War One aircraft were not intended to within about 10 per cent of the
made for completeness. Tests were to act as trimming devices in the trim speed. In the glide test it was
made by using as much aileron sense that they should be capable not possible to achieve a stick-free
as could be applied within the of reducing pitch stick forces to trim shot at 65 MIAS, but one could
biomechanical restrictions of the zero in all still establish
cockpit while making an attempt to circumstances, the presence
suppress the resulting adverse yaw as is ‘modern’ The expectation of longitudinal
with rudder. The tests were made
at 60 MIAS with full power and at
practice in
certification.
then was that the static stability
by observation
65 MIAS at idle and with power for Rather, they were pilot would have to of the phugoid
level flight. fitted to cater response when
In all cases full rudder was for the range of ‘fly’ the aircraft all the aircraft
required to maintain balance
while the maximum achievable
centres of gravity
that would be the time controls were
released from
aileron was applied, and the bank encountered the extreme
angle change took on average five with varying war-loads in service. ends of the air speed range of
seconds, suggesting a maximum It must be remembered that most interest.
rate of roll of 12° per second. This of the aircraft of that era were
is adequate for normal flight but not equipped with any trimming Longitudinal manoeuvre stability:
suggests that roll upsets in turbulent devices and, in any case, many were The longitudinal manoeuvre
conditions may be difficult to longitudinally unstable, rendering stability was assessed by increasing
counteract, making accurate any attempt to achieve stick-free load factor in turns from an initial
formation flying something of a in-trim flight entirely futile whether condition of 90 MIAS (0.9 VH)
challenge. equipped with an adjustable with power set for level flight.
To put the 12° per second into tailplane or not. Adoption of Load factor was estimated from
context, a typical monoplane trainer adjustable trimming tabs lay in the the bank angle of the turn and
such as a Chipmunk or Bulldog will future. In short, the expectation the stick force measured using a
roll at about 100° per second, and then was that the pilot would have hand-held Brooklyn Tool Company BELOW:
the Gnat of fond memory in the to ‘fly’ the aircraft all the time. stick force gauge. The results were: For the final test
region of 360° per second. at 1.0g a 2lb push, at 1.5g an 8lb flight, on 22 June,
Guy Black occupied
Longitudinal static stability: pull, at 2.0g a 20lb pull, and at the rear cockpit
Trimmability: The ability to achieve Controls-free longitudinal static 2.5g a 27lb pull, suggesting a stick and assessed the
an in-trim condition longitudinally stability was assessed under the force per g of approximately 19lb crankshaft vibration.
— stick-free — was assessed using following flight conditions: full- per g. This indicates a generous DAVID WHITWORTH
the adjustable tailplane in the flight
conditions specified. At the more
forward CG tested during flight
two, it was not possible to trim
out longitudinal stick force at idle
power at 65 MIAS (the minimum
speed at which the aircraft would
fly ‘in trim’ was about 85 MIAS), but
it was possible to achieve stick-free
trim at idle power at 65 MIAS at
the CG pertaining on flight three.
Maximum achievable air speed in
level flight (VH) was found to be 100
MIAS. At the CG position pertaining
on flight two it was possible to
establish trim with power for level
flight at 70 MIAS and at air speeds
up to about 85 MIAS where the
adjustable tailplane was at its fully

Level cruise tests results showed

a maximum level speed of 100 MIAS
at 1,450rpm (the maximum below
6,000ft); at 1,250rpm the speed
was 86 MIAS, and at 1,100rpm it
was 75 MIAS. Oil temperature and
pressure, fuel pressure and water
temperature were all stable within
their respective limits throughout.
Dive to VNE: No VNE was ever

published. For a non-aerobatic
aeroplane a VNE of 1.4 VH is usually
required. In this case VH is 100
MIAS, so 1.4 VH equals 140mph.
Conventionally, VNE is 0.9 VDF where
VDF is the maximum demonstrated
flight velocity. Therefore, to clear
a VNE of 140mph a dive to 156mph
needed to be demonstrated. In
this case a build-up approach was
used to achieve a VDF of 156. As air
speed increased above 140 MIAS
the longitudinal control force push
reduced somewhat. Short-period
oscillations were heavily damped
(controls fixed). There was no
noticeable vibration or buffeting.
ABOVE: manoeuvre margin, with a low risk was generated. The aircraft just Recovery from the VDF dive was
HAC groundcrew of inadvertent overstress or pilot- sideslipped without turning in equally possible with power on or off.
members putting induced oscillations. the direction of the bank, and in During this test series the dive
E8894 away in one
of Duxford’s Belfast
one case yawed in the opposite angle necessary to achieve the
truss hangars. The Lateral and directional stability: direction — these results are aim air speed was the furthest
Cambridgeshire The lateral and directional controls- consistent with the results of the nose-down the aircraft had ever
airfield was home to free static stability was assessed at steady heading sideslip tests above. been with the engine running. An
DH9s in 1918-19, and 65 MIAS with the power at idle and Full-rudder deflection sideslips unanticipated effect was that the
is now unique in the with 1,000-1,100rpm at estimated were made at 70 MIAS with idle comfortably full oil system shed
world in having two
examples of the type
50 per cent power. In left and right power, simulating a glide approach. some oil through the breather, some
present — the other sideslips when the ailerons were Aileron and rudder deflections of which obscured the windscreen,
is the IWM’s static released the aircraft rolled slowly and forces increase with increasing and some of which impinged on the
D5649, recovered towards wings-level, indicating sideslip angle, up to about exhaust pipe, producing smoke —
from Bikaner along a low level of half-rudder unwelcome signs during such a test.
with E8894 and also lateral stability deflection. However, in this case no harm was
restored by Retrotec.
DAVID WHITWORTH
(rolling moment It goes without Beyond being caused, and subsequently the
due to sideslip)
— this result
saying that the half-rudder
deflection,
breather system was modified to
prevent a recurrence.
was acceptable. quality of the the aileron
In left and right deflections and Flight instruments: The flight
sideslips when workmanship was forces continue instruments consisted of an air
the rudder speed indicator in mph, a non-
was released outstanding to increase
with increasing sensitive altimeter, a ‘period’
there was no sideslip angle, compass and a lateral inclinometer.
discernible restoring moment, but the rudder force reduces No formal evaluation of position
indicating neutral directional and ultimately reverses due to error has been made, but the
static stability (controls-free) — overbalance. It was easy for the pilot indicated air speed at the stall of 50-
this result is not compliant with to re-centre the rudder from this 52 MIAS is very close to the 49mph
modern requirements but is condition. stall speed predicted from the
entirely consistent with most, if estimated maximum lift coefficient
not all, contemporary World War Power and speed tests: The engine of 1.2, the test weight of 3,254lb
One aircraft and was therefore ran reliably throughout the test and the published wing area of 436
acceptable. flights. At full power a steady rumble sq ft. Correlation between the non-
Turns on a single control were was discernible but was thought sensitive altimeter and GPS altitude
also assessed, and it was possible to be a characteristic rather than as presented through the SkyDemon
to enter and exit turns using the a symptom of impending failure. system was within 100ft. These two
rudder only. Attempts to make An engine specialist observer was results suggest a non-significant
turns using the aileron with the carried on flight six to assess the static position error. The compass
rudder free were made but no rumble and declared it normal for operates correctly but suffers from
‘into the bank’ yawing moment the engine crankshaft design. low damping and it is recommended

that it is used with caution. The about’ with generous helpings of agreement on what constituted ABOVE:
lateral inclinometer worked correctly throttle, forward stick and rudder in ‘rightness’. The stability and control Without question,
but should be augmented by a that order, and face back into wind. combinations are myriad — some the HAC DH9 is
a masterpiece of
‘modern’-type slip ball which pilots aircraft, such as the German LVG
restoration. It has
interpret intuitively. It has been a real privilege to C.VI and Albatros, have no rolling so far made three
fly this unique aircraft and I am moment due to sideslip while most public flying display
Landing: Either three-point or grateful to Guy for the opportunity. British aircraft have it in spades. appearances: at
wheeler landings were made with It goes without saying that the Some aircraft are ponderously Flying Legends,
the adjustable tailplane set at either quality of the workmanship was stable while others such as the the Shuttleworth
Family Airshow and
extreme. The field of view straight outstanding and the care and Sopwith Camel are unpleasantly
the Duxford Battle
ahead was restricted by the engine, attention by his engineering team unstable in every axis. After landing of Britain Air Show.
its accoutrements and the Aldis should be complemented, so thank from the first flight of the DH9 I RICHARD PAVER
sight, but ample view for height and you, ladies and gentlemen. borrowed an epithet from the late,
height-rate judgement was available While I have flown several other lamented John Lewis, former Bristol
to either side. It was easy to maintain aircraft types from this era, they all chief test pilot and Shuttleworth
direction during the landing roll- have different characteristics, dating chief pilot: “That’s all very well,
out, and to taxi the aircraft across as they do from a time when there but tell Mr de Havilland not
the wind and downwind to taxi in. A was no standardisation or universal to build any more.”
landing with the CG at the forward
limit was demonstrated.
WIN! SIGNED DH9 BOOK

On a subsequent occasion the
aircraft was landed easily with a 15kt
crosswind and it was possible to
Thanks to publisher Grub Street, we have two copies of DH9:
keep straight for the entire landing
From Ruin to Restoration, signed by the author Guy Black, to give
roll by use of rudder and appropriate
away. For a chance of winning this book — chosen as our Book of
lateral stick. However, taxiing proved
the Month in this issue — answer the following question:
a challenge. In such conditions,
when a change of taxi direction From which airfield did the restored DH9’s maiden flight take
is necessary, it is always better to place on 13 May 2019?
‘go-about’ rather than ‘gibe’ — ask a
To enter, simply visit www.aeroplanemonthly.com and complete
sailor — but if an attempt is made to
the online competition entry form. Alternatively, send your name,
taxi downwind the aircraft will pick
postal address and e-mail (if you have the latter) to: Aeroplane
up speed, particularly if the going is
DH9 Book Competition, Key Publishing, PO Box 100, Stamford,
firm. Without brakes to slow progress
Lincolnshire, PE9 1XQ, UK.
the pilot’s only recourse is to reduce
the power, but in doing so he loses The winner will be drawn at random on 20 January 2020 and
‘steerage’ way and, as a corollary, notified by post/e-mail by 27 January 2020.
risks suffering from a reversed No purchase necessary. There is no cash prize and the editor’s decision is final. The competition is not open to employees
rudder command. The only fixes are of Key Publishing or their families.
to switch off or, if there is room, ‘go

COLD WAR HISTORY Portuguese in Guinea
RUMBLE in the J
Waging a hard-fought guerrilla
I
n late 1964, a flight of North Partido Africano da Independência
American F-86F Sabres from the da Guiné e Cabo Verde — had
war in its African colonies, Força Aérea Portuguesa, the FAP,
flew their final counter-insurgency
complained to Washington that the
US-supplied jets were being used to
Portugal faced a gap in combat mission in Guinea-Bissau, one of
Portugal’s three African colonies
attack its fighters.
Portugal was led by Prime
aircraft capability — until, that where armed revolts had erupted
during the early 1960s. Portugal had
Minister António de Oliveira Salazar.
His authoritarian regime ignored
is, the versatile Fiat G91 came come under American pressure to
repatriate the eight jets because
the winds of change blowing
through Africa, which saw 40 states
along. Even so, the conflict in their use in the African war
contravened the agreement under
being granted independence in
the decade from 1956. Portugal
Guinea-Bissau was a tough which they were supplied by the
US, to be employed solely for the
stubbornly hung on to its African
empire of Angola, Mozambique, São
baptism for Esquadra 121 ‘Tigres’ defence of NATO’s south-western
flank and not in Portuguese Africa.
Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau
and Cape Verde, redesignated
Additionally, Portugal’s guerrilla as overseas provinces rather
WORDS: CHARLES BARRETT AND JOSÉ MATOS adversary in Guinea, the PAIGC — than colonies. Salazar’s military
40-46_AM_ColdWarHistory_Dec19_cc C.indd 40 02/11/2019 12:20

was brutally broken by Portuguese
troops with 50 workers killed. Cabral,
an agronomist by profession, was
primarily a nationalist rather than
a follower of the Marxist-Leninist
ideas of most other contemporary
guerrilla leaders. The Soviet Union
was the main supplier of arms to the
PAIGC but its fighters also trained in
China, Algeria and Czechoslovakia
and had some Cuban advisors.
Cabral travelled extensively around
Guinea gathering support for the
independence struggle, which was
— unlike most other contemporary
African insurgencies — launched
from neighbouring states or
mountainous regions.
The departure of the F-86s left the
North American T-6 Texan/Harvard
as the sole FAP attack aircraft in
Guinea for 20 months until the
advent of a Sabre replacement. These
examples had a pair of twin 7.5mm
(0.3in) machine gun pods, 37mm
(1.46in) rocket pods and bomb
racks. The lumbering, unarmoured
T-6 was ironically dubbed by its FAP
pilots as the ‘F-110’, meaning 110kt
at take-off, 110kt in the cruise and
110kt on landing. Its stalling speed
was dangerously close to its bomb-
dropping one.
The FAP received 56 T-6Gs from
the US under the Mutual Defense
Assistance Program. Another
200, including Canadian Car and
Foundry-built Harvards, came
from surplus stocks in France, West
Germany, South Africa and the
e JUNGLE
UK. The type became Portugal’s
workhorse in all three African
theatres. With its maximum 100kg
(220lb) bomb load, the T-6 needed
two to three minutes to make a
strafing pass and almost twice that
for a bomb run. Consequently, it
suffered more battle damage per
sortie than any other FAP type and
the highest pilot fatality rate from
advisers warned him not to fight (454kg). The US-supplied jets were operational losses and accidents.
in more than one theatre at a time also flown on joint operations with Faced with reduced FAP bombing
but, fearful of a domino effect, his Portugal’s army and navy in Guinea. capabilities in Guinea while the
country was sucked into three wars, One FAP F-86 was shot down by Sabres were being replaced, one of
all involving the FAP. PAIGC ground fire in 1963, but three Douglas C-47s at BA 12 was
the pilot ejected and was rescued. fitted with bomb racks to carry 50kg
That year the PAIGC had made its (110lb) and 200kg (441lb) bombs,
Initially deployed to Guinea first deadly attacks on Portuguese together with a tube in the cabin
in 1961 as an eight-aircraft troops in the west of Guinea, during floor to drop small bombs and
detachment from Esquadra 51 to an uprising that soon put it ahead grenades on night missions. The
Base Aérea 2 (BA 2), later BA 12, in the hearts and minds game C-47s soon saw action alongside the ABOVE LEFT:
at Bissalanca near the Guinean when faced with the divided and new aircraft when they eventually Sitting at Base Aérea
capital Bissau, the Sabres first made inflexible Portuguese armed forces arrived. The other FAP assets at 12 at Bissalanca,
attacks two years later on PAIGC command, still seeking a purely BA 12 were 20 Dornier Do 27 utility ready for a mission
in 1973 with a
guerrilla positions, using their six military solution. aircraft and nine Sud Alouette 600kg bomb load,
12.7mm (0.50in)-calibre machine The PAIGC was formed in 1956 III helicopters, all part of Grupo is Esquadra 121 Fiat
guns, four 70mm (2.75in) rockets by Amílcar Cabral. It promoted a Operacional 1201 (GO 1201). Some G91R/4 serial 5425.
and two bombs of up to 1,000lb dock-workers’ strike in 1959, which of the Do 27s, with short take- JOSÉ NICO

From the early 1960s there had

been close co-operation between
West Germany and Portugal,
whereby Bonn would modernise
Portugal’s defence industry and
supply surplus aeroplanes like
the Do 27 and Nord Noratlas. The
FAP received 300 aircraft from
West Germany throughout the
1960s and Bonn continued to
supply munitions and materiel to
Portugal’s military for use in its
African wars, which many countries
refused to provide arms to. The
Luftwaffe Fiats, manufactured
under licence in Germany, had
been mothballed and were
refurbished while the FAP trained
pilots on the new jet. The first nine
aircraft had arrived by November
1966 in separate sea shipments and
were assigned to a newly created
squadron, Esquadra 121 ‘Tigres’,
or ‘Tigers’. The compact Fiats, with
Bristol Siddeley Orpheus turbojets,
had been designed to use roads as
runways and could operate from
poorly maintained strips.
As BA 12 was roughly in the
centre of Guinea and the G91 had
50 minutes of endurance without
extra fuel tanks, it could carry a
full 680kg (1,500lb) bomb load
on ground attack missions. But
as rockets were the most useful
close support weapon, since they
didn’t compromise the Fiat’s
manoeuvrability, they were usually
the weapon of choice, along with
TOP: off and landing attributes ideal for was 21 machines in 1970. PAIGC the two external tanks, for these
An aerial view of Guinea’s dozens of short strips, were soldiers feared the FAP helicopters operations. A pair of stand-by G91s
BA 12 in 1968. Most equipped with 37mm anti-personnel so much, particularly the gunship at BA 12 normally used the rocket
of the aircraft on the
apron are FAP T-6s,
rocket pods. They were also used for version, that Amílcar Cabral drew up and extra fuel configuration.
but also visible are reconnaissance, liaison, resupply a tactics primer on how to engage The 70mm (2.75in) rockets could
some Do 27s and a and forward air control. After the rotary-wing aircraft. be fired in pairs or salvoes. They
C-47, while two G91s T-6, the Do 27 had the second The PAIGC managed to bolster its were general-purpose rather than
are taxiing towards highest rate of FAP aircrew deaths in fighting capabilities for almost two the anti-personnel versions carried
the runway. JOSÉ NICO combat and crashes. years in southern by the T-6 and
ABOVE: The Alouette IIIs of Esquadra and northern Do 27, thus being
PAIGC (Partido 122 ‘Canibais’ (‘Cannibals’) were Guinea, in the A wave of five more versatile.
Africano da flown on medevac, troop insertion, absence of the The Esquadra
Independência da resupply and reconnaissance Sabres’ potent G91s dropping the 121 Fiats used
Guiné e Cabo Verde)
guerrillas in the
duties. A gunship version was
equipped with a Matra MG151
bombing and
strafing threat.
maximum load in general-purpose,
demolition and
Guinean jungle with
a 37mm anti-aircraft cannon mounted in the left rear The guerrillas succession was often fragmentation
cannon. door, being known as the ‘Lobo increased their bombs
MARIO SOARES FOUNDATION Mau’ in Portuguese, meaning ‘Big popular support sufficient to destroy depending on the
ABOVE RIGHT:
Bad Wolf’. Portugal’s military was
the first France supplied with the
and built an
effective network
the AAA guns targets and two
300-litre napalm
The FAP’s piston-
engined Dornier Alouette III and had developed the of anti-aircraft canisters were
Do 27s and T-6 fearsome gunship in Angola after artillery (AAA). After months of carried on the wing root stations.
Texans/Harvards experimenting with various machine fruitless searching by Portugal Napalm was mainly used against
performed valiantly gun configurations. In its own among its NATO partners for an the PAIGC’s AAA sites, bases and
over Guinea, but
counter-insurgency wars, Rhodesia F-86 replacement, West Germany other structures — its employment
were extremely
vulnerable. These followed the Portuguese example by agreed to sell 40 Fiat G91R/4 attack was usually confined to the dry
examples are installing MG151s in its Alouette IIIs, jets that would not be affected by season in Guinea, from November
pictured at Nova known as the ‘K-Car’. The FAP’s peak a UN arms embargo on Portugal’s to May. Declassified FAP documents
Lamego. FAP deployment of Alouettes in Guinea African wars. on napalm use in Guinea from late

1968 to February 1973 show that
an average of 40 300-litre and 42
80-litre bombs were dropped per
month. The G91s were also an ideal
reconnaissance platform, vertical
and oblique cameras being used to
locate PAIGC anti-aircraft batteries
and bases in neighbouring states
and infiltration routes.
The initial objective of the new
G91 squadron was to destroy the
PAIGC AAA emplacements that
had been built up in the south of
Guinea as well as to interdict enemy
movements on roads, trails and
rivers, especially coming from the
Republic of Guinea. On their first
missions over southern Guinea the
Esquadra 121 Fiats attracted intense
fire from ZPU-1 12.7mm (0.5in)
single-barrel and ZPU-4 14.5mm
(0.5in) single and multi-barrel
heavy machine guns introduced by
the PAIGC fighters in the summer of
1966, assisted by highly experienced
Cuban ‘advisors’.
Most G91 missions for the

remainder of the year were armed
reconnaissances, although during
Operation ‘Estoque’ the jets worked
with T-6s and the C-47 bomber to
attack anti-aircraft positions. Two
Fiats received hits from the ZPU‑4
heavy machine guns on these
missions, and during early 1967
six G91s joined 11 T-6s and seven
Alouette IIIs carrying paratroopers
in an operation to destroy PAIGC
guns around the River Geba.
Esquadra 121 lost its first Fiat
in February 1967 after Maj Santos
Morreira’s aircraft was damaged by
the blast of its own bombs. Guided
by his wingman, Morreira tried to
return to BA 12 but was forced to
eject before reaching Bissalanca. A
shortage of bombs until 1968 meant
G91 attacks on PAIGC gunners were
often made with low-level single
bomb runs against the enemy’s
foxholes, which were usually less
than 2m (6.5ft) wide. This single-pass
bombing method proved difficult
and dangerous for the Fiat pilots, but
when sufficient quantities of 200kg
(441lb) and 50kg (110lb) bombs
arrived in early 1968 the tactic
changed to a 600kg (1,323lb) load
drop in a single high-speed pass.
TOP: A T-6’s machine guns being rearmed at BA 12 in 1968. The FAP Texans/Harvards were fitted with old
A wave of five G91s dropping the Browning 0.303in machine guns taken from the air arm’s Spitfires and Hurricanes, which had been retired
maximum load in succession was in the 1950s. JOSÉ NICO
often sufficient to destroy the AAA MIDDLE: The first ‘Gina’ supplied to the FAP was G91R/4 serial 5401, photographed in flight over Guinea
guns and cause the guerrillas to flee. during 1968. This aircraft was the sole example delivered to Greece in 1961 before its G91 order was
In 1968 António de Spínola, a cancelled, being redirected to West Germany and later supplied to Portugal. FAP
Portuguese cavalry general, took BOTTOM: A pair of G 91s on the flightline at BA 12 in 1968, showing the shark’s mouth markings applied to
over as Guinea’s governor and Esquadra 121’s aircraft at this stage. JOSÉ NICO

military commander, and launched amid rumours the PAIGC was January 1973 by a PAIGC rival. At
a belated drive to develop the creating its own air force, the FAP his funeral a Soviet official informed
impoverished colony and take the chief of staff (CEMFA) instructed the new PAIGC leadership that the
fight to the PAIGC. Spínola also BA 12 to urgently review its radar missile request had been granted
decided the enemy AAA sites in and anti-aircraft defences. The air and a group of fighters should be
southern Guinea were still a threat. arm had lost its air-to-air capability sent to Russia for training. The
During a joint forces operation that when the Sabres were recalled to first SA-7 arrived at Conakry in the
April to take out six ZPU-1s and a Portugal, and it was decided the Republic of Guinea that March and
ZPU-4, two G91s and a Do 27 were G91 could not be used as a fighter would be used within a week, the
damaged but managed to make it after a test installation of AIM-9B missile’s initial employment by
back to BA 12. As a consequence, Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and non-regular troops.
Esquadra 121 was provided with a K-14 computing gyro gunsight In northern Guinea on 20 March,
reinforcements to bring its strength proved unsuccessful. Portugal the PAIGC made its first SA-7 firing
to 12 Fiats. acquired Crotale missiles from at a G91 flown by Lt Col José Brito.
The unit lost its second Fiat in July France in 1974 and unsuccessfully The missile missed but neither the
1968 when Lt Costa Gomes was hit tried to get American FIM‑43A pilot nor his wingman, Lt Miguel
by ZPU-1 fire near an army garrison. Redeye missiles via circuitous Pessoa, realised they were dealing
Gomes ejected and was found by channels. But the French air defence with a new enemy weapon. Two days
a Portuguese system only later the PAIGC fired another SA-7 at
soldier who
refused to believe Gomes ejected arrived during
the final months
a Dornier Do 27. It too missed. The
Dornier pilot, however, called for a
he was a pilot,
claiming he
and was found by a of the war in
Guinea.
strike on the suspected launch site.
Two G91s responded but both were
looked too old. Portuguese soldier The Soviet- targeted by missiles, as was a third
The G91s made SA-7 was Fiat sent to the location.
continued to who refused to first used in The PAIGC SA-7s would not shoot
monitor and
regularly attack
believe he was a pilot, combat in 1969
by Egyptian
down an FAP aircraft until 25 March.
Pessoa’s Fiat took the full impact of a
the PAIGC’s claiming he looked troops against missile while flying at 1,000ft to repel
heavy machine Israeli aircraft. a PAIGC attack on the Guiledge
guns until 1970, too old The missile garrison in northern Guinea. The
when Soviet- made its debut PAIGC had shelled the Portuguese
supplied 37mm anti-aircraft cannon in the Vietnam War during early Army base in expectation that the
were introduced by the enemy to 1972 when North Vietnamese FAP would dispatch a Fiat, and the
BELOW:
A Fiat streams its
claw back some advantage over regular soldiers started using the guerrillas were anxious to bring
drag ’chute on the FAP. But up to 1973, when a highly portable, shoulder-launched down a Portuguese aircraft after
landing at BA 12 potent, game-changing weapon system. By June, 45 US aircraft had days of misses.
during 1970. unexpectedly came into the PAIGC been lost to the SA-7 and the missile Pessoa lost engine power and
EGÍDIO LOPES inventory, the FAP maintained air was recognised as a serious threat to his flight controls. With the G91
supremacy in Guinea, enabling all air assets, especially helicopters descending rapidly, he ejected at low
BELOW RIGHT:
Portugal was the
it to support Portuguese ground and slow-flying aeroplanes. level and fractured a leg after landing
first export customer troops, evacuate wounded soldiers, Having read reports of the SA‑7’s in a tree. He spent 20 hours hiding
for the Alouette resupply bases and closely monitor use in Vietnam, PAIGC leader in thick forest avoiding capture but
III, and made PAIGC troop movements and anti- Amílcar Cabral visited Moscow in the PAIGC military commander,
good use of the aircraft batteries using the Fiats’ June 1972 to request delivery of the João Bernardo Vieira, said his men
helicopter in Guinea. reconnaissance cameras. weapon as a means of challenging were celebrating their first SA-7 kill
These examples
are engaged on a
After two FAP T-6s were buzzed Portugal’s air superiority in Guinea, so much they didn’t notice Pessoa’s
medevac sortie at by Republic of Guinea Air Force which he saw as the sole military ejection. That evening the downed
Farim in 1973. MiG‑17Fs near Guinea’s southern reason Lisbon was clinging to the FAP pilot fired a flare that was seen
JORGE CANHÃO border region in April 1968, and colony. Cabral was assassinated in by Brito, flying his Fiat to search for

his colleague. Special forces were March when his G91 was hit on a elite all-female FAP unit. Its 48 CLOCKWISE
sent the next day to bring Pessoa bombing raid at Madina do Boe. nurses were qualified to deploy FROM TOP LEFT:
back to BA 12 by Alouette III. by parachute and use weapons A Harvard IV totes
rockets and machine
Despite Esquadra 121 commander if necessary. Antunes had been guns above the
Brito’s close encounter with the For the FAP, the costliest day aboard the Alouette on Pessoa’s dense Guinean
new, extremely dangerous weapon of the war in Guinea was 6 April. dramatic rescue from the jungle, jungle during 1968.
a few days earlier, he continued to Two Do 27s and a T-6 were hit by and after the war they married in JOSÉ NICO
believe the PAIGC was using rocket- SA-7s, killing three pilots and four Lisbon. Miguel and Giselda Pessoa
propelled grenades to attack the FAP servicemen. A third Do 27 was are believed to be the only couple in March 1973’s
successful recovery
aircraft. He had also been informed damaged by the shockwave from the world to have survived separate of G91 pilot
by Portugal’s intelligence services a missile but managed to limp SAM attacks. They organise regular Miguel Pessoa by
that the PAIGC would be supplied back to BA 12. Among the crew on reunions and dinners for ex- Portuguese special
with the missiles. Tragically, Brito the surviving Dornier was Giselda combatants from Guinea. forces.
became the SA-7’s first victim on 28 Antunes, a para-nurse from an The FAP suspended all operations DELGADINHO RODRIGUES
in Guinea for at least two days after

CCF-built Harvard
the losses on 6 April. Its helicopters,
FIAT FIREPOWER
IV serial 1744 served
T-6s and Do 27s were grounded for with the US Air Force
several weeks while new procedures as a T-6G, prior to
T
were devised to deal with the joining the West
he Fiat G91R/4 as used by the FAP was identical to the R/1 SA-7 threat. The consequent lack German Luftwaffe in
1956, and then the
version that served with the Italian Air Force, with an additional of medevac and close support
FAP in 1964. Four
two underwing hardpoints and the same avionics as the provision in this period proved years after that it
Luftwaffe’s R/3 variant. The Portuguese Fiats had a maximum demoralising for Portuguese troops was photographed
bomb load of 680kg (1,500lb) comprising two 340kg (750lb) bombs on and resulted in the PAIGC taking over Guinea from an
the wing root stations. They could, furthermore, carry eight SNEB 70mm control of more of Guinea. Alouette III. JOSÉ NICO
(2.75in) rockets on the outboard stations or four 50kg (110lb) bombs in On 1 September 1973 Capt Carlos
The 14.5mm (0.5in)
place of the rockets. The most common weapons configuration was four Wanzeller lost control of his G91
ZPU-4 anti-aircraft
outboard 50kg bombs with two 200kg (441lb) bombs on the inner on a bombing mission. He ejected gun proved a
stations. Two 320-litre external fuel tanks could be carried on the root and was recovered by an Alouette dangerous weapon
stations. The G91 was also armed with four 0.5in-calibre machine guns III. A subsequent investigation in PAIGC hands.
with 300 rounds apiece. could not determine the cause and MARIO SOARES FOUNDATION
exonerated the pilot.

On 31 January 1974 Lt Castro Gil’s

G91 was hit by an SA-7 as it climbed
away from bombing guerrillas who
were attacking a northern army
base near the frontier with Senegal.
Gil ejected and landed near enemy
lines. He kept moving through the
night to evade PAIGC troops on his
tail. Portuguese special forces started
searching for Gil the next morning
and found his parachute and
ejection seat but no sign of the pilot.
A Do 27 sent to find him failed to see
his flare. Gil eventually persuaded
some friendly villagers to give him a
lift on a bicycle for 20km through the
jungle to an army base, from where
he was flown by C-47 to AB 12 in the
evening. A party in honour of the
young airman left him confined to
the base’s military hospital in a state
of drunkenness. A nurse coming
on duty, not knowing about Gil’s
recent ordeal and rescue, decided to
confine him to the psychiatric ward!
The PAIGC had a monopoly on
guerrilla-operated SA-7s for a few
weeks. In May 1973 the Palestine
Liberation Organisation (PLO)
received the missile, which they
ABOVE: The appearance of the SA-7 A PAIGC SA-7 operator who used to down an Israeli F-4 Phantom
Esquadra 121 obliged the FAP to gather details surrendered to the Portuguese in the October 1973 war. Supplied by
commander Lt Col of the Soviet missile’s capabilities in October 1973 said the lack of Libya, the weapon also reportedly
José Brito’s downed
G91, serial 5419 —
and limitations. Portugal’s success against the G91s was entered the arms caches of the
the first victim of an intelligence service, the DGS, found because of difficulties in acquiring Provisional Irish Republican Army.
SA-7 surface-to-air out from West Germany’s foreign the target in a dive, and the As part of its strategy to protect its
missile in Guinea. intelligence agency, the BND, that tendency of pilots to exit a bombing G91s from the SA-7 threat, the FAP
ROEL COUTINHO the SA-7 was not able to engage or strafing run in a very tight turn, acquired dark green low-reflection
targets below 160-190ft and above surpassing the manoeuvring paint for the Fiats from France and
5,000ft, although it soon emerged capacity of the missile. Another reduced the roundels in size. Tracor
that the weapon could lock on to excellent evasive tactic practised by TBC-72 flare dispensers were
targets at up to 8,000ft. Fixed-wing the FAP Fiat pilots was to strafe in bought with a plan to fit four per
aircraft and helicopters could a dive and abandon the pass using aircraft, near the trailing edge of the
avoid the missile by using evasive a corkscrew manoeuvre until they internal weapons pylons. The US
manoeuvres and staying below were just above treetop level. This system allowed the use of thermal
190ft or above 8,000ft. meant the aircraft’s tailpipe, the flares and chaff, but was never fitted
Armed with the new information, source of infra-red emissions, was to the G91s because of the 25 April
Esquadra 121 changed its bomb more concealed than on attack runs 1974 revolution in Portugal which
run procedure. It now involved a finishing in a climb. hastened the end of the wars in
descent from 10,000ft, with bomb Guinea, Angola and Mozambique.
release at 6,000ft and the lowest The Lisbon coup was led by left-
point of the trajectory at 2,500ft. But, bombing from 6,000ft, wing, war-weary junior army officers
Working in pairs, the second G91 Esquadra 121 lost a G91 in October and swiftly restored full democracy
stayed above missile range to scout when Capt Alberto Cruz lost to Portugal. A ceasefire with the
the ground and the airspace around control of his aircraft at the end of a PAIGC was signed in May 1974. The
the other jet, giving warning by bombing run. He ejected at around guerrillas lost up to 2,000 men in
radio if a missile was fired. The SA-7 400kt, close to the Martin-Baker the conflict and became Guinea’s
produced a large cloud of white drogue ’chute rupture limit of 470kt. ruling party upon independence
smoke when its solid fuel engine Cruz lost his helmet in the violent with Luís Cabral, half-brother of
ignited, and a smoke trail which ejection and came rapidly to earth. Amílcar, being made president. The
betrayed its trajectory. If an FAP The other Fiat pilot alerted BA 12 11-year war in Guinea claimed the
pilot saw the missile approaching to what had happened and two lives of 61 FAP personnel including
he could get away from its infra-red Alouette III gunships, with another pilots, observers, para-nurses
sensor’s relatively narrow range by two Fiats as top cover, rescued Cruz. and paratroopers. Some 505 FAP
a sudden change in altitude and It later emerged that a machine gun servicemen and women were killed
heading. But the higher bombing ammunition panel on the side of in the three African theatres, out
altitude meant targets were often the aircraft had opened in flight, of a total of 9,274 Portuguese
missed by a wide margin. making the jet highly unstable. military casualties.

REMEMBERING THE FEW;
HONOURING THE MANY
Visit a living legacy, dedicated to

the men and women who lived
and served there, whose resilience made
Biggin Hill Churchill’s ‘strongest link’.
www.bhmm.org.uk
T: 01895 442123 E: ajaviation@outlook.com

Visit us at: www.ajaviation.co.uk
BOOKS FROM AJ AVIATION PUBLISHING OTHER BOOKS AVAILABLE
BLACKBUSHE-LONDON’S LOST DC-9/MD-80, Douglas DC-10, Embraer ERJ.135/145, DALRYMPLE & VERDUN PUBLISHING • No.96 Consolidated B-24 Liberator .................... £25.00
AIRPORT 1942-60 Embraer 170, Embraer 190, Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, • Fleet Air Arm Camouflage & Markings (Atlantic & • No.97 North American RA-5C Vigilante ........... £15.00
A history of RAF Hartford Bridge 1942-44 McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 & Mitsubishi Spacejet. Mediterraanean Theatres 1937 – 1941) .......... £24.95 • No.98 Avro York ............................................... £15.00
& Blackbushe Airport 1944-60. Jet Airliner Production List - Volume 3 is available in a • Tempest (Hawker’s outstanding Piston -Engined • No.101 de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth............ £14.50
This new history of Blackbushe Airport contains a wealth handy A5 size and is available in a choice of finish... Fighter) ........................................................... £21.95 • No.102 Convair B-36 Peacemaker.................... £14.50
of information on the operations of the various based [1] comb bound lay-flat price £21.95; [2] Square • Attacker (The Royal Navy’s First Operational Jet • No.103 Avro Manchester ................................. £13.00
units during World War II, detailing operations and bound with metal stitching and wrap around cover price Fighter) ........................................................... £14.95 • No.105 Sopwith Pup ....................................... £13.00
losses. The book then goes on to cover the operations, £21.95; [3] Refill pages for those who already have a • Scimitar (Supermarine’s Last Fighter).................. £19.95 • No.108 Martin Mariner & Marlin ..................... £15.50
trials and tribulations of the various independent airlines loose-leaf binder price £21.95; [4] Loose-leaf Binder • Sea Fury (In Bitish, Australian, Canadian & Dutch • No.109 Douglas C-54/R5D Skymaster ............. £19.50
that started their life at Blackbushe, their histories and Service) ........................................................... £24.95 • No.110 Westland Scout & Wasp....................... £15.00
their diverse fleets of aircraft of the period, mainly well edition price £26.95.
used hand me downs, as well as in the latter days, a • Avro Lancaster, Lincoln & York (Post-War RAF Service • No.113 Panavia Tornado ADV .......................... £16.00
smattering of new aircraft. There is also coverage of the AIRLINES TO EUROPE 2020 1945-1950) ....................................................... £19.95 • No.114 F-4 Phantom II USN, USMC & F-4J (UK)£24.00
US Navy operations from Blackbushe, and their aircraft. Our annual review of Airlines operating to and within • DH Hornet & Sea Hornet (de Haviland’s Ultimate • No.116 Hawker Fury & Nimrod ........................ £16.00
There are nearly 250 photographs, both colour and black Europe. Published in November 2019, Airlines to Europe Piston-Engined Fighter) .................................. £24.95 • No.118 North Amercian B-45 Tornado ............. £15.00
& white, some of which may have seen the light of day 2020 has followed the format of previous editions. We • Shackleton (Guardian of the Sea Lanes) .......... £16.95 • No.120 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 .................... £16.00
in the distant past, as well as a goodly number from have taken the main Airlines data base and stripped • British Military Aviation (1960s in Colour No.1). £9.95
new sources. Douglas DC-3/C-47s, Douglas DC-4/C-54, • No.121 Douglas A-4 Skyhawk ......................... £25.00
out any airlines or aircraft not likely to be seen in • Handley Page Hastings (Incl. a Brief History of the • No.122 Albatros D.I - D.III ................................ £15.00
Vickers Vikings, Vickers Viscounts, Bristol 170s, Handley Europe. Airlines to Europe lists:- 1] aircraft registration, Hermes) .......................................................... £19.95
Page Halifax, Handley Page Hermes & Avro Yorks galore, PEN & SWORD
to name but a few, as well as the odd C-46 Commando 2] Aircraft type, 3] constructors number and line number • The Nimrod (Mighty Hunter) ........................... £15.95
and Short Stirling and a selection of the diverse military if applicable, 4] immediate previous identity, Colour cover. • Flying Sailors at War (Sept1939-June 1940).... £15.95 • Colours in the Sky (Autair & Court Line) .......... £30.00
types to visit. There are fleet lists for resident airlines Price £7.50 • No Place for Beginners (Battle over Malta June • Olympic Airways - A History ............................ £30.00
(during their time at Blackbushe), and a listing of other 1940-Sept 1941) ............................................. £24.95 • The British Overeas Airways Corp - A History ... £30.00
aircraft also based at Blackbushe over the years. There is AIRLINES 2019 • The Gloster Javelin (RAF’s First Delta Wing Fighter)£16.95 • Heathrow Airport Yesterday. Today, Tomorrow £25.00
also a selection of what the author considers interesting Now in its 37th edition AIRLINES is now the established
aircraft visiting Blackbushe during its civilian tenure. WARPAINT BOOKS NAVAL FIGHTERS
Blackbushe-London’s lost airport 1942 - 60, has a total of book for airline fleet listings in an easy to carry format. • No.89 Avro Lancaster....................................... £15.50 • No.107 Sikorsky HR2S-1/. H37A/CH-37C ......... £38.99
132 pages, on quality 115gsm stock, with a wrap around This publication lists airline fleets where aircraft from • No.90 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress .................. £16.00 • No.108 McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom.................... £43.99
soft back cover on 170gsm stock. light twins to wide-bodies are operated. Each aircraft • No.94 Supermaine Attacker ............................ £13.00 • No.109 Douglas A-4C/L Skyhawk Navy ........... £37.99
Price for the book is £14.99 (post free), is listed with registration, type, constructors number, • No.95 Westland Sea King ................................ £16.00 • No.110 Douglas A-4C/L Skyhawk .................... £16.99
and you won’t need a mortgage to purchase a copy! previous identity and line number (if applicable), fleet
number and or name when applicable. NEARLY 200
JET AIRLINER PRODUCTION LIST - VOL 3 COUNTRIES; OVER 3,000 AIRLINES, OPERATORS & WATER Jan & Tony’s retail counter is at AERO, 4 Horton Parade, Horton Road,
Published in October 2019 - Jet Airliner Production List TANKER FLEETS; OVER 33,000 REGISTRATIONS; HEX West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 8EP - Open Monday - Saturday 10am to 4pm
- Volume 3 has been totally revised and updated. Each CODES, WHERE KNOWN; IN EXCESS OF 6,000 ADDITIONS, We carry a varied range of aviation related books from major publishers,
aircraft is listed by manufacturer and type in construction CHANGES & AMENDMENTS SINCE LAST EDITION; and a large range of plastic model kits & accessories.
number sequence. Each individual entry then lists line
number (where applicable), sub-type, and first flight CURRENT TO MID MARCH 2019; COLOUR COVER. 10% DISCOUNT for ATC Squadrons, IPMS members and genuine model clubs/
date where known. The entry then goes on to list every Available in a choice of finish:- [1] Comb bound lay-flat societies on over the counter sales on production of a current membership card.
registration carried by the airframe, owners and delivery price £16.95; [2] Square bound with wrap around
dates, leases, crash or withdrawal from service dates and cover & metal stitching price £16.95; [3] Refill pages We attend numerous aviation related events, flyins, conventions and a
any other relevant information. There is a complete cross number of model shows. We look forward to seeing you soon.
reference of registration to c/n for every type covered. for those who already have a loose-leaf binder price
Types covered include Canadair RJ.100/200, Canadair £16.95; [4] Loose-leaf Binder edition price £21.95. We accept major credit cards, cheques and postal orders for mail order,
RJ.700, Canadair RJ.900, Canadair RJ.1000, Comac which should be made payable to AJ Aviation.
ARJ.21, Convair 880, Convair 990, Douglas DC-8. Douglas A SELECTION OF OTHER BOOK TITLES AVAILABLE
Mail order is post free in the UK, and at cost for our overseas customers.
“LET’S PUT A de HAVILLAND
MOSQUITO BACK INTO THE SKIES
OVER BRITAIN”
THE MOSQUITO WAS

BRITISH ENGINEERING AT ITS BEST
BORN FROM THE REQUIREMENTS OF WAR, BUT GIVEN LIFE
BY THE INGENUITY AND PERSEVERANCE OF THE BRITISH
ENGINEERING SPIRIT.
www.thewoodenwonder.org.uk
Charity No. 1173706
BE OUR WINGMAN AND HELP US FLY
To return a partially complete
de HAVILLAND MOSQUITO PROJECT
TO FULL AIRWORTHY STATUS
for display in the UK.
A BRITISH LEGEND
THE MOSQUITO PATHFINDER TRUST

Returning a Mosquito to the skies over Britain
PRESERVATION HISTORY Mosquito RR299
LIFE WITH
A LEGEND Recollections of Mosquito RR299 may fade, but are never
totally forgotten. As plans to give the UK another flying ‘Mossie’
gather pace, we talked to two of ’299’s illustrious former British
Aerospace pilots about campaigning the much-missed machine
around airshows at home and abroad WORDS: BEN DUNNELL
T
here seemed no end to exhibit, its presence virtually taken For the Hawker Siddeley and
it. A Venom accident at for granted. The events of 21 July British Aerospace test pilots who
Hawarden that could have 1996 changed all that, and claimed flew the Mosquito, the chance to do
ended in tragedy, the P-38 two lives. The loss of RR299, of pilot so was a privileged one. Its demise
Lightning crash at Duxford that Kevin Moorhouse and engineer was deeply felt; that of two company
killed ‘Hoof’ Proudfoot, the non- Steve Watson during a display at colleagues, all the more so. But, for
fatal Bristol Freighter loss at Enstone Barton near Manchester sent further Tony Craig and John Sadler, whose
— July 1996 had already been a shockwaves through a vintage time with RR299 coincided during
terrible month for British historic aircraft scene that was already the 1980s and early ’90s, many
aviation. Then it got even worse. reeling from the events of the past marvellous recollections remain.
Somehow, to be without Mosquito few weeks. An aircraft that, to many, They help tell the story of its airshow
TIII RR299 was unthinkable. It had always been around was gone, heyday — which, had it continued
seemed as permanent a part of our along with two popular men closely past 1996, would have been in
aviation heritage as any museum associated with it. different hands.
A late-1980s image by
a British Aerospace
photographer of
Mosquito RR299.
AVIATION-IMAGES.COM
50-56,61_AM_PreservationHistory_Dec19_cc C.indd 50 02/11/2019 12:44

What was then still known as the
de Havilland Division of Hawker
Siddeley Aviation had acquired
RR299 during 1963, and registered
it as G-ASKH on 12 July that year.
Test pilot Pat Fillingham, who had
flown many Mosquitos during
wartime, delivered it from storage at
Shawbury to the HSA factory airfield
at Hawarden in September. For the
next three seasons the machine was
displayed in a silver scheme, but
in 1968 camouflage was applied
for film purposes, specifically the
making of Mosquito Squadron.
Dummy nose guns were added, and
for a time RR299 was re-serialled
as ‘HJ695’, as well as sporting the
fictional squadron codes HT-P and
HT-E. This was, of course, the sequel
to 633 Squadron, in which several
other ex-No 3 Civilian Anti-Aircraft
Co-operation Unit machines had
participated, but not this one.
While the guns and the false
serial were removed once filming
was done, the camouflage and
HT-E codes remained. The pattern out. He briefed me, and on 18 May tests, so we learned how to do that. ABOVE:
for RR299’s future was set. Famous 1984, off I went”. If this sounds a little When you took off the props were in Wearing the silver
test pilots took the controls for its perfunctory, consider that RR299, fully fine [pitch], so there was a lot scheme in which
it started being
display appearances: the likes of despite being a TIII, did not have of drag if you lost an engine. It was operated by Hawker
John Cunningham, Pat Fillingham, dual controls. The right-hand stick something to be thought about but Siddeley, RR299
Ron Clear, Chris Capper and George had been removed years earlier. probably never practised. takes off from
Aird. So it continued after HSA “The ‘Mossie’ was not easy on the Farnborough in
was merged into British Aerospace brakes. You used the brakes to keep September 1966.
ADRIAN M. BALCH COLLECTION
during 1977. George Ellis, also As Craig recalls, “Because I came it straight from the beginning of the
a Shuttleworth Collection pilot, through on jets, I didn’t have much take-off run to when you got the tail
joined the roster. And, as the 1980s asymmetric practice, and I certainly up. It was a case of having the rudder
dawned, there was a need to bring didn’t get any ‘big props on the full left and applying a little bit of
in further new blood. wings’ practice, with the torque brake — a second or two later you
As an RAF engineer turned that comes off them and the scary got the effect. It was delayed, which
Lightning pilot, Tony Craig’s time on possibility of losing an engine. You was difficult to control, and it’s
the English Electric fighter included had to think about that a lot, but caught out a lot of people who aren’t
a season of solo displays. He had then grit your teeth and get on with used to that sort of aeroplane. You
joined BAe as a production test pilot it. We did feather engines on the air could use slightly differential props,
on the 125 executive jet in late 1979. but we tended to just set the thrust
John Sadler’s first ever flight was a and hope the rudder would keep you
Dragon Rapide joyride from West going straight once you got the tail
Malling, so DH twins were a big part up and had the airflow over the fin.
of his story. Later he was an RAF Then it was easy to keep straight.
Canberra pilot, Empire Test Pilots’ “On landing, learning it from ab
School graduate and Royal Aircraft initio with not many experienced
Establishment test pilot before going people around you, you had to work
to BAe in 1982, again mainly on 125s. it out for yourself. What I used to do
They were the fortunate two. was a tail-down wheeler. You put it
Craig’s first Mosquito flight was on the mainwheels, slightly above
on 15 September 1981. “I sat with stall speed, lowered the tail onto the
George Ellis on a trip from Hatfield ground and hoped you could keep it
to Chester, and I did an air test with straight with the brakes. With quite
George Aird, who showed me how long runways where we did displays,
the aeroplane worked. He then just it was much safer to do it that way
said, ‘Off you go’. My first solo was on than to try and three-point, because
3 May 1983”. Sadler followed soon it would bounce on you if you got
afterwards. “Tony took it down to it wrong. The chance of getting it
Hatfield one day in June 1983, and wrong was quite high when you were
VIA TONY CRAIG
I went as a passenger. I thought it learning. It became easier, but not

was great. Tony flew it back, and too easy. You never, ever, presumed
later he said he’d give me a check- you could do it perfectly.”

ABOVE: As a former Canberra qualified close. I gave a sharp burst of power and the props looking good, and
Outside the BAe flying instructor, Sadler was well- on the right engine. That stopped being gentle with it. If you pulled
Service Centre versed in tricky asymmetric control the yawing and it was easy then too tight you would get close to the
at Hawarden in
April 1984 after an
issues, while Shackleton time at the to restore order. I cleaned up the high-speed stall, which you didn’t
annual service and RAE meant he knew about heavy aircraft and taxied happily in, to be want to get anywhere near. You had
repainting of the taildragger handling. Even so, on met with knowing looks from the to keep positive g on. It was really
‘HT-E’ code letters first acquaintance the Mosquito was groundcrew. For sensitive to zero
in a larger-scale
format. Incidentally,
a different kettle of fish. Landing
back at Hawarden, he recalls, “I had
a considerable
time afterwards We were like or negative g — it
just wouldn’t do
the port engine was
a Merlin 25 and the
a momentary pang that I was going
to write it off. Tony had advised me
my sinuous tyre
marks on the
a little flying club. it. And you had
to be super-
starboard one a
Merlin 502, the only to do a wheeler landing rather than a runway served as There was a great sympathetic to
differences being in three-pointer. You could then lower a silent rebuke to the feel of the
the installation. On the tailwheel onto the runway in an over-confidence.” feeling of freedom, controls, because
both, the high-speed
supercharger mode
orderly fashion, compensating for
the propellers’ gyroscopic effects as
With
conversion
but at the same time you got the
aerodynamic feel
had been disabled.
STUART HOWE VIA IAN THIRSK you did so. On my first landing I did complete, the a feeling that we had through them.”
indeed get a swing to the right as the display circuit BAe’s Mosquito
ABOVE RIGHT: tail dropped. Also, of course, with beckoned. to get it right operation was
In Mosquito all three wheels on the ground the Craig says, “My no grand affair
Squadron movie aircraft loses its directional stability. philosophy when flying displays — quite the reverse. For the pilots,
markings as ‘HJ695’
at Hatfield in July
Despite my smartly applying a was never to scare the audience it was like being owner-operators,
1968. The dummy bootful of left rudder and a heavy by doing something brave, but just taking the show bookings and doing
guns, subsequently squeeze of left brake, the yawing to present a good aeroplane. That all the surrounding admin. The
removed, are notable continued and the edge of the meant getting the engines perfectly company management had no input
too. ADRIAN M. BALCH runway was getting uncomfortably in sync, so they made a nice sound, at all. It was only when Tony Craig

arrived that organisers began having
to pay for the privilege of seeing
RR299 at their events. “When Chris
[Capper] and George [Aird] flew
it they didn’t charge anything”, he
says. “I thought it was sensible to put
a price on its head, not because we
benefited financially by flying it, but
because I felt it ought to pay its way
a bit. We charged a modest fee to
keep it going.” The rare sight of RR299 in service
John Sadler still smiles at the with No 204 Advanced Flying
School, airborne from Brize Norton
thought. “It was like being in the air in October 1949 and photographed
force, but without any supervision. It from one of the unit’s other TIIIs or
was astonishing. We were like a little an FBVI. ROY QUANTICK
flying club. We had revised pilot’s
RR299’S RAF DAYS

notes, with a maximum of 250kt and
8lb of boost and so on, but it was
then up to us what we did with it.
M
Other than that, there were no rules
— nothing laid down, except what osquito TIII RR299 rolled off the Brooklands Aviation conducted repairs, after
was in the Air Navigation Order. de Havilland production line at which RR299 was stored with No 22 MU at
There was a great feeling of freedom, Leavesden, Hertfordshire, in early Silloth. de Havilland flew the aircraft from
but at the same time a feeling that 1945. The machine was taken on Hatfield for a time, starting in November 1952.
we had to get it right, otherwise we’d RAF charge on 14 April that year and delivered Its next RAF allocation was to the Benson-based
be in serious trouble. to No 51 Operational Training Unit at Cranfield, Ferry Training Unit in September 1954, but that
but its impending disbandment saw a period of lasted just a month. Again the airframe entered
storage with No 27 Maintenance Unit at storage, with No 48 MU at Hawarden — a future
“The first time I took the aircraft Shawbury from June. It emerged by December, base for ’299 — and No 12 MU at Kirkbride.
away was 1985, for a double bill at when the Pershore-based No 1 Ferry Unit The Mosquito’s RAF days were drawing to a
Inverness Airport and, would you transferred the aeroplane to Cairo and Aden, close. May 1957 saw this example going to the
believe, Filton. Between Inverness where it served with No 114 Squadron. Home Command Examining Unit at White
and Bristol, half-way there is Chester. Returning home in May 1949, RR299 was Waltham. Between April 1959 and March 1963,
I said to [engineer] Bill Brayshaw that allocated to No 204 Advanced Flying School at RR299’s final service was from Exeter with No 3
we’d go and have a little look at my Driffield and subsequently Brize Norton. This Civilian Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit, where it
daughter’s school, which overlooked posting was short-lived, for on 19 December and other TIIIs converted pilots destined to fly
Chester racecourse, because they 1949 a swing on landing at Brize while being the TT35 target tugs, provided refresher and
were having some kind of do for the flown by a Burmese Air Force pilot resulted in instrument training, and acted as non-towing
parents. We whizzed across there the port undercarriage being torn off, and major targets. Its job done, RR299 went back to
and carried on down to Filton, where damage to the fuselage and port wing. storage at Shawbury, but a new life beckoned.
we were well received by [chief test
pilot] John Lewis, and went to our
hotel. I rang Jill [Sadler’s wife] and me, ‘Who’s your boss?’ I told him it them. We only had a certain number OPPOSITE PAGE,
she asked, ‘Are you all right?’ ‘Yes, was so-and-so down at Hatfield. As of crystals for the VHF set. But I TOP LEFT TO RIGHT:
why?’ ‘Oh, I’ve been in a terrible soon as I put the ’phone down I rang managed to get through to Sion. I John Sadler was at
the helm of RR299
state. When you flew across the the boss and told him I’d refused the was flying down the Rhône valley for this memorable
school, I was convinced you were Chief of the Air Staff. He said, ‘Well and I could see Mont Blanc, so I formation with
going to frighten the horses at the done’. He refused him as well.” was happy with that. I asked them his former BAe
races’. She’d imagined that they’d As an aircraft for lengthy overseas what the weather was like. They said colleague George
gone berserk and bolted everywhere. display deployments, being rapid it was a bit cloudy, but there was a Aird in Mosquito B35
I’d no idea and blithely carried on…” and long-legged, the Mosquito was gap over the airfield. I turned, went RS712, before the
latter was delivered
That freedom manifested itself especially good. A memorable sortie up the valley on a heading of 080 or across the Atlantic to
in other ways, too. “I’d just been for Sadler was to the show at Sion, thereabouts and told them I was on Kermit Weeks during
promoted to chief production test Switzerland, in June 1986. “The my way. I said to Bill, ‘There’s a hole 1987. BAE SYSTEMS
pilot”, remembers Craig, “when the weather was fine until we got to the there. I wonder if that’s where Sion
PSO [personal staff officer] of the Jura mountains. I knew the height is?’ Luckily, it was. They cleared me Space in RR299’s
Chief of the Air Staff rang up one day. of the ground around me, I knew to circle down and land, and I came cockpit had been
improved by removal
He said, ‘The Chief of the Air Staff my safety height, and I climbed to down through this hole.” of the right-hand
wants to fly your aeroplane’. I learned that, clearing cloud as far as I could. The Sion venue, bordered by stick, but it remained
a bit about what he was wanting, and By this time I wasn’t worried about mountains on one side, is rather on the cramped
said I could probably get him in the icing, but I was worried by the fact unusual. “It’s hidden in a valley, side, and getting in
right seat and show him round. ‘No’, that we were at 10,000ft, which was and when I looked at the contours and out — not least
he said, ‘he wants to fly it himself. our limit without any oxygen. I let of it — strewth! It was tight on the for the engineer or
passenger — proved
He wants it for his logbook’. Having it climb up very gently to 13,000, south side. North of Sion, the ground a bit of a trial.
left the air force as a junior squadron checking that Bill [Brayshaw] was all was gently rising, and once I’d got VIA JOHN SADLER
leader, it was quite fun to say I just right. ‘Yep, fine’, he said. my orientation I could turn to the
couldn’t allow the Chief of the Air “I tried to call Geneva control, north of the airfield to reposition. It
Staff to fly our Mosquito. He asked but I wasn’t getting anything out of went fine”. Showing the aircraft’s

I took time to
fly over the Möhne
dam, circling it
gently at 2,000ft
over the top. That
was a lovely thing
to do with two
Merlins
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Tony Craig presents a picture of RR299 to Barry Jones (left), the then Labour MP for Alyn and Deeside, whose
constituency included Hawarden airfield. Among the others in attendance are engineers Bill Brayshaw and Steve Watson. VIA TONY CRAIG
John Sadler (right) after a trip from Wyton in May 1989 with Forbes Smith, who did three tours on No 16 Squadron in the Canberra, Buccaneer and
Tornado GR1. VIA JOHN SADLER
The view from the cockpit as John Sadler formates RR299 on Shuttleworth’s DH88 Comet Grosvenor House, in the hands of fellow BAe Mosquito
pilot George Ellis, near Old Warden in May 1989. VIA JOHN SADLER
Tony Craig’s last Mosquito flight included an escort to Leeming by a No 23 Squadron Tornado F3. VIA TONY CRAIG
Elvington, 15 May 1991: the 50th anniversary of the maiden flight of the prototype Mosquito night-fighter, and the inaugural outing for Tony Agar’s
part-restored NFII HJ711. Peter Henley brought RR299 in to the airfield near York to create a unique spectacle. By this time, Agar had been able to fly
in the BAe machine. KEN COTHLIFF

capabilities, with his slot at Sion evening. On another occasion, Tony RAF Museum, as a volunteer on ABOVE:
complete and the fuel topped up, was doing a show at Gütersloh, “and the Mosquito restoration team at Two outstanding
Sadler transited direct to Dunsfold I took time off to fly over the Möhne what was then the Mosquito Aircraft generations of British
strike aircraft. RR299
for a display there, and finished the dam, circling it gently at 2,000ft over Museum — now the de Havilland appeared at Wyton
day with a third demo at Coningsby. the top. That was a lovely thing to do Aircraft Museum — he acted as the on 13 May 1989 to
Surely no other airworthy historic with two Merlins…” liaison with RR299’s maintenance help celebrate the
aeroplane could have done that. The presence of an engineer team. “We’d regularly supply 40th anniversary of
Craig once took RR299 to was invaluable. During Craig and spares and technical information the Canberra’s first
Kristiansand in Norway. “We headed Sadler’s time, Bill Brayshaw and to maintain RR299 in return for a flight, appropriately
enough with former
off towards Teesside and across the Steve Watson did the honours. free air display over Salisbury Hall Canberra pilot and
North Sea, and I got hopelessly lost. Nominally they had other jobs, every summer”, he recalls. A good qualified flying
We didn’t coast out where I wanted but, Sadler says, “They were always example of that assistance came in instructor John
to coast out, and it took a lot of there. They were very thorough July 1988, when a new pilot making Sadler at the helm;
recovery and talking to air traffic, but in looking after the Mosquito. his first flight on type ground- coming in to land
we got there and did the airshow. Every year the wood was tested for looped the machine at Hawarden. is one of the two
Canberra T4s (in
Coming back, I headed towards moisture, and the engines were very As Thirsk says, it “suffered extensive this case WT478)
Teesside again and ended up thoroughly examined and tested. damage to the undercarriage due painted in what were
hearing someone say, ‘The ‘Mossie’s’ That was pretty well a full-time job.” to sideways loading — fortunately thought to have been
going down the Firth of Forth’. I got it she didn’t end up on her belly. The prototype VN799’s
back home by tracking south along Mosquito Museum was able to colours, piloted on a
the east coast prior to turning west Their efforts ensured excellent provide the necessary replacement commemoration of
the maiden flight by
for Liverpool to clear customs. The serviceability, though Sadler recalls, undercarriage components, some Sqn Ldr Dave Watson
compass was set incorrectly because, “I had to land it once because of which originated from a spares and the great Roland
when they did the compass swing on an engine failed in flight. Steve cache of ex-RNZAF FBVI parts Beamont.
the ground, the tail was down by 20° and I had been to Folkestone” — received from Ted Packer in New PETER R. FOSTER
and there was a huge parallax on the taking part in 1990’s inaugural Zealand, to enable RR299 to be
compass which was not allowed for. Shepway Airshow, where RR299 repaired and flown again two
They swung it again, and you could led five warbird fighters in the months later.”
fly really accurately on it.” finale formation — “and we were A display at Salisbury Hall on 25
Scandinavia was a favourite doing a routine flight home to November 1990 was John Sadler’s
destination, given the strong Hawarden when the right engine penultimate trip in RR299. That
‘Mossie’ connections with Norway began to cough. We were right date was the 50th anniversary of
and Sweden. Both Craig and Sadler over Southend, so I said we were the prototype Mosquito’s maiden
flew RR299 to Västerås, the latter’s going to land there. The fuel pump flight. One more demo followed,
appearance, in 1987, being shown had failed, and the engine was at Shawbury in December. Tony
live on Swedish TV and including a still running, but roughly. I kept it Craig continued for a little longer,
formation with B-17 Sally B. Again running, but we landed on one- making his last Mosquito flight on
that day the aircraft’s performance and-a-half engines, effectively. We his birthday, 11 May 1991. That
was used to the full, John making it got the train home.” occasion was doubly special as
back in time to display at Finningley Also helping was Ian Thirsk. he was escorted to Leeming by a
and get home to Chester the same Today head of collections at the pair of Tornado F3s from No 23

It’s often forgotten how close the

Mosquito came to disaster on 27
September 1992. In good weather,
Henley and Watson were flying
at 2,500ft near the south-western
Dutch town of Axel, en route
between Hawarden and Antwerp,
when RR299 was in collision with
a glider. At the time, Henley told
Aeroplane, “We were aware that the
glider had come very close, but it
was only after landing at Antwerp
and filing an airmiss report that
we discovered the two aircraft had
actually collided”. Damage was
confined to a nick in one of the
Mosquito’s propeller blades and a
lost wingtip on the glider. Both had
been very fortunate indeed.
ABOVE: Squadron, his old Lightning unit. major overhaul. Its fabric was Henley loved flying the ‘Mossie’. It
When the Aircraft Both of them had decided they also renewed, this being done by had, he wrote, “a wonderful patina
Restoration were too busy with BAe 125 flying Clive Denney of Vintage Fabrics of age and use, and an abundance
Company’s freshly
to carry on with the ‘Mossie’ — and, with the assistance of Ian Thirsk of that unique aeroplane smell
restored Blenheim
IV, ‘Z5722’, first most importantly, to do so safely, and the Mosquito Museum. When usually attributed to a heady
appeared on the given the burden of flight planning they came to conduct the repaint, mixture of sweat, aviation gasoline,
circuit in 1993, in those pre- Second Tactical hydraulic oil and gently cooked
several times the internet days. Air Force-style electrics”. His last season was
Mosquito joined it — Talented It had that D-Day invasion 1993, concluding on 4 October
as here at Duxford’s
Classic Fighter show.
replacements
were available to
unique aeroplane stripes were
applied, but
with a display over an address
in the south London suburb of
John Romain and
John Davies were the take up RR299’s smell attributed BAe elected to Coulsdon. Henley recalled, “This
respective pilots on reins. Peter Tait retain the old was, I think, a generous present
this occasion. was director of to sweat, aviation HT-E film codes by a son to his father, who had
BEN DUNNELL flight operations
for BAe Regional
gasoline, hydraulic rather than have
the machine
flown Mosquitoes in the war.
The Civil Aviation Authority had
Aircraft at
Hatfield, while
oil and gently cooked represent a
particular
sensibly issued authority for a
limited display on the outer fringe
Peter Henley electrics airframe of suburbia, but Woodplace Lane
worked as from a real was not all that easy to find, and
vice-president of flight operations squadron. Many considered this I relied heavily on the fact that I
on the ATP airliner programme at an opportunity missed, but the could see only one social gathering
Woodford. George Ellis having also end result still looked good. At in the vicinity. To this day I am still
stepped away from Mosquito flying, Farnborough that year, Henley later not certain whether it was number
Tait and Henley took over for the recalled in this magazine, “BAe 4, or bemused guests at a wedding
bulk of the 1991 season. marketeers ruefully complained reception or a funeral wake.”
That was RR299’s last year in its that the Mosquito was the only By now, two more BAe test
familiar colours. Come the start aeroplane for which they had pilots had been introduced to
of 1992, BAe gave the aircraft a received a cash offer at the show.” RR299, Kevin Moorhouse and
RIGHT:
RR299 took its place
in the International
Air Tattoo’s Victory
Finale in 1995, flying
in the RAF warbird
element alongside
the BBMF Lancaster,
Hurricane PZ865 and
Spitfire AB910, which
is breaking away in a
‘missing man’ salute.
JOHN DUNNELL

THE PERFECT
CHRISTMAS GIFT: JOIN
THE PEOPLE’S MOSQUITO.
In 1940, de Havilland had a dream. Detractors said they were

mad. Their response was the DH.98 Mosquito - the most
versatile aircraft ever produced.
As our UK build proves, history has a habit of repeating
itself.
Help return the Wooden Wonder to UK skies.
Join, donate or shop at: www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk
@Peoplesmosquito
Peoplesmosquito
NEW BOOKS FROM AIR-BRITAIN

AVIATION MUSEUMS AND SCOTTISH AVIATION BULLDOG
COLLECTIONS OF Tom Wenham
THE REST OF THE WORLD
Bob Ogden
Scottish Aviation Bulldog: Trainer for the World tells
the story of the Bulldog from its inception at Beagle
The hugely expanded and completely revised sec- as a military trainer derivative of the Pup for
ond edition of Aviation Museums and Collections of Sweden, its troubled gestation with the demise of
the Rest of the World covers 130 countries: 42
(Africa), 45 (Asia), 8 (Oceania), 22 (Central America), Beagle and eventual production by Scottish
13 (South America). Aviation, its 28-year service with the Royal Air Force
and many other air forces around the world and sub-
Over 16,000 aircraft are catalogued, giving type (and
sequent use by private owners. Author Tom Wenham gives readers everything
previous types where it has been modified), serial or registration currently car-
ried, construction number, previous identities and its status. Includes aircraft they need to know about the design, development, production and usage with
in both public and private collections, preserved as gate guardians, used in histories of each Bulldog built.
technical schools, and as bars and restaurants.
This book is profusely illustrated with colour and black and white photos,
Each museum has details of its title, address, contact numbers, opening times,
location, its GPS co-ordinates, and the date on which its contents was last newly commissioned 3-view line drawings by Paul Jackson and colour side
reported. For monuments, the location and GPS co-ordinates are given, plus views by Juanita Franzi.
extra notes where applicable.
All sections are fully cross-indexed by type using our code reference system. 104 pages, soft-back, 127 photos
The book is hardback, A5 size and contains 800 pages. Over 14,700 aircraft cov- Members: £14.95. Non-members: £19.95
ering over 4,300 locations. Future additions and corrections will be published
in Air-Britain News - subscribe online from £42pa.
Members: £32.50. Non-Members: £40.00 See website to join Air-Britain including member prices on books
Order at www.air-britain.co.uk
or by post to: Air-Britain (Trading) Ltd, Unit 1A, Munday Works, 58-66 Morley Road, Tonbridge, TN9 1RA, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1732 363815 sales@air-britain.co.uk.
Cheque or credit/debit card payments (not Amex) POSTAGE FREE UK - Overseas added at cost
British Aerospace’s Mosquito TIII RR299
in the hands of Peter Henley and Clive
Denney during September 1992. RICHARD PAVER
58-59_Centrespread_Dec19 C.indd 58 29/10/2019 16:32

58-59_Centrespread_Dec19 C.indd 59 29/10/2019 16:32
Your Aviation Destination
Join us online
Become a founder
member of Aeroplane’s
online community
Start Your
R
R IBE E FREE ACCESS
C V
BS SI
SU XCLU Today!
E
Here’s what you need to do
Your all-access pass to our unique

historical aviation archive
ACCESS ALL AREAS
All PocketMags
Subscribers can access by Global aviation news, photography
registering here and features at your fingertips
https://key.
Enjoy exclusive videos
oakwebshoptest.co.uk
and podcasts
Then simply sign up to
the Key.Aero updates Connect through our forum
Need Help? and global events calendar
Our friendly customer service team

are happy to help. Call us today on
+44 (0)1780 480 404 or email Not a subscriber? Want to be part of our exciting
subs@keypublishing.com new aviation community?
• Check out our latest subscription offer on pages 14-15

P.S. Don’t forget to tell us what you
think feedback@Key.Aero • Visit www.aeroplanemonthly.com/suboffer
Image: Richard Paver

• Visit www.Key.Aero and start your journey with us today!
AM_KA pocketmags_ad.indd 27 01/11/2019 10:43

New colours for the 1992 season,

complete with invasion stripes. The
Mosquito, flown by Peter Henley,
was joined for a photo sortie by
Historic Flying’s Spitfire LFXVIe
RW382. RICHARD PAVER
John Davies. They would be the accident report, “control appeared

last. Davies in particular became to have been regained, but at too
known for his notably spirited low a height to prevent impact with
performances, sticking to the tried the ground”. One potential cause
and tested display profile — and was reduced fuel flow through
all the well-established limits — the carburettors in negative g
but somehow injecting a certain conditions, not necessarily because
verve of his own. At Old Warden, negative — or reduced positive — g
making maximum use of the curved had been induced, but as “a function
display line, his style enjoyed its of complex dynamic conditions”.
finest expression. But there were However, a hard and fast conclusion
exceptional appearances elsewhere, could not be reached.
too, not least at some of Duxford’s Within two years of the loss of
early Flying Legends shows, where Moorhouse and Watson, their
mixing it with multiple Spitfires colleague John Davies had also
became the order of the day. been killed, in a Hunter accident at
Dunsfold. Since then Peter Henley
and George Ellis have passed away.
In these latter years, operation As the years go by, RR299 sadly
of the Mosquito was transferred becomes an ever more distant
to Airbus, which now ran the memory, but it will never fade away
Hawarden site, though it remained completely. It was too beloved an
in BAe ownership. That was set to aeroplane, too much part of the
change, however. An agreement had fabric of historic aviation, for that
been reached whereby BAe would to happen.
hand RR299 over to the RAF’s Battle The late Peter Henley summed it
of Britain Memorial Flight at the up well. A “properly choreographed
end of the 1996 season, starting a routine showed off every aspect
new chapter in its history. It was of the elegant airframe”, he wrote,
never destined to open. “while the harmony of the Rolls-
That display at Barton on 21 Royce Merlins waxed and waned in
July proceeded like any other. accord with the air speed and the The late Steve Watson
Then, entering a perfectly benign proximity to the crowd. Everyone, (left) and Kevin Moorhouse
wingover, a temporary power loss from schoolboys to cultured with their mount at
on the port engine resulted in a experts, seemed to enjoy it”. Hawarden in 1994. IAN THIRSK
loss of control. In the words of the They certainly did.

WARBIRDS Mosquito projects
Britain’s
‘Mossie’
revival
Twenty-three years have passed since we last saw a
Mosquito flying in the UK. Now, two separate efforts
are under way to finally change that WORDS: BEN DUNNELL
M
any an envious glance has been the lack of a flying ‘Mossie’ in the UK. The
cast from British shores towards the organisations behind them are The People’s
overseas population of airworthy de Mosquito and the Mosquito Pathfinder Trust,
Havilland Mosquitoes. Since 2012, each taking different routes towards the end goal
no fewer than four examples have flown again, but with the same purpose: to pay tribute to the
all now resident in North America. When, it is aircraft and its crews in the most appropriate
justifiable to wonder, will it be our turn? way possible. They are making tangible progress,
Sooner rather than later, hopefully. Two and seeking your support. Aeroplane spoke to
current, separate projects are seeking to reverse representatives of both.
The People’s Mosquito

T
John Lilley from The People’s
aking its identity from acquired from Aerowood of New moulds, the bulkheads and so on Mosquito with Retrotec’s Guy
the recovered remains of Zealand, who unfortunately — and Guy Black and his team Black and the initial work on
Mosquito NF36 RL249, have gone out of business. They could use them to design a CAD the first fuselage mould for
which crashed at RAF were delivered to us by container [computer-aided design] profile Mosquito RL249. VIA TPM
Coltishall in February 1949 and ship in March of this year, and of the moulds. The monies we’ve
was subsequently used as an they currently sit at Retrotec’s raised last year and this year have
instructional airframe until being premises down in East Sussex.” really contributed to getting them (see Aeroplane April 2019), TPM
burned and dumped, the project The selection done. We’ve got has not gone down the route of
set up by The People’s Mosquito
(TPM) has moved into a new
of Retrotec,
under the
We’re six a one-tonne
steel jig being
having its ‘Mossie’ done in New
Zealand. Lilley pays generous
phase. “We’ve gone from needing leadership of months into a five- assembled for tribute to the work undertaken
people’s help to get going, to Guy Black, as the bulkheads there by Glyn Powell and
getting going”, says chairman and TPM’s partner to six-year plan. to sit on, and Avspecs, but, he says, “In the
managing director John Lilley.
“For a long time”, Lilley
in the build of
RL249 was a big We’ve seen double- we’re moving
into the next
end, this was a British-designed
and British-built aeroplane
explains, “we were raising money
towards the dream of returning
step forward.
So, earlier,
digit growth year stage which
is calculating
originally. When we looked at
the costs of having something
a Mosquito to UK skies. In the had been the on year what we call the done 14,000 miles away, there
last 18 months we’ve not only donation by in-fills between was still a cost to get things done
started the fuselage mould, with Airbus of more than 22,000 the bulkheads, to define the to [meet UK] CAA regulations,
Retrotec, but we’ve also been original Mosquito airframe Mosquito fuselage shape.” and associated engineering
able to acquire a wing jig, a tail drawings. From them, says Lilley, While the jigs acquired earlier processes to go through — it was
jig, and other tooling to make “Retrotec was able to take the this year had been used in almost the same money. The
fuel tanks, bomb bay doors and lofting drawings — which give the rebuild by Avspecs of Rod board of TPM realised, with Guy
things like that. Those jigs were you the outline of the fuselage Lewis’s Mosquito FBVI PZ474 [Black]’s support, that it was a
62-65_AM_Warbirds_Dec19_cc C.indd 62 04/11/2019 08:45

similar cost to make new ones in which has been positive. We’re Requirements] rules are — they concerned, the CAA have been
the UK. And it just felt right. We quite a lean organisation, so from had the manual but never doing their job, but at the same
will be giving supporters access the monies we’re raising we’re opened it, and said it was time been very supportive and
to see the moulds and see the putting a large proportion of that because we knew what we were considerate. The CAA does not
construction throughout, which into construction. Operational talking about. Fast-forward to want an old fuselage that’s 75
is quite difficult being the other costs are kept to a minimum as 2019: we’d selected Retrotec as or 80 years old flying, because
side of the world.” the charity is run and manned our supplier, and obviously they they were never designed to
entirely by volunteers.” come with all the necessary CAA last 75 or 80 years. The original
It goes without saying that remanufacturing licences. That’s de Havilland designers were
What about a timescale? “I Civil Aviation Authority support a big thumbs-up, and the CAA amazed when they got past 25
believe we’re six months into is essential. “We had a very big liaison officer who works with operations. In that respect, new
a five- to six-year plan. The project meeting three or four Retrotec has been supportive. wood is their mantra.”
way fundraising is going at the years ago down at Gatwick. It “There are definitely going Thought has been given as
moment, we’re still hitting six- was attended by the number to be modifications to the to how the aeroplane will be
figure sums raised each year, two in the CAA and an airframe aeroplane. We can’t use the finished. “We ran a poll several
but ideally we need to be getting structures and propulsion expert, same glues; we’ve got to use years ago, and there was a
more into seven figures. We have and they were enthusiastic. We modern aerospace glues, which very clear, almost three-to-one
seen double-digit growth year understood what the BCAR is a safety feature, because majority to make it an FBVI —
on year in terms of fundraising, [British Civil Airworthiness they’re much better. As far as I’m very similar to all the other

WARBIRDS Mosquito projects
ones that have been finished.

Currently, that is the thinking.
When we had our CAA planning
meeting several years ago they
were quite happy that it was to
be configured in that way, and
not as an NF36”. As for a colour
scheme, “RL249 originally served
with No 23 Squadron, so I’d quite
like to do a No 23 Squadron
night intruder scheme. There’s
one particular pilot who’s still
with us, a Canadian chap called
Flt Lt George Stewart DFC, who
gave us advice on how to fly the
aeroplane, so I’d personally like
to do it as a tribute to George.
“We want to operate with a

similar model to the Battle of
Britain Memorial Flight. What
I mean by that is that BBMF
doesn’t just do airshows, but
flypasts, memorials and so on.
We’d like to do a very similar
thing. The People’s Mosquito
name is to do with the fact that
the aircraft will be donated by
the people to the UK aviation
scene. We wish to operate with
a similar spirit of openness and
accessibility, and operate the
aircraft ourselves. We may look at
Mosquito
outsourcing operation — at the
moment, it’s very far down the
line — but we have Wg Cdr Bill
Pathfinder Trust
T
Ramsey in our team, and he will
be in charge of the air operation.
Bill is very keen about the type of he subject of the Australian Air Force as a We’re not completely signed on
pilot and crew we need. Mosquito Pathfinder Mosquito FB40 fighter-bomber the line, but at the same time
“Another question we often get Trust (MPT)’s efforts but modified into a T43 we’ve got a reasonable prospect
asked is where the aircraft will is ex-Royal New trainer with serial A52-1054, that we will be by the end of
be based, and there are, shall we Zealand Air Force Mosquito the airframe in question was the year. There are detailed
say, several suitors. The selection T43 NZ2308, the restoration delivered to the RAAF in 1946, discussions with two counter-
of a base is really important of which has already been but went straight into storage. parties at this point.
because of accessibility. We need half-completed by Glyn The following June it was “Rather than going down the
a location from where we can Powell of Mosquito Aircraft delivered to the RNZAF, serving route — and the noble route, I
cover as much of the UK as safely Restoration near Auckland. It until early 1952. NZ2308 is should add — of small amounts
as possible, and go into Europe will be finished by Ardmore- owned at present by Mosquito of public funding, the strategy
as well. For safety, we will be based Avspecs. “We were put Aircraft Restoration, but the that we’ve adopted is initially
fitting some modern navigation in touch with Mosquito Aircraft intention is that it will be more towards the ultra-high net
aids, but tastefully done.” Restoration and Avspecs by our purchased by the MPT. worth and corporate market.
With the fuselage moulds friends at the Battle of Britain An announcement in April Like many warbird restorations
under way, TPM has something Memorial Flight”, recalls MPT 2019 stated that this process, this is inevitably an expensive
tangible to show. Assistance chairman John Merry. “That’s and the start of the remaining project, and at least we
continues to be sought, and where this initiative arose work on the aircraft, had been understand what the costs are,
Lilley reports, “we are in close from, two years ago. We’ve paused pending additional pretty much to the penny. From
negotiations with several very made a couple of visits [to New funding. Says Merry, “One of our side, getting somebody with
well-known aviation companies Zealand] and met with the the corporate partners we had the financial muscle to be able
to support and accelerate the team there. The path that we’ve identified, who we’d hoped to underwrite the completion
project. As yet we are not ready chosen is a proven one. The would put up a significant sum works needed on our selected
to reveal who, but hope to do so work Glyn Powell has put into of money, for various reasons — project was, and remains, the
in the coming months.” this during his retirement is some slightly linked to Brexit — priority. It is also our intention,
quite remarkable.” decided they could not proceed, over time, to give the general
For more details and to support Originally produced at de despite earlier indications that public the opportunity for
The People’s Mosquito, go to Havilland’s Bankstown plant they would. We’ve spent time part-ownership, but we —
www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk near Sydney for the Royal finding alternate partners. as reasonably experienced

the wings into the fuselage. We
could knock those out using a
combination of New Zealand
Part 21 organisations together
with UK [ones] and my own
resource. This concern was
satisfactorily resolved.”
The Duxford-based Aircraft
Restoration Company has been
selected to furnish Part 21
design services, together with
A8-23 and -25 and necessary
Part 145 services. As McGreal
says, “John Romain, with his
connections and influence, is
really quite invaluable too”. And
there will be benefits on the
operational side from having
such an experienced warbird
operator involved.
“What is also important as far
as the CAA is concerned is how
we take it on to the operational
level”, continues McGreal. “Our
aspiration is to have a much
more mature relationship with
the airframe and its investors,
whether it’s going to be a single,
high-net worth individual, or
whether it’s going to go into
public ownership some time,
as we get more funding. The
Mosquito T43 NZ2308, aspiration of the trust is, yes,
the aircraft the Mosquito to bring the Mosquito over to
Pathfinder Trust intends to the UK and fly it, but equally
purchase, is around half- to ensure that it has a proper,
complete. VIA MPT formatted, operational life.
That’s where we think the
Aircraft Restoration Company is
business-people ourselves — it will [take] 27 months from given that it was a complex really going to help us become
didn’t feel that was really the best December of this year.” arrangement between the more mature, in flying the
way to start, as [being] absent The UK CAA was involved New Zealand CAA, the Part 21 Mosquito purposefully rather
some substantial pledges at [the] from an early stage. “We organisations” — in other words, than as a simple show entrant at
project commencement we felt invited the CAA to take a look design authorities — “in New every invitation it might get. We
there’s too much risk attached themselves as to what the Zealand, and the prospective want it to be something far more
to it for not actually completing serviceable state of the airframe Part 21s here in the UK, to take it structured. And behind that
the project. We’re working hard was, even as it was going from a New Zealand certificate is going to be the educational
to get it underwritten and, once through its new moulding”, of airworthiness or permit to fly value of the Mosquito.”
[we’re] confident of a timeline to says MPT chief executive Allan and put it into a UK permit to This could lead to structured
practical completion, to harness McGreal. “We fly. We worked relationships with other
public interest to allow those
who have a desire to do so some
were fortunate
that the CAA
We hope to be really hard
at building a
collections, so the ‘Mossie’
can tell wider stories alongside
participation in the ownership of inspector in a position that bridge between their aircraft. However, initial
the aircraft. happened those two operation by the ARC is, says
“Assuming that all goes to be in New the aircraft can go regulations. Merry, “our preferred route”.
well, we would hope to be in
a position that the aircraft can
Zealand at the
early part of into work in the “There was
an identified
NZ2308 will be delivered
technically as a T43, complete
go into work in the first quarter
of next year. It is substantially
the assessment
and was able to
first quarter of issue on the
wing scarf
with dual controls, but its visual
appearance remains to be
built — all the woodwork is visit the aircraft next year joints, which decided. Input is coming
built. I won’t say it’s ‘turn-key’, while he was would have from various quarters. The
but it is as close to being as one there — he was on holiday, in proven complex were we to application of different colour
of these things can get. Where fact. He could see and touch the try and pursue a permit to fly schemes over time is a
the additional money is required airframe. The guidance from after completion. This was an definite possibility.
is doing the fit and finish, and the CAA was really invaluable. example whereby we were able
that is the function that Avspecs We could have confidence in to do all of the work before For more info and to support the
undertakes”. If all goes to plan, what was necessary to get a the wings were mated, or even Mosquito Pathfinder Trust, go to
Merry adds, “In broad terms, permit to fly relatively easily, before a prospective mate of www.thewoodenwonder.org.uk

MODERN
AIRLINE HISTORY Modern Air in Berlin
TIMES For US carrier Modern Air, the unique West Berlin market offered a
lucrative opening — and some special challenges WORDS: BEN DUNNELL
I
t was, shall we say, a publicity stunt focus for Modern Air. Since 1946,
very much of its time. A special the American carrier had been a
Father’s Day charter, the almost brave survivor, one of the so-
exclusively male passengers called supplementary airlines
served by stewardesses clad in that did all their business in the
partially transparent uniforms. Even non-scheduled charter sector.
in 1970, it pushed the boundaries Under the tight regulation of the
of acceptability. Yet, despite the US Civil Aeronautics Board, they
fact he hadn’t been told, the boss of were unable to do much else. Many
Modern Air Transport didn’t much disappeared. The quirks of the
care. Morten S. Beyer could not have Berlin market provided some with
bought such (ahem) exposure. welcome new opportunities.
This flight was dubbed the They came about because of the
‘Busenvogel’ — German for restrictions imposed after World
‘boob bird’ — for it originated War Two. Only carriers from the
in West Berlin, by then a major three occupying western Allies —
66-70_AM_AirlineHistory_Dec19_cc C.indd 66 31/10/2019 14:54

N
1967 Saturn was sold and decided Operations started four days later,
to withdraw. Its general manager in the ’68 summer season seeing
Berlin, John MacDonald, contacted Modern flying 26 departures a
Mort Beyer and suggested that week. It was a lucrative business.
Modern Air might fill the gap. Beyer That year the carrier reported taking
agreed. He hired MacDonald, who more than 135,000 West Berliners
duly won contracts with the two on holiday. The Coronado purchase
largest West Berlin tour operator had nearly been too much for
conglomerates: Flug-Union Berlin, Modern, to the extent that it sought
which handled the big West German to call off the last two deliveries.
companies Neckermann and TUI, Now, the type was keeping it afloat.
and Berliner Flug Ring, representing There’s a nice story in Beyer’s
the city’s local travel agents. book about the aircraft. “During
To conduct these flights, Modern our first year in Berlin”, he wrote,
decided to use its mighty Convair “one of our Convair 990s got a bad
CV-990As. It had acquired five reputation for unreliability with our
ex-American Airlines examples in charterers. This was undeserved in
early 1967. Then the fastest aircraft our view, but they demanded that
in commercial passenger service, we replace the aircraft in our next
the Coronado was, Beyer wrote in season’s contract and send a new
his memoir Flying Higher (Trafford plane in its stead”. So, Beyer said,
Publishing, 2009), “relatively cheap the offending machine was flown
to buy because it was expensive back to Miami, reregistered and
to fly”. Its lack of economy was not returned to Berlin, “with a new (and
ideal, especially given the altitude undiscovered) identity”. N5607 duly
limitations became N5624,
placed on
the Berlin air The topless and the travel
agents were
corridors, but
Beyer decided
hostesses — actually, none the wiser.
The market
“to try and make they wore see- proved ripe for
the best of it”. The innovation. For
use of slimmer through clothing — the summer of
seats increased
capacity from
were showgirls hired 1969, Modern
flew only for the
125 passengers from West Berlin’s Flug Ring, but
to 149, with its then it started
attendant benefit Daily Girl Club West Berlin’s first
in terms of winter charter
seat-mile costs, and to cut fuel burn programme. This saw the Flug Ring
Modern would not use the CV‑990’s and TUI teaming up to buy space
maximum Mach 0.98 cruise on the Coronados for flights to the
capability. With these measures, and Canary Islands. Without such joint
a captive market, it felt it could make ventures, filling the aircraft was
a go of Berlin. impossible, and they would have
One difference concerned sat idle. It proved a success and was
Modern’s Berlin base. While repeated in the winter of 1970-71,
Saturn had used Tempelhof, its this time by the Flug Ring and
runways were deemed too short for Flug‑Union.
Coronado operations with full fuel Soon, the CV-990s were familiar
and passengers on board. Instead, at airports all around Europe.
the CV-990s would operate from Regular destinations included the
the US, the UK and France — were Tegel, where there were no such Spanish resorts, Corsica, Split, MAIN PICTURE:
permitted to operate in West Berlin. restrictions. The Allied and airport Dubrovnik, Crete and Athens. As On a crew training
This went for charters and scheduled authorities were, in any case, trying Beyer wrote, “These were scheduled flight in April
services alike. Air services were, of to transfer all charter traffic from charters, permitted in Europe but 1974, Modern Air
course, a vital lifeline for the city, and Tempelhof to Tegel, a move that banned in the United States”. Flights CV‑990‑30A-8
not just in practical terms. Holiday did not meet with universal delight. to Istanbul brought back Turkish N5625 makes
an approach to
charters offered a welcome release The city-centre convenience of Gastarbeiter (guest workers), keen Berlin-Tempelhof.
from Berlin’s ever-present tensions. Tempelhof was a major plus-point. to make a new life in West Berlin or This was one of two
However, for Modern there was no the Federal Republic. examples acquired
option. And then there was the from Brazilian carrier
One of the US airlines thus On 20 March 1968, one of its ‘Busenvogel’, one of John VARIG during 1972.
engaged was Saturn Airways, which Coronados arrived at Tegel for RALF MANTEUFEL
MacDonald’s PR wheezes. The
operated a programme of inclusive the first time. This aircraft, N5617, topless hostesses — actually, they FAR LEFT:
tours on behalf of West Berlin was duly named Berliner Bär after wore see-through clothing — for the The crew of
agencies with its Douglas DC-7Cs, the city’s famous bear emblem, flight to Paris were showgirls hired 1970’s infamous
flying from Tempelhof airport. In as carried on its coat of arms. from West Berlin’s Daily Girl ‘Busenvogel’ charter.

which were not then offered from

West Berlin except for London
and Paris. It also ran regular, but
unscheduled, on-demand weekend
trips to the north German island of
Sylt. They weren’t a success, being
axed after only one summer.
Modern had little more success
in trying to run scheduled services.
It applied in the autumn of 1970
for rights to operate the route to
Saarbrücken, but, not for the last
time, the small American carrier
found itself up against competing
vested interests. Given the city’s
unique status, such decisions
were in the hands of West Berlin’s
Allied civil air attachés. Anything
that might conceivably affect the
ABOVE: Club. Regular stewardesses were on West Berlin’s air services often position of the three carriers — Pan
The first Coronado board too, dressed in the normal made the news, such was their American, British European Airways
delivered to Berlin Modern ‘tiger girl’ yellow and special value to the city. Changes and Air France — operating the
was CV-990-30A-5 black uniforms. As for passengers, to routes and schedules, incidents internal German services (IGS)
N5617, named
Berliner Bär. It is the Coronado carried 100 men in the air corridors and more — all network, the ‘lifeline’ routes to the
pictured powering and three women, one of whom attracted a lot of attention. So it Federal Republic, was unlikely to
out of Tegel in supposedly told the press, “No was when Modern came up with a find favour. Sure enough, the British
August 1968. good can come of a flight like this”. new innovation. On 4 April 1970 it attaché turned down Modern’s
RALF MANTEUFEL It generated headlines worldwide, received its first HFB320 Hansa Jet, request. Upon further discussion, it
much to the annoyance of Modern’s the forward-swept-wing executive was approved a few weeks later.
owners, the General Acceptance jet from Hamburger Flugzeugbau. The Saarbrücken flights were to
Corporation (GAC). They, said With this aircraft, N5602, in late May start on 15 February 1971, but a
Beyer, “had a fit when they saw the it inaugurated an air taxi service. delay in delivering Modern’s second
story… We had to promise never Modern hoped to tap into demand, Hansa Jet, N5627, held things up. It
to repeat the performance”. But the particularly within the business was with a Dassault Falcon 20 that
value of the column inches was community, for direct flights to they began on 1 March. Starting out
incalculable. destinations outside West Germany, as twice-daily, the frequency was
MODERN AIR: KEY DATES

3 January 1947 Modern Air Transport first incorporated under 24 March 1968 Began CV-990 operations in West Berlin
ownership of John Becker; soon started
operations from Miami with Curtiss C-46s 22 November 1968 CV-990 N9612, named Polar Byrd I, became
first jet airliner with paying passengers aboard
15 July 1956 Flew inaugural scheduled service between to land and take off using runway at
Pittsburgh and Miami; first non-scheduled US Antarctica’s McMurdo Station, on special
carrier to be granted (limited) scheduled charter from Boston to commemorate polar
service rights aviation pioneer Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd
1961 Acquired Lockheed L-049 Constellations 4 April 1970 Delivery of first of two HFB320 Hansa Jets
to replace the C-46s; later joined by
leased L-1049 Super Constellations and an December 1970 Another trans-polar Coronado charter, this
L-749 time out of Los Angeles, but not landing at
McMurdo Station
1965 Arrival of Douglas DC-7Cs and DC-3s,
‘Connies’ retired 1 March 1971 Start of first full scheduled operation on
Berlin-Saarbrücken route with leased Falcon 20
1966 Airline purchased by one of its major charter
clients, Gulf American Land Corporation, later May 1972 Entire fleet of eight CV-990s now based in
General Acceptance Corporation; received Berlin; three returned to USA that November
Martin 2-0-2s
30 September 1974 Withdrew from West Berlin
February 1967 First Convair CV-990A received; under
company leadership of Morten Beyer, leads to 6 October 1975 Ceased operations, having filed for Chapter 11
withdrawal of all piston-engined types bankruptcy protection

GOING
DOWNTOWN
A
Modern Air CV-990 landed at Tempelhof for the
first time in early September 1968. The centrally
located airport may not have been suitable for
Modern’s regular operations, but it was
employed regularly for crew training and as a weather
diversion. One morning, the entire Berlin-based Coronado
fleet could be seen on the Tempelhof tarmac due to fog at
Tegel. And there were reportedly occasions when diverted
CV-990s took off from there with passengers, to save a
positioning flight…
increased to thrice-daily from May, fleet, were based in Berlin. Modern Berlin — a city unacknowledged ABOVE LEFT:
by which time the HFB320 had been had become part of the city’s air by the Soviet bloc — didn’t have No passengers
introduced. Today we would dub transport landscape. to appear in Bulgarian timetables. can be seen at
the windows of
this a regional jet service, something “The Berliners loved us”, says Modern acquiesced, against the CV‑990‑30A-5
all but unknown at the time. Yet the Jerry Hare. He had two stints as a wishes of Allied officialdom. On 28 N5614 as it taxies
Allies were not keen to see a smaller Tegel-based CV-990 first officer May 1971, a Coronado was turned for take-off from
operator getting involved in the IGS for Modern, beginning in April back before entering Bulgarian Tempelhof in
routes. They fretted about Modern’s 1971. “Probably their favourite airspace. Flights were halted, to August 1971, but it
long-term viability and whether or destination was Majorca. At the resume again a few days later. apparently wasn’t
unknown…
not it would be sufficiently reliable. height of the summer we would But the wrangling went on, only RALF MANTEUFEL
This attitude have four or being resolved in 1973 when the
soon became
apparent. The Berliners five trips a day
down there,
communist countries got what they
wanted. All flights to Bulgaria for
Departing
Tegel for
loved us. At the there and back”.
But, in suddenly
West Berlin tour operators would
now go from Schönefeld. For
Saarbrücken on height of the summer giving up its Modern, it was a market lost.
14 September loss-making This followed an episode in
1971, one of we would have four presence on the which the entire Flug Ring charter
the two Hansa
Jets was struck
or five trips a day US domestic
market, the
programme for 1973 was initially
rejected by the air attachés. They
by lightning. down to Majorca, seeds were sown felt flights taking passengers to
It landed for Modern’s Zürich for onward connections
back safely, there and back downfall. Berlin with Swissair was too much of
but had to be simply couldn’t a mix of scheduled and charter
grounded. In any case, the 12- sustain so many aeroplanes, and operations, and were lobbied hard
seat HFB320 offered insufficient other factors didn’t help. by Pan Am, BEA and Air France.
capacity. Modern asked the civil Some charter operations had After reorganisation, they gained
air attachés for permission to use their own difficulties. Bulgaria was approval, but the West Berlin airline
Coronados on the route instead. On among the problematic destinations. market was experiencing a slump. BELOW:
5 October they agreed, but only if Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Improvements to surface access Modern’s first Hansa
the CV‑990s carried a maximum of Bulgarian authorities wanted charter routes made air travel seem a bit Jet was N5602. The
aircraft’s use as a
12 passengers, like the Hansa Jet. flights from Berlin to be operated less essential, and all carriers were short-haul passenger
It was a ridiculous situation. After from the city’s eastern half. At one affected. Three Coronados went jet was pioneering,
two weeks, the attachés forbade stage they decided Modern’s flights back to the States, not least to satisfy but doomed to fail.
further use of the Coronados should stop in Nuremberg, so West the Civil Aeronautics Board’s ERIC TRUM COLLECTION
for Saarbrücken flights. Modern
withdrew from the service on 22
November and retired the Hansa
Jets. Rather to the Allies’ relief, Pan
Am incorporated Saarbrücken
into its IGS timetable the following
February, using Boeing 727s.
Holiday charters found Modern
on firmer ground. The 1972 summer
season could, with hindsight, have
been seen as its high point. Flights
were operated for the Flug Ring
and Neckermann, and no fewer
than eight Coronados, the entire

RIGHT:
The four General
Electric CJ805
engines smoke
magnificently as
N5615 pounds the
Tempelhof circuit in
May 1974, by which
time the Coronado’s
lack of fuel-efficiency
had become a real
problem. RALF MANTEUFEL
demand that Modern should Saarbrücken services ended again 30 September 1974, having carried
operate on the US home market, on 17 April 1974, the CV-990’s high around two million passengers
but it still stationed five at Tegel. fuel consumption — exacerbated on more than 6,000 flights since
In seeking work for them, it by the low operating altitudes in the 1968. Some of its workers moved to
returned to an old chestnut. Pan Am corridors — being to blame. another US supplemental carrier,
gave up the Saarbrücken route in “We would cruise at about .9 Aeroamerica, which took over the
February 1973 due to low demand. Mach”, remembers Jerry Hare, summer Flug Ring programme with
Modern applied for rights, again “and it ate up a lot of gas. It was not its Boeing 720s.
with the CV-990. The Allies gave economically feasible as time went The subsequent story shows that
approval on 9 May, now with no by”. This was a shame for the pilots, Aeroamerica fared no better. In fact,
seating restrictions. But Modern’s “about five or six” of whom had its Berlin presence lasted for just five
timing could not have been worse. flown on the Berlin Airlift in their years. Modern had enjoyed greater
The oil crisis of late 1973 saw fuel US Air Force days, since piloting the staying-power, and made more of
supplies being restricted, and a Coronado was rewarding. “It was an impact. Just a few months after
hike in charter flight prices. The unforgiving to fly”, says Hare. “It had it pulled out of Berlin, GAC decided
a yaw damper, the carrier’s
which at altitude
We would cruise financial
FLYING IN
we had on all situation was
the time, but at about .9 Mach, intolerable.
FRIENDSHIP
we flicked it off Without further
before we could and it ate up a lot of funding from
land. On short
I
the parent
finals, at 100ft or gas. The CV-990 was company, which
t may not be as famous as Modern Air’s polar flights
(see ‘Key Dates’ box, page 68), but one charter in
something like
that, you took the
not economically was itself in
trouble, closure
February 1974 was special in other ways. Just 17 months yaw damper off, feasible as time became almost
on from the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 and when you inevitable. In
Olympic Games in Munich by members of the Palestinian did you had to went by October 1975,
terrorist group Black September, West Berlin football club be really careful Modern ended
Hertha BSC travelled to Tel Aviv as a gesture of friendship. because it could start a Dutch roll. all operations. The truth, though, was
Modern was selected to transport them. That wasn’t a nice characteristic.” that the airline had already ceased
Because of fears that the aircraft involved might be the Modern announced its intention to function. Most of the CV-990s had
target of an attack, security at Tegel was stepped up. The to re-equip the Berlin fleet with gone and their pilots had walked out.
Coronado was guarded for two days prior to the flight, and Douglas DC-8s. It never happened. It was an ignominious end.
the airport patrolled by armoured vehicles. But, from The Flug Ring announced in June Perhaps things would have been
departure on 10 February to the return nine days later, 1974 that it had split with Modern different with a less thirsty aircraft
everything passed off without a hitch. Aside from the for the forthcoming winter season. than the Coronado, one better-suited
Hertha squad and club representatives, on board were It went with Pan Am instead, the to the operating environment. But
journalists and reporters from the main West Berlin media Boeing 727 being much more surviving as a supplemental airline
outlets, including radio broadcaster RIAS and TV station economical than the Coronado, was undeniably tough, in any
SFB. They saw Hertha losing one match 3-1 and then even if it was shorter-ranged. This circumstances. For Modern
winning the other by the same score. was the beginning of the end. Air, Berlin probably helped
Modern withdrew from Berlin on stave off the inevitable.

NEW and recently published titles from Crécy 0161 499 0024
FREE post and packing to all UK postcodes, order via our secure web site, call us on 0161 499 0024 or email enquiries@crecy.co.uk www.crecy.co.uk
American Secret Projects 2 Wings Above The Planet
US Airlifters 1941‐1961 The History of Antonov Airlines
George Cox and Craig Kaston Andrii Sovenko
The history of the US airlifter, from its origins in World The transformation of the Soviet era OKB Antonov into
War 2 to the purpose built aircraft of the late 1950s a world leading company in heavy lift aviation with a
featuring over 100 little known designs that led from wealth of information on the design, production and
wartime piston‐engine aircraft to the first jet operation of the An‐12, An‐74, An‐124 and An‐225
transports. aircraft.
ISBN 978 191080 9167 ISBN 978 095488 9630
Hardback, 208 pages £27.50 Hardback, 304 pages £34.95
British Combat Aircraft Strategic Air Command in the UK

in Latin America Robert S. Hopkins III
Santiago Rivas
Robert Hopkins, former SAC pilot and author of Crecy
The story of all the British military aircraft that titles on the KC‐135 and B‐47 offers unique historical
served in Latin America since 1940. Features many insights into SAC operations in the UK in this
familiar types in unusual liveries including; Meteors, fascinating new account of its activities and the
Vampires, Canberras, Lancasters, Lincolns, Sea Furies aircraft it operated.
and Hunters. ISBN: 978 190210 9589
ISBN 978 190210 9572 Hardback, 224 pages £29.95
Hardback, 624 pages £44.95
Famous Russian Aircraft Typhoon to Typhoon

Mikoyan MiG‐23 and MiG‐27 RAF Air Support Projects and Weapons
Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov Since 1945
This comprehensive and highly illustrated study covers Chris Gibson
the many variants of the MiG‐23 family including A detailed study of the RAF’s ground attack
aircraft both operated in Russia and those exported. capabilities, the threats it faced, and the weapons,
Contains fleet lists, hundreds of rare photos and technologies and aircraft developed to counter those
colour profiles. threats from the end of WWII to the present day.
ISBN: 978 191080 9310 ISBN: 978 190210 9596
Hardback, 560 pages £44.95 Hardback, 240 pages £29.95
meets
ROB
MILLINSHIP
From early days as
aeromodeller, private pilot
and Pitts homebuilder,
this vintage aircraft
aficionado has become
one of Shuttleworth’s
most versatile flyers
NICK BLACOW
WORDS: BEN DUNNELL
W
ithout the engagement Collection pilot with a fascinating
of people at the grass range of experiences, but still
roots, every area of absolutely in touch with those grass Rob at the controls of the
historic aviation would roots. Rob holds a special place, Shuttleworth Collection’s SE5a,
be much the poorer. Restorers, indeed, in Shuttleworth history — F904, the second World War
engineers, pilots, groundcrew — all he was the first regular collection One type he flew. DARREN HARBAR
of them and more are essential, not pilot to come from an entirely
just to preserving, maintaining and civilian background.
flying the lighter vintage aeroplanes, Over a hearty lunch at Leicester
but to ‘seeding’ the community that Aero Club, Rob recalled, “My
surrounds the heavier warbirds. earliest recollection is being taken
And acquisition of the necessary to bed by my mother — I was
expertise doesn’t just happen. It probably less than three — and
takes time and enthusiasm. It takes not being allowed to watch my
the commitment required to learn uncle and my dad building what
the specialised skills, and the ability I now know to have been a model
to put them to good use. The result aeroplane in front of the fire at
keeps an entire industry going, my grandmother’s house. Model
from the owner-pilot with a single, aeroplanes have always been there,
small aircraft up to the big-name at the forefront. I don’t do any
operators with fleets in double model flying at the moment, other
figures. than occasionally being handed
On an individual level, there may a transmitter and a model to fly.
be frustrations along the way, but What I said 25 years ago is that I’d
tremendous opportunities, too. been given an opportunity which I
When Rob Millinship decided to couldn’t turn down, and that was to
learn to fly, and to build his own fly with the Shuttleworth Collection.
aeroplane, little did he realise what I can’t do both, so I had to make The young Robert (front left) and
lay ahead. Today he’s a Shuttleworth a choice. On the basis that the family on an early-1960s airshow visit.
72-79_AM_AeroMeets_Dec19_cc C.indd 72 04/11/2019 12:36

A proud display of the childhood aeromodeller’s At Cambridge Airport on the gliding holiday that saw Rob (right) making his first solo flight, in a
mounts. VIA ROB MILLINSHIP Schleicher K-7. VIA ROB MILLINSHIP

AEROPLANE MEETS Rob Millinship
RIGHT: opportunity to fly with the collection

With wife Chrissie at had never been given to a civilian
Calshot in 1981 for pilot before, I said I was going to
the 50th anniversary
of Britain’s outright
stop model flying until such time as
Schneider Trophy I’m too old to fly proper aeroplanes.
victory, where Then I’ll come back to it again.
Rob displayed this That’s still my intention.
magnificent model “At junior school, aged 10 or 11,
of Supermarine S6B in Stapleford near Nottingham, I
S1595. VIA ROB MILLINSHIP
joined the school model club. One
BELOW RIGHT: of my teachers there was a chap by
An early air-to-air the name of Gerry Price, and it was
view of newly built rumoured around the school that
Pitts S-1S G-FLIK, still he was actually a real pilot. To jump
Rob’s pride and joy on a few years, when I’d learned
35 years after it first
took to the air from
to fly powered aeroplanes, I was at
Leicester Airport in East Midlands School of Flying one
the hands of Barry afternoon. I was told that the Merlin
Tempest. Only four Flying Club, which was Rolls-
pilots have ever Royce’s flying club, at Hucknall
flown the machine. hadn’t got an aeroplane they could
VIA ROB MILLINSHIP
spin, so the chief flying instructor
was coming over with some of his
students and they were going to go
spinning, and the instructor’s name
was Gerry Price. I thought, ‘it can’t
be the same’. It was. I’d just finished
my Pitts Special, and he was
absolutely over the moon because
I’d started building models — cut-
out balsa models, chuck gliders
— in his model club after four
o’clock at school, and I’d finished up
building my Pitts.
“I learned to fly gliders on a

gliding holiday at Cambridge
Gliding Club, in a K-7. I was 18 or
19. That was great, but it became
obvious to me fairly rapidly that
I wouldn’t be able to afford every
weekend at a gliding club because
Sundays were for model aeroplanes.
I needed to fly something that I
could show up, fly and go away”.
Rob got his private pilot’s licence
at East Midlands on Cessna 150s,
but already he had his eyes on
something more. “All I wanted to
do was fly a Spitfire. Still do. If I
was going to fly a Spitfire, which was five years of my life”, says Rob. flew, G-FLIK won the Pilot concours
had been an ambition ever since He started in his then girlfriend’s d’elegance trophy at the PFA Rally,
I was 11, I needed the right sort garage in August 1979. “My future and subsequently won the Air
of aeroplane to fly. A Cessna 150 wife Chrissie owned a flat at the Squadron trophy or the Pilot trophy
wasn’t going to hack it. time, and the flat had an 18ft by twice more.
“I went looking for people with 8ft-square concrete-panelled “In order to build the Pitts I’d
Tiger Moths. What I found was garage, which is where I built it”. joined the then PFA [Popular Flying
that they asked, ‘How many hours At Leicester in June 1984, Barry Association, now the Light Aircraft
have you got?’ ‘Er, 47?’ The basic Tempest took it for its maiden flight. Association]. There was a monthly
story was, ‘Go away, little boy, and The finish Rob applied was superb, PFA Strut meeting, and in the East
come back when you’ve got 500 which is not surprising. “I’d been Midlands Strut there was a member
hours. This is a serious, vintage, to art college, which stood me in called Don Cashmore. He’d built a
enthusiasts’ aeroplane and not for good stead because I qualified as Sopwith Tabloid, and then a Bristol
the likes of you’. The solution for me a graphic designer and worked for M1C, both of which are now in the
was to build my own aeroplane.” Raleigh Bicycles”. In fact, the second RAF Museum. At one meeting, Don
The result was a Pitts S-1S Special trial rig of the Pitts was done in the said he was starting a third project,
registered G-FLIK. “Building it Raleigh factory. Just weeks after it which was going to be a Hawker

LEFT:
Rob in Don
Cashmore’s Hawker
Cygnet replica
G-CAMM with his
eldest daughter, who
later tragically died.
VIA ROB MILLINSHIP
BELOW LEFT,
LEFT TO RIGHT:
While he wasn’t
initially able to fly
Shuttleworth aircraft,
Rob could taxi the
non-flyers, such as
the Pou-du-Ciel.
VIA ROB MILLINSHIP
Neville Duke (second

from right), his wife
Gwen and builder
Don Cashmore
talk Cygnet at Old
Warden in June 1994
with the type’s most
experienced pilot.
VIA ROB MILLINSHIP
Cygnet. He was hoping people the Strut meetings. He said, ‘You’re it the second time. Then he said it
were going to assist him with it, and the only person who actually offered was a long way from Bristol, where
anybody who assisted would get to help. I’ve now lost my licence on he lived, to Nottingham, and asked
to fly in it, as it medical grounds me to do the rest of the test-flying.
was a two-seater
aeroplane. We
The maximum — do you want
to fly it?’ I told
When I’d done the five hours, he
had to do one more flight, but he
got together, all-up weight flight him I’d love to. wanted his new assistant pilot at
and he asked John Lewis [then Rolls-Royce to fly it too. That was
me if I could was quite exciting. the Shuttleworth Andy Sephton. I finished off the
make the control
surface hinges.
We had a close look chief pilot] was
coming to do the
flying on the Cygnet, Andy came
up, and he and I did the maximum
I arranged for at cars on the M1 test-flying, and all-up weight flight, which was quite
them to be made, I met up with exciting. We had a good look at cars
and presented him with them. him at Hucknall in 1993. John did on the M1, as I recall.
That was the end of that. the initial flight, which I watched. “At the end of this, either John or
“A couple of years later, out of the It overheated, so he wanted some Andy said they’d really like to see
blue, Don came to see me at one of ducting to the oil cooler. He flew the aeroplane at Old Warden.

the Cygnet”, says Rob, “and having

a jolly good time”. But things were
changing. “In 1999 I was walking up
the airfield with Tony Haig-Thomas,
and Tony had said to me, ‘That was
a really nice display in the Cygnet.
I’m glad they’ve made you a pilot’.
It didn’t register what he’d actually
said. The following year I got a letter,
inviting me to fly as a collection
pilot. That was on 2 February. The
reason I know it was on 2 February
is because, earlier that morning,
I’d lost my eldest daughter to
meningitis.”
Recovering from that dreadful
family tragedy, Rob started flying
as a Shuttleworth pilot in the 2000
season. “Over a period of time, they
fed me through the aeroplanes. I
did a season flying the Magister, the
Tiger Moth and that sort of thing.
ABOVE: Would I bring it down? For a season for a bit of a lark. Neville reckoned I got as far as the Tutor, which was
Being entrusted with I took it down and they would fly it. Frank Murphy had got the most pretty good because it’s group B
the Shuttleworth Then John said, ‘You’ve got much hours on it, getting on for 20. He [in the CAA’s DA classification]
Bristol F2B in 2005
more time on that aeroplane than asked me how many hours I’d got and over 200hp. As far as I was
was, for Rob, a major
life event. we have, and you’re light. You fly on this one. It was about 90. He was concerned, it was the first ‘exotic’
VIA ROB MILLINSHIP it in the next show’. I replied that very amused and said, ‘That makes historic aeroplane I’d ever flown. I
I’d love to, but I didn’t have a DA you the highest- loved it. Still do.”
[display authorisation]. ‘You’d
better get it quick’, he said, ‘because
time Cygnet pilot
ever’. I did think
I asked Ray Certain other
doors opened,
you’re in the show next weekend’. at the time that Hanna, ‘Do you too. Rob had
I rang Barry Tempest at the CAA, it wasn’t really first met Paul
and we agreed that I would fly a going to get me a mean Robert Morgan many
display practice at Hucknall, Don
Cashmore would video it and we’d
job, advertising
myself as a high-
Millinship low, or years earlier
through their
send him the tape. He issued my DA
on the strength of that video. That’s
time Cygnet Ray Hanna low?’ mutual interests
pilot. Ultimately, in model
how I flew my first display in Don’s of course, it did get me a job flying aeroplanes and historic racing
Cygnet at Old Warden. at the collection.” cars. On becoming reacquainted
Flying for Shuttleworth was then in the late 1990s, the opportunity
the sole preserve of military-trained arose to fly Morgan’s Sywell-based
“I flew it all over the country. pilots, and mostly test pilots at that. T-6G Texan. In late 2000 Morgan
One flight was from Old Warden “I was happy just coming and flying suggested that, next season, Rob
to Weston-super-Mare, refuelling
at Rendcomb on the way. I landed
at Woodspring Wings, a big model
display. Andy Sephton came down
in a Spitfire, which was a much
better way of doing it! When I got
back that evening I’d done seven
or eight hours in the Cygnet that
day — it took me about a month to
recover.
“There was one display at Old
Warden [in June 1994] when two
Harriers landed, and we took some
photographs of the Cygnet between
them as a tribute to Sydney Camm.
Neville Duke showed up in a [Piper]
Cherokee with his wife and chatted
about the Cygnet, because he’d
flown G-EBMB — the one that’s in
RIGHT: the Cosford museum — from one of
Displaying Howell
Davis’s Hawker the Hawker factory airfields. He told
Demon is a rare me that he and Frank Murphy used
privilege. to pull it out at lunchtimes, put their
BEN DUNNELL hats on backwards and fly it round

should display his newly acquired
FG-1D Corsair.
Moving forward to 12 May 2001,
Rob remembers, “It had been a
very wet winter, Sywell was very
soft — it hadn’t got a hard runway
then — and we were late getting
the aeroplanes out. Paul rang me
up and said, ‘The weather’s good;
I’m going off in the Sea Fury. If you
want to come down here, we’ll get
you away in the Corsair’. I’d spent
the winter sitting in it, working out
where everything was. He’d just
spent a lot of money buying it, but
he was pretty matter-of-fact about it:
‘It’s just like a Harvard. You’ll be fine
in it’. I got to Sywell late, and when I
arrived the Corsair was sat outside
the hangar, and the Sea Fury had
gone. I was slightly cross because I
could have done with a quick trip
in the back of the Sea Fury before “They wanted the Bristol Fighter Avro Triplane, the Edwardians ABOVE:
flying the Corsair. I sat in the Corsair on the airfield as set dressing, and came into the picture some years Behind the outsize
and heard him come over the top of in the last scene where it takes off ago, “because I’d got a fair bit of stick of the Bristol
Boxkite replica on
the hangar. I thought no more about and flies low over a Bessonneau experience on fairly low-powered,
a still Shuttleworth
it, expecting him to taxi round the hangar. Ray said to me, ‘I want you rather marginal aeroplanes”. In evening. DARREN HARBAR
corner. Then the crash siren went”. to get airborne and fly low over the joining the collection, he especially
Much more important than never hangar. Then come round again wanted to fly the Bristol Boxkite
getting to fly the Corsair was the and get really low, so that if we’ve and, from a slightly later generation,
loss of a very special friend. “It was missed it the first time we can the SE5a. “I had a good reason for
crucifying, quite frankly.” splice the two bits together’. ‘Really both: the Boxkite because I loved
Back at Shuttleworth in 2005, “the low?’ I said. ‘Do you mean Robert Those Magnificent Men in their
Flyboys film came along, and they Millinship low, or Ray Hanna low?’ Flying Machines, and the SE5a
wanted the Bristol Fighter at Halton. ‘I want Ray Hanna low’. I did it. That because, as a kid, I’d built Keil Kraft
It was the middle of the week, and I was the last time I spoke to him. He rubber-powered SE5s which had
think they were short of pilots who died just a few months later.” always flown and were a lot of fun,
could get away from the military and my great aunt went to school BELOW:
or the airline industry. Completely with Albert Ball”. Rob has now In the lead of a
out of the blue, they asked me to The gradual progression through piloted both, and many more. Gladiator pair at
Flying Legends 2015,
fly it. That was a big deal. It’s core the Shuttleworth aeroplanes has Getting his hands on the Hawker accompanied by
collection, it’s irreplaceable. I flew seen Rob sampling an increasing Hind was another special moment. Brian Smith in The
it over to Halton, which was an range of more challenging and “When I was learning to fly, the Fighter Collection’s
experience in itself. There I met potent types. Beginning with the instructor who did my general machine. JOHN DUNNELL
Ray Hanna, who was the flying co-
ordinator for the film.
“One evening we were all staying
in a motel near Aylesbury, and we
were sitting around eating pizza.
Straight opposite me was Ray, who
was a complete hero. Aged 11 I
watched him fly the Spitfire at the
Tollerton airshow — it gripped
me, and that was what made me
decide what I wanted to do. I told
him the story, and he remembered
that display. ‘Of course’, he said,
‘we know all about you as well’. The
great Ray Hanna knows something
about me? ‘You’re not a test pilot’.
He told me, ‘When I was in the RAF
and leading the Red Arrows, some
crusty old group captain came up
to me and said, ‘What you need to
do, Hanna, is join the Shuttleworth
Collection and fly some interesting
aeroplanes’. I wrote to them and
they wouldn’t have me…’

had the same problem and they’d

pretty well cured it by changing the
profile of the tyres. We changed
the profile of the tyres on ours; I’ve
subsequently flown it a few times,
and it doesn’t seem to exhibit the
same characteristics.”
A few years ago, Rob was
invited by then chief pilot ‘Dodge’
Bailey to fly the rotary-engined
aircraft. “Because of my time
spannering aeroplanes as well as
flying aeroplanes, they thought I
would have a rapid appreciation
of the foibles of rotary engines. I
didn’t know whether I would or
not. They set out on the table a
complete fuel system for a rotary-
engined aeroplane and proceeded
to instruct me as to how it works,
ABOVE: flying test was called Hector Taylor. Unsurprisingly, he loves the Gloster which was very, very useful. But
Airborne for the Hector was chief flying instructor at fighter. “It’s a fantastic aeroplane. what you’ve got to appreciate is that
first time in the the East Midlands School of Flying, Bear in mind I’ve got 35 years the engineers run those engines on
1910-vintage Blériot
XI, at last May’s Old
and he’d flown right through the of Pitts flying, and a Gladiator is the ground, not in the air, and there
Warden evening war as an instructor. I was coming basically a huge Pitts — big engine are differences.
show. Adding to the back from an aerobatic sortie with in a short-coupled biplane, fixed “We’re very fortunate, because
atmosphere was him when he said, ‘What you need undercarriage. But its ground we’ve got an Avro 504. The only time
the smoke hanging is a Hawker Audax’. That was the handling is slightly worse. It is we get a dual check in anything
in the still air from best of them, apparently. I asked a real ground-looper. I started is in the 504. With the rest of the
the Extra EA300
aerobatic display
him, ‘Did you hide one somewhere, flying tailwheel aeroplanes in a aeroplanes, it’s a case of reading
by Chris Burkett Hector?’ He said, ‘No, but the Chipmunk at Tollerton in 1977-78, the notes, talking to whoever’s the
that preceded the Shuttleworth Collection have got and since then I’ve ground-looped type specialist, getting a good brief,
Edwardians’ slot! a Hind’. He used to fly occasionally three times: Gladiator, Gladiator, getting in the aeroplane and going
DAVID WHITWORTH with the collection. ‘I flew Hinds Gladiator.” flying. That’s how I’ve always done
operationally, and they won’t let me it. With the rotaries, that’s not a
fly it because I’m too old’. He sadly good way to do it, so you get a dual
passed away, but when I got in that Why does he think this is? trip. I did that with ‘Dodge’, wearing
Hind for the first time, what I put in “You’ve only got 20° of rudder helmets with an intercom, and I
my logbook was, ‘For Hector Taylor’. movement when most aeroplanes sort of learned how to fly rotaries.
And as a result of flying the Hind have 30°. You’ve got an engine The problem is that you need to
quite a lot, Howell Davis asked me if where you can see the blades going have both a feel and an ear for a
I wanted to fly the Demon.” round as you’re rolling to a stop, so rotary engine. Everybody on the
A unique distinction of Rob’s you’ve got no thrust. You’ve got a fin ground can tell when you’ve gone
is being the only current pilot that’s blanked by the cockpit. You’ve rich because there’s a big black
to have flown in duos of both got a castoring tailwheel, and the trail out the back. You can’t see that
Gladiators and Lysanders, helming mainwheels are too far forwards. All black trail, even if you look behind.
the Shuttleworth examples of those things contribute”. But, he You’ve got to listen to it and use a
alongside those from, respectively, adds, “I spoke at great length with hunch to know what to do. What
The Fighter Collection and the the lads from The Fighter Collection I’ve come to learn is that you need a
Aircraft Restoration Company. about theirs. They reckoned they’d fairly solid understanding of what’s
WHERE THERE’S BLAME…
G
iven his Cygnet experience on Don Cashmore’s G-CAMM, but if you’ve got somebody in the front seat it’s about in trim. With
now owned by Shuttleworth, Rob was the obvious person nobody in the front seat, you’ve got about a 3-4lb push on the stick
to test-fly Colin Essex’s superb reproduction, G-EBJI, to keep level, all the time. If you lose weight off the front it’s very
when it took to the air at Old Warden in 2012. “It’s got a significant. The aeroplane pitched up quite violently and I didn’t
JAP engine in it, so it’s got a lot more power. It flies precisely the know whether I’d got enough elevator to control it. I pushed the
same, other than the fact that the Essex aeroplane, when it’s on stick forward until the aeroplane decided it was going to fly. It was
song, has got a bit more go”. It’s now performing very well, but there now a very efficient glider.
was one occasion during testing when it had no ‘go’ at all. “I turned towards the airfield, thinking I was going to make it very
Rob takes up the story. “I was returning to the airfield after quite a nicely. I landed deep on the main runway and rolled to a stop. As I
successful sortie when the crankshaft broke and the propeller came got out of the aeroplane, my ’phone was ringing in my pocket. I
off. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of the propeller in thought it was the engineers seeing if I was all right. When I
formation with me, still rotating, before it went down below the wing. answered, it said, ‘We’ve heard of your recent accident. Would you
Now, you fly the Cygnet from the back seat. It’s not got a trimmer, like to make a claim?’”

going on, and then it needs to be Remarkably, Rob hasn’t missed
refined to each individual aeroplane a Shuttleworth show since 1993.
and, particularly, each individual There are only a handful in that time
engine.” he hasn’t flown in, for one reason
Flying the Sopwith Camel or another. Certain events in the
reproduction was especially collection’s aeroplanes naturally
interesting, as Rob was the LAA stand out: the three-ship of Bristol
inspector assigned to the project Fighters at Flying Legends in 2006
when it was being built in Batley is one, last May’s Lysander pair
by the Northern Aeroplane another. A third happened on the
Workshops. “It’s an absolute beast same, incredibly calm, evening as
of an aeroplane”, he says. Amongst the ‘Lizzie’ duo — his first flight in
other things, “Basically, if you turn the Blériot XI.
to the left, the engine wants to go to “It is almost unflyable”, he says.
the right. You need to hold the stick “Never mind crossing the Channel
to the left because the aeroplane’s — I wouldn’t cross the River Trent
trying to go the other way. That’s in it. It is wildly underpowered, so
quite stable, because you’re going you need to sort of ‘confuse’ it into
to the left and the stick’s over to the the air. When you get it airborne it
left. You put in a bit of back stick, as will be at a very high angle of attack,
you do with any and if you try aviation became his career 25 ABOVE:
aeroplane, to fly
it round. You also
Never mind to roll left it will
go right. If you
years ago, and that was thanks to
the Pitts. Having left Raleigh, the
The tricky Sopwith
Camel demands
use left rudder crossing the Channel put the stick to number of requests he received to
its pilot’s absolute
attention.
to keep the ball the right, the work on other Pitts projects led to
in the middle. — I wouldn’t cross left wing warps the establishment of Aerographic,
BEN DUNNELL
That’s fine.
“If you do
the River Trent in the downwards, but
because it’s such
specialising in engineering,
finishing and graphic design. While
the same to Blériot a steeply under- it handles many different types, the
the right, now cambered wing Pitts is foremost, and Rob has lost
you’re turning in the direction that you get all the trailing edge going count of how many have passed
the engine wants to wind you in. down, which produces more drag through his workshops. Other fruits
Instead of pitching the nose up and than lift. The aeroplane now rolls of his labours, in the form of some
resisting, so you’ve got something to in the opposite direction. The trick very interesting vintage aircraft, will
fight against, it’s trying to increase is to trim it on the stick and steer it appear in time. G-FLIK, meanwhile,
the bank and tuck the nose down. with the rudder until the aeroplane is still in his hands. “I’ll never sell it”,
You need to stop it going too far to accelerates. As it does that, the angle he says. “It’s part of the family.” BELOW LEFT:
the right, so you finish up with the of attack reduces and the wing-warp Historic aeroplanes can The two Cygnet
stick to the left. Now you’ve got the reverses, so the stick works the right sometimes seem a rather rarefied, replicas flying
stick to the left even though the way round. But there is a period exclusive business, but talk to together, Rob leading
in Colin Essex’s
aeroplane’s going to the right. It’s between the wing-warp working the somebody like Rob, still just as machine, Mark
also trying to dive, so you’ve got a right way round and the wrong way enthusiastic after all these years, Sharp following in
bit of back stick. Because you’ve got round where it isn’t working at all!” and you realise that it need not be. the Shuttleworth
left stick, you also need left rudder. Flying one of the world’s oldest His story is exceptional in some aeroplane. BEN DUNNELL
You’re in a right turn, but you need airworthy aircraft might seem ways, but, above all, it demonstrates
left rudder to balance it. The control far removed from those early how someone who started out as BELOW:
An airborne
stick is in pretty much the same homebuilding days in the garage an everyday private pilot can end introduction to rotary
position, regardless of whether at his girlfriend’s flat, but they’re up flying some of the world’s finest engines came with
you’re going left or right. You try all part of the same thread running historic aircraft. That’s cause the Avro 504K.
explaining that to a student…” right through Rob’s life. Indeed, for celebration. DARREN HARBAR

HOOKS’
Mike Hooks began his aviation photography career in 1945
with a simple box camera, moving on to an Ensign folding
camera in about 1948, and later to a Voigtlander Vito B. He
TOURS
converted to colour in the 1950s, and went on to build one of
the UK’s most extensive archives of Kodachrome transparencies
PHOTOGRAPHY:
MIKE HOOKS
ILYUSHIN Il-18
Known to NATO as the ‘Coot’, the Il-18 gave Aeroflot its first
practical four-turboprop airliner when it entered service on
20 April 1959 — and became known for its signature smoke trails
MAIN PICTURE: Egyptian operator United Arab Airlines acquired
four Il-18Ds in 1968-69 for international routes from Cairo. Newly
delivered SU-AOY was photographed in September 1969, but
3 When the African state of Mali proclaimed independence
in 1960, the Soviet Union willingly ‘gifted’ four Il-18s to
establish Air Mali. TZ-ABY arrived in 1965 and is pictured at
crashed near Nicosia on 29 January 1973 with the loss of all 37 Le Bourget airport in Paris during June 1967. Wet-leased from
passengers and crew. Aeroflot, the aircraft were returned in the 1970s.
2 Malev Hungarian Airlines received eight Il-18Vs beginning

with HA-MOA in April 1960, the type serving on the
Budapest-London Gatwick service for some years. ‘Oscar Alpha’
4 Between 1961 and 1967, Romanian flag-carrier Tarom took
delivery of 12 Il-18s. A Romanian government flight received
three, of which YR-IMM, captured on approach to Bucharest in
is now preserved at the Aeropark museum at Budapest’s Liszt August 1991, arrived during May 1967. All had been withdrawn
Ferenc International Airport. by 2000.
5 Registered in Kyrgyzstan, Il-18D EX-75442 of Phoenix was a

Sharjah-based freighter in evidence during 2001-02. As with
most ‘Coots’, this example had spent much of its flying life in
Aeroflot service.
6 In late 1991, German operator Berline began operations

flying five ex-Interflug Il-18D/Vs, two of which were
converted by Ilyushin into cargo ‘Coots’. D-AOAP was one,
and appeared at Berlin-Schönefeld’s ILA show in May 1992.
However, the company closed in March 1994.
80-81_AM_HookTours_Dec19_cc C.indd 80 31/10/2019 11:11

2 3
4 5
80-81_AM_HookTours_Dec19_cc C.indd 81 31/10/2019 11:12

MUSEUMS Kamikaze pilots
“I am
awaiting the
final order”
Words from a kamikaze pilot
who met his death in June
1945 are among the powerful,
and sobering, exhibits in two
museums dedicated to the
Japanese suicide missions
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY:
DR RUDOLF STUMBERGER
82-86_AM_Museums Kamikaze_Dec19_cc C.indd 82 02/11/2019 12:23

K
yushu is the southernmost the Americans into ceasefire which became a kamikaze base in OPPOSITE PAGE:
main island of Japan. From negotiations. They were flown March 1945. In the outdoor area is A kamikaze attack
here more than 1,000 of with everything that was available: one of the wooden shelters where by a Kawasaki Ki-61
about to miss the US
the young, inexperienced fighters, bombers, trainers. the pilots spent the nights before Navy escort carrier
aviators belonging to the special In the Chiran museum, in their last mission. Nearby are a USS Sangamon
units dubbed ‘Tokko’, otherwise addition to the letters and the statue of a kamikaze pilot, a replica by just a few feet
referred to as the kamikaze pilots, photographs of the 1,036 pilots, Ki-84 and various memorials. on 4 May 1945.
got airborne during the early there are several aircraft exhibits. The story of a successful Another such strike
months of 1945 to fly towards One is a Nakajima Ki-84, serial 1446, kamikaze attack is told in a letter that same day was
more successful
certain death. Their task was to captured by the Americans in the from Ed Russell, a retired US Navy and caused serious
strike enemy ships and inflict Philippines during 1945 and shown sailor, to the museum in September damage to the ship.
the greatest possible damage at the Planes of Fame museum in 2001. Russell served on board US NAVY
on the enemy. Most of them are California until the seaplane
best-known from footage shot
by American cameramen: shaky
1978, when
it returned to I asked out tender USS
Curtiss, which
images of aircraft diving at Allied
vessels, ending either with a fireball
Japan. Initially
part of the
loud ‘How can was severely
damaged by a
or a crash into the sea. That some Arashyama you do that?’ and kamikaze attack
of the cockpits were occupied by Museum near using a Ki-84 on
17-year-old boys is often forgotten. Kyoto, in 1991 it watched him for 21 June 1945.
The story is told in two museums
on Kyushu: in the south the Chiran
went to Chiran.
Also on display
what seemed like “I stood up
and watched,
Peace Museum, and in the north the is a Mitsubishi an eternity until he amazed at what
Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum. A6M-5 Zero- he was doing”,
“The countryside is so beautiful. Sen Model crashed into us Russell wrote.
I forget that I’m going to die now. 52-Hei, serial “He flew so low
The sky is blue without limits. I see 62343 — or, rather, what’s left of it. his propeller created a wake in the
a cloud floating in the sky. I feel the Having ditched into Teuchi harbour water. I asked out loud ‘How can
summer in Chiran in June, whilst near Akone, for 35 years the carrier you do that?’ and watched him for
hearing the singing of cicadas. I fighter sat submerged on the seabed what seemed like an eternity until
am awaiting the final order”. These until it was recovered in June 1980 he crashed into us.”
lines were written by Capt Kanji and taken to the museum. The Sometimes the kamikaze pilots
Eda before he began his kamikaze Nakajima Ki-43 is a replica, built in survived. Kensuki Kunugi took BELOW:
The Chiran
mission. The 22-year-old, a 2007 for the Japanese movie I Will off from Chiran on 28 March museum’s Nakajima
university graduate, died on 6 June Die for You. 1945, heading towards Okinawa. Ki-84, serial 1446,
1945. Two other casualties that day, The museum is located on the site Due to engine trouble he was is the sole complete
Capts Shizuka Watanabe (22) and of the former military flying school, forced to land on the island of survivor of the type.
Toshiro Arai (23), also left farewell
letters before their last sortie.
Sometimes the message was short:
“This is my final statement”, wrote
Yoshio Itsui before his death on 1
April 1945. “I have nothing to say. I
will only do my best”. At 32, he was
among the oldest kamikaze pilots.
Some 4,000 of these harrowing

documents can be found in the
Chiran museum, along with portrait
photos of the pilots. Their average
age was 21 and they had no prior
combat experience, coming from
flying schools and universities with
two or three years of pilot training
behind them. The idea of refusing
the order to fly a kamikaze attack
practically did not exist.
The target for the kamikaze
operations in the spring of 1945
was about 370 miles, or two-and-
a-half hours’ flight time, south of
Chiran: Okinawa, the island where
US forces landed on Japanese soil.
The calculation of the Japanese
military was that the kamikaze
(‘divine wind’) missions would
cause such great losses as to force

CLOCKWISE Kuchinoshima. He suffered serious Finally he moved to Chiran, where was over the sea, he carried out a
FROM TOP: wounds to his face and hands, but he was surprised to see so many test-firing of the machine gun, a
The Nakajima Ki-43 lived. In 2007 he told his story to the kamikaze units. What did the young standard procedure. But the bullets
replica at Chiran
Chiran museum. pilot feel about his mission? “I had had been incorrectly loaded — poor
frames some of the
walls on which are Kunugi was born on the northern no regrets”, he told the interviewer. maintenance often caused problems
displayed photos of island of Hokkaido in 1926. As a “That’s why I was there and I knew with the aircraft at Chiran — and hit
kamikaze pilots. young boy he wanted to become a it meant risking my life. Many of the oil radiator. Oil began to spread
soldier, like his father. Graduating us had a strong will to defend our over the windscreen. With no vision
The remains of from school in 1943, he entered the people. For this reason, I don’t from the cockpit, the pilot chose
A6M‑5 serial 62343,
Imperial Japanese Army’s flying understand why people today hate to make an emergency landing on
as recovered from
Teuchi harbour. school at Koga. The main training soldiers.” Kuchinoshima. After he touched
aircraft he flew there was the down the aeroplane caught fire,
A representation of Tachikawa Ki-9 biplane. After that injuring Kunugi’s hands. Eventually
one of the huts in Kunugi — then 17 — went to the The pilots slept in triangular he managed to crawl out and
which Chiran-based 24th Training Corps in Manchuria, barracks, on mattresses filled with jumped into the sea. He was rescued
kamikaze pilots
which used the Nakajima Ki-27 straw. When the commander told by some islanders and taken to the
spent their last night.
fighter. “It was very good”, he them they would soon be taking off, military hospital in Kagoshima. He
A rare survivor in the commented. “I had never used such Kunugi’s only desire was to take his wanted to return to operations, but
Tachiarai museum: an excellent aircraft. I think that if shoes off and let his bare feet feel the doctor refused. When the war
what is thought to I [had been] given a Ki-27 from the the soil: “I thought that this would ended, Kunugi was hospitalised
be the sole extant beginning, my flying skills [would] be the last time I would touch the in Tokyo, where his hands were
Nakajima Ki-27.
have improved much quicker.” earth in my native country.” operated on. In October 1946 he
Tachiarai’s A6M-3, On 6 February 1945 Kunugi was They were ordered to depart returned home. Kunugi got a job as
serial 3621, ended ordered to become a kamikaze without loading a bomb and to a guard at a fertiliser company, and
its service career at pilot. With others he flew from crash into the enemy ships using the then worked until retirement at the
Taroa in the Marshall Manchuria, over Seoul and Daegu, aircraft alone. On 28 March 1945, local city hall. The former kamikaze
Islands. to Tachiarai airfield near Fukuoka. Kunugi duly left Chiran. When he pilot died in 2014, aged 87.

LEFT AND
BELOW LEFT:
Kamikaze pilots
being briefed at
Chiran, in front of
Nakajima Ki-43s and
a Kawasaki Ki-61
respectively.
Heading north from Kyushu, and notes are displayed here, as the mid-late 1930s, with its fixed
Tachiarai is a small town south well as portrait photos. Some of undercarriage and less powerful
of Fukuoka, the capital of Kyushu the stories are very notable, such engine, was almost obsolete by
prefecture. The local airfield was as that of Capt Masaji Takano. He 1945 when it was used for suicide
opened in 1919, and a military was born in Hawaii as the son of attacks. Sometimes the Ki-27 was
flying school was established Japanese-American parents and flown without a bomb load and the
here during came to Japan pilots tried to sink or damage their
1940. It too
became a base In many cases the to study, and
to marry. Two
targets with the mass and energy
of the airframe alone. In many
for kamikaze
missions, a
Japanese aeroplanes of his brothers
fought on the
cases, the approaching Japanese
aeroplanes were intercepted by
period that were shot down. It American side American fighters and shot down
ended on 27 in Europe, and before they reached the target
March 1945 is estimated that he and another area. It is estimated that only every
when US Army
Air Forces B-29
only every seventh brother for the
Japanese. Takano
seventh kamikaze attack actually hit
its target.
Superfortress kamikaze attack hit died on 27 May The Ki-27 exhibited in the
bombers 1945 during Tachiarai museum is said to be the
destroyed the its target a kamikaze only extant machine of its kind.
aerodrome. mission. “My It was discovered on the seabed
From then on, the sorties were target is only an enemy warship”, in Hakata Bay near Fukuoka in
flown from Chiran. Dedicated to the he wrote before getting into his 1996 and has been in the museum
memory of the kamikaze pilots, the aircraft. “I will surely hit and sink since its restoration. The Ki-27 was
Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum the enemy.” ditched in 1945 during a ferry flight
was inaugurated in 1987. The kamikaze operations were from Manchuria to Chiran, where it
As in the sister museum in mostly flown by fighters, especially was intended for use as a kamikaze
Chiran, the pilots’ final letters the Ki-27. This machine from aircraft. The pilot survived but

Incidentally, a monument to
the pilots from the ‘Tokko’ units
can also be seen in the Japanese
capital, Tokyo. In the politically
controversial Yasukuni shrine,
which is dedicated to the fallen
Japanese soldiers of World War
Two, a statue of a kamikaze pilot is
located in a corner. In the military
museum next to it are another
Zero-Sen, this one being an A6M-5
model, and a Yokosuka D4Y-1 Suisei
carrier-borne dive-bomber, along
with a replica of a Yokosuka Ohka
22 flying bomb.
The city of
Minamikyushu
wants the farewell
letters from the
kamikaze pilots to
be listed as UNESCO
heritage
The issue of remembering
the kamikaze missions remains
ABOVE: later died in a kamikaze attack terminal at Nagoya airport before a sensitive one. The city of
One of the displays while flying the same type. The moving to Tachiarai. Minamikyushu, where the Chiran
of a pilot’s personal
effects — leather
second aircraft in the Tachiarai In addition, the museum museum is located, wants the
helmet, flying exhibition is an A6M-3 Zero-Sen features a wide variety of ancillary farewell letters from the kamikaze
goggles, silk scarf, Model 22, serial 3621, which was exhibits, such as period Japanese pilots to be listed as UNESCO
final letter and recovered from Taroa airfield in propaganda posters, radios, engines documentary heritage. A first
portrait — in the the Marshall Islands during 1979. and aerial torpedoes. Information attempt in 2014 was rejected amid
Tachiarai collection. Initially restored by former US panels show the main sites of concern that the letters glorify
Navy serviceman Stephen Aiken the kamikaze operations in the war. China, which suffered under
and displayed at his collection Philippines and around Okinawa, Japanese rule during the 1930s,
on Saipan in the Mariana islands, while a diorama depicts the condemned the move as “an effort
it came to Japan in 1983, being remains of a crashed Zero-Sen on a to beautify Japan’s history of
displayed in Fukuoka and in the sandy beach. militaristic aggression.”
VISITOR INFORMATION
Chiran Peace Museum
Address: 17881 Kori, Chiran-cho,
Minamikyushu-shi,
Kagoshima-ken, Japan
Website: www.chiran-tokkou.jp
Opening hours: 09.00-17.00hrs
daily except Wednesday
Entry fee: 5,000 Yen
Chikuzenmachi Tachiara
Peace Memorial Museum
RIGHT:
The issue of how Address: 2561-1, Takata,
Japan as a nation Chikuzen-machi, Asaakura-gun,
remembers and Fukuoka prefecture
memorialises the Website: tachiarai-heiwa.jp
kamikaze pilots has, Opening hours: 09.00-17.00hrs
for understandable (last entry 16.30hrs)
reasons, been a
difficult one to
Entry fee: 500 Yen
tackle.

‘‘
UP TO
48”
HALF
’’
” I’m most impressed by
WAIST the quality and fit!
Online Review
4
LENGTHS
PRICE now
THERMAL ACTION
TROUSERS £38 £19
SAVE £19
£19 • Easy care and quick

drying fabric
• Elastication for extra
comfort
OLIVE • Multiple pockets for
added security
• Warm thermal lining
Machine Washable
65% Polyester 35% Cotton
Lining 100% Polyester Tricot
32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48
Olive Charcoal Black
27” (68.5cm) inside leg AC14594 CZU
29” (74cm) inside leg AC14595 CZU
SAND
LACE-UP TRAVEL SHOES
£38 £19 SAVE £19
• Cushioning underfoot
• Padded ankle collar
and tongue for support
• Sturdy soles for
daily wear
Upper/Sole Other Lining/Sock Textile
7 8 9 10 11 12 E Fit
Sand
AQ11590 CZU
Plus only £3.99 standard delivery
POST TO: Cotton Traders, Cotton Hub, Merlin Court, Atlantic Street, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 5NL
ORDER CODE SIZE 1ST COLOUR 2ND COLOUR QTY TOTAL

CHOICE CHOICE
Please send me item(s) indicated (BLOCK CAPITALS PLEASE) OPTIONAL (TICK)

INSURANCE 48p†
I enclose my Cheque/PO made payable UK STANDARD
DELIVERY
£3.99
to Cotton Traders Limited for £
TOTAL
THERMAL LINED ZIPPED POCKETS SIDE ELASTICATED WAIST
CHARCOAL BLACK OLIVE Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Initial Surname
Address
Postcode
order today, Telephone
Please debit my
Signature
PLEASE USE THIS
visit cottontraders.com MasterCard Visa Maestro PROMOTIONAL CODE

TO CLAIM YOUR OFFER
or call 0844 844 1111

Valid From Expiry Date Issue No. Security Code*
X139
†
48p guarantees refund or replace if undelivered 7 working days after dispatch. Tick to select this optional cover. Payment taken at
point of order. We aim to deliver within 3 working days from dispatch, stock subject to availability. We comply with Consumer
14 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED Contract Regulations; you have the right to cancel your order no later than 14 days after the day on which you receive your goods.
Inform us of your wish to cancel in writing, by letter or email. Returns are not free, full details are on your delivery note. Return
Registered office: Cotton Traders Ltd, Cotton Traders House, Atlantic Street, Altrincham WA14 5GZ goods within 14 days of cancellation. Calls to 0844 numbers will cost 7p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge.
£3.99 UK standard delivery. International delivery from £6.95. Offer applies to purchases in GBP only. Exception is Ireland orders
which will be charged in EUR at the set conversion rate. Prices quoted are correct at time of production but can vary. One
Fast, reliable UK & International delivery service promotion per order. *Last 3 digits on back of card. This is mandatory to process your order. Offer ends 31.01.2020.
Marketing and Promotions: We want to make sure you don’t miss out on our great products and offers, so we will keep you
informed by post. If you do not want to hear from us, please let us know. I do not want to be contacted by Post.
International delivery available online to over 25 countries worldwide We take your privacy seriously. For details of our privacy policy and full terms and conditions visit cottontraders.com.
92632 AEROPLANE MONTHLY X139 TAT 14_11_19.indd 1 10/10/2019 10:59

™
AA27901 Newly tooled

McDonnell Douglas™
Phantom FG.1 Highly detailed
XT864/007R, No.892 NAS,
HMS Ark Royal, November 1978
244mm wingspan
Produced under license. Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, F4- Phantom,
£149.99 Limited Edition of only
the distinctive Boeing logos, product markings and trade dress are
trademarks of The Boeing Company. RRP 2500 units worldwide
THE PHANTOM MENACE

A LTHOUGH THE HISTORY OF BRITISH AVIATION
can boast many famous aeroplanes amongst its
ranks, there can be few that were as visually striking
air – such a spectacular experience for anyone lucky
enough to see it. Although most of us will have only
ever seen the operation of Ark Royal’s Phantoms on
as the mighty Phantom FG.1s of the Royal Navy, video or in reference books, these iconic images left
which operated from the diminutive deck of HMS such an indelible impression that Britain’s Rolls Royce
Ark Royal. In the seconds prior to launch and whilst Spey powered Phantoms have since become something
connected to the ship’s steam catapult, the aircraft’s of an enigma and still command huge enthusiast
nose wheel oleo would be extended to its maximum interest to this day.
40 inch position, giving the Phantom a distinct nose
01843 233 512

up attitude to increase the efficiency of engine thrust.
With steam rising eerily from the ships deck, Navy To order call
Phantoms looked like a giant metal praying mantis, (Telephone order lines are open 9am - 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-3pm on Friday)
ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. With Alternatively go to www.corgi.co.uk

maximum afterburner selected and the engine power or visit your local Corgi stockist!
almost melting the ship’s deck, the Phantom was /officialcorgi @corgi /corgidiecast
finally released from its shackles and roared into the
WWW.MAGICSCALEMODELING.COM
Plug & Play Electronics For Advanced Plastic Modelers
Synchronized engine and authentic soundtracks for 1/48th single engine airplanes. Scale
effect has been taken into account for the sound level and propeller rotation speed.
These Electronic kits are ‘Plug & Play’

and include programmed circuit board,
3D printed parts, electric engine,
speaker and battery holder on/off.
• Daimler Benz in line for Messerschmitts,

Heinkel and many other Luftwaffe fighters
• Rolls-Royce Merlin for the Spitfires,
Hurricanes and other RAF heroes NEW
€49+ shipping co
sts
What is your dream?
anticsonline.uk
MODEL SHOPS IN...
• Stroud • Gloucester
• Bristol • Plymouth
MASSIVE RANGE
• Cardiff • Stonehouse
OF AIRCRAFT MODELS CALL US: 01453 377030

Email: enquiries@anticsonline.co.uk
PHANTOMS FROM THE SEA SPITFIRES ARE DOWN! CLOSER TO THE ACTION
But not in Handley Page Halifax “Expensive
With the primary task of fleet protection the quality - the Babe” was based at RAF
Snaith was one of only five RAF
RN Phantoms were tremendously powerful Airfix 1/48
Halifax’s to manage over 100
Spitfire FR
aircraft that were difficult to accommodate on Mk. XIV is a
operational
sorties of
the medium sized carriers of the period. great kit of World War 2.
one of the most potent versions
Corgi’s excellent 1/48 die-cast model equals of the Spitfire at a new low
(AA37209)
the quality of the recent 1/48 Lightning and price! (A05135) £17.50 £109.75
the pair represent the UK’s main aircraft of
the seventies COAL FOR BERLIN GEMS FROM GEMINI
Having proved itself over Normandy, the The 1/400
and eighties. C-47A made its name in the Cold War Commercial
(AA27901) standoff that resulted in the Berlin Airlift.
We have both versions of the 1/72nd
airliners
produced by
Corgi die-cast
Gemini have
£135.00
model that do justice
to this tough and always been a
rugged transport pleasure to own, while the range has
aircraft. Price is for been extended to include military
the Berlin version. £84.95 transport aircraft. Visit the web site to
(AA38209) view our stocks.
NEW-LOOK December issue - OUT NOW
I
t is with great pride that the FlyPast team brings
you a new-look magazine. Taking on board the
things you’ve been telling us, we’ve introduced a
fresh design, with easier to read text.
We’ll also be running some fresh features,
including FlyPast Classics, which starts in this
issue with the Merlin-engined Seafire.
Our cover feature is a revealing interview with
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight CO, Sqn Ldr
Mark Discombe and we also pay a visit to the
Brooklands Museum and their restored Hawker
Hurricane Mk.IIa.
K!
PLUS we are celebrating our relaunch with a
O
LO
FREE 2020 Calendar celebrating classic FlyPast
front cover stars and the first part our biggest
ever competition! W
NE
December issue available now from WH Smith and other leading newsagents
From
Why not subscribe to £39.99
Annual
the new-look FlyPast? Direct Debit NEW!
Exclusive
+FREE GIFT Subscriber
-only
front cove
rs
For the latest

subscription deals VISIT: www.flypast.com/xmas19
CALL: UK: 01780 480404 OVERSEAS: +44 1780 480404
Published by Key Publishing Ltd. The entire contents of these titles are © copyright 2019. All rights reserved. 727/19
b
727 Flypast Latest fp.indd 90 01/11/2019 14:16
DATA
DATABASE
DATABASE MARTINSYDE ELEPHANT
Development
Development
Technical Details
Technical
15
Details
G100 serial 7266 was among the first 10 Martinsyde
Elephants flown to France by No 27 Squadron on 1 IN-DE
March 1916. It later became one of three fitted with PAGEPTH
the Royal Aircraft Factory Periscopic Bomb Sight MkII, S
and served with No 49 Squadron. CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY
In
In Service
Service
MARTINSYDE
Insights
Insights
ELEPHANT WORDS: PETE LONDON
An Elephant of No 14 Squadron, its

undercarriage reinforced with a cross-
brace to allow carriage of greater bomb
loads than originally envisaged. That said,
it has no bomb racks fitted. VIA PETE LONDON
91-105_AM_Database_Dec19_cc C.indd 91 03/11/2019 18:35

Emerging in 1915, Martinsyde’s new biplane
DEVELOPMENT was a useful multi-purpose machine
G100 prototype 4735 at Brooklands, fitted with its initial Lang three-bladed propeller. The cowling profile was later revised and a two-bladed
propeller adopted. KEY COLLECTION
B
orn in 1877 and The machine was built in a By June 1910 the aircraft was at Brooklands. It was seriously
educated at Edinburgh shed near Hendon. Unhappily, flying successfully with Martin, damaged and not repaired.
Royal High School, during trials at Edgware but on 30 July it came to grief. By November another
George Harris its propeller broke up and A modification to its wing stays monoplane had appeared,
Handasyde developed a passion the engine parted from its had altered the centre of lift, and 65hp Antoinette-powered,
for automotive engineering. mountings. Changes were its elevators had been unable to with a distinctive long-chord
Later, as the first flyers took to made including reinforcement compensate. fin subsequently adopted
the air, he eagerly began to of the engine bearers, and the Powered by a 40hp JAP, the by numerous Martin and
explore the fledgling art of introduction of a two-wheeled number three Martin-Handasyde Handasyde types. Graham
aviation. Meanwhile, also from main undercarriage. More testing flew in November 1910 with Gilmour first flew it on 2
an engineering background, took place but the aeroplane practiced pilot Graham Gilmour December, and in February 1912
Londoner Helmut Paul Martin refused to fly. Nonetheless, in command. The Antoinette- it acquired new wings. However,
was skilled in designing Martin and Handasyde boldly type controls adopted earlier on 17 February the machine
motorcycle engines and planned to demonstrate it at a were replaced by a more crashed catastrophically and
automobile parts. Both men display to be held in Halifax. conventional control column Gilmour was killed. The cause
were experienced practical Alas, a tale of woe unravelled. operating the elevators, with was never fully determined.
mechanics. During shipment north the a wheel for warping, while the Nonetheless, more
Meeting in 1908 through aircraft was badly damaged. empennage was larger than that monoplanes followed, for service
their common interests, Martin in mind with the new Royal
caught Handasyde’s enthusiasm Flying Corps. A 65hp Antoinette-
for the possibilities of flying. The It was manoeuvrable, and above 8,000ft powered type flew on 27 June
two entered into an aeronautical climbed faster than the smaller Bristol Scout 1912, piloted by Gordon Bell.
partnership, at first known Another, with a 75hp Chenu
as Martin and Handasyde, engine, entered the summer 1912
Aeroplane Manufacturers and When the men arrived at of the second machine. It soon Military Aeroplane Competition
Aeronautical Engineers, and that Halifax, they found the event’s received a second JAP, flying with held at Larkhill. This aircraft
year began designing their first organisers had advertised flights Gilmour in December 1910. On 5 flew infrequently, the Chenu
machine. far and wide over the area, and June 1911 an Antoinette piloted proving very unreliable. A 65hp
The resultant aircraft emerged that theirs was the only machine by Hubert Latham crashed on Antoinette was substituted but
in 1909, a single-seater of similar intended to participate. Given the Brooklands shed housing on 24 October the machine
general appearance to the a tent in which to repair their the machine and damaged it. It’s crashed and was badly damaged.
Blériot XI monoplane. Power problem child, high night-time uncertain whether or not the The September 1912 War
came from a Beeston-Humber winds blew it down, wrecking No 3 flew again. Office ban on the RFC’s use of
engine initially delivering around the aeroplane. The 4B Dragon Fly tandem monoplanes might have dashed
12-14hp, but improved by the Undaunted, the men pressed two-seater was similar to the the aspirations of lesser men,
men to yield some 29hp. With a on. In their new premises at No 3 but much bigger. Powered yet by December a further type
triangular-section fuselage, the Brooklands a second type took by a 50hp Gnôme, it was flying by was flying, dubbed the Martin-
sharply cambered two-spar wing shape. Superficially it resembled Easter 1911 but crashed in April, Handasyde Military Monoplane
probably employed warping. an Antoinette monoplane, in the hands of owner Thomas and featuring enlarged elevators.
Initially the main undercarriage through it was much smaller. Sopwith. Repaired and with a Another new machine was
consisted of a single central Given a Humber engine at the 65hp Antoinette engine the 4B exhibited at the February
wheel, presumably combined outset, soon a JAP was fitted came to grief for a second time 1913 Olympia Aero Show,
with outrigger stabilisers. which eventually yielded 45hp. that summer, with Oscar Morison with improved fuselage and

undercarriage design. Initially
fitted with an 80hp Laviator
Development
engine, by May it had received
a 120hp Austro-Daimler. The
company hoped its aircraft might
interest the Admiralty, which
had not banned monoplanes
from its possible purchases.
On Friday 13 June that
machine too crashed, in the
hands of Gordon Bell. The pilot
was seriously injured though he
Technical Details
recovered, but his passenger,
naval Lt James Robert Branch
Kennedy, died in the accident.
Hopes of Admiralty sales fell.
Nonetheless, it seems as if
one or more similar Martin
and Handasyde monoplanes
emerged that year. A water-based
monoplane also appeared —
though it was tested with a land Assessment of first prototype 4735 by the Central Flying School at Upavon discovered shortcomings with the
undercarriage — and crashed cockpit in particular. KEY COLLECTION
following a magneto failure.
In Service
The most exciting type of
1914 took the form of a 225hp Archibald (Tony) Fletcher, a was in its infancy. Although allowed it to carry sufficient
Sunbeam-powered monoplane. design draughtsman who’d Martinsyde’s machine was fuel for an endurance of
A response to the Daily Mail’s arrived from Handley Page. armed with a Lewis gun, and at around five-and-a-half hours,
prize of £10,000 for the first non- Fletcher took a prominent the start of its career undertook while it could accommodate
stop flight across the Atlantic, part in designing Martinsyde’s some protective escort flights, it camera equipment to record
the design was the largest yet next aircraft, a large single-seat seems doubtful it was intended enemy ground dispositions.
seen in Britain. Spanning 66ft, biplane again with the RFC in specifically as a fighting type. Soon after it entered service, it
Insights
its estimated all-up weight mind. What was its planned role? It’s more probable the big also became a bomb-carrier.
was around 4,500lb. Gustav At the time it was schemed, over biplane was conceived for Perhaps reflecting its unusual
Hamel was earmarked to the summer of 1915, the concept long-range reconnaissance size compared with some of its
pilot the aircraft on its trans- of combat between aeroplanes work. Its sizeable wing area contemporaries, the machine
Atlantic attempt, but on 23 became informally but widely
May 1914 he disappeared over known as the Elephant.
the Channel while flying his The first prototype, serial
new Morane-Saulnier. Martin 4735, appeared in August 1915.
and Handasyde’s machine was On 8 September the Central
never completed, and by August Flying School (CFS) at Upavon
Britain was at war with Germany. received it for assessment. The
The two men’s first biplane CFS found the cockpit cramped,
was the single-seat S1, similar to and the view limited by the large
the successful Sopwith Tabloid wing surfaces and lofty cowling.
— which they’d doubtless There was little room even for
observed — and powered by an maps, or notebooks for use
80hp Gnôme. In October 1914 during reconnaissance flights.
the initial S1 was impressed into The machine had no fuel gauge
military service, serialled 696. and its throttle lever was felt
The type entered production; it’s awkwardly positioned.
thought 67 examples were built, The following month 4735
serving with the RFC in France, joined No 1 Aircraft Depot at
Mesopotamia and on home St-Omer, subsequently flying
defence anti-Zeppelin duties. with Nos 6 and 20 Squadrons,
Some had a Lewis machine gun RFC. Reports were favourable; it
installed. was manoeuvrable, and above
By May 1915 Martin and 8,000ft climbed faster than the
Handasyde’s business had been smaller Bristol Scout. By then
reorganised as a new company, a bomb sight had been fitted,
Martinsyde Ltd. That spring a and, though its location was
two-seat biplane appeared, a criticised, the view downwards
100hp Gnôme providing power was much improved by
at that stage. Though it flew installing a transparent sheet
widely, no orders resulted. The in the cockpit’s floor. The new
type was in some measure drawn Helmut Paul Martin and George Harris Handasyde at their Brooklands Martinsyde was quickly ordered
up by new employee Anthony premises during 1914. VIA PETE LONDON and entered manufacture.

TECHNICAL There was a degree of ‘trial and error’
DETAILS when it came to refining the Elephant
A6289 rejoiced in the names Malaya No 4, the Wi-Cheng

Kim and later Mount Lofty, South Australia. It is pictured
pre-delivery at Brooklands, with the racetrack in the
background. Fitted with a ventral bomb rack, the machine
joined No 27 Squadron in September 1917. KEY COLLECTION
T
he Martinsyde around the nose area was The engine’s radiator was The fuselage sides and
Elephant was a two-bay asymmetric, a portion cut out at mounted internally, aft of the decking around the cockpit
staggered biplane, the front to allow maintainers to powerplant, while fuel tankage were plywood-covered, the aft
powered initially by a reach the magneto installation. was 50.5 gallons. The prototype fuselage being fabric-covered.
Beardmore-built 120hp Later machines had bigger did without an exhaust On the starboard fuselage side
Austro-Daimler six-cylinder openings, while the starboard manifold, but, after pilots below the cockpit, a hardwood
in-line engine in the G100 side radiator air intake fillet was complained of ingesting exhaust bracket could accommodate
version, and later by the more enlarged, though it was found fumes and consequent nausea, a vertically mounted, 18-plate
powerful but less mechanically this could lead to carburettor production machines received semi-automatic camera. The
reliable 160hp form of that icing. Pilot-controlled shutters a manifold, though sometimes camera was aimed through the
powerplant in the G102 variant, were introduced, and the these were modified or even gap between the fuselage and
which allowed carriage of carburettor system was lagged. removed altogether. the lower wing. From the
greater bomb loads.
The type’s two-spar wings
were of equal 38ft span and of
broad parallel chord with raked
tips. The lower wings terminated
inboard just short of the fuselage
sides and employed substantial
plywood end-plates; through
the resultant gaps the spars
were visible. Ailerons were
fitted to all four wings. Like its
flight surfaces, the machine’s
fuselage was of wood and
fabric construction, being of
rectangular section surmounted
by curved decking. The forward
fuselage portion around the
engine cowling was skinned
with aluminium sheet — in the
field this part was often painted
grey, perhaps in order to reduce
the amount of glare.
At the outset the G100
prototype, serial 4735, employed
a three-bladed Lang propeller, Martinsyde built an experimental single-bay, shorter-span variation of the Elephant, but it didn’t enter
but production machines had production. In the foreground stands young design office worker Sydney Camm, who’d joined the company
a two-bladed type. The cowling during 1914. VIA PETE LONDON

Development
MARTINSYDE G100
Technical Details
In Service
Insights

rear wing spar almost to the Production machines
tail, the lower fuselage fabric received numerous changes.
was laced to allow inspection The cockpit coaming profile
and maintenance of the control was altered more than once
cables within. and later, improving the view
The Elephant’s empennage somewhat, the pilot’s seat was
consisted of a long-chord made adjustable in height. Some
fin and a substantial rudder, aircraft were given windscreens.
rather like that of the S1, with The decking profile aft of the
a conventional tailplane and cockpit was somewhat revised
elevator arrangement. Beneath while the tailplane’s angle of
the prototype’s tail was a rather incidence was increased and
complex tailskid. The main a small fairing introduced to
undercarriage took a simple smooth it into the decking. The
V-strut form, each wheel original interplane bracing wires
mounted on a half-axle with its were replaced with streamlined-
inner end pivoted at the mid- section ‘Rafwires’. Production
point of the spreader bars. aircraft adopted a simpler
Armament tailskid.
consisted In April 1916,
at first of a At the RFC’s request early in the big
single Lewis the Elephant had Martinsyde’s
machine gun. operational
With British
been given a bombing career, a fatal
interrupter capability by the spring accident
gear yet to of 1916 occurred.
emerge, the The fuselage
weapon was longerons of
strut-mounted above the upper No 27 Squadron’s serial 7267
wing clear of the propeller snapped in flight. Its empennage
arc, offset slightly to starboard and rear fuselage became
and hinged to the rear spar detached, with the inevitable,
centre-section. Cord-operated, tragic result. In response to
using a long handle the Lewis this, several modifications were
could be swung backwards urgently cut in. The longerons
and downwards for reloading, were reinforced, an additional
a tricky in-flight activity; two bay being introduced to the
narrow cut-outs in the upper fuselage structure, and wooden
wing allowed this movement. stiffening pieces were inserted
The system was christened the around three of the bays. The
Martinsyde No 5 MkI mounting, longerons received sockets into
a MkII version also being which were securely anchored
developed with moveable legs the fuselage’s vertical struts,
attached to the rear spar. Aiming while reinforcing horizontal
was by means of a gate sight set struts between the longerons
just forward of the pilot, or an and additional wire ties were
Aldis optical sight. incorporated.
SPECIFICATIONS: MARTINSYDE ELEPHANT

G100 G102
POWERPLANT One 120hp One 160hp
Beardmore Beardmore
DIMENSIONS
Span: 38ft 0in 38ft 0½in
Length: 26ft 6in 27ft 0in
Height: Not confirmed 9ft 8in
WEIGHTS
Tare: 1,759lb 1,793lb
Loaded: 2,424lb 2,458lb
TOP: The upper wing-mounted Lewis machine gun of a G102 Elephant, PERFORMANCE
offset slightly to starboard, cord-operated, and swung downwards for Max speed at 6,500ft: 95mph 102mph
reloading using the long handle. Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to reload Max speed at 10,000ft: 87mph 99.5mph
in flight. VIA PETE LONDON Ceiling: 14,000ft 16,000ft
ABOVE: Some Elephants were modified to carry a dozen 20lb bombs Endurance: 5.5 hours 4.5 hours
rather than the usual eight, the additional four mounted beneath
ARMAMENT Various bomb loads up to 336lb; one or two
the fuselage. Between the forward undercarriage legs of this No 14
Squadron example a reinforcing strut has been added. VIA PETE LONDON .303in Lewis machine guns

DATAFILE
Development
ARMAMENT DEVELOPMENTS
to enable reloading — though it wasn’t clear bomb wasn’t formally added to the
where additional shells would be kept. Elephant’s variety of loads. Nonetheless,
Elephant 7301 was earmarked for testing the several were apparently dropped by aircraft
installation at Orfordness Experimental serving in France and the Middle East.
Station, but it’s unlikely that trials actually To try to increase bombing accuracy, three
took place and the idea fell by the wayside. Elephants (7266, 7463 and 7469) were fitted
Another attempt to increase the Elephant’s with the Royal Aircraft Factory’s Periscopic
Technical Details
firepower came from Capt Leon Eeman of Bomb Sight MkII. This consisted of a
Orfordness Experimental Station. His telescopic periscope with a rubber eye-cup,
scheme comprised three Lewis guns adjusted for ground speed and altitude using
installed in the fuselage decking ahead of a drum fitting. The pilot used his right eye to
the pilot, firing upwards at an angle of 47°, peer down the device; Marty Feldman-
the bullets passing through apertures made esque, his left was intended to study a spirit
in the upper wing. It had been found that level indicating his machine’s attitude. It
bullets fired from a weapon set at such an seems 10 sights were shipped to France, but
angle maintained their trajectory for up to it’s not clear how many No 27 Squadron
800 yards before falling away. The scheme machines received them. The unit’s
dovetailed with the stratagem of attacking assessment was equivocal: “This bomb sight
German bombing aircraft from below. is […] a distinct improvement on the CFS
In Service
A6299 accordingly received the three- bomb sight [but] it takes up a considerable
machine gun installation, with a similarly amount of room on the right side of the
inclined Aldis sight. On 19 October 1917, [cockpit] and tends to restrict the pilot’s
Eeman flew it from North Weald on a movement, and makes it difficult to use full
A6299’s cockpit and forward decking, two-hour anti-Zeppelin patrol, but failed to right warp when manoeuvring quickly.”
showing the three upward-firing Lewis guns find the enemy. On landing at Stow Maries, A report by Orfordness Experimental
fitted experimentally, and the similarly-
A6299’s undercarriage collapsed. By then Station added, “[No 27 Squadron does] not
angled Aldis sight. Just visible are two of the
apertures in the upper wing through which the British knew that Gothas were fitted with consider [the sights] satisfactory owing to the
Insights
the bullets passed. VIA PETE LONDON armament defending the ventral position, aeroplane being unstable fore and aft. They
which reduced the idea’s usefulness, and it are little used… all accurate work was done
S
was impossible for the Elephant’s pilot to from a low height, about 200 feet”. The
everal potential armament options reload his guns in flight. Trial Eeman Periscopic Bomb Sight didn’t catch on, the
for the Elephant were examined. installations were fitted to examples of the squadron retaining its CFS-designed type.
These included the idea of fitting a SE5a and Vickers FB26, but the arrangement
2lb recoil-less Davis gun, a weapon wasn’t introduced into service.
felt of possible use against enemy By August 1916 Orfordness Experimental
observation balloons in particular. In April Station had trialled a potential new war load
1916 Martinsyde was requested to design a for the Elephant, a 336lb Royal Aircraft
Davis gun mounting for the type, employing Factory bomb, for its day a large device.
its existing upper-wing Lewis machine gun Probably employing a mounting of
mounting with minor adaptation. The notion Martinsyde design, two successful test drops
of positioning such a large weapon in that were made from Elephants, both from
way is hard to fathom, while it was soon 3,000ft. Landing tests with the bomb
realised the location would make the gun attached revealed the possibility of damage
impossible to reload. to the undercarriage, but this was
A revised mounting was requested. Now considered acceptable in an emergency,
An RAF Periscopic Bomb Sight MkII installed
the gun was to be positioned on the while steel undercarriage axles were
in an Elephant. The pilot’s eye-cup sits above
starboard side between the front and rear introduced during taxiing trials in place of the the cockpit combing while the sight passes
lower spars, close to the fuselage and usual duralumin type. No 27 Squadron aft and downwards through the fuselage,
inclined downwards, its breech near the pilot evaluated the arrangement, but the 336lb protruding through the underside. VIA PETE LONDON
Soon after the Elephant reload, but had value if pursued issued, though some locally undercarriage members, and
entered service too, some by enemy aircraft, or when fashioned sights also appeared. later for a single 230lb bomb.
machines were fitted with a attacking from below. No 27 Squadron’s Lt Hugh As many as a dozen 20lb bombs
second Lewis, chiefly those At the RFC’s request the Chance instructed his rigger were sometimes carried, the
flown by No 27 Squadron on the Elephant had been given a to cut a hole in the floor of four additional bombs again
Western Front. In spring 1916 bombing capability by the his machine through which being located under the central
a cranked pillar gun mounting spring of 1916. Beneath each he could peer while he was fuselage. To help counter the
was introduced, placed just lower wing simple racks were releasing his bombs. weight added by heavy bomb
behind the pilot’s left shoulder; introduced for four 20lb bombs, Provision was made for the loads, some machines had their
the Lewis was rearward- and requiring the insertion of alternative carriage of two undercarriages reinforced with
upward-firing. It must have an additional wing rib. CFS- 112lb bombs beneath the a transverse strut between the
been very difficult to aim and to designed bomb sights were central fuselage between the front legs.

The Elephant proved its worth more as a reconnaissance
IN SERVICE type and bomber than in aerial fighting
No 27 Squadron Elephants at Fienvillers.

7507 is nearest the camera, equipped with
an Aldis sight and rear-facing Lewis gun.
Just visible painted on its fuselage side is the
squadron’s elephant emblem. VIA PETE LONDON
A
total of 270 production less nimble than the smaller On the morning of 17 January flame to leap from the Fokker
machines were emerging enemy scouts. Maj Gen 1916, meanwhile, serving with which dived steeply away. At
ordered, the first batch Hugh Trenchard, commanding No 6 Squadron and flown by 2nd that point German anti-aircraft
of 50 as G100 variants the RFC in France, concluded Lt Norman Bolton, prototype fire intruded while Bolton’s
serialled 7258 to 7307 in the Elephant should be used Elephant 4735 had clashed engine began to misbehave,
November 1915. A second batch instead as a reconnaissance with a Fokker over Gheluvelt, but he force-landed safely.
of 50 (7459 to 7508, procured on and bombing type, so taking near Ypres. The Martinsyde’s The prototype also fought on
the same date) comprised advantage of its good range and second burst of fire, from 5 February 1916 while with
G100s, while the next 50, A1561 load-carrying capacity. around 50ft, caused a spurt of No 20 Squadron, Capt John
to A1610, were ordered in June Reginald Howett emptying a
1916 as G102s though some drum at an LVG over the Forêt
received the 120hp Beardmore. de Clairmarais, though without
The fourth and fifth batches any results.
were A3935 to A4004 (70) and The big Martinsyde served
A6250 to A6299 (50). with numerous RFC squadrons
Though the final two batches but the only unit ever to be all-
were intended as G102s, some Elephant was No 27 Squadron,
examples again had the 120hp which by March 1916 had 10
powerplant. Equally, some on strength, and was stationed
G100s were retrofitted with initially at Treizennes. The
the 160hp Beardmore, a job squadron adopted as its insignia
which took around 90 hours. All a representation of an elephant,
Elephants were constructed by painted on small wooden shields
Martinsyde, the first joining No attached to the fuselage sides.
27 Squadron in France during Other operators on the
March 1916. In addition several Western Front included Nos
Elephants were rebuilt, mostly 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 39, 49 and 51
by No 1 (Southern) Aircraft Squadrons. In Mesopotamia it
Repair Depot at Farnborough, served with Nos 30, 63 and 72
known examples receiving Squadrons; in Palestine with Nos
serials A5204, B851, B852, B860, 14, 67 (Australian), 142 and 144
B864, B865, B872 and B873. Squadrons; and in Macedonia
As well as reconnaissance with Nos 17 and 47 Squadrons.
work, first thoughts by the Later in life the Elephant was
assessors of Nos 6 and 20 used for training work, among
Squadrons had included some other units flying with Nos 22
form of air fighting role. Soon and 23 Training (Ex Reserve)
the second Lewis gun was added Squadrons at Aboukir.
to No 27 Squadron machines.
On 25 March 1916 the RFC Western Front
2nd Lt John Gilmour of No 27 Squadron attacked three enemy aircraft
requested that Elephants be in 11 days. On 15 September 1916 he shared in the destruction of an
assigned to FE squadrons in the Albatros D.I; nine days later he dispatched a Fokker ‘Eindecker’, and on On the Western Front, 20 May
role of escorts, but soon it was 26 September he drove down another Fokker out of control. The latter 1916 saw the Elephant’s first
realised the big biplane was two attacks were made in Elephant 7284. VIA PETE LONDON combat casualty when No 27

Squadron’s 2nd Lt Maurice
Duncan Basden in serial 7278
DATAFILE In a later operation that day
with seven Elephants, Lt Robert
Development
“THE ELEPHANT IS NOT A HUN”
was brought down over Lorgies Howell Craster Usher was
I
by fire from a Roland biplane’s wounded. He reported, “I […]
rear gunner. Having made a almost ran into an LVG. I fired
n July 1916, a No 27 Squadron Elephant was attacked by a
landing it seems that, sadly, he a drum at him and he passed
Morane of No 60 Squadron which had mistaken it for an
may have been killed by British underneath me… while changing
enemy aircraft. Maurice Baring, scholarly aide to Maj Gen
artillery shelling. On 31 May drums I was attacked in front by
Hugh Trenchard, commanding the RFC in France, had formerly
two No 23 Squadron Elephants a Roland. I fired a drum at this
been a writer, linguist and diplomat. That month Baring penned
escorted five of the unit’s FE2bs; machine, and hearing a machine
some suitably cautionary verse on the episode.
over Cambrai three Fokkers gun behind me […] saw three
pounced. All seven British “Bullets there be that can’t abide Rolands on my tail. I was hit in
Technical Details
aircraft were hit and an FE was The fighting bombing Martinsyde the leg […] but managed to give
shot down. A Fokker was also Without the slightest rhyme or reason the hostile machine a drum from
lost in the engagement. They strafe him in or out of season. my side gun”. Using his knee to
By that summer, the type was The Elephant is NOT a Hun block a hole in his petrol tank,
being employed on bombing It must not be attacked for fun and weak from loss of blood,
and reconnaissance work in It isn’t very hard to see Usher crash-landed at Moreuil
support of ground forces. Early The crosses on an LVG aerodrome but survived.
on 1 July, the first day of the On Martinsydes the British rings The last day of August brought
Battle of the Somme, six No 27 Are clearly painted on the wings disaster. All four No 27 Squadron
Squadron machines escorted by An Elephant (not very large) machines attacking Havrincourt
two others, and two Moranes, Is painted on the fuselage Wood were lost, savaged by
bombed a German headquarters The GOC complains this act a mixed force of Fokkers,
In Service
at Bapaume. That morning too, Displays a grievous want of tact Halberstadts and Rolands. Three
four No 27 Squadron examples And recommends that you should shoot Martinsyde pilots crashed or
accompanied a No 60 Squadron Your bullets at a hostile brute were forced down, being taken
Morane on reconnaissance over Please warn your pilots every one prisoner: 2nd Lt Michael Strange
Cambrai, Busigny and Étreux. We’re out to fight the BLOODY HUN.” (7287), 2nd Lt Andrew O’Byrne
For much of the mission enemy (7479) and Capt Oscar Whittle
aircraft were encountered, two (7299). Capt Alfred Skinner in
Roland two-seaters being shot of them escorted RE7s against Strikes continued against 7482 was shot down in flames.
Insights
down by Elephants piloted by a target near Cambrai railway railway and airfield targets. Two On 23 September 2nd Lt
2nd Lt Sydney Dalrymple and station. On 13 July four aircraft Martinsydes were lost on 30 July Leslie Fredrick Forbes, having
2nd Lt Henry Arthur Taylor. attacked trains on the Denain- when enemy aircraft attacked used all his ammunition,
Around noon an Elephant Cambrai and them during deliberately rammed No 27
reconnoitred and photographed Cambrai-Douai a raid on the Squadron Elephant A1565 into
Bapaume and Achiet-le-Grand. lines. Using low Maj Gen Hugh Épehy rail the Albatros he was fighting,
No 27 Squadron aircraft also cloud cover Trenchard said it junction by destroying it but damaging his
bombed railway lines around en route, they eight machines, own aircraft. Despite having no
Aubigny, Cambrai and Saint-
should be used as a
encountered four of which aileron control he succeeded
Quentin. no opposition. reconnaissance and carried two in reaching Bertangles airfield.
2 July saw four Elephants By then the bombing type 112lb bombs. Alighting, he ran into a tree
from the same unit escorting squadron’s The Martinsyde and was badly hurt. During the
No 21 Squadron RE7s on a commanding pilots, Lt Eric same encounter three of Forbes’
bombing mission against enemy officer, Maj Amyas Eden ‘Biffy’ Rowland Farmer in 7304 and colleagues were shot down, Sgt
dispositions at Bapaume. Two Borton, had received orders that 2nd Lt Leslie Norris Graham Herbert Bellerby’s Elephant
days later, five of 27’s machines his Elephants would act solely as in 7471, force-landed and both 7480 by Jasta 2’s Manfred von
flew offensive patrols, while four bombers. became PoWs. Richthofen.
Elephant 7498, ex-No 27 Squadron, was forced down on 24

September 1916. 2nd Lt Ernest Wingfield became a PoW and the
aircraft was put into German markings. CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY

attacked the six Martinsydes
engaged in the next day’s raid
on Aulnoye railway station.
Fire from Capt Alfred John
Michell Clarke, 2nd Lt Eric
William Kirby and Lt John (Jack)
Henry Butcher Wedderspoon
downed two Halberstadts,
but two Elephants fell. Later
that morning, in a raid on Ath
station, two more Martinsydes
were lost. The Elephant pilots
killed that day were 2nd Lt
John Reginald Stanhope Proud
in Elephant 7465, who crash-
landed and was taken prisoner
but died of his wounds, and Lt
Wedderspoon in 7478. The two
other pilots became PoWs.
A week later, along with 26
A3978 of B Flight, No 27 Squadron was shot down on 9 August 1917, 2nd Lt Walter Reginald Kingswell Skinner other aircraft, 12 Martinsydes
being taken prisoner. Bombs still hang from their underwing racks. VIA PETE LONDON bombed Hénin-Liétard station.
2nd Lt Michael Topham in
A1564 was shot down and died.
No 27 Squadron’s 2nd Lt Dendrino becoming a PoW but and taken prisoner. During Bombing sorties against airfields
John Gilmour attacked three later dying of his wounds. that raid New Zealander Capt and infrastructure continued in
enemy aircraft in 11 days. On Martinsyde losses continued Melville Johnstone in A1578 support of the huge battles of
15 September he shared in the during 1917, particularly suffered engine failure near Arras and Messines Ridge, and
destruction of an Albatros D.I, during ‘Bloody April’. While Château d’Offemont and force- the third Battle of Ypres. On 4
on 24 September he shot down a June, No 27 Squadron aircraft
Fokker ‘Eindecker’, and two days successfully attacked the Gotha
later he drove down another All told, No 27 Squadron lost 26 Elephant pilots base at Saint-Denis-Westrem.
Fokker out of control. But 27 with many more injured In the ensuing dogfight with
September saw six Martinsydes nine Albatros, South African
attacked by four Jasta 2 Albatros Capt Douglas John Bell and Lt
led by Hptm Oswald Boelcke. bombing Hirson on 5 April, No landed — his third such landing David Victor Dixon Marshall
A1568 and Henry Taylor were 27 Squadron’s 2nd Lt William while flying Elephants — though dispatched one between them,
lost to Boelcke; 7495 was also Thomas Beaumont Tasker in he returned safely to the unit. Bell downing another. Two more
shot down, 2nd Lt Stephen G100 7485 was brought down Albatros and Halberstadts enemy aircraft were destroyed
DATAFILE
McNAMARA’S MARTINSYDE-MOUNTED VC
F
lown by Lt Francis Hubert (Frank) undercarriage and propeller. Hurriedly
McNamara, No 67 Squadron’s setting fire to 7486 the men made for the
Elephant 7486 left Kilo 143 airfield BE2e, which moments previously
in Sinai on 20 March 1917 to bomb Rutherford had tried — unsuccessfully — to
a Turkish railway line at Tel el-Hesi, north- ignite. McNamara later reported, “In landing,
west of Gaza. It was accompanied by a [Rutherford] had ripped off a tyre”. Other
second Elephant and two BE2es. During the damage included broken centre-section
attack, McNamara saw that Capt Douglas wires and a cracked longeron. A Lewis
Wallace Rutherford had force-landed in his drum had fallen under the rudder bar.
BE2e. Following the BE2e down, McNamara 7486’s remaining bomb load exploded,
alighted nearby. obliterating it. Rutherford swung the BE2e’s
Enemy cavalry were approaching the propeller. McNamara later recorded that he
scene, while McNamara was weakening “turned machine around to take off… she
from loss of blood. He’d been wounded in stuck three times on soft ground, then lifted
the right leg after one of his released off… nearly fainted on my way back. Put
bombs, actually an adapted 35lb howitzer wind up Rutherford”. In the words of his
shell, had exploded prematurely. Under rifle subsequent citation, “McNamara flew the
fire, Rutherford climbed onto the Elephant’s machine back to the aerodrome, a distance
On 20 March 1917, No 67 (Australian)
upper cowling and McNamara attempted to of seventy miles, and thus completed his Squadron Elephant pilot Lt ‘Frank’
take off. However, his wounded leg let him comrade’s rescue”. For his courageous McNamara rescued a downed BE2e flyer
down. At about 35mph the Elephant swung action Frank McNamara was awarded the from enemy territory, a feat for which he was
to the left, smashing its port lower wing, Victoria Cross, gazetted on 8 June 1917. awarded the VC. VIA PETE LONDON

DATAFILE
Development
GUNBOAT MIMI
C
apt Leslie Sutherland served with
No 67 (Australian) Squadron, RFC
at Mejdel, Palestine. He later
recalled a strange machine
adapted from one of the unit’s Elephants. At
that time, despite bombing and machine
gun attacks by the Martinsydes, enemy food
Technical Details
shipments across the northern Dead Sea
using fast motorboats were still getting
through to Turkish forces.
Maj Richard Williams, the squadron’s CO,
had a worn-out Elephant stripped of its
flight surfaces and undercarriage. Floats
were added to create a form of hydroplane
and so, in Sutherland’s words, “[give] its Mimi, the Elephant that was converted to become a hydroplane, was used against Turkish
pilot gunner an open commission on the vessels on the Dead Sea. VIA COLIN OWERS
Dead Sea”. The resultant surface craft was
christened Mimi.
Terribly over-powered, top-heavy and with his Lewis gun”, its field of fire the enemy. Finally, wrote Sutherland, “when
In Service
prone to capsizing — the floats were rather necessarily over the ‘stern’. The crewman Mimi was proving too good even for the
narrow-track — Mimi could nonetheless for Mimi’s early operations at least was Capt reinforcements, Allenby settled the whole
overhaul the enemy’s vessels with ease. James Arthur Dermot Dempsey. Turkish grain problem. He captured
According to Sutherland, “then the pilot Evidently the machine was a success: Jerusalem”. Mimi was stood down, her final
would stand up on his seat and open fire faster, better-armed craft were brought in by fate being unknown.
and another claimed as ‘out of squadrons was initially allocated two months. By March 1917, the destroyed an enemy two-seater
Insights
control’, for no losses. Bell gained an Elephant, tasked with combined Elephant strength over Sihan on 19 April, but later
a total of three victories (one reconnaissance and bombing. of Nos 14 and 67 (Australian) that day he was attacked by a
shared) on Elephants, matched Later the flights each received Squadrons stood at 14 Rumpler and killed — he may
only by John Gilmour. another Elephant, while BE2es machines, of which nine were have fallen from his machine.
However, 14 July saw three and BE12as also arrived. serviceable. Further Elephants were brought
Elephants shot down during a At the end of 1916 the Sinai March had also seen the down on 11, 12 and 16 May.
raid on Zarren and Quiéry-la- Peninsula fell. The Martinsydes battle break out to take Gaza, the That summer No 67 Squadron
Motte. 2nd Lt George Henry supported the British advance British force being repulsed by moved to Weli Sheikh Nuran and
Palmer (A1572) was taken into Palestine. During January the Turkish defenders. Attempts 14 to Deir el-Balah, while the
prisoner while two pilots died: the enemy’s Beersheba airfield in April and May also failed but RFC’s force was strengthened as
2nd Lt Thomas Edmund Smith in was bombed five times and the Elephants were busy. No 14 part of Gen Sir Edmund Allenby’s
7500, and 2nd Lt Curtis Matthew raids continued over the next Squadron’s Capt Francis Bevan quest for aerial dominance
de Rochie, who jumped from
the blazing A6266. Between 12
and 21 August, four more of 27’s
pilots were killed in Elephants.
All told, the squadron lost 26
Elephant pilots with many more
injured. The machines soldiered
on until December, when DH4s
finally replaced them.
Egypt and Palestine

By November 1916 the
Martinsydes and BE2cs of No 67
(Australian) Squadron RFC —
formerly known as the 1st or No
1 Squadron, Australian Flying
Corps, and later reverting to the
latter designation — were Egypt-
based at Suez and Heliopolis,
some moving to El Qantara. With
similar aircraft No 14 Squadron
had positioned to Salmana and A3953 of No 22 Training (Ex Reserve) Squadron at Aboukir in the autumn of 1917. Late in 1918 it joined No 5
Ismailia. Each flight of both Fighting School at Heliopolis. VIA PETE LONDON

in the region. On 8 July, 67’s Armstrong Whitworth FK8s. No his bombs damaged nearby Mesopotamia
Capt Charles Alfred Brooks in 144 Squadron’s Martinsydes left buildings.
Martinsyde 7477, together with as well. When Allenby finally Two No 14 Squadron In Mesopotamia, No 30
a BE12a, was escorting a BE2e defeated the Turks in Palestine detachments supported the Squadron had received six
when they were attacked by an in the autumn of 1918, the Arab forces. The one that arrived Elephants by July 1916. These
Albatros D.III and a Rumpler Elephant’s time there had ended. at Aqaba in September 1917 escorted the unit’s BE2cs on
two-seater. Brooks was killed, his was known as X Flight and reconnaissance and bombing
mount’s wings folding and its tail Arabian Peninsula included several Elephants on its sorties, sometimes carrying
becoming detached. strength. Again, duties included bombs of their own, and
From October 1917, 67 In the Arabian Peninsula, reconnaissance and bombing tackled German and Turkish
began receiving G102 variants. Elephants assisted Arab forces missions. Typical were the raids reconnaissance aircraft. The
In October and November against the Turks, one objective of early 1918. On 4 January Lt unit’s flyers included Capt
Martinsydes bombed Gaza, being to disrupt the enemy’s Victor Donald Siddons in A3988 Hereward de Havilland, younger
the city falling that month. The supply lines. On 24 November and 2nd Lt Arthur William brother of aviation pioneer and
unit had nine Bristol Fighters 1916, No 67 (Australian) Murphy attacked Ma’an and Ain aircraft designer Geoffrey. During
on charge by Squadron’s Lt Uheida with 20lb bombs, while January 1917 he became its CO.
January 1918, Stanley Keith on 9 January Siddons and two A British offensive began in
but it retained The Elephants Muir and Lt other pilots each dropped 12 such February. The Martinsydes made
five Elephants. couldn’t be flown in Russell Herbert bombs on Ma’an’s railway station. reconnaissance flights while
The following Freeman of No Three days later Siddons was bombing targets included enemy
month the unit
Mesopotamia in the 14 Squadron back, along with 2nd Lt Stanley troops, gun emplacements
became No daytime temperatures made a five- Nunan, the two releasing 100lb and trench systems. Artillery
1 Squadron, of June and July hour round trip and 20lb bombs on Ma’an, while spotting was undertaken too.
Australian of 350 miles on 15 January Siddons doggedly On 18 February, de Havilland
Flying from Mustabig bombed the station again. dispatched a Fokker which
Corps (AFC), its Martinsydes airfield, over a long stretch of Of one of the January attacks, had attacked the BE2c he was
photographing the terrain enemy territory and across the Murphy’s report stated, “Left accompanying. Through March
behind the enemy’s front line. Dead Sea, to bomb the Hejaz with ten 20lb bombs. Bombed the British advance continued, by
On 19 March Lt Frederick railway. Ma’an. On lines, 24 open trucks, when 30’s Elephants had scouted
(sometimes Frederic) William Freeman struck at the railway 30 closed trucks, two engines beyond Baghdad (which fell on
Haig dropped a 230lb bomb on El bridge near Qal’at el Hasa with steamed away on approach 11 March) and photographed
Kutrani railway station, probably two 100lb delayed-action bombs of aeroplane… Detachment much of the Tigris.
the first of the squadron’s pilots released from 20ft. One hit the of about 200 mounted troops But maintenance problems
to use that weapon. target but bounced off and encountered on the road and grew. In April 1917 the
No 1 Squadron, AFC’s exploded below. The bridge machine gunned them. On squadron’s chronicler noted,
surviving Elephants had been stayed intact though its rails approach they opened fire with “The Martinsydes with the old
withdrawn by the end of were buckled. Muir attacked Jurf mountain gun. Landed”. Strikes pattern radiators are now of no
March. No 142 Squadron flew ed Derawish railway station with continued until September 1918. use, and boil away even if flown
four examples for a time, but one 100lb and four 20lb bombs. Post-war, Siddons became a at dawn… Two Martinsydes
was expecting deliveries of Though he scored no direct hits, Methodist priest. fitted with tropical radiators do
not overheat as yet, though it is
doubtful if they will keep in the
air throughout the hot weather,
and the heat in the pilot’s seat is a
very severe strain”. The Elephants
couldn’t be flown in the high
daytime temperatures of June
and July, their coolant boiling off
and oil thinning badly.
No 63 Squadron moved to
Basra in August, its Elephants
joining the fray over the Tigris.
No 30 Squadron kept up the
pressure — on 16 October
Elephants 7493, 7494 and A3943
flown by Lts Frank Nuttall,
Alfred Ernest Lionel Skinner
and John Barthroppe Welman
attacked Kifri airfield with 20lb
and 112lb bombs, damaging
three enemy aircraft. A raid on
31 October, mounted along with
BE2cs, destroyed one aircraft
and damaged another. Two
Martinsydes and a BE2c were
lost in the process.
Presentation aircraft A1593 Mount Lofty, S Australia served with Nos 14 and 67 (Australian) Squadrons. Seen Arriving at Basra in February
unarmed, the location is probably X Aircraft Depot, Egypt, during mid-1917. VIA PETE LONDON 1918, No 72 Squadron’s

G100 Bakhshi was assembled by No 30 Squadron from spare
parts, and never received a serial. A two-wheeled trolley sits
Development
under the tail to aid manoeuvring on the ground. The machine
was photographed in Mesopotamia during 1917. VIA PETE LONDON
Technical Details
In Service
Elephants were organised reconnaissance missions Mackay and Pope machine- mule-train in the Shabli Pass.
as B Flight and positioned to were flown against targets as gunned the advancing enemy This he machine-gunned, but
Baghdad, from where they far apart as Kurdistan, west of troops. In turn the Elephant then his engine failed.
bombed numerous Turkish Dunsterville’s main route north, became riddled with bullets Williams was forced to alight
Insights
assets. Despite the heat and and Shiraz, way south. Bombing from ground fire while orders around 40 miles behind the
dust the Elephants soldiered attacks struck at nationalist arrived to destroy both machines, Turkish lines, where he quickly
on. Operations continued Jangali fighters, notably by two which were burnt. Baku fell the burned the Martinsyde. He faced
even after the Armistice, flying Elephants on 21 June. In August following day, Pope and Mackay a gruelling trek surrounded
against nationalist forces in a treaty was signed between the escaping by boat to Enzeli. by local people of uncertain
the region. On 6 March 1919, fighters and the British. Reconnaissance and bombing loyalties. With very little
No 30 Squadron’s Capt Allen Dunsterville was ordered to flights continued that autumn food and water, barefoot and
Percy Adams in 7461 was shot reinforce the defence of oil- against enemy forces in Persia disguised as a Persian, finally he
down by ground fire and killed rich Baku against advancing and southern Russia, particularly found a Gurkha encampment
while bombing Khun Bushire in enemy forces. Two Elephants in the Tabriz area. On 10 October, and returned safely to his unit.
southern Persia. Probably the accompanied the party along Lt Trevor ‘Taffy’ Lewis Williams In October too, Turkish forces
last active Elephant was A1584, with Lt Moray Sutherland of No 72 Squadron, missing for surrendered and 72’s Elephants
which was still flying with No 63 Mackay and Lt Ralph Patrick five days, arrived back at Zenjan were stood down.
Squadron in August 1919. Phillip Pope. On 14 September — on foot. He’d been flying
the Turks attacked. Making Elephant 7468, escorting an RE8 Home defence
Persia and Russia several low-level flights, taking on a reconnaissance flight along
turns with one of the aircraft the Tabriz road. He lost sight of The Elephant was never tasked
Some ex-Mesopotamian (the other was unserviceable), the RE8 but spotted an enemy with regular home defence work
Elephants served in Persia but occasional ad hoc sorties
and southern Russia. Those were made against enemy
of B Flight, No 72 Squadron aircraft. On 20 February 1916
supported the so-called two No 27 Squadron machines
‘Dunsterforce’, a small unit took off from Dover to search
commanded by Maj Gen Lionel for a Friedrichshafen FF33e
Dunsterville, sent to the region in two-seat seaplane which had
January 1918 to support various bombed nearby Walmer. 22
anti-Bolshevik and anti-Turkish July 1917 saw a single example,
groups fighting against Ottoman based at Martlesham Heath
and Bolshevik forces. The for trials, joining a wider force
machines arrived in the early attempting to intercept a
summer, using landing grounds daylight Gotha raid on Harwich
at Hamadan, Kasvin and later and Felixstowe. Elephant A3997
Recaptured Elephant 7472, an ex-No 67 (Australian) Squadron example
Zenjan in northern Persia, and brought down and seized by Turkish forces, is recovered by an armoured
linked up with other defenders
Enzeli, the Caspian Sea port. car at Tikrit airfield, Mesopotamia. Its rudder and fuselage bear Ottoman on 12 August when the Gothas
Over the summer long- black square markings, but part of the RFC serial number is still visible. targeted Southend, but to
distance bombing and VIA COLIN OWERS no avail.

Cecil Lewis called the Elephant “Albatros fodder”,
INSIGHTS but others found it nice to fly
A3945 in flight, its underwing bomb

racks apparent. This Elephant left the
UK in May 1917, serving with No 67
(Australian) Squadron and, from April
1918, No 142 Squadron. VIA PETE LONDON
R
ecalling the Elephants for 16 months and was well “It was utterly useless of roughly fifteen miles over the
of No 67 (Australian) outmatched by younger, agile in a scrap as fast, swiftly- Line after which they had to look
Squadron, RFC, Capt enemy scouts. He recalled, “The manoeuvring Hun scouts could after themselves.”
Leslie William Martinsyde was a delightful make rings round it. When a Maj James McCudden tried
Sutherland was highly critical, machine for leisurely pleasure formation of Martinsydes was out the Elephant and, as a flying
writing, “The Martinsyde was a flying but totally unsuitable for attacked there was only one machine rather than a warplane,
joy to the eye. But aloft she was daylight bombing or indeed for thing it could do and that was to spoke of it enthusiastically. “I
sluggish, ‘sloppy’ on controls, any kind of war mission. In the put noses down into a steep dive liked this type […] immensely
and altogether a horrible ordinary way it was very slow and with this added speed to and it was very comfortable
machine in which to fight for but when loaded with bombs zig-zag its way home”. He noted and warm, which made it very
your life. Her redeeming feature it became heavy, sluggish and too, “When on long-distant raids popular for cross-country flying”.
was that she could carry a load.” cumbersome, and took ages to Martinsyde flights were always Of flying Elephant 6252 from
Yet Sutherland also recorded, answer to the controls. escorted by scouts for a distance Dover, McCudden recalled,
“Old 3345 [actually he meant “These Martinsydes being
A3945], a ‘Tinsyde’, was
Fred Haig’s [Lt Frederick —
DATAFILE used for training had no war
load at all and so one evening
sometimes Frederic — William
FALCON-POWERED ELEPHANT I set off […] to do a climb to
O
Haig, also of 67] favourite see how high I could get”. He
bomber. Fred loved that old girl. ne Elephant eschewed its usual Beardmore “commenced climbing out
He used to fuss over her as if she powerplant. G102 A6286 was based for part of its life toward the Goodwin Sands.
were his wealthy spinster aunt. at Orfordness, by then known as the Armament Toward the end of an hour I was
She responded to the treatment Experimental Station. By August 1918 it employed a at 18,000ft over Joyce Green,
and on bombing achievements, 264hp Rolls-Royce engine, seemingly a Falcon III. and by the time I had got to
Fred was regarded as the On 2 August the re-engined aircraft was evaluated by Capt the machine’s limit, which was
‘Tinsyde’ expert of our show! Old Reginald Morse Charley who reported, “Test with new engine; 18,500ft, I was over the north-
3345 was slow-footed, but she choked taking off and did not run at all nicely. Machine is fine”. Of eastern suburbs of London.”
had tremendous stamina, and the following day’s flight he noted, “Engine better but it got too Capt Cecil Lewis flew with No
she was absolutely dependable.” hot and did not sound nice. Quite cold amongst cloud”. Five days 56 Squadron, and was credited
Lt Claude Henry Vautin, later Charley made a 15-minute flight: “Engine still not nice but it with eight victories flying SE5
another of 67’s pilots, wasn’t a did not get too hot. Got up colossal speed in dive.” A4853. In his post-war book
fan. “None of us ever liked flying 1 September saw Charley and A6286 fly between Orfordness Farewell to Wings Lewis recalled
Martinsydes. They were slow and Martlesham Heath, at a ground speed (he reported) of the Elephant, which he’d also
in speed and manoeuvrability 150mph. Though the engine continued to run rough, he found he piloted. “It was really like a
and tended to fall apart in could comfortably outclimb a DH9A. The converted Elephant rather cumbersome two-seater
aerobatics”. No 27 Squadron’s Lt grew on him. When the two were forced to part he recorded which had been made into a
Stuart Campbell was similarly crossly, “Machine and engine going well. Very annoying to have single-seater. The spare space
judgmental. Campbell arrived to lose it purely for Colonel Hubbard to joy-ride”. A6286 survived had been filled with petrol tanks.
with 27 in July 1917, by when the until at least March 1919. Somehow adaptations of this
Elephant had been in service kind never worked”. That’s not

what Martinsyde had done, of
course. Lewis continued, “The By April 1917 A4001
Development
Martinsyde […] had a splendidly was at Farnborough,
reliable 160hp Beardmore water- later moving to No 49
cooled engine [in fact it was Squadron at Dover, and
generally felt less dependable was the first Elephant
flown by James
than the 120hp version] with the McCudden. VIA PETE LONDON
big radiator behind the engine
just like an old Renault car, and
way down behind the wings […]
was the pilot’s seat.”
Lewis also recorded, “The
Technical Details
Martinsyde was one of those
curiously woolly aeroplanes that
a pilot can never get hold of. It
seemed to take a long time to
accelerate and get off, and it had
a phenomenal ‘float’ when you
flattened out to land before the
wheels had actually touched… It
had a very poor turning circle…
on the other hand it could carry
two racks of 20lb bombs and had “As a flying machine the the sensitivity of, for instance, “If they approached [a
an endurance of about five hours, Martinsyde Elephant had many the Camel”. Stewart criticised landing] in their habitual
In Service
and it was for this long-range pleasing qualities. It ambled the large areas of view obscured manner, with a big margin of
work that it had been designed.” through the air with a rather by both wings, and disliked the speed over the stalling speed,
But he added, “Attacked by gentle burbling sound and limited forward view caused by they found the machine shooting
enemy fighters they were so seemed to get about the country the high nose profile. across the aerodrome towards
clumsy and unmaneuverable fairly quickly. The outlook from On the subject of the the opposite hedge at the
[sic] that they could not get the pilot’s cockpit was somewhat Elephant’s ‘float’ characteristic, moment when they expected it
away. Having no [rear] gunner restricted and the present writer Stewart’s views differed from to be sitting down on the grass…
they could not defend their tails. […] in one of these aeroplanes those of Cecil Lewis. “The pilots talk about it as though it
Insights
They were just sitting ducks. were a fault. So the word went
Albatros fodder”. Indeed, if he round that the Martinsyde
was comparing it with his usual Having no gunner they could not defend their ‘floated badly’. But […] one found
mount, developed well after the tails. They were just sitting ducks that the float could be prevented
Martinsyde, Lewis would have and the landing made in a short
every reason to be disappointed. space provided only that the
Maj Oliver Stewart served on a day when rain was falling flying quality which was chiefly approach was adjusted so that
with the RFC as a scout pilot, and visibility was bad, found attributed to this machine […] only a small margin of speed
and spent time as a test pilot at [this] made it difficult to was that of ‘floating’ when over the landing speed was
Orfordness Experimental Station. recognise landmarks. landing. When a relatively clean maintained.”
Post-war he became aeronautical “As for the controls […] they design like the Martinsyde
correspondent of the Morning were reasonably good although Elephant came out, pilots, used ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Post, writing widely on aviation the ailerons failed to produce to things that stood still and The writer thanks Colin Owers.
matters. In his book The Clouds as quick or as big a response as dropped the moment the stick Place names, titles and ranks are
Remember, Stewart too recalled many pilots would have liked was brought back, were a little as they were at the time of the
his time with the Elephant. and the elevator had none of puzzled by it. events described.
Elephant A4002 of No 51 Reserve Squadron at

Waddington in the summer of 1917. RAF WADDINGTON

L
IA
EC
Reviews
SP
AS REVIEWS RATING
★★★★★ Outstanding
M
ST
★★★★★ Excellent
RI
★★★★★ Good
CH
★★★★★ Flawed
★★★★★ Mediocre
Enough said
The latest books and products for the discerning aviation enthusiast
equal billing. In many cases, a specific
DH9: From Ruin to of “frightful material” aircraft is depicted in a whole-page image
Restoration shipped over with the with, on the facing page, a colour profile
DH9s, Retrotec might be of the same machine — a feature that will
by Guy Black able to help… appeal especially to modellers.
published by Grub Street From there, via The text is good and sets the scene as
If ever you wanted a living histories of the DH9 “British and American fighter aircraft […]
definition of a restoration and the Imperial Gift chase the enemy out of the Ardennes region”,
epic, the Historic Aircraft scheme under which while image captions are well-done and
Collection’s Airco DH9 these particular airframes suitably comprehensive. There is much to
is it. This outstanding ended up in India, the like here and the price, with change from
project deserves the many account continues right £25, makes it something of a bargain, but
plaudits to have come its through to E8894’s public I would question one aspect of the book’s
way, and so does this new display debut, at Duxford’s design. Why are a dozen whole pages given
book by the man without Flying Legends show over to unnecessarily dark monochrome
whom it wouldn’t have this July. Throughout, images ‘textured’ with grain and featuring
happened. Guy Black’s (surely intentionally added) vertical-running
tenacity and his fastidiousness BOOK excellentBlack’s text does an
job of describing both tramlines? This reservation apart, Celis offers
when it comes to achieving of the the deep technicalities of the a most impressive work. Denis J. Calvert
authenticity have resulted in MONTH restorations and the emotions
ISBN 978-9-463886246; 8.3 x 11.8in
many fine historic aeroplanes he felt at different stages of
returning to the skies, but this the process. He is also generous softback; 204 pages, illustrated; £24.99
from the Aviation Bookshop
sole airworthy example of what is in his acknowledgement of those
(www.aviation-bookshop.com) plus £4.00
often credited as the world’s first strategic individuals and organisations who were
UK P&P
bomber must represent his, and the instrumental along the way. Extensive
Retrotec company’s, most challenging appendices include ‘Dodge’ Bailey’s pilot’s ★★★
project to date. This Black recounts both notes, flight reference cards and final
comprehensively and entertainingly, flight test report, which may instructively Camel Pilot
taking as his starting-point the discovery be read in conjunction with his article in
of the derelict airframes — E8894, the this very magazine. The accompanying
Supreme:
one now flying, and D5649, restored images are comprehensive and generally Captain D. V.
to static condition for IWM Duxford well-reproduced, though some are a little Armstrong
— inside the Junagarh fortress in the small. But this matters not. This is a highly DFC
Indian city of Bikaner. The tale of how enjoyable volume, and one the discerning
by Annette Carson
he came to acquire and recover them is reader will surely devour. Ben Dunnell
fascinating, and in places very funny. To published by
cut one long story short, it turns out that ISBN 978-1-908117-33-5; 9.75 x 7in Air World
if you’re after some reproduction antique hardback; 206 pages, illustrated; £20.00 Talk to an aerobatic
Indian candlesticks from a consignment ★★★★★ pilot with an
appreciation of
aviation history,
Fighters Defending the Ardennes — especially First World War aviation
by Peter Celis history — and they will probably know
the exploits of D’Urban Victor Armstrong.
published by Peter Celis The South African-born aviator’s flying,
Subtitled ‘Allied Fighter Aircraft Operating particularly of Sopwith Camels, earned
from Airfields in Belgium during the ‘Battle him many glowing epithets. Historian
of the Bulge’ 1944-1945’, this is primarily a Jack Bruce said Armstrong demonstrated
large, landscape-format, softback picture “the most extraordinary and outstanding
album produced in Belgium. Clearly the aerobatic flying”; fellow First World War
result of much research, in particular at pilot, and later journalist, Oliver Stewart
the Smithsonian and at Hendon, into the wrote that he “set a standard in aerobatics
history of the individual USAAF and RAF which in artistry and spectacular effect has
aircraft illustrated, it makes use of a wide rather than being pure black-and-white. A never since been surpassed”. Ultra-low-
variety of images of the ‘not seen that one few are in colour and again are very well- level flying was often the order of the day.
before’ variety. Most are in monochrome, reproduced. As to subject matter, aircraft, But Armstrong’s service with the RFC and
many exhibiting a distinctly ‘warm’ tone airfields, personnel and markings are given RAF was notable in operational terms, too.
106-108_AM_ReviewsXmas_Dec19_cc C.indd 106 31/10/2019 19:26

Reviews
As is recounted in this new volume, he was of reproduction, this title is a pleasure to There is the odd typo (‘Oswald Boelke’)
heavily engaged in tactical development, browse. DJC and questionable aircraft designation
notably in countering Gotha bombers and in (especially the hyphenation of wartime
helping pioneer offensive night-fighting. ISBN 978-1-84033-835-5; 10.7 x 8.2in German types, such as ‘Me-163’ and
Carson has a background in aerobatics, softback; 304 pages, illustrated; £37.00 ‘Me-262’). But, seen as a whole, MiG Alley is
including as a contest director and FAI ★★★★ a most interesting read, complementing well
delegate, as well as being an historian the author’s history of the US Navy’s role in
with wide-ranging interests. The depth of MiG Alley: Korea, and genuinely offers perspectives
enthusiasm and research she thus brings to that many might not have considered. For
the writing of Camel Pilot Supreme raises
The US Air instance, writes McKelvey Cleaver, “In the
it well above the pack where aeronautical Force in Korea end, both sides may be correct in their
biographies are concerned. Many of the 1950-53 assessment of who won.” BD
photos haven’t been seen before, coming by Thomas
from Armstrong’s own album, which ISBN 978-1-4728-3608-3; 9.5 x 6.25in
McKelvey Cleaver hardback; 336 pages, illustrated; £25.00
thankfully survived — the man himself published by
lost his life in November 1918, just after Osprey
★★★
hostilities ended. And the specially
commissioned artworks by Lynn Williams, A great deal has Shackleton
brother of the late Neil Williams, are quite now been written
superb. Typical is the cover image, about the aerial
Boys Volume 2
depicting Armstrong at the controls of his combats of the Korean War, and especially by Steve Bond
personal Camel, the red-liveried C6713 about the engagements between MiG-15s published by
Doris, indulging in some typically low- and F-86 Sabres that have come, in many Grub Street
altitude aeros. Very highly recommended, ways, to define the conflict and its place in A follow-up to the
and not just to aficionados of 1914-18 history. The post-Cold War declassification first Shackleton
aviation. BD of records from the ‘other side’ has done Boys volume,
much to increase our understanding of published at
ISBN 978-1-526752-67-3; 9.5 x 6.5in how things actually were in the skies over about this time
hardback; 248 pages, illustrated; £25.00 Korea, and in his new title Thomas McKelvey last year, this title
★★★★ Cleaver weaves together a compelling covers Shackleton
narrative, making use of a wide range of operators stationed (as opposed to
sources. In short, his central thesis is that deployed) overseas. These include, naturally,
Gliding & the UN forces’ victory was harder-won than the South African Air Force, to which the
Soaring in many would care to consider; that the MiG last chapter is given over. However, most
Britain menace posed a more serious threat than of the book covers RAF operations from
has generally been acknowledged, not least Gibraltar, Changi, Gan, Luqa, Khormaksar
by Arthur W. J. G.
as the Soviet-built jets were — contrary to and Sharjah. There are, as ever, some good
Ord-Hume
the long-accepted view — initially flown stories, and some interesting — if, generally,
published by by combat-experienced pilots; and that the rather small — images. BD
Stenlake eventual outcome was by no means clear-
The start of a cut. He argues the case well, cutting adroitly ISBN 978-1-911621-33-1; 9.5 x 6.5in
serious gliding through some myths that have developed hardback; 272 pages, illustrated; £25.00
movement in around the Korean air campaign. ★★★
Britain can be
traced back to 1929 and the formation of the
British Gliding Association, this following a
meeting — the so-called ‘gliding lunch’ — of CALENDARS
enthusiasts on 4 December that year at the
Comedy restaurant in Haymarket, London. Cross & Cockade 2020 Calendar
This large, paperback volume is the history It’s always nice to receive Cross and Cockade’s annual calendar, not least as it is
of gliding and soaring in the UK, told in the produced in aid of such a worthy cause — upkeep of the British Air Services Memorial
inimitable — highly readable — Ord-Hume at St-Omer, put up in 2004 to commemorate the 8,000 airmen killed in France and
style. The first 130 pages tell the story of the Flanders during the 1914-18 war. As
movement, its rapid rise in popularity and its ever, many of the artworks included
fate in wartime, with the complete cessation within are outstanding: shown here
of sport gliding. While strong on detail and are two of them, Jean-Michel Mateo’s
providing a good chronological account, the Morane and Fokker, depicting an
text also includes some glorious asides. all-monoplane combat between
The second half details 128 designs of Morane-Saulnier N and Fokker E.III,
British gliders and sailplanes, many of them and the late James Field’s Sunrise
designed and built by the company founded Start, showing two Felixstowe F2As
by Frederick Nicholas Slingsby (1894-1973). embarking on a North Sea patrol. It’s
Numerous other individuals made their also very good value.
mark in various ways but, as his obituary
noted, Fred Slingsby was the British gliding Price: £10.00 plus P&P
movement. Well illustrated with a wonderful Information and ordering:
selection of black-and-white photos crossandcockade.com
accorded a decent (but no more) standard

Reviews
WATCHES
Breitling Aviator 8 Mosquito AVI-8 Hawker Hurricane Three different colours are available, to
Produced in collaboration with the de Bader Chronograph and the tune of 242 examples each, reflecting
Havilland Aircraft Museum at Salisbury No 242 Squadron of which Bader was
Hall, Hertfordshire, Breitling’s new
Flyboy Eagle Squadron commanding officer during 1940. Among
Aviator 8 Mosquito watch pays tribute Bronze Automatic other features, Bader’s signature is carried
to the outstanding DH type, which is 80 Two new releases hail from AVI‑8 on the dial, and both 242’s pennant and
years old in 2020. The watch is powered this month. The limited-edition the RAF fin flash colours are reflected on
by the Breitling Manufacture Caliber 01 Hawker Hurricane the strap. The Flyboy,
mechanical self-winding Bader Chronograph meanwhile, is a tribute
chronograph movement commemorates the to the American-
and is waterproof exploits of Sir Douglas manned Eagle
to 100m. It has a Bader, and has Squadrons, and
stainless-steel bezel been produced in has their emblem
and a black dial collaboration with featured both on
recalling the night his family; 10 per the dial and
fighter version of cent of proceeds the back of the
the Mosquito, plus from all sales will watch case.
three contrasting go to the Douglas
silver sub-dials and a Bader Foundation, Prices: Hurricane
date window. a charity that aids £225, Flyboy £400
those without one or Information and
Price: £6,230 more limbs, or who ordering:
Information and ordering: are otherwise disabled. www.avi-8.co.uk
www.breitling.com
MODELS
Magic Scale Modeling
Belgian firm Magic Scale Modeling is
offering not models in themselves, but an
innovative accessory, namely components
to enable otherwise static 1/48-scale
models to be ‘powered up’. Using a battery,
small engine and speaker, the ‘plug and
play’ set allows propellers to turn, and be
accompanied by engine sounds recorded
using original powerplants. The two releases
notified to us are items for 1/48-scale
single-engined fighters, starting with the
Rolls-Royce Merlin and Daimler-Benz
DB603/605 engines, but others are also
offered, including sets taking in engines,
sound and lighting for larger types such as
the Mosquito, B-25 and Ju 52/3m.
Prices (Merlin and DB603/605): €49.00
Information and ordering:
www.magicscalemodeling.com
HK Models Lancaster I
Being offered by Norfolk-based Hobbies is this impressive limited-
edition Lancaster I kit, in 1/32 scale and incorporating 824 parts on
23 sprues. An unusual feature is an extra fuselage and nose section
in clear plastic, enabling your finished model to show the interior
detail if you so wish; alternatively, you can of course complete it
in conventional form, while a third option allows a ‘half-and-half’
build. Markings take in three famous Lancasters: R5868 as either
OL-Q ‘Q-Queenie’ or PO-S ‘S-Sugar’, and W4783/AR-G ‘G-George’.
Price: £359.99
Information and ordering: www.alwayshobbies.com

To receive yours for FREE
call 0800 144 5706
or go to alzres.uk/freepack
Alzheimers_FP .indd 1 18/10/2019 15:37

Classified To advertise here please call Leanne
TEL: 01780 755131
Email: leanne.mawer@keypublishing.com
Mawer
AVIATION BOOKS BOOKS FLIGHT SIMULATOR
ANGUS
MANSFIELD
Rare and second hand Aviation Books for sale
Based in Cornwall with visitors by appointment
Tel: 07595 403931

Email: angus@amaviationbooks.co.uk MILITARIA WANTED
www.amaviationbooks.co.uk
ALL PLASTIC MODEL

 KITS WANTED
Unmade or already built,
York Military any quantity, especially
Books large collections, also
diecast models & books.
Military, Naval, Will collect nationwide
Aviation & Militaria Books and pay best cash price.
Please call 01202 976974 or
bought & sold. 07901-890461
Relevant part or whole Email: mspicer68@hotmail.com
collections always sought Thanks.
Tel: 01423 360828

Mob: 07717 155619

Visit: www.aeroplanemonthly.com
www.yorkmilitarybooks.co.uk
Take a look at our ABC

certificate. It shows our
circulation has been
independently verified to
industry agreed standards. So
our advertisers know they’re
AVIATION BOOKS, EVENTS getting what they paid for.
40 OFF, 1940's & 50's THE HEATHROW AIRCRAFT
ENTHUSIASTS' FAIR RETURNS ABC. See it. Believe it. Trust it.
Examples, Avro Tudor 4B/
DC 10 Twin. ATEL Account on Sunday 24th November To advertise, call Gemma Gray on
01780 755131 or
10.30/15.00. Kempton Park
G-41-1(Freddy Laker's) DC 8/ email gemma.gray@keypublishing.com
Racecourse, Staines Rd East,
CL44/ Convair 990. Price list, Sunbury-On-Thames, TW16 5AQ.
email: aviation@himsley.org Join us for this amazing event
or Tel: 01702202946 07903 848726
www.aircraftenthusiastfair.co.uk
Archive Ben Dunnell explores The
Aeroplane’s outstanding archives
to cast new light on past stories
LEADING the
TURBO CHARGE
Flight-testing the first ever turboprop Dakota — a British development
M
illions of people have for the South African Air Force turboprops. Seventy years ago, it
passed it, but very few are amongst others, while a range of thus became the first ever turbine
aware of its significance. other companies have tried their DC-3. Its sole purpose was to
The plinth-mounted hand. Before them, there was the test the Mamba powerplant, the
Douglas DC-3 that sits alongside United States Aircraft Corporation Ministry of Supply having had a
Florida’s Interstate 4, by the exit (USAC) DC-3 Turbo Express using desire, The Aeroplane reported in
to Kermit Weeks’ Fantasy of Flight PT6As, the Conroy Turbo Three its 23 December 1949 edition, to get
facility in Polk City, looks entirely with Rolls-Royce Dart power, and “the current range of turbines flying
unremarkable. Painted in white with the same firm’s Tri-Turbo Three, at all costs”. Armstrong Siddeley, the
a blue cheatline and the museum’s which had three PT6As. But the first piece went on, “wanted a reliable
name emblazoned along the turbine developments of the Douglas twin-engined machine and chose
fuselage, it could be any long-retired legend came about in Britain. Darts a Dakota.”
‘Gooney Bird’. But this one is special. were fitted to two British European That article was by Richard
In 1949, it became the first ever Airways DC-3s that performed Worcester, the wartime Aeroplane ABOVE:
turboprop conversion of the type. service trials of the powerplant, and Armament Experimental Mamba-engined
Dakota IV KJ839
Nowadays, such machines are prior to introduction of the Vickers Establishment technical officer and, flying from
nothing out of the ordinary. The Viscount. Introduced on European while assigned to the Admiralty Bitteswell in
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A- freight services from Northolt in Directorate of Air Warfare, Royal December 1949. By
powered BT-67, offered by Basler August 1951, they provided vital Navy Volunteer Reserve pilot this stage the jet
Turbo Conversions of Oshkosh, experience. And even those BEA who was then The Aeroplane’s pipes had been cut
Wisconsin, is of course the best- ‘Dart-Daks’ were not the pioneers. principal flight-tester. “In choosing down considerably
from their original
known, and still has a ready market. No, that honour went to Dakota a suitable flying test-bed for engine length, but it was
Wonder Air and then Braddick IV KJ839, a completely standard research”, he began, “it is obvious still possible to make
Specialised Air Services have carried RAF transport that received a pair that, provided a fair number of them even shorter.
out C-47TP conversions with PT6As of Armstrong Siddeley Mamba pre-production engines exists, ALL PHOTOS AEROPLANE
111-113_AM_AeroArk_Dec19_cc C.indd 111 31/10/2019 19:22

Archive
buttons onto the same lugs as the all-up weight of 26,700lb”. This was
piston engine, but is lost inside the far better than the Pratt & Whitney
huge nacelle”. New, bespoke nacelles Twin Wasp-powered original.
and cowlings were therefore fitted. Virtually across the board,
The Mambas were, he added, “so indeed, the Mamba-equipped
light that they can easily be pushed aircraft showed well. According to
behind or in front of the cockpit.” Worcester, “at all normal altitudes
Worcester’s trip was an engine it only needs a gentle lowering of
handling flight over Bitteswell, the nose at maximum cruising
the Armstrong Siddeley factory conditions to put the Dak on to its
airfield. “By and large I would say ‘never exceed’ speed of 230 knots
that the Mamba, from a pilot’s IAS”. At 26,700lb all-up, KJ839 could
point of view, gives confidence”, go further, faster, with a bigger load
he commented. “My experience than a standard DC-3, the maximum
with the [Avro] Athena, [Armstrong all-up weight of which was 23,600lb.
Whitworth] Apollo and the Dakota The only issue identified at this stage
is that the engines seem to start — at least for public consumption
without trouble, fly reliably and — was the turboprop aircraft’s fuel
generally behave quite normally. If I capacity, which limited its outright
was called upon to ferry a Mamba- range. An increase was unnecessary,
powered aircraft I should not think however, for the purposes of the test
twice about it.” programme.
The flight assessment allowed
Worcester the opportunity to
Start-up introduced a note of evaluate certain other areas of
disappointment. “There is a need concern. One was how the aircraft
in these cold mornings to warm up would cope in the event of the
till the oil temperature reaches +35 propeller constant-speed unit
degrees C. I was dismayed at first (CSU) failing. He recounted, “the
to learn that the Mamba’s oil had to penalty for CSU failure is so serious
be warmed, because if there is one that a large part of the effort has
TOP: it is better to use a multi-engined quality of the turbine which appeals been directed to finding a foolproof
The altitude aircraft, because engine hours can to me it is that warming-up is, or method of preventing the blades
performance of the be accumulated faster. The idea of was, a thing of the past. However, the running off into near-zero pitch”. To
turboprop ‘Dak’
proved notably
fitting Mambas to a Dakota started oil system is so small in the Mamba that end, manual pitch-stops had
impressive. innocently in this way.” that if automatic thermostats are been fitted and worked perfectly
KJ839 came straight from used the oil gets warm while taxi-ing well, though Worcester reported
ABOVE: Transport Command, and was out… No running-up is necessary, that Armstrong Siddeley intended
Various “unfortunately unfurnished”. but the jet pipe temperature needs to to do away with them in favour of an
modifications However, the airframe was “in good be watched during starting.” automatic system.
were evident in
KJ839’s cockpit
nick with low total hours. Scottish Once under way, however, the Meanwhile, even rough engine
following the Mamba Aviation — who are approved for re-engined KJ839 impressed. “The handling, “jerking the engines from
installation. The Douglas airframes — were largely take-off is not different from any idling to full power in less than one
engine instruments concerned with the modification other Dakota”, said Worcester, second”, would not stall them. “No
were altered, with work”. It was a very rapid job: “except there pilot would ever
the addition of rpm, according to Flight, the machine is a somewhat treat engines
torque, fuel, oil and
jet pipe temperature
arrived at Bitteswell on 19 June 1949, shorter ground By and large I like this, but if in
gauges, while the
airscrew levers on
and took to the air under Mamba
power for the first time on 27 August.
run”. Asymmetric
performance
would say that the bad weather a
house looms up
the throttle quadrant
were replaced
Holes for the jet pipes were cut was naturally Mamba, from a he might want
into the engine bulkheads, which a concern, and to use full power
with high-pressure
cocks. Just below
had to be locally strengthened, and in this respect pilot’s point of view, at once. The
each jet pipe was, as The Aeroplane Mambas were
the throttles are
the switches for the described, “bifurcated to go either
the turbine
conversion gives confidence responding to
propeller pitch-stop side of the undercarriage jack”. offered treatment which
mechanism. The cockpit instrumentation was considerable advantages. “With would, in my experience, make
altered, as was the throttle quadrant. a pedal load of around 150lb it piston engines cough.”
Otherwise, though, the Dakota should be possible to hold a climb There were benefits in terms
remained all but unchanged. at about 80 knots IAS [indicated of refinement, too. Even though
The powerplants themselves — air speed] on this aircraft with full KJ839 lacked anything in the way
Mamba 3s, producing 1,320shp asymmetric power”, said Worcester. of sound-deadening equipment, at
at sea level — posed one design Flight’s editor Maurice Smith, who the higher speeds it was possible
challenge. “In order to keep the tested the aeroplane a couple of to reach, “the noise in the cabin is
CG [centre of gravity] the same, the months earlier, wrote that it met mainly aerodynamic hissing. There
engines (being lighter) were pushed ICAO (International Civil Aviation is a very faint jet pipe roar. All this
forward slightly and the discs now Organization) requirements for could be ironed out with glass wool
lie against the cockpit”. In fact, performance in case of a single blankets and the aircraft could be
Worcester explained, “The Mamba engine failure after take-off, “at an as quiet and vibrationless as the

LEFT:
The Mamba Dakota’s
new, slim-line
engine cowlings are
evident here. In this
form, the propellers
were abreast of the
cockpit, which would
probably not have
been acceptable on
a production aircraft
for safety reasons.
Apollo and Viscount”. Maurice The British turbine modifications, “To date we have had 28 distinct
Smith agreed, saying, “the noise with the Mamba and the Dart, were enquiries from different countries
was very appreciably less than in well ahead of their time. Those on the matter”. It went on, “The
the standard aircraft… In addition operators using piston-powered outstanding problems are connected
to the noise reduction there was a DC‑3s found them perfectly with the position of the propeller
marked smoothness which is new acceptable, not least when it came relative to the cockpit, undercarriage
to the Dakota. There is little doubt to operating costs and durability. locks, controls, emergency exits,
that a soundproofed and fully That didn’t change for a long while. cabin heating etc… It is estimated
furnished aircraft would offer a When Basler started its conversion that a sum of between £75,000 and
remarkable advance in silence and scheme, it did so because it saw the £100,000 would be required to
lack of vibration and thus match the DC-3 — which it then operated as a obtain an Installation Certificate
qualities of the turboprop prototypes freighter — as an ideally-sized cargo- of Airworthiness”. There were also
of the new generation of airliners.” carrier, but one no longer possessing proposals to fit Mambas to both
This sort of potential was not lost sufficient powerplant reliability. the Super DC-3 and, even more
on Worcester, who remarked, “the Hopes of a BT‑67 sale to replace ambitiously, the DC-4.
development has rightly caught the Federal Express-operated DC-3s But, only a few months after
imagination of Dakota operators never materialised, so the company The Aeroplane tested KJ839, the
in America and all over the World. focused on the special mission company decided it was not a
Why, indeed, go to the bother of market, and very successfully. project to pursue commercially.
rebuilding to Super DC-3 standards In a memo, Armstrong Siddeley
when an engine change holds said, “We are not aircraft designers
promise of providing a suitable The same could never be said or users and consequently, have
increase in performance and giving of the Mamba. Its only production learnt much from the study and
the DC-3 a further lease of life at — it application was the Short Seamew discussions”; however, “the
is guessed — about one-third the anti-submarine warfare aircraft, built limitations on loading imposed by
modification cost and likely to be to the tune of only 26 examples, most the use of the Mamba engines are
carried out in a fraction of the time.” of which were scrapped without such as to cause us to abandon this
Yet it took many years for seeing service. The Double Mamba market at this stage”. Conversion of
turboprop DC-3s to gain wide derivative did better, powering KJ839 back to P&W piston power
acceptance, while Douglas’s own the Fairey Gannet. But Armstrong rather illustrated the point. It went
piston-engined Super DC-3 upgrade Siddeley’s engine, as well as it did in on to serve with Skyways as G-APNK
enjoyed some success. Most the Dakota, could not compete with and a variety of overseas operators
turboprop conversions have only the likes of the Dart. before, in the late 1990s, ending
appeared in small numbers. By far There was genuine interest up at its current home. All traces
the most numerous, Basler’s BT-67, in a Mamba-powered Dakota. of its turboprop testbed days are
didn’t come along until the late In February 1950, an internal long gone — just like all other
1980s and was certified in late 1990. Armstrong Siddeley memo stated, Mamba-powered aircraft.

the
JA E g 2 DE bject
ISS on nts s
UK Conte
NU oe C to c
NEXT MONTH
U 1 u
Th Y 2 n sa BER ge
AR s o EM han
e 02 le 2
0 in 019
Editorial
Editor: Ben Dunnell
E-mail: ben.dunnell@keypublishing.com
News Editor/Editorial Assistance: Tony Harmsworth
E-mail: tony.harmsworth@keypublishing.com
Regular Contributors: Ian Bott, Denis J. Calvert, James
Kightly, Chris Sandham-Bailey, Steve Slater, Barry Wheeler
Design: Craig Chiswell, Chiswell Creative, Gloucestershire
Advertising
Senior Advertisement Manager: Gemma Gray
E-mail: gemma.gray@keypublishing.com
Advertisement Sales Executive: Leanne Mawer
E-mail: leanne.mawer@keypublishing.com
Advertisement Production Manager: Debi McGowan
190
E-mail: debi.mcgowan@keypublishing.com
Advertisement Production Controller: Ashley Smalley
E-mail: ashley.smalley@keypublishing.com
Production Manager: Janet Watkins
MEETS 109s
Head of Design: Steve Donovan
Head of Advertising Sales: Brodie Baxter
Head of Distance Selling: Martin Steele
Head of Circulation: Ann Saundry
Head of Finance: Wilma Digby
Chief Digital Officer: Vicky Macey
Chief Customer Officer: Gaynor Hemingway-Gibbs
RICHARD PAVER
Chief Content & Commercial Officer: Mark Elliott
Group CEO: Adrian Cox
Unique German warbird fighter formation Subscriptions/Mail Order

PO Box 300, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1NA, UK
Tel +44 (0)1780 480404; Fax +44 (0)1780 757261
E-mail: Subscriptions: subs@keypublishing.com
E-mail: Mail Order: orders@keypublishing.com
IRANIAN
Or order online at www.keypublishing.com
Readers in the USA can place subscription orders by visiting our
website as above or by calling toll free 800 428 3003 or
SABRES
fax 757 428 6253 or by writing to Aeroplane, 3300 Pacific Ave,
Ste 500, Virginia Beach, VA 23451-2983.
OVER THE
Aeroplane, is published monthly by Key Publishing Ltd and
distributed in the USA by UKP Worldwide, 3390 Rand Road,
South Plainfield, NJ 07080. Periodicals Postage Paid
at Rahway, NJ and at additional mailing offices.
CONGO
Postmaster Send address changes to:
Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd, c/o 3390 Rand Road,
South Plainfield NJ 07080.
Persian jets Distribution

keeping Seymour Distribution
Limited:
the peace
VIA BABAK TAGHVAEE +44 (0)20 7429 4000 To find a stockist near you,
visit www.aeroplanemonthly.com
Printing
William Gibbons Ltd, Willenhall, UK
DATABASE
ISSN: 0143-7240
All rights reserved. The entire content of Aeroplane is © Key Publishing 2019.
Reproduction in whole or part and in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited
without the prior permission of the Publisher.
KAWANISHI
While every care is taken with submissions, the Publisher cannot be held
responsible for any loss or damage incurred. All items submitted for publication
are subject to our terms and conditions which are regularly updated without
N1K & N1K-J

prior notice and downloadable from www.keypublishing.com.
We are unable to guarantee the bona fides of any of our advertisers.
Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before
parting with any information or item of value, including, but not limited to,
money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response to any
Japan’s ultimate advertisements within this publication.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
WW2 fighter? USAF Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ
Tel +44 (0)1780 755131 Fax +44 (0)1780 757261
Website: www.keypublishing.com
PLUS…
P UB
LI
S HIN
• Air Atlantique DC-6 retrospective Average monthly sale 1 January to 31 December 2018, 21,327 copies
• New series — News from 1940
114_AM_NextMonth_Dec19_cc C.indd 114 29/10/2019 16:36

Resolute under pressure*
In the military, timing is all. Whether at sea, on land or in the air, achieving the right outcome
can come down to a matter of seconds. Which is why our new series of watches approved by the
Ministry of Defence - a tribute to the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force - are powered by an
ultra-accurate COSC- certified movement. You may never take part in an operation yourself.
But know that those who do would be able to rely on the watch you’re wearing.
*
The C65 Dartmouth, Sandhurst and Cranwell
from £795
christopherward.co.uk
A N O F F I C I A L LY L I C E N S E D M A R K E T - F I R S T
RAF AVIATOR
GENUINE LEATHER JACKET
Expertly embroidered
emblems include:
RAF Heraldic Badge RAF Pilots’ Wings Brevet
Detachable faux shearling collar
Genuine leather, and fully-lined

with WWII escape map design:
Two zippered
front breast pockets
Accompanied
by a FREE
reproduced
WWII
escape map
Available in men’s sizes:

Just over one hundred years ago, King George V authorised the creation of a new branch of
M (38”-40”) the British military, in response to the developing necessity for air power in warfare. Formed by
L (42”-44”) merging the aviation branches of the Royal Navy and British Army, the Royal Air Force has since
proven to be a leading aviation military force, playing a critical role in defence and peacekeeping
XL (46”-48”) operations – from the Battle of Britain to aerobatic displays of the Red Arrows.
XXL (50”-52”) Commemorate the service of this global organisation with a market-first. Officially licensed
by the RAF, the RAF Aviator Genuine Leather Men’s Jacket is exclusive to The Bradford Exchange.
PAY NOTHING NOW FEATURING MAP LINING, GENUINE LEATHER
AND EMBROIDERED PATCHES
RESERVATION APPLICATION
Please Respond Promptly The handcrafted and durable brown genuine leather edition is fully lined with a design featuring
To: The Bradford Exchange, PO Box 653, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 4RA a reproduction of a section from a WWII silk escape map, originally intended to provide military
YES! Please reserve __ (Qty) of the RAF AVIATOR GENUINE LEATHER personnel with safe routes to travel from occupied enemy territory to neutral Switzerland. The
MEN’S JACKET for me as described in this advertisement. exterior showcases distinguished insignia patches, including a golden Royal Air Force Pilots’
Please tick the size(s) required: Wings Brevet on the chest, and both a Union flag emblem and the Royal Air Force heraldic
M L XL XXL
badge on the sleeves.The motto: ‘Per Ardua Ad Astra’ (Through Adversity to the Stars) is depicted.
(38-40) (42-44) (46-48) (50-52) The styling includes a detachable faux-shearling collar, two front zip breast pockets and two
Complete today or Call 0333 003 0019 slanted front zip pockets with flaps.
Name (Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms) AN EXCEPTIONAL VALUE AND A FREE MAP – ORDER YOURS TODAY!
(PLEASE PRINT)
Address This leather jacket is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity and a FREE reproduced
WWII escape map in addition to our 120-day guarantee. Available in men’s sizes M to XXL (M,
L, XL, XXL), it will be available for just 5 interest-free instalments of £59.99 – that’s only £299.95
(plus £9.99 S&S)*. Pay nothing now – complete and return your Reservation Application today.
Postcode Telephone Map Image © British Library Board (The War Office / CC.5.a.424) RAF logos are trade marks of the UK Secretary
of State for Defence and used under license. © The Bradford Exchange. * S&S - Service & Shipping. Offer applies
to UK only. A credit check may be carried out by a licensed Credit Reference Agency. 426-MIC02.01
Mobile
Email Address FASTEST WAY TO ORDER

Applicants must be aged 18 or over. Please note, we may contact www.bradford.co.uk/rafaviatorjacket
you via mail, email and mobile with information about your reservation.
or call our 24hr hotline on 0333 003 0019

For details of our privacy policy, please go to www.bradford.co.uk/
privacypolicy or contact us at the above address or phone number.
426-MIC02.01 Order Ref:P375171 and quote reference code P375171
Pxxxxxxx AviationJacket 210x297 6mm.indd 1 21/10/2019 17:00

CALENDAR 2020
Aeroplane 2020 Calendar_v1_cc C.indd 3

O N S O R E D BY
SP World War
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, 204 Churchill Way,
Two Legends
Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN
www.flyaspitfire.com www.key.aero
29/10/2019 10:21
CALENDAR 2020e’re delighted with this issue
of Aeroplane to present some
here. We have some very special issues
planned to commemorate these and other
FRONT COVER: Spitfire LFXVIe RW382
and HFIX TA805 of the Biggin Hill Heritage
superb images of famous warbirds events — to ensure your copy, why not Hangar. RICHARD PAVER
in our World War Two Legends subscribe? Visit www.aeroplanemonthly.com THIS IMAGE: A night run by the Lincolnshire
W
calendar for 2020. The year ahead sees the for the latest offers, or see pages 14-15 of the Aviation Heritage Centre’s Lancaster VII NX611
80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and main magazine. Just Jane. ENDA BURKE/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM
the 75th anniversaries of VE and VJ-Days, Ben Dunnell, editor
amongst other Second World War milestones
featuring many of the aircraft types depicted
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN
29/10/2019 10:23
Aeroplane 2020 Calendar_v1_cc C.indd 6 29/10/2019 10:23
Monday Tuesday
JA N UA RY
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
30 31 1 New Year’s Day 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 February 10 11 12
issue on sale
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar Swordfish I W5856, formerly of the Royal Navy Historic Flight.
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN GIEL SWEERTVAEGHER
29/10/2019 16:00
Monday Tuesday
F E B R UA RY
27 28 29 30 31 1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 March 14 15 16
issue on sale
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar The Aircraft Restoration Company’s Blenheim IF.
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN RICHARD PAVER
29/10/2019 10:24
Monday Tuesday
MARCH
24 25 26 27 28 29 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 April 13 14 15
issue on sale
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 British Summer Time starts

(clocks go forward by one hour)
30 31 1 2 3 4 5
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar CASA 352L — or Junkers Ju 52/3m — F-AZJU belongs
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN to the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis. DR ANDREAS ZEITLER
29/10/2019 16:07
Monday Tuesday Wednesday
APRIL
Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
30 31 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 May 10 Good Friday 11 12
issue on sale
13 Easter Monday 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar B-17 Preservation’s much-loved B-17G Flying Fortress Sally B is 75 years old in 2020.
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN STEVE COMBER
29/10/2019 10:26
M AY
27 28 29 30 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 VE-Day 9 10
Bank Holiday
11 12 13 14 June 15 16 17
issue on sale
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 Spring Bank Holiday 26 27 28 29 30 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar Hurricane IIcs LF363 and PZ865 of the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
29/10/2019 10:26
JUNE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 July 12 13 14
issue on sale
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
O
8NSORED BY
SP
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar The Commemorative Air Force’s C-47A Skytrain That’s All Brother, the Tunison
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN Foundation’s C-47A Placid Lassie and Hugo Mathys’ C-47. RICHARD PAVER
29/10/2019 10:27
J U LY
29 30 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 August 10 11 12
issue on sale
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar Mosquito FBVI PZ474 of Lewis Air Legends.
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN GAVIN CONROY
29/10/2019 10:28
Monday Tuesday
AU G U S T
27 28 29 30 31 1 2

3 Summer 4 5 6 7 8 9
Bank Holiday
(Scotland)
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
September
issue on sale
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 Summer 1 2 3 4 5 6
Bank Holiday
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar The sole airworthy Seafire LIIIc, PP972.
29/10/2019 10:29
Monday Tuesday
SEPTEMBER Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
31 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 October 11 12 13
issue on sale
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar A classic Battle of Britain airshow dogfight duo from Air Leasing —
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN Hurricane I P2902 and HA-1112-M1L Buchón ‘Yellow 7’. RICHARD PAVER
29/10/2019 10:30
Monday Tuesday
OCTOBER
28 29 30 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 November 9 10 11
issue on sale
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 British Summer Time ends

(clocks go back by one hour)
26 27 28 29 30 31 Halloween 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar The three Bf 109s operated by the Hangar 10 collection —
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN the Bf 109G-6, G-14 and two-seat G-12. RICHARD PAVER
29/10/2019 10:31
Monday Tuesday
NOVEMBER Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
26 27 28 29 30 31 1

2 3 4 5 Guy Fawkes Night 6 7 8
9 10 11 Remembrance Day 12 December 13 14 15

issue on sale
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 St Andrew’s Day 1 2 3 4 5 6
(Scotland)
O NSORE D B
SP Y
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar The Yak-3s owned by Will Greenwood (left) and Georges Chauveau.
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN DAVID HALFORD
29/10/2019 10:32
Monday Tuesday
DECEMBERWednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
30 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 January 11 12 13
2021 issue
on sale
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 Christmas Day 26 Boxing Day 27
28 Boxing Day 29 30 31 New Year’s Eve 1 2 3

Bank Holiday
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
O NSORE D B
SP Y
The Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar’s Spitfire IXT MJ627,
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN HFIX TA805 and Hurricane X AE977. RICHARD PAVER
29/10/2019 10:33
29/10/2019 10:22
JA N UA RY F E B R UA RY MARCH APRIL
M AY JUNE J U LY AU G U S T
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER

NSORE D B
P UB
O Y
SP
G
LI
S HIN
204 Churchill Way, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BN

Aeroplane 12 2019

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Aeroplane 12 2019

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

INSIDE… OUR LEGENDARY CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911

Closing date: 20 January 2020

Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, 204 Churchill

RUMBLE IN ALBATROS FODDER DECEMBER 2019 £4.99

THE JUNGLE Fair comment on the

CALENDAR 2020 TECHNICA

He 111 with a notable tale attached ABASE

Fitted with with the

G100 serial 7266 was

Legendary warbirds from

Steve Slater’s comment on the historic

powered the front a portion The engine’s

powerplant form of that this could was found

World War Two

It’s not the best-known

fabric construction, and

www.key.aero with aluminiumwas skinned

of British types from

Reflections on aviation history with

the 1914-18 war, but

As efforts to get a Mosquito flying

03/11/2019 18:35 03/11/2019

20 SKYWRITERS airworthy ‘Mossie’ back in British skies 111 AEROPLANE ARCHIVE

AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 3

03_AM_Contents_Dec19_cc C.indd 3 04/11/2019 12:10

Editor CONNECT WITH AEROPLANE…

4 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019

04_AM_Editorial_Dec19_cc C.indd 4 04/11/2019 10:57

MIKOYAN-GUREVICH MiG-17F ‘FRESCO’ (SHENYANG J-5)

MIKOYAN-GUREVICH MiG-17F ‘FRESCO’

Length 155mm Width 134mm Pieces 84

6881AX_AMW-fp-Ad-Mig_17_A03091.indd 1 24/09/2019 14:20

The hugely impressive DH9B replica after unveiling at

SEVEN KILLED IN a change of plan saw the

6 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019

06-10,12-13_AM_News_Dec19_cc C.indd 6 04/11/2019 10:58

Spitfire IXT TE308 at

Spitfire import for Biggin Hill

AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 7

06-10,12-13_AM_News_Dec19_cc C.indd 7 04/11/2019 10:58

‘Brisfit’ tribute to Park

Horsa in the Netherlands

DUTCH B-25 AIRBORNE AGAIN

MOHAWK LOST IN FLORIDA

8 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019

06-10,12-13_AM_News_Dec19_cc C.indd 8 04/11/2019 10:59

Hunter F1 moves to Montrose

Klaus Plasa tucks the

FW 190 RETURNS AT HERINGSDORF

A-25A HEADING FOR

AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 9

06-10,12-13_AM_News_Dec19_cc C.indd 9 04/11/2019 10:59

Corrigan’s Robin emerges

take off heading west towards

10 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019

06-10,12-13_AM_News_Dec19_cc C.indd 10 04/11/2019 10:59

RCAF Hurricane for Calgary

12 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019

06-10,12-13_AM_News_Dec19_cc C.indd 12 04/11/2019 11:00

Combat vet Hudson

joins Dangerous Skies

HFF DEBUTS NEW MUSEUM

AEROPLANE DECEMBER 2019 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 13