Table of contents for Feb-Mar-Apr 2019 in Flightpath

On 10 November 2018, the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum (FH&CAM) at Paine Field, north of Seattle, Washington, unveiled their Junkers Ju 87R-4 Stuka project in their new hangar display. Under restoration for a number of years, this hitherto-secret project is very evidentially complete, with a mostly restored airframe. The identity quoted is for Ju 87R-2 wk.nr. 5709, which crash landed during an attack on Soviet Russia, and this airframe’s remains passed through several hands in the UK and Germany in the early 2000s before being obtained by FH&CAM. Not only has no Stuka flown since the end of W.W.II, the Jumo 211 engine has also been silent since then, with Vintage V-12s taking on the rebuild of this aircraft’s engine. The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka is unarguably one…

Sitting on the side of Highway 99, a major north/south highway in California, Vega-built B-17G 44-85738 was refurbished in mid-2018. Too late to see combat, this particular B-17G is the sole survivor of those used in Operation Crossroads, the first series of atomic tests in the South Pacific. This aircraft was used as a drone controller for DB-17s that would fly close to the atomic detonations, take photographs, and record other information with various instruments. After several years as an EDB-17G, the aircraft was retired and earmarked for preservation. Loaned to American Veterans Post 56 in Tulare in 1958, and flown from Davis-Monthan in Arizona to Visalia Airport by local town hero General Maurice Preston, it was towed south to a small airport called Mefford Field. A town memorial next…

A former USAAF and RAF Douglas C-53 has been returned to its post-war civilian colours prior to taking part in the much anticipated Daks Over Normandy event in 2019. Built as 42-47371 at the Santa Monica Douglas plant in California, it was delivered to the USAAF on 29 June 1942. In July it was transferred to Air Transport Command and remained in the southern California area. Flown to India, it was taken on strength by the RAF as FJ712, probably flying with 31 Squadron, and quite likely used to support the build up of men and equipment in preparation for the first Arakan campaign. It returned to the USAAF on 26 December, again as 42-47371, and served with the 1st Troop Carrier Squadron, Tenth Air Force, in the China/Burma/India Theatre.…

Mike Spaulding, of Warbird Adventures in Far North Queensland, reports they are now “on the run home” in the restoration to flight of Vought Corsair F4U-1D BuNo 82640 (see Flightpath Vol 26 No 1 and Vol 27 No 2). All the aircraft’s complex hydraulic systems are finished, as are the electrics, fuel and oil systems. “We are now completing the fairings around the leading edge to fuselage and the aircraft’s large flaps”, Mike added. As the only Corsair of this model under restoration to have seen combat, serving with VF-10 ‘Grim Reapers’ on board the USS Intrepid between January and April 1945 (during which time it would have flown strikes against Kyushu and Okinawa), this is a highly significant aircraft. The metal component of the outer wings, and the empennage,…

Significant headway with the restoration of Proctor VH-UXS in the past few months now sees the 1939 aircraft ever closer to completion. “With the first engine runs carried out just before Christmas, all going well, the new year will see the aircraft coming together, with final assembly and maiden flight in the not too distant future”, reported Brian Turner from Latrobe Valley Airframes and Welding (LVAW). Paul and Liz Gliddon, from Western Australia, bought the aircraft in 2012 from Maurice Rolfe, who had acquired it in 1977, and contracted LVAW to restore it to flight. Brian and Damien Turner began the project at Latrobe Regional Airport in 2013. “We have been able to use eighty percent of the original structure”, said Brian. Also at LVAW, James Courtney’s Westland Widgeon III…

P-47D-2-RA 42-8066 This aircraft was among the first batch of 85 Thunderbolts to arrive in Australia and was unloaded from USS Nassau at Brisbane docks on 27 June 1943. After being assembled at Eagle Farm (where its tailplane was painted white), it was assigned to the 340th Fighter Squadron (FS) of the 348th Fighter Group (FG) and flown to Port Moresby on 24 July. It was flown by an unknown pilot during the squadron’s first mission of 16 August which involved escorting transports to Marilinan. During this mission the squadron claimed three aerial victories against ‘Zekes’, but these were in fact Ki-43-II ‘Oscars’ of the 59th Sentai. Two experienced pilots from this Imperial Army air regiment were shot down, being Lieutenants Inaba Shohei, leader of the second squadron (chutai), and…

With the introduction of jet-powered fighters by the Luftwaffe in 1944 the USAAF looked to Republic to provide a counter measure. The new Pratt & Whitney R-2800 C-series engine had been developed for use in the long-range P-47N, and had already been tested in three experimental aircraft designated YP-47M, so it was decided to incorporate this engine into the P-47D-30-RE batch in production at the time. The last 130 airframes of the D-30-RE production batch were selected to be fitted with the Pratt & Whitney R-2800-57C, upgraded supercharger equipment and revised Curtiss propellers. The serial numbers ran from 44-21108 to 44-21237 and received the designation P-47M-1-RE. These aircraft were essentially sprint versions of the P-47N, lacking only the larger wings with their internal fuel tanks. With the 78th Fighter Group…

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was an effective fighter in W.W.II, but was superseded in many air combat roles by the P-51 Mustang by the war’s end. Though it survived in post war use with the USAAF, and redesignated as the F-47 into use with the post 1947 USAF, it was relegated to second line roles, including with the Strategic Air Command and the Air National Guard. Suggestions to use it for ground attack in Korea, over the arguably more vulnerable F-51 Mustang, were not taken up, in part due to the low numbers of Thunderbolts available in the inventory from the 12,000 built. Other than the examples in Australia (see page 22) the following is a listing of the surviving flyers and examples on public, static, display. The USA Although…

The eleventh Jamestown Air Spectacular was held under perfect blue South Australian skies on Sunday 21 October. This triennial event is testament to what can be achieved by a small, but committed band of aviation enthusiasts – the Jamestown Flying Group boasts just 22 members. The Sir Hubert Wilkins Aerodrome hosted an impressive and varied array of warbird, antique, aerobatic, jet and model aircraft. The large crowd was treated to excellent handling displays that included Wirraway, Chipmunk, Boomerang, Kitty-hawk (which replaced the anticipated, but absent, Hurricane from Scone), Avenger, Trojan and Birddog. The latter, a combat veteran from Vietnam has been owned and operated by Flightpath editor Rob Fox since his acquisition of it as a project in 1992. Local South Australian colour was provided by Tim Brownridge’s stunning red…

On Sunday 23 September 2018, the Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Greg Hood, launched the online version of the highly-regarded Aviation Safety Digest magazine on the ATSB’s website, at the Civil Aviation Historical Society & Airways Museum (CAHS) Essendon, Victoria. The CAHS worked with the ATSB to make all 150 issues of the Aviation Safety Digest, Australian aviation’s famous ‘crash comic’, available on the web. The scanning was undertaken by Ross Robotham and the files were made word-searchable by Dr Peter Hobbins. This archive of the famous journal, which detailed the causes, factors and investigations of accidents, will be a tremendous resource for anybody interested in aviation safety. Many of its messages are just as relevant today as when they were originally written. [Web Link: www.atsb.gov.au/aviation/aviation-safety-digest ]…

In September 2018, it was announced by Indian officials that several Indian Air Force MiG-21 fighters would be given back to Russia as a goodwill gesture between the two countries. “Three MiG-21s are scheduled to be handed over to Russians based on a request from their Defence Minister to our Defence Minister. They comprise one Type 75 aircraft and two Type 77 aircraft,” it was officially announced. What makes this particularly notable is that the donated aircraft are not just for museum use, but will be supplied in airworthy condition and intended to be registered and flown in Russia as historic, commemorative aircraft. It will be interesting to see the developments with a handful of Great Patriotic War types having been restored to fly in Russia in recent years.…

After several years in storage, the Hellenic Air Force Museum’s Supermarine Spitfire, MJ755, is under restoration to airworthiness in England. It is believed to be the last survivor of the Spitfires that served with the post-war Hellenic Air Force (HAF). A LF Mk.IXc, the aircraft is a veteran of Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. In the months leading up to the landings, and subsequent operations, MJ755 flew with 43 Squadron RAF. Following the end of W.W.II, the Spitfire was one of 77 given to the HAF. It arrived in Greece in early 1947, but was relegated to storage and gate guard duties after its final flight in September 1953. A transfer to the HAF Museum brought a reprieve for the aircraft in 1995 as it had spent…

The state of Massachusetts was, and is, one of the biggest Greek communities in the United States. When the war began, thousands of Greek Americans were inspired by the spirited defence their compatriots mounted against the Axis powers. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was another important factor that drove many to enlist. Two of them served in the USAAF and fought in the South West Pacific. Both came from Massachusetts and both were very proud of their Greek heritage. John Lolos was born in Springfield on 7 August 1918. He was the son of Spiros and Melpomeni Lolos. Both his parents had lived in Greece, in the Arcadia district, before they immigrated to the United States. John grew up in Springfield where he attended the Technical High School. Interested…

Summer is when it all happens. Select groups head out for a few months to scan thawed lakes with sonar. There are literally thousands of lakes in the Russian Arctic, so it’s not a quick task. The priority is to look at lakes nearest to known airfields and speak to fishermen to see if they have ever lost lines or nets to underwater snags. The research and recovery group ICAR has been searching lakes for four years, but this Bf109 loss was not in their records. ICAR went out during the summer of 2017 to follow up on snagging reports and found the aircraft at a depth of 8.5 metres, nose down, with the airframe embedded in the sediment to nearly mid-wing. It was draped with the remains of fishing…

Big. Lumbering. Utilitarian. The Consolidated PB2Y Coronado served in a variety of critical roles during W.W.II yet it was not considered one of the glamourous aircraft and comparatively little has been written about its service and history. The PB2Y was designed in 1936 as the US Navy planned ahead for the next generation of patrol bombers to replace the PBY Catalina which had entered service in 1935. The first flight of the PB2Y took place in December 1937. Coronados would go on to serve in combat in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres, in both bombing and antisubmarine roles, with the design being continually upgraded. A transport conversion was also built and that role is probably what the type is best known for. By the time production ended, 217 aircraft…

On 13 January, at Ardmore Airfield, New Zealand, the latest de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito from the combined forces of Avspecs and Glyn Powell has flown after restoration, registered as ZK-BCV. The pilot was Steve Hinton with Warren Denholm of Avspecs in the navigator’s seat. The derelict remains of Mosquito PZ474 was retrieved from Chino in 2014, and shipped to Avspecs for restoration for Rod Lewis’ Lewis Air Legends of San Antonio, Texas. Built by de Havilland at Hatfield as a PR.VI, it was supplied to the RNZAF as NZ2384 in April 1947. Flown from New Zealand to California in the mid fifties, registered as ZK-BCV then re-registered as N9909F. After alleged CIA use, and de-registered in 1970, it suffered an ownership dispute and became derelict with the remains stored partly…

The last surviving Qantas Lockheed Super Constellation has been salvaged in Kuwait by the Qantas Founders’ Museum (QFM). The aircraft’s remains were gifted to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society in 2007 by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defence. ‘Southern Horizon’, VH-EAB, first entered service with Qantas in 1955 and continued flying with the airline, following conversion to a freighter in 1960, until 1963. It then passed through several owners until abandoned in Kuwait over a customs issue in 1976. Eventually acquired by the Ministry of Defence for training and fire fighting purposes, it remained largely intact at Ahmed Al Jaber AFB until the first Gulf War. Several attempts at recovering the aircraft were made, but all met with miles of red tape. Many pieces of the puzzle (in the form of…

The world’s oldest flying Catalina, the Netherlands-based PH-PBY, has been sold to The Collings Foundation. Following a nose wheel failure in August 2017, and the subsequent repairs and loss of income from paying passengers, the current owners, Stichting Exploitatie Catalina, had to make the heart-wrenching decision to sell the aircraft. It will therefore make an Atlantic crossing in the first half of 2019. In doing so, and assuming it takes the northern route, it will fly over the same expanses of water it patrolled extensively during the war. A PBY-5A built in November 1941 (Bu No 2459), it arrived in Iceland by ship in early January 1942 and made its first operational flight, with VP-73 as ’73-P-9’, on 1 February. Ice patrols and convoy escorts made up the majority of…

On 12 December 2018, Air Commodore John Meier, Director-General Air Force History and Heritage Branch, welcomed guests to the unveiling of Douglas Dakota IV A65-86 at the RAAF Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre, Queensland. The aircraft arrived in Australia in April 1945 and has been restored in its wartime 35 Squadron colours. Dakotas provided vital airlift support to Allied forces in the Pacific theatre with wartime RAAF units including 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38 Squadrons, and 1 Communication Unit. Post-war, RAAF Dakotas operated in New Guinea, Japan, Malaya, Korea and Thailand, and provided humanitarian aid and aeromedical evacuations during the Vietnam War . In 1948, when relationships between the countries occupying Germany worsened, the RAAF provided 41 aircrew to fly RAF Dakotas as part of the Berlin Airlift. Air…

What a sight! When the doors are opened to the hangar of Antique Aeroflyers at Regio-Airport Men-gen, north of Lake Constance, it’s hard to know what to look at first. The hangar is packed with mostly American flying beauties from the twenties to the forties, with some classics like a Yakovlev Yak-3 thrown in for good measure. Günther and Uschi Kälberer have been associated with vintage flying for many years. Günther spent a long time as a flying instructor for the Luftwaffe in the United States in the nineties. There he met and fell in love with the aircraft of the Golden Age. Both Günther and Uschi enjoy flying the aircraft in their collection from the left (or rear as the case may be) seat. Günther imported his first vintage…

Compared to other fighters of the era, the Thunderbolt was a monster. Its pilots were dwarfed by the large diameter, four-blade propeller that hung off a colossal Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine. It was heavy too, with a maximum take-off weight just shy of eight tonnes. The wings mounted eight .50in calibre Browning machine guns that provided between three to four times more firepower than their Japanese counterparts. However, Republic’s big fighter had a range problem. Unable to get to Rabaul, unlike the Lightning, it would instead be deployed in the first few months to escort transports. Later, it would counter the Japanese Army Air Force threat emanating from the system of airfields around Wewak on New Guinea’s northern coast. The first batch of Thunderbolts to arrive in Australia…

Apart from the threat from the Japanese, the other lurking enemy was the capricious New Guinea weather, and the Thunderbolts had not been long in theatre before they were taught a lesson. As detailed in ‘First Thunderbolts’, this occurred on 18 August 1943 when sixteen attempted to sneak up the headwater of the Upper Bubu Valley and inadvertently entered cloud. None of the pilots was instrument-rated and two aircraft were lost. The subsequent impressive combat successes over Wewak on 11 and 16 October had been made on their own terms, played by their own rules, and conducted in fair weather. A return to the same hunting ground on 22 October 1943 to escort 38th Bombardment Group Mitchells would have dire consequences, this time courtesy of the weather. Sixteen Thunderbolts from…

The Wirraway was the first mass produced Australian built aircraft. It was also, as is well known, the product of Australia’s first major aircraft company, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC). Today the earliest surviving Wirraway is CAC CA-1 A20-10, construction number 8, with the Australian National Aviation Museum, Moorabbin, Victoria. Rightly it is a treasured item in the collection, which has grown to encompass almost all the main Australian production types. But an even more historic example nearly survived. With the first two North American Aviation built fly-off aircraft being given the RAAF serials A20-1 and -2, Australian production examples started at A20-3. In 1945, after remarkably surviving the whole of W.W.II, Wirraway A20-3 was recognised as having historical significance and was allocated for preservation with SHQ Canberra, although on…

The Museum of Aviation, formerly the Yugoslavian Aeronautical Museum, in Belgrade, Serbia, was originally founded in 1957. Currently located adjacent to Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla International Airport, the museum is housed in an architecturally unique, socialist-era building. Reminiscent in design to a spaceship or a giant glass mushroom, it is a ten-minute walk or a twenty-minute, five euro taxi ride from downtown Belgrade. With a collection of more than 200 aircraft, the museum covers the early days of flight, both civil and military, in the former Yugoslavia and includes aircraft from W.W.I, W.W.II, the Cold War, and the modern Serbian Air Force. While the entire collection is fantastic, it is the W.W.II-era collection that contains the real aviation treasures. Highlights include the unrestored remains of a P-38J Lightning and sections of…