Table of contents for Nov-Dec-Jan 2019 in Flightpath

The much-travelled Klemm L 25 d II ‘St. Paulus’ is back in the air. Owned by well-known vintage aircraft collector Roy Fox, VH-UUR made a flawless post-restoration flight on 10 May at Luskintyre, New South Wales, in the hands of Paul Bennet. Built in Germany outside Munich by Hans Klemm (serial 796), it was shipped from Genoa, Italy, on 14 April 1934, destined for the Divine Word Missionaries at Alexishafen Catholic Mission on New Guinea’s north-east coast. It arrived in Madang Province in 1935. Registered, as HB-XAL, to Father Frederick Zeigler, a Swiss priest with the Holy Ghost Mission in Alexishafen, it changed to VHUUR on 14 August 1936. In New Guinea, the Klemm allowed faster communication between mission stations and remote centres of the rugged highlands. On 22 January…

A rare 1933 Lockheed Vega 5C, restored several years ago, has finally made its first flight since 1954. One of five built for the Shell Oil Company, it was regularly flown by the legendary Jimmy Doolittle. The type proved too compact for its intended airliner role, but found favour with private flyers and attracted those seeking to break flying records. The Vega certainly held its fair share during aviation’s Golden Age. The ‘Shell Vega’, as NC 13705 is known, was one of only seven aircraft built as a 5C. All others were conversions to this standard. Shell eventually sold it to Mercer Air. Used for airliner and cargo work, it was later sold on, disassembled and stored outdoors before vintage aircraft aficionado John Desmond bought it in 1988. A wooden…

Online auction bids for a Sea Fury, VHSHF, and two T-28 Trojans, all impounded following a joint operation between the Australian Federal Police, the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia and the Australian Taxation Office in Queensland, closed on 18 October with the Sea Fury sold to an undisclosed local buyer. The Hawker fighter (serial 41H643827) was built for the Royal Iraqi Air Force with which it served as ‘326’. One of the so-called ‘Baghdad Furies’, which were acquired in 1979 by Ed Jurist and David Tallichet and shipped to the United States for storage in Orlando, Florida, the aircraft was later registered N43SF before it was purchased and restored in New Zealand in Royal Navy colours as WJ232 (it had also been converted to a Sea Fury). It flew there…

The National Warplane Museum (NWM) at Geneseo, in upstate New York, secured the lease of the Tallichet Flying Fortress (44-83546) in 2016. It had spent the previous four years in Georgia with the Liberty Foundation, with whom it toured North America. Following the aircraft’s arrival at the NWM, engineers entered an extensive winter maintenance program to prepare for the following airshow season. The Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation (MARC, Tallichet’s company) still owns the B-17, but the agreement means that both MARC and the NWM will contribute to keeping the old Boeing operational. “With its long term residence at the National Warplane Museum, the B-17 will be on display to the public, available for tours and provide ‘Living History Flight Experiences’. As one of the crew members, I can’t wait to…

463 Squadron RAAF The squadron formed at Waddington, out of C Flight of 467 Squadron, in November 1943 under the command of Wing Commander ‘Rollo’ Kingsford-Smith, and it remained at this base for the rest of the war. From that time until the cessation of hostilities, it was a Main Force Lancaster unit within 5 Group. Its first operation was to the ‘Big City’, Berlin, the day after it formed, 26/27 November, but, of course, it had inherited experienced crews from its sister unit. Sadly, it also experienced its first casualty on this night when Flight Sergeant J Fowler and his crew were killed. Like its sister squadrons, 463 was a fully engaged part of Main Force, flying night operations against a range of targets in Occupied Europe and Germany,…

On the night of 13 September 2008, Hurricane ‘Ike’, one of the most violent storms to hit the eastern coast of Texas, struck the coastal island city of Galveston, 100 kilometres south of Houston, with winds of more than 200 km/h. It caused a marked rise in the water levels of the internal lagoon, resulting in the subsequent flooding of the city. The Lone Star Flight Museum (LSFM), then the largest collection of historic flying aircraft in the southern United States, was devastated by the two metre high floodwaters. Fortunately, all of the aircraft in flying condition had been flown to safe locations from Galveston’s Scholes International Airport a few hours prior to the arrival of ‘Ike’. A decade later, the museum is celebrating a second re-birth in its new…

After a three year hiatus, the Temora Aviation Museum brought back its big airshow on Friday and Saturday, 12 and 13 October 2018. There was wide participation from many of the main warbird collections on the east coast and better weather than the previous event, enjoyed particularly by an excellent crowd on the Saturday. Overseas visitors were treated to several ‘only in Australia’ acts, the Wirraway and Boomerang CAC tribute, and the Lockheed Hudson, as well as rarities today such as the HARS Caribou which was one aspect of an extensive Vietnam set piece with O-1 Bird-dogs, Trojans, the museum’s O-2, and rounded up by the A-37 Dragonfly – in its new scheme. There was a heavy RAAF presence on the ground and in the air, including a mixed Hornets…

The main RAF 100th anniversary airshow was held at RAF Cosford in superb weather on 10 June 2018. With a very impressive static line-up (including many RAF Museum aircraft outside with a number of invited guest machines) it told the story of the RAF through the past hundred years. The earliest aircraft included the RAF Museum’s Bristol M1C C4994 and Sopwith 1½ Strutter A8226 together with Oliver Wolf’s airworthy New Zealand built BE2c ‘A2943’. The thirties were well represented with the Historic Aircraft Co’s Hawker Nimrod K3661 and Fury K5674. Stars of the W.W.II era were the RAF Museum’s Boulton Paul Defiant I N1671 recently arrived from Hendon, and Gladiator K8042. Another static park surprise was Boulton Paul Balliol WN149 which is a composite reproduction by the Boulton Paul Association…

The Nevada high desert outside Reno was disturbed for the fifty-fifth year by the sound of air racing. This year’s National Championship Air Races proved to be very different from recent races. The Unlimited Class fielded fifteen competitors, but noticeably absent were Gold Race winners ‘Voodoo’ and ‘Strega’, which had dominated the field for eleven years. However, with change comes opportunity, and Joel Swager piloted the highly modified Sea Fury ‘Dreadnought’ to win the Unlimited Gold race. With an average speed of 417 mph this was the first unlimited win for a radial powered aircraft since ‘Rare Bear’ in 2007 and the slowest time since Howard Pardue won in 1998. Three long-time racers made their return to racing this year, Mustangs ‘Miss America’, ‘Goldfinger’ and 44-74506 ‘Miss B’ (ex ‘Bardahl…

After being displayed at the Australian Army Flying Museum in Oakey, Queensland, following its donation to the Army Historic Unit in May 2007, the former Zuccoli Boomerang A46-206 (ex VH-BOM) has moved. “Sometime last year we were informed that the Oakey Army Museum, under their current policy (of only displaying ex-Army Aviation aircraft – Ed), was going to put our old Boomerang into storage”, said Aerotec’s Lynette Zuccoli. “The idea to relocate the aircraft came about through discussions between us, the Army Museum and the RAAF Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre (RAAHC). We agreed that the Boomerang would be placed on loan with the Amberley Heritage Centre. I was very happy with this proposition and I believe that it is a good outcome for all concerned.” On Monday, 27 August, two…

Westland Lysander Mk.IIIA V9312, G-CCOM, of the Duxford-based Aircraft Restoration Company (ARCo) took to the air at 17:34 on 28 August 2018 in what is believed to be its first flight for at least 72 years. The initial test flight was undertaken by John Romain and lasted twenty minutes before settling back down on Duxford’s grass runway. Rare as a Westland-built, rather than Canadian, survivor, V9312 was built at Yeovil in Somerset and saw service with 225 Squadron from April 1941 followed by 613 Squadron and 4 Squadron. Damaged in a landing accident at Elstree in March 1942, it was repaired and converted to target tug configuration and shipped to Canada in October 1942 to join 4 Training Command with 2 Bombing and Gunnery School at Mossbank, Saskatchewan, as part…

The 54th E-model Fortress built, 41-2446 was officially handed over to the USAAF on 6 December 1941. It was not, of course, one of the Fortresses that famously arrived over Hawaii during the Japanese attack on the islands, but it landed several days later. Assigned to the 22nd Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bomb Group, and flown by First Lieutenant Frederick Eaton, the new Fortress proceeded to Hickam Field on the night of 17/18 December. It was requisitioned by the Hawaiian Air Force for six weeks, and then released in early February. Eaton and his crew flew it across the Pacific to Townsville, Queensland, arriving on February 21, and took off the following night to conduct the first American raid on Rabaul. Nine bombers were tasked with this first mission,…

The 90th Bomb Group (BG) was activated in April 1942 as part of the USAAF’s post-Pearl Harbor expansion, but did not receive its first aircraft until late June. By August, the group was at the Ford Plant at Willow Run where the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, a technical adviser, was concerned about the unit’s lack of experience: I found the pilot had been out of flying school for only a few months and had less than 500 hours total flying time; yet he was captain of a four-engine bomber and sent out through a stormy night to carry on a practice mission! What possible good can come from pushing men so fast? First, this B-24 squadron [sic] is  organized of young and inexperienced officers; …then it is ordered to be…

The Smith Brothers’ Vimy G-EAOU should need no introduction. The winning aircraft of the 1919 Air Race from the UK to Australia, flown by Ross and Keith Smith and mechanics Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett, the aircraft was subsequently presented to the nation. After the crew arrived in Darwin on 10 December 1919, they continued the flight, albeit with many technical delays and festivities, down to Point Cook, Victoria. There, the aircraft was gifted by Vickers Ltd to Prime Minister Billy Hughes, who’d not told anyone of the plan! The crew obtained permission to fly the Vimy to the Smith brothers’ home, Adelaide, which they did, returning with it to Melbourne in April 1920. Though notionally allocated to the newly-formed RAAF in 1921 as A5-1, the Vimy’s flying days were…

James Valentine Fairbairn was born at Wadhurst, Sussex, England on 28 July 1897. He grew up on his father’s property near Skipton in Victoria. Educated at the Geelong Church of England Grammar School from 1908 to 1915, he left school for England to enlist and was commissioned into the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in July 1916, eventually flying Sopwith Pups with 54 Squadron. On 14 February 1917 he was shot down over France and captured by the Germans while escorting a photographic reconnaissance sortie between Cambrai and Saint-Quentin. Writing from an officers’ prison camp in Germany on 3 March 1917, the following appeared in ‘The Corian’ of August 1940. “I am still well and comfortable, while my arm is getting on well, thanks to a very kind and efficient doctor.…

The 65th National Antique Airplane Association/Airpower Museum (AAA/ APM) Fly-in was held in Blakesburg, Iowa, last September. The annual event attracted almost 200 vintage and classic aircraft to the association’s own ‘Antique Airfield’. The invitational fly-in is open only to members of the organisation, but membership is available on the spot for anyone interested in vintage aircraft. The event is affectionately known as ‘Blakesburg’ and the field has a 2350 foot (716 metre) long grass runway. Radio use is discouraged and takeoffs and landings controlled via the use of a green or red flag wave off. The fly-in is known to host more than 350 aircraft, but heavy rain and storms kept a good number of aircraft away this year. That said, aircraft from all over North America still made…

The Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual gathering at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last July once again showcased the world's largest aviation event. More than 10,000 aircraft arrived during the week. Of those, there were 377 warbirds and 1094 vintage aircraft. Attendance exceeded 600,000 people. This year's themes included the centenaries of the Royal Air Force and the end of the Great War, the Year of the Tanker, the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command and the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the North American Texan. The static areas and afternoon aerial displays included tributes to these aircraft throughout the week. The D-Day Dakota reenactment planned for Normandy in June 2019 will commemorate 75 years since the invasion. Several examples of the Douglas DC-3/C-47 family that will cross the…

The RAAF Museum’s rare reproduction R.E.8 took to the sky over Point Cook on 8 October. The first flight of VH-OTF (‘Over The Front’) since its acquisition by the museum was in the capable hands of The Vintage Aviator Limited’s (TVAL) John Bargh from New Zealand. John later endorsed two museum pilots, Wing Commander Warren Madsen and Flight Lieutenant Chris Tulk, on the ‘Harry Tate’. The flight comes after a lengthy period in storage following its purchase in 2015 (see Flightpath Vol.26 No.4). The requisite grounding following the purchase process was a combination of the museum tackling engineering work on the rare RAF4a V12 engine, the bureaucratic recertification process and flying training issues. A neatly hidden radio was also installed. The aircraft, museum callsign ‘Heritage Harry’, is one of four…

The Sanders Aeronautics Boomerang replica, NX32CS, now based in Belgium, has been exceptionally active since its arrival in Europe in August 2014. Often displaying with a Yak-3UPW, it has proven a popular performer. A well-known aircraft among warbird and Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation enthusiasts, it changed hands several times in the past 25 years before Remko Sijben, a Dutch military history enthusiast and collector, acquired it and had it shipped to Belgium in the second half of 2014. Built by Sanders Aeronautics in the nineties using the stressed skin rear fuselage and modified wings (among other things) from a T-6 Texan, the project incorporated components from CA-13 A46-139, the partial colours of which it now wears. It shared workshop space with the aircraft that helped pioneer the Australian Boomerang resurgence –…

The latest Hurricane to emerge from UKbased Hawker Restorations’ facility at Elmsett in Suffolk, made its inaugural post-restoration flight there on 30 August 2018 in the capable and experienced hands of Stu Goldspink. Hurricane Mk. I V7497 had a very brief service career in the Battle of Britain, serving with 501 (County of Gloucester) Squadron, RAux-AF, at RAF Kenley. Built by Hawkers at Langley, the Hurricane was issued to 501 Squadron in September 1940, where it was coded SD-X. Flying its first op on the afternoon of 24 September in the hands of Sergeant Say-ward, its operational career came to abrupt end over Kent less than four days later on the morning of 28 September. Shot down by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 (reportedly flown by Luftwaffe ace Gustav Sprick of…

Credit for the initiative can be directly traced to Japanese Navy pilot Kudo Shigetoshi who arrived in New Guinea in April 1942 as part of the Tainan Naval Air Group (NAG) reconnaissance detachment. From June 1942, this detachment conducted familiarisation and training sorties in Mitsubishi C5M2 ‘Babs’ aircraft from Lae and Rabaul, making their first reconnaissance mission against Horn Island on 17 June 1942. This was followed by a reconnoiter of Kieta, Bougainville, two days later and then a dual mission to Cook-town and Cairns on 24 June 1942. The latter involved seven-hour flights that were taxing on the crews, but both were routine missions that obtained good quality photographs. Kudo was a regular participant in such missions. Then, in June 1942, several J1N1-C ‘Irving’ twin-engine land reconnaissance aircraft were…

“Ididn’t want these grand old antique aircraft to fade away, and lovingly collected and restored them so as to continue to bring to life the excitement of this wonderful era of aviation.” His love for vintage aircraft started early. The Antique Airplane Association’s headquarters is in Ottumwa, Iowa. Fortuitously, this is where Greg grew up. “The association would have fly-ins where old airplanes would come in from all parts of the country. I watched them fly over our house and marveled at the freedom and beauty these old planes seemed to represent. That’s when the bug bit me”. His parents, Walt and Dori, fostered this passion when, for a high school graduation present, they paid for him to learn to fly. To his knowledge, he is the only member of…

The four primary variants operated by the Americans in the South Pacific were the P-70 night fighter and the A-20A, G and H. These aircraft served primarily in three units – the 3rd, 312th and 417th Bombardment Groups. In recent years, more and more private photo collections have surfaced. These reveal the diversity not only of the type’s combat roles, but also of the noseart and markings carried. Most Havocs at some stage in their career were transferred between combat units due to repairs and other logistical considerations. This meant that, in particular, some of the early G-models retained two or more sets of unit markings. Unscrambling their histories, therefore, can be challenging. The first Havoc lost in theatre was an A-20A that crashed offshore Sydney on 1 May 1942…

The 100 years of the Finnish Air Force airshow was held at Tikkakoski airfield on 16-17 June. As well as modern jets, there were several vintage aircraft, including the world’s only complete Gloster Gauntlet and the only airworthy pre-W.W.II Finnish-designed type, the VL Viima. Other highlights were Mikael Carlson’s Fokker D.VII reproduction, a Swedish Historical Flight SAAB Draken, several SAAB Safir trainers, and a pair of ex-Finnish AF Fouga Magisters. The Finnish Air Force museum exhibited several aircraft, including a Bf 109, Thulin D (Swedish licence-built Morane-Saulnier L) as well as a partly restored Viima and VL Myrsky. Their Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV BL-200 is the only surviving complete original Blenheim, all the others being Canadian Bolingbrokes. Gloster Gauntlet II GT-400, registered OH-XGT, is a former RAF machine and one of…

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the first event hosted by The Fighter Collection in July 1993. Around fifty warbirds – fifteen Spitfires among them – were present despite the biennial clash with Fairford’s Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT). The show at Fairford meant Duxford was able to schedule an appearance by the USAF Heritage Flight. An F-35 Lightning II from Luke AFB in Arizona was joined by two of Dan Friedkin’s aircraft. His P-51D Mustang (serial 44-74391) was shipped over from the US and repainted in 355th Fighter Group colours. Flown by Friedkin, it was joined by Steve Hinton in the ex-RAAF Spitfire Mk.Vc JG891 (A58-178) wearing 249 Squadron RAF Malta markings. The Heritage Flight also flew at RIAT and the BBMF Lancaster made a flying visit to…