Fly Past

(Rick Simeone) #1
November 2018 FLYPAST 77

SPOT FACT Czech company Mraz built
the aircraft as the K-65 Cap after the war

Spotlight on a
Storch restoration

11


MG 15 machine gun was  tted in the rear cabin of some aircraft


s


almost ideally suited for undertaking
such an ambitious project.
“I’m very interested in history and
mechanical engineering,” he says.
“As an aviation technician in the
Royal Norwegian Air Force I was
stationed at Gardermoen Air Force
Base, where I helped restore historic
aircraft. We gathered them in a
hangar which later became home
to the Norwegian Armed Forces
Aircraft Collection. An aviation
enthusiast called Anders Sæther
had a private collection, which I
helped him maintain in exchange for
flying hours. I’ve also been involved
in Warbirds of Norway, a society
dedicated to the preservation and
operation of ex-military aircraft.”
Tor has been passionate about
aviation for as long as he can
remember. “You know that Heinkel
He 111 that’s exhibited at the
Aircraft Collection? My family had
a small mountain cottage near to
where it crashed in April 1940,
south of Lesjaskog. I went up on the
mountain when I was 11 to look at
the wreck. What an experience! Spent
cartridges, magazines and parts of the
plane lay scattered on the ground. I
bought a scale model of a Heinkel
and came to think that German

“‘I asked myself: which German


plane is it possible to purchase,


while simultaneously having a


Norwegian connection?’”


Left
Master restorer Tor
Nørstegård.

Bottom right
The Storch in France
sometime between 1961
and 1970, registered
F-BJQB. COURTESY TOR
NØRSTEGÅRD

planes had an almost mesmerising
allure. Later, aged 16, I lent a hand
when the Heinkel was heli-lifted
down [for museum display].”
Tor bought the wreck of an
L-4 Grasshopper, a US

reconnaissance aircraft dating to
World War Two, and finished
restoring it in 1992. This project
took around five years to complete –
he described the experience as being
“fun and feasible”.
Free download pdf