Repaint for
Tupolev Tu-
A rare Tupolev Tu-2, based at Dona Aña
County Airport in Santa Teresa, is to be
restored and repainted by New Mexico’s War
Eagles Air Museum.
Believed to be one of only seven on
public display around the world, and the sole
one in the US, the Russian-built aircraft was
previously stored in a cave in China, which
was being used as a makeshift hangar.
About 2,500 Tu-2s were produced
between 1941 and 1948.Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I N1671 has been
fully reassembled and placed on display
inside the RAF Museum’s Cosford’s War
In The Air hangar. It is the last surviving
example of its kind and was built in 1938 at a
Boulton Paul factory in Pendeford, a suburb
of Wolverhampton, fewer than ten miles from
Cosford.
Flown by 307 (Polish) Sqn, which
became operational in December 1940,
it was painted in an all-black night-fighter
scheme the following January and carried
out 15 patrols before moving in June 1942 to
anti-aircraft co-operation unit, 285 Sqn – itslast operational user.
Set aside for preservation in 1944, it
was placed on display (initially at St Athan,
Wales) in 1960. It was comprehensively
restored by the Medway Aircraft Preservation
Society at Rochester Airport, from 2009,
before return to RAF Museum Hendon for
further display in 2012.
The aircraft was transported to
Hendon’s sister site at Cosford, Shropshire,
in November 2016, due to the former
undergoing significant development.The Cold War exhibition at the Swedish Air
Force Museum, based outside Linköping,
now has Saab JAS 39B Gripen 39813 on
display. It is one of 14 two-seat versions
of the jet delivered to the Swedish Air
Force, arriving at F 7 Air Wing at Såtenäs
in 2001.
Saab did not originally plan to build any
two-seaters, as the Gripen was considered
relatively simple to fly, with all conversion
training performed on simulators. However,
the two-seater became a necessity for the
export market.
The aircraft put on display had accumulated
934 hours in the air. Lennart BernsThe restored Defiant Mk.I N1671 at the RAF
Museum, Cosford. Courtesy RAFMDefiant on Display
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 17Gripen Joins
Exhibition
Gripen 39813 on display at Linköping in the
Swedish Air Force Museum. Lennart BernsPuma for Newark Collection
Newark Air Museum has successfully
purchased another helicopter – Aérospatiale
Puma HC1, XW208.
The airframe is currently incompletebut, the new owners believe, is a “valuable
starting point”. This particular acquisition
comes some seven years after the
museum first made an attempt to secure aPuma for its collection, back in 2011.
Timing of the move from nearby RAF
Cranwell had still to be confirmed at the
time of going to press.747 Nose
Section Move
A Boeing 747 that had been used as a
training aid for firefighters at Glasgow
Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire, Scotland,
is having its nose moved to the North
East Land, Sea and Air Museums
(NELSAM), near Sunderland. The
airframe of 747-121 N743PA, that had at
one time flown for Pan Am, was due to
be cut up and disposed of, but former
RAF fitter Stuart Abbott (who now runs
Stu-Art Aviation Furniture) saved the
nose and cockpit section. It is being
transported to NELSAM in several parts
to be reassembled on site. With thanks
to Ian McLaren16-17_preservation_newsDC.mfDC.indd 17 05/02/2018 14: