FP_2015_05_

May 2015 FLYPAST 17

http://www.fl ypast.com

AIRBASE to reopen at Coventry with airshow

Midlands-based aircraft enthusiasts

will be pleased to learn that the

Classic Air Force’s visitor attraction

AIRBASE is to fully reopen at its

original base in Coventry.

The working museum is returning

to the city’s Baginton airport as it

prepares to spread its operation

over two locations – the other being

Newquay in Cornwall, where the bulk

of it moved to in 2013. Since then, the

original base in the Midlands has only

been open at weekends, with limited

activity.

Most of the CAF’s fl ying aircraft will

now be based at Coventry, alongside

several of the static (or taxiable)

machines that never left. Other

elements of the static fl eet will remain

at Newquay, and pleasure fl ights in the

company’s de Havilland Dragon Rapide

and other aircraft are likely to be

available from both locations – though

most fl ying will be at Coventry.

The organisation plans to celebrate

its return to the Midlands with an

airshow on May 2. Among types

scheduled to display are a Gloster

Meteor NF.11, DH Vampire T.55 and

a trio of Percival aircraft including

a Pembroke and a Hunting Percival

Jet Provost T.5. Other aircraft will be

ground running or open for guided

tours.

“The plan is to ramp up Coventry

considerably to make it the attraction

it always should have been,” the

CAF’s Jem Shaw told FlyPast. “Tony

Caunce and I have been tasked with

the turnaround and our strategy at

the moment is to give people the

best possible access to the collection,

and we’ll fl y the aircraft at every

opportunity we get.

“So we’ll be opening fi ve days a

week instead of the weekends-only

of last year, and we’re laying out the

hangars differently to make it easier

to see the aircraft. Ben Cox is heading

up engineering now and he’s really

moved things along.”

As the focus at Coventry returns

to fl ying, the collection’s Vickers

VC10, BAC 1-11, two Hunters, Harrier,

Canberra, Sea Devon and Sea Hawk

will remain at Newquay along with

simulators, a model collection, a

recently acquired autogyro and

vintage microlights. Cockpit tours

and rides in a historic fi re tender will

also be available. Look out for more

on developments at AIRBASE and with

the CAF in a future FlyPast.

http://www.classicairforce.com

De Havilland Vampire T.55 XJ771 is among

the fl ying aircraft to be based at Coventry. CAF

The most recent newcomer to the inventory of airworthy types at the Fundación Infante

de Orleans (FIO) at Cuatro Vientos near Madrid was taken aloft on March 1 during the

organisation’s season-opening air display. Slingsby T-45 Swallow EC-JGR was towed into the

air by another FIO newcomer, Dornier Do 27 (CASA C-127) EC-CFM. The FIO team plan to hold

airshows on the fi rst Sunday of every month this year, except August. GEOFF JONES

Dornier and

sailplane fl y in Spain

The Jet Age Museum is currently

refurbishing the nose and cockpit

section of Avro Vulcan B.2 XM569, which

is on display at its base in Staverton,

Gloucestershire.

The exhibit is now surrounded by

scaffolding to enable the restoration

team to undertake much needed repairs,

both externally and internally. The work,

which includes sealing leaks, is expected

to be fi nished by May and will conclude

with a repaint.

The cockpit is likely to be closed to

the public during most of this period,

but while the work is going on the

museum has opened a temporary

exhibition focusing on the aircraft’s

role in the ‘Cold War’. The Vulcan’s nose

section is normally displayed on a raised

framework with an access ramp enabling

visitors to look inside.

Plans are also afoot to host a reunion

of Gloster Aircraft Company (GAC)

employees on May 6 at 2pm. More than

80 people have so far expressed an

interest, and event organiser Trevor

Davies is currently tracking down maps

and photographs charting the various

factories and the people who worked in

them. If you are an ex-GAC worker and

would like to attend, contact the museum

or e-mail: [email protected]

Vulcan cockpit

to have a makeover

The nose section of Avro Vulcan B.2 XM569 at

the Jet Age Museum. COURTESY JET AGE MUSEUM

The Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey, has received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant

of £4.68m to transform its Grade II listed World War Two Wellington hangar into ‘The

Brooklands Aircraft Factory’. It will also build a new annexe (called the ‘Flight Shed’)

to house more of its collection of historic aircraft, and restore the fi nishing straight

of its race track. Museum director Allan Winn described the HLF allocation as “a real

vindication of our vision of bringing a wartime temporary aircraft assembly building

back to life. It will be the only place in the country dedicated to showing how aircraft are

designed and built.” http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com

English Electric Lightning F.6 XR770 has

been acquired by the RAF Manston History

Museum, arriving in several sections at the

Kent attraction on March 3. The former 74

and 5 Squadron fi ghter, which fi rst fl ew in

1966, had previously been at Waddington,

Lincs. http://www.rafmanston.co.uk

WITH THANKS TO ADAM COWELL

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