FLIGHTPATH | 7News
On 20 and 21 of September 2014, during the
European Heritage Days, the Memorial Flight
workshop based at Dugny, France opened its
doors to the public. Visitors were able to see
the restoration projects underway. Among
the most advanced projects, was the repro-
duction Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2F, F-
AZZN, now in the final stages of its rebuild.
The project, based on a The Vintage Aviator
Ltd. (TVAL) airframe, is scheduled to be fly-
ing sometime in 2015 and is painted in the
colours of B.E.2f number 2560 of 52 Squadron
RAF, complete with all its night equipment.
The Memorial Flight team is also rebuilding
two Albatros D.Va reproductions also sourced
from TVAL in New Zealand – both projects are
being rebuilt side-by–side, and it’s anticipated
they will be flying sometime in 2017, together
appropriately registered as F-AZUA and F-
AZUB. There is no other Albatros D.Va cur-
rently flying in Europe. Also, in the early
stages of rebuild, the Memorial Flight has
started the restoration of the Brussels Air Mu-
seum’s Aviatik C.I to static condition. This is
the very last example existing worldwide. Us-
ing original parts as patterns, a flying repro-
duction will also be constructed in the long
term. Additionally, the Memorial Flight is also
involved in the overhaul of the two Morane
AI’s owned by the Salis family at Le Ferté-
Alais. Both will be overhauled within the next
eighteen months with new fabric applied and
new internal fittings added, to bring them to a
higher, more accurate standard.
Lastly, the Memorial Flight is also re-
building, to static condition, an original LVG
C.VI and Polikaprov I-153 for the Musée de
l’Air et de l’Espace of Le Bourget. Future
projects include the reconstruction of an
Avro 504 and Morane N to flying condition
and the restoration to fly of the Svedinos
Automobile and Aviation Museum FFVS J
in Sweden. Benjamin Gilbert
[More information about Memorial Flight
can be found on their website: http://memo-
rial.flight.free.fr and http://www.j22-project.com.
The author wish to thanks Arnaud Mars for
his help and assistance with this report.]
French Memorial Flight News
TOP: The reproduction B.E.2f
in the colours of 52 Squadron.
[all images Benjamin Gilbert]ABOVE LE F T: One of the
Morane AI fighters.LE F T: The second Moraine
fuselage without covering.ABOVE: Two Albatros
reproduction fuselages.A rare surprise vintage aircraft recently arrived from tropical Tahiti to start
a new life in Belgium. The machine is a member of the Ryan ST family of
two-seat, low-wing monoplane sport and training aircraft built by the Ryan
Aeronautical Company. This example, a PT-22, is fitted with a Kinner R-
engine producing 160hp (120kW), and they were mainly used as trainers by
the US military. This trainer, 1676, was built in 1941 and became part of the
U.S Army Air Corps as 41-15647 in 1942. Demobbed as late as 1952, it went on
to a civil career in Canada (from 1958 to 1964) and the USA, then it was
shipped to Tahiti and registered as F-AZNO during 2008, painted in a very
colourful US Navy livery. In 2013 it was obtained by a Belgian operator, and
the Ryan started a long journey around three-quarters of the word in a con-
tainer. It has been fully cleaned and restored, and now bears the name ‘Miss
Tahiti’ painted on the nose as a souvenir of its tropical life. Roger SoupartTahitian Ryan emigrates
The PT-22 ‘Miss Tahiti’ seen at Antwerp, its Belgian home base. [Roger Soupart]