Aviation News - February 2016 UK

Ryan ST-A NC18923 was delivered by

road to its new home at Old Warden,

Bedfordshire, on November 21.

The aircraft was previously based at

Paderborn in Germany. Its proud new

owner Peter Holloway said: “I first saw the

aircraft several years ago in the hangar of

the Quax Club at Paderborn and thereafter

failed repeatedly over the years to persuade

the owner to sell it. He sadly passed away

recently and his entire aircraft collection was

put up for sale. Following deep maintenance

and reassembly, the aircraft will be exhibited

within the Shuttleworth Collection and will be

displayed next season.”

As well as flying his new acquisition

at airshows, Peter is also hoping that the

1939-built aircraft’s distinctive appearance

will attract customers wishing to use it for

advertising or promotional work. Darren

Harbar

Baarlo-based PS Aero has taken delivery of

Mil Mi-2 Hoplite SP-ZXH. The helicopter flew

search and rescue operations in Poland and

is still painted in its original high-visibility

markings. The Mi-2 was produced exclusively

at the WSK PZL factory in the Polish city

of S widnik. PS Aero is a supplier of former

military aircraft, engines and spares. http://www.

psaero.com Roger Soupart

Mil Mi-

in the

Netherlands

Pearl Harbor Relic

Students from the University of Hawaii

Marine Option Program have conducted

a detailed archaeological survey of the

final resting place of a Consolidated PBY

Catalina that was destroyed in the attack on

Pearl Harbor.

Minutes before the attack on December

7, 1941, Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft

bombed the nearby US Naval Air Station

on the east coast of Oahu. Twenty-seven

Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats

on the ground or moored on Kaneohe

Bay were destroyed, and six others were

damaged. The strike on the seaplane base

was a significant loss for the US military,

as these long-range patrol bombers could

have followed the Japanese planes back to

their carriers.

In 1994, Kaneohe Bay’s murky waters

thwarted a University of Hawaii dive team’s

attempt to photograph the wreck of one of

the Catalinas. A second effort in 2008 by

a local sport diving group also had limited

success.

In June, with better visibility and using

improved camera equipment, the team

of students returned to the wreck and

produced the first systematic photo and

video documentation of the entire site.

Details have recently been made public

to coincide with the anniversary of the

Pearl Harbor attack. The student effort

was coordinated by Hans Van Tilburg, a

maritime archaeologist with the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s Office

of National Marine Sanctuaries. Van

Tilburg says that while the precise identity

of the aircraft remains unknown, it is

possible the crew died while attempting

to take off in the face of the attack. The

aircraft, which rests in three large pieces

at a depth of 30ft (9m), is protected by the

Sunken Military Craft Act of 2004, which

prohibits unauthorised disturbance of

military vessels or planes owned by the

US Government, as well as foreign sunken

military craft that lie within US waters.

David J Smith

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 17

Ryan ST-A NC18923 is unloaded at Old Warden on November 21. Darren Harbar

American

Classic

Arrives at

Old Warden

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