Aeroplane September 2017

10 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017

W

ARBIRD highlights of the Experimental Aircraft

Association’s AirVenture show at Oshkosh from 24-

July included the incredible sight of two Boeing B-

Superfortresses in the air together for the fi rst time in more

than half a century. The Commemorative Air Force’s well-known

B-29A 44-62070 Fifi was joined by 44-69972 Doc, operated by

Doc’s Friends from Wichita, Kansas. Doc made its maiden

post-restoration fl ight on 17 July 2016 (see Aeroplane

September 2016), and its debut air display appearance on 6

May this year at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport,

Louisiana.

The show also boasted three Bell P-63 Kingcobras and a

P-39Q Airacobra from the Central Texas Wing of the

Commemorative Air Force, the fi rst time such a large gathering

of these rear-engine fi ghters had been seen since the Cleveland

Air Races of the late 1940s.

NEWS IN BRIEF

SEA VIXEN LATEST

On 25 July, Navy Wings issued a

press release regarding the

wheels-up landing that befell the

Fly Navy Heritage Trust’s de

Havilland Sea Vixen FAW2 XP924/

G-CVIX at RNAS Yeovilton,

Somerset on 27 May.

It stated: “We now know that

when the primary hydraulic pump

failed in flight, the secondary

pump did not go to full stroke as it

should have done. The result was

that it did not provide the

pressure required to put the

undercarriage and flaps down. We

have been surveying the aircraft

and are now aware that there is

extensive damage to the belly and

structural frames of the centre

fuselage.

“We have now suspended the

aircraft from maintenance

procedures while we continue to

investigate plans for complete

restoration.”

Lansens and Draken back in the air

AT Såtenäs air base in

southern Sweden on 11 July

the Swedish Air Force Historic

Flight’s Saab J 32B Lansen

32542/SE-RMD and J 32D

32606/SE-RME were both

fl own for the fi rst time in

fi ve-and-a-half years by Maj

Stellan Andersson. With the

support of Saab, the aircraft

have now been transferred to

the Swedish civil register,

having previously been

operated under the SwAFHF’s

auspices on the Swedish

military registry. Single-seat

J 35J Draken 35556 has made

the same transition as

SE-DXR, and took to the air

again during late April.

The J 32D and J 35J will

make their British show

debuts at the Jersey

International Air Display on 14

September, alongside the

fl ight’s two-seat SK 35C

Draken, the AJS 37 Viggen

and J 29F ‘Tunnan’.

Boeings and Bells star at Oshkosh

The two recently refl own Lansens, pictured over Sweden during 2009.

GERARD BOYMANS

News September 2017

MAIN PICTURE: B-29s Doc and Fifi airborne

together at Oshkosh on 29 July. PARR YONEMOTO

ABOVE: The CAF Dixie Wing’s P-63A

Kingcobra 42-68941, which fi rst fl ew

following restoration at Atlanta on 19

February, has now been painted in the

markings it wore while being used as a test

aircraft with NACA during 1945. More on

the P-63 in next month’s issue. NIGEL HITCHMAN

06-15_AM_NEWS_Sept17_cc C.indd 10 31/07/2017 14: