Aeroplane September 2017

(Brent) #1
8 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017

O


N 4 July, American
Independence Day,
Lee Lauderback —
the highest-time Mustang pilot
in history — landed at IWM
Duxford, Cambridgeshire in
North American P-51B
43-24837/N515ZB at the end
of an epic, 4,775nm, seven-
day ferry fl ight from Texas.
The fi ghter, recently
acquired by Houston-based

Comanche Fighters from Max
Chapman, is painted as 357th
Fighter Group P-51B Berlin
Express fl own by Capt Bill
Overstreet from Leiston,
Suffolk during 1944. The
restored Mustang is based on
parts of a 363rd FG machine
from Staplehurst, Kent, which
crashed on 10 June 1944 at
Beckley, East Sussex during a
training exercise, the pilot

surviving after taking to his
’chute. A rebuild was started
during 2012 at Pacifi c Fighters
in Idaho Falls, Idaho, from
where company founder John
Muszala took it for a fi rst fl ight
on 7 November 2014. The
P-51B is fi tted with a ‘Malcolm
hood’, and is the fi rst P-51 to
feature this canopy to be seen
in Britain since shortly after
the war.

P-51B makes Atlantic crossing


THE Lightning Preservation
Group’s English Electric
Lightning F3 XR713 was
unveiled in a new dual colour
scheme at Bruntingthorpe,
Leicestershire on 23 July. The
starboard side now wears the
markings of a No 56 Squadron
Firebirds aerobatic team
machine, complete with the
serial XR718, while the port
side has been repainted in the
markings XR713 wore with No
111 Squadron at Wattisham in
the mid-1960s.
The Firebirds repaint came
about following discussions
between the Centre of
Aviation Photography (COAP)
and the Lightning Preservation
Group during October 2016,
the project being part-
sponsored by COAP. The
repaint was carried out during
June/July.

The Firebirds — so named
after the No 56 Squadron crest
— was the offi cial aerobatic
team of the RAF during 1963,
fl ying nine Lightning F1As
from Wattisham. XR713 fi rst
fl ew from the BAC factory
airfi eld at Warton on 21
October 1964, being delivered
to No 111 Squadron on 8
January the following year. It

served with No 5 Squadron at
Binbrook from October
1974-March 1978, moving on
to the Lightning Training Flight
in September 1985. During
March 1987 it was fl own to
Leuchars where it was given
the identity 8935M for use as a
battle damage repair airframe,
and ended up as a unit mascot
within the ‘Treble One’

Firebirds Lightning at ‘Brunty’


complex. The squadron
disbanded in March 2011, and
XR713 was put up for disposal
when control of the historic
Scottish base passed to the
British Army. Following a
fundraising campaign it was
secured by the LPG, and
during March 2015 was
roaded to its new home at
Bruntingthorpe.

ABOVE: The ‘Malcolm hood’
disintegrates during Nick Grey’s
fi rst pass in Berlin Express at
Duxford on 8 July. KARL SKERSTINS

The spectacular
Firebirds scheme
that now adorns
the starboard side
of Lightning F
XR713.
RICHARD HALL

News September 2017


Lee Lauderback
celebrates the end
of his trans-Atlantic
fl ight in P-51B
Berlin Express at
Duxford on 4 July.
DAVID WHITWORTH

Unfortunately, the hood
didn’t last long during
N515ZB’s display at Duxford
on 8 July, the opening day of
the 25th Flying Legends show.
Shortly after pilot Nick Grey
began his fi rst fl yby, the
canopy Perspex shattered,
causing some light damage to
the tail. The Mustang sat out
the rest of the weekend, and
missed the Royal International
Air Tattoo.
Lee Lauderback has some
9,750 hours on the P-51, 25.
of those on the Berlin Express
trans-Atlantic fl ight. An
‘Aeroplane meets...’ article
with Lee begins on page 62.

P-51B makes Atlantic crossing


06-15_AM_NEWS_Sept17_cc C.indd 8 31/07/2017 14:

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