Airworthy Douglas C-47B Skytrain ‘VP905’
was formally handed over to the Indian
Air Force at RAF Benson, Oxfordshire,
on April 12. The aircraft was accepted by
the deputy high commissioner, Dinesh K
Patnaik, together with air advisor, Air Cdre
Anil Sabharwal, naval adviser – Cdre Sameer
Saxena and other Indian Air Force officials.
The aircraft, which had previously been
registered as N347DK in the US and then as
G-AMSV in the UK, was delisted on February27, reverting to its former RAF military serial
KN397 for test ights. It then spent two
weeks being used for crew training.
Prior to departing for India, the aircraft
had its serial number changed from KN
to ‘VP905’ and was named Parashurama.
This is in honour of the rst Indian Air
Force Dakota that transported troops of
the army’s 1 Sikh Regiment to Srinagar onOctober 27, 1947 as part of Jammu and
Kashmir operations just weeks after India’s
independence.
Following the handover ceremony, the
aircraft departed for India, piloted by ‘Woody’
Woodeson and Ben Cox of Re ight Airworks,
together with two Indian Air Force test pilots.
The Skytrain ew via France, Italy, Greece,
Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman,
Jamnagar in India and arrived in Delhi ten
days later. Adrian M BalchBoost for Qantas Museum Connie Project
The Qantas Founders Museum’s Super
Constellation project has received a
major boost with a grant of $300,
(£163,400) from the federally funded
Tourism Demand Driver Infrastructure
programme. The money, awarded to
the Qantas Foundation Memorial Trust,
will assist with external restoration work
on Super Constellation N4247K. The
aircraft will be reassembled and nished
to display standard in a process expectedto last just over a year, before its interior
is restored. The team hopes to complete
all the work in time for Qantas’ centenary
in 2020.
The museum, at Longreach,
Queensland, purchased the propliner
from Manila International Airport in
September 2014. The huge aircraft has
been extracted from its mud-encrusted
position in the Philippines, disassembled
and transported by ship to Townsville,Australia, and by road to Longreach,
where it arrived last May.
Museum boss Tony Martin said he
hoped the project would bene t the local
economy by boosting visitor numbers to
the area. “The Super Constellation display
enables the museum to tell an important
part of the history of Qantas during the
1950s with the introduction of long-range
travel and pressurised cabins before the
arrival of the jet age,” he added.Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3 XZ994 has
joined the Estonian Aviation Museum at
Tartu. The 1981-built jet had recently been
restored by Yorkshire-based Jet Art Aviation
and arrived at its new home on March 15.
Harrier XZ994 served in Belize with 1417Flight and was later used for ground-based
training at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire
and then at Wittering, Cambridgeshire,
before being transported to MOD Boscombe
Down. It was removed from the Wiltshire
base by Jet Art Aviation in April 2017.Harrier GR.3 XZ994 shortly after arriving at the Estonian Aviation Museum. via Chris Wilson-JAAHarrier for Estonia
PRESERVATION
14 Aviation News incorporating Jets June 2018Skytrain Delivered to India
Douglas C-47B Skytrain ‘VP905’ shortly
before departing Benson. Adrian M BalchSolway
Phantom to
be Restored
Restoration work on McDonnell
Douglas Phantom FGR.2 XV406 has
started at Cumbria’s Solway Aviation
Museum. The ghter jet has been at
Carlisle Airport for more than 20 years
since retiring from gate guard duty
with 14 Maintenance Unit (MU) and
the airframe requires maintenance
and a repaint. Work on the exterior
should be completed by mid-2018,
and then attention will be turn to
the cockpit.14-15_preservationDC.mf.indd 14 02/05/2018 12: