aviation - the past, present and future of flight

European Mustang on the Move

North American P-51D Mustang F-AZXS

Moonbeam McSwine has been acquired

by the Warbird Heritage Foundation

of Waukegan, Illinois, and has been

transported to the USA from France. The

blue-nosed  ghter has been operated by

Frédéric Akary had been in Europe for six

years. Prior to that, it was operated in the

US by Vlado Lenoch for more than two

decades. In tribute to Vlado, who died in a

 ying accident last year, the P-51D will join

the US civil register as N51VL.

Supermarine Spit re PR.XI PL

(G-PRXI) made its  rst post-restoration

 ight from Duxford, Cambridgeshire, on

May 18. Renowned Spit re pilot John

Romain was at the controls for this air

test, and further proving  ights were

carried out during May. Spit re G-PRXI

had previously  own in a camou aged

‘ ghter’ scheme, and had crashed at

Rouen, France, on June 4, 2001, tragically

claiming the life of its pilot, 56-year-old

Martin Sargeant.

Fighter Replicas on Duty at Hendon

A pair of replica World War Two  ghters

took up ‘gate guard’ duties at the RAF

Museum Hendon on April 26. Hawker

Hurricane P2725 ‘TM-B’ and Supermarine

Spit re TB288 ‘HT-H’ had both been

refurbished at Cosford’s Michael Beetham

Conservation Centre prior to the move. The

pair has been on show at Hendon before –

displayed in the museum’s external central

square from mid-1990 to January 2017.

The replicas departed the RAF

Museum Cosford, Shropshire, on April

18, bound for central London. They were

temporarily exhibited, along with several

other aircraft, outside London’s Guildhall to

celebrate the RAF’s 100th ‘birthday’ during

a science, technology, engineering and

mathematics (STEM) educational weekend

that took place on April 20-22. They were

transported to Hendon for external display

shortly after the event.

The Hurricane has been  nished to

represent the aircraft used by Flt Lt Ray

Holmes of 504 Squadron in the Battle of

Britain, and the Spit re is in 601 (County of

London) Squadron markings. Both units

were based operationally at RAF Hendon.

The museum is nearing the end of

extensive redevelopment work which has

transformed the site and has included

a major overhaul of two of its display

buildings. Hendon’s Hangar 1 – previously

known as the Battle of Britain Hall –

formally reopens on June 30. The former

Milestones of Flight Hall, now Hangar 6, is

also due to reopen in the near future.

Hawarden-based BAC Strikemaster 82A

‘425’ (G-SOAF) has been repainted in the

two-tone gloss grey camou age colours it

wore when delivered to the Sultan of Oman’s

Air Force in 1986. The work was carried

out as part of the jet’s six-month overhaul.

Flown by Mark Petrie, it made its public

debut in the new scheme at the Abingdon Air

and Country Fayre in Oxfordshire on May 6.

Adrian M Balch

BAC Strikemaster 82A G-SOAF, which made its debut at Abingdon in May. Adrian M Balch

Smart New Livery

for Strikemaster

PRESERVATION

14 Aviation News incorporating Jets July 2018

Spitfi re Returns to the Air

Spit re PR.XI PL983 during a  ight from Duxford on May 27. Phil Whalley

Intrepid

Restorations

Two major aircraft conservation projects

are progressing well at New York’s

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Douglas XAD-1 ‘09102’, which served as

a prototype for the Skyraider family, is

undergoing a major overhaul on board

the aircraft carrier and is expected to be

the focal point for the engineering team.

Before arriving at the museum in 2014,

it was displayed externally at Naval Air

Station Oceana in Virginia. The museum

is also in the process of repainting

Grumman F-11A Tiger 141884. This

aircraft is a veteran of the US Navy’s Blue

Angels display team and  ew as solo jet

‘5’ during the 1961 to 1963 show seasons.

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