20 FLYPAST May 2018
FROM THE WORKSHOP AIR LEASING
cockpit, all is pristine, with most
of the original instrumentation
being used. The high quality of
the work is a credit to all involved
in the restoration, which saw the
entire aircraft stripped down
to bare metal and rebuilt. The
Merlin engine was overhauled by
California-based Vintage V-12s
after having been removed by
Richard in situ in Texas.
Dry as dust
After the filming had been
completed, Wilson ‘Connie’
Edwards – a leading pilot on set
- took five Buchóns as payment
for his services. They were
transported to his Texan base in
an airworthy condition, and all but
one immediately went into storage,
remaining there until 2016 when
the five were offered for sale.
Given the location of the
store, there were some unusual
challenges that accompanied
the restoration process. One was
removing the nests and remains of
myriad desert creatures that had
at one time made their home in
the fuselage.
Due to the heat and long storage,
all flexible connections and hoses
had to be renewed, along with any
other perishable items. Richard
and the team also found that while
the fuselage (from the engine
bulkhead back) was identical to
the Bf 109G-2 it was derived from
and therefore well constructed,
the Spanish-designed components,
especially the engine cowlings,
created a lot of head scratching to
get them to fit properly. The latter
were unique to each aircraft, and
had to be matched up accordingly.
The beleaguered Air Leasing team
spent a long time sorting through
the piles of cowlings in Texas
before they found the right ones,
dents and all. Of great interest too
was the ‘time capsule’ condition of
the cockpits, with the instrument
panels even retaining their taped-
on paper radio frequency lists for
the different airfields used during
the film sequences. Some of the
cockpits even contained smoke-
generating equipment.
Walking around the front of the
aircraft Richard explains that ‘Red
11’ has been fitted with a four-