Fly Past

http://www.fl ypast.com

April 2018 FLYPAST 7

A farewell fl ypast to mark the

retirement of the Westland Lynx took

place at RAF Odiham on January 16.

Departing the Hampshire airfi eld, the

four AH.9As fl ew a commemorative

tour taking in locations associated

with the aircraft, including Middle

Wallop, Upavon, Yeovil, Shawbury and

Wattisham.

The fi nal part of the tour included

a fl ight along the length of the River

Thames over central London – the

helicopters then returned to Odiham.

One of the machines, ZG917, was

adorned in a special colour scheme

to mark 75 years of its operator, 657

Squadron.

In July 2015 the Army Air Corps

(AAC) retired its last Lynx AH.7s,

followed by the Fleet Air Arm,

whose maritime variants were

decommissioned in March 2017, leaving

just the AH.9As of the AAC’s Odiham-

based 657 Squadron. The type will be

replaced in service by the Westland

Wildcat.

On the afternoon of January 26,

ZG917 and ZG885 made the type’s fi nal

fl ight in RAF hands. The helicopters

left Odiham and fl ew over some

local haunts before landing at Middle

Wallop. RICHARD HALL

Westland Lynx bows out with farewell tour

The four Lynx AH.9As perform for the cameras

at Upavon on January 16.

RICHARD HALL

The restoration of Boeing B-17F Flying

Fortress 41-24485 Memphis Belle – the

fi rst USAAF heavy bomber to return to

the United States after completing 25

missions over Europe – continues to

move forward at the National Museum of

the USAF in Dayton, Ohio.

Since the aircraft fi rst arrived at the

attraction in 2005, staff and volunteers

have worked meticulously to preserve

the famous bomber, which needed

corrosion treatment and a new coat of

paint. Various replacements for missing

internal parts have also been installed.

The fi nal stage has been to return

Memphis Belle to the scheme it wore

after completing its last wartime mission.

“We were looking at pictures down to the

single rivets to try to get markings where

they belong,” said restoration specialist

Casey Simmons. “We have a lot of

different images from different sources,

and we’re trying to match colours, but in

every photograph the colours look just a

little different depending on how the fi lm

was developed. So, the hardest part is

getting it exactly the way it needs to be.”

The colour on the rudder and control

surfaces is a slightly different shade of

green to the rest of the aircraft. “When

it fi rst came out of the factory, it would

have been pretty much one colour,”

said Casey. “However, as you can see in

the photographs from the time period

after it completed its last mission, the

paint had begun to fade [in places] and

so we had to replicate that as well.” The

fully restored B-17 will be unveiled to the

public on May 17.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil

‘Memphis

Belle’ almost

ready for

display

Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress ‘Memphis Belle’

at Dayton in January. NMUSAF

The Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre’s

English Electric Lightning F.53 ZF

is to be transported to Cosford in

Shropshire, where it will join the static

line-up at the base’s airshow on June 10.

GJD Services collected the airframe

from the Newquay-based attraction

in February and brought it back to St

Athan in South Wales for refurbishment

and a new colour scheme before

onward delivery to Cosford. Two

main wheel tyres were added to the

convoy’s load at a service station on

the M5 – these were delivered by Paul

Ridgwell, who also helped to negotiate

the acquisition of wheels last year.

After the RAF centenary events, ZF

will return for display at the Cornish

attraction.

Originally built for the Royal Saudi

Arabian Air Force, it fi rst fl ew on

November 28, 1967, and was operated

in the air defence and ground attack

roles with tail number 53-672.

The Lightning is to be repainted

to represent an F.6 of the RAF’s 74

Squadron. Cosford Air Show operations

manager Peter Reoch said: “Having a

Lightning is vital to our RAF100 line-up,

being an icon of the RAF during the

Cold War. We’re very pleased that the

Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre and

GJD Services are providing us with

ZF580 to be part of our unique display.”

http://www.cornwallaviationhc.co.uk WITH

THANKS TO RICHARD SPENCER-BREEZE

Cornish Lightning will join display at Cosford

The convoy on the M5 on February 5.
WITH THANKS TO PAUL RIDGWELL