http://www.fl ypast.com
June 2018 FLYPAST 7Major revamp for Army
Flying museum after
funding success
The
Museum
of Army Flying
in Middle Wallop,
Hampshire, is to be
signifi cantly redeveloped after a
successful application to the Heritage
Lottery Fund.
The grant of £1.59m means that itsexpansion
and modernisation
plan – nicknamed Project
Eagle – can go ahead. The
funding has been boosted by
a further £900,000 raised by the
museum, bringing the total to around
£2.5m.
The money will mean the attraction
can update and reinterpret its
unique collection, as well as enlarge
its archive. It is currently the only
museum in the world dedicated to
telling the story of British Army
fl ying – it highlights many famousoperations, from glider landings
at Pegasus Bridge in Normandy on
the eve of D-Day to those in Suez,
Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland, the
Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Commenting on the award, the
museum’s CEO Chris Munns said:
“This is a most important milestone
and a testament to all those that
have helped with the planning of the
project, and the excellent support
that we have received from the
National Lottery and HLF.”
The attraction will remain open as
normal this year until November, with
most of the modernisation work being
conducted over winter. The museum
will then re-open in April 2019.
http://www.armyfl ying.comAn artist’s impression of the redeveloped
Museum of Army Flying. VIA MUSEUM OF
ARMY FLYINGThe Qantas Foundation Memorial Trust
has received a grant of $300,
(£163,400) from the federally funded
Tourism Demand Driver Infrastructure
programme to assist with the
Qantas Founders Museum’s Super
Constellation project.
The Longreach, Queensland-based
attraction purchased N4247K Winky’s
Fish 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
truck to Longreach, where it arrived
last May.
The funding will assist with external
restoration work. In a process
expected to last just over a year, the
machine will be reassembled and
fi nished to display standard. The next
stage will be to refurbish the interior,
which the team hopes to complete in
time for Qantas’ centenary in 2020.Qantas Founders Museum boss Tony
Martin said he hoped the project
would benefi t the local economy
by boosting visitor numbers to
the area. “The Super Constellation
display enables the museum to tellan 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.
http://www.qfom.com.auNew funding boosts Australian Connie project
Thunderbolt coming ‘home’
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt 45-
‘No Guts, No Glory!’ has been acquired
by Fighter Aviation Engineering of
Dunmow, Essex, and is likely to be
back in the UK by the time FlyPast is
published.
The 1945-built fi ghter was operated
by Duxford’s Fighter Collection for 20
years before leaving for the US in 2006where it fl ew as N147PF. It was listed
for sale earlier this year (see March
issue) and has now been returned to
the UK register as G-THUN.
The CAA database suggests that it
will be repainted to represent 549192
‘F4-J’, an aircraft of the Ninth Air
Force’s 48th Fighter Group, 492nd
Fighter Squadron.Harvard debuts at
Argentine air event
T-6J Harvard IV LV-X642 made its fi rst public appearance in Argentina at the country’s EAA
Convention In Flight on March 24. Built by Canadian Car & Foundry in 1952, it fl ew in the US as
N7519U before being acquired by a new owner in Argentina in 2017.
GABRIEL PAVLOVCIC VIA JUAN CARLOS CICALESIThe Qantas Founders Museum’s Super
Constellation in April. WITH THANKS TO NICOLE
KUTTNER-QFM