WIN!

RAF COSFORD AIR SHOW TICKETS Closing date:

6 May 2022

May 2022
Issue No 589,
Vol 50, No 5

HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911

Aviation’s Greatest
Controversies
• Germany’s Starfighter affair
• Switzerland’s Mirage deal
• Soviet record skulduggery?
• The US air mail fraud

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 Contents
May 2022
See pages
24-25 for a g
reat
subscription
offer

64 34

46
WIN!
26
RAF COSFORD
AIR SHOW TICKETS
Turn to page 102

FEATURES 72
26 HANRIOT HD1
An exclusive report on flying a very
NEWS AND rare First World War survivor, with
other great exploits to its name
83 DATABASE:
GRUMMAN GOOSE
COMMENT 34 COASTAL COMMAND NAV James Kightly, aided
Talking to 99-year-old Ron Day by Goose pilot Ryan
4 FROM THE EDITOR about his late-war experiences on Pemberton, recounts how
6 NEWS
• Chinook ‘Bravo November’ to Cosford
Beaufighters and, briefly, Mosquitos the G-21 amphibian proved a
crucial success for its young
16
IN-DEPTH
• Shuttleworth gets BAE historics manufacturer PAGES
• New Mustang for Europe
…and the month’s other top aircraft 103 A DAY AT THE SHOW
preservation news 40 US MAIL Wrap up warm as we travel back to a
14 WORKSHOP A fraud and fatalities — flying 1952 Vintage Aeroplane Club winter
The Aeroplane Collection gets ready the mail across America in the gathering
for the first public opening of Hooton 1920s and ’30s wasn’t without its
Park in many years tribulations COVER IMAGE: A pair of F-104G Starfighters from
18 HANGAR TALK 46 ANT-25 RECORD FLIGHT West German Marineflieger unit MFG 2.
Steve Slater’s comment on the historic How The Aeroplane’s reporting DR STEFAN PETERSEN
aircraft world nearly sparked off an international
20 FLIGHT LINE incident FREE SUPPLEMENT!
Reflections on aviation history with 57 STARFIGHTER AFFAIR
Denis J. Calvert Did the Lockheed F-104 deserve HISTORIC
the bad name it received in West AVIATION 2022
German service? • 20 worldwide events not to
REGULARS 64 SWISS MIRAGE DEAL miss this summer
The controversy that surrounded • Go flying in historic
22 SKYWRITERS its Dassault Mirage III purchase aeroplanes
23 Q&A still colours Swiss Air Force aircraft • UK museum days out
Your questions asked and answered procurements, even now • Get involved
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AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 3

 From the
Editor
W
ith the clocks having changed and
the first, tentative signs of spring
warmth appearing — albeit briefly
— in the air, thoughts cannot
help but turn to the summer ahead. Even if
COVID-19 case numbers were still on the rise
as I wrote this, the diminished threat from the
pandemic thanks to widespread vaccination
means it should resemble something much
more like the ‘old normal’, even if many of us
will continue to take precautions. So, the free
supplement with this month’s Aeroplane details
some of the ways in which you can get back out
there among historic aircraft, whether on trips
to museums, flights in everything from Tiger
Moths to a Strikemaster, becoming involved
yourself or, of course, attending the best of
worldwide air displays.
Make no mistake: the consequences of the
pandemic, and other obvious factors, continue
to have a major effect on event organisers.
Talking to people in the
airshow community,
“
the same stories are
common to many, as
they are in the wider
The consequences of
events business. the pandemic continue
Hiring in the necessary
infrastructure — for to have a major effect on
those venues that
don’t already possess
event organisers
it — has become both
significantly harder
and considerably costlier. Some suppliers
have inevitably disappeared as a result of
COVID-19. Those that remain have been left
with little option but to increase their prices, if
they can meet demand at all. Barriers, toilets,
marquees, hire cars and much more are tough
to find without paying much more than was the
norm pre-2020. Add in rising costs of fuel and
insurance, and you can see why organisers are
feeling the pinch. For airshows, reduced flying
display budgets are one consequence.
For local councils, which stage and support
many of the UK’s seafront air displays — a very
important part of the sector — there is a need
to cut expenditure and maximise income, so
as to reduce the burden on taxpayers who are
themselves experiencing a financial squeeze.
While airshows may bring many extra visitors
to those seaside resorts that stage them, they
are, by definition, expensive beasts to put
on. The imperative for them to pay their way
Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane,
founded by C. G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was
relaunched as a monthly in 1973 by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25
ESTABLISHED 1911 years until 1998.
4 www.Key.Aero
CONNECT WITH AEROPLANE…
www.facebook.com/AeroplaneMonthly
@HistoryInTheAir
is now all the greater, hence the situation in
which Airbourne, the Eastbourne International CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH
Airshow, finds itself. Eastbourne Borough
Council has launched a ‘Save Airbourne’ PETER GUNTI
campaign, calling for additional donations, Born in 1954, Peter spent
sponsorship and other forms of support to keep his military service in the
Swiss Air Force’s early
the show going beyond 2022. warning network. He
This all comes at a time when some studied history at Berne
organisers have had second thoughts about University and has written
holding airshows at all. Back in January, the three books on Swiss
military aircraft, as well as
cancellation of the Sunderland International many articles for aviation
Airshow, one of the country’s biggest seafront magazines in both German and English. Having
displays, was announced by the local city grown up under the approach to Basle Airport,
Peter developed an early fondness for aviation
council. Its statement described how continuing photography, a passion he still pursues today. He
uncertainty over COVID-19 rendered it retired from his teaching job in 2019 and lives in
impossible to make the necessary financial the town of Biel.
commitments, but also said consultation with
JAMES KIGHTLY
residents had expressed a desire for “new
“Grumman’s Goose was a
and different events and ones that they can remarkable design”, says
take part in as well as attend”. Just afterwards, James, “and an elegant,
National Museums Scotland confirmed that classy workhorse by any
measure. Researching the
it was “suspending” type was, as always,
Scotland’s National facilitated by help from
Airshow at East contacts worldwide, and a
rewarding range of
Fortune “for the
foreseeable future”,
sources”. This has again enabled the creation of a
Database including stories previously uncollected
citing how poor in one place. James feels privileged to have been
able to closely survey the ‘Mounties’ Goose, and
weather in recent years
had affected the ability
to have seen scheduled Goose flights from
”
Vancouver’s marine airport.
of display aircraft to
reach the non-airfield RYAN PEMBERTON
venue from their Ryan has been steeped in
operating locations. aviation since his youth.
Although he maintains a
And another big question for the future is the professional career as a
extent to which environmental concerns will mechanical engineer,
have an impact. Already, the need to reduce aviation is a full-time
passion and hobby. He has
carbon emissions is subtly influencing flying grown up building, working
display content at some venues. on, and operating mostly
With Sunderland and East Fortune gone, pre-World War Two vintage aircraft. Rated to fly
single and multi-engine landplanes and
separate factors resulting in the cancellation seaplanes, an instructor’s certificate and an A&P/
of Flying Legends and the Royal Navy IA (airframe and powerplant/inspection
International Air Day at Yeovilton, a much- authorised) mechanic’s licence have offered
incredible opportunities to experience all aspects
restricted public offering at Farnborough, and of this unique segment of aviation.
Dunsfold having decided to take its final bow
in 2019, the UK airshow calendar for 2022 has ROLF STÜNKEL
a different shape to it. But, as our supplement Having joined the German
makes clear, we still have a great deal to look Navy at the age of 18, Rolf
went through officer
forward to this year thanks to the enthusiasm,
training and sea duty
drive and resourcefulness of those in the before embarking on pilot
industry. More than ever, their considerable training. He flew the F-104
efforts are worth supporting. As the saying goes, Starfighter and the Tornado
in the Marineflieger, and is
“use it or lose it.” thus well-placed to
examine whether the Lockheed fighter deserved
Ben Dunnell the ‘widow-maker’ epithet bestowed on it after
many early tragedies. Now retired from his long-
haul captain’s job with Lufthansa, he runs
seminars and works as a flying instructor and
author. His latest book, Mach 2 — Flying the F-104
Starfighter, is published by tredition Verlag.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 Key.Aero

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 News
The immortal Chinook
ZA718 at Cosford before the
NEWS EDITOR: TONY HARMSWORTH
E-MAIL TO: tony.harmsworth@keypublishing.com
TELEPHONE: +44 (0)7791 808044
WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK

unveiling on 22 March.
RAFM

Chinook ‘Bravo November’

arrives at Cosford
T
he most renowned
helicopter in Royal Air
Force history, Boeing
Chinook HC6A ZA718
‘Bravo November’, was unveiled
in Hangar 1 at the RAF Museum
Cosford on 22 March, having
been roaded from RAF Odiham
the previous week.
One of the original 30 Chinook
HC1s ordered by the RAF in 1978,
ZA718 served in every major
conflict involving UK forces
over the past 40 years, with four
of its pilots being awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for
actions while at the controls
of the machine. During its
operational career ZA718 served
in the Falkland Islands, Lebanon,
Germany, Northern Ireland,
Kurdistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Maggie Appleton, CEO at
the RAF Museum says, “‘Bravo
November’ is the most significant
addition to the RAF Museum’s
collection for decades. As a
witness to so much RAF history,
including four pilots being
awarded the DFC, she represents
extraordinary stories of service
and heroism at home and abroad.
It is a privilege to welcome ‘Bravo
November’ into our collection to
inspire future generations.”
ZA718 first achieved fame as
the only Chinook to take part
in the Falklands conflict: one of
four examples transported to the
South Atlantic on the container
ship MV Atlantic Conveyor, on 25
May 1982 it was airborne, picking
up freight from HMS Glasgow to
transport to the islands, when
Atlantic Conveyor was hit by
two Exocet missiles. Twelve
crew members were killed, and
the other three Chinooks, six
Westland Wessex and a Westland
Lynx were destroyed. ‘Bravo
November’ was able to land on
the deck of the aircraft carrier
HMS Hermes, and over the next
few weeks achieved immortality
as the sole operational heavy-lift
helicopter available to British
forces during the campaign, its
lifting capacity of 12 tons being
the equivalent to that of three
Westland Sea Kings.
Despite the loss of Chinook
tools, spares and manuals
on Atlantic Conveyor, during
the conflict ZA718 remained
operational, transporting
more than 500 tons of cargo,
approximately 1,500 troops,
650 Argentinean prisoners of
war, and 95 British casualties.
During its return from a night
mission on 30 May carrying 22
Royal Marines and three 150mm
artillery pieces — one of which
was underslung — to Mount
Kent for a raid on an Argentinean
position, No 18 Squadron’s CO
Sqn Ldr Dick Langworthy and
co-pilot Flt Lt Andy Lawless
descended in a heavy snow
shower after losing visibility,

6 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 News May 2022

and due to a faulty altimeter

struck the surface of a creek at a
speed of 100kt. Co-pilot Lawless
jettisoned his door in preparation
for a hasty exit, but, despite a
hydraulic system that was down
on power due to impact damage,
resulting in heavy controls, the
crew’s combined strength got the
stricken Chinook back to base
at San Carlos. Langworthy was
subsequently awarded a DFC for
his skill and bravery flying ZA718
during the conflict.
Following repairs, ‘Bravo
November’ continued to fly as
many as 15 missions per day,
often grossly overloaded: on 2
June it took 81 paras to Fitzroy
settlement, then another sortie
loaded with 75 more troops to
help secure that crucial objective.
Underslung loads included
damaged Sea Kings and an eight-
ton Bailey bridge.
A full 21 years after its
heroics in the Falklands, ‘Bravo
November’, upgraded at this stage
to HC2 standard and operating
in Iraq as part of Operation
‘Telic’, became the first helicopter
to land Royal Marines on the
Al-Faw peninsula in the south-
east of the country in order to
prevent Iraqi forces destroying
important oil pumping facilities.
Sqn Ldr Steve Carr flew several
missions, down at less than 100ft,
with visibility compromised by
dust clouds kicked up by ground
forces. One resulted in a firefight,
and Carr was awarded a DFC for
his actions.
On 11 June 2006, Flt Lt Craig
Wilson flew several casualty
evacuation and reinforcement
missions in ZA718 over
Helmand Province during the
Afghanistan conflict, remaining
on duty for 22 hours straight
and being presented with a DFC
for “exceptional courage and
outstanding airmanship”.
Four years later, on 29 January
2010, ZA718, now based at
Camp Bastion, had just picked
TOP: ‘Bravo November’, then still a very new
up some injured US Marines
airframe, in the Falklands during 1982. RAFM
when it was hit several times by
machine gun fire from Taliban ABOVE: Sqn Ldr Steve Carr in the seat where he
gunners, pilot Flt Lt Ian Fortune earned a DFC in Iraq during 2003. He said, “I flew
her for the first time in the early 2000s and my
taking a ricochet in the head.
main connection was during the second Gulf War,
Although his helmet took much leading five aircraft into oil refineries to secure
of the force of the bullet, Fortune them.” RAFM
was bleeding heavily from the
LEFT: A plaque mounted behind the cockpit of
wound as he flew back to Bastion ZA718 commemorates Sqn Ldr Dick Langworthy,
with his cargo, resulting in a who died of a heart attack after arriving back in the
fourth DFC award to a ‘Bravo Falklands on 18 November 1983 for another tour of
November’ pilot. duty. RAFM

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 7

News May 2022

BAE historic trio transferred

to Shuttleworth
O
n 24 March, BAE
Systems announced
that the last three
aircraft from its
heritage collection have been
donated to the Shuttleworth
Trust. The agreement means
that de Havilland DH60 Moth
G-EBLV, Blackburn B-2 G-AEBJ
and Avro XIX Anson G-AHKX —
each of which have been based
at Old Warden on loan to the
trust for a decade or more — are
now secure at the Bedfordshire
aerodrome in perpetuity. As
part of the transfer, BAE Systems
is also making a significant
donation towards the upkeep of
the aircraft.
ABOVE: The future of Blackburn B-2 G-AEBJ and de Havilland DH60 Moth G-EBLV, pictured near Old Warden
During the official handover during 2017 in the hands of ‘Dodge’ Bailey and Paul Stone, was secured on 24 March. DARREN HARBAR
at Old Warden, Sir Andy Pulford, INSET: Shuttleworth’s aviation trustee Tim Routsis (right) and Sir Andy Pulford from BAE in front of the Avro
senior military advisor at BAE XIX during the hand-over ceremony. DARREN HARBAR
Systems, said, “Preserving
and protecting our heritage is
an important element of BAE delighted to have worked with at Woodford on 29 August flying condition by Avro retirees
Systems’ contribution to the BAE Systems on this transfer 1925 by none other than Sir at Woodford between 1984
UK and society. Historic aircraft of ownership. Ensuring the Alan Cobham. Its first visit and 2002. It was repainted
embody the spirit of innovation aircraft remain at Shuttleworth to Old Warden was during as an RAF Coningsby Station
and engineering excellence and for all to enjoy — not least with the 1930s, when the biplane Flight machine, TX176, for the
continue to inspire engineers and the DH60 Moth’s connection to underwent repairs with Richard RAF centenary celebrations
young people to develop cutting- Shuttleworth — was something Shuttleworth’s Warden Aviation in 2018, and at Old Warden
edge technology and help keep at the forefront of our minds and company. It is the oldest represents the 11,020 examples
our country safe. The expertise we will welcome them back to surviving Moth in the world. of all versions of Britain’s most
at the trust means the aircraft the skies above Old Warden very The Blackburn B-2 is the only numerous twin-engine trainer
will be preserved in pristine soon.” complete survivor of 42 built built from 1935-52. The Avro
condition and returned to flight G-EBLV (c/n 188) was as trainers in the early 1930s, was refitted with its overhauled
for the enjoyment of the public the eighth DH60 built, and the post-war Avro XIX was propellers shortly before the
this summer.” being delivered from the de delivered new to Smiths Aircraft hand-over, and will be the first
Shuttleworth aviation trustee Havilland works at Stag Lane Instruments of Cricklewood of the three aircraft to return to
Tim Routsis added, “We are to the Lancashire Aero Club in May 1946 and restored to flight for the 2022 display season.

NAVY WINGS HARVARD ‘BRANDED’

The Navy Wings Harvard IV, G-NWHF, in
its flamboyant new colour scheme over
Somerset in mid-March. LEE HOWARD
The Fly Navy Heritage Trust’s 1954 Canadian
Car and Foundry-built Harvard IV, G-NWHF,
has had the post-war USAF training colours
it wore when acquired during 2020
replaced with an eyecatching new Navy
Wings scheme, courtesy of the paint shop at
the Somerset Aeroplane Company.
A spokesperson for Yeovilton-based Navy
Wings says, “As this particular airframe did
not have any history with the Royal Navy, we
took the decision to introduce a paint
scheme that will build brand recognition for
Navy Wings wherever she flies. We often
face a challenge to stand out at events and
this scheme will give us a highly visible
presence that will help us to engage with
potential new supporters.”
This Harvard was originally built under the
American Mutual Defense Assistance
Program to help establish a new West
German Air Force as part of NATO. During
1966 it joined the Portuguese Air Force, and
flew on counter-insurgency work in
Portuguese East Africa, now Mozambique. In
1989, it was one of six derelict Portuguese
Harvards recovered from Mozambique and
transported to Thruxton, Hampshire for
restoration to fly.

8 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022


P-51D Mustang 45-11495/N5551D being reassembled in the FAST
Aero hangar at Brasschaat, Belgium, in early March. FAST AERO
A new
Mustang for
Europe
F
ormer Royal New Zealand
Air Force North American
P-51D Mustang 45-11495/
N5551D arrived with FAST
Aero in Brasschaat, Belgium at
the end of February from the
USA. It has been purchased by
Stephen Stead, owner/pilot of
Spitfire XVI TE184, who plans
to base the fighter at Plzen in
the Czech Republic. Restored
by previous owner Bob Baker of
Alva, Oklahoma between 2005
and 2009, the Mustang won
the best P-51 award at the EAA
AirVenture show at Oshkosh in
2009. It has not been seen much
since then, and has only flown 88
hours over the past 13 years.
Delivered to the RNZAF during
1945 as NZ2406, it initially went
into storage at Hobsonville,
moving to Ardmore for further
storage before finally being
assembled there in August
1951 and flown, going into
reserve service. In December
1955 it went back into store at
Woodbourne, being put up for
disposal in 1958 at Nelson.
The fuselage was acquired as
a restoration project by Philip
Warner in Cheltenham during
2000, but his plans to restore it
fell through and it was sold to
Bob Baker five years later.
The fighter has been painted
in the markings of Little Rebel,
a P-51D flown by Charles C.
‘Buck’ Pattillo of the 486th
Fighter Squadron, 352nd Fighter
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
Group, based at Bodney, Norfolk
during 1945. Pattillo flew 32
combat missions, destroying five
Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground
while strafing enemy airfields.
His identical twin brother,
Cuthbert A. ‘Bill’ Pattillo, also
flew P-51Ds with the 352nd,
completing 135 missions and
being credited with seven kills,
including a Messerschmitt
Me 262. During an attack on
Ganacker airfield on 16 April
1945, he was shot down by anti-
aircraft fire, baling out to become
a prisoner of war.
During early 1949, the twins,
both lieutenants, were based
at Fürstenfeldbruck west of
Munich, flying Lockheed F-80B
Shooting Stars. While there they
became founding members
of US Air Forces in Europe’s
Skyblazers aerobatic display
team, which by the summer of
1952 had flown 260 displays in
12 countries. Moving forward
to 1953, while posted to Luke
Air Force Base, Arizona, they
were instrumental in setting
up the USAF Thunderbirds
demonstration team, with
‘Buck’ flying left wing and ‘Bill’
right during that first season on
Republic F-84G Thunderjets.
Both brothers reached the rank of
major general: ‘Bill’ retired from
the USAF in 1980 and died in
2014 aged 89, ‘Buck’ leaving the
service in 1981 and passing away
in May 2019 at the age of 94.
News May 2022
FALKLANDS LYNX TO ELVINGTON
Forty-five years after it was built, Westland Lynx XZ233 was
moved on 25 March from the Jet Art Aviation workshops in north
Yorkshire to the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, where it will
take centre stage in the museum’s Falklands 40th anniversary
exhibition.
Jet Art boss Chris Wilson says, “The Lynx arrived with us in
November 2020 and the restoration took eight months. The main
difficulties we have faced during restoration were finding
components like the rotor head, as items like that had been
spares recovered to support the Wildcat programme. We have
kept XZ233 as close as possible to the spec as when it last flew in
2012”. Due to the aircraft’s special history associated with the
Falklands conflict, during 2009 it was chosen by the Royal Navy
as part of the Fly Navy 100 celebrations to be repainted in its
original Oxford blue colour scheme from 1977, when it was
stationed at Yeovilton with 702 Naval Air Squadron.
Built as an HAS2 variant and first flown in January 1977, XZ233
served in the Falklands aboard HMS Argonaut. On 21 May 1982, it
was hovering at 400ft above Falkland Sound on an Exocet decoy
mission — basically using a 1m-square metal cube mounted to the
port side, designed to attract stray Exocets — when a Stanley-
based Argentine Navy Aermacchi MB339 pilot, Lt Owen Crippa,
drew a bead on the Lynx. He was about to open fire with his
30mm cannon when, at the last moment, he saw HMS Argonaut
ahead and elected to attack the Leander class frigate instead.
Crippa then inflicted damage to Argonaut’s Type 965 radar
system with cannon and rocket fire. Two days later, XZ233
participated in the rescue mission on the stricken HMS Antelope
after the ship had been bombed by Argentine Air Force A-4
Skyhawks, the Type 21 frigate sinking after an unexploded bomb
went off during attempts to defuse it.
The historic combat veteran Lynx, XZ233, being craned off a
low-loader after arrival at Elvington. JET ART AVIATION
Late in the conflict, XZ233 was redeployed aboard HMS Cardiff.
At midday on 13 June 1982, it was being flown on a routine search
of the area south of Falkland Sound by Lt Chris Clayton and his
observer Lt P. Hullett. When the pilots of a pair of Argentine Air
Force IAI Daggers spotted XZ233, they made a stern attack on
the Lynx with their 30mm cannon. It evaded the streaks of tracer,
and the Daggers turned for home. On 15 June, the day after the
initial surrender of Argentinean forces, Clayton flew XZ233 — with
the officer commanding 40 Commando, Lt Col Malcolm Hunt,
aboard — to Port Howard to accept the surrender of the enemy
garrison based there.
XZ233 was modified during May 1986 to HAS2 ICE
configuration for use in the Antarctic, and was assigned to HMS
Endurance on two separate occasions. Further modification in
1987 saw it become an HAS3S. After 35 years in service, XZ233
was retired in 2012. Although earmarked for the then Royal Navy
Historic Flight, the Ministry of Defence decided to dispose of the
aircraft in 2019 and it was sold into private ownership.
www.Key.Aero 9
News May 2022
NEWS IN BRIEF
HUGH TREVOR
BASSET ARRIVES AT OLD
SARUM
The former QinetiQ Beagle Basset
CC1 XS743 was moved from
Boscombe Down to the Boscombe
Down Aircraft Collection at Old
Sarum on 14 March.
MIKE SHREEVE
REHEAT RUN FOR BENTWATERS
JAGUAR
SEPECAT Jaguar GR1A XX741 made
its first high-speed, afterburning
taxi run of the season at the
Bentwaters Cold War Museum on
19 March with Wg Cdr Dheeraj
Bhasin at the helm.
AERO LEGENDS GOES JET
On 22 March, the Headcorn-based
Aero Legends organisation
announced the launch of Jet
Legends, following recent Civil
Aviation Authority approval.
Working closely with North Wales
Military Aviation Services, a BAC
Strikemaster will be based at North
Weald initially for type experience
flights for valid ICAO PPL-holders
and full conversion courses to type.
COTTON LOCKHEED
ARRIVES IN UK
The historic ex-Sidney Cotton
pre-war spy-flight Lockheed 12A
Electra Junior, G-AFTL (see News,
Aeroplane February 2022), arrived
at Sywell on 24 March for
restoration to flying condition.
HAWK T1 RETIRED
Three BAe Hawk T1s from 736 Naval
Air Squadron at Culdrose made
farewell flypasts around the UK to
mark the retirement of the type on
17-18 March. Following
disbandment of No 100 Squadron,
RAF at Leeming on 24 March, the
only T1s now left in service are
those of the Red Arrows.
10 www.Key.Aero
Rolling out at St Athan on 17 March,
BAe 146 CC2 ZE700 makes a fine
addition to the South Wales Aviation
Museum collection. VIA GARY SPOORS
146 arrives at St Athan
T
he RAF’s last British Aerospace 146 CC2,
ZE700 made its final landing at St Athan
on 17 March, to join the burgeoning South
Wales Aviation Museum collection. Based
at RAF Northolt, west London, with No 32 (The
Royal) Squadron, ZE700 made passes at Brize
Norton, Glasgow Prestwick and Warton on its
delivery flight. The BAe 146 fleet is being replaced
by two Dassault Falcon 900LXs, which have longer
range but three smaller engines, leading to a
reduction in fuel consumption and emissions.
Appropriately, ZE700 bears the name of
Caernarfon-born Gp Capt Lionel Rees VC, a
Vickers Gunbus and Airco DH2 pilot who was
awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 1
June 1916. It was the first day of the Battle of the
Somme, and Rees single-handedly attacked 10
German aircraft, suffering wounds to his thigh, but
successfully continued in his efforts to scatter the
enemy formation.
The BAe 146 CC2 entered RAF service during
1986, its role being to transport members of the
Newly completed Broussard G-CLLK
outside the clubhouse at Oaksey
Park on 26 March. ADRIAN M. BALCH
Royal Family, high-ranking military personnel and
senior government ministers. The aircraft were
fitted with a defensive aids suite, which enabled
operations in high-risk environments, the 146 thus
seeing heavy use in Afghanistan and Iraq. In late
March, all the specialist electronics were being
removed from ZE700 at St Athan before final hand-
over to the museum.
SWAM’s Gary Spoors says, “We’re very
thankful to the RAF for the generous gift of this
historic British jet. To have an aircraft which
performed such a high-profile role is a real boost
for the museum, and the fact that it has a Welsh
connection to a VC winner makes it even more
special. It joins a Tornado GR4, ZA612, which the
RAF gifted to the museum last year, and we’re
very grateful to them for letting us have these two
important aircraft here at St Athan. My father
served on the Queen’s Flight at RAF Benson in the
1970s when I was a boy, so I’ve got great memories
of seeing their aircraft operate — they’re very
special.”
BROUSSARD MAKES UK DEBUT
Following a two-year rebuild and avionics
upgrade programme by the Classic Aeroplane
Company at Oaksey Park, Wiltshire, Max Holste
MH1521C Broussard G-CLLK made its first flight
following British certification in mid-February.
Previously C-GRBL in Canada, it arrived at Oaksey
in January 2020 following shipping across the
Atlantic. It wears the markings of a MH1521M
coded 30-QA of the Armée de l’Air’s 30e Escadre
de Chasse, although it never actually saw any
military service, having been built in 1958 as a
civil MH1521C registered F-BICX.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
News May 2022

Planning
consent for
Solent Sky
extension
O
n 8 March,
Southampton City
Council announced
approval for planning
permission concerning an extra
10,000 sq ft of exhibition space
at the city’s Solent Sky complex.
Planning chiefs say the proposed
development will support
the vitality and viability of the
museum.
Solent Sky director Alan
Jones says of the £5-million
project, “Many years of looking
to relocate to a larger site have
proved unsuccessful, so we
decided to develop the present
location at Albert Road South.
The extension will allow us
to bring in more post-war
jet aircraft, including our
Supermarine Scimitar, XD332
— an example of Supermarine’s
last fighter — which is currently
stored off-site. Solent Sky will
also become home to what
is in effect the national flying
boat collection. We hope to
add an important type that will
consolidate that collection soon,
and are looking to complete the
extension project in a two-year
time-span.”
A council report said the
single-storey extension would
not harm the character and
appearance of the existing
building and would not appear
A model showing
the new extension
planned for Solent
Sky, with the old
Calshot Spit lightship
guarding the entrance.
SOLENT SKY
unduly dominant. The City of
Southampton Society added,
“We are pleased to add our
support to this application to
expand the facilities offered by
the museum.”
A museum spokesperson said,
“Together with the new aircraft
displays there will also be an
exhibition about Southampton’s
industrial heritage, including the
Ford Transit van — built at Ford’s
Southampton plant at Swaythling
— and Ordnance Survey, which
is based in Southampton. There
will also be a new cafeteria
and gift shop, and a partial
re-creation of Southampton’s
spectacular art deco ‘Ocean
Terminal’ building, which was
demolished in 1983, will be re-
created within Solent Sky.”

SPAD ROLLED OUT IN PENNSYLVANIA

A
t the Golden Age Biddle was born in
Air Museum in Andalusia, Philadelphia,
Bethel, just three miles south of
Pennsylvania, a Bethel, in 1890. He scored
SPAD XIII replica was five aerial victories during
rolled out following the 1914-18 conflict, all of
completion of structural them in SPADs, and for his
work in mid-March. Once it actions he received both
is fabric-covered, the the Légion d’Honneur and
machine will offer an the Croix de Guerre from
accurate outward the French government,
appearance, but it will the Belgian Order of
differ significantly Leopold II and the
internally, with the wood Although the fuselage frame is metal, the woodwork for the formers and wings American Distinguished
and wire-braced fuselage of the Golden Age Air Museum SPAD replica has been beautifully crafted. GAAM Service Cross. Post-war
frame being replaced with Biddle wrote a book, The
a lighter and stronger Way of the Eagle, about
welded steel structure. The lack of an original Hispano-Suiza his flying career. He also became a lawyer, having studied law at
water-cooled V8 engine will see the substitution of a 230hp Harvard and briefly practiced prior to the Great War, and in 1948
Continental O-470 six-cylinder unit, permitting safer operation to sued the US government on behalf of three widows who had
away-from-base locations. recently lost their husbands in the crash of a Boeing B-29
The SPAD will be painted in the markings of the commander of Superfortress that had been carrying out experimental work on the
the 13th Aero Squadron, Charles J. Biddle, with a skeleton — named radar control of drones. The case is said to have been the first time
Oscar — swinging a scythe painted on the fuselage, and the the government had claimed national security privileges for its
number 0, signifying that Biddle was the commanding officer, documents, and it was settled without access to those papers.
applied ahead of the artwork. Charles J. Biddle died in 1972.

12 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 News May 2022

Aussie Lockheed emerges

A
former RAF Lockheed
12A, LA623/G-AGWN,
which flew with aerial
photo-reconnaissance
pioneer Sidney Cotton post-
war, was rolled out at the Parkes
Aviation Museum in New
South Wales in late March as
restoration continues with a
team from the Historical Aircraft
Restoration Society.
The machine, c/n 1275, had
been in storage with HARS since
February 2014, shortly after
being acquired from Museums
Victoria in Melbourne. Following
an online seminar organised by
Royal Australian Air Force Base
Amberley during 2021 which
focused on Australian Sidney
Cotton’s activities in the pre-war
era, a decision was made to bring
The Electra Junior sitting on its undercarriage for the first time in 60
years outside the restoration hangar at the Parkes Aviation Museum in
New South Wales at the end of March. IAN POULTER
the former G-AGWN back to
display standard.
The fuselage was mated with
the wing centre-section during
the third week of March by the
restoration team, which includes
a group of student volunteers
from Parkes High School. They
will now be involved with the
cockpit restoration and interior
fit-out, before the engines are
reattached and a complete
repaint is undertaken.
Built in late 1939 for Pittsburgh
Steel and registered NC18977, in
March 1942 the Lockheed passed
to the US Army Air Forces as a
UC-40, serial 42-38348. It was
transferred to the RAF under
Lend-Lease in July 1942, being
delivered to No 24 Squadron
at Hendon that September,
The fuselage of Lockheed 12A LA623/G-AGWN prior to being reunited
with the centre section, showing the cockpit window blisters installed
for operations with Sidney Cotton’s Aeronautical and Industrial Research
Corporation. IAN POULTER
now as LA623. The aeroplane
served with the Metropolitan
Communications Squadron until
September 1945, when it logged
its last flight, from Hendon to
Ronaldsway and Long Kesh,
and back to Hendon. Struck off
charge in November 1945, it was
registered to Cotton’s company,
the Aeronautical and Industrial
Research Corporation, on 19
February 1946.
Upon its sale in May 1947 to
Skyways — the biggest operator
of non-scheduled air services in
Europe at that time — the Electra
Junior was based at Dunsfold,
Surrey, as a crew transport during
the Berlin Airlift before being
sold to the Zinc Corporation and
used as an executive transport
all over Europe. In April 1952,
following the installation of
long-range tanks, it was ferried
to Essendon Airport, Melbourne
and registered VH-BHH
for operation by Silver City
Airways, a subsidiary of the Zinc
Corporation, with the name
Silver Star.
October 1957 saw its sale to
the Bush Church Aid Society
for Australia and Tasmania for
use as an aerial ambulance,
a role in which the Lockheed
continued to operate after
being re-registered VH-FMS to
Flying Medical Service in June
1959. Its last flight came on 17
March 1960, when it suffered
an undercarriage collapse at
Ceduna, South Australia and
was severely damaged. Used as
a parts source over subsequent
years, in July 1995 it was acquired
by the National Air and Space
Museum of Australia for its
proposed museum, but following
the demise of that project it went
to Australia's Museum of Flight at
Nowra before being donated to
HARS in 2013.

WC-135W ‘SNIFFING’ FROM SUFFOLK

Sixty years after it first flew as a Boeing
C-135B Stratolifter, the Offutt AFB, Nebraska-
based ‘Constant Phoenix’ WC-135W 61-2667
from the USAF’s 55th Wing was operating
from RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk during February
and March in its role seeking out nuclear and
irradiated particulates from the atmosphere
for analysis.
Following its maiden flight at Boeing Field,
Renton on 22 March 1962, 61-2667 was
delivered to the Military Air Transport Service
at Travis AFB, California on 20 April 1962.
Converted to WC-135B configuration in late
1965, it flew nuclear ‘sniffer’ missions in
Europe following the Chernobyl disaster on
26 April 1986, and undertook similar tasks in
Japan in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear
plant accident on 11 March 2011. It is one of
only two C-135-series aircraft still flying in
USAF service with the gloriously shrill, smoky
Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines, and was on
the point of retirement until the Ukrainian
crisis began. The other remaining TF33-
powered machine on the USAF inventory is
Crew training at Mildenhall on 16 March,
the sole NC-135W, 61-2666, which is used in
the 60-year-old WC-135W, 61-2667, leaves
conjunction with L3 Communications at characteristic smoke trails from its Pratt &
Majors Airport in Greenville, Texas to support Whitney TF33 engines after getting airborne.
flight-testing related to the RC-135 fleet. MIKE SHREEVE

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 13

 WORKSHOP
The view on entering the main display
hangar at Hooton Park, splendidly
restored with the aid of grants from
the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
English Heritage and WREN.
PARK LIFE
The Aeroplane Collection is readying its aircraft, and its facilities,
for the long-awaited public reopening of the historic former airfield
site at Hooton Park WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: BEN DUNNELL
W
e often think
about airframes as
being remarkable
survivors, but what
about the buildings they live in?
Given the intended lifespan of
a General Aircraft Service Shed,
better-known as a Belfast truss
hangar from the construction
method used for the roof, it must
be considered surprising for
any to endure. When originally
constructed from 1916 onwards,
they were thought good for
five years of use — maybe 10
at the most. Those still around
after more than a century are
a tribute to the quality of their
design and engineering, not to
mention skilled and dedicated
conservation efforts.
14 www.Key.Aero
There are only two sites in the
UK that retain not one, not two,
but a trio of double-bay Belfast
truss hangars. One, of course,
is IWM Duxford. The other is
Hooton Park, that delightful
bastion of aviation heritage on
the Wirral which is about to enter
a new and notable era. Its aircraft
and architecture have long made
for a potent combination, but
without regular public access,
opportunities to appreciate and
enjoy them were few and far
between. On Saturday 14 May,
the first in a planned monthly
series of open days will change
all that, hopefully for good.
Viewed in isolation, Hooton
Park’s three 1917 hangars and
associated outbuildings from the
same period might seem shorn of
context. They were constructed
for the Royal Flying Corps, when
the new aerodrome south-east
of Liverpool was opened as No
4 Training Depot Station, and
saw out numerous changes of
role; the period from 1927-39 as
a thriving civilian aerodrome,
wartime in RAF hands, and the
years to 1957, when final closure
occurred. That was a result of the
Royal Auxiliary Air Force flying
units being disbanded, No 610
(County of Chester) Squadron
having formed at Hooton Park
in 1936 and returned after
hostilities. Latterly a Gloster
Meteor operator, it was joined
by No 611 (West Lancashire)
Squadron. Yet, away from the
area in active preservation,
part of the concrete runway
laid during 1941, an apron, the
linking taxiway and a B-type
hangar offer further reminders of
how things used to be.
It was the advent of Vauxhall’s
Ellesmere Port factory that
changed the picture forever.
Opened in 1962, it covered
a large portion of the former
airfield. But, as it did so, an
organisation was being formed
that has done much to ensure
the existence of Hooton Park
aerodrome’s remaining vestiges.
When the Northern Aircraft
Preservation Society was formed
that October, it became what is
generally regarded as the first
voluntary aviation preservation
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 Two of Hooton Park’s three surviving
Belfast truss hangars. Listed status was
first conferred in 1985 and has since
been upgraded, due to their rarity.

organisation in the country.

Instrumental through its monthly
magazine Control Column in
founding the British Aircraft
Preservation Council — today,
Aviation Heritage UK — to bring
together different bodies with
similar aims, the society may
have lacked suitable facilities, but
its contribution was rapid and
significant.
A change of name to The
Aeroplane Collection followed
during 1974, yet this pioneering
organisation did not have the
luxury of a permanent home.
It led what can only be called a
peripatetic existence, moving
from initial garage premises
in Stockport to various other
locations. Then the concept of Avro Avian G-EBZM back in one
using Hooton Park came up. It piece, and in a Hooton Park
was occupied by an organisation hangar where it lived with the
called the Griffin Trust, and Liverpool and District Aero Club.
definitely had potential. This was
not immediately to be realised.

❖
In its 60th anniversary year,
TAC is chaired by Jon Howard,
who recalls how Vauxhall put the
1917 hangars to various uses —
servicing fleet vehicles, fettling
newly built cars that required
work, storage and so forth. “By
the late ’90s they’d outlived their
usefulness”, he says. “Vauxhall
applied to demolish the site, but
there was a local and national
campaign to save it, and it was
saved. In 2000, the site was
handed over in perpetuity, given
the special interest and listed
status of the buildings, to the
newly formed Hooton Park Trust.
Since then the trust has managed
the site.”
There have been, to put it aeroplanes, they turn this corner used”, says Howard, “what that one side had totally collapsed
gently, ups and downs during of Cheshire into a veritable meant was it was also the least- because all the trusses had failed.
the intervening years. Now, nirvana for the all-round maintained. Even by the late ’90s, They had all failed on the other
the organisations that call transport enthusiast. Primarily, on one side of the building all the side as well, but because they
Hooton Park home — headed though, they bring in the revenue trusses were scaffolded because were sat on scaffolding they were
by the trust, TAC and the Griffin which makes the site self- they’d lost their structural kept up in the air. But through
Trust — have a new, collective sustaining. integrity. The broad approach the LIBOR [bank fine] funds,
purpose, as the 14 May open [Chancellor of the Exchequer]
event will prove. “I suppose it’s George Osborne very generously

“
a bit like a co-operative, almost”, gave us £350,000, which the trust
Jon Howard reflects. “Everyone’s The museum hangar has 34 new — again, with buy-in from the

working together — we’ve all got
our own interests, but collectively
it all comes together and gels
very nicely.”
Underpinning this activity
is the Hooton Park Trust’s
core business, which is vehicle
storage. Not just any vehicles,
though, but classic cars and
buses. Together with the
Belfast trusses, built on site
It wasn’t always so. The hangar
being prepared to welcome
regular visitors, the most
northerly of the three, is the one
Vauxhall used least, leaving it in a
more original state. “By least-
”
adopted from the mid-2000s
onwards was to repair the best
one first, then the second best,
and finally this one.
“By the time the Hooton
Park Trust got to it in 2014-15,
local council conservation office
and Historic England — used to
rebuild the roof as per original. It
has 34 brand-new Belfast trusses,
each of them weighing about
two tonnes, built on site as they
would have been originally over
the course of several years.”
The southern end of the
museum hangar has been

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 15

WORKSHOP The Aeroplane Collection
The Roe Triplane replica is
now very historic in itself,
having been built by Avro
people back in 1952.
refurbished using modern
materials, akin to a present-
day warehouse. This, Howard
explains, can be put down to
Historic England’s requirements:
“you either do everything totally
original, or you do it in such a
fashion as there is a noticeable
contrast and it could never be
confused as original. It was
more about making the building
watertight and usable. While it
was driven by the budget, it was
done in such a way that, in a
number of years’ time, if funding
comes along new doors can be
built as per the originals. There
are plenty of examples on site to
copy.”
Alongside sit the former RFC/
RAF motor transport sheds
that housed Pobjoy Airmotors,
together with the location of a
single-span hangar — now gone
— which, from 1929-33, was
the Comper Aircraft Company’s
factory. This combination of
manufacturing and military
history is another aspect that
provides Hooton Park with its
draw. Monthly tours took place
for a long time, but access always
had to be restricted due to the
condition of certain buildings
and resulting health and safety
issues. No proper open day
has been held for some 15-20
years. In resuming such events
from 14 May, Howard stresses
the idea is to “start small, be
realistic and grow organically”.
If their popularity is such as to
merit greater frequency, due
consideration will certainly be
given.
TAC has about a dozen regular
working volunteer members,
and is always actively looking
16 www.Key.Aero
for more. On the day of our
visit, several of them were
constructing the reception and
shop area in one corner of the
hangar, while others readied
smaller rooms along its western
side. Activity has stepped up
a gear since November and
December, when — as reported
in the March Aeroplane — GJD
Services repatriated five of the
“
All those things people wanted to
do here, we can do
collection’s charges from central
Manchester, specifically the
defunct Air and Space Hall at
what is now the Science and
Industry Museum. They had
been on loan there since the
1980s, along with several RAF
Museum-owned aeroplanes.
The jewel in TAC’s crown, for
all sorts of reasons, is Avro Avian
IIIa G-EBZM. Quite apart from
being the only complete survivor
of the attractive inter-war biplane
trainer and tourer left in Britain,
this very machine was acquired
almost new in February 1929 by
the Merseyside Aero and Sports
Co for use by the Liverpool and
District Aero Club, based at
Hooton Park. Its recent arrival
was the first time G-EBZM had
”
been back since 1931 or ’32, and
it definitely spent time living
in the same hangar. But this is
also an important airframe in
the history of preservation, for it
was rescued from the Ringway
Airport fire dump in April 1959
by members of the fledgling
Merseyside Group of Aviation
Enthusiasts. In turn, the Northern
Auster J/1 G-AIGP
awaits restoration to
its 1946 standard.
The Sopwith Baby
replica before being
moved out of store.
Aircraft Preservation Society was
formed around the Avian, which
became its first aircraft and was
subject to a lengthy restoration.
To have it on show in TAC’s 60th
anniversary year is a source of
great delight.
Joining G-EBZM in last
winter’s westbound road moves
were the replica Roe Triplane I,
constructed by Avro apprentices
in 1952, which has been fully
owned by TAC since a 2019
deal after years on long-term
loan from the Shuttleworth
Trust; the oldest DH89A Dragon
Rapide extant in the UK, the
1935-manufactured G-ADAH; a
1936 Mignet HM14 Pou-du-Ciel,
constructed by a private owner in
Rishworth, West Yorkshire; and
Bensen B7M G-APUD, home-
built and modified by Wg Cdr
Ken Wallis as his first autogyro.
The Rapide needs a little detail
work, and a small team from GJD
was due to complete the cowls,
tackle a few areas of fabric and
reconnect the control lines.
The focus is absolutely, and
rightly, on exhibits with local
links. There are exceptions, such
as the Bensen, though not many.
Thus, the acquisition of Auster
J/1 Autocrat G-AIGP was targeted
because it had been owned
from 1946 by Sqn Ldr ‘Wilbur’
Wright, founder of Hooton
Park-based Wright Aviation.
The aircraft was undergoing
conversion to Lycoming power,
but will be restored to its original
configuration. Being less relevant,
Auster J/1N Alpha G-AJEB
will leave, efforts to find an
appropriate home being ongoing.
The subject of a restoration
incorporating parts from other
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 The Miles Messenger restoration
has the identity of G-AHUI, but
uses parts of several airframes.

airframes, Miles Messenger

IIa G-AHUI was resident from
1954-57 in the ownership of
a Chester businessman. And
ex-RAF Gliding and Soaring
Association DHC Chipmunk
tug G-AOUO fits in through
being built at the Hawarden
factory, and because the type was
stationed at Hooton Park with No
19 Reserve Flying School.

❖
Further exhibits are being
brought in from the storage side
of the hangar’s central divider.
The Sopwith Baby replica, a
1970s Leisure Sport creation,
is seeing the light of day after
many years in hiding. It recalls
how the type flew from HMS
Ben-my-Chree, converted into
a seaplane carrier by Cammell
Laird in nearby Birkenhead.
The Slingsby Tutor glider was
made by Martin Hearn, one
of the main names in Hooton
Park’s history — his engineering
business blossomed into such
wartime roles as maintaining
and repairing Avro Ansons, DH
Mosquitos and Supermarine
Spitfires, and assembling US-
built aircraft delivered by sea to
Liverpool Docks. In time, Meteor
T7 WH132, owned by the Hooton
Park Trust, will be completed to Dragon Rapide G-ADAH was loaned to what were then
round off the picture of the RAF the Museum of Flight at East Fortune and MOSI in
station’s career; TAC’s own DH Manchester before finally reaching Hooton Park last year.
Vampire T11 XD624, possibly
the last example built at Fairey’s
Ringway facility, is going through
a painstaking restoration in one
of the outbuildings.
The potential for future growth
is great, but all concerned are
taking it steadily. They also
see the broader potential for
Hooton Park. “We’re not trying
to over-commit too early”, says
Jon Howard, “but education
and STEM [science, technology,
engineering and maths] are
key themes that will be drawn
upon”. Above all, there’s a sense
of the site finally being about
to fulfil its real promise as a
centre for aeronautical heritage
in the north-west. “After several
false starts, the buildings are
now secure and stable, and it’s
financially buoyant. All those
things people wanted to do The rebuild of Vampire T11
here, we can do.” XD624 is a labour of love for
TAC volunteer Stewart Turner.
When this was acquired from
To find out more, visit the defunct Millom museum, the
www.facebook.com/ cockpit was part-full of rain water.
theaeroplanecollection

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 17

 Comment

STEVE SLATER

HangarTalk
Comment on historic aviation by the chief executive of the UK’s Light Aircraft Association

T
he excellent article
on Freddie Laker in
the March 2022 issue
of Aeroplane set me
thinking about the first low-
cost airline. The roots of today’s
easyJet or Ryanair can be said
to lead back to a bus company
owner from Romford in Essex,
who began operations with his
eponymous carrier 90 years ago
this month.
Edward Hillman was an Essex
farmer’s boy who enlisted as
a drummer boy at the age of
12. He rose through the ranks
to sergeant major, but injuries
suffered during the Great War
led to his becoming a chauffeur,
driving a Rolls-Royce for the
diplomatic service, as well
as running a motor car hire
business. He bought his first
motor-coach in 1928, and soon
owned a fleet of blue-and-white-
liveried buses operating across
the county of Essex.
Hillman was by his own
admission ill-educated, but big,
The DH84 Dragon came about thanks to Hillman’s Airways, and G-ACAN
was its first example. AEROPLANE
contemporary description said,
“Economy, even parsimony, was
his watchword and he gave his
pilots little more than the basic
pay of his bus drivers, blustering
at them in the manner of a
Sergeant-Major”. His approach,
though,
worked. With
Havilland he ordered four on the
spot, paid for in cash.
A few months later he was
back at de Havilland looking
for something bigger. “I don’t
want nuffin’ with frills”, he told
designer Arthur Hagg. “You
make me a Fox
Moth twice as
Bourget that summer, where
Hillman undercut Imperial
Airways’ London-Paris fares by
a third.
November 1933 saw the
faster, sleeker DH89 Dragon
Rapide enter service on the
Maylands-to-Paris service,
Hillman again becoming de
Havilland’s first customer for the
type. Later that month, though,
there came tragedy when a
Rapide crashed into the sea off
Folkestone, killing the pilot and
six passengers. It was noted, in
line with Hillman’s parsimony,
that the pilot — although the
holder of a commercial ‘B’
licence — had no blind flying
experience and probably
became disorientated. This led
to compulsory blind flying and
radio communications training
for all British commercial pilots.
Hillman’s Airways continued
into 1934 with its three
remaining Dragon Rapides,
Dragons and Fox Moths, and bid
successfully for the contract for

“
bluff and forceful. He was also a fare of £1 big, then I only a daily postal service between
smart, with a sharp eye for the return, the Hillman’s need one pilot London, Liverpool, Belfast and
next opportunity. That included service was for twice the Glasgow. Then, on 31 December
the air and, on 1 April 1932, soon being theory was that he people. Hard 1934, Edward Hillman was gone.
Hillman’s Saloon Coaches and operated every work is what Aged just 45, his bulky physique
Airways began its first scheduled three hours. could bring flying these pilots and high-intensity lifestyle had

service between Maylands
airfield outside Romford to
Clacton and Margate. Initially it
used three de Havilland DH80
Puss Moths, each carrying a pilot
and two passengers.
Hillman’s theory was that by
offering an unadorned, cheap
service for the kind of people
who rode in his buses, he could
bring flying to the masses. A
The fleet
was extended
to the masses
by Hillman to
incorporate
the new DH83 Fox Moth, a
‘flying Hansom cab’ with a cabin
for four passengers ahead of
the cockpit. What impressed
Hillman was that it carried twice
the load of a Puss Moth for the
same fuel bill, so on a visit to de
”
want. It does
’em good.”
The response
to the request
was the twin-engined DH84
Dragon. Hillman ordered four
off the drawing board, adding
a penalty clause if the aircraft
weren’t in service in time to
launch a cross-Channel service
between Romford and Le
led to high blood pressure and,
in turn, a coronary. His legacy
flew on, however, and not just
in his low-cost philosophy.
In September 1935, his firm
merged with Spartan Airlines
and United Airways to form a
company which, although not
directly related, had a name
rather familiar today: British
Airways.

18 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 Comment

DENIS J. CALVERT

Flight
FlightLine
Recollections and reflections — a seasoned reporter’s view of aviation history

1
988 was the never-to-be-
forgotten year when the
Soviets first came to the
SBAC show at Farnborough
with front-line aeroplanes, in
the form of two MiG-29s, but it
was 1992 when they returned in
force with upwards of 20 aircraft.
That show, coming little more
than two years after the fall of
the Berlin Wall, will as a result
be remembered as arguably the
most interesting Farnborough
of them all. With the collapse
of the Soviet Union, its aircraft
manufacturers needed to find
new markets. On both the
military and civil sides, they saw
the opportunity of export sales
and international co-operation,
hence the display of several types
previously unseen in the west.
Some of these aspirations were
realistic, others less so given the
fact that very few Soviet aircraft
had ever seen western service,
and that their reputation for
Devoid of any markings other than the obligatory red stars, the Tu-22M3
flies past at Farnborough 1992, wings swept. Such a sight is now once
again unthinkable. DENIS J. CALVERT
reverses, yet the Russian
powerplants demonstrated
their ability to handle this
mistreatment without stall
or surge. These displays were
surely the biggest new crowd-
pleasers since
the advent of
display was a problem for their
cash-strapped industry but,
having made the effort to come
to the UK, not performing was
surely a false economy. Another
reason advanced at the time for
the absence of
their air and
a climb. Its hovering, under the
power of two RD-41 lift engines
and a single R-79V turbofan
with afterburning and vectoring
nozzle, was both impressive and
noisy, the downward-pointing
nozzle glowing incandescent.
The pilot was Yakovlev OKB’s
Vladimir Yakimov, who had
already survived the crash of the
second prototype the previous
October. Having lost funding
for the Yak-41 from its home
country, Yakovlev was hoping to
find a western partner to develop
the aircraft or to build a new
V/STOL design with the benefit
of its technology, but it was not
to be.
However mean it looked
in the static park, the MiG-31
‘Foxhound’ remained resolutely
on the ground throughout the
show. Visitors who had spent
the entire week at Farnborough
were beginning to think the same
fate would befall the Tu-22M3

“
reliability was not the best. Bob Hoover’s groundcrews ‘Backfire’, which stayed ground-
Both the Su-27 ‘Flanker’ and ‘two engines, 1992 was was the lure of bound through the press day and
the MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’, which one engine, no going shopping the trade days. On the Saturday,
displayed most days, flew engines’ routine
arguably the in London’s though, it taxied out and took
routines that included innovative in a Shrike
Commander.
most interesting West End. The off in afterburner, returning to
manoeuvres such as the ‘cobra’ Thursday saw make two sedate passes down
and the tailslide, although Despite Farnborough of displays by the runway before recovering to
these were dismissed by many the Soviets both Yakovlev’s land ‘over the Black Sheds’. This

western observers as being no
more than party tricks. The cobra
involves flying straight and level
before suddenly pitching up
to — and beyond — the vertical,
stalling but then recovering to
level flight without significant
loss of altitude. At some point
the airflow through the engine
”
having so many them all
aircraft at
Farnborough,
many of them flew only
occasionally during the eight
days of the 1992 show, 6-13
September, and others not at
all. The reasons for this remain
unclear. The cost of fuel to fly a
supersonic
Yak-141
‘Freestyle’
— or, more officially, Yak-41 —
and its earlier Yak-38 ‘Forger’.
Surprisingly for a V/STOL
aircraft, the Yak-141 took almost
the full length of runway 25 for
take-off before pulling up into
was the first appearance by a
‘Backfire’ at a western airshow
and was greatly appreciated
by those who witnessed the
event. Whether the sight of a
Tu-22M3 in the air over the
Home Counties in 2022 would be
similarly welcomed is perhaps
more open to question.

20 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 Books MAIL ORDER Books

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After a period of austerity, the pictorial look at the country
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 In association with…

Skywriters WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,

PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
E-MAIL TO: aeroplane@keypublishing.com,
putting ‘Skywriters’ in the header

In every issue, the writer of our Letter of the Month wins a £25 book voucher to spend with leading military and transport publisher Crécy.

LETTER
I
read with great interest the Malta Salute
stories (Aeroplane March 2022) and in Sea Gladiator N5519, the
of the particular the Faith, Hope and Charity aircraft in which Flt Lt Hartley
MONTH article. As the daughter of Flt Lt Hartley, as was shot down. KEY COLLECTION
he then was, I had some idea of the story and
remain in awe as to the courage, determination
and bravery of the people of Malta and the many crews
who defended the island during those terrible years of
repeated bombing, never knowing when or how it all
might end. We cannot imagine the uphill task that lay
before them all and with so little available to them. The
island truly deserved its George Cross awarded in 1942.
On my father’s fateful day of 31 July 1940, when he
was shot down into the sea in N5519, his logbook entry
simply said, “Bailed out over Malta, and posted back to
the UK”. His monthly entry for July 1940: “Hurricanes
and Gladiators, no record as went to hospital 31.7.1940
(40 hours)”. At this point in time he had not even met my
mother. He made a good recovery. His logbook records
continued from February 1941, with retraining onto
Hurricanes and then Spitfires, and a posting in October 1941. Like done and which had already been carried out on so many vintage
many others he rarely spoke of the war years, but he did tell me of aircraft at the Malta Aviation Museum at Ta’ Qali. I will keenly
his great affection for Malta and its people. follow the Malta Sea Gladiator Project, which is now under way at
My most recent visit to Malta took place over two years ago, the museum.
and I found myself so impressed with the restoration work being Carolyn Fordham Walker

I
n your Database on the
Sopwith Camel (Aeroplane
January 2022), at the top of
page 104, the picture of two-
seat Camel B3801 is wrongly
captioned — as it has often
been in the past — as being
taken at South Carleton. In 2012,
my article on the Camel dual-
control trainers was published
in the winter issue of the Cross &
Cockade International Journal.
In the research leading up to
this I had established that B3801
was the first such modification,
and that it was devised by Flt Lt
Walter Longton, not by any of
the other claimants who asserted
(after Longton’s death in 1927)
that it was their creation.
The photograph, along
with two others, was taken at
Upavon in February 1918 after
the aircraft’s first test flight,
and Longton is in the rear
cockpit, with ‘Morgan’ in the
front cockpit. The location is
identifiable from the various
buildings in the background.
Incidentally, it was also
established that at least 40
Camels were so converted, and
that there was an organised
distribution of drawings to
various stations to enable the
modification to be carried out on
site. It was never the apparently
haphazard affair that has
sometimes been suggested.
Philip Jarrett, Dorking
the sea at one end or the river at
the other.
On leaving one of my postings,
in the mid-1980s, I was given a
copy of the Hugh Scanlan history
of Shell’s company operations,
Winged Shell. It described one
particular characteristic of the
Otter, the slow tick-over. One pilot
apparently used to demonstrate
this by walking through the
blades as they turned over.
It also explains the non-fatal
write-off of G-AIDM, by then
YV-P-AEN, in Venezuela.

I
Two-seat Camel B3801 not at South nteresting Database on the
Carleton, but Upavon. KEY COLLECTION Sea Otter (Aeroplane March
2022), particularly civil
operations with Shell. I worked
for Shell International for many
years and had occasion to fly
in and out of both Lutong and
Anduki airfields. Landings at
Lutong, in a DHC Twin Otter,
were an interesting experience,
the pilots regularly performing
high-incidence ‘dragging the tail
bumper’ landings to shorten the
landing roll, or risk running into
Apparently the regular pilot,
John Spiller, went on leave and
an ex-Royal Navy pilot took over.
He decided he could get the
aircraft through a gap which, it
transpired, wasn’t wide enough…
leaving the wings behind.
John Meudell CEng, MIMechE
The editor reserves the right to
edit all letters. Please include
your full name and address in
correspondence.

22 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 Q&A
Are you seeking the answer to a thorny aviation question, or trying to trace an old aviation friend? Our ‘questions and answers’ page might help
THIS MONTH’S QUESTIONS
Jungmanns for
pre-war RAF?
Q A visit to Britain by
Swiss-registered Bücker
Bü 131B Jungmann HB-RAF
in June 1938 has caught the
attention of Swiss reader René
Biber. Flown by Hermann
Zollinger, few other details
have emerged, such as why
the aircraft flew to the UK,
where it visited and how long
it stayed. On 10 June 1938, the
Swiss Civil Aviation Authority
reported the aircraft had
sustained an accident while in
the UK, but does anyone
know any details as to what
happened? Are there any
photographs of the trainer in
Very possibly the Hordern-
Richmond Autoplane, but can
anyone confirm?
Thirties monoplane
Q Can anyone identify the
aircraft type in this
photograph? Andrew Long,
who sent the picture, says it was
taken at Okehampton airfield
in 1937 and while the twin-
engine design appears similar
to the General Aircraft
Monospar, it exhibits a more
basic fuselage cross-section.
Your compiler believes it is the
sole Hordern-Richmond
Autoplane, G-AEOG, but could
a reader confirm this?
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
Bücker Jungmann HB-RAF which,
according to René Biber, was
“never sighted again in Switzerland
after its return from the UK”.
Britain — and does the
registration offer a clue
regarding a military reason for
its trip, particularly as the
German design was being
Another Vulcan event
Q In the April issue, coverage
of the RAF Avro Vulcan
bombing raids which took
place during the Falklands war
reminded John Nolan of an
incident during the days prior
to the historic ‘Black Buck 1’
mission on 1 May 1982. En
route to a vehicle breakdown
on the A57, John was passing
Lancaster seat marking
Q Visiting IWM Duxford’s main AirSpace hall, Robin Wells
was viewing Lancaster X KB889 when he caught sight of a
yellow disc painted on the front and rear of the pilot’s seat.
Does anyone know what these are/were for?
COMPILER: BARRY WHEELER
WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
E-MAIL TO: aeroplane@keypublishing.com,
putting ‘Q&A’ in the header
built under licence in
Switzerland and may have
been on a sales visit to interest
the RAF in adopting the
German type?
Barton airfield when a very
loud engine noise startled him
and a Vulcan presented itself in
a left-hand vertical bank,
possibly on an exercise with
Barton as a turning point. The
aircraft’s comparatively low
level and the noise locked itself
in his mind, and he wonders if
anyone else was nearby to
witness the event?
THIS MONTH’S
ANSWERS
Deep stall techniques
Q Rick Morris posed a
question in the January
issue about combating the deep
stall phenomenon on airliners.
A Following responses in
February, Rick says, “I’m
not suggesting applying, say, 80°
of bank after take-off or on
landing if it got into a deep stall.
With the T-tailplane in turbulent
air wash from the stalled wing at
16,000ft, One-Eleven test pilot
Mike Lithgow would have
recognised the problem and
terrific rate of descent. Thus, roll
80° and the nose will drop and
speed increase regardless of
elevator position. The photo of
the wreck appears to show
some forward speed prior to
impact, so the ailerons/spoilers,
being out of the deep stall wash
— certainly the down-going
aileron — would apply roll.”
Sunderland location
Q In the January edition,
David Fox sought
confirmation that a photograph
showed Short Sunderlands at
RAF Pembroke Dock.
A John Evans confirmed the
location in the March issue
and Doug Fulcher agrees. He
served at ‘PD’ on Sunderlands
from 1953-55 and says Neyland
was on the other side of the
water, connected by a small
ferry which ran until a bridge
was built.
CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
• On page 59 of the March magazine, the
serial of the Stinson L-5 Sentinel used by
the Ronne expedition should have been
given as 45-34911, and not 53-4911, which
was allocated later to a Lockheed T-33.
• David Lee writes to say that Dr
Christopher Roads was not the IWM
director-general, as written in the boxed
item on page 74 of March’s issue; he was
the IWM deputy director.
www.Key.Aero 23
 R Y
I VE INT S
E L R N
D L P TIO
E E L IP
R A R
F O SCN
U B
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094/22
PILOT REPORT Hanriot HD1

MOUNTof
Where once Belgium’s balloon-busting ace Willy Coppens sat, today The
Vintage Aviator’s pilots get to experience the unique thrill of flying the sole
airworthy Hanriot HD1 WORDS: JOHN LANHAM PHOTOGRAPHY: GAVIN CONROY

26 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 EX
CL
US
IV
ER
a LEGEND

EP
OR
T

Hanriot HD1 serial 75 is now registered

ZK-EAY with The Vintage Aviator.

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 27

PILOT REPORT Hanriot HD1
I
ABOVE: t’s a lovely afternoon to be at
The HD1 and original, Hood aerodrome, just north
Clerget-engined of Wellington, New Zealand.
Sopwith Camel My intention is to fly a rare and
N6254/ZK-SDL on
the break — two unusual aeroplane — in fact, rare is
fighting scout something of an understatement.
contemporaries that There are few aircraft that have
enjoyed somewhat in their pedigree participation in
different fortunes. an international aerobatic event,
flown by a famous ace. No, it’s
not an MXS, Sukhoi Su-31, Extra
330SC or similar. This is something
much more special, a more than
100-year-old Hanriot-Dupont HD1
fighting scout. The occasion took
place in 1922, and the pilot was
Belgium’s Willy Coppens. What’s
more, he had his artificial left
leg — a consequence of being hit
by an incendiary bullet fired by
an anti-aircraft battery during his
final mission of the 1914-18 war —
strapped to the rudder pedal.
That the HD1 became his
favoured mount was down to an
unusual set of circumstances. With
28 www.Key.Aero
the SPAD VII already in production,
France’s Aéronautique Militaire
decided it had no requirement for
the Émile Dupont-designed Hanriot
aeroplane, though a few were
employed by French naval aviation.
Italy, however, felt otherwise.
Largely licence-built by Nieuport-
Macchi, 125 HD1s were delivered to
the Corpo Aeronautico Militare in
1917, 706 in 1918, and a further 70
after the armistice.
Belgium likewise selected
the type to replace the Nieuport
17 as the main fighter with its
Aviation Militaire. From August
1917 onwards, it received HD1s
from French production; some
sources say 79, others 125. Initial
deliveries were to the 1ère Escadrille
de Chasse at Les Moëres, right
on the northern Franco-Belgian
border, where the new machine
was welcomed with less-than-
open arms. According to Willy
Coppens — or, to give him his
full name and title, Willy Omer
François Jean Baron Coppens de
Houthulst — fellow pilot André De
Meulemeester, who amassed six
confirmed victories in Nieuports,
turned the Hanriot down. This
would appear to have occurred after
an incident on 21 August in which
De Meulemeester was injured while
flying the HD1 in combat against an
Albatros scout.
In his book Days on the Wing,
Coppens wrote, “…I, being about
the last to have joined the squadron,
finally had it offered to me”. Unlike
many of his colleagues, Coppens
“did not like the Nieuport”, finding
its controls “not light to the touch”.
By contrast, “I fell in love with the
Hanriot at first sight. It was as light
as a feather on the controls, and the
pilot had a wonderfully clear field
of vision”. Olieslagers took notice,
gradually followed by the rest of
the squadron’s pilots, and full re-
equipment ensued.
Pilots came to appreciate the
HD1’s slightly better outright
performance and — when one gun
was fitted — higher service ceiling,
as well as its stronger airframe,
the Nieuport suffering from its
single-spar sesquiplane lower wing.
Indeed, such became the Hanriot’s
reputation that, according to
historian Jack Bruce, an early-1918
offer of Sopwith Camels to re-equip
the 1ère Escadrille was turned
down, the British-built scouts going
instead to the 11ème Escadrille.
The likes of De Meulemeester and
Olieslagers notched up numerous
victories with the HD1, but perhaps
the most famous exploits on type
were those of Coppens. Now flying
with the 9ème Escadrille, as the 1ère
had been renumbered, between
25 April and 14 October 1918 he
downed three enemy aeroplanes
and no fewer than 34 observation
balloons, all while flying Hanriots.
On the latter date, Coppens’ war
came to an end with the incident
that resulted in amputation of his
left leg, though he was still able
to force-land behind Allied lines.
He would fly again, while the HD1
carried on in front-line Belgian
service as late as 1928 with the 7ème
Escadrille at Nivelles, and even
longer as a trainer. Switzerland,
meanwhile, purchased 16 examples
in 1921 for use by its Fliegertruppe.
Returning to the present day, to
make this HD1 flight even more
special we will pair the aircraft with
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
another very rare and comparable
machine, The Vintage Aviator’s
original, Clerget-powered Sopwith
F1 Camel. Not many years ago,
such an event in New Zealand
would have been inconceivable,
but it has been made possible
only by the extraordinary efforts
of the Wellington and Masterton-
based aircraft restoration and
manufacturing company, which
now boasts a collection unique in
the world.
While a small number of
aeroplanes acquired early on by The
Vintage Aviator are replicas with
concessions to modern operations
such as brakes — which make
excellent training machines for
new pilots — the majority, some 35
aircraft manufactured since 2008,
have famously been constructed to
painstakingly accurate detail using
original plans and materials, and
powered by original or re-created
authentic engines. It is entirely
reasonable to describe these as
late-build originals. However, a
third category involves genuine
examples from the 1914-18 period
including an Avro 504, BE2f, Bristol
F2B Fighter and the two we’re flying
today, the Camel and HD1.
Approaching the Hanriot, one’s
first impression is that it is small,
even by the standards of the day,
and light, weighing only 650kg
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
at maximum take-off weight.
Conventional for the time, its looks
slightly resemble the Sopwith 1½
Strutter. The airframe is strong
and has very attractive lines. In
particular, it uses the same ‘1½’, or
W-shaped, cabane struts between
the fuselage and upper wing as the
Sopwith two-seater, with a flat lower
wing and pronounced dihedral on
the upper plane.
The design incorporates a blunt
front engine mounting for the Le
“
Pilots came to
like its performance
and stronger
”
airframe
Rhône 9J 110hp rotary and a slab-
sided fuselage. The undercarriage
is set far forward, a characteristic
akin to the Nieuport scouts. A
basic wooden tailskid is moveable
through an angle of some 30° to
allow for easier turning, but is
not steerable. The combination
of forward undercarriage and
moveable skid makes for some
interesting ground handling, but
more about that later.
The upper plane sits just above
the pilot’s eye-level. This placement
reduces forward and upward
visibility slightly, which is otherwise
very good. Unlike Nieuport’s
sesquiplanes, the bottom plane is of
equal chord to the top. The high-
back fuselage provides protection to
the pilot in the event of a nose-over
and tapers down to a rounded
vertical fin, a just adequate rudder
and an angular tailplane.
Armament comes from a single
11mm Vickers heavy machine gun,
fired through interrupter gear, and
mounted centrally in front of the
pilot’s face but well forward. This
was welcome in the event of a crash,
and it remained accessible to clear
jams. By 1917 standard-calibre
(0.303in/7.7mm) rifle cartridges
had been found less satisfactory
against observation balloons than
larger-calibre incendiary or tracer
bullets. The French initially used the
Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun on
aircraft, but transitioned to the more
reliable and easily synchronised
Vickers aircraft machine gun. The
larger-calibre 11mm Vickers was
adopted by the Allies as anti-balloon
armament until the end of the war.
Single-gun armament was seriously
outdated by 1918 and a second
Vickers was occasionally fitted to a
few HD1s, despite its detrimental
effect on performance.
www.Key.Aero 29
PILOT REPORT Hanriot HD1
ABOVE: Despite the machine’s small size,
John Lanham with it is surprisingly hard to climb into
this unique airworthy as the upper wing sits low over the
specimen.
cockpit. All World War One aircraft
pose some mounting difficulty to
the pilot and, when flying a variety
of The Vintage Aviator’s aeroplanes,
it becomes important to remember
where the foot and hand-holds are
placed, if one wishes to maintain
one’s dignity. Each type requires a
degree of gymnastic ability and, in
the HD1, it is awkward to maintain
balance while doing a right leg ‘up
and over’, like getting onto a horse.
Once settled into the cockpit,
it is quite comfortable, with more
room than Nieuport aircraft,
although one always feels slightly
hunched-forward in French
machines. Equipment is sparse,
typical of a 1917 design. It is limited
to the single ignition, a centrally
mounted air speed indicator, a
clock, a non-sensitive altimeter and
the important rpm gauge. There
is a simple fuel on/off cock on the
left-hand side, and where you would
expect to find the throttle quadrant
are placed the air (blocktube) and
fine adjustment (Tampier) levers
for managing the Le Rhône. A blip
switch is located on top of the very
basic control column.
Starting the engine is
conventional for a rotary. The
engine slip ring is cleaned as a
precaution and the cylinder head
valves are oiled, then primed with
fuel. The mechanic calls “fuel on”,
the aircraft’s fuel cock is turned on
and the fine adjustment opened
until fuel runs out. Upon the
mechanic’s call of “fuel flow” the
fine adjustment is closed, the air
valve opened to about one third and
the mechanic calls “contact”.
With the single magneto on, the
prop is swung, the engine fires,
30 www.Key.Aero
HANRIOT HISTORY
T
he HD1 now owned and attaché in London — was entered
operated by The Vintage for the Grande Semaine
Aviator is today nearly 104 Aéronautique Internationale (Grand
years old. Past research International Aeronautical Week) in
shows it to have emerged from the Nice from 26 March-2 April 1922.
Hanriot factory in September 1918, Organised by the Aéroclub de la
but while the details put together by Côte d’Azur, it brought to the
the RAF Museum during its Mediterranean resort several
custodianship of the airframe are in leading aces from the 1914-18 war,
many ways an invaluable resource, among them René Fonck, Georges
they can be somewhat at odds with Madon and Charles Nungesser, and
other evidence. The RAFM history other well-known pilots of the day.
has serial 75 being built at Neuilly- Since the public flying activities took
sur-Seine; most sources, though, place largely over water, The
cite HD1 production for Belgium as Aeroplane’s editor C. G. Grey
taking place in Boulogne-Billancourt. remarked blackly on, “the added
It goes on to say that the aeroplane attraction of the chance of seeing a
was delivered to the Les Moëres- popular aviator drown in the case of
based 1ère Escadrille de Chasse, engine failure.”
but that Aviation Militaire unit had Still on the air force inventory, HD1
ceased to exist in February 1918. A serial 75 was Coppens’ mount for a
reorganisation saw it being range of events. Among those he
redesignated as the 9ème was scheduled to fly in were a
Escadrille, which also took on the four-aircraft mock combat, the
squadron’s thistle emblem. Eugène Gilbert trophy for the best
These contradictions figure of eight, the 50km-plus
notwithstanding, it is believed that Roland Garros Trophy race and the
75 operated over the Western Front Jean Navarre Trophy, a “competition
before the armistice, possibly being of aerial virtuosity”. The latter has
allocated to the flight commanded often been described as a world
by André De Meulemeester. aerobatic championship, though it
Post-war the aircraft was transferred was neither named nor categorised
to the 7ème Escadrille at Nivelles, as such. Coppens was one of the
while on 1 March 1920 Belgium non-French entrants; Italy’s Arturo
renamed its Aviation Militaire as the Ferrarin the other. However, Flight
Aéronautique Militaire. magazine’s correspondent D. W.
It was under the auspices of the Thorburn bemoaned how the
Aéro-Club de Belgique that Willy “elaborate programme […] bore little
Coppens — by now Belgium’s air if any resemblance to what actually
Willy Coppens with an HD1 bearing the thistle emblem devised by fellow
Belgian ace André De Meulemeester as the emblem of the 1ère Escadrille de
Chasse, subsequently transferred to the 9ème Escadrille. Visible to Coppens’
right, on the rear decking, is the motto “Nemo me impune lacessit” — this
translates as “No-one attacks me with impunity”, and also appears on
Scotland’s Order of the Thistle. BELGIAN MOD
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
occurred”. Some accounts state
Coppens won the aerobatic contest,
though Thorburn made no reference
to this even taking place, saying only,
“A good deal of looping and spinning
went on at frequent intervals…”
Whatever actually happened in
Nice, the HD1 returned to Belgium
and military service. The RAFM
records put its relegation to training
use in 1928, and final retirement in
1932 or ’34. During the latter year it
joined the Belgian civilian register as
OO-APJ courtesy of a purchase by
three brothers, André, Paul and Jules
Drossaert. Ownership passed during
1937 to Jacques Ledure, a former
Aviation Militaire fighter pilot who
took up motorsport after the Great
War, winning the 1924 Monte Carlo
Rally. While the Hanriot was being
displayed outside a cinema showing
the movie Wings, a holidaying
Richard Shuttleworth seemingly
happened to see the machine. He
ended up paying Ledure £15 for it
and flying it home. That trip from
Evere near Brussels took place on 22
November 1937, though a two-day
stop at Lympne was required for
engine fettling. Shuttleworth then
completed its delivery flight to his Old
Warden base.
Registered as G-AFDX, the HD1
made occasional public appearances
as part of Shuttleworth’s nascent
collection. They came to an end on 18
June 1939, when it and Sopwith Pup
G-EBKY were demonstrated at a
Brooklands garden party. The Hanriot
suffered a puncture, necessitating
repairs to one of its wheels, but a
linchpin was not replaced. When
Shuttleworth took off to depart for
Old Warden, the wheel parted
company with the aircraft. He
remained unaware of the problem,
and when G-AFDX landed back it
nosed over. The propeller was
smashed, and damage caused to the
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
wings and tail, though Shuttleworth
was uninjured.
He planned to carry out a rebuild,
which would have involved the wings
going to the Chelsea College of
Aeronautical and Automobile
Engineering as a student project, but
it was not to be. Shuttleworth, of
course, was killed flying a Fairey
Battle on 2 August 1940. The
Hanriot’s wings were destroyed
— possibly, the RAFM record said,
“burned by the Home Guard in the
very cold winter of 1940” — while the
rest of the wreck sat in storage at Old
Warden for many years.
In the end it was an American,
Marvin Hand of San Francisco, who
proved its saviour. The former military
flying instructor, by now a
businessman in the travel industry,
bought the HD1 in 1962 and had it
shipped across the Atlantic the
following March. He had a big task on
his hands. A 120hp Le Rhône engine
was acquired to replace the Hanriot’s
110hp original, which had been
installed in Shuttleworth’s Avro 504K,
and manufacturing drawings from
Italian licence-production of the type
were used to make new wings. A
fuselage longeron needed repairing,
while further items that required
replacement included the aft-
fuselage ‘turtledeck’, the wheels and
most instruments. Hand and his
helpers proved equal to the
challenge, and the aeroplane,
registered N75, made its first
post-restoration flight at Sonoma
County Airport, California, on 27 April
1968. At the controls was inter-war
barnstormer and air mail pilot Walter
Addems, who had already self-built a
replica Nieuport 11.
Among the others to fly the Hanriot
was Hawker Siddeley test pilot, and
Shuttleworth Collection flyer,
Desmond Penrose. He did so at
Sonoma during a visit to the States in
October 1969, and felt it was nicer ABOVE LEFT:
than the comparable Pup. The HD1 G-AFDX on show
also returned to Europe briefly for an at the Royal
Aeronautical Society
appearance at the 1973 Paris Salon, garden party staged
being air-freighted to Le Bourget in a at Heath Row in May
World Airways Boeing 747. 1938. A. H. CURTIS
Unfortunately the weather put paid to
planned displays at the show. ABOVE MIDDLE:
In fact, as far as the machine’s Coppens flying
serial 75 along the
flying career in Hand’s ownership promenade at the
went, that was about it. December 1922 Nice meeting.
1978 saw the owner presenting the The aircraft retained
HD1 to the RAFM via the Washington its regular military
DC-based Battle of Britain Museum colours. KEY COLLECTION
Foundation, in the museum’s words,
ABOVE:
“for tax-deductible reasons”. An RAF The poster for 1922’s
Hercules collected it from San week of aeronautical
Francisco in January 1979 and flew it events in Nice.
to Lyneham, onward road transport
moving the airframe to the RAFM’s
then storage and restoration facility at
Cardington, where it was re-covered.
Once ready for display, that
December the Hanriot was exhibited
at Hendon, and there it remained
until a trade was concluded with The
Vintage Aviator. Announced in March
2013, this involved the HD1 and a
Farman F40 heading for New
Zealand in return for RE8, Albatros BELOW:
D.Va and Sopwith Snipe During the latter
reproductions. In fairly short order, stages of its time
the ex-Belgian fighter was airworthy with the RAF
Museum, the HD1
again as part of The Vintage Aviator’s
was exhibited in
outstanding collection, and so it the Grahame-White
remains, a unique piece of First World Factory building.
War aviation history. Ben Dunnell BEN DUNNELL
www.Key.Aero 31
PILOT REPORT Hanriot HD1
the fine adjustment is opened to
introduce fuel and the two levers are
adjusted to find the maximum rpm
position of the day. Having found
the full-power run setting, the two
levers are retarded until the position
is located where the engine runs at
a manageable rpm. It is nice to find
that taxiing is relatively easy, unlike
some machines in the collection.
The moveable tailskid helps here
and the rudder has authority with
power on — regrettably not with
power off. Wingwalkers are useful in
BELOW: stronger winds, as always.
“Established at
altitude”, John
At full power the tail comes up
Lanham says of the immediately and the aircraft lifts
HD1, “the aircraft is a off quickly. It is important to check
pleasure to fly.” that the Le Rhône is developing
32 www.Key.Aero
full power, 1,390rpm, and running
smoothly. The rate of climb is not
particularly impressive, but the low
wing loading means the HD1 is able
to maintain a very useful climb rate
and can reach 20,000ft, well above
the Nieuports.
Established at altitude, the
Hanriot is a pleasure to fly. The
relatively low engine power
minimises rotary torque and
gyroscopic interaction with control
forces, so it needs no special care in
handling. It is light on the controls
in all axes and very manoeuvrable.
The engine is easy to manage and
is tolerant — for a rotary — of
throttling up and down. I have
sometimes wondered whether this
benign engine handling was the
reason, as I have read, that some
RFC pilots preferred the Le Rhône-
engined Camel to the Clerget Camel
despite the former’s lower power.
Stalling is unremarkable and the
HD1 can be flown with confidence
close to its handling limits, with
no feeling that it might depart
controlled flight. Visibility is normal
for a biplane, but perhaps not as
good downwards as in Nieuports
because of the equal lower wing
chord. The aircraft is not particularly
fast, with a Vne of 115mph, but in
every other respect it feels agile,
responsive, ready to turn and fight.
So far, so good with this delightful
little scout. However, I am aware it
has something of a reputation for a
mind of its own on landing. Flying
the circuit is straightforward; engine
rpm can be retarded downwind to
reduce speed and further on base/
final to minimise the need for too
much ‘blipping’. A cross between a
blipped, powered approach and a
fully sideslipped approach is wise,
particularly if the landing area is
restricted. I briefly check for full
power availability at about 200ft
before blipping the engine to flare
and land.
❖
Visibility on finals is good and the
aircraft is not too difficult to land,
on three points or in a tail-down
wheeler. If bounced, the forward-
placed undercarriage can induce
a fore-and-aft oscillation. But it
does require great care on roll-out
as the rudder has authority only
initially, and it diminishes with
reducing speed. The aircraft must be
kept completely straight late in the
roll-out, using short bursts of power
without increasing speed. The
tailskid, with its 30° of undamped
movement, is not your friend at
this point in the proceedings. If
landed out of wind, directional
control is lost as speed reduces
and the aircraft will swing readily
into a ground-loop. As in a number
of the collection’s more valuable
machines, it is a relief when you
come to a halt.
With rotary-powered aircraft, the
pilot spends as much time thinking
about and managing the engine
as he does flying the aeroplane,
particularly on landing. In the HD1
this concern goes primarily towards
ensuring the engine is running
smoothly at the appropriate fuel
mixture. Unlike the Camels and
Sopwith Snipe, The Vintage Aviator’s
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
Hanriot, Pups and Nieuport 11 are
at the middle to lower end of the
rotary power scale and, after a little
time on each type, you do not really
notice the rotary engine torque
and gyroscopic effects. Just as with
riding a bike, your hands and feet do
what they need to do without much
conscious thought.
My overall impression of the HD1
is very much what seems to have
been the consensus among Italian,
Belgian and other pilots in 1917-18
and later: a successful, well-liked
fighting scout with no vices. In terms
of performance, I would place it
between the Pup and Clerget Camel
— almost as manoeuvrable, with
good high-altitude performance
and useful endurance of some
two-and-a-half hours. It’s easier
to fly than the Camel and more
capable than the Pup. In combat
with typical opponents of the time,
its characteristics of adequate
speed, good manoeuvrability and
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
performance at height would have
been advantageous. As ever, though,
pilot ability, temperament and
shooting skill would be determining
aspects in a fight.
The HD1 is that rarity in aviation
history: a highly successful, high-
“
The HD1 can
be flown with
confidence close to
”
its limits
performance fighting aeroplane
never operated in great quantity
by the country which produced it.
Timing is everything, and the HD1
came along at the wrong moment. It
was just too late to compete with the
Nieuports that formed the backbone
of French fighter aviation in the first ABOVE:
years of the war and, by the time With its light,
it appeared, it was eclipsed by the responsive
controls, the HD1
SPAD VII. Ultimately, its fate was exhibits excellent
to be something of a poor relation, manoeuvrability.
relegated in the main to so-called
lesser services and theatres.
Be that as it may, this capable,
agile and elegant little fighter is one
of the jewels in The Vintage Aviator’s
crown. When flying it I am acutely
aware of having living history in my
hands, a privilege of which all of
us are very conscious, even in the
reproduction machines.
But this aircraft flew above the
Western Front over a hundred years
ago as brave and vulnerable pilots
took it to the names and places of
that dreadful conflict. And one of
the immortals flew it, displaying it
to public acclaim at a great aviation
gathering in Nice in March-April
1922.
Not this type, this aircraft. It
is a special feeling.
www.Key.Aero 33
WW2 HISTORY Coastal Command nav

STRIKE
SURE The recent acquisition by the Collings
Foundation of the remains of Mosquito
FBVI RS505 for a restoration project was of
special interest to one man: 99-year-old Ron
Day, the navigator on that very aeroplane
when it was shot down. We talked to him
about that fateful sortie, and his experiences
on Beaufighter attack missions during his
previous tour WORDS: TONY HARMSWORTH

MAIN PICTURE: Beaufighter TFX NT954 of No 455 Squadron, piloted by Fg Off J. G. Cox for the unit’s last strike of the war, on 3 May 1945. 455’s
wartime tally of vessels sunk was 18: four minesweepers, three escort ships, one U-boat and 10 merchantmen. VIA ANDREW THOMAS
INSET: Fg Off Ron Day at his home in Seaton during early March, with a plinth-mounted piece of wreckage from Mosquito FBVI RS505. It was
presented to Ron during a visit to Norway during 2005 following recovery of the wreck. TONY HARMSWORTH

34 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

A
s we lurch towards the
end of the first quarter
of the 21st century, the
possibility of connecting
with Second World War aircrew
via the news pages of Aeroplane
now feels to be vanishingly rare.
But late in February, former IWM
Duxford restoration volunteer Dr
Jonathan Swift e-mailed to say
that the navigator aboard No 235
Squadron de Havilland Mosquito
FBVI RS505 when it was lost in April
1945 — featured in the February
edition, following acquisition of its
remains by the Collings Foundation
— currently lives in Seaton, Devon,
and celebrated his 99th birthday on
Christmas Day.
So, following two weeks of
unrelenting, unendurably tragic
news pouring out of Ukraine, the
prospect of a trip to an out-of-season
English seaside town to meet the
near-centenarian Fg Off Ron Day —
a former member of the illustrious
Banff Strike Wing — promised to
profoundly redefine the phrase ‘the
past is a foreign country.’
The mission on which RS505 was
shot down by a mixed formation of
Messerschmitt Bf 109Gs and Focke-
Wulf Fw 190s was only Ron’s third
operational sortie on de Havilland’s
glorious twin engine fighter-bomber,
but he had plenty of previous
experience on the Bristol Beaufighter
while with No 455 Squadron, Royal
Australian Air Force. After arriving
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
in ‘Ron’s corner’ in the communal
lounge at the retirement flats where
he now lives, the former occupant
of the right-hand seat of RS505
pointed me towards a tray of tea and
biscuits, and sprung an immediate
surprise by stating, “Of course, I
much preferred the Beaufighter.
Down the back there was a lot more
room for the nav, and a nice little
table for his maps, charts and other
stuff. The front of a Mosquito was a
bit of a squeeze, but I wasn’t on them
long enough to find out where to put
everything. But, with the Mosquito,
at least the navigator could see
ahead what was coming up.”
Somerset-born and bred, Ron
recalls, “As a boy growing up in
Taunton in the late 1920s/’30s, I
was always air-minded. My parents to Canada for training”. Dispatched ABOVE:
took me to see Alan Cobham’s flying to Gourock, on the south bank of A fresh-faced Ron
circus, although, sadly, I wasn’t to get the upper Firth of Clyde, western Day back in the UK
following training
airborne. So I joined the Air Training Scotland for the Atlantic crossing, in Canada, with
Corps, where I particularly enjoyed Ron says, “Arriving in the dark, we his newly earned
small-bore shooting with the rifle didn’t know where we were or where navigator’s wing.
club. Oddly enough, that was the we were going, but as we proceeded VIA KERIN AND SALLY OWEN
only armament training I ever had: out onto the water in a tender, it
I never got to fire the rear-facing sailed under the bows of a giant
7.7mm Vickers K gun in my ‘office’ at vessel, whose identity had been
the back of the Beaufighter in anger. overpainted in black. But under the
If anything it was more of a nuisance paint there was no mistaking the
anyway, as I was facing forward and embossed name: Queen Mary. There
it would bang into your shoulder followed six wonderful days sailing
during any manoeuvring. across to New York, from where we
“When war broke out I was travelled north-east by rail to 32 Air
working as an office boy at County Navigation School at Charlottetown,
Hall in Taunton, and after call-up Prince Edward Island, Canada for
and square-bashing we were sent training in low-level navigation.
LEFT:
This dramatic angle
on the Anzac Strike
Wing attacking
a convoy off the
island of Borkum,
north-west Germany
illustrates the
extreme danger of
such operations.
Anti-shipping units
suffered by far the
worst casualties:
at one stage of the
war the chances of
crewmen surviving
a tour was rated at
25 per cent, with
just three per cent
expected to survive
two tours.
KEY COLLECTION
www.Key.Aero 35
WW2 HISTORY Coastal Command nav
ABOVE: The initial course was 14 weeks
No 235 Squadron without a break. Hard work. I can’t
Mosquito FBVI remember much about that, but
HR130/LA-E being
de-iced at Banff
I guess I must have passed all the
during the winter of exams.”
1944-45. Ron’s FBVI, Travelling back down to New York
RS505, was coded for the return sea crossing, the newly
LA-N. G. A. B. LORD qualified aircrew had a short spell
of leave in the ‘Big Apple’. “After so
ABOVE RIGHT:
Weapons being
many years of blackout in the UK,
loaded onto we couldn’t believe the number of
Mosquito FBVI lights blazing away, especially in the
PZ446 of No 235 Empire State Building. One night
Squadron at Banff. we sought out a club where the
G. A. B. LORD
trumpeter and band-leader Harry
James was playing. At that time he
was married to our number-one
pin-up, the actress Betty Grable.
We spent more time scanning the
audience hoping to get a glimpse of
her than we did paying attention to
what was happening on stage.”
The return crossing was less
salubrious than the outward-bound
trip on the Queen Mary. “This time
we were on the RMS Aquitania,
in bunks on the promenade deck.
The fresh air cured any feeling of
seasickness experienced months
earlier in the cabin on Queen Mary
— during which gym shorts were
the order of the day — but we barely
ever took off our greatcoats on the
return trip.”
Once back in the UK, Ron was
posted to the Leuchars, Scotland-
based No 455 Squadron, RAAF in
December 1943, the unit having
just traded in its lumbering old
Handley Page Hampden TBI
torpedo bombers for Beaufighters.
“I did get one joyride in the last of
the Hampdens on the unit, and was
delighted to have arrived when they
were finally being pensioned off.”
Previously, it had been rare for
the Coastal Command Hampdens,
Bristol Beauforts and Blenheims to
be operated as a co-ordinated force,
resulting in predictably heavy losses
for little reward. But with the arrival
36 www.Key.Aero
of the pugnacious Bristol Hercules-
powered Beaufighter, new tactics
were devised and the concept of the
strike wing came into being, with
mass attacks by Beaufighters now
working as a group.
Over the years, Ron’s logbook
has gone missing, but the No 455
Squadron operations record book
for the spring of 1944 — available
courtesy of the National Archives
— states on 1 March, “The rearming
programme has been completed,
and the Sqn is now operational as a
Fighter Reconnaissance Sqn. From
now on 455 Sqn RAAF and 489 Sqn
RNZAF will become known as the
‘Leuchars Wing’ and will work in
“
Our role at
455 was to keep
the enemy gunners
”
quiet
conjunction with one another on
anti-shipping strikes off the Norge
coast”. The two squadrons were soon
dubbed the Anzac Strike Wing.
During the afternoon of 2 March
an inter-flight ‘Aussie Rules’ football
match was staged and considered to
be a great morale and team-building
success for the Antipodean and
British personnel. Although now
operational, the next few days saw
an intense period of training and
fighter affiliation exercises, including
the perfection of corkscrew evasion
tactics. Ron says, “No 489 Squadron
was tasked with flying torpedo-
equipped Beaufighters, and our role
at 455 was to provide covering fire
and keep the enemy gunners quiet.”
With crews now trained and
ready to fly at short notice against
anything that had been detected
along the north German and Dutch
coasts, at 15.00hrs on 6 March
eight Beaufighters from 455 took
off from Leuchars to escort four
‘Torbeaus’ from 489 on a ‘Rover’
patrol to the Norwegian coast. The
ORB recounts, “In the vicinity of
Egero sighted a convoy consisting
of ten merchant vessels. One 5000
tons, four 3000 tons, two 2000-2500
tons, and three smaller vessels,
escorted by four armed trawlers, four
Messerschmitt 109s and one Blohm
und Voss BV 138 seaplane. The four
489 Sqn ‘Torbeaus’ obtained two
hits, and the 455 Sqn Beaufighters
raked the ships with cannon fire
and observed numerous hits on
decks and superstructures of the
merchant and escort vessels. During
the engagement our aircraft were
subjected to heavy and light flak
from the ships and shore batteries.
One 455 Sqn Beaufighter was
holed in the empennage, but all
aircraft landed back at Leuchars at
approximately 1840 hours.”
Ron recalls, “On anti-shipping
missions, the flak would initially be
heavy, but the rate of fire soon tailed
off as the ships’ gunners began to
abandon their posts. Although I
never made any use of my flexible-
mount machine gun, I did have
some input on that side of things.
One of my duties was to operate four
floor-mounted levers to prime the
forward-firing 20mm cannon for the
pilot.”
Ron was promoted to flight
sergeant on 12 March, but on 4
April the Anzac Strike Wing was
withdrawn from operations and
moved to Langham, Norfolk, for
rocket projectile training and
transfer to No 16 Group to help
clear the English Channel of
enemy shipping prior to Operation
‘Overlord’. He recalls the station
commander at Langham: “He was
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
none other than Air Cdre Arthur
Clouston, who had been a record-
breaking and racing pilot during
the 1930s. He broke the England-
Cape Town record in 1937 in the de
Havilland DH88 Comet, G-ACSS.”
During 1944, the movement of
vital supplies and raw materials
for the German war effort —
including all-important iron ore
from Scandinavia — relied heavily
on convoy routes hugging the
Norwegian, Danish, Dutch and
north German coasts, where the
shipborne anti-aircraft defences
were augmented by coastal gun
batteries. With much of the overland
transport system in ruins following
the attentions of RAF and US Army
Air Forces bombers, it was up to
Coastal Command to keep the
Germans under the cosh at sea.
If a particularly important target
was in the frame, Beaufighters
from the North Coates and Strubby
wings in Lincolnshire would fly in
to Langham to create a ‘super wing’,
which would attack in two waves, the
first diving in firing rockets and guns
to silence the Kriegsmarine escort
ships, and the second aiming their
torpedoes at the merchant vessels.
As expected on such hazardous
work, losses were heavy, from enemy
fighters as well as flak, despite fighter
escort provided by Polish Spitfire IX
squadrons based at Coltishall.
At 18.30hrs on 19 April at
Langham, Ron Day and pilot Sqn
Ldr Albert Lloyd Wiggins DSO got
airborne in Beaufighter TFX NE773/
UB-C, one of four aircraft that took
off independently at 15-minute
intervals for a shipping recce patrol
along the Dutch coast. Three convoys
were sighted, comprising six ships,
two ships and 10 ships, and the
Beaufighters were soon subjected to
inaccurate flak from ships and shore
batteries. As a result of the sightings
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
made by Wiggins and Day, and
Plt Off Barbour and his navigator
Fg Off Dodd, other units attacked
the convoys with good results, the
squadron receiving congratulations
from the AOC No 16 Group. A month
later, NE773 crashed at Langham
during formation practice, killing
both crew members.
❖ we kept in touch, and after the war
Ron remembers, “Navigation was
largely dead-reckoning, with a drift
recorder in the back. At Langham the
Beaufighters were fitted with a Gee
radio navigation box which had to
be tuned into different signals from
the mainland, allowing me to plot
two converging lines and therefore
identify exactly where we were. It
was a good bit of kit. Most of the time
we were operating at very low level,
100-300ft, and sometimes down
at mast height. It required intense
concentration.”
One mission, on 25 May, was to
change Ron’s life forever, and in a
wholly unexpected way. Six ‘Beaus’
armed with two 250lb bombs and
six with cannon only departed at
04.00hrs on an anti-E-boat patrol
along the French coast. Ron explains,
“At 05.15hrs an order was received to
cancel the patrol, although we never ABOVE:
found out why. We all landed at A Banff Strike Wing
Warmwell, just north of Portland Bill, Mosquito attacking
shipping on 2 May
to be greeted by WAAFs, raised from 1945. After many
their beds to deliver mugs of tea to hours flying at low
the crews. One of them was a WAAF level over the sea,
controller, Clarice Griffin, who I had the wing’s navigators
known when she too had worked become proficient at
at County Hall, Taunton, before the judging wind speed
and direction from
war. Having re-established contact
the appearance of
the water’s surface.
got married. We were together for G. A. B. LORD
nearly 70 years, but if that mission
hadn’t been scrubbed…”
Regular targets were the
Sperrbrecher (minefield breakers)
minesweepers, converted from
merchant ships for their specialist
role, and mainly crewed by
merchant seamen. In excess of 200
of the 7,500-ton, 380ft vessels were
modified for the Kriegsmarine,
being fitted with heavy anti-
aircraft armament, some having a
flamethrower fitted at the mast head,
and others being equipped with the
additional defensive measure of
barrage balloons.
An armed recce over Cherbourg
was flown by 16 Anzac Beaufighters
on 4 May, and 24 May saw Ron
airborne at 04.00hrs in one of six
aircraft with one 250lb bomb
FAR LEFT:
Ron Day arrives at
the family home in
Lewis Road, Taunton
in June 1945 for his
homecoming party.
VIA KERIN AND SALLY OWEN
LEFT:
Ron and Clarice Day
during the 1950s.
While based at RAF
Warmwell, WAAF
radio operator
Clarice Griffin’s call
sign was ‘Ricky’, a
name she was to be
known by for the rest
of her life.
VIA KERIN AND SALLY OWEN
www.Key.Aero 37
WW2 HISTORY Coastal Command nav
RIGHT: under each wing for a patrol along
His logbooks having the French coast. From a personal
gone missing many perspective, Ron dismisses the
years ago, on 12
March 2022 Ron Day
‘Beau bomber’: “Attempts to turn
studies print-outs the ‘Beau’ into a dive-bomber never
of pages from the really worked for us in comparison
No 455 Squadron with rockets, which came in both
operations record armour-piercing and high-explosive
book from the varieties.”
spring and summer
of 1944. It was the
Late May and early June saw
first time he had several ‘first light’ patrols, complete
been reacquainted with fighter escort over the
with the names of Cherbourg peninsula, often carrying
some of his erstwhile an increased payload of two 500lb
companions for more bombs. On D-Day, 6 June Ron was
than 75 years.
KERIN OWEN
on leave, but he was back on ops
for a 10 June mission comprising
six Beaufighters that took off from
Langham at 02.30hrs carrying 500lb
bombs and flares over the peninsula.
Unusually, most of the entry for that
flight has been redacted in the ORB.
Mentions of Ron Day in the No
455 Squadron ORB then tail off, so
we must skip forward to the spring
of 1945, when Ron was with No 235
Squadron at Banff, Aberdeenshire,
having been posted to the unit the
BELOW: previous October. The squadron had
One of the two moved to what is now thought of as
salvaged Merlin the most illustrious of the Coastal
35 engines from Command strike bases in September
Mosquito RS505,
1944, four or five squadrons being
on temporary
display at the Nord- based at the coastal airfield at any
Østerdal Aircraft and one time, attacking iron ore-carrying
Military Historical vessels and their cargo which was
Society Museum destined for the steel mills and blast
in Tolga, southern furnaces of the Ruhr valley.
Norway. It is now
with the Collings
One of his three Mosquito
Foundation in Stow, missions from Banff was aborted,
Massachusetts for and another proved inconclusive,
incorporation in but on 11 April 1945 Ron’s luck
a static Mosquito finally ran out. A force of 35
restoration project Mosquitos from Nos 145, 235,
along with other
parts from RS505.
248 and 333 Squadrons took off
BENGT HERMANSSON VIA
at approximately 14.35hrs from
JAN FORSGREN Peterhead, the easternmost point of
38 www.Key.Aero
Scotland and the base for their No 19
Squadron escort of North American
Mustang IVs. The target was shipping
in Porsgrunn harbour, on the coast
of the municipality of Telemark in
south-east Norway. According to
Ron, “The formation was slightly off
course and we made a bad landfall.
With 30-plus aircraft we had to make
a turn, but our aeroplane was on
the inside of the formation, so my
pilot, Sydney-born Sqn Ldr Phil
Davenport, had to throttle back a bit,
which was not ideal. Someone then
shouted out that there were fighters
coming in, and we immediately felt
hits in the tail.”
❖ During my drive back home from
The Luftwaffe fighters, Rygge-
based Bf 109Gs and Fw 190s, had
made short work of two Mosquitos.
“The rudder and elevators had
been damaged, and Phil couldn’t
trim the aircraft properly, or gain
height. Glycol was streaming out of
one engine, and we were skimming
over the trees when Phil spotted
a lake — it turned out to be Lake
Langen — covered in broken ice.
Phil instructed me to jettison the top
hatch, as he was going to attempt to
put the aeroplane down on the ice.
It was 17.45 when we bellied onto
the unstable surface, and the aircraft
went down quickly. I was briefly
unconscious, and remember being
under the freezing water for a few
seconds before me and my lifejacket
popped up to the surface. Phil was
also trapped, but fortunately the
damaged cockpit started coming
apart as it sank and he floated out.”
The crew of the other Mosquito
to fall were not so lucky: Sub-Lt
J. W. Igoken and Sgt S. H. Engstrom
died when their No 333 Squadron
machine hit the ground. Ron
continues, “I had a nasty gash on the
back of my head and was bleeding
heavily. Fortunately, three local
crofters, Gunnar Holte, Per Grini
and Johannes Hegland had seen the
aeroplane come down, and paddled
out in a little boat to rescue us: they
definitely saved our lives.
“Back on dry land we dried off
and the crofters hid us in a nearby
house. They had connections with
the resistance, but the Germans
had also seen where the Mosquito
had come down and some soldiers
soon arrived and took us prisoner.
PoWs were usually transported to
Germany, but because of my injury
we were taken to a hospital in Oslo.
The Germans knew the war was
nearly over, so our expected move
to Germany never happened. I was
still in the Oslo hospital on VE-Day,
just wishing I could be in Britain for
the celebrations. Soon afterwards we
were repatriated to Halfpenny Green
in a Douglas Dakota.”
Following demobilisation, Ron
was offered a job back at County
Hall in Taunton, but chose instead to
become a sales rep for an agricultural
equipment firm serving the south-
west of England. After the marriage
to Clarice, the happy couple moved
to a house in Taunton which
they naturally named ‘Kismet’ in
recognition of that day in May 1944
when, for some still unknown reason,
the anti-E-boat patrol was scrubbed.
Seaton, participants in a Radio
4 discussion were debating the
merits and demerits of the principal
protagonists behind the fearful
situation the world finds itself in. It
now seems generally accepted that
the last world leader to have served
in combat during World War Two,
President George H. W. Bush, acted
with great care and foresight in his
refusal to embrace triumphalism
and eschew any form of victory
lap following the fall of the Soviet
Union. Perhaps his place in history
as the final statesman from that
conflict should tell us something.
What would we have done without
their combination of modesty and
grit? And where have we been
heading since the departure from
the world stage of those — from both
left and right — who had fought in
the last worldwide clash of arms
and somehow managed to thwart
others who had forgotten, wilfully or
otherwise, the lessons to be learned
from the first half of the 20th century?
It now seems a little trite to invoke
American journalist Tom Brokaw’s
well-worn ‘greatest generation’
appellation. But a future without
the likes of Ron Day in it now looks
like being more depressingly
directionless than ever.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 AA27206
Avro Vulcan B.2.
XM597, ‘Black Buck 6’,
Rio de Janerio divert, June 3 1982

£239.99
RRP

DE LTA
dive rs i o n !
THE FALKLANDS ‘BLACK BUCK’ RAID THAT TOOK AN AVRO VULCAN TO RIO DE JANEIRO
Avro Vulcan B.2 XM597 conducted the sixth ‘Black Buck’ raid against occupying Argentinian forces
on the Falkland Islands on June 3 1982. Successfully launching a strike against anti-aircraft radar
installations using AGM-45 ‘Shrike’ missiles, the aircraft’s return journey became an international incident
thanks to a broken refuelling probe, forcing the Vulcan to emergency divert to Rio de Janeiro Airport.
After days of impoundment XM597 and its crew were returned to the UK, and today the aircraft is
preserved at Scotland’s National Museum of Flight at East Fortune, East Lothian.

BAE SYSTEMS is a registered trade mark of BAE Systems plc.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AVIATION ARCHIVE AND INDEED THE ENTIRE CORGI COLLECTION,
CONTACT OUR SALES OFFICE NOW ON 01843 233 525 / SALES@HORNBY.COM
 US Air Mail

RIGHT:
Curtiss JN-4 38278,
pilot Lt Torrey Webb
and New York
postmaster Thomas
G. Patten at Long
Island’s Belmont
racetrack on 5
May 1918, prior to
Webb’s departure for
Philadelphia.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

WRITTEN
IN BLOOD
The safety record of the US Army Air Corps’ temporary operation of mail
services turned into a national scandal. But so was the situation that led to
the military stepping in WORDS: PETE LONDON

O
ABOVE: n 15 May 1918 the United
‘Inverted Jenny’, the States’ first scheduled
24-cent US postage air mail service began,
stamp first issued
linking Washington DC,
on 10 May 1918, on
which the image Philadelphia and New York City.
of Curtiss ‘Jenny’ Amid great civic ceremony and
38262 was printed watched by hundreds of dignitaries
upside-down in including President Woodrow
error. At auction Wilson, Curtiss JN-4HM ‘Jenny’
on 15 November
38262 and 2nd Lt George Boyle left
2018 a single stamp
achieved a hammer the capital’s Potomac Park polo
price of $1,350,000. ground with four bags of mail. In
place of its forward seat the machine
had received a compartment for its
novel load.
Alas, Boyle became lost and
landed to ask the way, but his mount
nosed over. More successfully,
meanwhile, Lt Torrey Webb
and ‘Jenny’ 38278 had taken off
from Belmont Park racetrack on
Long Island. Webb arrived safely
at Philadelphia’s intermediate
Bustleton Field near the railroad,
transferring his load to a third JN-4,
38274, which flew to Washington
piloted by 2nd Lt James Edgerton.
Under an agreement of March
1918 between the US Post Office
Department (POD) and the War
Department, initially US Army Air
Service aircraft and pilots undertook
all flying for the new operation.
There were no commercial flying
companies to contract with. By
August, acquiring its own pilots
and aircraft the POD had taken
over the air mail flights, initially
under Maj Reuben Fleet and
Capt Benjamin Lipsner, and later
Edgerton. Using often primitive and
isolated landing fields, and without
wireless or navigational aids apart
from landmarks (if visible), maps,
and sometimes dubious compasses,
the work was extremely dangerous.
During 1919 three air mail pilots
died in crashes, and nine more
followed in 1920.
Types serving the early routes
included the Curtiss JN-4HM and
R-4LM, the Standard JR-1B and
the Junkers-Larsen JL-6. The JL-6
was withdrawn after experiencing
several mid-air fires and forced
landings. The Martin Model MP, a
mail-carrying version of the MB-1

40 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022


bomber, was used briefly, but despite
impressive range and capacity was
deemed too costly to operate, and
required long runways. In any event,
four of the six examples crashed.
A large fleet of de Havilland
DH-4Bs and DH-4Ms was also
introduced. Cheap and plentiful
post-war, they were converted into
single-seaters, their mail stowed in
a watertight compartment created
from the forward cockpit space.
Estimates vary as to the number of
machines involved, but perhaps
over time nearly 200 served. Twenty
DH-4s were modified for the POD
by Lowe, Willard & Fowler of College
Point, New York to become the
J-2, also known as the Twin-DH.
With a faired-over nose and two
wing-mounted Liberty engines, the
J-2 held a greater mail load than
its single-engined cousin, but the
Twin-DH suffered serious vibration
problems, and after several crashes
was withdrawn.
Fostered by America’s huge
expanse, across the country more
airfields appeared as the network
grew. By 1924 a regular trans-
continental air mail service was
under way. Wireless communication
was introduced and weather
reporting improved, while airfields
received electric beacon lights
mounted on towers, as well as
boundary illumination. For the
aircraft, navigation and landing
lights, and luminescent instruments,
were adopted.
As commercial airlines too began
to emerge in America, Congress
resolved to privatise air mail
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
operations. Driven by Republican
senator M. Clyde Kelly, the February
1925 Air Mail Act was passed to
“encourage commercial aviation,
and to authorize the postmaster
general to contract for the mail
service”. The act set postal rates, and
allowed the POD to award air mail
contracts to the new airlines.
❖ profit-making. One operator
By the following year the original
carriage payment method had been
replaced by a scheme under which
the airlines were paid by the pound
weight for mail transported. Contract
Air Mail (CAM) routes came into
being, awarded via competitive
tendering to the “lowest responsible
bidder”. The bidding airlines were
required to agree to rules relating to
equipment, operation and financial
standing.
Commercial mail flights started LEFT:
during early 1926. On 15 February a William MacCracken,
Ford Air Transport 2-AT inaugurated then assistant
secretary of
the CAM route number 6 service commerce for
between Detroit and Cleveland, aeronautics, hands
while 1 April saw Florida Airways Santa Claus a pilot’s
launching the CAM 10 service licence — a rather
connecting Miami and Jacksonville, less controversial
using a Curtiss Lark. Five days later transfer of
documents than
a Varney Airlines J-4 Swallow with occurred when
chief pilot Leon Cuddeback flew the MacCracken, as a
487-mile CAM 5 route from Pasco to lawyer, allowed his
Elko. National Air Transport (NAT) airline clients to
began working CAM 3, Chicago- remove commercially
Dallas, on 12 May. sensitive documents
from his files.
By August 1927 the network was LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
entirely commercial, and eventually
34 CAM routes appeared. Types
which served included the Boeing
Model 40 and Model 80, Curtiss
Carrier Pigeon, Douglas M-2, M-3
and M-4, Fokker F.VIIa-3M, Ford
4-AT and 5-AT Trimotors, Hamilton
H-47, Pitcairn PA-5 and PA-7S,
Stinson Detroiter, and Travel Air
5000 and 6000. By 1929 more than
40 airlines were involved, though
many of them were small outfits run
on a shoestring and flying only short
stretches.
Since mail carriage paid better
than passenger work, some airlines
didn’t bother fitting cabin seats. Air
mail subsidies exceeded postage
charges, which encouraged dodgy
purchased thousands of Christmas
cards, price nine cents each inclusive
of postage, receiving 18 cents each
for carrying them on his routes.
Other enterprising airline owners
conveyed unnecessary but heavy
items including, apparently, engine BELOW:
parts, bricks and a cast-iron stove, for NAT’s Ford 5-AT-C
Trimotor NC427H,
which they got generous payments. with compartments
Many smaller operations were in its thick wing open
dependent on the margins from to receive their mail
subsidised rates. loads. VIA PETE LONDON
www.Key.Aero 41
 US Air Mail
ABOVE: With such a pioneering service,
Boeing 40 NC286 accidents were inevitable and some
of Boeing Air serious. But in a tough school, the
Transport served on
air mail pilots acquired the skills
the CAM 18 route,
which connected of long-distance and night flying
San Francisco — comparatively rare abilities at
and Chicago. In that time. They used leading-edge
November 1931 the navigational technology, and
machine crashed at became experienced in dealing with
Salt Lake City.
violent vagaries of weather.
VIA PETE LONDON
In 1929 too, under President
Herbert Hoover’s Republican
administration, Walter Folger Brown
assumed the powerful position of
postmaster general. Brown sought to
use the air mail service to encourage
the growth of a homogeneous
airline industry concentrating on
passenger transport. Examining the
existing system, he concluded it was
expensive, often wasteful and, since
different airlines sometimes served
different stretches of the same route,
time-consuming. The following year,
during the catastrophic economic
slump later known as the Great
Depression, Brown asked Congress
for authority to enact changes.
The journal Aviation opined
in January 1930, “The suspicion
that Postmaster General Brown is
inherently unfriendly to aviation,
and desirous of finding some secret
means of stifling the air mail, cannot
survive a careful reading [of his
address to the Cleveland Chamber
of Commerce on 14 January 1930]…
He has approached the [air mail]
problem as a business man… with
the desire to get it onto a common
sense business footing.”
42 www.Key.Aero
The resulting Air Mail Act of April
1930 was also known as the McNary-
Watres Act, after leading Republican
supporters Senators Charles McNary
and Laurence Watres. Rather than
carriage rates based on price per
pound per mile, the act introduced
pricing calculated on the space
available for mail carriage within the
airlines’ aeroplanes, whether or not
their actual loads filled that capacity.
Set fees for carriage prevented
junk mail and ‘heavy object’ antics.
It also stimulated the purchase of
newer, larger machines with greater
passenger accommodation, since
beyond the fixed
mail income for
“
each aircraft,
airlines could Hugo Black
increase revenue
by carrying more uncovered evidence
passengers.
But by late of ‘fraud and
1929, aviation
stocks were
collusion’
plummeting.
Some smaller
carriers were haemorrhaging money
and unable to cover operating costs.
The Air Mail Act gave Brown
enormous influence. He gained
authority to extend or consolidate
routes using solely his own
acuity. He could reject low-priced
submissions for operation of
new routes if he personally felt
the bidders lacked credibility.
He acquired the power to extend
existing air mail contracts to a
maximum of 10 years from the
original award date, and was thereby
able to preserve continuity of CAM
route operators if he wished, albeit
at the expense of stifling competition
and shutting out potential new
carriers. Under the act too, bidders
for air mail business had to have at
least six months’ experience of flying
routes of 400 miles or more, which
helped limit competitors to the more
substantial airlines favoured by the
postmaster general.
In mid-May 1930 Brown called a
series of meetings at his Washington
office. Where necessary, to change
the CAM network into more of a
passenger-orientated system, routes
would be reallocated to bigger
carriers with the most suitable
aircraft and best financial standing.
Indeed, by then America’s airline
industry was experiencing a period
of numerous and far-reaching
mergers and acquisitions. Many
smaller firms were absorbed by
bigger players, and a handful of
major airline holding companies
emerged.
To run his meetings Brown
appointed attorney William
Patterson MacCracken Jr. The former
assistant secretary of commerce
for aeronautics, MacCracken had
helped draft parts of the 1930 act
but resigned in October 1929. He
returned to private law practice,
continuing his involvement in
commercial aviation by representing
several carriers.
Brown gave the meetings little
publicity, inviting representatives
from only the larger airlines. On
19 May, delegates assembled from
the Aviation
Corporation,
Curtiss-Wright,
Eastern Air
Transport, Ford,
NAT, SAFE
Way, Pittsburgh
Aviation
”
Industries,
TAT-Maddux,
Thompson
Aeronautical,
United Aircraft, US Air Lines and
Western Air Express. The meetings
were later collectively dubbed by
detractors “the spoils conference”.
Attending some of the later
sessions, Col Lewis Brittin of
Northwest Airways observed, “To
avoid putting up air mail contracts
over these routes, to competitive
bidders, [Brown] has called the
principal passenger operators
together, and advised them that if
they could agree among themselves
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
on an equitable apportionment of
routes he would grant the air mail
contracts to extend [those] air mail
contracts of lines already carrying
air mail.
“This created immediately a
difficult situation as practically all
these passenger carrying lines are
[rivals and] extremely jealous of each
other. They realised, however, the
seriousness of putting these lines
up for [competitive] bids and are
anxious to work out an amicable
agreement among themselves. They
have been trying to do this for the
past two weeks.”
Finally, to move the talks on
Brown agreed to the concept of
some future competitive bidding
opportunities — nonetheless
subject to provision of huge bid
bonds by each contending airline
— and allowed the possibility of
downstream tendering from joint
bidders comprising two or more
airlines. Amid much horse-trading
and squabbling between the carriers,
the routes were finally apportioned.
Of the 27 air mail operations
contracts put out at that time, nearly
all went to three large airline holding
companies. As Brown had wished,
three transcontinental routes
were established with one airline
operating each, rather than chains of
different small carriers passing mail
and passengers between them.
Even through the merciless
economic situation, the large
carriers flourished. The cost to the
public of using air mail decreased,
while air mail route miles increased
from 15,000 in 1930 to 27,000 in
1932. Drawn from the remaining
affluent, passenger numbers rose
from 385,000 to 476,000 over the
same period. Numerous smaller
airlines withered, but not all of them
went quietly.
Ludington Line, later Ludington
Air Lines, flew a modest fleet of
Stinson SM-6000 and SM-6000B
tri-motors. In 1931 it had been
the first American carrier to make
a profit from transporting just
passengers, and by summer 1932
had carried its 100,000th traveller
between Washington and New
York. Commentators felt this
remarkable, since operators without
air mail contracts were commonly
considered doomed.
Perhaps Ludington’s executives
felt such early success was
unsustainable, for it soon sought air
mail work, competing for the route
extending CAM 25 (Miami-Atlanta)
to Newark. But even though its
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
tendered price was cut to the bone,
Ludington lost the contract. The
winner? Eastern Air Transport, the
incumbent CAM 25 operator, despite
its much higher submitted price.
Ludington bid 25 cents per mile,
Eastern 89 cents.
Ludington’s former vice-president
said later that had his company won
the work, subsequent profits could
have been three times that of the
first year. Meanwhile, Walter Brown
had been urging Eastern to acquire
Ludington, reported Time magazine
in its 27 February 1933 edition.
Negotiations dragged until Brown
had threatened to award Ludington
a contract unless Eastern absorbed
its small rival, which it duly did.
Ludington’s experience came to
the attention of Washington news
reporter Fulton Lewis Jr. Sensing
a scandal around the CAM 25
extension bid prices and award, he
took the story to newspaper magnate
William Randolph Hearst. Although
Hearst wouldn’t run it, Lewis was
encouraged to investigate further.
Lewis disliked Walter Brown for
personal reasons and pressed on,
but struggled to engage government
officials’ interest until he approached
Senator Hugo Lafayette Black, a
strong supporter of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and a prominent lawyer.
❖ to uncover evidence of, as he put
Herbert Hoover’s 1932
presidential campaign — run,
incidentally, by Brown — had been
dire, and FDR’s Democrats won
by a landslide. Black chaired the
newly created Senate committee on
ocean mail and air mail, concerned
with reducing subsidies to these
services in the face of continuing
economic severity. The subsidies
had already drawn criticism not
least from political opponents, being
portrayed as Hoover administration
pay-outs to cronies. Allegedly, too,
some insiders had been creaming
huge profits in aviation shares, a few
hundred dollars’ investment rapidly
increasing to millions. Brown’s
award of several CAM contract
extensions during Hoover’s final
weeks in office, despite opposition
from Congressional committees,
hadn’t helped matters. In any case,
with a change of President, in March
1933 a new postmaster general,
FDR’s former campaign manager
James Farley, was appointed.
Among its areas of investigation,
Black’s committee was authorised
to examine the possibility of altering
or cancelling existing air mail
contracts; to explore the salaries TOP:
paid to airlines’ officers, executives The Douglas Y1B-7
and employees; to enquire as to was, as the ‘Y’
designation denotes,
the financial status of corporations under evaluation
receiving federal subsidies; and to by the US Army Air
determine whether companies had Corps when it was
actively lobbied public officials for pressed into mail-
subsidies. In other words, drains up. carrying service.
Black’s examination soon began This example wears
an Air Mail Route 18
fuselage marking.
it, “fraud and collusion” between ALAMY
the previous administration and
the larger airlines and holding ABOVE:
companies. He warned J. Edgar An envelope carried
Hoover, director of the then Bureau by the Army Air
Corps stamped 19
of Investigation, of “a conspiracy February 1934, the
to defraud the government”. The date of the AACMO’s
situation was soon on the streets. first flight covering
Newspapers splashed episodes of route number 4.
small carriers blocked from CAM
bidding, and claims of cosy, discreet
business arrangements between the
POD and various airlines.
Meanwhile, William MacCracken
had refused to answer Black’s
questions on how air mail contracts
and extensions had been awarded,
and failed to appear before a Senate
hearing convened to examine his
role. He’d also allowed his airline
clients to remove commercially
sensitive documents from his
personal files and, it followed, from
the danger of Black’s prying eyes,
arguing some papers were protected
by attorney-client privilege.
The committee concluded
MacCracken had behaved
improperly, as a lobbyist. He was
found to have acted in contempt of
Congress for attempting to destroy
www.Key.Aero 43
 US Air Mail
ABOVE: subpoenaed materials, and was
An Army Air Corps sentenced to 10 days’ imprisonment.
Y1B-7 at the Elko, MacCracken appealed but
Nevada air mail
eventually served his time, a brief
station. During the
corps’ 1934 air mail but symbolic punishment.
interlude, both the Walter Brown, accused of
Y1B-7 and the similar favouritism and collusion with the
O-35 were pressed larger airlines, asserted vehemently
into service. that he’d acted in the public interest
VIA PETE LONDON
to create a strong, integrated airline
system with improved passenger
services and reduced air mail
charges. Absorption of small,
uneconomic lines by large carriers
was, Brown believed, inevitable,
and it wasn’t the government’s job
to prop up unviable businesses. His
methods certainly helped facilitate
the airlines’ consolidation, and
encouraged the growth of American
commercial aviation.
However, the Senate committee
highlighted Brown’s non-
competitive stance. Although he’d
acted within the law, his castigators
criticised his practices as high-
handed and discriminating. Brown
had also denied knowledge of
missing documents sought by
the investigation, though he later
unearthed them from among his
personal papers.
It emerged too that some carriers
had entertained government
officials, given jobs or loans to postal
employees, or hired politicians’
relatives as consultants, all on
Brown’s watch. At a time of raging
impoverishment for many, some
airline stock-holders had made
millions while their companies
received federal subsidies.
44 www.Key.Aero
Roosevelt, it seemed, had a golden
opportunity to demonstrate his
firm resolve in stopping the rot,
while at the same time lamping
his Republican opponents. On 10
February 1934 the Washington
Post reported, “Charging fraud
and collusion, President Roosevelt
yesterday directed the cancellation
of all air mail contracts with
domestic companies — thus
reshaping if not collapsing the
nation’s network of private [air]
transport concerns.”
“
Dozens of
accidents occurred
during AACMO's
”
operation
The airlines reacted with fury,
many facing the possibility of radical
downsizing or even closure, but to
no avail. On 9 February, Secretary of
War George Henry Dern had stated
that instead, the Army Air Corps
would step in if required. Harlee
Branch, second assistant postmaster
general, asked the corps’ chief, Maj
Gen Benjamin Foulois, if it would
fly the mail until rehabilitated
commercial networks could be
established.
It seems Foulois took little or no
advice on the corps’ capacity to step
in, answering that air mail-carrying
operations could begin in “a week to
ten days”. Foulois’ senior, army chief
of staff Gen Douglas MacArthur, told
the newshounds, “We will start flying
air mail… and there will be no delay,
no difficulty and no interruption.”
Of his airmen Foulois said, “[they
have] a great deal of experience in
flying at night, and in flying in fogs
and bad weather, in blind flying, and
in flying in all other conditions…
[they will] experience no difficulty in
maintaining the regular schedules”.
Brig Gen Oscar Westover, assistant to
Foulois, was appointed to command
the new set-up, which was dubbed
the Army Air Corps Mail Operation
(AACMO). But grave doubts quickly
emerged regarding the adequacy
of the pilots’ training, and their
aeroplanes’ lack of equipment
essential for the new role.
Among the critics were Charles
Lindbergh, who prior to his trans-
Atlantic crossing had flown the
CAM 2 route between St Louis
and Chicago. The New York Times
quoted him: “…the lives of men
inexperienced in mail operations,
and flying planes not equipped with
radio or the blind flying instruments
necessary for the service, may be
risked”. First World War ace Eddie
Rickenbacker told the newspapers,
“Legalised murder has just begun”, a
phrase circulated by an increasingly
censorious press, and continued, “I
fear the worst.”
Indeed, Foulois’ optimism was
terribly misplaced. The air corps was
unprepared for its task. Just three
days before the operation began,
on 16 February three men were
killed in two separate air accidents
while still training for their new role.
Despite Foulois’ claims, of the 250
or so pilots posted to the AACMO
most had limited flying experience,
and generally only in good weather.
Though it was known that many mail
flights would be made after dark, few
men were skilled at night-time or
instrument flying techniques.
Funding was slow, and while some
wirelesses and directional gyros
arrived the corps’ mechanics did
not have wide expertise in installing
them. AACMO aircraft frequently
worked without navigation,
landing or cockpit lights, while
along the mail routes victualling
and accommodation for pilots and
ground crews was inadequate.
Among the available types were
single-seat pursuit aircraft such as
the Boeing P-12, capable of carrying
only 50lb of mail in a small container
aft of the cockpit, which made it
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
tail-heavy. Douglas O-25 and O-38
observation biplanes had their rear
cockpits converted to take around
160lb. Keystone B-6 bombers could
transport 1,100lb but were very slow.
Douglas Y1B-7s and the almost
identical O-35 were pressed into
service. The Curtiss Shrike carried
400lb, while Martin YB-10 bombers
arrived with an 1,100lb capacity, but
both types were new and unfamiliar
to the pilots.
The worst winter in decades
saw bitter temperatures, frequent
heavy snows and high winds across
numerous routes. Nonetheless,
on 19 February the new service
began. Three days later Lt Durwood
Lowry was killed in Curtiss O-39
32-216, crashing way off course in a
snowstorm near Deshler, Ohio while
flying from Chicago to Cleveland. Lt
Frederick Patrick, en route to air mail
duty, died in the forced landing of
his P-26 following a throttle failure.
The following day a Douglas OA-4A
amphibian ferrying mail pilots went
down off New York and a passenger
drowned. In just one week, six
servicemen had perished.
❖ New, temporary commercial air
Dozens of accidents occurred
during AACMO’s operation, and
9 March was another terrible day.
Four personnel — three pilots and a
mechanic — died in crashes in Ohio,
Florida and Wyoming. Amid a huge
outcry from the press, the public,
and prominent individuals from
aviation and politics, Republican
congresswoman Edith Nourse
Rogers said, “The [AACMO’s] story…
will be written in blood on the record
of the Roosevelt administration.”
On 10 March, seeing clear political
danger, Roosevelt roasted Foulois
and MacArthur. Foulois said later,
“There was no doubt that what
bothered Roosevelt the most was the
severe criticism his administration
was getting over the [February
1934] contract cancellation. He
did not seem […] concerned or […]
interested in the difficulties the
Air Corps was having”. Roosevelt
insisted to Secretary of War Dern
that the AACMO should operate
only “on such routes, under such
weather conditions, and under
such equipment and personnel
conditions as will ensure […]
against constant recurrence of fatal
accidents.”
Dern passed responsibility
for such decisions to Foulois,
making it clear that if there were
further accidents Foulois would
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
be censured. The AACMO cut its
routes and the number of night
flights; the least experienced pilots
were forbidden to fly at night
unless conditions were good; and
fortuitously the weather improved.
The accident rate fell, though more
airmen were killed.
Despite the loss of life, most of the
mail was delivered. But Roosevelt
and Farley agreed that, longer-
term, there was very little choice
but to return to the airlines. On
28 March the POD began a new,
competitive, bidding process for
the air mail routes. Those airlines
whose contracts had previously been
cancelled were forbidden to take
part, but dodged that problem by
changing their names, and purging
individuals identified as caught up in
the former arrangements.
The AACMO flew its final service
on 1 June, between Chicago and
Fargo. Altogether 12 AACMO men
had died, that year’s casualties for
the entire air corps amounting to A commission was established to ABOVE:
54 deaths from flying accidents make recommendations to Congress Political cartoon of
compared with 46 in 1933 and 47 in on the development of a national 1934 from the Aero
Digest magazine
1935. But the AACMO’s losses had aviation policy. showing postmaster
been very much in the public eye. Several airlines, maintaining general James Farley
they had been unfairly treated, later and Roosevelt,
mail contracts went to essentially sued the government. In 1941, the together with the
the same airlines that had previously Court of Claims concluded there skeletons of 12 Army
flown the routes — unsurprising if had been no impropriety in the Air Corps pilots who
died while flying the
ironic. A new Air Mail Act came into methods under which the POD had mail that year.
force on 12 June 1934. It made the awarded the 1930 air mail contracts.
temporary contracts permanent, During the following year the final
awarded for an initial period of lawsuit between the airlines and
one year; it reduced air mail rates; the government was concluded,
it set out airline routes, schedules the government compensating the
and payments; and it allowed the airlines for the estimated revenue
commerce secretary to stipulate the they’d lost during the AACMO
speeds and loads of the aircraft used. episode.
Air Corps Douglas O-38B 31-435, flown by Lt
Arthur Lahman (sometimes, Lehman), following
a dead-stick landing attempt at Newark, New
Jersey on 15 April 1934 while serving with the
military’s interim air mail service. VIA PETE LONDON
www.Key.Aero 45
 ANT-25 record

GREY
AREA
When the Soviet Union, with the Tupolev ANT-25, set a new world
distance record in 1937, The Aeroplane’s editor C. G. Grey felt the whole
thing was a fix, said so in print, and nearly caused an international
incident. The record stood — but was he right? WORDS: MATTHEW WILLIS

A crowd gathers in a field near San Jacinto,

California, on 14 July 1937 to view the
Tupolev ANT-25 flown by Mikhail Gromov,
Andrei Yumashev and Sergei Danilin after its
record-breaking flight. UCLA LIBRARY

46 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

I
n July 1937 a single-engined
monoplane, its unusually long
and slender wings shining bright
red in the California sun, touched
down in a pasture a little outside San
Jacinto, 62 hours 17 minutes after
taking off from Moscow. The three
men who emerged from the Tupolev
ANT-25 were soon overwhelmed by
the joyous reception they received.
Hundreds of journalists jostled for
a word and a photograph. They
were feted on a tour of the United
States and invited to meet President
Roosevelt. Understandably so, for
they had smashed the existing world
distance record, on only the second
intercontinental flight across the
North Pole. It showed the still-young
USSR in a new light, and promised
to smooth the way for a better
relationship with western nations.
There was only one problem with
this achievement, according to C. G.
Grey, then editor of the weekly The
Aeroplane. It was fake.
In a searing succession of
editorials, Grey denied the ANT-25
was capable of such endurance
and range, and insisted the Central
Aviation Club of the USSR could not
be trusted not to cheat. And what
was more, he could prove it. Grey
was determined to do everything in
his power to ensure the record did
not stand.
The ensuing controversy
threatened to disrupt a thaw in
the frosty relationship between
the USSR and western countries.
It caused serious annoyance to a
Soviet Union striving to use aviation
for diplomacy and international
prestige. It had the potential to
embarrass the USA, which had
extravagantly celebrated the three
airmen’s feat, and the President,
who had entertained them at
the White House. Nor would
the Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale, the governing body
for air sports and records, and the
Royal Aero Club be seen in the best
light. It seemed Grey was a lone
voice speaking against the forces of
officialdom — which was exactly
how he liked it.
Grey first questioned the
legitimacy of the record in an
editorial shortly after the record-
setting flight. This was followed
up in the 8 September 1937 issue,
with mathematical calculations
indicating the ANT-25 was incapable
of covering the distance attributed
to it — 6,305.7 miles ‘point-to-point’
— or the duration in the air. He went
all-out to persuade the Royal Aero
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
Club to object to the Russian record.
The Aeroplane’s efforts redoubled
when the record was homologated
in early November, and limited time
remained in which a protest could
be registered. The claimed record
was “ridiculous”. Grey insisted The
Aeroplane had, “Proved that the
whole thing could be nothing more
than a Flight of Fancy.”
To read the publication’s
editorials of 1937, one could
imagine the world distance record
set by Mikhail Gromov, Andrei
Yumashev and Sergei Danilin had
come completely out of left-field. In
fact, it was the culmination of many
“
C. G. Grey
denied the ANT-25
was capable of such
”
endurance
years of trial, experimentation and
exploration in the sciences of long-
distance flight and polar aviation.
The USSR’s interest in flying in
far northern regions was kindled
in 1928, when it provided two
aeroplanes to assist in the search for
survivors from the airship Italia after
it crashed on the polar ice. Further
exploratory flights and high-profile
rescue missions using aircraft soon
followed.
At the same time, the
establishment of aerial links to other
parts of the world was an increasing
priority for the Soviet government as
it began to look outward, and long-
distance flights were an obvious
means of signalling that intent. ABOVE:
A Tupolev TB-1 named Strana C. G. Grey, editor
Sovyetov (‘Land of the Soviets’) flew of The Aeroplane,
stoked much
from Moscow to New York in stages controversy by
during 1929. However, the idea of questioning the
non-stop long-distance flights does ANT-25’s record,
not seem to have arisen until 1931. not least in the 8
The perfume magnate François September 1937
Coty sponsored several French edition. AEROPLANE
attempts on the world distance
record in the 1920s and ’30s,
commissioning aircraft from
numerous manufacturers. One
of these was the Dewoitine D33,
named Trait d’Union (‘Hyphen’),
which set a closed-circuit record
in June 1931. The following month,
pilots Joseph Le Brix and Marcel
Doret attempted a straight-line
record in a flight from Paris to Tokyo.
The engine failed due to extreme
cold above the Siberian forest, and
Doret force-landed the aircraft.
Despite the wings being torn off by
trees, the airframe was left mostly
intact. The same crew attempted a
repeat flight with a second D33 in
September that year. Once again due
to mechanical difficulties, it crashed
in the USSR.
This may have inspired Soviet
authorities to create their own
aircraft capable of carrying out
record-breaking endurance
flights. The initial expression of
interest was made at some point
in 1931 — Andrei Tupolev claimed
Stalin himself requested it — and
Tupolev’s formal response was
approved in December. Two aircraft
to be designated ANT-25, denoting
the 25th aircraft designed by Andrei
Nikolaevich Tupolev, were to be
constructed.
It seems likely that Tupolev was
able to examine the crashed French
aircraft, and this may have
www.Key.Aero 47
 ANT-25 record
RIGHT: informed his thinking. Certainly
From left to right, the ANT-25 bore some similarity
aircraft designer to the Dewoitine, not least in its
Andrei Tupolev
and ANT-25-1 crew
general configuration: a low-wing,
members Alexander cantilever monoplane of all-metal
Belyakov, Valery construction. This is notable as
Chkalov and Georgiy no other recent aircraft developed
Baidokov before the specifically for long-distance flight
flight from Moscow to shared that form or structure. C. G.
Udd Island. ALAMY
Grey considered the ANT-25 to be,
“Rather a bad copy of the French
‘Trait d’Union’”, though in reality
there were significant differences in
structure and layout.
Mikhail Gromov was then
Tupolev’s chief test pilot, and
recalled the process the designer
went through to create a potentially
record-breaking aircraft. “Andrei
Nikolaevich agreed to try to count
and think. And there was a lot to
think about! Which engine — its
weight, fuel consumption… What
role does the weight of the structure
play… What should be the most
advantageous ‘lambda’ (the ratio of
the wing length to its width)… What
should be the length of the runway…
What is the allowable rate of climb
at the beginning of the climb
(immediately after take-off ) with
BELOW: full flight weight… It was necessary
Probably a composite to provide for a lot of things on
image of the
ANT-25-1 in flight,
it, which were not at all on other
showing well its more aircraft.”
than 111ft wingspan. The initial design goal was for a
ALAMY staggeringly ambitious 13,000km
48 www.Key.Aero
range, almost 5,000km in excess of
the record when the aircraft was
conceived. A great deal of thought
and attention to detail went into the
new machine, and the practicalities
for the crew on flights that might
last up to three days. “Andrei
Nikolaevich consulted with me a
lot”, Gromov said. He and Tupolev
worked with a doctor from the air
force’s Central Psychophysiological
Laboratory to ensure the aircraft’s
environment had the best possible
psychological effect on the crew.
The engine chosen was the
proven but modern Mikulin M-34
liquid-cooled V12, and much
effort was expended to give it the
appropriate fuel economy for a
flight of unprecedented duration.
“Very often I watched the operation
of the motor when it was still on the
bench”, Gromov reported. “It was
especially interesting when it passed
the 100-hour control tests on a very
lean mixture of fuel. The maximum
stage of depletion was then
determined by the yellowish tint of
the exhaust gases emitted from the
nozzles. Later, a special device was
installed on the aircraft to determine
the degree of depletion of the
mixture”. To guarantee the necessary
reliability and performance in a
single-engined machine, a special
short run of engines was built to
extremely fine tolerances.
On 22 June 1933, Gromov took
the ANT-25-1 into the air for the
first time. An intensive programme
of test-flying ensued, joined by
the second aircraft in September.
Initial results were not in line with
Tupolev’s ambitious aspirations. An
initial proving flight on a Moscow-
Sevastopol circuit indicated that the
aircraft would not exceed 11,000km.
The culprit was the corrugated wing
and tail surfaces increasing the drag
coefficient.
Test flights were suspended
and a determined programme of
drag reduction instigated, fairing-
in the troughs in the corrugated
surface with balsa, and skinning
the surface with fabric which was
then lacquered and polished to
the greatest possible smoothness.
Gromov noted, “A.A. Mikulin made
significant changes to his AM-34
engine, increasing the compression
in the working chamber of the
engine cylinders and making a
gear transmission to the propeller.
The engine power increased to
960hp, and the efficiency of the
propeller increased significantly.
All this, taken together, significantly
improved the quality of the aircraft
as a whole, and its range increased
greatly”. The all-metal airscrew with
ground-adjustable pitch was fitted
with a de-icing mechanism in the
form of an alcohol spray. A special
camera was developed to measure
the rate of climb after take-off, and
a “special device” calculated fuel
consumption at different altitudes
and loadings.
❖
In the summer of 1934, test
flights resumed, with the airframe
and engine steadily tuned, and by
autumn Gromov felt the ANT-25
was fit to tackle a run at the world
record. A special inclined runway
was constructed at Monino,
near Moscow, which according
to Gromov cost more than the
aircraft itself. Yakov Alksnis, the
head of the air force, established
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
a complex ground organisation to
support record flights with real-time
meteorological information along
the route.
The first attempt, on a Moscow-
Ryazan-Tula-Moscow circuit, was
made in early September 1934. This
failed due to an ill-running engine,
and a second try a few days later was
curtailed thanks to problems with
the fuel supply. Undaunted, a team
of engineers made modifications
and repairs and a third go took
place on 10 September. This time
all went well. The weather was
initially excellent, and the aircraft
ran perfectly, reportedly remaining
in the air for 72 hours and covering a
distance of 12,411km.
This was well in advance of the
existing record, but it was not
recognised internationally. The
USSR did not have an aero club
affiliated to the FAI, and therefore
any records it set could not be
ratified. And even if the nation had
been eligible for its records to be
recognised, Gromov had taken off
from Monino but landed at Kharkiv
in Ukraine — to set official closed-
circuit records, the aircraft had to
land at the same location it had
taken off from. In 1935, the Central
Aviation Club of the USSR was
established and affiliated to the FAI.
Any future flights would at least have
the chance of recognition.
Meanwhile, there had been
much consideration of possible
destinations for future record
attempts. It happened that the
shortest route to the USA was across
the northern polar regions. This
would take advantage of the USSR’s
already prodigious knowledge of
polar flying. But a flight in that
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
direction was also politically
expedient. According to journalist
L. Brontman, earlier proposals for
long-distance flights had included
one to the south-west, across
Europe and the Atlantic, ending in
Brazil or French Guyana. Gromov
favoured these options as they were
preferable from the perspective of
the prevailing winds and conditions
— the weather in the polar regions
could be unpredictable and
sometimes vicious, with headwinds
and crosswinds typical in the
summer months. Unfortunately,
both prospective destination
“
The ANT-25 had
spent days aloft in
challenging Arctic
”
conditions
countries refused permission for the
Soviet aircraft to land. The reality
was that options were limited, and
the trans-polar flight seemed to offer
the best combination of prestige and
expediency.
Over the winter, preparations
were made. Perhaps surprisingly,
Gromov was not chosen to be the
main pilot, this role instead being
taken by Sigizmund Levanevsky.
This made practical and political
sense — the Polish-born Levanevsky
had experience of polar flights
and was famous in the USA for his
involvement in the rescues of James
Mattern and the survivors of the
wrecked ice-breaker Chelyuskin.
The flight was attempted in May ABOVE:
1935, with the second ANT-25, but The first ANT-25, the
Levanevsky aborted it due to an oil -1 aircraft, undergoes
a ground run. ALAMY
leak, and later denigrated Tupolev
and the aircraft, refusing to fly it
again. Levanevsky’s co-pilot Georgiy
Baidokov recruited the dashing
Valery Chkalov to make the next
attempt, but confidence in the polar
crossing had been knocked, and
Stalin requested a route remaining
within the bounds of the USSR.
In July 1936 Chkalov piloted the
ANT-25 on an odyssey north
over the Barents Sea, then east to
Kamchatka and finally south to the
Sea of Othosk where icy conditions
compelled him to make a forced
landing on Udd Island. The 56-hour
flight covered 9,374km (5,825 miles),
once again in excess of the existing
record, which then stood at 9,105km
(5,685 miles) but it was recognised
only as a domestic record, as the
straight-line distance between
Monino and Udd Island was only
just over 6,000km.
The ANT-25 had proved itself,
though, including spending
days aloft in challenging Arctic
conditions. A trans-polar flight
was approved, with Chkalov
again as lead pilot. In June 1937,
the second ANT-25 successfully
crossed the polar regions in a flight
from Moscow to the USA, landing
at Pearson Field, Vancouver,
Washington. It was the first point-
to-point flight across the North Pole,
and the first intercontinental flight
via the pole. The voyage was hailed
as a great success, and Chkalov
and his crew became overnight
celebrities.
But once again, the world record
remained elusive. While the
www.Key.Aero 49
 ANT-25 record
ABOVE: ANT-25-2 had been airborne for
The ANT-25-2 makes more than 63 hours and covered
it, having added 9,130km in total, the straight-line
more than 1,000km
to the existing world
distance of 8,504km fell short. This
distance record. ALAMY brought Gromov and the ANT-25-1
back into the game, with his own
effort that had been scheduled for
three weeks later. After the blaze
of publicity that had met Chkalov,
it seemed likely the second flight
would be a damp squib. “This
altered the situation somewhat”,
Gromov wrote. “It was no longer
enough to fly to any point in the
USA. It must now be our purpose to
confirm not only the possibility of
a trans-polar air route, but to attain
the maximum distance of such a
flight.”
Gromov’s crew did whatever they
could to improve their chances.
Extraneous weight was removed,
including rubber flotation bags
RIGHT:
What pilot Gromov
called a “large,
although rather
uneven field” near
San Jacinto provided
the ANT-25’s landing
ground in North
America. UCLA LIBRARY
50 www.Key.Aero
intended to keep the aircraft afloat
in the event of ditching at sea. They
also cut emergency rations from
two months to six weeks. Gromov
elected to carry another 500kg of
fuel, even though it would make the
take-off marginal.
❖ 1,000km over the old one. As we
They departed early in the
morning of 12 July, barely clearing
the end of the runway. “Never have
I had to make so difficult a take-off ”,
Gromov recalled. They passed over
the North Pole at 03.14hrs on 13
July, and while navigation was tricky
due to the almost constant overcast,
radio bearings from ground stations
set up along the way helped keep
the ANT-25 on course. Ice was
encountered on several occasions,
and the only way to avoid it building
up catastrophically on the flying
surfaces was to change altitude to
a height where it would clear. On
crossing the Polar Sea, Gromov
noted passing over Canadian
tundra and forest before reaching
the Rockies, and heading down
the Pacific coast. Approaching San
Francisco, Gromov stated there was
plenty of fuel left, so they pressed
on. By this time, the record was
firmly broken.
The ANT-25 reached the Mexican
border, and though Gromov
apparently had permission, he
elected not to pass into Mexican
airspace and sought to find
somewhere to land in the US.
But, “The flying fields in the
southernmost part of California
and the whole strip, thirty miles
wide, between coast and mountains
were covered by morning mist... We
selected the only large, although
rather uneven field, in this semi-
wilderness, and 62 hours and 17
minutes after the take-off in Moscow
we made a successful landing some
three miles from San Jacinto.”
A new record had finally been
established after many years of
trying, of 10,148.5km — more than
have seen, the news was met with
incredulity in the Piccadilly offices
of The Aeroplane.
If an FAI-affiliated aero club raised
an objection within three months
of a new record’s homologation,
providing incontrovertible evidence
that the criteria for a record had not
been met, it could be nullified. On
7 November 1937, after the record
was homologated, Grey entitled a
section of his editorial ‘The Case for
an Objection’, asserting, “Whoever
attacks the alleged record will have
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
just that much farther to go —
unless the Russian claim is upset
by an objection from some other
country”. Using new figures on the
ANT-25 from the US, and a recent
report from the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA),
he claimed The Aeroplane could
make such a case.
NACA technical note 592, A Study
responded publicly to The
Aeroplane’s challenge in the
Soviet magazine Samolet — which
translates, fittingly enough, as
‘Aeroplane’ — suggesting Grey
had made numerous errors and
false assumptions in his editorials.
The estimates of the ANT-25’s fuel
124.3mph shortly after take-off,
by the end of the flight the lower
weight allowed a reduction in speed
to 102.5mph, and an increase in
altitude to 20,000ft. This meant
the aircraft’s average power, and
consequently fuel consumption,
was significantly less than The
Aeroplane had claimed. Indeed, the
NACA technical note bears out this

of the Factors Affecting the Range
of Airplanes, was written by David
Biermann (later a noted expert in
propeller design) and published
in February 1937. It aimed to
quantify “the most important factors
“
technique, and its calculations are
Grey stated that consistent with those claimed for
the trans-polar flight.
the ANT-25 could The Royal Aero Club established
have landed and a committee to look into Grey’s
claims, and rejected them, telling

affecting the range of airplanes”, and
to suggest how best to balance these
factors in the design of practical
long-range aircraft.
Using NACA’s mathematics, Grey’s
editorial stated that the Soviets’
claimed 62-hour, 6,305-mile flight
was impossible, that the ANT-25
was incapable of remaining aloft for
more than 47.2 hours, and could not
have covered more than 5,150 miles
in the conditions experienced by
Gromov’s crew: “The consumption,
the speeds, the drags and the
petrol carried are all checked and
incontestable for this flight. So
obviously the 61 hours’ duration
[sic] is ridiculous.”
But the ANT-25 unquestionably
took off from Monino at 04.22
Moscow time on 12 July and landed
near San Jacinto at 06.25 local time
on 14 July. How did Grey account
for this? Simple. The ANT-25 could
have landed on Rudolf Island, the
northernmost point in the USSR,
and refuelled, he stated.
The assertion generated a flurry
of correspondence. The Royal
Aero Club, which had recognised
the Soviet record, requested that
the magazine provide further
information. Grey took up
objections from a correspondent in
the following issue, who pointed out
that the fuel tanks had seals placed
on them, and a sealed barograph
was carried for later examination.
“That is too easy”, Grey countered.
“The seals and the barograph itself
are supplied by the national Aero
Club of the country to which the
potential record breaker belongs.
An Aero Club in the sense in which
the phrase would be used in this
country could not exist in Russia.
So quite evidently the barograph
and the seals and all the rest were
supplied by Russian government
officials.”
M. Krivisky, chief sports
commissioner of the CAC,
”
refuelled him, “The Russians have fulfilled
all the provisions of the FAI sports
code for this record and provided
capacity, fuel consumption, drag proper documentation confirming
and speed were wrong, according their implementation of these rules,
to Krivisky, who pointed out that [and] the committee believes that
The Aeroplane had failed to take the FAI did quite right to witness the
into account the effect of the aircraft Russians’ record”. The FAI retained
lightening as the fuel gradually the record, awarding Gromov and
burned off. Indeed, while the his crew the De La Vaux Medal
estimate of 129mph was not too for exceptional achievements in
far off the CAC’s quoted speed of endurance flying.
LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS
The Aeroplane’s calculations versus the Central Aero Club figures
POWER CALCULATED BY SPEED
The Aeroplane CAC
Average 129mph = 85.5 per cent max speed Average 113mph = 75.3 per cent max speed =
(150mph) = 62.5 per cent max power = 594hp 46.6 per cent of engine power = 443hp
DRAG
The Aeroplane CAC
Average drag = median weight (17,997lb)/ Average drag = median weight (17,997lb)/quoted
theoretical L/D at 129mph (12.6) = 1,430lb L/D at 113mph (17) = 1,058lb
AVERAGE POWER CALCULATED BY EFFICIENCY
The Aeroplane CAC
Drag (1,430lb) x speed (129mph)/airscrew Drag (1,058lb) x speed (113mph)/(airscrew
efficiency (0.825) x 375 = 595hp efficiency (0.791) x 375) = 403hp
FUEL CONSUMPTION
The Aeroplane CAC
Specific consumption = 0.47lb per bhp-hour x Specific consumption = 0.44lb per bhp-hour x
594hp = 274lb per hour 443hp = 195lb per hour
Total consumption for 62 hours’ flight (from Total consumption for 62 hours’ flight (from
above values) = 16,988lb above values) = 12,085lb
FLIGHT TIME
The Aeroplane CAC
Total fuel load in lb (13,000)/average Total fuel load in lb (13,448)/average
consumption in lb/hr (274) = maximum flight consumption in lb/hr (195) = maximum flight time
time = 47.2 hours = 68.9 hours
MAXIMUM RANGE
The Aeroplane CAC
Still air = 6,100 miles Still air = 7,400 miles
Average 20mph headwind = 5,150 miles Average 20mph headwind = 6,200 miles

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 51

 ANT-25 record
ABOVE: Accusations of conspiracies aside,
Danilin, Yumashev, do The Aeroplane’s calculations hold
Gromov and water? And is the CAC’s response
Soviet embassy
official Konstantin
credible?
Umansky leave the On the one hand, The Aeroplane’s
White House after mathematics stack up. Although
their meeting with a number of the figures used are
President Franklin D. incorrect, in some cases they give
Roosevelt. too much credit to the ANT-25, such
VIA MATTHEW WILLIS
as propeller efficiency and total
distance covered. The calculations,
in themselves, work.
Yet they do not prove what Grey
had claimed in print. Essentially,
they confirm only one possibility
for the aircraft travelling from
Moscow to San Jacinto, not the
only possibility. The assertion
that the ANT-25 could not remain
airborne for more than 47.2 hours
is predicated on a 129mph average
speed, which all experience of the
aircraft shows was far too high. If it
was able to fly closer to the speed
that gave the best lift/drag ratio,
the power required and thus fuel
consumption fell dramatically.
To ensure a result that fitted the
known facts with an average air
speed of 129mph, it was necessary
for The Aeroplane’s statisticians to
assume average 20mph headwinds
for the entire flight, leading an
increase in air speed to compensate.
This is scarcely credible for a flight
covering more than 6,000 miles and
lasting three days. Certainly the
available accounts of the flight do
52 www.Key.Aero
not back up any suggestion of such
consistent headwinds. It is possible
that The Aeroplane misconstrued
reports that headwinds or
crosswinds were encountered
throughout the polar region, but
this did not extend to the portions
of the flight that took place over the
Russian and American landmasses.
Indeed, a study of prevailing
winds at that time of year indicates
a consistent tailwind could be
expected most of the way down the
Pacific coast.
“
It does not seem
ridiculous that it
could have carried
”
out the flight
Moreover, Grey admitted that in
conditions of still air, the ANT-25
should have been capable of beating
the existing record by a handy
margin, even at higher than ideal
speeds. It was only the supposed
average headwinds that would
have prevented the record from
having been secured legitimately —
which surely could not have been
anticipated, as they ran so contrary
to prevailing weather patterns. That
being so, it is hard to see why the
Soviets would go to the trouble of
organising the refuelling stop on
the inhospitable Rudolf Island if
they had every expectation that the
record could be broken anyway.
Without the extreme situation of a
headwind for the entire 6,305 miles,
the figures provided by the CAC
look believable. Then there are the
four previous flights by Gromov and
Chkalov of between 56 and 72 hours
airborne. Of course, these might also
have been faked, though at some
point one has to consider how much
harder it would be to beat the record
legitimately than to go to such
extreme lengths to falsify five such
flights, four of which did not even
claim to constitute FAI records.
Considering the extent of the work
to improve the ANT-25’s efficiency
between 1933 and 1937, particularly
in terms of the engine and propeller,
it does not seem ridiculous as Grey
suggests to believe that it could carry
out the Moscow-San Jacinto flight.
Indeed, as NACA’s note pointed out,
it was a relatively straightforward
matter to develop an aircraft with
such singular focus: “To build an
airplane of maximum possible
range, one need only to build into a
machine the characteristics giving
the highest possible combination
of these efficiencies with the peaks
occurring at one condition of flight.
A further study of the subject reveals
that this condition of flight for
maximum range is necessarily at
a relatively low speed and altitude
and that the take-off and climb
characteristics of such an airplane
are very poor.”
Within a year, the record that so
offended Grey had been beaten by a
team of RAF pilots flying a modified
version of a standard bomber, the
Vickers Wellesley. The ANT-25 was
revealed to be a red-and-white
elephant — useless for any practical
purpose, as vain efforts to turn it
into a long-range bomber proved,
but remarkable in its own way, as
were the skills of Gromov, Chkalov
and their crews.
Arguably, the points Grey raised
about records set by countries with
authoritarian regimes were sound,
and continue to have relevance
today. Sadly, he did not extend
his mistrust of the USSR to Nazi
Germany or fascist Italy. But, 85
years on, it feels right that Aeroplane
finally acknowledges the July
1937 record.
Thanks to Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 THE
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 German Starfighter affair

LLING
FA A R ST
e s a nd a
ta l c rash the
Fa aff a ir —
kheed
r y o c
bribe n of the L uld
atio co
reput Germany rse.
in wo
F-104 ave been rely
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yh
rfi gh ter ba
u t th e Sta ad name
B
v ed its b
r
dese L F STÜ
NKEL
O RDS: RO
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Coming towards the end of the

Starfighter’s service in Germany,
F-104G 24+54 of Manching-based
test establishment WTD 61 — the last
German unit to operate the type —
goes vertical. DR STEFAN PETERSEN

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 57

 German Starfighter affair
E
ven now, the name Starfighter
is a byword for controversy in
Germany. News features, TV
dramas and documentaries
still hark back to the days when the
BELOW: Lockheed F-104 was constantly in the
The then inspector headlines for the wrong reasons. As
of the Luftwaffe, the accidents and fatalities mounted,
Generalleutnant so did public concern and press
Josef Kammhuber, is outrage. Once applied, the ‘widow-
greeted by defence
minister Franz Josef
maker’ epithet proved almost
Strauss (right) after impossible to shake off.
a trip in the back As the type’s overseas launch
seat of an F-104F customer, the Federal Republic
at Nörvenich on 22 of Germany purchased more
July 1960. Strauss Starfighters than any country except
survived repeated
bribery allegations
for the USA. Its air force and naval
regarding the air arm, both still relatively young
Starfighter deal and having been re-formed in the mid-
became a key player 1950s, suffered heavy losses during
in Airbus, serving the aircraft’s early years of service.
as the company’s Many wondered whether defence
chairman before
his death in 1988.
minister Franz Josef Strauss had
Munich’s new airport been bribed by Lockheed — and,
was named after him regardless of the answer, was the
in 1992. ALAMY F-104 unsafe by nature?
58 www.Key.Aero
Let’s look quickly at some facts.
In 1957, West Germany’s Luftwaffe,
equipped with Canadair and North
American F-86 Sabre fighters and
Republic F-84F Thunderstreak
fighter-bombers, was looking for
an all-weather fighter to support
NATO’s missile defence system. A
wide range of possible contenders
was whittled down to three: the
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the
Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger and
the Dassault Mirage III. Former
members of the wartime Luftwaffe
top brass were to decide, namely the
new air arm’s inspector — its most
senior officer — Generalleutnant
Josef Kammhuber, once godfather of
the German night fighter force, and
fighter ace Oberst Walter Krupinski.
Kammhuber was much taken by
the Starfighter’s outstanding speed
and climb performance, far superior
to the Luftwaffe’s then-current ‘cast
iron’ subsonic jets. On his behalf,
Krupinski carried out comparison
flights of the two American types
in the USA during December
1957 and evaluated the Mirage at
Melun-Villaroche the following
May. In the end, Kammhuber and
ex-Messerschmitt Me 262 pilot
Krupinski opted for the F-104. “The
Starfighter”, Krupinski enthused, “is
aerodynamically more stable than
any other type of fighter. When I fly
a roll and hold a glass of water in my
hand, not a drop falls out.”
After completion of a two-year
selection process, the West German
defence ministry announced on 24
October 1958 that it had elected to
purchase the F-104 for both the air
force and navy, and Strauss informed
Lockheed of the decision. On 6
November, the defence committee
of the Bundestag, the lower house of
parliament, unanimously approved
the procurement, “subject to a
satisfactory solution to the price and
licensing issues”. Kammhuber told
the committee, “We’re not buying
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
a pig in a poke… The Starfighter is a
finished production aircraft.”
The new F-104G — G for Germany
— promised several advantages over
previous versions. There were no
development costs, and Lockheed
granted generous concessions to
the West German aviation industry
and partner countries, including
the licensed construction of
engines and electronics. Franz Josef
Strauss, a true-blue Bavarian, saw
significant industrial development
opportunities for the region.
Furthermore, he wanted to ensure
the Federal Republic became a
nuclear power by arming the aircraft
with US-supplied atomic bombs
under NATO control. His support for
the Starfighter led to the creation of
Europe’s first international aircraft
manufacturing consortium, joining
together companies from West
Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands
and Italy. It formed a central co-
ordination office called NASMO
(the NATO Starfighter Management
Office) in Koblenz.

❖ It seemed like an exciting new its initial flight at Palmdale on 5 ABOVE:

What the Germans had tested,
however, was the original US version
of the Starfighter — a very basic
interceptor, not ready for European
weather conditions and its later role.
To operate in northern Europe, the
F-104G was fitted with an autopilot,
the NASARR (North American
Search and Ranging Radar) multi-
purpose radar system, an infra-red
tracking sight, bombing and attack
computers, a position and homing
indicator, camera installations, bomb
hardpoints and the advanced Litton
era for both the Luftwaffe and the
Marineflieger, but public fascination
for the supersonic fighter soon
declined. The losses began on 29
March 1961, when F-104F BB+375
from WaSLw 10 suffered a fuel
system malfunction and came down
near Korbach, in the state of Hesse.
Both pilots ejected safely, as was the
case on 6 September after BB+378
lost all its instrumentation and ran
out of fuel. The aircraft revealed
October 1960, while the first airframe Two early F-104G
manufactured under licence by arrivals with
Jagdbomber-
what was then Messerschmitt- geschwader 33
Bölkow took to the air from at Büchel in 1962
Manching, Bavaria, a year later. were DC+238
Jagdbombergeschwader 31, also at and DR+233,
Nörvenich, introduced the variant both Lockheed-
to operational service, but there was manufactured.
LUFTWAFFE
not long to wait until its loss account
opened. On 22 May 1962, an engine
failure put paid to DA+107, the pilot
managing to escape. Another of the
wing’s pilots was not so fortunate
on 3 September, losing control of

LN-3 inertial navigation system.
To accommodate this additional
load, the wings and fuselage had
to be reinforced. The tail unit was
enlarged by a quarter and the power
of the General Electric J79 engine
“
DA+116 soon after take-off. He failed
Starfighter to eject in time, becoming the first
F-104G fatality. All too many more
safety was becoming would follow.
During 1965 alone there were 26
a very public matter accidents and 16 deaths. Starfighter

increased. In the end, a fully armed
German Starfighter weighed almost
a third more than its American
predecessor.
While the G-models were awaited,
30 two-seat F-104Fs were supplied
directly by Lockheed for training
purposes. An initial cadre of six
Luftwaffe pilots, led by wartime ace
Oberstleutnant Günther Rall, went
to Palmdale, California to undertake
conversion. This began in March
1960. When the aircraft were shipped
across the Atlantic and delivered to
Waffenschule der Luftwaffe (WaSLw)
10 at Nörvenich, Rall carried out
the maiden Starfighter flight from
German soil on 23 July.
”
in Germany
problems with manufacturing
quality and several system design
faults, such as the afterburner
system on the early J79 engines.
An unscheduled nozzle opening
caused the first fatal Starfighter
accident in Germany on 25 January
1962, BB+366 crashing after take-off
from Nörvenich with the loss of
one of the two crew members on
board, instructor Hauptmann Lutz
Tyrkowski.
The new F-104G fared no better. A
production example had undertaken
safety was becoming a very public
matter. A January 1966 issue of
German news magazine Der Spiegel
devoted its cover to what it dubbed
‘The Starfighter Affair’. Inside was
an article suggesting corruption
on the part of Franz Josef Strauss,
who had quit as defence minister
in December 1962 over a separate
scandal involving the arrest of Der
Spiegel’s proprietor and several
journalists. Suspicions arose that
he had been bribed by Lockheed,
allegations denied by Strauss.
The technical problems
continued. As it turned out, the
poor safety statistics were also
related to human error at a

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 59

 German Starfighter affair

An engine test on F-104G KG+324,

belonging to Jagdgeschwader
74 at Neuburg, in 1964. The
afterburner system was among the
early accident causes. LUFTWAFFE

BELOW: managerial level. “The acquisition the existing bureaucratic defence Rear Admiral (retired) Wolfgang
One 1966 casualty and implementation of the F-104G organisation and, as he put it, Engelmann, long-term commander
was F-104G DB+237 was an organisational management the total lack of a ‘defence system of West Germany’s naval air arm, the
of Jagdbomber-
geschwader 32,
challenge for the ministry of management’ mindset in ministerial Marineflieger, puts it more bluntly.
which suffered a defence”, recalled the late Dieter bureaucracy. The ministry was “The first years of F-104 operation in
compressor stall and Rode, head of F-104 final assembly overburdened with the high Germany were a complete disaster”,
subsequent engine at the Messerschmitt factory at production rate of the final assembly he says. “The navy didn’t want it —
failure on take-off Manching during the early years lines in the USA, the Netherlands, incidentally, neither did the air force.
from Lechfeld on of the programme. “At the peak of Belgium, Italy and the Federal We were looking for a twin-engined
18 March. The pilot
ejected, but later
the Starfighter crisis in 1966, the Republic of Germany, all of whom aircraft, but the procurement was
died of his injuries. inspector of the Luftwaffe, Gen delivered the F-104G to the air decided for political reasons, to
[Johannes] Steinhoff, criticised forces.” support our industry and German
nuclear participation. The new
aircraft had to be the same for
the navy and the air force”. When
they received it, he adds, “On the
squadrons, spare parts, tools and
ground service equipment were
still missing, and the infrastructure
was totally inadequate. There was a
lack of technical staff and industrial
overhaul took much too long.”

❖
Another challenge was the
number of technical directives for
the elimination of various design
and technical shortcomings. “A
total of 1,600 were implemented”,
remembers Engelmann, “117 alone
in 1967; their execution in one
of our naval wings, for example,
necessitated 170,000 working
hours”. The resulting ratio of flying
to maintenance hours was absurd:
initially one to 500, from 1967
onwards one to 115, and after
1969-70 one to 50. “The readiness

60 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 LEFT:
A splendid array
of NATO fighters
brought together on
2 June 1964 to mark
13 years of Allied
Air Forces Central
Europe: Luftwaffe
F-104G DA+243
shares space with
Starfighters of the
Belgian Air Force,
Royal Canadian Air
Force and Royal
Netherlands Air
Force, a French Air
Force Mirage IIIC, an
RAF Javelin FAW9
and a US Air Force
F-105D. NATO

of the aircraft was commensurate”,
Engelmann notes. “In 1966, one of
our wings operated 46 aircraft and
flew a total of 18 hours a day. In
1969, 39 available aircraft produced
39 flying hours per day. The low
readiness had a negative effect on
the training level of our pilots. High
incident rates and several fatal
accidents during the first few years
could be attributed to that.”
At the peak of the ‘widow-maker’
era during
August 1966,
control failure caused DC+126 of Lockheed C-2 seat, which was
Jagdbombergeschwader 33 to crash capable of clearing the tail, but still BELOW:
Generalleutnant
on landing at Büchel with the death had a minimum speed limitation Johannes Steinhoff
of Oberleutnant Henning Kaupsch, of 90kt (104mph, 167km/h). The took the Starfighter’s
he suspended all air force and navy F-104 was eventually fitted with the problems in
Starfighter operations with effect Martin-Baker GQ-7(A), featuring hand when he
from 6 December 1966. Steinhoff a true zero-zero (speed/altitude) was appointed
rearranged maintenance and pilot ejection envelope. inspector of the
Luftwaffe, improving
training in a very efficient manner, Most of the engine nozzle maintenance
‘normalising’ the Starfighter in the problems were solved with a new procedures and
eyes of the public and subsequent design. Other improvements flying training.
generations of pilots. One prominent included digital radio frequency BUNDESARCHIV
Luftwaffe aviator,
however, was

“
defence minister never to be
Kai-Uwe von Steinhoff satisfied. Oberst
Hassel sacked Erich Hartmann,
the inspector of rearranged the highest-
the Luftwaffe, scoring fighter
Generalleutnant maintenance and ace of all time,

Werner Panitzki.
In an interview,
pilot training
Panitzki, a
Luftwaffe
squadron commander under
Kammhuber in World War Two, had
criticised the procurement of the
F-104 as a “purely political decision”.
He accused von Hassel — whose son
Joachim, a Marineflieger pilot, would
be killed in the crash of an RF-104G
in March 1970 — of delaying
improvements to the aircraft.
Panitzki’s successor
Generalleutnant Johannes Steinhoff,
another former Me 262 pilot, finally
took concrete action. After the
67th loss, when a boundary layer
”
considered the
aircraft unsafe
and retired
prematurely from
the service in 1970.
In the aftermath of Steinhoff’s
1966 Starfighter shutdown,
which lasted for 15 days, major
modifications made the F-104 safer.
Early examples used the Stanley
C-1 downward-firing ejection seat
to avoid the ‘T-tail’ empennage
during ejection. This presented
obvious problems in low-altitude
escapes, and 21 US Air Force pilots
— including test pilot Capt Iven C.
Kincheloe Jr — died as a result. It
was replaced by the upward-firing

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 61

 German Starfighter affair
ABOVE: repeater displays in the pilot’s field
The author in of view and radio altimeters with
the cockpit of optical and acoustic warnings
a Marineflieger
below a set flight altitude. Airflow
F-104G. He flew
the type with separation over the wing due
Marineflieger- to boundary layer control duct
geschwader 1 from separation became extremely rare,
1979-82. VIA ROLF STÜNKEL as did failures of the automatic pitch
control, which engaged the aircraft’s
stick-shaker and kicker in case of an
excessive angle of attack.
Occasionally, old issues kept
popping up. Pilots were cautioned to
watch afterburner performance on
take-off and to pull an emergency
‘T’ handle for nozzle closure
should it accidently open due to
hydraulic failure. Fregattenkapitän
(retired) Peter Krusemeyer of
Marinefliegergeschwader 2 at
Eggebek recalls such an eye-opening
event. “On 8 May 1971, we were
scheduled for a cross-country to
Getafe, near Madrid. The weather
was fine, so we planned to take off
in formation and level off at 26,000ft.
Shortly after take-off, the unexpected
happed: the low engine oil level
warning light in my cockpit came
on, and I noticed a sudden loss of
thrust. The nozzle had opened! Now
everything had to run according to
the emergency checklist. ‘Nozzle
handle — out. If nozzle does not
close, mayday, return to base’.
“My wingman confirmed that
the nozzle was stuck in the open
position. I worked through the
memorised procedures, turning
62 www.Key.Aero
away for a precautionary landing
pattern. At 250kt, I put the landing
gear lever down and selected
the flaps to the take-off position.
Without the usual thrust and
only ‘hot air’ from the engine in
spite of the throttle being in ‘full
military’ position, the aircraft sank
quickly. The touchdown was hard,
the airframe shook and the right
undercarriage leg collapsed. I was
able to keep the F-104 on the runway
until the end; the aircraft came to
a stop, tilting slightly to the right.
“
If bribery took
place in the German
deal, it was a well-
”
kept secret
After repeated reassurances from the
tower, the fire brigade and myself
that everything was OK, I left the
cockpit utterly cool but shaking in
my boots.”
Several pilots had to eject simply
because the single-engine jet had
ingested a flock of birds, killing
the J79. A Luftwaffe pilot from
Nörvenich, Harald Böhnke, once
banged out due to a compressor
stall. “[Speed] is rapidly decreasing”,
he recorded in his diary, capturing
the dramatic moments of his
powerless glide towards the Ford
car factory in Cologne. “[The]
stick-shaker comes on, the stick
is rattling… my speed is too low! I
can’t fly much lower… now, over this
obstacle and then […] throttle off,
start switches to start, throttle idle…
I have to get out. ‘GCA, I’m bailing
out now!’ [I] activate the ejection
seat by pulling the handles above
my head down over my face with
both hands… click, click, bang! The
canopy flies off… the seat cartridge
detonates and pushes the ejection
seat up the guide rails. Some 30
seconds later, the rocket bundle
detonates.
“The white and yellow fire glow is
mirrored in the instruments, then
I can see the blue and white sky…
shortly afterwards, green fields down
below… The parachute opens and I
can smell burning… I have my hands
on the parachute shroud lines in
order to steer away from the fireball.
I hit the ground hard, approximately
8m away from my aircraft. Once the
smoke has died away, a VW minibus
drives up. ‘This is an accident site
and a secure area’, I hear myself yell
at the driver. ‘Stay away from here!
Don’t touch anything!’”
When I began F-104 training
in 1978, it was an aircraft highly
respected for its performance and
elegance, rather than for being
dangerous. In my career with the
German Navy, several of my fellow
F-104 pilots were lost, none of them
due to technical problems. Our focus
was on flight safety, memorising
‘bold face’ emergency procedures,
watching the limits and, most of all,
flying as much as we could. Safety
comes with experience, and around
1980 every pilot could expect to
record 180, sometimes even 250
annual flight hours — three times
today’s average, or more. I got my
share of hours, feeling safe and at
home in the cockpit, until I left to
fly the Panavia Tornado. To this
day, I remember the F-104 as a fine
machine with character and truly
unique flying capabilities.
But what of the safety statistics?
More than 2,000 of all variants
of the F-104 were produced for
international air forces. West
Germany operated 916 Starfighters,
some 35 per cent of all those built,
over a 31-year period. It lost 292
of them in flying accidents, or
approximately 32 per cent. In all, 116
pilots — including eight Americans
— were killed, the last fatality
occurring on 11 December 1984.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
Some Starfighter operators came
away with a better loss rate, others
worse. The highest of all is believed
to be Canada’s, at 110 of 238 aircraft,
or 46 per cent. However, published
figures have stated that its CF-104s
amassed more flying hours than did
the German fleet.
❖ as inspector-general of the Dutch
Comparisons with other types are
interesting, even if they are difficult
to make directly given the varying
roles for which each aircraft was
Germany’s purchase of the F-104 in Lockheed was fortunate to find ABOVE:
1961. This could not be proven, and an overseas market for its high- The low-level
without solid evidence — it emerged performance, if demanding, fighter. central European
environment, often
that key documents relating to West Germany and its European experienced in much
the German Starfighter deal had NATO partner countries were worse weather than
been destroyed — no charges were happy to join the Mach 2 club and this WTD 61 F-104G
brought. Prince Bernhard of the secure long-term jobs for their was pictured in
Netherlands wasn’t as lucky: on 26 aviation industries — a win-win during 1990, was a
August 1976, he was forced to resign situation, they felt. And if bribery demanding one for
ever took place in the German the Starfighter, but it
came to excel.
armed forces after being accused of procurement phase, it was a DR STEFAN PETERSEN
accepting bribes. well-kept secret.

used. A figure released by a British
defence minister in 1989 put the
English Electric Lightning’s loss rate
in RAF service — which had finished
the previous year — at 45.58 per
cent. However, the Lightning was
used solely as an interceptor, unlike
the multi-role F-104G, while it’s
perhaps worth noting that just two
were written off while operating with
RAF Germany.
The whiff of corruption never
quite dissipated. In 1976, a US Senate
investigation led by Frank Church
accused Lockheed of having paid
foreign officials US$22 million while
negotiating aircraft deals, including
the F-104. According to statements
by former Lockheed salesman
Paul White, Strauss and Deutsche
Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs
had received funds in connection
with the sale of Lockheed Super
Constellation and Electra airliners
to Lufthansa, as well as for West
“MY GOD…”
If one particular event marked the Starfighter’s
card with the German public, it occurred on 19
June 1962. For several months, a group of pilots
from the Nörvenich-based Waffenschule 10 had
been working up an aerobatic display. It involved
five F-104Fs, comprising a four-aircraft main
formation and a solo. Now the team was almost
ready for its first appearance, as part of
ceremonies set for 20 June to mark the
establishment of Jagdbombergeschwader 31 at
the same location. A final rehearsal duly got
under way.
In the lead was a USAF pilot, Capt John Steer.
With him in the four-ship were three Germans,
Oberleutnants Heinz Frye, Bernd Kuebart and
Wolfgang von Stürmer. Around 10 minutes into
the sortie, Steer endeavoured to bring the
formation back towards the airfield in a steep
180° turn. The Starfighters entered cloud, and
subsequent investigation suggested spatial
disorientation may have been responsible for
what happened next. According to a piece in
Der Spiegel a week later, the Nörvenich air
traffic controller heard Steer say, “Go away!”,
followed by, “Hold it!” and finally, “My God”. The
first of those remarks suggested one of the
wingmen had flown uncomfortably close to the
leader. Emerging from the cloud, the formation
was too low and in too steep a descent to pull
out. All four F-104s crashed into a lignite mining
area near Frechen, north-east of the air base.
None of the pilots attempted to eject, though it
did appear that von Stürmer had sought — too
late — to recover from the manoeuvre.
The following day’s festivities were cancelled,
and the Luftwaffe prohibited its units from
mounting aerobatic team displays. Whether the
Starfighter’s reputation in Germany ever
recovered from this very public disaster is a
matter for debate. Ben Dunnell

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 63

 Swiss Mirages

A pair of Fliegerstaffel 10’s

Mirage IIIRS recce jets in
action for the final time at the
Axalp live-firing demonstration
during 2003. DR ANDREAS ZEITLER

64 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 Military aircraft procurement is
now a highly controversial issue
in Switzerland, but this was not
always the case. It all started in
1964, when the cost of acquiring
the Dassault Mirage III spiralled
out of control WORDS: PETER GUNTI

L
DE ST A
BLU E
AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 65
 Swiss Mirages
I
ABOVE: n 1956, Switzerland proudly
The military claimed to have one of the world’s
commission of the first air forces with an all-jet
Swiss parliament
is introduced to
combat aircraft fleet. The speedy
the Mirage III in a procurement of 350 licence-built
hangar at Emmen on Vampires and Venoms enabled 17
21 November 1960. fighter squadrons to convert to the
This was an all-male de Havilland types. However, the
group as women Korean War had already proved
were precluded
from entering Swiss
the superiority of swept-wing
politics by law until fighters over straight-wing designs,
11 years later. AMF/RUAG and the supersonic era was now a
reality. Switzerland’s pipedreams
of designing and producing
indigenous machines such as the
F+W N-20 and the FFA P-16 lingered
in the minds of many. Replacing
more than 300 jets with modern
equipment was going to be costly.
The scandal began in 1961 when
parliament was asked to approve
the allocation of 827.9 million Swiss
francs (CHF) for the acquisition
of 100 French-designed Dassault
Mirage III fighters. They were to be
based on the Mirage IIIC model
and be manufactured under
licence in Switzerland, creating
jobs and enabling technology
transfer. All 100 aircraft would be
66 www.Key.Aero
identical and capable of performing
ground attack, reconnaissance
— with a camera pod — and air
defence missions. Selection of the
avionics suite was excluded, but
the politicians were assured that
the price of this equipment was
already accounted for, and that a
definite decision would be made by
1963 at the latest. Since a number
“
There was no
clearly defined
”
specification
of possible weapon systems were
under development, this delay
ensured the availability of the most
up-to-date technology. A second
series of 100 further Mirages would
be proposed at a later date, solving
the Swiss Air Force’s rejuvenation
problem for the foreseeable future.
Today this sum may seem
modest. Back then it was anything
but. It was, in fact, the largest
fiscal item ever put forward by
the government. This also meant
defence spending rose to an
unprecedented 43 per cent of the
entire federal budget, making the
military the state’s highest priority.
But, in the midst of the Cold War,
the necessity of keeping pace
with an ever-accelerating arms
race seemed to override all other
considerations. Members of both
parliamentary chambers accepted
the proposal with large majorities,
the national council (Nationalrat)
by 139 to nine votes, the council of
cantons (Ständerat) by 38 to zero.
Widespread fears of stiff left-wing
opposition proved unfounded.
By this time, a complex evaluation
procedure had begun. It got under
way in 1957, and the following year
the task of aircraft procurement
was given to the army chief of staff.
Gen (Oberstkorpskommandant)
Jakob Annasohn formed a
small committee of three
men, the AGF (Arbeitsgruppe
Flugzeugbeschaffung, or Aircraft
Procurement Task Force). It was
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
led by Col Keller, reporting directly
to Annasohn. Col Blözer came
from the air force and engineer
Richard Greinacher worked at the
Department of War Technology
(KTA, Kriegstechnische Abteilung).
For additional know-how they
were able to call on a wide range of
subject matter experts.
Three pilots who had been
involved in evaluating the Hawker
Hunter, Col Wilhelm Frei, Maj
Arthur Moll and Hans-Ulrich
Weber, were able to fly almost every
modern western fighter type then
in series production. American
test pilot Corvin ‘Corky’ Meyer, the
project manager for the Grumman
F11F-1F Super Tiger programme, Workers for F+W (Flugzeugwerk
wrote of the Swiss, “Their […] team Emmen) marvel at the toughest
competitor for the Mirage, the Saab
of test pilots was still the best we
J 35H — H for Helvetic. This version of
had seen from any Air Force that we the Draken was planned to be equipped
worked with.” with the Ferranti Airpass radar. F+W

❖
In 1959, the committee completed
a secret 335-page report on the
evaluation of the Saab 35 Draken,
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Dassault
Mirage IIIC, Fiat G91 and Grumman
Super Tiger. It clearly recommended
procurement of the Mirage to the
chief of staff. On page 319, the
costs of the different types were
compared. The total price tag for 100
Mirage IIICs was calculated at CHF
1,030 million. From that, it can be
seen that the sum put to parliament
two years later had undergone some
facelifting by the authorities. Several
officers and politicians had voiced
concerns that any proposal over the
magic billion-franc limit would be
destined to fail in the house. The
discreet reduction from 1,030 to 828
million made an overrun inevitable.
Insiders knew from that day on that
more funds would be needed at a
later date, which decreased cost
awareness considerably.
At a time when aviation was
developing with breathtaking had surfaced. In the early 1960s, low to reduce the total. This, he was ABOVE:
speed, there was no clearly defined inflation reached some 2 per cent sure, would be felt painfully as soon Only days before
specification. The AGF was able a year, and it would soon rise to as flight operations began. the parliamentary
debate, the first
to tailor the requirements to the 3.5 per cent. But the entire Mirage The most important contract, that Mirage IIIC with a
options as they became available. procurement was intended to run with Dassault, was placed in front functioning Cyrano
This was to prove the biggest flaw over eight years. The first man of defence minister Paul Chaudet radar landed at
in the committee’s work. Had it to notice that the budget held in October 1961. In the presence of Emmen. In the
frozen the specifications before no reserves to compensate for von Wattenwyl, who protested, he background is
the budget was fixed, it could have currency devaluation was René signed it despite his inner doubts. defence minister
Paul Chaudet, with
saved millions. Alas, it did not, and von Wattenwyl, the head of the Under different circumstances, the hat. GRD/ARMASUISSE
when the parliamentary votes were KTA, whose judgement proved the evaluation group would have
counted, the avionics option and to be accurate. He made his own been disbanded at this point and its
many other details were still to be calculations and came up with a responsibilities transferred to the
worked out. price of 1,200 million after inflation. KTA, but the choice of the avionics
Even before the contract with Going through the figures, von suite and weapon system was still
Avions Marcel Dassault was signed, Wattenwyl also realised that the cost pending and the AGF continued
further accounting deficiencies of spares had been kept deliberately to make alterations to the order

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 67

 Swiss Mirages
from a purely military point of view,
with total disregard for the financial
implications.
Weapon systems were offered by
three companies. France’s Thomson
put forward the Cyrano I, which
became standard on the Mirage
IIIC. A delegation of four Swiss
experts had travelled to Brétigny
near Paris back in April, and been
shown a functioning model in a
laboratory. Two days prior to the
parliamentary vote, a Mirage IIIC
arrived at Emmen with an operating
Cyrano installed. The system’s
performance was, however, deemed
inadequate by the Swiss. Some
officers later admitted to a certain
prejudice against French electronics
originating from equipment bought
as far back as World War Two. The
rejection of Cyrano I, despite the fact
that it carried the lowest financial
risk, must be seen as correct in
retrospect. Even before Cyrano I had
come into use with the Armée de
l’Air, Thomson began developing its
successor, Cyrano II, later installed
in the Mirage IIIE. This version was,
however, yet to become available
in 1961 and could not be pitched to
Switzerland.
A second proposal was made
by Ferranti in the UK, namely
the Airpass radar designed for
the English Electric Lightning. In
September 1961 a group of Swiss
engineers visited the Edinburgh
plant, where they were shown a
model in the lab. That same month
test pilot Arthur Moll was allowed
to fly in a Canberra, a Dakota and
BELOW:
a two-seat Lightning, which gave
The handing-over him an impression of the partially
ceremony on a foggy functioning system. A moving map
day in March 1968 display was still under development
saw a line-up of 24 by the Royal Aircraft Establishment
Mirage IIISs. Each at Farnborough. There were also talks
of these fighters
had cost as much as
with the British Air Ministry about
half a squadron of purchasing Red Top missiles. The
Hawker Hunters. biggest setback for the Airpass was
SWISS AIR FORCE the lack of an air-to-ground mode.
68 www.Key.Aero
The third company in the race
was Hughes in the United States,
which had a brilliant reputation as
a manufacturer of state-of-the-art
electronics. It offered its newest
development, TARAN (Tactical
Attack Radar and Navigation). This
combined the FG-10 radar from the
Convair F-102 Delta Dagger with
the MA-1 from the Republic F-105
Thunderchief, thus providing air-to-
air and air-to ground capabilities.
Early in the evaluation, Serge
Dassault, Marcel Dassault’s son,
was asked if it would be possible
to fit TARAN to the Mirage IIIC.
Several witnesses state that he said
this would not be a problem. As he
“ The Swiss Air
Force’s performance
requirements were
increasing by the
”
month
was the director of flight-testing
in his father’s empire, nobody
questioned this. In contrast to
Thomson and Ferranti, Hughes
could prove its performance claims
with data gathered from functioning
prototypes. The group of Swiss test
pilots visited Hahn air base in West
Germany and made several flights
in two-seat TF-102s, assessing the
radar on actual interceptions. These
sorties were, however, of limited
use as they demonstrated the
performance of an already outdated
weapon system.
Even before the final decision was
made, another warning arrived from
France. Benno Claude Vallières,
director of the Dassault factory,
warned of considerable additional
costs if foreign electronics had
to be integrated. People tend to
believe what they want to believe.
In contrast to Serge Dassault’s
statement, Vallières’ warning was
ignored as “trying to further the sale
of French avionics.”
Decision time came on the
evening of 12 October 1961. Some
12 experts gathered in an office in
Bern. The three manufacturers had
been asked to keep their ’phone
lines open for additional questions.
The most controversial topic was
the radar’s range. This was not easy
to compare as the companies used
a variety of procedures and targets
with different radar cross-sections
to measure their performance. The
arguments seemed convincing and
a unanimous vote chose TARAN,
the Hughes HM-55S Falcon and
AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles as the
best solution for Switzerland’s new
fighter. The experts had been tasked
to find the best system and that is
precisely what they did. Footing the
bill was someone else’s job entirely.
The government accepted the
selection, and in December Arthur
Moll and a couple of engineers
from the KTA flew to Los Angeles
to obtain technical details of the
systems. The Swiss could now
specify the components desired for
the Mirage. At this stage, they were
yet to learn about space, power
supply and cooling requirements. It
took only a few days for Dassault to
confirm that the TARAN black boxes
would not fit into the Mirage IIIC’s
avionics bay. The Swiss jets now had
to be based on the IIIE, which had a
longer fuselage and a larger avionics
bay behind the cockpit, as well as a
modified undercarriage and uprated
engine. Changing the base model
meant the contracts with Dassault
and several other suppliers had to
be reopened and renegotiated.
Besides the problem with the
weapon system, the selection of
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
equipment continued throughout
1962. The Nord AS-30 guided
air-to-ground missile was offered
to Switzerland and underwent
live firing trials at Cazaux. Flight
tests were carried out of the SEPR
(Société d’Études pour la Propulsion
par Réaction) rocket motor, which
allowed faster acceleration to
supersonic speeds and enabled
the aeroplane to reach an altitude
of 22,000m (72,000ft). In turn, that
necessitated trials with pressure
suits. The Mirage had a lengthy
take-off run, so a RATO (rocket-
assisted take-off) capability was
considered imperative as a means of
evacuating a damaged air base. The
Swiss Air Force’s future performance
requirements were now increasing
by the month.
❖ considered outrageous, but later
Now the contract with Dassault
was open again, the test pilots
reflected that landing a tail-less
delta would be challenging to
Hunter pilots. They thought it a
good idea to order a pair of two-
seaters, later dubbed the Mirage
IIIBS (Biplace Suisse). Shortly
thereafter, they were made aware
of the tremendous capabilities of
a reconnaissance variant under
development with a camera nose.
This would be far superior to the
standard aircraft with a camera
pod. The order was changed so 18
of the 100 jets would be delivered
as Mirage IIIRS (Reconnaissance
Suisse) versions. They were to be
operated by Fliegerstaffel 10 and
proved their worth until eventual
retirement in 2004. But the type’s
envisioned versatility had been
surrendered.
With the specification reaching
its final stages, rumours started
circulating in the press about cost
overruns. The government was
officially informed that significant
additional funds would be required
for the production run, but it
decided not to ask for approval until
the definitive sum became available.
It simply wanted to avoid going to
the parliamentary assemblies twice
more for the same programme.
On 27 February 1962 the
government informed parliament’s
military commission of the
“unfavourable financial state” of
the Mirage procurement. At this
stage the additional costs could,
however, only be roughly estimated.
It forecast the need for another
CHF 95 million, roughly 11 per cent
of the original figure. This was not
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
investigate the state of affairs. Its ABOVE:
proved to be just another case of efforts were overtaken by events. The first Swiss
excessive optimism. Soon after they began work, Mirage to reach its
new operator was a
As production geared up, the the allotted funds of CHF 827 Dassault-built two-
pile of invoices grew higher. In million were used up without the seater. ERNST SAXER
1964 it became evident that TARAN integration problems being solved.
integration posed unforeseen Several hundred companies were
problems. This prompted the chief in the process of producing parts,
of staff to form a team dedicated and in Emmen the final assembly
to finding savings. It concluded line was in operation. The risk of
there was the potential to save everything coming to a standstill
CHF 75 million, but at the price of was all too real. Meanwhile the price
significantly limiting the aircraft’s tag had risen by CHF 576 million,
capabilities. The Mirage had been and this was far from final. You did
chosen because of its tremendous not need to be an expert to predict
potential, and surrendering some an overrun of 100 per cent or more.
of that made the whole deal The budgeting of further funds
questionable. The procurement became a must.
went ahead unhindered. The matter went before
The government called in a parliament on 10 June 1964. The
small panel of expert financiers to government was reasonably
DEMOCRACY, SWISS-STYLE
I
n this article, the term ‘government’ refers to If a movement wants to stir the Bundesrat into
a group of seven ministers called the action on an issue the government does not
Federal Council (Bundesrat), which is elected wish to address at all, it can try to launch an
by parliament. These seven people govern initiative. Should it gain the written approval of
the country. An annually changing president has 100,000 voters within 18 months, the matter
no additional executive powers. Switzerland is must be voted on by the electorate. This
unique that its people can have a direct happened, for example, back in 1993 when a
influence on the work of this group. If a pressure group opposed to the armed forces pushed for
group or political party is opposed to a a law preventing the acquisition of jet fighters
government decision, it can launch a for the coming decade. It was rejected by 57
referendum. It needs to get the signatures of per cent of voters, enabling the purchase of
55,000 voters within 100 days and the topic has today’s Hornets.
to be decided by a public ballot. Last year the In addition to elections, every adult citizen of
Bundesrat decided to plan the replacement of Switzerland is called to the polls four times a
Switzerland’s ageing F/A-18C/D Hornet fleet. year to vote on different issues. In the past,
A referendum forced all voters to decide. The referendums had a hit-rate of 31 per cent, while
result revealed a very small majority in favour of initiatives scored public approval in only 11 per
buying new jets. cent of all cases.
www.Key.Aero 69
 Swiss Mirages
ABOVE: confident that, since production
The SEPR rocket was under way, MPs would approve
engine improved funds. It was wrong. Barely a
the Mirage III’s
supersonic
single speaker agreed, and there
acceleration and was an atmosphere of outrage.
enabled zoom climbs Both chambers refused to vote
up to 22,000m on the matter. Instead they called
(72,000ft). It’s for a parliamentary investigation
demonstrated here committee (Parlamentarische
by a pair of IIIS
fighters. SWISS AIR FORCE
Untersuchungskommission, PUK)
to shed light on the mess.
Two such PUKs were formed, one
by each chamber, but with a close
relationship. The energetic Kurt
Furgler became their spokesman,
and they were unofficially dubbed
the Furgler Commission. Having
worked fast and efficiently, read
files and interrogated all the key
figures involved in the procurement
process, they conveyed their
findings in a 75-page report on 10
September.
The document was not short
of accusations. It criticised the
composition of the AGB and the
unclear definition of its task. It
found fault with the wording of
the original procurement proposal
and stated that the content had
been deliberately altered to create
the impression of total financial
certainty, when in fact almost
nothing had been confirmed at the
70 www.Key.Aero
time. It also slammed the refusal
to act on the advice of the cost-
saving panel. Several high-ranking
personalities were mentioned
by name. The cost was analysed
once more and a proposal for
rescuing the Mirage deal presented.
Switzerland could get no aircraft
for CHF 850 million, 30 aircraft for
1,190-1,240 million, 50 aircraft for
1,300-1,400 million, 70 aircraft for
1,390-1,540 million or 100 aircraft
for 1,500-1,700 million.
❖ Annasohn, was reassigned and
After some debate, a compromise
was reached to buy 57 aircraft: 36
examples of the Mirage IIIS, 18 IIIRS
reconnaissance machines, the pair
of IIIBS two-seaters and a single
IIIC to be used as a flying testbed.
This saved the programme and
implemented a new cost ceiling,
but it had a catastrophic effect
on the unit price. Many parts had
already been produced for a fleet
of 100. Having planned to receive a
minimal quantity of spares, the air
force would now get an excess of
them. The royalties owed to Dassault
could not be reduced as the contract
was fixed. Integration problems with
the American electronics would
later be resolved during a flight test
campaign at Holloman Air Force
Base, New Mexico.
The military command had
succeeded in choosing the
formidable Mirage for its future
inventory. Setting out from the
basic IIIC, they had developed a
much better fighting machine. But
in doing so they would nearly have
bankrupted the very state they
wanted to protect, had the original
plan for a 200-strong fleet been
realised. The colonels of 1962 had
been lieutenants in 1942, when the
necessity of resisting Nazi Germany
had assumed frenzied proportions.
All they wanted was the very best.
The Swiss examples were probably
the most capable of all Mirage IIIs,
but their superiority over the French
IIIEs, which cost a fraction of the
price, was minimal.
In fairness, the quality-quantity
dilemma troubled most states
during this era. In the UK, a single
TSR2 would have cost as much
as five Buccaneers. If all possible
capabilities had been pursued, the
air arms of the west would have
consumed a vast amount of the
wealth its citizens produced and
enjoyed. Switzerland learned this
the hard way. The 827 million francs
would not have been sufficient
to buy 100 Mirage IIICs because
of the demand for spares and
the unwillingness to account for
inflation. But the 1,500 million
eventually spent could have bought
some 160 standard C-models,
as procured by South Africa and
Israel, enabling the Swiss Air Force
to equip nine or 10 squadrons and
solve its obsolescence problem.
The aftermath was grim and
heads rolled. The chief of the air
force, Etienne Primault, was fired.
The army chief of staff, Jakob
soon retired. Three members of the
AGB were ‘promoted’ to desk jobs
to sit out the rest of their careers.
Defence minister Paul Chaudet
lost all support within his own Free
Democratic Party and had to resign.
The Mirage fleet was officially
handed over during a ceremony
at Buochs air base on 2 March
1968. Fliegerstaffeln 16 and 17
were equipped with the S-models,
whereas Fliegerstaffel 10 took
on the recce jets. The air force
managed the jump into the
supersonic age without undue
difficulty. Initially the emphasis
was on ground-controlled
interception, Fliegerstaffeln 16 and
17 concentrating on air defence.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
Training with the AS-30 missiles
was almost sidelined, something
frowned upon by many pilots.
The really painful effect of the
small Mirage fleet was the lack of a
replacement for the ageing ground
attack Venoms. In 1970 the air force
disbanded Fliegerstaffeln 12 and 14.
The remainder of these venerable
jets (see Aeroplane September 2016)
were modified to lengthen their
service lives, and would soldier
on until 1983. Interdiction strike,
capability in this field, they have
only been used for air defence.
The consequences of the
Mirage scandal can still be felt
today, 60 years later. The fact that
aircraft procurement can go so
fundamentally wrong is deeply
embedded in the minds of the Swiss
people and their representatives. A
failure has the potential to destroy
some political careers and enhance
option, the Saab JAS 39 Gripen, was
publicly dubbed an “IKEA fighter”,
too cheap to be combat-ready.
During the latest evaluation, which
produced a deal for 36 Lockheed
Martin F-35A Lightning IIs, the
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet was
reported in the Swiss press as having
a reduced fatigue life that would
reach only one third of Boeing’s
guarantee. The electorate will
read reports, and seek alternative
information when necessary if asked

“
ground attack missions deep inside to vote again.
an enemy’s hinterland, had once The In connection with the most
been high on the priority list. recent fighter purchase, a public
The next evaluation, this time for a consequences of the information event was staged in ABOVE:
ground attack aircraft, began straight Biel during 2018. Lockheed Martin’s Kurt Furgler chaired
away. In 1972 the air force proposed Mirage scandal can sales representative summed it the investigation
into the Mirage

”
to the government the purchase of
a fleet of Vought A-7D Corsair IIs for
still be felt today up nicely when asked about the
difference between Switzerland’s
deal and presented
its findings to
CHF 1,500 million, but the federal requirements and those of other parliament.
council refused to put this issue to nations. He replied, “The operators,
parliament. At that time, sentiment the position of others. Accordingly, more or less, want the same thing. BELOW:
towards aircraft procurement was proponents of new aircraft In other countries we just have Inside one of the
still burdened by the recent scandal. procurement programmes approach to convince the air force of our secret aircraft
The government was also trying to the subject carefully, while the product. The big difference here in caverns, a IIIS with
escape intense pressure from France opposition barks loudly. Journalists Switzerland is that we also have to an AS-30 missile and
to buy the Milan, a Mirage with — even some of the competent ones convince the people”. If all goes well, two Sidewinders is
lifted over a sister
retractable ‘moustache’ foreplanes — have a field day. Switzerland will take delivery of 36 jet. The radome
that never attracted any orders. On When in 2014 the air force tried to Lightning IIs in 2030, and these will had to be manually
top of this, the idea of attacking replace part of its ageing Northrop reintroduce a limited ground folded sideways for
targets far outside Swiss territory F-5E/F Tiger II force, the favoured attack capability. turn-around. RUAG
proved politically complicated for a
state which was neutral and seeking
to remain so.
To meet the army’s needs, the
remaining 92 Hunters would have
to be used for close air support.
Even before the Corsair II proposal
went south, Hawker Siddeley’s Bill
Bedford mentioned the possibility
of buying a number of second-hand
Hunters to the Swiss government.
The low cost of such a proposal was
immediately apparent, as was the
prospect of contracting Swiss firms
that had lost a lot of work after the
cuts to the Mirage deal to carry out
the refurbishment and assembly of
these old jets.
Parliament agreed during 1971 to
the purchase of 30 fully overhauled
Hunters for CHF 105 million. A
further batch of 30 such aircraft
followed for 109 million the next
year. In 1980, Switzerland invested
CHF 90 million in the upgrading
of its Hunter fleet, purchasing
cluster bombs and Hughes AGM-65
Maverick air-to-ground missiles. The
Hunters now acted as specialised
ground attack platforms until their
retirement in 1994. From then
on, the Swiss Air Force’s mission
has never included air-to-ground.
Although the small fleet of F/A-18
Hornets offers a considerable

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 71

 meets
JIM
BEASLEY
THE BEASLEY FIRM
T
he phenomenon of flying
warbirds as a day job once
seemed fanciful. Now
it’s very much a reality,
thanks largely to the rise of training
organisations as commercial entities
and the passenger rides market.
But, for most, it’s still an enjoyable
sideline, whether to different forms
of piloting, a business career or,
subsequently, alternative activities
in retirement. There are those who
find historic aviation becoming an
all-consuming passion, akin to a
career in itself; others balance their
involvement with varied interests,
some quite far-removed.
What you might not immediately
imagine is how a warbird flight can
be relaxing, such is the onslaught
upon the senses experienced
in a high-performance piston-
engined aeroplane. Yet when that
environment becomes second
nature, the pleasure takes over,
and the cockpit can offer a place
of sanctuary from other pressures
and cares. That’s how it is for Jim
Beasley Jr. The managing member of
The Beasley Firm, the Philadelphia-
72 www.Key.Aero
The legal
profession ran as
a common thread
between Jim
Beasley father and
son — but so did
flying warbirds
WORDS: BEN DUNNELL
based law firm founded by his late
father, uses his P-51D Mustang Bald
Eagle as one means of unwinding
away from the courtroom and the
office. Motocross, in which he’s
competed for 40 years, is another. In
fact, when it comes to flying, he goes
further than that. “In some ways”, he
says, “it’s kind of like meditation. Your
brain is focused on one thing.”
That focus has largely been on the
P-51. Jim is now one of the highest-
time current Mustang pilots in the
world, and an outstanding exponent
of airshow flying in the North
American fighter. He was in at the
genesis of the US Air Force Heritage
Flight programme, mixing historic
types with their modern counterparts,
and is still heavily involved today,
traditionally covering the north-
eastern United States. Indeed, just
before our interview he’d returned
from the 2022 Heritage Flight Training
and Certification Course at Davis-
Monthan AFB, Arizona, preparing for
the season ahead.
It was, indeed, with the P-51 that
Jim’s fascination for warbirds first
came to manifest itself. “I had
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 Jim Beasley Jr flying his P-51D Mustang
N51JB Bald Eagle in a USAF Heritage
Flight duo with an F-16CM Fighting
Falcon from the 20th Fighter Wing at
Shaw AFB. VIA JIM BEASLEY

The young Jim in the cockpit of P-51D

N51JB around the time his father
purchased the fighter. VIA JIM BEASLEY

The first ever Heritage Flight

formation at Shaw AFB in 1996,
as Jim in Frenesi and Ed Shipley
with his Big Beautiful Doll team
up with a 1st Fighter Wing F-15C
Eagle. VIA JIM BEASLEY

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 73

AEROPLANE MEETS Jim Beasley Jr
ABOVE: built at least half-a-dozen models
Father and son flying of Mustangs and other types of
together in 1991: Jim airplanes before I was eight”, he says.
Beasley Sr at the
“Then I persuaded my dad to buy
helm of Bald Eagle,
Jim Jr in the still the Mustang I have now when I was
unpainted Frenesi. 10. In 1976 there were two Mustangs
VIA JIM BEASLEY for sale at a place in southern New
Jersey called Cape May. My dad had
a Cessna 182, and we’d go down
to use the Cape May Airport. The
Mustangs were there, and I was like,
‘You’ve gotta buy one!’ He didn’t
want to do it. Then in 1978 we were
flying across the United States and
I got him to go down to Harlingen,
where the Confederate Air Force
used to be based. There was a
Mustang for sale there, N51JB. It
was initially owned by a guy named
‘Junior’ Burchinal, who then sold it
to Jessie Baker. I said, ‘Dad, it’s got
your initials on it — what are you
going to do?’” He bought it.
The P-51D in question, serial
44-73029, was a late-war European
theatre combat veteran that passed
to the Ohio Air National Guard and
the Nicaraguan Air Force. Sold into
private hands during 1963, it was an
occasional Reno races competitor
during the 1970s. The fighter was still
in a civilian scheme when Beasley Sr
acquired it. An extensive restoration
74 www.Key.Aero
was carried out by Unlimited Aircraft
at Chino, California, lasting more
than a year. Once it was completed
in September 1981, soon Jim Jr
started flying in it — and then flying
it — himself.
“I had terrible motion sickness”,
he recalls. “I soloed on a Cessna
182 when I was 16, and that helped.
Once I knew what was coming, I
“
I said, ‘Dad,
that Mustang’s got
your initials on it’...
”
He bought it
didn’t have a problem. But we were
flying the Mustang into Oshkosh
once and I had my face in a bag,
while he was yelling at me to look
outside and look for other airplanes.
I couldn’t get my head out of the bag,
otherwise it was going to be all over
his neck.
“Shortly after the 182, my dad was
training me on his SNJ. He bought
the Mustang first, then he bought an
SNJ. He had lots of Piper Cub time
and things like that, but nothing as
heavy as a Mustang, so he flew the
SNJ while the Mustang was getting
done. I soloed that when I was, I
think, 18. When I was 20 I had 100
hours on it, or maybe a little bit
more, and I soloed the Mustang.
Obviously there was a, ‘Holy shit, I’m
in a Mustang’ kind of thing — I was
sitting on the end of the runway, the
temperature was getting hot, and I
either had to go and get air over the
radiator to cool it down, or taxi back.
If I’d taxied back I’d have never heard
the end of it, so I took off and figured
out how to get back on the ground.
It’s a lovely airplane. It’ll bite you,
but […] I think the SNJ may be a little
more challenging on landing and
take-off.”
At the time he went solo on the
P-51, Jim was studying molecular
biology at Temple University
in Philadelphia. He managed
to keep up his flying activities
while attending grad school at
the University of Pennsylvania.
“Sometimes I’d have to sneak out. If
I could plan my courses so I could
have free time, I’d do that so I could
shoot to the airport in Philadelphia,
get a half-hour in it and head back to
school.
“I wanted to be a research scientist
and to do genetics, so it was a lot
better to have a medical degree as
well. I decided to do an MD-PhD
and go from there. But as much
as I liked the science, I’m not a
laboratory person. My dad and I had
a complicated relationship, but it
started to get along better and better.
I figured that the medicine thing
wasn’t working out, so I finished
my medical degree, but instead
of making it an MD-PhD I did a
medical degree and a law degree,
combined with both schools.”
Jim’s legal career has seen a good
deal of personal and professional
satisfaction. Perhaps his most
famous case was one in which
he worked alongside his father,
bringing a successful — and unique
— prosecution against Osama
bin Laden, al Qaeda and Saddam
Hussein’s Iraq over the ‘9/11’
terrorist attacks. Trying to collect
the $104 million pay-out awarded
by the judge was a challenge in
itself. Among other high-profile
undertakings, he represented
Taylor Swift in a breach of contract
suit relating to the condition of
an aircraft acquired by the singer.
And that’s before you consider the
countless other actions he’s been
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
engaged in, specialising personally LEFT:
in medical malpractice and aviation- Flying Legends 2005
related claims. was Jim’s first visit
to Duxford, and it
Flying, then, has always remained
proved a memorable
a hobby, but one necessarily occasion. He flew
demanding a professional approach. P-51C Princess
This was especially the case when Elizabeth in tight
taking the natural next step into formation aerobatics
display flying. For Jim it began alongside Ed Shipley
at the controls of
around 1988, in his father’s SNJ.
P-51D Twilight Tear,
Come the early 1990s, he moved both then owned
on to the Mustang, flying in the big by The Fighter
warbird gaggles mounted during the Collection. JOHN DUNNELL
EAA AirVenture show at Oshkosh
and getting his formation card
before stepping up to aerobatic
performances. In the course of all
this, he got to know a commercial
pilot named Ed Shipley, who was
also getting into the historic aircraft
scene.

❖
“We were flying on a T-6 team
called the Six of Diamonds from
about 1990 on and off until about ’97
or ’98. At the end of ’93, beginning
of ’94 we started doing a display
called the Four Horsemen with
four Mustangs. Ed led, I was on
the right wing, a guy named Dan
Calderale was on the left wing and
Vlado Lenoch was in the slot. That
was a formation aerobatic show. We
got the idea from the Red Devils,
the Mustang team the air force had don’t have your technique right, logistical reasons, around ’95 to ’96
in the late ’40s — we saw some you’re out of position.” it became just Ed and me. Ed had
videos, thought it looked cool, and At that time, such close-formation a Corsair as well, which Paul Allen
we tried it. At that point we’d been aerobatics in high-performance ended up buying. It was a really cool,
doing formation loops and other warbirds were far less common than early FG-1D, so Ed and I also did a
things with the Six of Diamonds, they are today, especially as part of Corsair/Mustang combo thing.”
so we started doing them with the a formalised team. This, remember, Those, then, were the beginnings
Mustangs. Actually, it was much was before the Breitling Fighters of the Horsemen team as it later
easier in a Mustang because you can came along in Europe. The P-51 became world-renowned. The
power yourself out of a technique four-ship didn’t last long, but two of Heritage Flights had a similar origin.
problem, whereas in a T-6 if you its members carried on. “Purely for “Ed and I were desperate to try to

LEFT:
To promote the
2006 Jones Beach
Air Show on Long
Island, ‘JBJ’ and Bald
Eagle led a Heritage
Flight over New York
City, with an F-16C,
F-15C and A-10C
Thunderbolt II in
close company. USAF

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 75

AEROPLANE MEETS Jim Beasley Jr
ABOVE: get a ride in an F-15, so we would go
After Jim bought down to Langley AFB. I had [P-51D]
Princess Elizabeth, Frenesi at the time, the former FAD
he used it to head up
the Horsemen team.
1900 from Dominica, which had the
With the P-51C here Temco controls in the back as it had
are P-51Ds February been their dual-control trainer. I
and Double Trouble would put the guys from Langley in
Two, Ed Shipley and the front, and go out and give them
Dan Friedkin flying a whole bunch of Mustang rides.
them. JESSICA AMBATS
Finally they said, ‘Would you like a
ride?’ ‘Well, why not?’
“We got to know all of them, and
there was a fellow named Dave
McCloud who at that point was a
lieutenant colonel and in command
of the 1st Fighter Wing. He was one
of the first F-117 guys, he flew the
X-29 forward-swept wing aircraft;
he ended up getting killed in a Yak-
54. We became friendly with him,
and expressed to him an idea. The
Kalamazoo Air Zoo had the ‘Flight of
the Cats’, where they had a Tigercat,
a Bearcat, a Hellcat and a Wildcat,
and they’d put them with ‘Snort’
Snodgrass in the Tomcat. Shipley
and I had gone to McCloud and
some others in the air force, saying
those guys should do something too.
“We did an unofficial one, where
Ed and I flew with one of the
McEntire F-16s [from the South
Carolina Air National Guard at
McEntire ANGB], and it worked
pretty well. The first Heritage Flight
was in 1996, at Shaw AFB, and J. R.
McDonald was the F-15 pilot — he
now works for Lockheed Martin. A
76 www.Key.Aero
couple occurred out west; I think
there was one in Texas… Then the
air force said, yes, let’s do it for our
50th anniversary. That’s when it got
a little more official. Shipley and I
went to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan,
for the 4 July weekend in 1997 to do a
50th anniversary event up there with
the F-16 guys from Shaw. There was
some parallel stuff on the west coast,
and then it became formalised with
the first [Heritage Flight] conference
in 1998.”
❖ the other, in 2008, being Spitfire
It was also with Ed Shipley that
Jim flew in the UK for the first time,
visiting 2005’s Flying Legends show
at Duxford. “It’s magnificent”, he
says. “It’s a hell of an experience.
Putting aside the fact of Duxford,
and what it represents, everybody
there has a real understanding of the
significance of the aircraft. You just
don’t find that level of knowledge at
your typical airshow in the United
States. That’s not to take a shot — it’s
a different world, it’s a different level
of understanding and appreciation.
I’m a history buff, and you can walk
around there and talk with anybody,
and everybody’s speaking the same
language.”
It proved a productive trip, for it
resulted in Jim acquiring ‘razorback’
P-51C Princess Elizabeth from The
Fighter Collection. “That’s when
I met and became friendly with
Stephen and Nick Grey. They had
just got it ready and flying again,
and were looking to get rid of it.
I thought, I’ll figure out a way”.
Princess Elizabeth completed
the 2006 season in Britain before
being shipped to Chino, where
Fighter Rebuilders reassembled
the machine. It was acquired by the
Friedkin family during 2008, but Jim
continued to fly it as the lead ship in
Horsemen displays.
The Mustang was the first of two
aeroplanes Jim purchased from TFC,
FRXVIIIe SM969. Its restoration was
completed at Duxford, but it never
flew there prior to departing for the
States in a container. Just before
Christmas 2008, the ‘Spit’ took to
the air from Chester County Airport.
“The last 10 per cent, just to get it
tweaked and working right, always
takes a little while”, notes Jim. “But it
was a magnificent restoration.”
He was no stranger to Griffon
Spitfires, for in advance of buying
the MkXVIII he’d flown the
Friedkins’ MkXIVe, SM832. Since
then he’s sampled two Merlin-
powered variants in the form of
their LFVc, JG891, and LFIXe,
ML417. The MkV, he remarks, is “so
well-balanced. That airframe is just
perfect for that engine size. The IX
is also great, but it’s more ‘Mustang-
ish’, if you will, than the V, which is
just a beautifully balanced airplane.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
On the Griffon airplanes, the
engine’s too big for the airframe, and
they didn’t figure out the tail until
the 20-series Spitfires. But the XVIII
is awesome. It’s a beast”. Jim sold
SM969 a few years ago to Steuart
Walton, a fellow attorney and heir to
the Wal-Mart empire founded by his
grandfather.
The Horsemen gradually came to
be made up of a changing cast, Dan
Friedkin and Steve Hinton joining
the roster. Whoever was at the
controls, their formation aerobatic
routines set a very high standard.
“It’s all just energy management”,
Jim explains. “A lot of air bosses [the
US equivalent of a flying display
director] will say, ‘People are amazed
that things can just fly’. Don’t lose
sight of that. Most people are very
happy about just seeing a flyby. For
formation work, though, you’ve
got to be in front of the crowd. You
can’t spend two minutes after every
manoeuvre getting reorganised to
come back in — you’re going to lose
everyone. So you have to time the
sequence in terms of what the most
energy-consuming manoeuvres are,
and knock those out first. Then you
find ways of rebuilding energy. I run
relatively low power — high-cruise,
mid-climb power — but with proper
management that’s everything you
need. If you remember back to
physics, and velocity vectors versus
acceleration vectors, if you keep
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
those two vectors basically on top
of each other you can run the whole
show at 2.5g.
“You’ll find that when
most formation people, even
the Thunderbirds, do rolling
manoeuvres it’s more the rudder
than it is the ailerons. You begin on
the rudder because that makes it
easier for the wingmen. From the
wingmen’s perspective, the one thing
that always happens is that, if you
look, pilots will toe-in when they’re
doing certain things. The smoother
“
Everybody at
Duxford knows the
significance of the
”
aircraft
I am and the more I’m using the
rudder, the easier it is for the guys, if
we’re doing rolling manoeuvres, to
stay straight as opposed to becoming
toed-in on each other. That’s just
using references, looking at lines on
the wing and things like that.”
The ’old and new’ Heritage Flight
formations are a different kettle
of fish. “For the fifth-generation
fighters [such as the F-22 and F-35]
— or even the fourth-gen, like the
F-15 or the F-16 — we’ve figured ABOVE:
out what they need from us. But if Spitfire XVIII SM969,
you think about a ‘weak link’, when restored in No 80
Squadron, RAF
it was an F-86, an F-35 and then me markings, was
in the Mustang, the weak link of that another acquisition
formation was the F-86 because the from The Fighter
modern jets can operate down to Collection.
200kt reasonably well, but the F-86 SCOTT GERMAIN
really needs 220. Otherwise, with
how the hydraulics are and the slats
coming out, it becomes very sloppy.
“When we had the Phantom in it,
you really wanted to give it 210-ish.
There was one time we were flying
and ‘Tuna’ Hainline, who’s on the
Heritage Flight now, was the F-4
demo guy. He got to something like
180kt, and he was starting to get
behind the power curve. He was
adding more power, but the drag
was occurring. You get to figure that
stuff out. Leaving aside the Sabre for
a second, if you can keep the F-16
comfortable you can keep everybody
else comfortable.”
Two new pilots have joined the
Heritage Flight line-up for this year,
Steve Hinton Jr and Bruce Winter.
The training period at Davis-
Monthan saw their induction into
the programme, but what does that
entail? “There are normally at least
two ‘goes’ in the morning and two
in the afternoon”, Jim describes.
“Sometimes they can squeeze in
three. You start with familiarisation
for the new people, so they’ll be in
the back seat first. Once they’ve
www.Key.Aero 77
AEROPLANE MEETS Jim Beasley Jr
Heading vertical with his
fellow Horsemen. JESSICA AMBATS
78 www.Key.Aero
done that, they understand the
sight lines, and they get briefings on
positions, the sight picture and all
of that.
“Then there’s TS2, TS3 and TS4:
training sorties as a two-ship, a
three-ship and a four-ship. They’ll
do a two-ship, leading the first
couple and then flying wing. It’s
teaching the different energy
management requirements between
a critical wing, like some of the
modern fighters have, and the wing
a Mustang or a P-47 has. And, of
course, their power is so much more
than ours. They say about a quarter-
inch movement on the F-22’s throttle
is about 1in on the Mustang. After
that you get them in the three-ships
and change the formations — they
go left wing, right wing, again to get
the picture — before they go to the
four-ship and do it again.
“With the dissimilar stuff, you
appreciate that every one of the
airplanes is a little different. Your
position and your expectations for
“ Working
with the military
challenges your
”
flying skills
the A-10 are going to be different
from those for the F-16. The F-35
and F-22 are kind of similar because
they’re fifth-generation and the
computers allow them to do a lot
and they’re really, really powerful,
so then the question is, how do
you balance making it smooth and
consistent for them but not putting
the Mustang in a corner where it’s
either got to be at idle, which is no
good because you don’t want the
prop turning the engine, or going
from idle to exceeding take-off
power in 20 seconds, because that’s
not good for it either.”
With the retirement after this
year’s Super Bowl flyover of Steve
Hinton — though he is continuing
other display activities, not least US
Navy Legacy Flights — Jim is now the
only remaining Heritage Flight pilot
from the initial intake. “It’s good
camaraderie”, he says, “and great
mental discipline and training to
work with the military. It’s been a lot
of fun. It challenges your flying skills
and requires you to stay current. As
long as they’ll have me, I’m still in it.”
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 He has some jet warbird time
as well, not least on the L-39
Albatros, while former astronaut
Frank Borman checked him out
on the Canadair Sabre, which he
loved. However, flying jets regularly
would be a step too far. “I’m not in a
position to commit to that on top of
everything else, and that’s a whole
different discipline. The gas burn is
silly, and I’m not going to go buy a
jet, so I don’t need to do it”. He did,
however, buy an Extra EA330SC with
a view to entering the unlimited
aerobatic world. “I wanted to start
competing, and then COVID came.
I still race motocross, and I thought,
‘I’ve got too many hobbies’. I wasn’t
about to compete in a motocross
series, do my airshows and then
figure out how to compete in
aerobatics. I didn’t have the time, so
I got rid of it.”
Jim’s logbooks now detail just
under 3,000 hours on the P-51, but
the total is secondary to what he
derives from it. “I’m fortunate to
have been in the position where I
could persuade my dad to do this
when I was 10, and to have been
around some of the very kind people
I’ve been with — Stephen Grey, the something wrong. On my first day “I find that the flying forces you ABOVE:
Friedkins, the Hintons and all those of medical school, the assistant to be present. You can’t be thinking Bald Eagle and an
guys. There are times when, for dean said, ‘You’re never going to about what’s happening next week, F-22A Raptor, in the
hands of F-22 Demo
example if I’ve got a couple of trials be able to do everything you need or what happened last week, so it’s Team pilot Maj Josh
coming up, I just can’t make it work. to do. If you spend ‘24/7’ on it, you quite cleansing. I think it makes you Gunderson, on the
It’s also things with the kids, family can’t learn’. His name was Fred, and more productive at work. People break during the
stuff or even a motocross race — if he told us, ‘Every day I give myself have to find ways to clear their 2021 Atlantic City
it’s the first race of the season, I can’t ‘Fred’s hour’, and every week I give brains. Before the Heritage Flight Airshow. USAF
do an airshow. But I use the flying, myself ‘Fred’s day’. Now, sometimes week I went down to Dan Friedkin’s
really, as much for mindfulness as ‘Fred’s hour’ is midnight, sometimes ranch and we went through a couple
anything else. it’s 6am and sometimes it’s three in of Horsemen practices — it was
“If you can’t find an hour for the afternoon. Sometimes ‘Fred’s Dan, Ed and me. For me it’s
yourself every once in a while, there’s day’ is Wednesday’. very therapeutic.”

LEFT:
SNJ-5 N89013 has
been in Beasley
family ownership
for years, and Jim
continues to enjoy
displaying it when
the opportunity
arises. NEW JERSEY ANG

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 79

 PERSONAL ALBUM

AVRO IN
An album of
THE ’30s
photographs
acquired by
Jeremy O’Keeffe
contains a
number of rare
between-the-
wars gems from
the Avro stable
Avro 642 Eighteen G-ACFV served with Midland and Scottish Air
Ferries from 1934-35 before passing into
other hands. The twin-Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar VID-powered airliner
was one of only two 642s built, the
second being four-engined with Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IVCs, and
going to the Viceroy of India as VT-AFM.

In front of a line of newly built Avro 626s at the Woodford factory airfield stands a group of Estonian Air Force pilots,
ready to take delivery of the machines. This was intended as a multi-role aeroplane, primarily for use as a trainer but
also equipped with a gun ring and other provision for armament, while further being capable of operating on floats.
These four examples were supplied to Estonia during 1932.

80 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

The Avro 638 Club Cadet was only
sold to the tune of 15 examples.
G-ACGY was operated by the
Lancashire Aero Club at Woodford
from new in 1933; private
ownership at Sywell followed,
prior to export to Mozambique in
1939.

tch almost as far as the A 1931 one-off, Avro 627 Mailplane G-ABJM was a substantially
Egyptian Air Force stre ,
Avro 626s bound for the were procured for the still fledgling air arm revised development of the 604 Antelope light bomber. Trials in
even diered on until
eye can see. Twenty-s kno wn to have sol Canada, where the requirement had arisen, did not result in a
in 1933. Some are
deliveries taking place production order and the Mailplane returned to Avro as a test and
the late wa r years. trials platform.

Development of the Avro 637 sought to meet a need for a

dedicated combat version of the 621 Tutor/626 Multi-Role
series of trainers. The basis of the 637 prototype was 626
G-ABJG; in 1933, eight were sold to China, the type’s sole
customer. Clearly visible is the observer’s gun position.

Have you got photos to contribute to Personal Album? If so, e-mail the editor at ben.dunnell@keypublishing.com

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 81

DATA
DATABASE

Development
16 H
IN-DEPETS
G

Technical Details
PA

From 1947-55 the New York

Police Department operated JRF-5
Goose NC1200V, an ex-Fleet Air Arm example
with serial FP495 which then went to the US
Navy as BuNo 66351. CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY

In Service
GRUMMAN
GOOSE
Insights
WORDS: JAMES KIGHTLY with RYAN PEMBERTON

One of the finest examples of the Goose

still flying is Spokane, Washington-
based Pemberton & Sons Aviation’s
JRF-6B, N95467. VIA RYAN PEMBERTON

DEVELOPMENT
The first Goose, NC16910, on its
take-off run sometime after the
full type certificate was received
in September 1937.
LEO POLASKI VIA ROGER DAVIES
G
rover Loening
founded the Loening
Aeronautical
Engineering
Corporation in 1917. A graduate
of Columbia University in New
York City, Loening had been
awarded the first-ever American
master’s degree in aeronautics
during 1910, and set to designing
a number of innovative aircraft
including the 1921 Loening
Model 23 ‘Flying Yacht’ or
‘Air Yacht’ of unconventional
configuration. It won the 1921
Collier Trophy and set a number
of records, including height
and speed in class. Of the 21
built, nine were sold to the US
Army as the S-1, and three were
used by the New York-Newport
Air Service, as well as private
owners. The 1923 Loening OA
family of pioneering military
amphibians was the next step.
These were more conventional,
but had an integral single large
float below the fuselage with,
in most cases, a retractable
wheeled undercarriage on
the sides. From the military
examples was derived the new
C-1-W Air Yacht, the first being
exhibited at the Detroit Aircraft
Show in 1928.
In 1928 the Loening company
merged with Keystone
Aircraft, and moved from Long
84 www.Key.Aero
An aircraft that was key to the future
success of the Grumman ‘Ironworks’
Island, New York to Bristol,
Pennsylvania. Loening’s
agreement with Keystone
prohibited him from setting
up a new, competing business,
but three Loening employees
— Leroy Grumman, William T.
Schwendler and Jake Swirbul —
decided they would form a new
aircraft firm and stay on Long
Island. Their newly founded
Grumman Aircraft Engineering
Corporation was named after the
majority shareholder, and led by
a triumvirate which worked in
harmony for decades.
Leroy ‘Roy’ Randle Grumman
was an extremely reserved
The team at the top: from
left to right, Leroy Grumman,
William T. Schwendler and Jake
Swirbul. JAMES KIGHTLY COLLECTION
but highly intelligent and
capable designer, described by
Fortune magazine as “shy and
imaginative”. Training as a pilot
with the US Navy in 1917, a
tour as an instructor followed,
after which Grumman was sent
to the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology for a course
in aeronautical engineering.
Graduating around the end of
the Great War, he was placed
at the Naval Aircraft Factory as
a test pilot, from where he was
poached by Loening.
Grover and his brother Albert
Loening took an interest — and
shares — in the Grumman
Corporation, which opened
its doors in January 1930.
Grover acted as a consultant
to Grumman, bringing his
design patents to the business.
Although it was looking for
military contracts, when Loening
was approached by a group of
Wall Street financiers in the
mid-1930s to build a new ‘air
yacht’ for their commute to work
from Long Island, he referred
them to Grumman. It seized the
opportunity, coming up with a
design which was both ‘right’
from the start in practical terms
and looked elegant. Ultimately
the result was to prove a
workhorse for more than three-
quarters of a century.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
Design 21 was started in 1936
in response to the request from Preparations are made at Bethpage

Development
the businessmen’s syndicate. for the first G-21’s maiden flight.
LEO POLASKI VIA ROGER DAVIES
Leroy Grumman and Bill
Schwendler were joined by naval
architect and hydrodynamicist
Ralston Stalb, formerly chief
engineer for Loening, who
developed the two-step planing
hull. Despite its being the
company’s largest, most modern
design to date, G-21 Goose

Technical Details
number 1001 was hand-built by
the skilled Grumman employees
as the first of three from an
order of 12, with clients lined
up for options on even more.
This strong initial order book
was vital, as payment only came
in on completion and delivery.
In the depression, such deals
were much less secure than
contracted government work.
That first G-21 started flight

In Service
trials on 29 May 1937, the
maiden take-off being made
from grass in front of the new
Grumman factory at Bethpage.
After 65 minutes, the test crew,
comprising vice-president of
flight operations Bud Gillies and permissible gross weight of of the previous efforts or client and engine combination did
assistant chief engineer Robert L. 8,000lb and SB-2 Wasp Junior expectation of this young not change in Grumman

Insights
Hall, alighted on Manhasset Bay engines. Just like Grumman’s company. A measure of its production. It is important to
and picked up Roy Grumman for military types, the Goose ‘rightness’ was that, after the very note that within its niche, it
a further trip lasting a quarter- adhered to Roy Grumman’s minor modifications from the has remained competitive for
of-an-hour. By 31 May, the credo, “Build it strong, keep it G-21 to the G-21A — which were longer than any other Grumman
amphibian had clocked up six simple and make it work.” to take advantage of the type’s aircraft. The manufacturer never
hours 10 minutes’ flying time, The Goose was a cutting- existing capability by increasing upgraded the Goose’s design,
and the only significant design edge product, well in advance performance — the airframe but instead developed a
change, on Roy’s advice, was to
move the planing hull step 4.5in
(11.5cm) aft. Temporary wooden A trio of classic Grumman
blocks were used to test the seaplanes up from
Bethpage in 1948: a Goose
alteration on 3 June. is sandwiched between a
A mere 35 days after the initial Widgeon (left) and a Mallard.
flight, on 3 July 1937 the first HAROLD G. MARTIN
Goose, registered NX16910,
was delivered to its customers,
Wilton Lloyd Smith and Marshall
Field III. They utilised it, as
planned, to commute between
their homes on the upper
Hudson River to New York’s
East River Water Port. The full
type certificate was issued on 29
September, and the machine was
re-registered NC16910. The book
price without extras was $60,000.
It cruised at 175mph, and was
a fast, comfortable capable
executive machine.
The G-21A run consisted
of 30 more examples, with a
minor modification to the hull
to reduce water spray, and a
revised tailwheel. The previous
10 G-21s were all soon brought
up to G-21A standard with a

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 85

DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
McKinnon’s G-21C conversion equipped the
aircraft with four Lycoming GSO-480-B2D6
engines. An initial two were thus modified,
this being the first, N150M. KEY COLLECTION
The late Wilson ‘Connie’ Edwards owned this ex-US
Navy JRF-5, N7211, which had been given certain
McKinnon modifications including the extended
dorsal fin and enlarged cabin. KEY COLLECTION
The ill-fated Garrett TPE331-powered
Goose N221AG, named Aleutian Goose,
on show at Farnborough in 2010. BEN DUNNELL
86 www.Key.Aero
smaller aeroplane, the Widgeon,
and a larger one, the Mallard,
which expanded its twin-engine
amphibian range.
Improving the breed
Angus G. ‘Mac’ McKinnon, of
Sandy, Oregon-based McKinnon
Enterprises, developed a number
of modifications in the 1950s.
The McKinnon G-21C to G-21G
types trialled several engine
configurations, beginning with
four flat-six Lycomings. Rebuilt
again, the aircraft included a
second cabin extension forward
of the cockpit, and was then
further upgraded with turboprop
power, seating up to an alleged
maximum of 14 people.
Grumman test pilot ‘Corky’
Meyer stated, “the conversion
exhibited very poor water
handling characteristics and we
did not endorse it.”
Next came McKinnon’s
conversion to twin-Pratt &
“ The McKinnon
G-21C to G-21G
types trialled
several different
”
engines
Whitney Canada PT6A-20
turboprop power, only built in
small numbers. Confusingly,
another derivative, created by the
US Fish and Wildlife Service in
Alaska, used Volpar of California’s
Beech 18 kit to fit two 715shp
Garrett AiResearch TPE331-
2U-203 turboprops, plus a long
dorsal fin extension, to create the
unofficially named ‘McKinnon
G-21G’ N780. As N221AG, this
example was even exhibited
by Triple S Aviation at the 2010
Farnborough show, but it was lost
in a fatal accident at Al Ain, UAE,
early the following year.
In the early 2000s, Antilles
Seaplanes of North Carolina
proposed production of the
Antilles G-21G ‘Super Goose’,
based on McKinnon’s stores
and type certificates, but the
project foundered by 2010. The
most widely adapted McKinnon
modification proved to be the
AEROPLANE MAY 2022

single-strut retractable wing
floats, which made water-based
loading easier, allowing better
access to landing stages. In flight,
they improved payload and
single-engine performance.
Experimental models
In the post-war era of American
military largesse, the US Air
Force and US Navy charged
the EDO Corporation with
developing hydrofoil-equipped
marine aircraft. In 1947, A-9A
(formerly JRF-5) 48-128 was
the test airframe for an air force
request for an Arctic-based
fighter. To be able to operate
off water and ice as well as
effectively to water-ski, it was
fitted with the Pantobase (for
‘all-base’, meaning any landing
surface) shock-absorber-
equipped hydro-ski mounted
centrally below the hull, with
additional skis on the floats,
and a tail-ski. In testing, the
three support skis were
discarded, proven unnecessary.
The aircraft performed well both
on ice and water.
The air force lost interest, but
then the navy entered. A second
Goose, JRF-5 BuNo 37783,
was fitted with a single ski and
confirmed the principle, which
was further trialled on the larger
Martin PBM Mariner flying boat.
The navy then moved on to test
a twin-hydro-ski system with
JRF-5 BuNo 37805, which proved
problematic, the spray damaging
the propellers. A final Goose
modification was the addition of
the retractable, super-cavitating
V-section hydrofoil, supported
by twin-bow hydro-skis known
as the Gruenberg system. This
was mounted on BuNo 37782,
A-9A 48-128 tests the
Pantobase hydro-ski. US NAVY
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
The Kaman K-16B under
test on a ground rig. NASA
another JRF-5, borrowed from
the US Coast Guard. The project
was finally terminated in 1965.
All three were successful, the
‘Triphan’ ski system later
being proven on the Grumman
Albatross, and the Pantobase
set-up on the Stroukoff YC-123E
and YC-134A derivatives of the
Fairchild C-123 (see Aeroplane
February 2022), but never found
widespread use.
Capt Eric Brown was able
to test the hydro-ski Goose at
Patuxent River, Maryland, and
described its somewhat wobbly
characteristics: “Take off was a
touchy business. The aeroplane
was manoeuvred on the water so
that the wind was approximately
5 to 10 degrees off the port bow.
The take-off with 30 degrees (1/2
flap) setting was initiated by
prompt application of take-off
power while holding full up
elevator. As soon as the wind-
DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
Development
Technical Details
In Service
shield spray began to dissipate experimental tilt-wing Kaman
and the trim started to increase, K-16B, powered by two General
full up elevator was relaxed and Electric YT58-GE-2A engines.
considerable forward control Shortcomings in the design’s
force applied to prevent the ski controllability and the flexible
from broaching or unporting mounting of the propeller
too soon”. ‘Unporting’ was the blades meant it did not proceed
term used by EDO for when the beyond wind tunnel tests and
Insights
submerged ski broke the surface anchored ground runs, and
and started to plane. the project was shut down by
A single Goose hull and the navy in 1962. The aircraft
empennage was modified by survives today at the New
Kaman for the US Navy as the England Air Museum.
DATAFILE
GRUMMAN
PROJECT 711
As late as the 1980s, Grumman considered a modern replacement
design, the G-711. With a forward cockpit and turboprop power, it
provided a noteworthy contrast to the Goose. A large wind tunnel
model and a full-size wood and Styrofoam mock-up were built,
but, tellingly, the concept was regarded as too expensive for the
market, even after Grumman took Piper Aircraft’s design advice to
reduce the outlay on manufacturing labour. Ultimately the board
of directors rejected it due to the high development cost and
flyaway price, and estimated low potential sales.
www.Key.Aero 87
 TECHNICAL
DETAILS
A recognition image of Goose
MV993, after being impressed
from Lord Beaverbrook’s
ownership. KEY COLLECTION
The cockpit of a pre-war G-21A,
and a period executive interior.
LEO POLASKI VIA ROGER DAVIES
T
he Goose was a fixed
high-wing, twin-engine
cantilever monoplane
amphibian with a semi-
monocoque all-metal structure.
It employed 24ST Alclad metal
skinning throughout, except
on the control surfaces and aft
mainplane, which were fabric-
covered. The fuselage hull was
a single structure incorporating
the fin and a two-step planing
bottom, without any flare or
upper chine.
The fuselage contained, fore
to aft, a small bow compartment,
an anchor compartment with
a hatch to the two cockpit
seats, and a full dual-control
cockpit with a door to the six-
seat passenger compartment.
Further aft were a chemical
toilet, a galley and a baggage
compartment, with access to
the rear fuselage for inspection.
88 www.Key.Aero
The design of one of the world’s great marine aircraft
Each compartment had rubber port side, with an emergency cockpit two arched windscreens
gasket-sealed hatches to preserve hatch opposite. Other access of toughened glass; sliding
buoyancy in an emergency. was through a mooring hatch side windows could provide
Entry to the passenger area in the nose. The cabin had emergency access. A porthole
was via a two-piece door on the three windows per side, and the to the landing gear bay enabled
undercarriage checks, and the
fuel tanks had glass sight tubes
DATAFILE SPECIFICATIONS: JRF-5 behind the pilot’s shoulders
POWERPLANTS for fuel levels. The cabins
Two Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior nine-cylinder radials, were heated and ventilated.
450hp each As standard, the initial G-21
DIMENSIONS had four adjustable armchairs
for passengers. Later military
Length: 38ft 4in (11.68m)
Span: 49ft 0in (14.94m)
versions were equipped with
Height (on ground): 15ft 0in (4.57m) a removable watertight hatch
Wing area: 375 sq ft (34.84 sq m) in the cabin floor through the
planing hull for a mapping
WEIGHTS
camera.
Empty: 5,425lb (2,461kg)
The NACA 23000-section
Loaded: 7,955lb (3,626kg)
aerofoil was constructed in
PERFORMANCE three sections: a centre section
Maximum speed: 201mph (323km/h) at 5,000ft (1,525m) extending to the engine mounts
Cruise speed: 191mph (307km/h) and two outer wing sections.
Range: 640 miles (1,030km) Each single-spar outer wing was
Service ceiling: 21,000ft (6,400m) fitted with an aileron and a
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE

GRUMMAN

Development
G-21A GOOSE

Technical Details
GRUMMAN
JRF-3 GOOSE

In Service
Insights

GRUMMAN GRUMMAN
JRF-3 GOOSE JRF-3 GOOSE

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 89

DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
metal-covered, vacuum-operated
DATAFILE GOOSE MODELS split flap, and a fixed float on
Designation Number built/ Users/serials/ Details two struts. The floats could be
construction registrations removed for better performance
numbers when the Goose was not
G-21 12 1001 to 1012 Various civil 400hp P&W R-985 Wasp Junior SB engines; all undertaking water operations.
owners brought up to G-21A standard, either on return or in The centre section contained the
production two 110-US gallon fuel tanks as
G-21A 30 1013 to 1020, Mix of military and 450hp Wasp Junior SB-2 engines; standard civil part of the wing box beam.
1048 to 1062, civil customers model The empennage consisted
1080 to 1084, of two horizontal all-metal
1175 and 188 tailplanes attached to the integral
G-21B 12 1088 to 1099 Portuguese Navy Portuguese military order; 450hp Wasp Junior SB-2 fin, a fabric-covered conventional
serials 97 to 108,engines; armed and a pure flying boat (landing gear rudder and a pair of elevators,
not fitted)
later G-97 to G-108 each with a trim tab adjustable
XJ3F-1 (G-26) 1 1021 BuNo 1384 450hp R-985-48 engines; eight-seat military utility in flight. The rudder had an
amphibian prototype aerodynamic and mass balance
JRF-1 (G-38) 5 1069 to 1072 BuNos 1674 to 450hp R-985-AN6 engines; light transport; five built, extension, and top and tail lights.
and 1075, 1677 and 1680, plus two G-21As, 1014 and 1017, impressed with this The elevators were fitted with a
1014 and 1017 07004 and 09782 designation during war horn-mounted mass balance.
JRF-1A (G-38) 5 1066 to 1068, BuNos 1671 to As JRF-1 with planing bottom camera hatch and able The two Pratt & Whitney R-985
1073 and 1673, 1678 and to use target-towing gear Wasp Junior nine-cylinder radial
1074 1679 engines were carried on steel
JRF-2 (G-39) 7 1063 to 1065, US Coast Guard 450hp R-985-AN6 engines; seating able to be tubular mounts, forward of a
1076 to 1079 V174 to V176, V184 replaced with stretchers firewall, with the ring exhaust
to V187 discharging over the wing.
JRF-3 (G-39) 3 1085 to 1087 US Coast Guard Same as JRF-2, plus autopilot and de-icing boots Two-blade Hamilton Standard
V190 to V192 constant-speed propellers were
JRF-4 (G-38) 10 1100 to 1109 BuNos 3846 to 450hp R-985-50 engines; JRF-1 with bomb racks for
3855, 07004 and two 250lb bombs or 325lb depth charge under each

“
09782 wing; G-21As c/ns 1060 and 188 impressed and fitted
with racks Manual
JRF-5 (G-38) 184 1110 to 1124, BuNos 6440 to Main production model; 450hp R-985-AN12 engines;
1176 to 1187, 6454, 04349 to included hull camera hatch, target-towing gear, de- actuation of the
1189 to 1200, 04358, 34060 to icing boots, provision for autopilot and armament
B-1 to B-145 34094, 37771 to wing racks; B-prefixed c/ns to avoid overrunning undercarriage by
37831, 39747 and Widgeon production numbers
39748, 84790 to
the pilot required

”
84818, 87720 to
87751
41 turns
JRF-6B (G-38) 50 1125 to 1174 FP475 to FP524 450hp R-985-AN6B engines; examples ordered by
British Purchasing Commission; JRF-5 equivalents,
with large window blisters; 44 delivered under Lend-
the initial equipment, but many
Lease as Goose Ia, five to AAF as OA-9, one to Bolivia
G-21s later received three-
OA-9 (G-31) 26 1022 to 1047 38-556 to 38-581 450hp R-985-17 engines; Army Air Corps’ first order blade Hartzell propellers. The
engines were enclosed in NACA
cowlings, and each had a six-US
OA-13A (G-21) - 1006, 1058, 42-38215, Civil G-21As acquired for Army Air Corps
gallon (23-litre) oil tank on the
1062 42-38214,
42-97055
firewall. A fuselage-mounted
CO2 fire extinguisher system
OA-13B (G-38) - 1193, B-120 45-49089, US Navy JRF-5s diverted to Army Air Forces
was standard, and a propeller
45-49088
de-icing tank was mounted in the
JRF-5G Designation suffix to JRF-5 for US Coast Guard post-war
fuselage baggage compartment.
JRF-6, JRF-6X 15 examples modified by US Navy at Quonset Point from JRF-5s; not connected to Lend-Lease The conventional three-
JRF-6B designation wheel undercarriage used a
ZA-9, ZA-9A ‘Z’ suffix denoted obsolete US Air Force type; JRF-5 48-564 became ZA-9A, 48-128 became parallelogram retraction system
ZA-9 in 1947 patented by Grover Loening
EXPERIMENTAL AND NON-GRUMMAN VERSIONS (not, as often claimed, by
G-21C Two converted examples with four 340hp Lycoming GSO-480-B2D6s, structural upgrades Leroy Grumman) for the two
G-21C Hybrid Two examples with 680shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-20 turboprops from McKinnon, plus mainwheels which recessed into
two more using McKinnon kits the fuselage sides. It empoloyed
G-21D
‘pneu-draulic’ shock-absorbers.
Single C-model with additional passenger accommodation, later modified with 680shp PT6A-20s
The castoring tailwheel rotated
G-21E PT6A-20-powered, without structural upgrade of C-model; one converted
aft and up into a watertight
‘G-21F’ One converted by US Fish and Wildlife Service using McKinnon data and 715shp Garrett compartment aft of the planing
TPE331-2UA-203Ds; designation not recognised by FAA, completed as ‘G-21G’ even though not hull. Actuation of the system was
McKinnon-converted
performed manually by the pilot,
G-21G Two converted with 680shp PT6A-27s and increased fuel and payload requiring 41 turns.

90 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 IN
SERVICE
A US Navy JRF overflies
mountainous Alaskan terrain
in 1942 or ’43. US NAVY
Pre-war civil use
The first of the Goose executive
amphibians went to the kind of
owner they had been designed
for. Construction number 1002
was registered NC16911 to Henry
Sturgis Morgan, co-founder of
the Morgan Stanley bank; 1003 as
NC16912 to E. Roland Harriman,
financier and philanthropist;
1004 as NC16913 to Charles
W. Deeds of United Aircraft,
Connecticut; 1005 as NC16914
to Col Robert McCormick,
publisher of the Chicago Tribune;
1006 as NC16915 to Capt Boris
Sergievsky, chief pilot for
Sikorsky Aircraft, who named it
Oriel and added his old squadron
badge; 1007 as NC16916 to the
president of the Crosley Radio
Corporation in Ohio; 1008 was
registered in Australia as VH-AAY
to Asiatic Petroleum, a Shell Oil
subsidiary, and sent to Papua in
1938; and 1011 became NC1294
for John Shaffer Phipps, lawyer,
heir to and shareholder in the
Grace Line shipping firm.
The Netherlands East Indies
colonial airline Koninklijke
Nederlandsch-Indische
Luchtvaart Maatschappij
(KNILM) used the G-21A to
extend its service into the
eastern part of the East Indies
archipelago, due to the lack
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
Whether in civil or military use, the
DATA
DATABASE
Goose was a tremendous workhorse
of airfields in the region.
Preliminary work was done with
press baron Lord Beaverbrook’s
first G-21A, G-AFCH (1009, later
PK-AER) and PK-AKA (1056),
leased from Shell. The latter was
operated from the Shell base at
Sourabaya, without wheels to
increase the payload, along with
PK-AKB. When the Japanese
attacked, PK-AFR was destroyed
on the ground at Semplak Bogor
on 20 February 1942, while
PK-AFS was shot down while
attempting to survey the civilian
evacuation over Koepang, Timor
on 26 January, Capt Cornelis ten
Katen and four crew being killed.
Beaverbrook’s second Goose,
G-AFKJ (1049), was employed
GRUMMAN GOOSE
by him for a 1939 hunting trip
in Africa, after which it was
shipped to the USA for his use
on visits. It was then loaned to
the Inter-American Escadrille
for a goodwill mission to Latin
America in March 1941 to
encourage airmindedness and
aviation training. Registered
as NC37000 to Laurance S.
Rockefeller, it was flown by Capt
E. Farris, with Gen Frank Ross
McCoy, Walter Bruce Howe and
Chilean journalist Alfredo de los
Rios joining the tour.
Ironically, while he was
Britain’s Minister of Supply,
Beaverbrook resisted pressure
to donate the aircraft to the
war effort, but it was eventually
Among the pre-war corporate
Goose operators was Texaco,
which used G-21A NC20648.
Development
Technical Details
In Service
shipped to the UK in August 1942
and used by the Air Transport
Insights
Auxiliary as MV993, named
Thurso Castle. During February
1943 it was redeployed as a VIP
transport with No 24 Squadron. A
punctured float on 2 September
1945 saw the Goose capsize at
Calshot, and it was lost.
Royal Canadian Air
Force
The first military Goose customer
was the Royal Canadian Air
Force, G-21A c/n 1016 being
acquired in July 1938 as RCAF
917 for utility and VIP duties. It
was based at the capital Ottawa’s
RCAF Station Rockcliffe. After
the start of World War Two,
Goose CF-BKE was donated by
industrialist J. P. ‘Jack’ Bicknell
and serialled RCAF 924, the first
of 13 RCAF G-21As (all built as
civilian Goose models). Two
were lost in accidents in 1942,
and by 1943 the remainder were
becoming very worn, so starting
in 1944 a batch of 16 JRF-5s,
RCAF 382 to 397, was supplied
and the G-21As withdrawn, while
two more JRF-5s were diverted
from RAF orders. The G-21As
were retrospectively known as
the Goose I, or simply as the
Goose, while the JRFs were the
Goose II.
www.Key.Aero 91
DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
RCAF 798 shows the tricky nature of shallow-water operation! This
aircraft is in fact the former Texaco-owned Goose, NC20648, bought by
the Canadians during 1942. RCAF
The RCAF Goose amphibians
were on the strength of a variety
of units throughout the war
and into the early 1950s. Based
from coast to coast, their roles
took in communications work,
training, photography, patrol and
rescue, and conversion training
for larger marine types such as
the Canadian Vickers Canso and
Supermarine Stranraer.
US military
In September 1938 the US
Navy took the XJ3F-1 on for
evaluation, while the Army Air
Corps received the first OA-9 that
November, and JRF-1 deliveries
to the US Coast Guard began in
September 1939. These began
what was to be significant and
widespread Goose use by the
American services. By October
1939 the army was operating 26
OA-9s, but at a high cost — two
were destroyed at Wheeler Field,
ABOVE: Members of the Junior Birdmen of America, a national organisation created by the Hearst newspaper
publishers to promote airmindedness among young people, crowd around an Army Air Corps OA-9 in Puerto
Rico during 1939. DEGOLYER LIBRARY, SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
ABOVE RIGHT: JRF-2 V176 was part of the initial batch supplied to the US Coast Guard. LEO POLASKI VIA ROGER DAVIES
92 www.Key.Aero
Hawaii on 7 December 1941,
and 11 others had been written
off already. With the arrival of
war, the AAC received five more
OA-9s, three OA-13As and two
OA-13Bs, only eight of all of these
making it to the war’s end.
By June 1940 the corps had 21
OA-9s deployed around the US
— including Hawaii, the Canal
“
Grumman fulfilled British and US
requirements in reasonable time
Zone and one in the Philippines
— with observation schools and
as support and senior officer
aircraft, replacing Douglas OA-3
and OA-4 Dolphins. They were
further used for rescue and
utility tasks, and for diplomatic
and military intelligence
purposes including mapping
and reconnaissance, notably
in Central and South America.
Replacing pre-war losses were
three OA-13As and five more
OA-9s acquired in 1942, the
OA-13s assisting Pan American
World Airways’ South Atlantic
ferry route activities in Africa,
while the OA-9s went to military
attachés across Latin America.
The final Goose types supplied to
the army were two JRF-5s, which
arrived with the Army Air Forces
in 1945 as OA-13Bs. Even after
the US Air Force was formed as
an independent service, 38-564,
re-designated as a ZA-9A due
to its obsolescence, served until
November 1949 with the 5920th
Air Base Group at Waller AFB,
Trinidad.
The US Navy took five each
of JRF-1s and JRF-1As, the
former as transports, the latter
for photography and target-
towing, all built by Grumman
as G-38 models. These were
swiftly followed by an order for
35, initially involving JRF-4s with
the ability to carry a pair of 325lb
(147kg) depth charges or 250lb
”
(113kg) bombs. After them, with
deliveries commencing in April
1941, came the definitive JRF-5,
gaining the de-icing boots and
autopilot first introduced on the
US Coast Guard’s JRF-3s.
By the end of 1941 the navy
had a mixed set of sub-types of
the Goose, totalling 35 aircraft:
the XJ3F-1, four JRF-1 transports,
five JRF-1A utility amphibians,
10 JRF-4s and 15 JRF-5s, usable
for anti-submarine work. The US
Coast Guard had started with
seven JRF-2s and three JRF-3s,
but as the war progressed it
and the navy operated the type
jointly, 169 JRF-5s and four
G-21As being added. A very few
were allocated to the US Marine
Corps between 1941 and 1944.
The JRF-5 order overlapped
in the Grumman factory with
the same type being built for
Britain as the JRF-6. This caused
significant paperwork snarl-ups
as priorities switched back and
forth, but Grumman managed —
while also producing significant
numbers of fighters — to fulfil
all the British and American
requirements in reasonable time.
Orders continued from
the navy until the abrupt
cancellation of production in
August 1945; in all, 184 JRF-5s
were built, with 215 of all Goose
models serving in US naval
aviation. By September 1945 it
had 38 JRF-5s stationed across
the US and beyond, most of them
singly — the largest allocation
was three with COMNAVEU
(Commander US Naval Forces
Europe) at RAF Hendon. At
the war’s end, the navy quickly
marked its Goose amphibians as
obsolete. A few lingered until the
mid-1950s, but most were sold to
appreciative civil operators.
The first general-purpose
JRF-2s for the US Coast Guard,
with easily removed seats and
stretcher fittings, were delivered
at the end of 1939. This model
was known to Grumman as the
G-39. More were ordered, the
addition of de-icing boots for
cold-weather operations and
an autopilot resulting in the
JRF-3. By December 1941 the
coast guard had 10, undertaking
neutrality patrols and search
and rescue missions around the
USA. When the service came
under US Navy control, on the
American entry to the war, it was
allocated 24 G-38-model JRF-5s.
Increasing numbers of the
Goose were used for rescue work
and a very few (unsuccessful)
attacks on submarines, as well
as for mapping. There were eight
Goose-equipped US Coast Guard
air-sea rescue locations as of
1944, three on the Pacific and five
on the Atlantic.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022

At the war’s end, with 30 Goose
rescue amphibians in use, the
navy handed ASR work over to
the coast guard. Come 1947 it
was operating 23 as the JRF-5G,
the ‘G’ denoting their operator.
Replaced by the Grumman
HU-16 Albatross, the last couple
of JRF-5Gs served as trainers.
Portugal
The G-21B designation was
allocated to the first dedicated
military Goose type, and its
inaugural overseas sale. This was
to the Aviação Naval Portuguesa,
which required aircraft capable
of protecting the Azores from the
threat of the belligerent nations
in the early war period. They
were unique for Goose — and
wider Grumman — production
in being pure flying boats, with
the landing gear and associated
fittings removed. Saving 300lb
in weight enabled a larger fuel
load that brought the Azores
into range. They were fitted
with a single 0.30-calibre fixed
forward-firing machine gun,
and a flexibly mounted gun in a
new dorsal hatch, plus a single
rack under each wing for a 100lb
bomb. Unusually, a prone bomb
aimer’s position was situated
in the cabin floor, the hatch
being the same as the later JRF
ventral camera set-up. All 12
arrived between April and July
1940, and were deployed to two
bases, or Centros de Aviação
Naval: Bom Sucesso, Lisbon
and Aveiro, São Jacinto. There
they undertook reconnaissance
and maritime patrol missions
as well as general transport and
aerial photography, protecting
Portuguese neutrality during
World War Two.
During 1941, three G-21Bs
(200, 103 and 105) were
transferred to Ponta Delgada,
the centre of the Azores
administration. A storm on 3
November 1941 wrecked serial
100, and it was replaced by 102.
Goose G-108 sank after hitting
a wave crest on take-off from
the Tagus River on 31 August
1943. Pilot 2° Tenente Leopoldo
Sameiro Júnior was killed; the
other three crew members
survived.
The remaining examples
were transferred in 1952 to the
newly independent Força Aérea
Portuguesa. Two went to Base
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
The unique dorsal
hatch fitted only
to the G-21B flying
boats of the Aviação
Naval Portuguesa.
LEO POLASKI VIA ROGER DAVIES
Aérea No 7 at São Jacinto, and
nine to Portela naval base in
Lisbon, the last noted flights
being circa 1959. Portugal also
acquired Grumman Widgeons,
arriving in 1941-42, and
Albatrosses.
RAF and FAA
The British Air Commission
ordered 50 G-21A amphibians,
spares and support equipment
on 21 April 1941, under Lend-
Lease terms. The aircraft were
equivalent to the JRF-6, in fact
being recorded as JRF-6B (‘B’
for Britain) models. Changes
included the provision of blister
cabin windows for navigation,
and the use of UK-made
equipment, but they lacked
the hull-bottom camera hatch.
Serialled FP475 to FP524, they
were delivered between January
1942 and March 1943.
One of the main British uses
of the Goose was for observer
training, transferred from the
UK to the newly created HMS
Goshawk at Piarco Savannah,
Trinidad, where No 1 Observer
A 1942 image of Fleet Air Arm Goose
Ia FP486 in Tobago. HAROLD KIRBY
School — part of which was 749
Squadron — started operations
in November 1940. The
Grummans, mainly land-based,
supplemented Supermarine
Walruses. Intense training using
43 examples of the American
type was marred by five Goose Ia
accidents, two with fatalities (one
with a US Navy instructor among
the dead). HMS Goshawk was
paid off in February 1946, and
the surviving examples returned
to the USA.
Several more Goose
amphibians were impressed,
while four JRF-5s were acquired
by the British Air Commission in
1944. FP471 and FP473 went to
the RCAF, while FP470 and FP472
were ferried to Nassau in the
Bahamas and replaced Walruses
on ASR work, later becoming
a VIP aircraft for the governor
of the Bahamas, the former
King Edward VIII and his wife,
now the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor. Returning to American
ownership in 1946, again under
Lend-Lease, they were sold on,
FP470 going to Ecuador with
Shell Oil as HC-SBT.
After high hopes, G-21A
NC3022’s career sadly
Development
fizzled. Bought by the British
American Ambulance Corps
on 22 September 1941, it was
donated to the UK and sent to
the Middle East, given serial
HK822. Allocated to the Desert
Air Force’s Sea Rescue Flight at
the end of November 1941, it
was found unsuitable for open-
sea rescues. The machine was
Technical Details
passed to the Royal Australian
Air Force’s No 1 Air Ambulance
Unit on 1 December 1942 — the
only Goose to serve with the
Australian military — but on
9 December 1942 it crashed
into the Mediterranean during
a ‘load test’ with eight aboard,
everyone surviving. According to
the report, “The pilots managed
to get from the cockpit into the
cabin and after some difficulty
In Service
all seven members of the crew
and passengers succeeded in
climbing into a small rubber
dinghy. They paddled all night
but made no headway against
wind and current.”
The Swedish Flygvapnet
bought an ex-RAF Goose, c/n
Insights
1134, in 1951, from a Norwegian
owner specially for rescue work
in the north. It was the only
Goose that regularly flew with
skis, Grumman having advertised
the option pre-war. Serialled
81001 and heavily used for a
decade, it was lost in a take-off
accident in 1962 without injury
to the crew.
Japan and Indonesia
During the war, the Japanese
captured a Goose, believed to be
one of the KNILM or Shell Oil
www.Key.Aero 93
DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
JRF-5 BuNo 35921 joined the Japan Maritime Self-
Defense Force as serial 9012 in 1954, but spent just
six years on strength. Earlier, this aircraft had been
operated as NX1604 by Columbia University. KEY COLLECTION
examples that had supposedly
been scrapped on the ground
before the Japanese advance. It
was tested by the 1st Tachikawa
Army Air Arsenal in Tokyo
during July 1942, coded 31. In
March 1954, the Japan Maritime
Self-Defense Force received
four JRF-5s as part of the Mutual
Defense Assistance Program
(MDAP). They were shipped
to the US Naval Air Facility
Oppama, where the Japanese
crews were trained, after which
the aircraft were transferred to
the 2nd Chutai, Kanoya Kokutai
at Kanoya as an interim training
type as the JMSDF moved
to the more capable, larger
Consolidated PBY-6A. Six more
unrefurbished JRF-5s were
transferred in 1955, understood
to be for parts supply.
The first of the Goose
amphibians in Indonesia were
flown briefly by oil exploration
companies pre-war. After
hostilities the Shell Oil subsidiary
NV De Bataafsche Petroleum
Maatschappij operated PK-AKA
94 www.Key.Aero
(later PK-RAM) and PK-AKB in
Borneo, flying from the Lariang
River in Sulawesi, wearing a Total
Oil logo. When Dutch assets were
nationalised by the Indonesian
government in 1958, the two
G-21s were transferred to the
country’s air force, the Tentara
Nasional Indonesia Angkatan
Udara Angkatan Udara (TNI-AU),
as PB-518 and PB-521, along with
the Grumman Albatross fleet.
They are believed to have seen
further use on oil-related tasks.
PB-521 survives in the museum
hangar at Kalijati air base, in
TNI-AU colours.
French Navy
With the start of the Korean
War in 1950, the American
attitude towards French colonial
efforts to regain control in
Vietnam underwent a complete
reversal. The obsolete and tired
Supermarine Sea Otters were
replaced by 12 JRF-5s supplied
in 1951, and five more in 1953
under the Far Eastern MDAP.
As well as modernising the
previously stored aircraft, they
were outfitted with French
equipment and VHF radios,
while different examples were
equipped with a variety of
armament including door-
mounted twin 7.62mm machine
guns, as an early gunship. One
Goose was armed with a pair of
forward-firing guns. In addition
to the expected stores on the
wing racks, including high-
explosive and cluster bombs and
napalm, up to four 100lb (45kg)
bombs were carried, and at least
one other Goose was given eight
rocket rails.
These Grummans were
heavily and regularly operated
by Escadrille 8S in combat
throughout the Mekong Delta
and well beyond, for sampan
interdiction, artillery direction
and medical evacuation.
Several were lost, mainly due
to accidents resulting from the
tempo of operations. By the time
of the 1954 ceasefire, the unit
had 12 operational JRFs and had
achieved 3,800 sorties in 6,500
flying hours. At least one JRF-5
had large red cross markings
applied.
The unit was then transferred
to Algeria, the amphibians
being used for communications
work and maritime surveillance
targeting arms smuggling by sea.
Spares shortages, a common
problem with MDAP aircraft,
reduced the type’s utility,
including restrictions of on-
water use. On 27 January 1961,
Goose 27.F-11 was unable to
maintain height on departure
from Tambacounda, Senegal
and crashed, killing all aboard
including Rear-Admiral Pierre
Ponchardier and his wife. This
accident led to the withdrawal
of the remaining, tired aircraft,
which were scrapped.
Latin America
In 1938, the Peruvian air arm,
the Cuerpo Aeronáutico del
Perú, was modernised with the
addition of four G-21As
(c/ns 1050-53) as multi-purpose
transports, among other
American types. They performed
mail deliveries in remote areas
and, from 1942, photo surveys,
including photo-mapping of the
5,000ft-altitude capital, Lima.
Two were lost in accidents
without injury to their crews,
the remaining pair being sold to
Avalon Air Transport in 1958.
One JRF-6B, c/n 1150, was sent
to the Cuerpo Aéreo Boliviano,
redirected from a British Lend-
Lease contract in July 1942, while
two JRF-5s, c/ns 1186 and 1187,
were assigned to Cuba’s Aviación
de Marina de Guerra in October
1942 as part of American backing
for friendly nations. A JRF-6B,
c/n 1153, was refitted to G-21A
standard post-war and became a
VIP aircraft for the Guatemalan
president. Two of the type, JRF-5
B-49 and JRF-6 B-65, joined the
developing Honduran military,
acquired in 1946 and 1956.
Argentina acquired five ex-
Royal Navy JRF-6Bs and a US
Navy JRF-5 for coastal and river
use, and later Antarctic support,
in 1947-48 after signature of the
Rio Pact. One, serial PGM-2, was
lost at sea with all crew off Río
The last Goose in
Aéronautique Navale
service was JRF-5 BuNo
37827, stationed in Dakar
until 1961. CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY
AEROPLANE MAY 2022

An Argentinean Goose,
3-P-50, at Deception Island,
Antarctica. JAMES KIGHTLY COLLECTION
Santa Cruz on 14 September
1948, the Argentine Antarctic
base Jubany being named after
its pilot, Teniente de Fragata José
Jubany. A second, 3-P-25, sank
in heavy weather at the Melchior
base on 3 April 1951 while aiding
Antarctic operations. By 1960
the remaining two aircraft were
used for fisheries protection
and search and rescue with the
Prefectura Naval, before they
went to Paraguay.
Under military assistance
efforts, in 1959 the Aviación
Navale Paraguaya acquired three
JRF-5s with serials T-001 to T-003.
Flown by a civilian pilot, T-001
disappeared on delivery between
Nassau and St Juan on 17
November. In later service, they
were supported by the Argentine
naval mission to Paraguay,
and by 1966 they were flying a
freight and passenger service
on the Paraguay River to fund
the operation of the aircraft! An
ex-Argentine JRF-6B was added,
which by 1968 was the only
airworthy example due to parts
shortages, aided by the supply of
a second such airframe.
Post-war civil use
At the war’s end, many G-21s
shed their military colours for
civil schemes and carried on
flying. Numerous small — and
some not-so-small — airlines
sprang up, made viable by the
Goose’s payload and amphibious
qualities. While they flourished
or withered for numerous
reasons, Grumman’s design was
never the cause, although there
were accidents due to the type’s
sometimes marginal capabilities,
the operating conditions, or the
owners’ expectations.
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
The sheer diversity of operators
and roles was remarkable.
By the 1970s at least 40 G-21s
were in service in locations
including Alaska, Canada and
New Zealand, and a fleet of 18
operated daily scheduled flights
in the US Virgin Islands with
Antilles Air Boats (see Aeroplane
“
At the war’s end, many G-21s shed
their military colours for civil ones
April 2020). Antilles, as well as
being the largest civil Goose
operator, serves as an exemplar
of what many of these amphibian
airlines went through. It was
founded in 1964 by former USAF
brigadier general and record-
setter Charles F. Blair with one
Goose operating inter-harbour
between St Croix and St Thomas.
By 1974, based at Christiansted,
there were 18 flying a range
of routes, supported by larger
The Shell Oil Co of Ecuador’s Goose, HC-SBA Rio Napo, in the late 1940s.
This machine is now in the Smithsonian collection. LEO POLASKI VIA ROGER DAVIES
DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
amphibians and four-engine
flying boats.
Blair was killed on 2 September
1978 after the engine of Goose
N7777V exploded, shedding the
cowling. Descending to attempt
to fly in ground effect, due to the
combination of overload and
drag from the missing cowling,
the aircraft hit the water and
cartwheeled. Blair and three
passengers were killed, although
seven others somehow survived.
The carrier was castigated
for maintenance failures and
paperwork shortcomings, in a
year that saw not just the death
of its founder but also three other
Goose accidents. Blair’s widow,
actress Maureen O’Hara, sold the
business in April 1979. While the
accidents reflected badly on the
culture of the airline, and unfairly
on the Goose as a type, Antilles
had nonetheless taken almost
three million passengers on more
than 400,000 flights.
”
Probably the greatest variety
of Goose-equipped airlines
to serve one route comprised
those that flew from mainland
California to Catalina Island,
each new name picking up after
the previous incumbent went
bust. Amphibian Air Transport
was the first Goose operator
serving the island between 1947
and 1949, flying four (NC95467,
’68, NC68157 and ’58), along
with three Sikorsky S-43s. Avalon
Air Transport, established in
1953 and renamed Catalina
Development
Airlines in 1963, operated from
Long Beach Airport with seven
G-21s and two heavier Sikorsky
types, an S-43 and the VS-44A,
but ceased operations in 1968.
Catalina Seaplanes competed on
the service, operating from San
Pedro Harbor. Catalina Channel
Airlines was active from 1959-66,
while Golden West Airlines took
Technical Details
over the Catalina Airlines fleet
during 1968 and carried on to
1973, when Catalina Airlines Inc
stepped in until 1981. Its G-21s
were grounded by the FAA due
to salt-water corrosion issues
discovered in 1977.
G-21A NX1604 (c/n 1188)
served with Columbia
University’s Division of War
Research, based at La Guardia
Field, New York from September
In Service
1942 until the end of the war.
This was an airborne laboratory,
testing anti-submarine detection
magnetometer systems,
equipped with wingtip sensors.
Shell’s subsidiaries put G-21s
into service for exploration,
notably in Venezuela, where the
Insights
Venezuelan Oil Development
Corporation operated YV-VOD-2
from April 1942, and YV-P-AEP
arrived in 1949. The Shell
Company of Ecuador had six, the
loss of HC-SBL on 3 December
1946 encapsulating the variety
of work the amphibians did.
On a mercy flight from Shell
Mera’s bush strip, it failed to
clear a 14,000ft mountain in the
Llanganates Andes range. Capt
O. E. Gates, the company chief
pilot, Sir Richard Barlow, two
sick labourers and a male nurse
were killed.
www.Key.Aero 95
DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE
The New York Police
Department flew an ex-Royal
Navy G-21A (c/n 1145) from
Floyd Bennett Field as NC1200V
between 1947 and 1955. It
generated much publicity from
its employment on photography,
surveillance and even cloud-
seeding experiments, using dry
ice pellets in March 1950, as
well as for transporting Mayor
William O’Dwyer and others.
Goose CF-MPG — for
‘Mounted Police Goose’ —
gave good service to the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police. It
purchased G-21A c/n B-77 from
the War Assets Corporation for
CAN$50,000 during 1946. As a
Goose II, it had arrived in Canada
for the RCAF in August 1944.
With the RCMP it clocked up a
creditable 24,000 flying hours
in searches for missing people,
boats and vehicles, medical
transfers and communications.
From 9 June-2 September 1950,
DATAFILE
Pacific Coastal Airlines’ G-21A C-FUAZ
touching down at the Vancouver seaplane
base. JAMES KIGHTLY
Typical of the Antilles Air Boats Goose fleet was N323, an ex-US
Navy JRF-5 which also served in civilian hands with Catalina Air
Lines. It eventually fell victim to a 1978 engine failure, albeit with no
fatalities. TOM ANUSEWICZ
it flew from Ottawa, across the
prairie provinces, the Yukon
Territory, the western Arctic,
Hudson’s Bay, Labrador and
back, covering 15,585 miles.
The following year it journeyed
from Newfoundland to Herschel
Island, the far point of Canada’s
western Arctic, Cambridge Bay
and Iqaluit. Retired in January
1994, after a ‘Save the Goose’
campaign CF-MPG was donated
by the RCMP and the British
Columbia government and
delivered to what was then the
National Aviation Museum —
now the Canada Aviation and
Space Museum — in Rockcliffe.
It had been in continuous
Canadian public service longer
than any other aeroplane.
Canadian aerial firefighting
pioneer Dan McIvor tested
fuselage-mounted rotating-tube
side water tanks on CF-IOL,
filled by a scoop pipe intake
into a slot on top of the tanks
which, on demand, rotated to
dump the water. McIvor moved
on to develop Forest Industries
Flying Tankers, which used
Goose C-FVFU (c/n B-101) as a
‘bird-dog’ spotter for the Martin
Mars water-bombers between
1967 and 2001. The same Goose
started up European Coastal
Airlines of Croatia in 2002,
though that venture folded
during 2016.
The only Goose registered
in the UK after the war had an
interesting career. Ex-RCAF
G-21A c/n 1083 was acquired
from Canada for Lord Grosvenor,
the Duke of Westminster, in
1964. An auxiliary belly ferry
tank and four 45-gallon drums
were strapped into the fuselage,
the carpet and life-raft packed
in aft, and the aircraft ferried
from Goose specialist Ken
McKinnon’s facility at Sandy,
Oregon, across Canada and
the Atlantic to the UK by Ken
McCuig in 47 hours’ flying. It was
then registered G-ASXG for the
Grosvenor Estates, and based at
Hawarden to operate executive
flights between London,
Scottish and Irish lakes, and
mainland Europe. During 1968
it was re-equipped with Pratt &
Whitney PT6A turboprops and

SURVIVORS TODAY Hartzell three-blade propellers

by Marshall of Cambridge.
Returning to North America in

A
1986 issue of Flight reported 50
examples of the Goose being in
commercial service. While possibly an
over-estimate, it was still notable. Today,
85 years after the G-21’s first flight, none are
undertaking scheduled passenger services, the
now defunct Alaskan carrier PenAir having retired
the type in December 2012 with a final
commercial flight between Unalaska and
Anchorage. However, at least one charter airline
— Wilderness Seaplanes of Port Hardy, British
Columbia — carries on operating three,
functioning as an offshoot of its parent company
Pacific Coastal Airlines. The Goose looks set to be
flying for some time yet.
In 2022, the majority of active G-21s are in
private ownership and with the original piston
power. Several airframes are, however, displayed
in national and regional collections worldwide,
including the Canadian RCMP example noted
earlier, and NC702A (c/n 1048) in the
Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum.
Originally equipped with cactus-proof tyres and
without the executive G-21A interior, the
Smithsonian machine had been sold to the Asiatic
Petroleum Corporation as YV-VOD-2 in December
1938. Goose c/n 1086 represents one of the first
US Coast Guard examples, suspended from the
roof of the National Naval Aviation Museum at
Pensacola, Florida.
1973, it was converted back to
piston power by Air BC in 1985,
but the machine — now C-FAWH
— was written off after a crash
on take-off due to wind shear at
Rivers Inlet, British Columbia on
12 May 1988. All aboard survived,
despite the wings being torn off
in the impact.
As if all that wasn’t enough,
the Goose enjoyed certain
forays into popular culture. For
many, the type’s greatest career
attainment was being the aircraft
star in the 1980s ABC TV series
Tales of the Golden Monkey.

96 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 Ryan Pemberton, of Pemberton & Sons Aviation, recounts
INSIGHTS his experiences of flying the family’s JRF-6B Goose N95467

Development
Technical Details
In Service
Insights
Addison and Ryan Pemberton at the controls of
their family’s JRF-6B, which returned to flight in
April 2017 following a lengthy restoration. This
machine was FP511 with the Fleet Air Arm and
BuNo 66331 in US Navy service. VIA RYAN PEMBERTON

L
ike most aircraft that
have spent much of their
working lives in Alaska —
think Super Cubs, Beavers
and Cessna 185s — an incredible
number of modifications
have been made to the Goose.
Very few remain airworthy in
completely stock configuration.
Since each airframe has a range
to fly and looks, overall, generally
original.
Once our Goose was finished,
we all had to learn to fly it. I came
to the aircraft with little relevant
background. I had experience on
single-engine taildraggers and
some single-engine floatplane
it has everything you’d hate in a
taildragger: narrow-track landing
gear, a forward-set, non-steering
tailwheel and a high centre of
gravity. In practice, though, it
has everything you’d love in
a taildragger: an enormous
rudder with great authority, good
In the air, the Goose’s
personality continues to shine. It
is stable and comfortable, happy
to cruise along at 140kt (160mph,
260km/h). The controls are well
harmonised and quite light,
considering it is an 8,000lb
(3,600kg)-plus aircraft. Single-
engine performance is marginal
and the Goose will make you

“
of changes applied, every one work to climb or even maintain
flies a little differently. Propeller While the Goose does everything altitude in many conditions.
selection, fixed as opposed However, the control authority

to retractable tip floats, cabin
arrangement, cargo door
configuration, cockpit layout
and cowlings all have an impact
on what life will be like when
interacting with a particular
example. Our mission was to
end up with a ‘fun’ aeroplane,
and I think we struck the right
chord, meaning it is configured
practically, relatively light, nice
well, it handles water very well
time. I used the Goose to get my
multi-engine land and multi-
engine sea ratings, so a lot of my
initial experience with the aircraft
was outside of how we’d typically
operate it. As a landplane, the
Goose is astonishingly well-
behaved. By initial observation,
”
brakes, excellent visibility and
differential power for additional
directional control. It slows down
nicely, and approaches feel very
stable. With little experience, it
is easy to land a Goose within
plus or minus 100ft (30m) of the
desired touchdown point.
remains outstanding. You can
do stalls with one engine at full
power and never lose control
authority.
The Goose was built for the
water, and it shows. While it does
everything well, it handles water
very well. My background before
the Goose was in floatplanes.
Simply put, floatplanes and
flying boats require exactly

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 97

DATABASE GRUMMAN GOOSE

The smart colour scheme of a JRF that served

at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, sets the
Pemberton & Sons Goose off a treat. In one
of its earlier lives, the airframe was Antilles
Air Boats’ first acquisition. VIA RYAN PEMBERTON

the opposite treatment to one
another, so that was a learning
curve. Flying a flying boat is all
about maintaining a specific
pitch attitude on take-off or
landing. While many flying boats
and floatplanes have a very
narrow ‘sweet spot’ on the step,
the Goose is relatively wide and
communicates clearly to the pilot
what needs to happen. There
is plenty of elevator authority
at low speeds to maintain any
pitch attitude during take-off,
step taxiing or landings. Many
operators run the aircraft up to
10,000lb (4,500kg). While we
operate ours in the lower 8,000lb
range, it is clear the Goose
doesn’t mind carrying a load and
pulls out of the water and onto
the step quickly.
Initially bringing the power up
on the water is a very exciting and
sometimes dramatic operation. If
any breeze or waves are present,
water inevitably splashes over the
bow and all over the windshield.
Short periods of zero visibility
are possible, typically joined by
hearing water surging through
the props. During this three-to-
five-second window of water
spray and drama, the pilot is
busy. One must simultaneously
manage setting power, keeping
the left float from burying in
the water, bringing in half flaps,
getting the aircraft up on the
step and trying to prevent any
porpoising — or, more likely,
trying to mitigate whatever
porpoising has started. From
the cabin, all your passengers
can see is water spraying by the
cabin windows until you are up
on the step. Water landings are
easy, even in rough water. I use
the word ‘rough’ loosely, since
experienced Alaskan Goose
pilots would say I’ve never
landed in rough water!
In most vintage tailwheel
aeroplanes, you want to watch
the landing to see how skilled
or experienced the pilot is. With
a Goose, you can tell it all from
watching a water take-off. A
good Goose operator can fly
it smoothly and gracefully no
matter what the conditions.
The aircraft has incredible
capability and really shines in
experienced hands. The Goose
is very forgiving with excellent
control authority in all realms.
To a novice like me, it is a fun,
intuitive aeroplane that is very
satisfying when things come
together and it is flown well.
Lumbering along with your left
hand on the yoke and your right
hand hanging off the throttles,
it is hard to look past what an
amazing opportunity it is to
fly a Goose.

DATAFILE The Pembertons

enjoying a day out on

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT the water with their

much-loved Goose.
VIA RYAN PEMBERTON
The US Navy found numerous JRFs were being lost in the Pacific
due to the demands of open-water operations — one limitation of
the type — and on land, where the undercarriage was sometimes
not fully locked down or collapsed under lateral load. A training
requirement was introduced prior to licence endorsement,
whereby the pilot would be shown the full gear-lowering
technique while the aircraft was hung from a crane or up on jacks.
It reduced the damage rate significantly.

98 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

 VIP Club
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080/22

Reviews
The latest books for the discerning aviation enthusiast
Hawker’s Early Jets:
Dawn of the Hunter
by Christopher Budgen
published by Air World
Here we have the story of
Hawker Aircraft’s jet fighters,
from the P1040 of 1947
(straight wing, centrifugal
engine, bifurcated jet pipe)
through to the Hunter (swept
wing, axial-flow engine, the
epitome of jet fighter design). In BOOK got to the stage of a mock-up and
between came several designs of the
and prototypes, but only the Sea
M O N T H
Hawk, a development of the P1040,
achieved volume production until
the Hunter’s runaway export success. This
is also an account of Hawker’s Kingston
design office, headed up by Sir Sydney
Camm. It is, though, no eulogy and the
Hunter’s early problems are discussed,
these including airbrakes, elevator flutter,
tail end vibration, engine surge at high rpm drawings are provided. A most worthwhile
and with gun firing, elevator effectiveness,
tightening in turns, wheel brake judder
and ammunition link strikes on the
fuselage (see ’Sabrinas’).
The author has good personal
connections with Hawker, having joined
the company in the 1970s. This, though,
Picturing
England
Between the
Wars
by Stuart Sillars
published by
Oxford University
Press
This volume,
subtitled ‘Word and
Image 1918-1940’,
was offered by the publisher for review
in Aeroplane despite its unusually broad
(for an aviation magazine) theme, with
the comment that we might find the final
chapter ‘Air-Mindedness’ of interest. In this
chapter (number 15), the author reviews
events between 1918 and 1940 from a novel
standpoint, namely the interplay of words
and pictures in representations of England
and the English during the inter-war period,
100 www.Key.Aero
was after the time of the
aircraft types about which
he writes so interestingly.
In a final chapter, ‘Future
Hawker Projects’ he covers
several advanced designs,
none of which ever made
it into the air. The P1121, a
‘high-performance fighter’
powered by a single DH Gyron
turbojet, was Kingston’s great
hope for the firm’s future. It
a part-completed prototype and
showed great promise. The P1121
could have been the basis for a
‘British Phantom’, a multi-role aircraft
for the RAF with export appeal. Sadly,
it died in late 1958 for lack of funding
and customer interest. The photos, all in
black-and-white and decently reproduced,
are mostly credited to BAE Systems, and
many general arrangement and cutaway
book on a once-great British company.
Denis J. Calvert
ISBN 978-1-52679-217-4; 10.0 x 7.0in
hardback; 296 pages, illustrated;
£25.00
★★★★
starting his account with the emergence of,
yes, ‘air-mindedness’.
There’s discussion of the publication in
1937 of the semi-official 62-page book The
King’s Air Force: its Story in Word and Picture
— a catchy title if ever there was one — which
combined public interest in aviation with the
excitement of flight and pride in the British
Empire, its coloured front cover featuring the
then-new Westland Lysander (first flight 15
June 1936). Later details are of the emergence
of German warplanes, with the Heinkel
He 111 presented in the Illustrated London
News of 14 January 1939 as “a ten passenger
commercial monoplane” but with a warning
note that “the machine is obviously adapted
for military purposes”. War was just around
the corner. Not an aviation title per se, but
unusual, intriguing. DJC
ISBN 978-0-19-882892-1; 9.5 x 6.3in
hardback; 256 pages, illustrated; £35.00
★★★
REVIEWS RATING
★★★★★ Outstanding
★★★★★ Excellent
★★★★★ Good
★★★★★ Flawed
★★★★★ Mediocre
Enough said
Wings of Gold
by Beverly
Weintraub
published by
Lyons Press
Rosemary Mariner
was one of a group
of six young women
who signed up
for US Navy pilot
training in the early
’70s. Making this
possible was an announcement from the
chief of naval operations on 2 November
1972 that, “The Navy is initiating a trial
program to train women as Naval Aviators”
in pursuance of the aim of its ‘one-Navy’
concept. This is their story, relating the
regulations which, for a long time, continued
to prevent them from taking any role that
might have resulted in their seeing combat,
at the same time as limiting their promotion
prospects. Bit by bit, these restrictions were
removed, and in April 1993 the Secretary of
Defense announced that he was opening
combat aviation to women.
The author describes the entrenched
attitudes of some senior officers towards
women aviators both before and after this
announcement, and goes on to recount
the treatment some of them were routinely
subjected to. Details are given of the 1991
convention of the Tailhook Association in
Las Vegas, where things came to a head and
stories of the wild behaviour and debauchery
got into the national newspapers. Change
had to come and, eventually, it came. DJC
ISBN 978-0-19-882892-1; 9.5 x 6.3in
hardback; 286 pages, illustrated;
US$32.95
★★★
Air Campaign:
Desert Storm 1991
by Richard P. Hallion
published by Osprey Publishing
Osprey’s Air Campaign series sets out to
“look at several major conflicts across the
20th century”. This is number 25. Its subtitle,
‘The most shattering air campaign in history’
is no exaggeration; Operation ‘Desert Storm’
of 1991 brought together a huge coalition
to defeat Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces
AEROPLANE MAY 2022
 Reviews

and to bring about operation, when Operation ‘Argument’ — to the ‘average’ reader with an interest in
their withdrawal or ‘Big Week’ — targeted German aircraft technology and the military. Anicic gives his
from Kuwait. Much factories with large forces of heavy bombers personal recollections, as does the F-117A
in the way of new and escort fighters. The purpose was two- pilot, Lt Col Dale Zelko, although one gets the
technology was fold; to reduce Germany’s capability to feeling that the latter was being very careful
evident in the produce aircraft and aero engines, and to about what he did and didn’t say about the
coalition’s front bring Luftwaffe fighters into the air, to be met engagement. Well worth a read. DJC
line, including the by P-51s. A good, readable and even thought-
stealthy Lockheed provoking softback, well illustrated. DJC ISBN 978-1-52678-042-3; 9.5 x 6.3in
F-117A, laser-guided hardback; 364 pages, illustrated; £25.00
weapons, and Patriot ISBN 978-1-4728-2451-6; 9.8 x 7.2in ★★★★
missile batteries to softback; 96 pages, illustrated; £14.99
counter the Iraqi ‘Scud’ surface-to-surface ★★★
missile threat. ANG in the
Hallion relates the air campaign in detail 1980s
but goes behind the mere facts to explain the Shooting
thinking, the planning and the co-ordination. by Adrian Symonds
He also examines the weaponry employed
Down the published
Stealth Fighter by Amberley
by both sides and analyses its effectiveness.
Publishing
As an example, USAF B-52Gs dropped 72,000 by Mihajlo (Mike)
bombs and are credited (by an Iraqi brigadier Mihajlović and This volume
general, no less) with causing the desertion Djordje S. Aničić concentrates on
of 160,000 of his troops. Good colour images, published by the Air National
diagrams and tables support the text. The Air World Guard as it was
author is American, which inevitably leads in the 1980s, with
to American spellings. These are fully The subject here each state’s flying units listed and notable
acceptable, but reference to the ‘Hawker is an intriguing activities highlighted. With units of 50
Siddeley Victor K.2’ is less forgivable. DJC one, namely the states compressed into just 96 pages, these
shooting-down of USAF F-117A Nighthawk summaries are, of necessity, brief. The text
ISBN 978-1-4728-4696-9; 9.8 x 7.2in 82-0806 by an obsolescent Soviet-built is concise but formulaic and does not offer
softback; 96 pages, illustrated; £14.99 SA-3 surface-to-air missile over Yugoslavia an easy read, with acronyms abounding
★★★★ on 27 March 1999. This was an event that and no glossary of terms. As an example,
simply should not have happened — ‘stealth the entry for the Kentucky ANG starts, “The
fighters’ were touted as being near-invisible TAC-gained 123d TRW controlled the 165th
Air Campaign: to air defence radars, as demonstrated TRS at Standiford Field, Louiseville, with
during the Gulf War of 1991. Had stealth RF-4Cs (‘KY’/white/’Kentucky’…)” One
‘Big Week’ technology lost its edge? wonders whether such detail might better
1944 This welcome volume, written by two have been presented in tabular form. Oh, and
by Douglas C. Dildy men who were intimately involved with the ‘Louiseville’ should read ‘Louisville’. DJC
published by Yugoslav missile defences — indeed, Anicic
Osprey Publishing was at the time the deputy commander ISBN 978-1-4456-9866-3; 9.2 x 6.5in
of the unit that brought down the F-117A softback; 96 pages, illustrated; £15.99
In series with Desert — examines both the event itself and the ★★
Storm 1991, this surrounding technology. There’s discussion
title examines how, of stealth, radar cross-section, missile design,
in February 1944, radar principles and employment, radar- Pacific Profiles:
the US Army Air Forces fought the first ever absorbing material and much more, all
successful offensive counter-air (OCA) written at a level that will be understandable
Volume Five
by Michael John
Claringbould
published by
WATCHES Avonmore Books
The subject of this
Christopher Ward C63 Colchester latest Pacific Profile
Christopher Ward’s Military Collection has been further expanded is Japanese Navy
with the addition of the C63 Colchester, named after the location Zero Fighters (land-
in Essex of the Parachute Regiment’s headquarters. Described based) New Guinea
as a lightweight sports watch, it weighs just 38g, both the case and the Solomons 1942-1944, which doesn’t
and the dial being made from carbon. The crown is retractable, leave much space for a review. Suffice to say,
allowing the lines of the case to go unspoiled. On the back can the unit-by-unit text is useful and readable,
be found the crest of the Paras, it being possible to do this while images well-reproduced, and the all-
retaining the display back by way of a ‘coin’ that rests on it. The important colour profiles superb. A valuable
strap is made from recycled ocean plastic, and available, as shown reference source. Ben Dunnell
here, with maroon stripes in the same colour as the Paras’ berets.
ISBN 978-0-6489262-4-5; 9.8 x 7.2in
Prices: From £995 softback; 120 pages, illustrated;
Information and ordering: www.christopherward.com AUS$34.95
★★★★

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 101

 1 OF 5 PAIRS OF
TICKETS TO
On Sunday 12th June, the RAF Cosford Air Show will once again be COSFORD AIR SHOW
bringing thousands of families, veterans and aviation enthusiasts SUNDAY 12th JUNE 2022
together to commemorate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum
Jubilee 2022. In addition, the 80th anniversary of the RAF Regiment,
and the 40th anniversary of the Falkland’s conflict are also being
commemorated. With six hours of flying displays as well as themed
exhibition areas, including static displays, it offers a full day of
entertainment for all ages.

To enter this fantastic competition, simply visit

key.aero/aeroplane/competitions and fill in the online competition entry form
Closing Date 6th May 2022. Winners notified by 13th May 2022. Travel and accommodation costs are not included in the prize. The winner will be
drawn at random from all correct entries received by the competition closing date. There is no cash prize alternative and the Editor’s decision
is final. No purchase necessary

Didn’t win or want to know more? Visit www.cosfordairshow.co.uk

077/20

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 A DAY
AT T H E
SHOW

VINTAGE
AEROPLANE
CLUB
January might not all times of year. Looking back
just over 70 years, to 19 January
seem the most 1952, a Vintage Aeroplane Club
winter rally at Denham afforded
practical time one opportunity. In fact, in taking
place when it did, the whole
for a gathering event was something different
for the Buckinghamshire
of historic open- aerodrome. The club itself had
only just been formed, on 3
cockpit aircraft, November, with Denham as its
home. January’s rally was its
but that month The Pobjoy-powered Swallow comes in to land past the Hart.
G-ABMR was now in the royal blue and gold colours applied when it inaugural public occasion.
The trigger had been
in 1952 a new and Hurricane G-AMAU were entered by Princess Margaret for the
weather-aborted 1951 King’s Cup air race. coincidental letters in the
same issue of Flight from RAF
club’s first major pilot David Ogilvy and British
rally proved an
A
s these words were — not that BAE Systems sees European Airways training
written, and as you’ll itself as simply an aircraft captain Ron Gillman. They
outstanding read elsewhere in this
issue, confirmation
manufacturer any more — kept
examples of their past products,
and numerous like-minded
individuals gathered at White
success despite came that BAE Systems had
finalised the transfer of its last
and displayed them in public
regularly.
Waltham, and the Vintage
Aeroplane Club was the result,
the freezing three airworthy historic airframes
to Shuttleworth Collection
Time was when such
appearances took in not just
admitting membership to owners
of aircraft out of production since
temperatures ownership. It brought to an end a major airshows, but smaller before the war, except the Gloster
long tradition, whereby Britain’s gatherings too, and at virtually Gladiator, Hawker Hurricane
WORDS: BEN DUNNELL primary aircraft manufacturers

The crowd, well wrapped-up against the

cold, clearly enjoying one of the day’s
aerial evolutions. DH60 Moth G-EBLV
is at right; surrounding Hart G-ABMR to
the left are two Tipsy Trainers and a BA
Swallow. ALL PHOTOS AEROPLANE

AEROPLANE MAY 2022 www.Key.Aero 103

 A DAY
AT T H E
SHOW

Bev Snook’s Aeronca 100 G-AEVS heads this line. Of course, this
utterly delightful ‘Bathtub’ is airworthy today in Real Aeroplane
Company hands at Breighton. On the extreme right is a Puss Moth
which was the second oldest attendee after the DH60.

and Supermarine Spitfire. Ogilvy
recalled to the author in 2017, “I
ran it from the air force, with a
box number which was my home
address in Windsor. I just went
round trying to get my hands on
any interesting aeroplane.”
“Blessed by the weather”, The
Aeroplane said in its report, “the
Vintage Aeroplane Club’s venture
into winter rallying was attended
by an encouraging quantity of
aeroplanes, enthusiasts and
Higher-powered
representation came from
Hawker. It dispatched what The
Aeroplane called the “‘Hawker
Circus’ of vintage aeroplanes […]
in impeccable formation”, Neville
Duke at the helm of Tomtit
G-AFTA, Bill Bedford in Hart
II G-ABMR and Frank Murphy
with a Miles Whitney Straight
as ‘hack’ aircraft. Some spirited
low flying was,
customarily for
One of those Aeroncas, Philip
Colbourne’s red 100 G-AEWU,
won for its owner both the
bombing contest and the
concours d’elegance, as well as
taking second place in the spot
landing contest. His mount was
flight-tested for Motor Sport
magazine by Ogilvy the following
day, the author declaring that it
had been rebuilt “to a remarkably
high standard”,
even if it
were spared any jets”. Between
them came Duke’s displays of
the Tomtit and Hart, and low-
level aerobatics from Charles
Nepean Bishop in a Miles Hawk
Trainer III. Several of the older
machines gave a closing flypast,
The Aeroplane remarking that
the day raised “many nostalgic
recollections in the minds of
those who used to fly with the
clubs between the Wars.”
“Just as Pike was about to

“
success. A freezing wind did not such occasions, lacked “some take-off in the Cirrus Moth”,
deter the pilots of some of the old a feature of A freezing of the qualities added Boddy, “the oil-gauge
machines with open cockpits, proceedings. expected of a pipe broke, but it was soon
but its strength prevented the old The Tomtit
wind did not light aeroplane”. plugged with a 3/16in bolt, and
Avian from taking the air”. This ceased to be deter the pilots of Bev Snook’s the oldest aeroplane present
was Ron Gillman’s Avro Sports operated by G-AEVS, left successfully for home in
Avian G-ABEE, flown for the first Hawker in some of the old meanwhile, was the fading light. Many [Vintage
time post-restoration at Denham 1959, passing to described by Sports Car Club] members
the previous June. Shuttleworth, machines with Motor Sport’s and an enthusiast who came

As a result, DH60 Moth
G-EBLV was the oldest aircraft on
hand, the 1925-vintage machine
then still owned by de Havilland.
It, of course, has just become
one of the three BAE Systems
machines now in Shuttleworth
custodianship. At the controls
was Wg Cdr ‘Clem’ Pike, who
in 1951 had also conducted the
Moth’s first flight following a
rebuild by DH apprentices at
Panshanger. He was declared
winner of the rally’s spot landing
competition.
while the Hart
soldiered on
open cockpits
in Hawker
Siddeley hands
until 1971, and retirement to the
RAF Museum. Even then, British
manufacturers were getting out
of the business of operating large
fleets of ‘old-timers’.
“Other arrivals”, the report
carried on, “included a gaggle
of Tipsies, two Aeroncas and
a Pobjoy Swallow which won
the slow-flying race with a
helicopter-like performance”.
”
Bill Boddy as “a
temperamental
blue one”. He
added that “a
brave lady in her 80th year” took
her first flight in the JAP-engined
machine; “presumably no one
had told her!”
An aficionado of all things
veteran and vintage, Boddy
enjoyed the day, saying of the
competitions, “The passage
overhead of airliners on their
lawful occasions took on a real
Jules Verne aspect; mercifully, we
on a belt-drive 1919 Triumph
two-stroke enjoyed this initial
meeting. We predict a successful
future…” He was right, although
the Vintage Aeroplane Club only
lasted in that form for five years,
Ogilvy and Gillman being too
busy with other commitments,
and a lack of other volunteers
emerging to take it on. However,
in 1963 the establishment of the
Vintage Aircraft Club plugged the
gap, and it still does so today. Not
all the old traditions have
gone by the board.

‘Clem’ Pike (right)

Neville Duke’s low- brought the
altitude cavorting in the DH60 over from
Tomtit, G-AFTA, again Panshanger, where
in what had become the it had been restored
Hawker house colours by de Havilland
for its vintage collection. apprentices. “Great
excitement” greeted
its arrival, according
to Bill Boddy in
Motor Sport —
“you should have
seen Secretary
Ogilvy’s face light
up!”

104 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

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106 www.Key.Aero AEROPLANE MAY 2022

HISTORIC

2022
AVIATION
Free w
ith

• The best events

• Fantastic historic flight experiences
• Museum days out • Get involved!
TO HONOUR, EDUCATE, INSPIRE. HOME OF THE ALLIED AIR FORCES MEMORIAL.
Halifax Way, Elvington, York YO41 4AU. Telephone: 01904 608595 Accredited museum No 66 . Registered Charity 516766
 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Events

Get ready for the best worldwide air display

action this summer with our choice of the
shows, as the 2022 season gears up
COMPILER: BEN DUNNELL

20
EVENTS
NOT TO MISS
BEN DUNNELL

MAIN COVER IMAGE: Ultimate Warbird Flights’

unique trio of two-seat fighters — Spitfire IXT, TF-51D
Mustang and HA-1112-M4L Buchón. DARREN HARBAR

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 3

 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Events
BEN DUNNELL
Shuttleworth 1
Collection
Old Warden, Bedfordshire | Various dates
OK, this is billed as ‘20 events not to miss’,
but Old Warden and Duxford see to it that
the true total is well into the 30s, given
how we could easily recommend multiple
shows at each venue. Shuttleworth did an
outstanding job to resume activity during
the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic
with its ‘drive-in’ format; finally, we can
expect a 2022 season in which the main
Sunday daytime airshows are all free of
restrictions, but the Saturday evening
displays are again being run as drive-ins,
albeit with unfettered access to the site.
The calendar gets under way with 1 May’s
Season Premiere, and an array of highlights.
An SE5a pairing of Shuttleworth’s original
and Tom Harris’s reproduction is foremost
on the list, but other notable attractions
include the comeback to display flying of
Seafire XVII SX336 with Navy Wings, the
debut of Arnaldo Leon’s beautiful Old
Warden-based Ryan STM-S2 — one of
several American classics due to feature —
and ‘heavies’ in the form of Plane Sailing’s
Catalina and the BBMF Lancaster.
Looking further ahead to hoped-for
items at other shows, 18 June’s Military
Evening Air Show will witness B-17G Flying
Fortress Sally B joined by two Spitfire Vs
that escorted the wartime Memphis Belle,
whose colours Sally B of course carries —
Shuttleworth’s AR501 and Anglia Aircraft
Restorations’ EE602. The returning Fly Navy
display on 3 July will bring resident and
visiting naval aircraft to the fore, Historic
Helicopters’ Wessex and a trio of Wasps
among those planned. The Steam and
Vintage Air Show on 4 September is slated
to feature the outstanding Bellanca CH-300
just restored by Termikas in Lithuania,
while 2 October’s Race Day salutes the
best of competition aircraft in this King’s
Cup centenary year. Other dates are 14
May for the Evening of Espionage, 5 June
for the Jubilee Flying Circus, 16 July for the
Old Warden Aerodrome 90th anniversary
evening show, 7 August for the Family Air
Show and 20 August for the Flying Proms.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
www.shuttleworth.org
4 www.Key.Aero
2
Midlands Air Festival
Ragley Hall, Warwickshire |
Thursday 2-Saturday 4 June
There’s a lot to be said for mounting full-
scale airshows at the most beautiful venues
possible. The Midlands Air Festival scores
highly for doing something different, and for
developing into a big occasion at a time when
some other events have been reducing their
flying line-ups. The festival title is deliberate,
for the accent is on all-round entertainment
— Thursday evening sees a Nightfire show
with aerial pyrotechnics galore, five mass
ascents by hot-air balloons are scheduled,
and there’s on-site camping. Somewhat
surprisingly, perhaps, this is the biggest
Mid-Atlantic
Air Museum
WWII Weekend
Regional Airport, Reading,
Pennsylvania | Friday 3-Sunday 5 June
To the outsider, airshows in the USA can
seem a little difficult to separate from
one another, but of course there are
obvious exceptions. The Mid-Atlantic Air
Museum hosts one of them, a warbird
event that sticks rigidly to the historic
end of the spectrum — no present-day
military performers or modern aerobatic
acts here. The emphasis is absolutely
on nostalgia, with veterans, re-enactors,
military vehicles and musical performers
all playing their part. And then there
are the aircraft, with an impressive
bomber gathering set to dominate. The
PAUL BOX
UK show taking place over the platinum
jubilee holiday weekend, so a choice array of
participants has been assembled. Highlights
include the Red Arrows on Thursday and
Friday, B-17G Sally B, the BBMF Lancaster,
Strikemaster pair and Tony de Bruyn’s OV-10
Bronco on Friday and Saturday, and on all
three days the Rolls-Royce Heritage Flight
duo of Spitfire PRXIX and P-51D, the Tiger
Nine, Jet Provost T5A and the Turbulent
Team, with more to be announced. Classic
British airshow fun.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
www.midlandsairfestival.com
3
ALAM Y
Commemorative Air Force’s B-29
Superfortress Fifi and LB-30 Liberator
Diamond Lil, the Yankee Air Museum’s
B-17G Yankee Lady and a quartet of
B-25 Mitchells will all be on hand. So
will fighters, trainers, liaison aircraft and
transports by the dozen. The Berlin Airlift
Historical Foundation’s C-54 Skymaster
and C-97 Stratofreighter will be available
for close static inspection.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
www.maam.org/maamwwii.html
HISTORIC AVIATION 2022
 Meeting Aérien 4
de la Ferté-Alais
La Ferté-Alais, France | Saturday 4-Sunday 5 June

Ahhh, La Ferté, still the jewel in the crown of French

airshows. The first weekend in June is this year the
Pentecôte holiday in France, as well as our jubilee
holiday, so — after the COVID-19-induced
move to August last season — this means
another pilgrimage to the hilltop grass
airfield south of Paris, and one of Europe’s
richest aeronautical experiences.
There are currently concerns in France
over the potential for new regulations
on the part of the DGAC, the country’s
CAA, to restrict the ability of show
organisers and flying display directors to
execute special formations and scenarios,
the like of which are La Ferté’s bread and
butter. Partly as a result, the organising team
from the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis had not
yet released participant information at press
time. However, the La Ferté Meeting can still be
expected to rank among Europe’s largest vintage
air displays, with modern participation in strength.
It is hoped that the AJBS’s Caudron Luciole, currently
having its restoration finished, will be ready in time to be
one welcome returnee; certain newcomers are distinctly
possible, too.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION: www.ajbs.fr

(Note: admission by advance ticket only)
BEN DUNNELL

RAF Cosford
Air Show 5
RAF Cosford, Shropshire | Sunday 12 June

Now the only RAF-organised air display to

take place on an active RAF station, and
increasingly high-profile for it, Cosford has
kept the charm of a traditional ‘At Home’
Day while simultaneously attracting more
international military participation than ever
it used to. The on-site bonuses of the RAF
Museum and a huge array of retired airframes
now used for technical training, both of which
are called on to provide rarely seen airshow
PETER REOCH

static exhibits, are considerable.

The theme for 2022 is the Queen’s platinum
jubilee, and there will be a focus — in the
air and on the ground — on British military
aviation over the past 70 years. Full RAF
flying participation is expected, joined by the
Hungarian Air Force’s Cosford debut with its
literally fiery JAS 39C Gripen display, and the
Belgian Air Component’s solo F-16 Fighting
Falcon and A109. Many more confirmations
are, of course, due. Aeroplane and our sister
magazine FlyPast are media partners of the
show — to win admission tickets, turn to page
102 of the main magazine.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
www.cosfordairshow.co.uk
(Note: admission by advance ticket only)

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 5

 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Events

Antidotum Airshow Leszno
Leszno Airport, Poland |
Friday 17-Saturday 18 June
Maybe not the best-known show on this list,
but one so high on spectacle that it more
than deserves inclusion in a ‘must-visit’
selection. Its content is fairly typical: Polish
and overseas military aircraft, warbirds —
especially those of the Flying Bulls — and
SAM WISE
all sorts of contemporary civilian acts, confirmed when we wrote this preview. The
whether paramotors, gliders, unlimited Polish Eagles Foundation’s Lim-2 and SB
aerobatic types or others. What marks it Lim-2 shown here were both slated to display
out are the sunset and night displays, with last year, but ended up being reduced to the
flares, pyrotechnics and fireworks aplenty, two-seater performing alone, so hopefully a
accompanied by live music. Not until duo will be on the cards again.
17.00hrs does the flying start; with only a
brief interlude, it carries on until 22.30. As TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
for specific items, nothing had been publicly antidotum.lotniskoleszno.pl

Headcorn Battle
Danish 7 of Britain Airshow 8
Air Show Headcorn, Kent | Friday 24-Sunday 26 June

Karup AB, Denmark | Aero Legends has

ALAMY/DEAN WEST

Sunday 19 June hit upon an effective

formula for its annual
The Danish Air Battle of Britain
Show is put on by Airshow, one of the few
the Royal Danish Air events away from Old
Force and alternates Warden and Duxford
between its three to have enjoyed an
main bases. This uninterrupted run
year it’s the turn of through the pandemic,
Karup, home of the Helicopter Wing and Flying School. Quite even if the weather hasn’t always been kind. Some have affectionately
aside from the free entry, the event is known for offering an likened its flying to the early days of warbird shows in Britain, when
DANISH AVIATION PHOTO/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM

especially friendly welcome and attracting a very good range
of military and civilian flying items. The host air arm makes a
major contribution — it seems incredible, but don’t forget its
F-16s aren’t going to be in service for much longer as the F-35
Lightning II era begins. Huge C-130J flare dumps like that
pictured are almost de rigeur. Warbirds are far from forgotten,
and likewise lighter vintage types, such as Denmark’s much-
loved KZs.
the sheer numbers of aeroplanes may not have been as great as we
now see at Duxford, but the events that hosted them were imbued
with a distinctively relaxed, informal spirit.
That’s not to say the aircraft content is in any way lacking; last
year featured a ‘heavy metal’ contingent numbering 11 Spitfires,
Hurricane, Buchón, two C-47s and B-17, adding to a fine range of
vintage trainers. Expect similar this time, plus the Red Arrows on
Friday only.

INFORMATION: www.forsvaret.dk/danishairshow TICKETS AND INFORMATION: www.bobairshow.co.uk

(Note: admission by advance ticket only)

6 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

Royal International
Air Tattoo 9
RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire |
Friday 15-Sunday 17 July

It’s back. The world’s largest military airshow

returns after its enforced two-year absence,
and in heavyweight form, celebrating the US
Air Force’s 75th anniversary. Even in these
uncertain times on the international stage,

the world’s militaries are promising excellent
support — the star of those confirmed so far
is the Austrian Air Force quick reaction alert
and combat demo involving two Eurofighter
Typhoons and an (ex-RAF) C-130K Hercules,
though solos by an in-service Swedish Air
Force Saab SK 60, a Finnish Air Force Hawk
and a Spanish Air Force EF-18A Hornet aren’t
far behind. Already, air arms from 11 nations
have confirmed their attendance, excluding
our own.
As for the USAF theme, as much in-service
support as possible will be mustered for the
BEN DUNNELL
Air Tattoo, given the extent of operational
commitments. Modern-day types will
contrast in the static park with such historics
as B-17G Sally B and P-47D Thunderbolt
Nellie B. Another feature of the static will be
an area dedicated to the 200th anniversary
of HM Coastguard, with appropriate
aeroplanes; 2Excel Aviation is also bringing
one of its Oil Spill Response Boeing 727s.
Following the pattern of recent years, Friday’s
Preview Day airshow will be a shorter affair
than Saturday’s and Sunday’s.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
www.airtattoo.com
(Note: admission by advance ticket only)

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 10

Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin |
Monday 25-Sunday 31 July
AirVenture needs no introduction as the world’s largest air
event, where no facet of flight is left unexplored. To list every
aspect here would be impossible; suffice to say, the USAF 75th
anniversary will be marked extensively throughout the week,
with the F-35A demo team and a Heritage Flight having declared
their attendance; other in-service aircraft from many branches
of the air force will attend on static display, and feature in the
daily flying programmes. Kermit Weeks hopes that his A-26B
Invader will be ready to make its debut, following completion of
its restoration by Aero Trader at Chino. B-29 Superfortress Doc is
ALAMY
another feature of the USAF tribute, both in the flying
and ground displays.
Numerous aircraft anniversaries will bring large themed
gatherings of their own, especially that celebrating the half-
century of the Van’s RV family, the world’s most popular
homebuilt line. Featured in the daily airshows are many top
North American civilian performers and other military acts;
pyrotechnic and light-enhanced night displays are staged for two
hours on Wednesday and Saturday. The aeronautical experience
to end them all.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION: www.eaa.org/airventure

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 7

 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Events

11

DAVID HALFORD
13

Bournemouth
Air Festival
BEN DUNNELL

Bournemouth seafront, Dorset |

Thursday 1-Sunday 4 September

The UK’s largest seafront airshow, and —

Old Buckenham Airshow
Old Buckenham, Norfolk |
Saturday 30-Sunday 31 July
The UK circuit is massively enriched by the
range and variety of ‘small airfield’ shows
there are to enjoy, many of them actually
far from small. We could equally highlight
the likes of East Kirkby, Little Gransden or
Abingdon in these pages. But we’ve gone
for Old Buckenham, since it’s — no pun
intended — bucked the present trend and
expanded its flying display to 20 items, more
than pretty much any other civilian airshow
in Britain these days. It’s also done plenty to
further the cause of new display pilots. Old
Buckenham was home during World War Two
to the US Army Air Forces’ B-24 Liberator-
equipped 453rd Bomb Group. The 2022 show
will commemorate the 80th anniversary of
the 8th Air Force’s arrival in East Anglia, with
B-17G Sally B taking centre stage. The Catalina,
the Old Flying Machine Company Spitfire IX
MH434, and an Aircraft Restoration Company
dogfight duo of P-51D Miss Helen and Buchón
add to the warbird selection; the RAF will send
the Falcons and solo Typhoon. A selection of
electric aircraft will meanwhile point the way
ahead to the next 80 years.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
www.oldbuckenhamairshow.com
(Note: admission by advance ticket only)
though crowds at free events are always
difficult to calculate — probably the biggest
British air display in terms of audience size,
Bournemouth has an ambience all its own,
the festival tag indicating how the event
has always been more than an air display.
Attached to it is a range of entertainment
that encompasses a large part of the town,
with extensive ground exhibits. No wonder
the Air Festival is estimated to contribute £30
million to the local economy. Accompanying
the daytime shows are Night Air displays
running from sunset until darkness,
Bournemouth having helped pioneer these
too. 2022’s confirmations so far number the
Red Arrows, BBMF and Typhoon, all of them
for every day of the event.
INFORMATION: bournemouthair.co.uk

12 Airbourne —
Eastbourne’s
International
Air Show
Eastbourne seafront, East Sussex |
Thursday 18-Sunday 21 August

The UK’s seafront shows are a crucial

part of our air display industry. Without
them, performers and support personnel
would lose out significantly. Many are
ALAMY

funded by local authorities, and in the

wake of the pandemic, resources are tight.
Eastbourne’s organisers need to generate
more income and donations if Airbourne is
to survive beyond 2022, so, this is definitely
a show deserving of support. Thus far, the
Red Arrows and BBMF are confirmed for
all four days; the Typhoon for the last three.

INFORMATION:
www.visiteastbourne.com/airshow

8 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 AirPower22
Zeltweg, Austria | Friday 2-Saturday 3 September
Airshow amphitheatres come little more spectacular than the
Fliegerhorst Hinterstoisser, the official name for the Austrian Air
Force base at Zeltweg. In turn, AirPower — usually held every
three years — is one of Europe’s finest airshows, mixing very
rarely seen Austrian Air Force demonstrations, the pick of foreign
military acts, historic machinery, unlimited aerobatics and,
often, various novelties to boot. With Red Bull a major sponsor,
virtually the whole Flying Bulls fleet turns up, being shown off in
all kinds of combinations. The entire programme lasts upwards
SEBASTIAN MARKO/RED BULL CONTENT POOL
14
of eight hours, and such is the quality that it holds the
attention throughout. And, what’s more, it’s all for free, in an
atmosphere more redolent of a festival than most airshows.
All this comes with a caveat, however. The war in Ukraine has
led to the staging of AirPower — always a controversial topic
in Austria, not least on cost and environmental grounds —
becoming the subject of renewed scrutiny, with politicians from
numerous parties at national and local levels campaigning for its
cancellation. Watch this space.
INFORMATION: www.airpower.gv.at

The Victory Show

Foxlands Farm, Cosby, Leicestershire | Friday 2-Sunday 4 September 15
There is no other event in Britain that combines the complementary
interests of historic aircraft and military vehicles so dynamically
and effectively as the Victory Show. The 100-acre site allows battle
re-enactors to depict different phases of the Second World War, and
on both weekend afternoons — the Friday is a schools’ day — a large-
scale mock land battle forms the immersive centrepiece. The airborne
side is just as noteworthy, heavy warbirds up to C-47 and Catalina size
launching off Foxlands Farm’s strip, very close at hand. The fighters
operated by Air Leasing have traditionally been in the majority,
appearing in multiple tailchases and formations, but others make
TOM JONES

their presence equally felt.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION: www.thevictoryshow.co.uk

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 9

 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Events
16
BEN DUNNELL
Jersey International Air Display
St Aubin’s Bay, St Helier, Jersey |
Thursday 8 September
It’s now a quarter of a century since the
decision was taken to make Jersey’s annual
airshow, held in the traditional Battle of
Britain commemorative period, an expressly
international affair. Since then, despite ups
and downs along the way, it’s achieved some
remarkable ‘firsts’. To boost the display’s
popularity beyond the island’s populace,
organiser Mike Higgins has always felt
attracting a line-up out of the ordinary is
key. Appearances by the classic jets of the
Swedish Air Force Historic Flight — different
Paris-Villaroche Air Legend
Melun-Villaroche, France |
Saturday 10-Sunday 11 September
Since its inaugural edition in 2018, Air
Legend has established itself unusually
quickly as a must-visit, testament to coming
straight out of the blocks with large and
high-quality warbird-orientated line-ups
and imaginative flying programmes, rather
than pussyfooting around with a low-key
‘toe-in-the-water’ exercise and developing
from there. This is the sort of event that
never seems to spring up afresh in the UK
any more — a large, airfield-based display
with several hours of non-stop flying, and
widespread international involvement —
yet its style, dominated by historic aircraft
but balanced with modern military and
aerobatic participation, is absolutely in
the traditions of the old Great Warbirds
and Fighter Meet shows at West Malling,
Wroughton and North Weald, and is all the
better for it. The venue is worth the trip,
too, Melun-Villaroche having been a centre
of French industry and military flight test
activity for many years.
10 www.Key.Aero
Viggens and Drakens, Lansen, ‘Tunnan’,
Hunter and SK 60 — have been the most
prominent manifestations of that. Instead of
just using the UK’s warbirds, Mike prefers to
tap into operators from the whole of Europe,
and many memorable visitors have resulted.
Viewing around St Aubin’s Bay may be
into sun, but the curving display arena
affords a fine spectacle, and enthusiasts
can find some good viewing opportunities
at Jersey Airport to watch arrivals and
departures. The Red Arrows and BBMF are
already confirmed as headlining.
INFORMATION: www.jerseyairdisplay.org.uk
18
AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM
PHILIPPE NORET/
Air Legend’s 2022 staging will salute early
jets, with Frédéric Akary’s Canadair Sabre
assuming particular prominence. Other
participants announced at this point include
P-47D Nellie B, Plane Sailing’s Catalina, a
Spanish-based duo of USAF-marked Cessna
337s, Christophe Brunelière’s Skyraider and
the OV-10 Bronco from Montélimar.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
airlegend.fr
17
MARTIN BOSCHHUIZEN/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM
International
Sanicole
Airshow
Leopoldsburg, Belgium |
Saturday 10-Sunday 11 September
Sanicole is a remarkable affair.
Every year, a little grass airfield
near Leopoldsburg plays host to
an airshow that’s the envy of many
for the incredible participation it
musters, coming from all over the
world to appear. This is down to the
dedication of show founder Gilbert
Buekenberghs, his son Geoffrey
and their team, whose efforts have
resulted in a superbly organised
and extremely popular event, its
main flying display lasting some
seven hours. That takes place on
the Sunday; in a change of format
for 2022, the Sunset Airshow will
this year be staged on the Saturday,
rather than the Friday.
Content-wise, Sanicole rolls
all sorts of airshow genres into
one, capped off by some of the
strongest military support enjoyed
by any civilian-organised event in
Europe. The Belgian Air Component
traditionally flies most of its types;
German Army NH90 and Swiss
Air Force F/A-18C displays are
scheduled, and the USAF Heritage
Flight calendar for 2022 has cited
Sanicole as getting an F-35A
appearance, though this remains to
be confirmed. There are a lot of big
air displays taking place on the 10-
11 September weekend — arguably
too many — but Sanicole should be
on your radar sometime.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
www.sanicole.com
HISTORIC AVIATION 2022
IWM Duxford
Duxford, Cambridgeshire | Various dates 19
As with Shuttleworth, Duxford worked
wonders to keep some display activity going
during the worst pre-vaccine part of the
pandemic, thanks to its Flying Days, and
was able to run two full airshows last year,
even if the first was still under some public
health limitations. In 2022, however, it has
a full, unrestricted programme on offer.
The Summer Air Show moves to Saturday
18-Sunday 19 June and offers a more all-
encompassing, family-friendly line-up,
featuring the delightful Fokker Four team
of Fokker S11 Instructors over from the
Netherlands for the first time in aeons. Now
assuming the mantle of the UK’s biggest
warbird display, Saturday 10-Sunday 11
September’s Battle of Britain Air Show
will have massed Spitfires, and numerous
BEN DUNNELL

Hurricanes, at its heart.

Four themed Flying Days — VE-Day on
7 May, Commemorating D-Day on 5 June,
The Americans on 23 July (celebrating
25 years since the opening of Duxford’s
American Air Museum) and Young Aviators well-received inaugural staging from last TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
on 1 August — are augmented by two season, while 8 October’s Flying Finale www.iwm.org.uk/airshows
enlarged special flying events. The Flying brings the main UK airshow season to a (Note: admission by advance ticket only)
Evening on 27 August repeats the hugely close, just as Duxford always used to do.

Warbirds Downunder
Temora, New South Wales, Australia |
Saturday 15-Sunday 16 October
Now that long-haul international travel has largely reopened,
trips to Australia can now be put back on the agenda, and
what bills itself as “the largest warbird airshow in the southern
hemisphere” makes a return at the Temora Aviation Museum’s
home. The full home-based airworthy fleet will fly, much of
it now incorporated into the Royal Australian Air Force’s 100
AUSTRALIAN DOD
20
Squadron, established as part of last year’s RAAF centenary.
Recently put back to flying conditionn, the Canberra TT18
is now the sole example of the English Electric-built type
airworthy in the world, and will doubtless be a star. Visitors from
other collections, and the modern RAAF, further boost a flying
programme that regularly contains many a rare formation.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
warbirdsdownunderairshow.com.au

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 11

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Flight experiences

Go
vintage
flying
Sample the delights of taking to the air in a huge variety of
historic aeroplanes around the UK COMPILER: BEN DUNNELL

Aerial Collective’s two Spitfire IXTs,

PV202 and PT462, in formation —
and exhibiting their different canopy
configurations. GEORGE ROMAIN

12 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

Aerial Collective
LOCATION: IWM Duxford, Cambridgeshire
AIRCRAFT: Hawker Hurricane IIb, North American P-51D Mustang,
Supermarine Spitfire IX Trainer, Westland Lysander IIIa

Supported by the Aircraft Restoration Company and operating

from its facilities at Duxford, Aerial Collective offers a range of
flights with its two-seat Spitfires, PT462 and PV202 — solo sorties,
two-ship formations and tailchases with the ARC’s Hispano
Buchón, representing a Messerschmitt Bf 109. In addition, the two-
seat Hurricane is made available in partnership with Hurricane
Heritage (see separate entry), and can fly in formation with one or
two Spitfires. P-51D Miss Helen affords the chance to go back-seat
in the famous American fighter in the vicinity of numerous former
US Army Air Forces stations, while the Lysander (right) is a new,
limited-availability, premium addition for 2022.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 01223 653830,
www.aerialcollective.co.uk
GEORGE ROMAIN

Aero Legends
LOCATIONS: Headcorn, Kent and North Weald, Essex
AIRCRAFT: BAC Strikemaster, de Havilland DH82A Tiger
Moth, North American T-6G Texan, Supermarine Spitfire
HFIX and IX Trainer

The fast-growing Aero Legends provides rides in two-seat Spitfire

NH341, and ‘fly with a Spitfire’ experiences involving single-seater
TD314 and a passenger aeroplane or helicopter. A second Spitfire
trainer, MJ444, is under restoration to join the fleet. Trial lessons
are offered in T-6s and Tiger Moths, while the new Jet Legends
offshoot gives valid ICAO PPL-holders the opportunity to take
type experience flights in North Wales Military Aviation Services’
ex-Royal Saudi Air Force Strikemaster at North Weald, or indeed to
convert to the aeroplane.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 01622 812830,
www.aerolegends.co.uk
DARREN HARBAR

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 13

 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Flight experiences

Brooklands
Flying Club
LOCATION: Sywell, Northamptonshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth

Tiger Moths and Sywell aerodrome are

synonymous, the type having been seen
there almost constantly since the 1930s.
Perpetuating that impressive legacy,
half-hour trial flights are available in the
Brooklands-liveried G-ANTE.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION: DAVID WHITWORTH

Telephone 01604 491112,
www.flybrooklands.com or
www.sywellaerodrome.co.uk

Cambridge
Flying Group
LOCATION: Cambridge Airport, Cambridgeshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth

Follow in the footsteps of many great names by taking

to the air in a Tiger Moth with the Cambridge Flying
Group, which has been operating the de Havilland
trainer since the 1950s. Its two examples, G-AHIZ and
Battle of France veteran G-AOEI, provide introductory
flights and trial lessons as well as, famously, training
ab initio students up to PPL standard.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

BEN DUNNELL

Telephone 07787 427589, www.flyvintage.co.uk

Compton Abbas
Airfield
LOCATION: Compton Abbas, Dorset
AIRCRAFT: Boeing Stearman PT-13D Kaydet,
de Havilland Canada Chipmunk T10, North
American SNJ-5

A delightful location from which to get

airborne, and a trio of ex-military trainers
in which to do so, courtesy of DH Heritage
Aviation. In addition, introductory flights
in modern light aircraft can be bought at
Compton Abbas.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 01747 811767,
www.comptonabbasairfield.co.uk
HOWARD CURTIS

14 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 HARRY MEASURES
Classic Wings
LOCATION: IWM Duxford, Cambridgeshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, de Havilland DH89A
Dragon Rapide, Noorduyn Harvard IIb, Supermarine Spitfire IX Trainer
Classic Wings is among Britain’s most seasoned pleasure flying
companies, now with more than 30 consecutive years of operations
from Duxford in the books. Sightseeing trips over Cambridge, Ely,
Newmarket and London aboard the Dragon Rapides, and Tiger
Moth and Harvard trial lessons, have been mainstays for a long
time. Now, though, they are part of a very broad portfolio, with two-
BEN DUNNELL
de Havilland Flying Academy
LOCATION: White Waltham, Berkshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland Chipmunk T10
Paul Green’s very smart Chipmunk, WP973, operates introductory
flights out of White Waltham. It can also be used for training
purposes. The academy itself functions under the West London
Aero Club’s approved training organisation.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
Telephone 0330 133 2728, www.dehavilland.ltd
HISTORIC AVIATION 2022
seat Spitfire rides also on the agenda. The Rapide/Spitfire ‘wing-
to-wing’ experiences continue to be very popular, and a limited
number of sorties in which the Aircraft Restoration Company’s
Blenheim joins the de Havilland airliner add a new attraction.
Training courses up to Spitfire solo standard afford the opportunity
to take your vintage flying further still.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
Telephone 01255 473832,
www.classic-wings.co.uk
BEN DUNNELL
Fenland Flying School
LOCATION: Fenland, Lincolnshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland Chipmunk Mk20
An ex-Portuguese Air Force, OGMA-built Chipmunk is available for
air experience flights and conversion training at Fenland. Regular
airshow-goers may know this machine as one of the two ‘Chippies’
that make up the Vintage Pair display team.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
Telephone 01406 540461, www.fenland-flying-school.co.uk
www.Key.Aero 15
HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Flight experiences

Finest Hour Experiences

LOCATIONS: Bicester Heritage, Oxfordshire
and Cotswold Airport (Kemble), Gloucestershire
AIRCRAFT: Boeing Stearman N2S-3,
de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth

Bicester Heritage’s resident vintage flights

operator, Finest Hour prides itself on
using professionally qualified and very
experienced instructors with military,
airline and/or display backgrounds for all its
operations. Two Tiger Moths, both in RAF
markings, will be on the fleet for 2022 with
more to come. The ex-US Navy Stearman
offers an American alternative, and a CAP 10
VIA CHRIS THOMPSON

a more modern aerobatic experience.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 07415 735683,
www.finesthourexperiences.co.uk

Fly a Spitfire Biggin Hill

LOCATION: London Biggin Hill Airport, Kent
AIRCRAFT: North American P-51D Mustang, Supermarine Spitfire VIII Trainer and IX Trainer

The biggest Spitfire operator of them all, the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar now has RICHARD PAVER
no fewer than four two-seaters in its inventory, all very significant machines in their
own right — MkIXs MJ627, MJ772 and TE308, and the only MkVIII Trainer, MT818.
Needless to say, a very wide range of flight offerings is made, taking in such landmarks
as Beachy Head, the White Cliffs of Dover and Battle of Britain airfields. Multi-Spitfire
combinations are possible, while up to four of your
accompanying friends and family can join you
in formation aboard a high-wing
GippsAero Airvan. The P-51D
Mustang is the latest addition,
again providing passenger rides
of different durations.

PRICES, BOOKING AND

INFORMATION:
Telephone 01959 576767,
flyaspitfire.com
RICHARD PAVER

16 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 MIKE CALDWELL

BEN DUNNELL
Goodwood Flying School Huey Helicopter UK
LOCATION: Goodwood, West Sussex LOCATION: Wesham, Lancashire
AIRCRAFT: Noorduyn Harvard IIb AIRCRAFT: Bell UH-1H Iroquois

Harvard G-AZSC, famed as musician Gary Numan’s old mount,
has been with the Goodwood Flying School for nearly 20 years. It
operates passenger flights from the former RAF Westhampnett;
these can be followed by a meal at Goodwood’s members’
clubhouse, The Kennels, in the Fly and Dine experience. Trial
lessons are also available in a Piper Super Cub, or modern
aerobatics in Extra EA300s and Slingsby Fireflies.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
Telephone 01243 755055, www.goodwood.com
Now here’s something different: flights in a true warbird that’s
neither fixed-wing, nor from the Second World War. MSS Holdings’
Vietnam War veteran UH-1H ‘Huey’ allows you to go on board one
of the greatest military helicopters of all time for a 45-minute trip —
and in an example with more than 550 combat hours to boot.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
Telephone 01772 689328, www.huey.co.uk

Hurricane Heritage
LOCATION: White Waltham, Berkshire
AIRCRAFT: Hawker Hurricane IIb, Noorduyn Harvard IIb
The world’s only two-seat Hurricane, the recently — and very
sympathetically — converted ‘BE505’, is now being operated
by Hurricane Heritage, owners of Battle of Britain veteran
MkI R4118. Based out of White Waltham, several different
DARREN HARBAR
durations of flight are available in the aeroplane, the longest
going as far as the Isle of Wight and the Needles. Harvard
FE511 also performs passenger flights, as well as conversion
training courses.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
www.hurricaneheritage.com

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 17

 Perry Air
LOCATION: Shoreham Airport, West Sussex
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth,
Piper PA-18-90 Super Cub, Stampe SV4C

This long-established flying club and school

has Tiger Moth G-AMNN as its vintage
flagship, Spirit of Pashley having been
restored at its Shoreham base. It, a Stampe
and a Super Cub provide trial lessons. In
addition, Perry Air has just acquired a
Lancaster I flight simulator, the only one of its
kind in the world.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 01273 463081,
www.perryair.co.uk
BEN DUNNELL

VIA STEFAN LÖFGREN

Spitfires.com
LOCATIONS: Goodwood, West Sussex and
Solent Airport, Hampshire
AIRCRAFT: Supermarine Spitfire IX Trainer

Spitfires.com is the new name for the

Boultbee Flight Academy, which pioneered
passenger flights in the Supermarine
fighter on the introduction of the SSAC
(Safety Standards Acknowledgment and
Consent) rules in the UK, and training
courses on the aircraft. These it still offers
with its own two-seat MkIX, SM520, and
the Aircraft Restoration Company-operated
PV202 as required, not least for formation
flights. Goodwood is still the main base,
though Solent Airport — formerly Lee-on-
Solent — has proved a popular alternative
location. At Goodwood can be found the
highly acclaimed Spitfire simulator, a highly
immersive experience we’ll be reviewing
DARREN HARBAR

next month.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 01243 531147, www.spitfires.com

T-6 Harvard Aviation

LOCATIONS: Conington and Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire
AIRCRAFT: CCF Harvard IV

With its Desert Air Force ‘hack’ colours and distinctive nose art,
Harvard Wacky Wabbit is one of the most active examples of the
type in Britain at present. T-6 Harvard Aviation provides flights in
the aeroplane from Conington and Fowlmere, among them various
‘missions’ and bespoke experiences; furthermore, it’s a fixture giving
BEN DUNNELL

pre-booked pleasure flights at all Shuttleworth Collection day and

evening airshows. Conversion courses are offered too.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION: www.t6harvard.com

18 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 DAVID WHITWORTH
Tiger Club
LOCATION: Damyns Hall, Essex
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth
A legend in British aviation, thanks to its
efforts over many decades to encourage
grass-roots sport flying, the Tiger Club
remains rooted in open-cockpit taildragger
activity. It carries out experience flights from
its Damyns Hall base near Upminster in its
Tiger Moth Flight Experience
LOCATION: Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth
To be airborne over the Yorkshire
countryside in a Tiger Moth is a delightful
experience, and the operation at Sherburn-
in-Elmet makes a contribution to the RAF
HISTORIC AVIATION 2022
two Tiger Moths, G-ACDC and G-ASKP, as
well as CAP 10 aerobatic trips. If this piques
your interest and you learn to fly, the club
can provide you with tailwheel, Tiger and
aerobatic training.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
Telephone 01708 524633,
www.tigerclub.co.uk
VIA KEVIN CRUMPLIN
Tiger Moth
Training
CHRIS PROCTER/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM
LOCATION: Henstridge, Somerset
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A
Tiger Moth
While this Henstridge-based
operation, with its immaculate,
camouflaged Tiger Moths, offers a full
training syllabus on the de Havilland
biplane, a major part of its activity
involves trial lessons, requiring
the buyer to become a temporary
Benevolent Fund as a result of every flight. member of the training organisation.
Dambusters and Coastal Command-themed These are often flown in formation.
trips are new offerings for 2022.
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION: Telephone 07789 324319,
Telephone 0800 085 0196, www.tigermothtraining.co.uk
www.tigermothexperience.co.uk
www.Key.Aero 19
 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Flight experiences

Ultimate Warbird Flights

LOCATIONS: Sywell, Northamptonshire and London Oxford
Airport, Oxfordshire
AIRCRAFT: Hispano HA-1112-M4L Buchón, North American
TF-51D Mustang, Supermarine Spitfire IX Trainer
Operated in association with Air Leasing, Ultimate Warbird
DARREN HARBAR
operated from Oxford Airport as well as the main Sywell base.
Premium experiences, tailored to customer requests, can see
multiple aircraft in the air at once, while the ‘fly alongside’
offer is operated in conjunction with the Blades aerobatic
team, using its Extra EA300s and ex-Red Arrows pilots. Also at
Sywell, Ultimate Warbird Flights sells Tiger Moth trips in the

Flights flies passengers in an outstanding and unique trio Brooklands-schemed G-ANTE.

of two-seat fighters — D-Day veteran Spitfire ML407, dual-
control TF-51D Contrary Mary, and the Battle of Britain film PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:
Buchón. For the first time, 2022 will see Spitfire flights being Telephone 01604 800570, warbirdflights.co.uk

Vintage Flying
LOCATION: Egginton, Derbyshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth

Three Tiger Moths are now on the strength

of Vintage Flying, whose passenger rides
take in many scenic areas of Derbyshire and
Staffordshire. Very popular indeed are the
Dambuster Runs, taking in the Peak District
IAN BRACEGIRDLE

locations where No 617 Squadron trained.

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 01283 585803, vintageflying.co.uk

West London Aero Club

LOCATION: White Waltham, Berkshire
AIRCRAFT: de Havilland Canada Chipmunk T10, Noorduyn
Harvard IIb, Piper PA-18 Super Cub

Flights in the Chipmunk operated by the de Havilland Flying

Academy and the Harvard owned by Hurricane Heritage (see
separate entries) are available through the WLAC. So too
are Super Cub flying experiences and trips in more modern
aeroplanes.
BEN DUNNELL

PRICES, BOOKING AND INFORMATION:

Telephone 01628 823272, www.wlac.co.uk

20 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 Unforgettable experiences!

Vintage Tiger Moth

flights and
Formation
Experience...
...aerobatics and Stearman lessons
Gift vouchers available for: www.finesthourexperiences.co.uk
Tiger Moth lessons • Aerobatic Experiences • Stearman lessons
Tiger Moth Themed Tours: info@finesthourexperiences.co.uk
Midsomer Murders • Inspector Morse • The Cotswolds • Ancient England FINEST HOUR
English Civil War • Railway Tour • Aviation Heritage 07415 735683 EXPERIENCES
HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Museums

at
DAYS the
MUSEUM Looking for a UK day out as summer approaches?
The pick of the country’s aviation museums awaits…
COMPILER: BEN DUNNELL

Vulcan B2 XM603, the only one

preserved in ‘anti-flash’ white, during
a night shoot event at the Avro
Heritage Museum. STEVE DONALD

22 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 KEY
1 Scotland
2 Northern Ireland
3 Wales
4 North-East of England
5 North-West of England
6 Yorkshire and the
Humber
7 East Midlands
8 West Midlands
BN-2 Islander G-BELF and Twin Pioneer 9 East of England
G-BBVF in the civil aircraft hall at East 10 London
11 South-East of England
Fortune’s National Museum of Flight. BEN DUNNELL
1 12 South-West of England

Scotland
Of course, we’d hardly expect
1
you to cover all of Scotland’s major
aviation museums on, say, a weekend
break, such is the geographical spread.
However, the draw of this beautiful country 4
is such that longer or repeat visits rapidly 2 5
become essential. If the Edinburgh area
is a natural first port of call, drop in on the
city’s centrally located National Museum 6
of Scotland to examine far more than the
locally significant aircraft it contains, and
take time to head out into the expansive East
Lothian countryside for a day at its sister
site, the National Museum of Flight at East 7
Fortune. Heading north, up the east coast,
the Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre 8
is on the site of Britain’s first operational 9
air station, set up in February 1913. In the 3
Highlands, the growth of Morayvia, at the
former RAF Kinloss on the Moray Firth, has 10
been very pleasing to observe. And another 11
ex-RAF airfield, in Dumfries, is home to the
Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum 12
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

with its own meticulously restored Spitfire

IIa and much more.

www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland,
www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-flight,
rafmontrose.org.uk,
www.morayvia.org.uk,
www.dumfriesaviationmuseum.com

Northern
Ireland
2
A bit of co-ordination is required to get the
most out of a visit to Northern Ireland in
aviation museum terms. Reaching the Ulster
Transport Museum in Holywood is fairly
simple, given its regular opening hours,
though it is currently operating a booking
system to restrict numbers present at any
one time; seeing the Ulster Aviation Society
collection at Long Kesh — next to the
former Maze Prison — requires a tour to be
arranged, but is extremely worthwhile. Both
are easily accessible by road from Belfast.
Two of the various Shorts products in the
Ulster Aviation Society collection: SB4
www.nmni.com, Sherpa G-14-1 and 330 G-BDBS. BEN DUNNELL
www.ulsteraviationsociety.org

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 23

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Museums

The South Wales Aviation Museum
is a rising star of the scene. This
line-up comprises Hunter T7
XL573, Phantom FG1 XV582 and
Tornado GR1P ZA326. KEY/JAMIE EWAN
Wales
One of the UK’s newest aviation
3
museums should be on the
enthusiast’s itinerary when visiting Wales:
the South Wales Aviation Museum at
St Athan has gathered an outstanding
array of post-war airframes that might
not have survived anywhere else. Head
west to gorgeous Pembrokeshire, and the
Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre tells the
story of the town’s famous former flying
boat base. If you’re in the north — say,
visiting Anglesey or Snowdonia — the
Airworld Aviation Museum at Caernarfon
Airport would love to see you.
www.swam.online,
www.sunderlandtrust.com,
www.airworldmuseum.com

North-East 4
of England
Not a region that’s exactly over-
served with aviation museums,
sadly, but NELSAM — the North-
East Land, Sea and Air Museum
— can be found in Sunderland,
adjacent to the Nissan plant on
the old RAF Usworth (which
subsequently became Sunderland
Airport), and is well worth your
custom. A Tornado F3 is the newest
addition to its inventory. The latest addition to
the NELSAM collection is
www.nelsam.org.uk Tornado F3 ZE204. NELSAM

North-West
Concorde G-BOAC in its
Manchester quarters.
MANCHESTER AIRPORT of England 5
You win some, you lose some. The closure
of the Air and Space Hall at Manchester’s
Science and Industry Museum does
represent a blow, but others have more
than stepped up. We feature Hooton
Park elsewhere in this issue, but the
impressive Avro Heritage Museum on
the old Woodford factory airfield site
near Stockport has become a big draw
for this region, and not too far away is the
collection of large airframes at Manchester
Airport’s Runway Visitor Park, headlined
by Concorde G-BOAC. Some way north,
a trip to the glorious Lake District can
include a diversion to the Solway Aviation
Museum at Carlisle Airport.

www.avroheritagemuseum.co.uk,
www.runwayvisitorpark.co.uk,
www.solway-aviation-museum.co.uk

24 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 Yorkshire
The reconstructed
Halifax remains the
Yorkshire Air Museum’s and the 6
flagship. KEY/JOHN SOOTHERAN
Humber
The two big aviation collections
in this area are easily ‘do-able’
in one visit, should you have
the time. South-east of York,
at Elvington, is the Yorkshire
Air Museum — look out for its
new Falklands 40th anniversary
exhibition, including the freshly
added Operation ‘Corporate’
veteran ex-Royal Navy Lynx that’s
featured in our news pages, and
10 July’s engine-running (but not
taxiing) Thunder Day. Doncaster,
meanwhile, is where you’ll
find the wide-ranging South
Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.

yorkshireairmuseum.org,
www southyorkshireaircraft
museum.org.uk

Mosquito NFII ‘HJ711’

under the searchlights
for a nocturnal East
Kirkby event. KEY/JAMIE EWAN

Completion of General Aircraft Monospar

VH-UTH is an outstanding Newark Air
Museum achievement. HOWARD HEELEY

East Midlands 7
Lincolnshire is, it need hardly be stated, full of aviation
memorials thanks to its pivotal role in RAF history, and visitors’
centres and small museums worthy of support. One thinks of those at
Cranwell, Metheringham, Thorpe Camp and Wickenby, for example.
Try to fit them in alongside a trip to the Lincolnshire Aviation
Heritage Centre at East Kirkby, where Lancaster X NX611 Just Jane
will be resuming its taxi rides for the season on 26 April, joined on
selected dates by Tony Agar’s Mosquito NFII — and, in a busy special
events programme, don’t forget the venue’s annual airshow on
Saturday 6 August, always a fun affair. Nottinghamshire boasts one of
the UK’s shining examples of a volunteer-run collection, in the form
of the evergreen Newark Air Museum; again, take a look at its events
programme, as it may offer the ideal excuse for making the trip. And
not to be forgotten either is the East Midlands Aeropark, located at
East Midlands Airport.

www.lincsaviation.co.uk, www.newarkairmuseum.org,
www.eastmidlandsaeropark.org

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 25

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Museums

Lincoln B2 RF398 in the

RAF Museum Cosford.
KEY/BEN DUNNELL

8
West Midlands
The addition of Chinook ‘Bravo November’, as featured in our
news pages — and the Falklands exhibit it’s forming part of —
gives ample cause to get along to the RAF Museum Cosford. For
a museum that’s not in a major town or city, it’s one of the easier
ones to reach on public transport, too, a manageably short walk
from Cosford station. In nearby Wolverhampton is the charming
little Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre, containing a
significant aviation element. Several sole UK survivors render
the Midland Air Museum at under-threat Coventry Airport a
must; finally, south of Worcester, the one-time seat of the Earls
of Coventry at Croome Court is now a National Trust property,
and contains the RAF Defford Museum, with an enthralling
story to tell about its once clandestine activities.
www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford, www.midlandairmuseum.co.uk,
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/croome

Of all the UK’s aviation East of England 9

museum exhibits,
prototype Mosquito We’ll take it for granted that IWM Duxford and
W4050 in the de Havilland Shuttleworth are already on your agenda if you’re spending
Aircraft Museum is among time in the eastern counties; their regular air displays are featured
the most precious. DHAM elsewhere in this supplement. So, without any doubt, should be the
de Havilland Aircraft Museum at Salisbury Hall near London Colney,
Hertfordshire — and not just for the spectacle of three Mosquitos
in one place. The rest of its expanding collection is superb, and now
enjoys facilities to match following recent injections of funds. Rural
Essex, near Maldon, is home to Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome
and its 1914-18-era aircraft and buildings; flying displays will be
staged there as part of a Wings and Wheels event on Sunday 29 May
and Armed Forces Day on Saturday 25 June. Moving up into Suffolk,
the Bentwaters Cold War Museum (which requires advance booking
on its opening dates) and the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum
at Flixton do much to remember varied aspects of the region’s aviation
heritage, as in Norfolk does the City of Norwich Aviation Museum
at Norwich Airport. Like Lincolnshire, East Anglia generally has far
more aviation memorials and smaller institutions than we have space
to cover in full here; if I’m to pick one, the Langham Dome in north
Norfolk would surely be it, a fascinating relic containing a first-rate
exhibition on this wartime gunnery training facility and the former
RAF station.

www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford, www.shuttleworth.org,
www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk, www.stowmaries.org.uk,
www.bcwm.org.uk, aviationmuseum.net, www.cnam.org.uk,
langhamdome.org

26 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

London
The RAF Museum London at
10 Lockheed 10A Electra
NC5171N suspended
inside the Science
Hendon requires no introduction; Museum. JONATHAN CARDY
nor does the Science Museum in South
Kensington. There are now fewer airframes
on show at IWM London in Lambeth than
used to be the case, but the acclaimed new
Second World War and Holocaust galleries
offer reason enough to revisit. Get on the
train to Croydon and make a beeline for the
Croydon Airport Heritage Centre, though
only on the first Sunday of each month, and
try to pre-book. Further out of the centre,
the Bentley Priory Museum explores
the history of this fine building as Fighter
Command headquarters in 1940, while
in Uxbridge the Battle of Britain Bunker
Exhibition and Visitor Centre likewise has
the UK’s air defence as its primary topic;
the original No 11 Group underground
operations room can be seen there on pre-
booked tours only.

www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london,
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk,
www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london,
www.historiccroydonairport.org.uk,
bentleypriorymuseum.org.uk,
battleofbritainbunker.co.uk

Typical of the Army The ‘Loch Ness’ Wellington,

Flying Museum is N2980, forms the centrepiece
this tableau featuring of the Brooklands Museum’s
Beaver XP821, outstanding Aircraft Factory
Alouette XR232 and display. BEN DUNNELL
a Ferret armoured
car. ARMY FLYING MUSEUM

South-East of England
Here we have the biggest concentration
of major aviation collections, though the
south-west runs it close. Where to begin?
To take the relevant counties alphabetically,
let’s start with the Museum of Berkshire
Aviation in Woodley, where Miles designs
naturally dominate. Hampshire takes in
the obvious attractions of the splendidly
renewed Army Flying Museum at Middle
Wallop, affording good views across the
still very active grass airfield, Solent Sky in
Southampton and its Supermarine focus,
and the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust
Museum, but there’s also the excellent
Gliding Heritage Centre at Lasham, which
we’ll be featuring in more depth soon. Kent
allows you to pretty much tick two museums
off in one go, thanks to the RAF Manston
History Museum — in the throes of an
impressive major redevelopment effort —
and the Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial
Museum being so close to one another. Just
over half an hour’s drive south-west, the
Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge
has its Bolingbroke and CASA 2.111 projects
to especially tempt you, but remember that
photography is not permitted. Surrey offers
two institutions that have been transformed
in recent times, the Brooklands Museum,
with just as much to enthral the motorsport
aficionado as the aviation
11
buff, and the Gatwick Aviation
Museum. And finally there’s Sussex, where
so much good work goes on at the Tangmere
Military Aviation Museum and Balcombe’s
Wings Museum. Goodness, there’s enough
for several holidays’ worth there…
museumofberkshireaviation.co.uk,
armyflying.com, www.solentsky.org,
airsciences.org.uk, glidingheritage.org.uk,
rafmanston.co.uk, spitfiremuseum.org.uk,
kbobm.org, www.brooklandsmuseum.com,
www.gamc.org.uk, www.tangmere-museum.
org.uk, www.wingsmuseum.co.uk

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 27

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Museums
The Cornwall Aviation
Heritage Centre’s VC10 K3,
ZA148. ALAMY
South-West of England
Our whistle-stop tour of the country concludes in the south-west,
and another embarrassment of riches. The region’s most populous
city now has an aviation museum that befits its aeronautical
heritage going back more than a century, for Aerospace Bristol
is deserving of much praise, and the projects on view in its newly
opened conservation hangar (see Workshop, Aeroplane March 2022)
show that its development is only set to carry on. Going straight
up the M5 if you’re travelling by road leads you to Gloucester, and
the rightly acclaimed Jet Age Museum at the city’s airport. Anyone
Bristol Scout and F2B Fighter
replicas at Aerospace Bristol.
BEN DUNNELL
28 www.Key.Aero
with an interest in how, and where, military aviation
12
started in Britain should undertake the pilgrimage south to
Salisbury Plain, and see the enormous strides the Boscombe Down
Aviation Collection continues to make at its Old Sarum premises,
with many new aircraft exhibits. And it goes without saying that
the Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton should be in your
plans somewhere, even if you weren’t otherwise intending a trip
to Somerset. Should you find yourself seeking a diversion from the
more traditional attractions served up in certain seaside resorts,
elsewhere in Somerset it’s not far from the other delights of Weston-
super-Mare to The Helicopter Museum, the world’s largest collection
of rotorcraft; the Bournemouth Aviation Museum is situated a bit
further from the Dorset town’s beaches, but does have the Adventure
Wonderland amusement park adjacent, as well as good views of
Bournemouth Airport; and the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre
offers an alternative to Newquay’s sands and surf.
aerospacebristol.org, jetagemuseum.org,
boscombedownaviationcollection.co.uk, www.fleetairarm.com,
www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk, www.bamhurn.org,
cornwallaviationhc.co.uk
And so ends our rapid ‘fly-around’ of Britain’s aviation museums
— not exhaustive, but, we hope, a good source of ideas. There
are many more collections you could incorporate into your
travels. Of those we have included, please be aware that not all
are open every day, or throughout the year, so do check in
advance of visiting. Above all, enjoy yourself!
HISTORIC AVIATION 2022
 HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Get involved

GET INVOLVED! How you can get started

with a more active role in
historic aviation
COMPILER: BEN DUNNELL

The Cambridge Flying Group’s Tiger

Moth G-AOEI served with the RAF in
France during 1940. BEN MONTGOMERY

Learn to fly
It warms the heart to think there are still, as we approach the second
quarter of the 21st century, people learning to fly wholly on historic
taildraggers. The Cambridge Flying Group is the most famous
example, offering PPL training on its two de Havilland Tiger Moths,
just as it has for decades. But for younger pilots without the means to
fund such a progression, the route in might seem out of reach.
The Worshipful Company of Coachmakers’ and Coach Harness
Makers’ Flying Scholarship, established in memory of Sir Geoffrey de
Havilland, aims to tackle that. Now in its eighth year, the scheme is
Tiger Moth G-ANTE is the
among several funded by the Coachmakers, a City of London livery
aircraft around which the
company, to help young people make a start on their careers. It trains Thomas Castle scholarship
the successful candidate through to PPL standard on the Tigers at is centred. ANDY DURSTON
Cambridge. The next round of applications opens on 1 May; it is
open to anyone between 18 and 30 years old, resident in the UK, and
who has not previously been awarded any such bursary (except the has placed Sywell-based Tiger Moth G-ANTE in trust, allowing it
12-hour Air Cadet scholarship). Those putting themselves forward to be used for post-PPL flying training scholarships as a means of
should have an affinity for vintage and historic aviation, either as an passing on the delights of vintage aviation, and the skills involved.
ambition or perhaps already working in a voluntary, full-time or part- The scheme is supported by the Light Aircraft Association, Ultimate
time capacity. The closing date is 22 June 2022, and interviews for Warbird Flights, Vintech, Sharman Avionics, de Havilland Support,
shortlisted candidates will take place in July. Vintage Fabrics and Aircraft Coverings.
Then, for those who already have their PPL, there’s the Thomas
Castle Aviation Heritage Scholarship. It was set up as a lasting www.coachmakers.co.uk/aerospace-awards/sir-geoffrey-de-havilland-
memorial to Thomas Castle, who lost his life in a flying accident flying-scholarship
during 2019 while undertaking aerobatic training. His father Ian www.warbirdflights.co.uk/thomascastlescholarship

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 www.Key.Aero 29

HISTORIC AVIATION 2022 Get involved

Volunteer
One of the obvious ways into a deeper
involvement with old aeroplanes is to
volunteer, not least with a museum.
However, it should be said that this doesn’t
just mean turning up and immediately
being put to work on a major restoration
effort! Often, organisations are looking for
people to aid with particular projects or fill
volunteer vacancies. Many museums are
member-based organisations, requiring
people to register as members, whereupon
they can volunteer to help if they have
the correct skill sets. But don’t let that put
you off, because such involvement can be
extremely rewarding if you’re willing and A good example of an organisation
able to make the commitment. Some larger always looking out for volunteers in
various roles is the Duxford Aviation
museums with digital offerings even
Society — here, some of its team see
provide the possibility of volunteering from to upper fuselage cleaning work on
home, again in connection with specific the Super VC10 a few years back. DAS
projects if an opening arises. In all cases, the
necessary training can be valuable in terms
of broadening horizons and developing to offer your time, enthusiasm and expertise, might result from that initial approach —
fresh skills. why not get in touch? The work might be and, above all, if there’s the chance to get
So, if there’s a museum or similar unglamorous, but it’s always important, involved, you’ll know you’ve contributed.
organisation in your area to which you’d like and you never know what opportunities That’s always a nice feeling.

Plane Sailing’s Catalina

on display. BEN DUNNELL

Buy a Catalina share

As we described last month, Plane Sailing is on the lookout for
new shareholders to join the operation of its IWM Duxford-
based PBY-5A Catalina, G-PBYA. You don’t have to be a
pilot — indeed, a certain quantity of shares is set aside for
non-pilots, who can enjoy the opportunity to be associated
with the aeroplane and go flying in it. Those who do fly have
the opportunity to go through Plane Sailing’s full training
programme, and learn to fly the PBY themselves. Two different
options are available: full equity and redeemable shares, the
latter for those who wish to join for a year.
If you’re interested, potential new shareholders are invited
to an open day at Duxford on Sunday 16 October. The Catalina
will be available for close inspection, and you’ll be able to find
out how the group works and what share ownership entails. Pre-
booking is required — contact David Legg by e-mail to pby5@
btinternet.com for more information.

Note: The information in this supplement has been compiled from a variety of sources — where possible, from information provided by the events,
operators, museums or organisations themselves. Details may change, so it is advised to check beforehand before arranging a visit or booking.
Aeroplane cannot accept responsibility for any errors.

30 www.Key.Aero HISTORIC AVIATION 2022

 Farnborough Air Sciences
Trust Museum

The unique A-Z heritage centre celebrating the MUSEUM SHOP

birthplace of British aviation and a century of AND ON-LINE
air science progress from Airships to Zephyr. The FAST Museum
Situated in the historic original Army Balloon School and Headquarters shop offers an extensive
of the Royal Flying Corps, see the Cody Flyer, a full-size replica of the selection of publications,
first successful powered aeroplane to fly in Great Britain. DVDs, metal and wooden
models, plastic kits and
Discover the innovations that changed the history of aviation and the
world, and examine up close famous combat aircraft, including the
toys and souvenirs. Huge
Hunter, Lightning, Jaguar and Harrier. Learn how wind tunnels range of specialist aviation
defined the shape of our most famous aeroplanes, including titles, new and pre-owned,
Concorde.Tours of the iconic wind tunnels and centrifuge on Cody,
are now offered (by advanced booking only). the RAE, Pyestock and air
science history and
development. Visit
shop@airsciences.org.uk

The FAST Museum is open every weekend and bank holiday Mondays | Opening times 10.00am-4.00pm
MUSEUM ENTRANCE FREE • Donations welcome • Wind tunnel and centrifuge tours subject to charge.
FAST MUSEUM, Trenchard House, 85 Farnborough Road, Farnborough GU14 6TF | www.airsciences.org.uk | enquiries: manager@airsciences.org.uk | Tel: 01252 375050

253/20

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