REVEALED How Argentina nearly bought the Harrier!

February 2021
Issue No 574,
Vol 49, No 2

HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911

ACE of ACES
‘Johnnie’
Johnson:
the RAF’s
greatest
wing leader

PLUS
LYING DOWN
ON THE JOB
Flying the unique
9 770143 724156

prone pilot Meteor

FLYING
LEGENDS
How the famous
FEBRUARY 2021 £5.49
02

airshow began

www.

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Untitled-2 1 01/12/2020 10:47:01
 Contents
February 2021
See pages
26-27 for a g
reat
subscription
offer

42 36

68

47 58

NEWS AND FEATURES

COMMENT 28 ‘JOHNNIE’ JOHNSON 64 PAYEN Pa 49
Twenty years on from his death, we Perhaps, on reading its story, it’s no
4 FROM THE EDITOR examine the aerial combat prowess surprise this French miniature jet of
6 NEWS of ‘Johnnie’ Johnson, and ask how he the ’50s remained one of a kind…
• Hendon to get Hampden fuselage only became the RAF’s most successful 68 AEROPLANE MEETS…
• Spitfire fires up at Avspecs wing leader of World War Two REG URSCHLER
• Boeing retires CT-133 chase-planes 36 BAC X-ELEVEN From secret Cold War reconnaissance
…and the month’s other top aircraft Quite a lot of designs have a claim to missions in the RB-47 and RC-135 to
preservation news represent the last chance for Britain’s USAF Heritage Flight displays in his
14 WORKSHOP airliner industry, but the X-Eleven more much-loved P-51D Gunfighter, this
How the Berlin Airlift Historical than most great American aviator led a very full
Foundation is busy preparing a 42 PRONE PILOT METEOR career indeed
replacement Douglas C-54, after its Test pilot Hugh Field recalls a unique
predecessor was wrecked assignment: making the last few flights 81 DATABASE: REGGIANE Re 2000,
18 HANGAR TALK of the one-off prone pilot Gloster 2001, 2002 AND 2005
Steve Slater’s comment on the historic Meteor research aircraft The Reggiane company’s
aircraft world 47 SOPWITH DOVE foray into building fighters Re 2002s
Re 2002
at a dusty of the 239ª Squadriglia
The armistic
use, the Re e having truncated
2002 found its Regia
a niche with Aerona
the Luftwaffutica

20 FLIGHT LINE
1943, a fewTarquinia airfield
weeks before in June
transfer
to the e

for Italy’s Regia

the Allied Crotone in responseunit’s

The real history behind this inter-war

invasion to
of Sicily.

Reflections on aviation history with sporting biplane, neither Pup nor Aeronautica DATABASE
Matthew Willis was, as
Background

Snipe derivative, but a bit of both —

17
IN-DEPTH
PAGES

T
Luigino Caliaro
Re 2000

and what it’s like to fly reproduction

he Re 2002
result of was the Bernardi
a study,
initiated reported
in qualities, good flying
of 1940, for the summer of speed.
particularl
y in terms hoping to
to the Re a successor further improve
2000
A Hungarian Airequipped
Force with performan
new
Re 2000, Given that, ce and desperatel
orPiaggio
Héja, serial
PXIXV.418. the the engine and in the hope seeking to the two-seat
This wasBan RC45

REGULARS
1,180hp solve y another 198 Re 2003, ordered
Italian-built example, Turbine
air-cooled resolved,
maladies issues. Despite the reliability

REGGIANE
which served
engine, radial would be
on the
andRussian
with front. performan
on
the Ministero10 September 1941 it would the intention performed Re 2002s. Tests were
optimised CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY be a fighter, that the that
for low and ce dell’Aerona potential year to examine
Re 2001

would actually

describes,
altitudes. placed an the Re
medium utica demonstra 2002 be embarked for the Re 2002

G-EAGA
Th order with
were such e modifications for a first
batch Reggiane the best of
its te on aircraft to
Re 2002 was
that, in the In the second of 200 aircraft. fighter-bom qualities as a but these
were carriers,
end, the the armistice, overtaken by
Re 2001 apartvery similar to the Reggiane half of the
year, the carriage ber, even though
decided negatively of stores impacted 8 September announced on

Re 2000, 2001,
the engine. from, obviously, new version to install
a on . A further
the poor It was undoubted
of the PXIX
engine, In January its performance. for 300 aircraft order
availability ly ministry, 1943 the
air with Reggiane was placed
Romeo-bu of having cancelled
ilt DB601 the Alfa Having returned
with deliveries in March 1943,
resulted that scheduled
in its evaluation to Reggio August, but
The maiden development. at Guidonia, Emilia again the for
aircraft, offi flight of the new MM454 Re 2002 after military armistice
Re 2002

is pictured
on 19 April prototype

2002 & 2005

the Ariete, cially named as

brief and
1941.
was conducted
Tullio De
Prato at Reggio by

58 HARRIER FOR LATIN AMERICA

in October Emilia
1940.
proved particularlFine-tuning
due to the y laborious
unreliabili
Piaggio engine, ty of the
in the suspension which resulted
testing in of fl
WORDS: LUIGINO CALIARO December ight-
therefore . It was
Re 2005

only
the prototype possible to send

fraught, but
certification to Guidonia for
1941. Despitetesting in March

17
The V/STOL jet seemed an ideal
again caused further delays,

22 SKYWRITERS
unreliabili by powerplant
ty, test pilot
Mario de

92 www.aerop
lanemonthl
y.com

significant
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abase_Feb202
1_cc C.indd

platform for Latin America’s air arms,

92

24 Q&A
AEROPLAN
E FEBRUARY
2021

17/12/2020
10:52

Your questions asked and answered but achieved no sales in the region — nonetheless
Re 2005 MM092352
in Regia Aeronautica
markings at the Reggiane
plant on 4 June 1943.

IN-DEPTH
AEROPLANE FEBRUARY
2021

www.aeroplanemonthly.com
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this despite a memorable sales tour PAGES

17/12/2020 09:26

78 PERSONAL ALBUM
Looking back 25 years to the 50th 102 A DAY AT THE SHOW
anniversary of Eric Brown’s pioneering Looking back to 1993, and the very
Vampire carrier landing, and a unique first Flying Legends
See
commemoration Your Aviation Destination page 46
for
99 REVIEWS details
The latest books for the discerning COVER IMAGE:
aviation enthusiast Wg Cdr ‘Johnnie’ Johnson and his dog Sally with a
106 NEXT MONTH SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE Spitfire IX at Bazenville advanced landing ground,
northern France, in July 1944. IWM TR 2145

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 From the

Editor CONNECT WITH AEROPLANE…

www.facebook.com/AeroplaneMonthly
@HistoryInTheAir

H
ow an internal RAF Museum a blind alley, but there are few more striking
e-mail listing 26 aircraft being exhibits in visual terms. The Vimy may be CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH
considered for disposal was a reproduction, but it’s a very fine one, and
leaked I’ve no idea, but I’m glad its Eagle engines alone afford the machine LUIGINO CALIARO
it was. Before we published the story last great historical value. And then there’s the Born in Italy, Luigino’s love
month, the message had been seen by most two-seat Fw 190, perhaps the stand-out of aviation began at a
of the UK’s aviation heritage community, aircraft of the whole lot. Does the RAFM young age. He has since
been able to fly air-to-air
and its contents discussed on Facebook need two Fw 190s, having got its single- photo sessions with all of
and forums. Why do I consider this a good seater back from the IWM a few years ago? the world’s most major jet
thing? Because, first and foremost, these Perhaps not, but this example is unique, fighter types and aerobatic
teams, amassing around
aircraft are publicly owned assets. We all, if highly original to an extent that should not 200 hours in military jets.
we’re British taxpayers, have a small stake be jeopardised, and it’s hard to imagine a For some years now, though, his main interest has
in them. Of course, not every potential national collection in any other country been focused on warbirds and aviation history, and
divestment from a national museum can, or this month he provides our Database on
considering such an artefact for disposal. Reggiane’s comparatively little-known Second
should, be the subject of open scrutiny. But, That, largely, is down to policy. Many World War fighters, which may not have been
were the RAFM to dispose of all 26 of these overseas national collections do not readily especially successful, but represent a most
aeroplanes — and it must be stressed at dispose of exhibits. They prefer to put them interesting story in themselves.
this point that none have yet been formally out on loan. For something as rare as the PHILIP JARRETT
offered for disposal — it would represent the Fw 190, we must ask, is disposal the most
It is a pleasure to welcome
largest such off-load by any of the national appropriate option? Would it be the right Philip back to our pages,
collections. Wider debate, therefore, is in message for a national museum to send out? not least as he was
the public interest. Thinking more widely about the assistant editor of
Aeroplane Monthly from its
What of the list itself? As regular readers underlying issues, though, one factor keeps launch in March 1973 until
will know, I have coming to mind. August 1980, and wrote
many features thereafter.
often written in the
past of how it can
Most of our major Most of our major
aviation museums
An internationally
recognised authority on early aviation, Philip has
only be considered
a positive thing for
aviation museums have have little in the way edited many books and written numerous papers
and articles on a wide variety of aeronautical
of spare space at
museums like the little spare space their disposal. If a subjects, as well as lecturing in both the UK and
abroad. Among the notable volumes to his name is
RAFM to use their new exhibit is loaned Air-Britain’s acclaimed 2015 title on the Sopwith
holdings for the wider good. If there’s an or acquired, an existing one must often, in Dove, the subject of his article inside.
aircraft that, say, has been in storage for turn, be placed in storage or disposed of.
many years, is not core to the museum’s Yes, the RAFM now has fewer aircraft on PETER R. MARCH
A long-standing contributor
purpose, is not about to go back on public display at Hendon since the former Battle of in the past to Aircraft
display any time soon, and might benefit a Britain hall was turned — to a not entirely Illustrated, and now to Pilot,
smaller museum somewhere else, loaning glowing reception — into an RAF 1918-2018 Peter today provides a
or gifting brings many mutual advantages. exhibition. But this still represents a drop good deal of material to
Aeroplane, too — including
There are aeroplanes on this list to which in the ocean compared with the numbers this month’s Personal
these criteria apply. The DH60GM Moth is of airframes it has in long-term storage, Album. An aviation photo-
one; the RAFM’s second P-51D Mustang or out on loan — many at the Science and journalist for more than 60
years, he has been a private pilot for much of that
is probably another, though it remains a Industry Museum in Manchester, with all time, as co-owner of 1964 Cessna 172E G-ASSS.
shame that neither Cosford nor Hendon has the uncertainties over its future, alone. Peter has written and edited countless
ever exhibited a Mustang in RAF markings. There comes a point where something has publications, not least for the RAF Benevolent
Fund Enterprises/RAF Charitable Trust Enterprises
But when it comes to the Devon and the to give. Without extra capacity, it may nearly organisation, having volunteered at the Air Tattoo
Jetstream, I feel there is more of an issue. be upon us. shows since they began in 1971.
They may not be the most exciting types, but
both are core former RAF equipment, and As you will have noted, this month’s issue SANTIAGO RIVAS
— unlike, say, the less-than-representative is out a week earlier than normal. However, Born in 1977 in Buenos
Aires, Santiago started out
ex-Royal Netherlands Navy Neptune — we’ll be back to our usual schedule next as a journalist and
are fully deserving of their place in the time — the March edition appears in the photographer in 1997. Since
service’s museum. So, I would have thought, shops from the second Thursday of the then, his work has
appeared in different media
is the prone pilot Meteor when it comes month, 11 February. on all continents. Currently
to Cosford’s research and development he specialises in Latin
collection. Yes, the concept was essentially Ben Dunnell American aviation and
defence matters, both historic and modern, and
manages one of the main archives on these
Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane, subjects in Argentina. As part of his work, he has
founded by C. G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was travelled to most Latin American countries and
relaunched as a monthly in 1973 by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25 flown with their armed forces.
ESTABLISHED 1911 years until 1998.

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Untitled-1 1 09/12/2020 10:58:16
 News NEWS EDITOR: TONY HARMSWORTH
E-MAIL TO: [email protected]
TELEPHONE: +44 (0)7791 808044
WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK

The fuselage of Hampden TBI P1344 in the Michael Beetham

Conservation Centre at Cosford, displaying the slender shape
that earned the type the ‘flying suitcase’ nickname. RAFM

Hendon will only get

Hampden fuselage
F
ollowing the leak of an groundcrew stories, service “This does not limit the future previous restoration projects.
internal RAF Museum and loss in WW2, to the story of complete restoration of the A more traditional complete
e-mail in early November its recovery, conservation and aircraft to a more conventionally restoration would produce a
regarding the possible restoration. Indeed, as the most complete display form or substantially replica aircraft,
disposal of 26 airframes, as complete surviving example of prevent the separate display require far greater resources
reported last month, comes its type, the Hampden plays a of the other surviving sections and impact on the ability of the
news that plans for completion significant role in our ability to of the aircraft, but it is both museum to display its bomber
of the rebuild of the RAFM’s communicate the RAF story. economically and ethically aircraft effectively and efficiently
Handley Page Hampden TBI “The stage that the restoration preferable for a museum to within the building spaces
P1344 at Cosford will not see the has recently reached has preserve as much original available to it.
wings restored. Just the fuselage provided the museum with an material as possible whilst “It is planned that the
of Britain’s only example of this opportunity to do something enabling the widest possible Hampden will become an
early-war medium bomber will different and potentially more access and engagement with this important, engaging and
be moved to Hendon for display. distinctive centrepiece within
Recovered from a crash the future development of
site on the Kola Peninsula in A more traditional complete restoration would the museum’s new bomber
northern Russia during 1991, the produce a substantially replica aircraft exhibition, where its rich and
Hampden arrived at Cosford’s diverse stories will bring the
Michael Beetham Conservation aircraft’s crew positions and the
Centre in 2002. Restoration soon dynamic and accessible in object. As you know, the wings story of its people back to life in
got under way, using original regard to the future display and are incomplete and in extremely a unique and accessible way.”
Handley Page pre-production interpretation of these diverse poor condition. However, Hampden P1344 was operated
drawings from the late 1930s. stories. In particular, it enables even in their current state, by No 114 Squadron, and was
Responding to questions us to display the fuselage in two they provide vital reference one of 32 aircraft that departed
from Aeroplane regarding sections. This allows the story information to inform any future from RAF Sumburgh on the
the restoration, RAFM chief of the aircraft’s split-assembly reconstruction. Shetland Islands on 5 September
executive officer Maggie construction and maintenance “The orientation of the project 1942, heading to northern Russia
Appleton said, “The Hampden as well as giving visitors the around access and engagement in order to provide protection
is one of the most story-rich opportunity to be in the middle is critical and restoration work for Arctic convoys. Nine aircraft
objects in the RAF Museum’s of the fuselage and view the has been geared around these were shot down, and three crew
collection, from the story of crew positions forward and purposes, with a level of interior members from the downed
the aircraft’s construction and aft in a manner that complete completeness, craftsmanship P1344 died, two surviving to
maintenance to its air and restoration would prevent. and detail unsurpassed on become prisoners of war.

6 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2021

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 News February 2021

Spitfire XVI fires up at Ardmore

C
ombat-veteran transferred to the School of
Supermarine Spitfire Land-Air Warfare at Old Sarum
XVIe TB252 was on 18 January 1949, finally going
rolled out of the into storage at Lyneham on 27
Avspecs workshops at Ardmore, February 1953. Two years later
Auckland on 28 November it went to Odiham as a ground
and had its Packard Merlin 266 instructional airframe, and in
engine run up for the first time, the late 1950s began a long-
just a year-and-a-half after a lasting and well-travelled career
full-time team set to work on the as a gate guardian, initially at
former Free French and Belgian Acklington and Boulmer in
Air Force fighter. It has been Northumberland, and going
painted in the markings and even further north in December
NL-J codes it wore while serving 1969 to Leuchars in Fife, before
with No 341 (Alsace) Squadron Wearing full Belgian Air Force markings, although still on RAF charge, heading back south to Bentley
in the Netherlands and Belgium TB252 flies from Fassberg, Germany, during the summer of 1945 Priory in the spring of 1986.
while operating as part of the British Air Forces of Occupation.
during the spring of 1945. PETER R. ARNOLD COLLECTION
Shortly after the Ministry of
Avspecs boss Warren Defence decided to remove
Denholm says, “We actually Spitfires from outdoor display,
received TB252 in 2002 but sustained damage, repairs being during October 1946 to pursue TB252 was acquired by Tim
we have not had funding for carried out in the field by No an unusually active life for a Routsis in mid-1988 and went
continuous restoration during 411 Repair and Salvage Unit. On war-weary Merlin-powered to Vintage Fabrics in Essex.
most of its time with us. It’s only 15 March it was reissued to No Spitfire. In May 1947 it went During inspection it was found
in the past 18 months 341 Squadron at Schijndel, the to No 61 Operational Training to be in surprisingly complete
that we have had a full-time unit moving to Lingen-Drope in Unit at Keevil, Wiltshire, the condition, being moved to
team engaged on the job, Germany during April. TB252 unit later being redesignated as Historic Flying at Audley End
which is our third Spitfire flew about 40 combat missions No 203 Advanced Flying School and registered G-XVIE. A
restoration.” before the end of hostilities. and moving to Chivenor that rebuild started for a German
Originally delivered to the The Spitfire moved on to October, where TB252 operated owner in 1997, after which it
No 84 Group Support Unit at Fassberg on 6 July. During with the codes HX-X. TB252 was acquired by Rolls-Royce
Thruxton, Hampshire, on 1 January 1946 TB252 went to No came closest to being lost on 30 and Bentley specialists P & A
March 1945, the fighter then 350 (Belgian) Squadron, part November 1948 when it collided Wood of Great Dunmow, Essex
went to No 329 (Cigognes) of No 146 Wing at Fassberg, with Spitfire LFXVI SL577, the in early 2001. During May
Squadron, a Free French unit and was painted in full Belgian pilot of which died after bailing 2002 it was sold to Livermore,
operating within the RAF. 329 Air Force markings, although out. Fortunately, TB252’s pilot California-based collector Tony
was based at advanced landing the aeroplane was actually on managed to pull off a successful Banta, registered N7252B and
ground B-85 at Schijndel loan to Belgium as part of the forced landing near Braunton, moved to New Zealand. It was
in the Netherlands. Shortly British Air Forces of Occupation just west of Barnstaple, Devon. re-registered to Avspecs as
after entering service TB252 (BAFO). It returned to Britain After repairs TB252 was ZK-NLJ on 27 March 2020.

The Packard Merlin 266 fitted

to Spitfire XVIe TB252 catches
for the first time at Ardmore,
Auckland on 28 November. AVSPECS

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 News February 2021

Boeing retires Silver Stars

T
he Boeing Company’s two Canadair
CT-133AN Silver Star chase-planes, Boeing’s two Canadair
Silver Stars during
N109X and N416X, made farewell their final formation
flights from their base at Boeing flight over Seattle on 5
Field, Seattle on 5 December. The 66-year- December. BOEING
old aircraft have now been replaced by
Douglas TA-4 Skyhawks.
After getting airborne from Boeing Field,
the Canadian-built, Rolls-Royce Nene-
powered versions of the Lockheed T-33
made formation passes over the Boeing
Everett factory at Paine Field, 29 miles to
the south, in honour of the firm’s local
employees. The aircraft have given sterling
service to the company as camera platforms
during several notable maiden flights,
including those of the prototype Boeing 787
from Paine Field on 15 December 2009, the
737 MAX-7 on 29 January 2016 and finally,
on 25 January 2020, the 777-9.
The longer-serving aircraft, N109X,
joined the Boeing Equipment Holding Co
of Seattle during 1976, 11 years after being
retired by the Royal Canadian Air Force with
whom it had entered service as serial 21298
during May 1964. The following year it was famous warbird pilot Wally McDonnell from Imports of Chino, California, operated the
registered to the thrillingly named Warren the 1970s jet warbird bastion of Mojave, other CT-133, RCAF 21369, during 1973-74,
Speed Shop in Toronto as CF-SJZ, and before California. Another name on the 1970s the 1954-built trainer going to Boeing in
being acquired by Boeing was operated by warbird scene, Leroy B. Penhall/Fighter April 1980 as N416X.

LANCASTER FUSELAGE SPLIT AT EAST KIRKBY

In the Lincolnshire Aviation trolley to hold the necessary
Heritage Centre at East Kirkby, jigs and fixtures. The trolley will
during the first week of see ongoing use as the
December, the rear fuselage of fuselage is split in other areas
Avro Lancaster VII NX611/ over the next few winter work
G‑ASXX Just Jane was schedules, and when no longer
removed at the transport joint needed for those purposes it
for what is thought to be the will itself undergo a full
first time since the bomber restoration with a replica
rolled off the production line at 22,000lb bomb probably
the Austin factory in added for display.
Longbridge, Birmingham during With the tail fins removed,
April 1945. and all the flying controls that
After the severely limited run to the rear of the aircraft
2020 taxiing season was disconnected, the next step
completed, NX611 entered the was to remove the port and
East Kirkby hangar for its starboard horizontal tail.
annual six months of winter Split at the transport joint for what is thought to be the first time in 75 The Lancaster was raised via
maintenance and restoration as years, Lancaster VII NX611 continues on its path to airworthiness at East its lifting eye — secured about
work continues to get the Kirkby’s Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre. MARTIN KEEN the rear turret — and with it
bomber — one of just four pivoting on the mainwheels the
complete examples of the type trailer was moved into place.
remaining in the UK — back into the air. Next, some 240-plus nuts and bolts had to be removed from the
The 2020-21 winter work period had been expected to see the transport joint; this took a day-and-a-half with two engineers working
rear section of NX611 being paint-stripped and rebuilt, but with on the task. Some stubborn sealing compound remained at the top
COVID-19 restrictions in place funding has been impacted. Not of the fuselage, but once that was cut away all it took was a light
wanting to waste the opportunity, the decision was still taken to push of the trolley and the rear gently moved away from the
remove the rear fuselage to test the use of a rare ‘H’-type bomb centre-section for the first time in 75 years.

8 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2021

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 News February 2021

The unique and highly

individualistic Reid and NEWS IN BRIEF
Sigrist Desford, VZ728/
G-AGOS, airborne from ‘CHUCK’ YEAGER 1923-2020
Spanhoe. MARTIN NEEDHAM As was widely reported, Brig Gen
Charles E. ‘Chuck’ Yeager, World
War Two P-51 Mustang fighter ace
and, at the controls of the Bell X-1
on 14 October 1947, the first man
to break the sound barrier, died
at the age of 97 on 7 December
2020.

NELSON EZELL 1943-2020

Nelson Ezell, the founder of the
renowned Ezell Aviation
restoration company, died on 8
November, three-and-a-half
years after being critically injured

Desford future in
in a Hawker Sea Fury crash at his
Breckenridge, Texas base. Ezell
was particularly known for his
superb piston-engined naval

the balance
aircraft restorations.

O
n 15 December minutes stated that Windmill find its niche in 1951 when it

DHAM
the cabinet of Aviation “be advised that […] the was converted into the RS4
Leicestershire County application for a certificate is a Bobsleigh with a lengthened, AIRING FOR MOSQUITO
Council elected to matter for the County Council glazed nose for slow-speed On 6 December 2020,
pause its transfer of Reid and as the owner of the aircraft”, prone pilot trials. The prone Mosquito FBVI TA122,
Sigrist Desford VZ728/G-AGOS and that “no further flying of pilot Gloster Meteor, WK935 which is approaching the
to the Newark Air Museum, the aircraft be undertaken (see pages 42-45), was used for end of a 45-year
which had only been announced without insurance conditions higher-speed testing. restoration, was briefly
the previous week. being agreed with the County During the early 1960s rolled out of its hangar at
Owned by the Leicestershire Council”. They added that the G-AGOS was operated by John the de Havilland Aircraft
County Council Museum council “is not and would not be Crewdson’s Film Aviation Museum at London Colney
Service, G-AGOS flew again in a position as the owner of the Services, and in the early for the first time, as it was
in August 2018 following aircraft to accept the liabilities 1970s was owned by restorer/ turned around during a
restoration by Windmill Aviation arising from display pilot reshuffle of exhibits.
at Spanhoe. The decision to the aircraft Nick Grace.
send the one-off trainer/prone being flown for The decision to Acquired
LISTING FOR AAM
pilot experimental machine public display.” in 1974 by
to Newark and prematurely Built at
truncate the Desford’s Sir William
It was announced in early
flying career was met December that the American Air
truncate its flying career was Desford Roberts for
Museum at IWM Duxford has
met with widespread dismay, aerodrome, with dismay his Strathallan
been granted Grade II* listed
resulting in an online petition seven miles Aircraft
status, together with its
of 1,300 signatures being west of Collection
associated ‘Counting the Cost’
submitted to the council Leicester, in 1945 by aircraft in Scotland, it was sold at
memorial sculpture — a rare
requesting that the aircraft is instrument manufacturers auction in 1981 to the Scottish
move for a building less than 30
kept airworthy for the time Reid and Sigrist as a light twin- Aircraft Collection Trust, and
years old. BEN DUNNELL
being. Given this, the council engined trainer, VZ728 was the 10 years later was loaned to the
said, “It is therefore appropriate only example of the 130hp de Leicestershire Museum Service
F-117 TO KALAMAZOO
that a further period of reflection Havilland Gipsy Major-powered by National Museums Scotland,
Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk
is undertaken to engage with machine. It made its maiden ownership being transferred
85-0817 arrived by road at the
interested parties and to flight on 9 July 1945, but with the in 2005. It went to Windmill
Kalamazoo Air Zoo, Michigan, in
consider the best course of war over it failed to gain interest Aviation for restoration upon
early December. Previously
action for the aircraft given it has from the RAF in its proposed closure by the council in 2015
stored at Tonopah, Nevada, this
now completed its trial flights.” training role. of the Snibston Discovery
becomes the first example of the
Just before the 15 December After appearing at the 1946 Museum, at which municipal
‘stealth fighter’ to be preserved
cabinet meeting, VZ728 had SBAC show at Radlett, the attraction the Desford/
by a non-governmental museum
flown off the remaining hours aircraft spent time with the Bobsleigh had been exhibited.
or facility. BEN DUNNELL
necessary prior to application Institute of Aviation Medicine at More next month in our
for a permit to fly. However, the Farnborough, but was to finally Workshop feature.

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 News February 2021

New RAMWC building on schedule

A
t Winnipeg International Airport,
Manitoba, the Royal Aviation
Museum of Western Canada’s new
86,000ft2 building is now more
than 50 per cent complete, and despite the
current pandemic restrictions is on target
for a ‘soft’ opening in December 2021, with a
grand opening scheduled for early 2022.
The museum — which owns probably the
world’s premier collection of bush-planes
— is currently operating out of a 27,000ft2
warehouse while the new development
is under way. The warehouse enables the
museum to temporarily house eight aircraft
and hundreds of artefacts under one roof for
restoration and research.
Funding for the $46-million project has
now reached $39.2 million, 85 per cent of
the target. $10 million has come from the
government of Canada, $11.4 million from
the province of Manitoba — including a
$1.4-million endowment — and donations
from the private sector amount to $17.8 The curvaceous fuselage of the highly historic Bellanca Aircruiser CF-AWR Eldorado Radium
million. The museum is actively seeking Silver Express approaching the end of its long-term restoration in the RAMWC workshop during
supporters as it enters the ‘final approach December. RAMWC
phase’, to secure the last $6.8 million.
Museum curator Davide Montebruno
says, “We have a remarkable story to share includes the world’s only restored Fokker Port Radium mine to a refinery until its 1947
in our galleries. The story has essentially Super Universal, CF-AAM, de Havilland Fox forced landing on the edge of Upturned
two chapters; the first half of the museum’s Moth CF-BNP, the spectacular, polished- Root Lake, 130 miles north-east of Sioux
exhibitions centres on pre-1950s Winnipeg, metal Fairchild Super 71 floatplane CF-AKT Lookout, Ontario. Port Radium was one of
a gateway city, from which bush pilots and and the current restoration project, Bellanca the few sources of radium during the late
entrepreneurs would launch a national Aircruiser CF-AWR Eldorado Radium Silver 1930s, and in the Second World War the
aviation industry. In the second half of the Express, which force-landed in northern mine was the main provider of uranium for
museum, the post-1950 era, visitors will see Ontario after running out of fuel in January the Manhattan Project, the American atomic
how our aviation industry, located at the 1947 while carrying a cargo of uranium bomb programme.
heart of the continent, ushered in a new era concentrate and was recovered by a team CF-AWR was the first of five Aircruisers to
with Manitoba as a global leader in aerospace from the museum in 1973. be operated in Canada. The other survivor,
development. We hope visitors will come The historic Bellanca — one of only two CF-BTW, was built at the Bellanca works
away educated, entertained, and inspired.” surviving examples of the type — was built in New Castle, Delaware during 1938, and
Highlights of the post-1950-era collection in 1935. It operated between Port Radium primarily operated in Manitoba. It is now
include a former Air Canada Vickers on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, preserved in flying condition with the
Viscount, CF-THS, and Bristol Freighter Northwest Territories, and Port Hope, Erickson Aircraft Collection at Madras,
Mk31 CF-WAE, while the pre-war collection Ontario, transporting uranium from the Oregon.

BELOW: The new 86,000ft2 Royal Aviation Museum of

Western Canada building under construction at Winnipeg
International Airport, Manitoba, in early December. RAMWC

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Untitled-2 1 01/12/2020 10:43:20
012_AM_FEB_21_ad.indd 1 09/12/2020 15:58:30
 News February 2021

Havoc reassembled at Pima

D
ouglas A-20G Havoc 43-9436,
which was close to being acquired
by the RAF Museum in 2009, is
now nearing completion at the
Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson,
Arizona. The former US Army Air Forces
light bomber arrived at Pima from Australia
in July 2018, and following two years of
restoration work reassembly began in
August 2020.
Operated by the 89th Bombardment
Squadron, 3rd Bombardment Group,
43‑9436 force-landed in a swamp in Papua
New Guinea’s Ramu Valley on 3 May 1944.
It was recovered by a team from the Royal
Australian Air Force Museum in October
1994, the airframe being lifted from its
resting place by a Mil Mil-26 helicopter.
The Havoc was then transported to RAAFB
Amberley in Queensland, where the
mainplanes and other parts were used
during the restoration of A-20G 42-86786 The
Hell’n Pelican II which had been recovered Looking menacing, even before the fitting of the outer wings, A-20G Havoc 43-9436 in the
from Amaimon, PNG in 1984, and the former restoration hangar at the Pima Air and Space Museum in early December. PASM
RAAF Douglas Boston III, A28-8, which is
now on display in the RAAF Museum at
Point Cook. The stripped-out hulk of 43-9436 that sale fell through it was snapped up by the Australian restoration had left off and
then went into storage at RAAFB Laverton, the Pima Air and Space Museum. we were able to fabricate engine cowls and
Western Australia, before being acquired Pima’s collections manager John Bezosky replicate armament. The aircraft has now
by Murray Griffiths/Precision Aerospace says, “At different times during the nearly been repainted in the markings of the 89th
Productions at Wangaratta, Victoria in July two-and-a-half-year project almost all of Bombardment Squadron as it would have
2002. It was planned to restore the Havoc at the staff and volunteers here have worked looked while operating from Nadzab, New
Wangaratta for the RAF Museum, but after on the Havoc. We picked up work where Guinea, during 1944.”

JET ART GETS FALKLANDS VETERAN LYNX

Once earmarked for the now Later in its service career,
defunct Royal Navy Historic converted to HAS3ICE standard,
Flight, Westland Lynx HAS3S XZ233 spent time deployed to
XZ233 was acquired during the Antarctic with the HMS
November by North Yorkshire- Endurance Flights of 829 and
based Jet Art Aviation and 815 Naval Air Squadrons. It
moved by road to the company’s subsequently underwent the
premises near Selby. HAS3S upgrade. To mark the
XZ233 was originally built as Lynx’s 40th anniversary in 2011
an HAS2 model during 1977. In and the impending retirement of
service with 815 Naval Air the HAS3 model from RN service,
Squadron, it was deployed to the machine — now on the
the South Atlantic for strength of 702 NAS at Yeovilton
involvement in Operation — was repainted in the blue
‘Corporate’, the 1982 Falklands scheme worn by the earliest
conflict, aboard the frigate HMS HAS2s, such as XZ233 when first
Argonaut. One of its missions delivered. It was sold off by the
was the effort to rescue Ministry of Defence in 2019, and
personnel from HMS Antelope was acquired by Jet Art in a
following its sinking by Lynx HAS3S XZ233 on arrival at the Jet Art Aviation facility, where it private sale.
Argentine Navy A-4B Skyhawks will now be restored. CHRIS WILSON Jet Art’s Chris Wilson says,
on 23 May 1982. It is known that “The aircraft is now under
XZ233 engaged an Argentine restoration and the rotor head
vessel but suffered a problem with its Sea Skua missile and was and blades will be fitted shortly. A fairly complete example, it comes
unable to fire the weapon. The helicopter also survived an aerial with stacks of paperwork and its logbooks. It will be available for
engagement with a pair of Argentine Air Force Daggers. sale shortly.” Ben Dunnell

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 WORKSHOP

Spirit to the sky

After its much-loved Douglas C-54E Skymaster Spirit of Freedom
was written off following tornado damage, the Berlin Airlift Historical
Foundation wasted no time in finding a replacement — and it’s nearly
ready to fly again WORDS: JAY SELMAN PHOTOGRAPHY: SHAE LEIGHLAND-PENCE

W
hen Tim Chopp was Historical Foundation, “using Chancellor Helmut Kohl and US
six years old, he aircraft from the airlift as flying President Bill Clinton. Chopp recalls
happened upon a museums/exhibits to educate the that trip as one of the highlights of
magazine whose pages public about this pivotal event”. his time with the foundation.
were filled with pictures and articles Four years later he acquired a Then 2020 happened. By early
on the Douglas C-54. He recalls, C-54, which he named Spirit of spring, it became apparent that
“This was 1950 and was probably an Freedom and used exactly as he had this was going to be a year unlike
article about the Berlin Airlift. With envisioned. The BAHF was up and any other. Slowly but surely, one
each page I looked at, I fell a little running. major flying event after another
bit more in love with the C-54. It is a wound up cancelling out of
love that has only grown with each concerns about COVID-19. Spirit of
passing year.” For nearly 28 years, Chopp flew Freedom sat at Walterboro Airport
As he grew older, Chopp began Spirit of Freedom to airshows in South Carolina, awaiting further
dreaming about buying a C-54 around the USA, amassing some instructions. Tim Chopp was
ABOVE: and using it as a flying classroom, 2,600 hours. In May 1998, the C-54 already concerned about expected
C-54D N9015Q, travelling from airport to airport undertook a 70-day European tour problems due to the cutback in
formerly serial to tell the story of the greatest to mark the 50th anniversary of the flying. He notes, “To a large extent,
43-17228, being
prepared during
humanitarian undertaking in the start of Operation ‘Vittles’, as the we depend on airshow attendees
mid-November for history of aviation. Finally, in 1988, airlift was known to the Americans. to tour the interior of the C-54. No
its return to flight at he set about breathing life into his During this visit, the team was airshows mean no revenue”. Chopp
New Smyrna Beach. dream by forming the Berlin Airlift honoured by visits from German also had another concern. The

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 foundation’s Boeing C-97G (see Chopp continues, “The initial more major structural damage TOP:
Aeroplane January 2018) had been reports didn’t sound too bad. than we had originally expected. The Berlin
sitting in Reading, Pennsylvania for We knew that the airplane had Yes, it could probably be repaired, Airlift Historical
Foundation’s well-
18 months, needing a new engine. been picked up and thrown about but estimates exceeded $300,000. known original Spirit
All this was weighing very heavily 180 yards in the air. Yet, most of Worse yet, Walterboro does not of Freedom, C-54E
on Tim’s mind as he sat down to the damage have a hangar N500EJ, flying out of
Easter dinner with his family in appeared to be large enough to Dare County Regional
New Jersey. He recalls, “The day superficial. For a We realised accommodate Airport, North
Carolina. JAY SELMAN
after Easter, Monday 13 April, I got a couple of weeks, an aircraft as
’phone call that nobody ever wants I was stuck in there was more large as a C-54 ABOVE:
to receive. A series of tornados
had ravaged the coast of South
New Jersey and
had to rely on
major structural for what could
easily become a
A sorry sight at
Walterboro Airport,
Carolina and caused considerable Jason and other damage than we two- to three- South Carolina,
last April: a badly
damage to Spirit of Freedom”. Due to maintenance year project.
COVID restrictions, he was unable people on the had expected Also, there were damaged Spirit of
Freedom, having
to get away from South Carolina ground in South not enough been blown into
immediately. Instead, he sent BAHF Carolina. sheet metal professionals in the an airfield building
mechanic Jason Pence to survey the “By the time I finally got down community with the expertise to during a series of
damage and report back. Pence is to Walterboro, a couple of weeks work on the ’54. So, for that much tornados. The state of
being groomed as the primary flight after the disaster, we were already money, we had a choice of spending the wing trailing edge
engineer on the C-97. starting to realise that there was two to three years putting the tells its own story.

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 WORKSHOP C-54 Skymaster

ABOVE: original C-54 back together or at work, this time in civilian hands, quite a few upgrades. Somewhere
The starboard-side finding one in airworthy condition having been registered as N9015Q. along the line, it was fitted with
Pratt & Whitney and converting it into a new Spirit In civilian life, the C-54 got off DC-6 brakes, much more heavy-
R-2000 Twin Wasp
of Freedom. Meanwhile, we retain to an inauspicious start. In August duty than the C-54. It has also been
engines of N9015Q
receiving attention. the old aircraft as a treasure-trove of 1979, it was seized by the US upgraded with simpler and more
spares from the original Spirit.” Department of Justice for drug- dependable oil cooler regulators. All
ABOVE RIGHT: The more he weighed up his smuggling. Having been sold in in all, once we are done fixing it up,
The aircraft’s options, the more the second 1982, the Skymaster spent the it should be a better overall airframe
propellers have made sense. Chopp identified two next 32 years with several private than our old one.”
now been refitted,
C-54s located in Florida which operators. It was Since taking
as the BAHF strives
were likely prospects. One was damaged after possession of
towards flying a new,
improved Spirit of sitting at Keystone Heights Airport landing with a Once we've the new aircraft,
Freedom. and the other at New Smyrna
Beach Municipal Airport. After
retracted nose
undercarriage
fixed it up, it should Chopp and
several other
a lot of negotiating, he finally leg at New be a better overall dedicated
came to a deal with the owner of Smyrna Beach members of
the latter: N9015Q, technically during August airframe than our the team have
a C-54D‑15‑DC, c/n 22178. This
aircraft has a rather colourful
2014. The aircraft
was eventually old one been harvesting
parts off the
history. It was delivered on 6 repaired but did previous C-54.
September 1945 to the US Army not fly again. It was this airframe “We are fortunate that American
Air Forces, with serial 43-17228. that Tim Chopp recommended Aerospace is nearby to help with
Two years later, it was transferred to the BAHF board of directors to our engineering needs”, he says.
to the newly established US Air purchase in August 2020 as the new “We have taken all four props off
Force. It went to the US Army in Spirit of Freedom. the old aircraft, as well as several
1960 and was finally relegated to Now the C-54 is owned by the magnetos. Quite a few gauges and
the boneyard at Davis-Monthan foundation, his real work begins. other cockpit instruments from the
AFB, Arizona, in October 1978. “The new airplane is two years older old aircraft were in much better
Barely two months later it was back than the original Spirit, but it has shape, so we took them out and

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 installed them in the new airplane. season in 2021 — if, indeed, there is the law of supply and demand”, he
Very soon, we will be removing the an airshow season. Tim hopes his remarks. “On the one hand, there
actual museum interior from the old first mission, in early spring, will are not that many R-4360 engines
aircraft, upgrading it, and installing be to take the famed Berlin ‘Candy around. On the other hand, there
a much newer and improved Bomber’, Col Gail Halvorsen — who are only a couple of airplanes in
museum into the new airplane.” turned 100 years old on 10 October the world flying that use R-4360
Chopp points out that the BAHF — on a candy drop flight over engines. I am very hopeful that we
organisation is inspecting the Manteo, North Carolina. can work something out with one of
replacement C-54 in accordance What is the cost of all this? the engine suppliers this year to get
with its approved continuous Chopp says, “After purchasing the the Angel of Deliverance airborne
airworthiness inspection replacement aircraft, it will cost before long. Being the only flyable
programme. He explains, “After approximately $125,000 to resume C-97 in the world, it offers the Berlin
27 years, we are very familiar with its mission of history, education, Airlift Historical Foundation many
the inspections requirements and remembrance of the great creative opportunities to lend a
and required maintenance to Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. The Berlin historical perspective to the airlift in
keep a Douglas C-54 airworthy. Airlift Historical Foundation is a a unique way.”
The demand for a more in-depth 501 © (3) tax-exempt charity. We Tim Chopp spent more than 32
inspection is needed on the depend on contributions to keep years building up the foundation,
replacement C-54 because it is not our aircraft flying. We welcome any including 21 restoring the only
only a new and strange airframe to support that anyone is willing to flyable C-97. He has faced many
us, but also it is a different model. offer.” formidable obstacles before and
The foundation’s first C-54 was an While Chopp is devoting most come out the winner. No-one BELOW:
E-model with an eight-tank fuel of his time and resources towards should expect a little thing like A trailer provides a
useful workbench
system, while the replacement C-54 getting the new C-54 flying, in a tornado to slow him down. for the BAHF crew
is a D-model with a six-tank fuel the back of his mind he is still tending to the C-54
system. There are also differences concerned about the foundation’s Visit www.spiritoffreedom.org for at New Smyrna
in the hydraulic system as well C-97. “It’s an interesting example of more information on how to help. Beach.
as the electrical system. It takes
time and additional expense to
go over each system carefully to
ensure each [one] is performing as
it should in accordance with the
Douglas specifications and data. A
perfect example is the pitot/static
system, which requires careful
scrutiny after sitting in the Florida
environment for the past five years.
To cover all the bases, the air speed
indicators were removed and sent
to Consolidated Instruments in
Teterboro, New Jersey for overhaul
and testing.

“Avionics is another area that

requires careful consideration. The
old Spirit of Freedom was equipped
with older but very reliable Collins
com and nav radios. Now we are
adopting an early Garmin 430
plus some older King com and
nav radios. In a perfect world, this
would be the time to upgrade the
entire avionics panel. However, the
financial limitations brought on by
the COVID pandemic are restricting
the current possibilities.”
Chopp intends to have the new
aircraft airworthy by the end of
January 2021. From there, he will
fly it to Arkansas to get it painted up
in the 48th Troop Carrier Squadron
markings as sported by the old Spirit
of Freedom. BAHF will re-register
the aeroplane as N500EJ, in honour
of the previous owner of the original
Spirit, Ed Johns. He plans to have
it up and running by the airshow

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 Comment

STEVE SLATER

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

T
o fly or not to fly? Is it In fact, expanding on this, an
better for an historic opportunity to return other static
aircraft to be displayed aircraft to flight might be offered,
at an airshow as a were other museums’ collection
going concern, or should it be policies to be reviewed. Last
consigned to the relative security month the lead news story in
of a museum? Aeroplane was a document
This question has again discussing the potential fate of
recently been raised by a debate certain aircraft in the possession
within Leicestershire County of the RAF Museum. It has to
Council. Should the sole Reid be said that this was an internal
and Sigrist Desford prone-pilot discussion document and that
experimental aircraft, which is RAFM policy is that surplus
owned by them but in recent exhibits are offered first as
years has been restored to free gifts or transfers to other
flight by Windmill Aviation at museums, or as the basis of an
Spanhoe in Northamptonshire, ‘exchange of objects’. The next,
be allowed to continue flying? lower priority is a free gift or
Or should it go to the Newark Air transfer to another organisation
Museum for static display? within the public domain, and
As you’ll have read in the only if this is impossible would
news pages, the decision has external commercial sale be
been deferred given intense contemplated.
interest and comment on the Some of the airframes named
matter, including high-level would be viable for a return to
representation from the Historic A scene from the brief flying career of Sopwith Tabloid replica G-BFDE, flight under private ownership.
Aircraft Association, advocating before it was grounded in the RAF Museum. Might there be a chance for The Sopwith Tabloid on the list
at least a temporary period of it to rise again? PHIL RECH was built as an airworthy replica
flying. While I feel sad at denying by Don Cashmore in the late
the hard-working and expert 1970s and flew, powered by a
volunteers at Newark an early static museum exhibits, there at Southend Airport and XM655 ‘modern’ Continental engine,
Christmas present, I personally is no substitute for the sight, at Wellesbourne, rarely attract for a number of years. It was
agree with the HAA’s position. sound and even the smell of so many headlines or visitors. subsequently fitted with an
While Newark will without doubt flying examples. It is the reason Nor, indeed, do the other dozen 80hp Gnome rotary for static
offer a secure long-term home why locations such as the or so static Vulcans around the display, after acquisition by the
for the Desford, surely, after so Shuttleworth Collection at Old country. RAFM in 1983. It could be rebuilt
much has been done to restore Warden have a special allure It has to be said, of course, again with either power unit.
the aircraft to an airworthy beyond static-only museums. that some historic aircraft have Two others are the Auster C4
condition, it would be good Think too of the ‘Vulcan been lost in flying accidents, but Antarctic displayed at Cosford
sense to allow it to be seen by effect’ created by XH558. It equally there are many cases and the DH60GM Moth stored
a wider audience in its natural took aviation heritage to the where aircraft have deteriorated at Stafford. Both are eminently
environment, as a flying aircraft? masses, seen by millions. badly while on static display or capable of a return to flight
Aircraft by their nature are Today, despite the heroic efforts in museum storage too. In most within the means of private
creatures of the air, and while of hundreds of volunteers, it cases, when historic aeroplanes owners. In fact, were that Auster
we can all use our imaginations and the other two surviving are damaged in flying accidents, to become available, count me
to mentally breathe life into taxiable Vulcans, XL426 based they ultimately return to flight. in. I can always dream…

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 Comment

MATTHEW WILLIS

Flight
FlightLine
Recollections and reflections — a seasoned historian’s view of aviation’s past

P
eople involved in aviation not in the form that’s generally
have always needed a quoted. I’ve read an awful lot of
sense of humour. The reports, including on several of
creativity of aeronautical the types mentioned above, from
humourists was apparent during numerous testing establishments
the writing of last month’s Flight on both sides of the Atlantic and
Line, with the sheer number of have never come across a line
derisive nicknames for British even similar to this. It doesn’t
Aerospace’s unfortunate ATP really reflect the nature of UK
that sprang up during its short testing reports, which focus
career. Originality is all well overwhelmingly on exploring
and good, but there are one the characteristics of aircraft
or two aeronautical jokes that without making value
are too good not to reuse, and Well might this Blackburn Botha groundcrew be smiling — they didn’t judgements. It is quite possible,
reused they are, relentlessly have to go up in the thing. AEROPLANE even likely, that a test pilot
and seemingly without anyone made such a remark in their
getting tired of them. personal notes, but not that it
They can gain new elements the aircraft is difficult: it should Short Seamew, Boulton Paul would have been retained into a
over the years, too. The old, be made impossible.” Defiant, Fairey Gannet, Westland formal report that the CO of the
old “These Fokkers were It’s a good one. Pithy, Wyvern, Supermarine ‘Dumbo’, establishment signed off.
Messerschmitts” canard used and redolent of the dry and possibly the most popular In recent years, as with the
to be attributed to an unnamed understatement typical of recipient of the accolade, the ‘Fokkers’ joke, it has come to be
Polish, or possibly Irish, pilot. aviators, particularly British ones. Blackburn Botha. One version associated with various specific
More recently it was told as an It’s plausible in the respect that a even crossed the Atlantic, and a aviators. In addition to Meyer’s
anecdote about Douglas Bader, real test pilot said this about the similar comment is quoted on connection, there are those
during a talk he was supposedly uncomfortable many websites online who will swear blind that
giving at a girls’ school, just to death-trap as being the quip was uttered by Capt Eric
add a little extra colour. It even they had just One or two written of the ‘Winkle’ Brown after testing the
made it into a piece in The Times been required Grumman Wyvern, despite no evidence
on the anniversary of Bader’s to shoehorn aeronautical jokes XF10F Jaguar to link the comment to him. It’s
death. Needless to say, the
line has nothing whatsoever to
themselves into
and operate.
are too good not to — and with a
reference, to
mentioned in test pilot Bryan
Davies’ book Fly No More of
do with Bader — or at least it
didn’t until the comedian Stan
But which
aircraft? A scan
reuse “Flight, April
2000”. But
2001, but again as a second-hand
anecdote about the Wyvern.
Boardman used Bader as the through social wait. Corwin Most tellingly, there don’t
subject when he told the joke on media reveals that the ‘quotation’ ‘Corky’ Meyer did not claim to seem to be any references to
The Des O’Connor Show in the has been applied to dozens of use this line himself. He wrote, the remark dating from earlier
1980s. types. These are overwhelmingly “An English test pilot made the than 2000, so it seems apparent
With the growth of social British, and often naval. A following complete report about that Meyer’s words in Flight and
media, some classic jibes have by-no-means exhaustive list another airplane he had flown, ‘aviators’ whispers’ seem to have
gained a new lease of life. One of the machines on which and it fit [sic] my total assessment done the rest. If anyone knows
that has particularly intrigued this damning verdict was of the Jaguar perfectly.” any more about the origin of
this author is the line, supposedly supposedly given includes the Is it likely to be true? In all this phrase, the author would be
from a test pilot’s report, “entry to Miles Monitor, Fairey Barracuda, probability, it’s not. At least, delighted to hear about it.

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021_AM_FEB_21_ad.indd 1 14/12/2020 09:38:50
 Skywriters
In association with…

WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,

PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
E-MAIL TO: [email protected],
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.

was taken to modify the system, probably

in line with the advice given earlier to
Westland. Simpler ‘scoop’ air intakes were
fitted atop the cowlings, feeding directly
into the Peregrine’s downdraught carbs,
thereby achieving much greater efficiency.
The higher drag of the external air intakes
LETTER was more than compensated for by the
of the Morris low-drag radiators and oil coolers
MONTH which were also fitted in place of the
inefficient original equipment. Subsequent
flight-testing of P6967 in the new
Whirlwind P6967 with the Rolls-Royce Flight Test Establishment at Hucknall in 1941, showing configuration showed an increase of 12mph
the carb air intakes moved to the tops of the nacelles. ROLLS-ROYCE HERITAGE TRUST in speed and 1,200ft in full-throttle height.
This brought the Whirlwind almost to the
service ceiling Dowding expected, but the
The Whirlwind, the adjust to provide consistent performance”. improvements were never incorporated
Peregrine and Westland In view of this criticism, Rolls-Royce into the rest of the fleet.
Regarding Tom Eeles’ article on the requested that the worst-affected machine All the shortcomings of the Whirlwind
Whirlwind in the September issue, it was be flown to Hucknall for the Flight Test are usually lumped undeservedly onto
interesting to read the uncomplimentary Department to investigate, a request the the Peregrine. However, in the late 1930s
comments made by Dowding about Air Ministry was slow to take up. Rolls-Royce was not the large, leading
Westland. They echo the frustrations Eventually, in September 1940, P6967 aero-engine producer it is today and,
of Rolls-Royce in its own dealings with was sent to Hucknall for “investigation although its aero business was becoming
that company over the installation of the of alleged erratic operation of the boost increasingly important, its major products
Peregrine, which did absolutely nothing control”, as it failed to maintain the rated were its cars. The company literally could
for the reputation of the engine. boost of 6.75lb per square inch on climb, not afford to carry out the development
Westland seemed unable to concede and showed a loss of as much as 1.5lb per necessary on all its projects. With all
that a car manufacturer could know square inch. The first thing the Flight Test available resources being ploughed into
more about aero engine installation than Department did was to check the system, the Merlin, the Peregrine (and the Vulture)
itself, and would continue to ignore any and soon discovered that both boost suffered in consequence. Given more
proposals or advice offered by the Rolls- gauges and connecting pipes had bad leaks! ideal development circumstances, the
Royce Flight Test Department. Even at that On rectifying these problems, the boost Peregrine might well have ended up with
time Rolls-Royce’s expertise in installing control was found to be within limits. The the proposed two-stage supercharger
engines into airframes was second to none. problems were exacerbated by Westland’s and given the Whirlwind’s inadequate
In consequence, the Whirlwind prototype use of Exactor hydraulic engine controls, performance a welcome boost.
ended up with detrimental features such which, like the boost controls, were prone Peter Kirk
as its exhaust system passing through the to leakage, and had an adverse effect on the
wing and the main fuel tanks, its cowlings altitude performance of the aircraft, again Tom Eeles writes: “Fascinating
so tight that the engines overheated, and unjustly blamed on the Peregrine. information, which I did not know. My
its carburettor inlet ducts so long that they While at Hucknall, tests were carried out father records the delivery flight of P6967 to
were unusually inefficient. which showed that the Whirlwind’s original Hucknall in his logbook, on 23 September
All this helped create the conditions ‘buried’ carburettor intakes were a mere 38 1940. He also carried out an air test in that
that led to, as Eeles’ article states, “the per cent efficient against the 80 per cent of aircraft the same day, which lasted only 20
Peregrine engines proving difficult to an average good intake. The opportunity minutes.”

An excellent education After written and practical tests there was milling, shaping, sheet metal work and
You rightly lauded the de Havilland an interview. A few weeks later I received fitting in a two-week rotation. After that
apprenticeship scheme in the article ‘School a letter informing me I had been accepted year I moved to NGTE at Pyestock and
of Excellence’ in your de Havilland special as an NGTE apprentice! It transpired that worked under an apprentice master in the
(Aeroplane October 2020). In the past you the reason for the change was that my workshops.
have also commented on the magnificence dad worked at the National Gas Turbine My workshop skills were not too special,
of the Halton ‘Brats’. Can I mention the Establishment. but I was enjoying, and doing really well, at
third excellent training scheme, the Royal I duly got indentured and spent my the RAE Technical College. As I really loved
Aircraft Establishment Apprenticeship first year over at the RAE training school, technical drawing, I was offered a transfer
Scheme, of which I was the beneficiary? universally known as the ‘Trog Shop’. to drawing office apprentice. This offered no
In 1959 I applied to be an RAE apprentice. There were 64 of us. We learned turning, more money but let me transfer from City &

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 Skywriters

Guilds 63, machine shop engineering, to an Meeting a pioneer

ONC (Ordinary National Certificate). After reading the interesting articles on
On completion of my apprenticeship I the Brabazon Committee and its findings
was offered a job as a draughtsman. My (Aeroplane November-December 2020), I
good ONC led to a Higher National Diploma thought you might like to see this picture
which, with endorsements, gave me of the great man giving me my aviator’s
chartered membership of the Institution of certificate on 25 April 1951 at the Royal
Mechanical Engineers. I became a technical Automobile Club — number one hands over
assistant at RAE, an engineer III in the number 27,000. My flying scholarship just
Aeronautical Inspection Department at happened to be the 100th, so the powers-
Warton, and by various means I ended my that-be decided to celebrate the event with a
career as the last resident technical officer luncheon for quite a few aviation grandees. I
at BAE Systems Brough. I had a wonderful sat with him after he made the presentation
career with aircraft, and the superb — quite an occasion for a young Geordie
grounding at RAE and NGTE gave me the plumber! I joined the RAF three weeks later
tools I needed to follow that career. and flew for the next 47 years.
James Benn Alan Smith

In reverse thrust we trust Diagrams of gas deflection from the

VC10’s thrust reversers (bottom), and the
Reading the piece on thrust reversers
deflector vane configuration on the DC-10
in the November edition of Aeroplane (below).
reminded me of some of experiences with
thrust reversers during my career as an
aircraft maintenance engineer. However,
first, there is a lot more to designing
where the gas steam goes during reverser
operations than is immediately apparent
— you can’t just direct the gas/air stream
forward. As can be seen in the attached
illustrations, consideration has to be given
to protecting the airframe and engines
from foreign object damage from anything
the air stream may pick up.
When I worked for a DC-10 operator,
we once had to replace a number three
engine and thrust reversers after they
were severely damaged after a tyre burst.
During the landing roll with reverse
selected, a tyre burst on the right-hand
main gear. The large, heavy and thick tyre
debris was picked up by the reverser air
stream, blown forward and re-ingested by
the engine, causing severe damage to the
fan and thrust reverser.
Another DC-10 story is that the airline
had a policy of only using the number two
thrust reverser on landing at its main base,
to check it was serviceable, due to the
accessibility problems should the reverser
fail to open down-route. Naturally, it was
available for use down-route if it was
required.
When another airline I worked for first
received the Boeing 747-400, it found
the carbon brake wear was higher than
expected. After consultation with Boeing
and the brake manufacturer, it was found using this technique on a carbon brake- reduced brake wear, and had the additional
that the wear was attributable to thrust shod aircraft you weren’t allowing the advantage of reduced wear and tear on the
reverser use. Carbon brakes have an ideal brakes up to the ideal operating range. To thrust reverser structure.
operating temperature; outside that range, overcome this, the procedures were revised Paul Robinson, Guildford, Surrey
excessive brake wear is the result. The whereby, if conditions were satisfactory,
crews were using the reversers as they reverse idle was selected on landing and
always had used them on the 747 ‘Classic’ the braking was mainly done on the brakes, The editor reserves the right to edit all
with steel brakes where you want to keep with retardation being supplemented letters. Please include your full name and
the temperatures down to a minimum. By by the thrust reverse if necessary. This address in correspondence.

AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2021 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 23

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 Q&A COMPILER: BARRY WHEELER
WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
E-MAIL TO: [email protected],
putting ‘Q&A’ in the header

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

Under Project Emily, the USA

provided Britain with 60 Thor IRBMs,
delivering the first by Douglas C-124
Globemaster on 29 August 1958.

RAF Thor missile veterans sought

Q Our regular contributor Denis Calvert requests help with a
project. “For some years I have been researching Project
Emily, the Douglas Thor IRBM (intermediate-range ballistic
albeit one with very few traces remaining of its former use. In
connection with a possible future magazine article, I’d very
much like to get in touch with anybody who served at one of the
missile) and its service with 20 ‘strategic missile’ squadrons of Thor sites in the east of England, or had contact with them, both
RAF Bomber Command from 1958-63. This interest is focused by to hear reminiscences and to discuss the photo collection I’ve
the fact that I live within three miles of a one-time Thor airfield, built up over the years”. Contact via the editor, please.

Thrust before world’s most widely chosen aero

touchdown engine for different aircraft

Q The December ‘Aeroplane

meets…’ feature on
Desmond Penrose prompted
designs. Jack accepts that the
Pratt & Whitney PT6, also with
more than 40, is more difficult
Graham Squires to recall the to pin down as it has been used
Trident 3B display at the 1972 in a greater number of obscure
Farnborough show with Penrose types than the Merlin.
as captain and John
Cunningham as co-pilot. A ‘missing’ Buchón?
Mention was made of a short-
field landing using reverse thrust
just before touchdown. Graham
Q Following the Hispano
Buchón Database in the
November issue, former
flew regularly on the BEA Bf 109G‑2/Trop ‘Black 6’
Trident shuttle service between He 111 inspector about the officer treading engineer John Elcome e-mailed
Heathrow and Edinburgh/
Glasgow and remembers the
runway at Edinburgh was short
Q Taken on or the day after
11 July 1940, the burnt
remains of a Heinkel He 111 lie
through the ashes, who was
probably a member of Air
Ministry Technical Intelligence.
to say he believes there is a
further Buchón to add to the list
of survivors on pages 68-69. This
for the Trident, so pilots would scattered on East Beach at Can anyone identify him? involves an airframe bought
‘go for the numbers’ and deploy Selsey, West Sussex, after being from the late ‘Connie’ Edwards
reverse thrust just prior to shot down by Hurricanes of No Merlin’s magic? by one Michael Gorman around
touchdown. Was this technique
unique to Edinburgh or the
standard short-field procedure
145 Squadron following a raid
on Portsmouth (above). The
working party grouped on the
Q With 40-plus types to its
credit, Jack Roberts
wonders if the Rolls-Royce
2000. He too had worked on
‘Black 6’ and went with Russ
Snadden to the USA to look at
for the Trident 3 fleet? right shows amused curiosity Merlin holds the record as the some airframes and spares for

24 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2021

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 possible purchase, with the possibly during the 1970s?
intention of rebuilding or Used as a cabin crew trainer,
converting one to a late-war Geoff thinks it came from one of
Bf 109K configuration. John says, the earliest 747s built — if
“When we left Duxford and correct, why was it withdrawn
‘Black 6’ departed to the RAF from use?
Museum Hendon, Michael
bought all our specialist tools, Cosmic Wind pilot
spares and manuals and, with a
few friends, began work on his
Buchón. I don’t know any details
Q Discovered in the
Aeroplane files was this
view (right) of LeVier Cosmic
on the particular airframe Wind G-ARUL Ballerina, which
acquired by Michael and am was brought to Britain by Milton
unsure where it currently Blair in 1961 and registered in
resides”. Can anyone provide the UK on 28 November that
details on this ‘elusive’ Buchón? year. A clue might be the fact
that the unmarked print was
‘Jumbo’ at filed under ‘M’, so could this be
Crawley Down? Milton Blair, later well-known

Q Geoff Dobson wonders if

anyone recalls what he
believes was a Boeing 747
for his adaptation of the Cosmic
Wind design as the American
Electric Piranha close support
A mystery man in Cosmic Wind
G-ARUL Ballerina shortly after
its importation into the UK —
fuselage section in the vicinity aircraft? Confirmation or Milton Blair, maybe?
of Crawley Down, near Gatwick, otherwise, please.

THIS MONTH’S ANSWERS

Meteor losses to comment about the rarity of pictures of
The Karachi R101
Q In the December issue, David Mitchell
questioned the reason for the
relatively high accident rate among RAF
shed shortly after
completion.
this splendid building, as he has been to
some trouble to try and locate where
exactly it stood. He reports that the shed
Gloster Meteors. had a river course along one side and

A Following a response in the January

2021 edition, ex-Meteor pilot Bob
Broad adds that the type’s asymmetric
along the other was what looks like a road
and railway line. He continues, “By the
wonder of Google Maps it is possible to go
performance could charitably be to Karachi and see where the distinctive
described as poor or at least unforgiving. river course ran, which was approximately
Bob’s early experience on the Meteor T7 tailplane with fatal consequences. She north-south to the west of the shed and
was at RAF Valley in 1951 and he adds that his successful escape occurred the railway east-west to the south of the
remembers the airfield had a peculiar during a night flying exercise — “could this shed, its long axis being aligned with the
let-down dictated by Training Command’s be another reason for deaths”, she asks, “as railway. This puts RAF Drigh Road — now
belief that a descending turn would be too the Mk4 was definitely not a night fighter?” Pakistan Air Force Base Faisal — south of
difficult for student pilots. Accordingly, he the railway and just south-west of the
says, “We came overhead and went Karachi R101 shed shed. To the north-east of where the shed
straight out on a single heading. This took
you well away from the airfield, and at
2,000ft you levelled off and went into a
Q Back in the January 2020 issue, Ian
Stewart wondered if the large airship
shed at Karachi still existed.
stood is Jinnah International Airport and
with the huge doors at the east end, the
picture on page 26 of the September 2020
rate-one turn until you were heading back
to the airfield with dive brakes out and
engine at flight idle. I managed this, not
A Augmenting details on the building
from Ian Anderson in the September
edition, and confirmation that it was
issue is looking north-west”. Simon
wonders if anyone can steer him towards a
period photograph of an Imperial Airways
without some difficulty, and was destroyed in 1960, Simon Pearce e-mailed DH66 or an HP42 with the shed in view.
approaching the runway over the
approach lights at about 110kt with one
dead engine when a Verey light went up CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
from the runway caravan and a string of
trolley accs set off across the runway! Any • Peter Kirk informs us that the DH53 airframe news item on pages 6-7 of the August issue —
history list on page 31 of the October issue was Yellowknife is not in Alaska, but Canada’s North
attempt at an overshoot would have wrong to state that J7326/G-EBQP was re-engined West Territories.
resulted in a loss of control and a with a Cherub III after its civil conversion. “J7326 • The photo caption on page 98 of the June edition
subsequent crash, but to the instructor’s received the Cherub whilst engaged on the R33 identifying P-47s on Ie Shima as P-47Ns is wrong;
hook-up trials”, he says, “as, with the original they are ‘razorback’ P-47Ds.
relief I ignored the red and carried on, engine, it could hardly keep pace with the airship, • Shlomo Aloni corrects the Mosquito timeline on
missing the tractor by inches.” let alone provide the power to make the hook-up.” page 49 of the October issue, with regard to the
Audrey Harrington, whose late husband • A preserved Saab Viggen was missing from the type’s use in Israel. He says 110 Squadron flew FB6s
bailed out successfully from a Meteor F4, list of survivors in the October issue’s Database: this and TR33s on strike duties during the 1956 Suez
is an SK 37E, serial 37811, in the Musée Europeén conflict, while 115 Squadron performed recce
wonders if certain Mk4 casualties were the de l’Aviation de Chasse in Montélimar, France. missions with PR16s until 1958. The NF30 was
result of not having an ejection seat fitted, • Colin Craig notes a geographical error in the DC-6 never flown operationally by the Israeli Air Force.
since some of those who bailed out hit the

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 ‘JOHNNIE’ JOHNSON Wing leader

LEADING FROM THE

FRONT
Britain’s highest-scoring ace of the Second World War, and its finest wing
leader of all time. To ‘Johnnie’ Johnson, who died 20 years ago, have
been applied some of the most impressive accolades in the RAF’s
history. What, though, were the particular qualities that made him so
successful in combat — and as a leader of men? WORDS: GRAHAM GOODLAD

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 T
he basic statistics are LEFT:
well-known, but bear A portrait of
repeating. James Edgar Johnson as a wing
commander, taken by
‘Johnnie’ Johnson was the Gordon Anthony.
highest-scoring British fighter pilot CROWN COPYRIGHT
of World War Two. He scored a
total of 34 individual kills — all of
these, except for a quarter-share in
a Messerschmitt Bf 110, gained in
combat with single-seat fighters.
This was despite missing most of
the Battle of Britain because he was
obliged to have an operation for a
shoulder injury. The central period
of Johnson’s operational career,
between June 1941 and September
1944, saw him in action in the
dangerous skies of occupied Europe,
commanding fighter wings. He
flew Spitfires which, in spite of their
manifold qualities, were less suited
to overflying enemy territory than to
the role of air defence. In more than
1,000 missions he was never shot
down and only once, when struck
by a solitary cannon shell, was he
ever hit. This was a remarkable
achievement by any standards.
Two decades on from Johnson’s
death on 30 January 2001, this is
an appropriate time to look back
on his career. What made him the
most outstanding wing leader of
his time? An analysis of his wartime
successes must focus on several
key qualities, which Johnson
exhibited in abundance. As a pilot
he combined a high level of flying he did not take part in fox-hunting. fellow pilots relied on overhauling
skill and accuracy in shooting. This, Nor did he find an opening in the an enemy aeroplane from directly
combined with innate courage and RAF Volunteer Reserve until the behind and spraying it with
aggression, invariably placed him in international situation worsened in machine gun fire. The best shots
the thick of the action. As a leader the summer of 1939, when demand were those like himself, who had
he showed an ability to direct and for pilots suddenly increased. learned to shoot ahead of the target
motivate others, subordinating At the age of 24 he was finally in order to bring down a game bird.
the pursuit of personal glory to accepted for training, with the non-
the wider interests of the team. commissioned rank of sergeant.
Finally, he Johnson It was with 616, after it moved
was a tactician brought to the to Tangmere in West Sussex,
who learned As a pilot he role of fighter that Johnson forged one of the
from others,
yet was ready
combined a high pilot a talent he
had honed as
most important professional and
personal relationships of his life.
to challenge
received wisdom
level of flying skill a youth, when
first he carried
This was with Douglas Bader, after
the older man’s appointment
when it stood and accuracy in a shotgun on as leader of the Tangmere wing
in the way of the Lincolnshire (comprising Nos 145, 610 and OPPOSITE PAGE:
improving shooting marshes. It 616 Squadrons) in March 1941. One of the famous
performance. was there that Johnson flew regularly as Bader’s series of publicity
‘Johnnie’ Johnson’s emergence he learned the art of deflection number two, protecting his tail photos taken of then
Wg Cdr ‘Johnnie’
as one of the pre-eminent fighter shooting. With his typical wry sense on fighter sweeps across France. Johnson, commander
leaders of his generation says of humour, Johnson later recalled The experience Johnson gained of No 144 Wing,
something about the way the onset that its principles were the same, in this period was invaluable. He at advanced
of war democratised the RAF, as whether the target was wildfowl responded positively to Bader’s landing ground
well as wider society. The son of or aeroplanes — except that the extrovert, inspirational personality. B-2 Bazenville in
a Leicestershire policeman, he latter could sometimes return fire. Johnson recognised in him the Normandy on 31
January 1944. With
qualified as a civil engineer. Yet, Posted to No 616 (South Yorkshire) intangible quality of leadership that him on his battle-
although he was already learning Squadron in September 1940, he possessed himself — what T. E. worn Spitfire IX is his
to fly, he was turned down for the he found gunnery training was Lawrence once described as the Labrador retriever,
Auxiliary Air Force in 1938 because non-existent and that most of his “irrational tenth”, to distinguish Sally. CROWN COPYRIGHT

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 ‘JOHNNIE’ JOHNSON Wing leader

RIGHT:
In the cockpit of
‘his’ Spitfire IX at
Kenley. EN398 had,
at Johnson’s request,
a slightly taller rear-
view mirror.
‘JOHNNIE’ JOHNSON VIA
P. H. T. GREEN

it from the nine-tenths that can be culture around himself. He insisted out the enemy and protecting
formally taught. on high standards, warning his each other. This arrangement,
Yet in important respects — as wingmen they would be returned to more flexible than the previous
Johnson’s biographer, Dilip Sarkar, England if they failed to stay close to three-aircraft ‘vic’ favoured by the
BELOW: points out — the two men had very him. But he was also totally lacking RAF, was later to be adopted as the
Early-production different attitudes to leadership. in pomposity, socialising heartily standard for pilot training.
Spitfire IX EN398 Bader was an elitist who came with his fellow pilots off-duty. During the summer of
was Johnson’s first
‘personal’ example of
across as disdainful of those outside 1941 Johnson shot down six
the mark, flown from his immediate circle, including the Messerschmitt Bf 109s. This period
March-September groundcrew. Johnson, perhaps as Bader’s main importance for also saw the wing re-equipping with
1943 while he a result of his background, never Johnson lay in what he taught him the two-cannon-armed Spitfire Vb,
was leading the did. Nor did he follow the older about fighter tactics. He credited which Johnson was flying on the
Kenley wing. In this man’s practice of always flying with the Tangmere wing leader with fateful 9 August sortie when Bader
machine he scored 12
confirmed victories,
the same section of one squadron. originating what became known was shot down and taken prisoner.
plus five shared and It was in Johnson’s nature to as the ‘finger-four’ formation. Shortly afterwards Johnson was
six damaged. encourage all members of his team Operating in pairs, this enabled awarded the DFC and given
CHRIS THOMAS and not to develop an exclusive pilots to concentrate on seeking command of No 616 Squadron’s ‘B’

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 Flight. But in spite of his personal get ‘Rhubarbs’ cancelled, unless it for the doomed cross-Channel ABOVE:
success rate, this was a frustrating could be proved that the intended raid on the French coastal town. A Kenley wing
time for Johnson. Much of it was target was important enough to On the same day he also had a group photo: from
left to right, Sqn
spent on ‘Circuses’ — escorting justify the risk. narrow miss in a low-level head- Ldr Danny Browne,
daylight bombing missions — or the The hidebound assumptions on encounter with another 190. CO of No 421
no less risky ‘Rhubarbs’. These were of his superiors were just some of He escaped only by skimming the Squadron; Gp Capt
low-level attacks against ground the challenges Johnson faced as waves at high speed, at risk of being Bill McBrien, ‘boss’
targets, which Johnson came to he assumed a position of growing hit by ’friendly fire’ from a Royal of No 127 Wing;
resent bitterly, as they exposed responsibility. By the end of 1941 Navy destroyer out at sea. Climbing Johnson; Sqn Ldr
Jim Collier, No 403
the aircraft to enemy flak without the Spitfire V was facing the more over the ship, he saw no more of his Squadron’s CO; and
a prospect heavily armed, pursuer, which must have either Collier’s immediate
of inflicting yet also more abandoned the chase or been predecessor, Sqn Ldr
worthwhile The hidebound manoeuvrable, brought down by the naval guns. E. P. Wood.
damage. The
dangers were
assumptions of his Focke-Wulf
Fw 190. The
VIA ANDREW THOMAS

magnified by
the need to
superiors were some latter’s superior Only the advent of the Spitfire IX,
rate of climb its Merlin 60-series engine boosted
descend through of the challenges and speed in by a two-stage supercharger,
low cloud a dive made it enabled the RAF to compete on
over German- Johnson faced a formidable equal terms with the 190. This was
held territory, antagonist. Johnson’s mount when, in March
without accurate knowledge of the The Spitfire’s only significant 1943, he was appointed leader
altitude of the cloudbase. Johnson advantage over the feared Fw 190 of the Canadian wing, No 127
was particularly upset by the loss was its turning performance but, as Wing, based at Kenley in Surrey. It
of Paddy Finucane, leader of the Johnson remarked, “we could out- consisted of two squadrons, 403 and
Hornchurch wing, when he was turn it, but you couldn’t turn all day.” 416, with two more of Spitfire Vs,
hit in the course of an attack on a Johnson managed to shoot 411 and 421, at nearby Redhill for
machine gun post on the French down one Fw 190 over Dieppe on which Johnson was responsible. In
coast. It took until early 1944 19 August 1942. By now he was in a sense he had now ‘arrived’. He was
for Johnson, by now backed by command of No 610 Squadron, entitled to have his initials painted
the seniority that came from his stationed at Ludham, Norfolk, on his aircraft, and he took the radio
appointment as a wing leader, to which formed part of the air cover callsign ‘Greycap’.

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 ‘JOHNNIE’ JOHNSON Wing leader

Johnson arrived at Kenley with a An outstanding example occurred damaged. One of these casualties
clear concept of fighter leadership. on 3 April, when the Kenley wing was shared between Johnson
It consisted, he wrote in one of supported a Hawker Typhoon and his wingman, Flt Sgt G. M.
several books reflecting on his attack on the major fighter base at Shouldice. Johnson reported how
career, “not in scoring personal Abbeville. Improved direction from he had delivered several bursts
victories but in the achievement the radar station at Appledore in before breaking off the attack as the
of success with the whole wing”. Kent enabled the wing to position 109 stalled. Shouldice then joined
The key elements were to bring the itself up-sun of the scrambled the attack and the German pilot
maximum firepower to bear on the Fw 190s as they flew towards the was seen to descend by parachute.
enemy, to minimise losses and keep coast. Despite a warning of more ‘Greycap’ also confirmed the
the wing together so it was not split enemy aeroplanes an unspecified destruction of the second aeroplane
into vulnerable smaller packets. distance behind, Johnson decided by Fg Off J. F. Lambert. It was a
This, he wrote, meant good flying, to attack, leading No 416 Squadron most effective piece of teamwork
firm discipline and strict radio drill. down on the left of the group of by the wing.
But he did not rigidly impose his 190s, while 403 took the right-hand Johnson’s six months at Kenley
own ideas where he encountered side. Johnson himself opened were a productive time, as he
differences of approach. It turned fire on one aircraft from astern, added 14 kills and five shared to his
out that the wing’s leading using both cannon and machine burgeoning total. More importantly,
personnel were attached to the gun fire, sending it to destruction. the period saw the wing moulded
outdated line-astern formation. The Kenley wing accounted for into an increasingly professional
Characteristically, Johnson allowed six 190s for the outfit. Informal
them to use both methods at loss of just one discussions about
the outset, so they could see the Spitfire. But it Johnson showed targeting the
advantages of flying line-abreast.
This, he recalled, was not only more
did not push its
luck, speeding
a willingness to enemy and the
importance of
democratic but also more likely to back across the adopt others’ ideas staying together
motivate and encourage. Channel as more helped overcome
enemy aircraft when they were the inexperience

Johnson showed a willingness to

headed in its
direction. more effective of many of the
pilots. Missions
adopt others’ ideas when they were The Kenley were preceded
proven to be more effective. At the wing’s other main function by detailed briefings and followed
time it was standard procedure for was to escort the US Eighth Air by lengthy analyses of what could
guns to be harmonised to give a Force on daylight missions over be done to improve performance.
‘shotgun’-type spread pattern. The occupied Europe. The short range Learning was by trial and error. For
Kenley wing, on the other hand, had of the Spitfire meant it could not example, as the Luftwaffe deployed
already adopted the more accurate provide comprehensive support, larger numbers of fighters against
‘spot’ principle, which gave more but the wing was able to protect the B-17s and B-24 Liberators,
concentrated fire. As the combat homeward-bound B-17 Flying Johnson decided to replicate
films showed that this produced Fortresses returning from sorties Bader’s concept of the ‘Big Wing’
more devastating results, Johnson into Germany. A good example — a large formation which would
unhesitatingly took it up. was its role as escort to a force match the enemy fighter for fighter.
Under Johnson’s leadership of Douglas Bostons, tasked with The experiment was not repeated
the wing took part in intensive attacking the Luftwaffe base at after Johnson concluded that,
activity over France. It carried out Schiphol, the Netherlands, on 30 while the tactic might be effective
‘Rhubarbs’ but, as the Luftwaffe no July 1943. Encountering Bf 109s against large, slow-moving bomber
BELOW: longer responded to these largely and Fw 190s after the Bostons had formations, it was too clumsy to be
No 144 Wing’s ineffective attacks, a new tactic was dropped their bombs on the target, of use against fast, manoeuvrable
Spitfire IXs in the
field at advanced
devised. Typhoon fighter-bombers Johnson took No 403 Squadron enemy fighters en masse.
landing ground B-3 would attack German airfields to into the attack, leaving 421 above as In August 1943 the Kenley wing
Sainte-Croix-sur-Mer. flush the Fw 190s out so the Spitfires cover. In the ensuing engagement was transferred to the 2nd Tactical
CROWN COPYRIGHT could engage them. two 109s were destroyed and a third Air Force, and was reorganised as

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 No 127 Wing, part of No 83 Group.
It operated initially from a rough
airstrip at Lashenden in Kent.
From this point the focus began to
shift towards preparation for the
liberation of western Europe. In
this new phase of the war, fighter-
bombers would give support to
ground forces, operating from
temporary airfields from which they
would move frequently and at short
notice. Their task would be to clear
the skies of enemy aircraft so the
troops below could press ahead, and
to provide support as required by
strafing German forces and vehicles.
They would also be called upon
to carry out dive-bombing strikes
on bridges and communication
centres, in order to hamper German
attempts at reinforcing their
defences. In doing so they would be
assisted by a system of ‘contact cars’,
whose personnel included an RAF
officer. Their function was to report
the positions of enemy forces so
ground strafing was more accurately
targeted.
Johnson was reluctant to see
Spitfires converted to fighter-
bombers, with two 500lb bombs
fitted to underwing racks. Like most four, or releasing the bomb load a raid on an airfield at Dreux in ABOVE:
pilots, he would have preferred when the target passed through northern France on 28 March, In conversation
the addition of extra fuel tanks to part of the gunsight. But Johnson’s where between 20 and 30 Luftwaffe with three of his
groundcrew, as was
increase range and enable them lack of enthusiasm for the role aeroplanes were parked in the open. very much Johnson’s
to take part in air fighting over did not merely stem from his Leaving No 442 Squadron to provide wont — in contrast to
Germany. It was difficult to aim concerns over targeting accuracy. cover at 10,000ft, 441 went in low, other similarly senior
the bombs accurately in a dive, as He also felt, quite simply, that the taking the airfield’s anti-aircraft fighter leaders.
they did not have the same line of bombs compromised the perfectly defences by surprise. The Spitfires VIA ANDREW THOMAS

flight as the Spitfires. The bombs symmetrical lines of the Spitfire. destroyed an estimated five German
would fall short if aimed directly aircraft on the ground, inflicting
at the target, quite apart from damage on other aeroplanes and on
BELOW:
the need to make allowances for His role from March 1944 was as the airfield buildings. For the D-Day period,
the prevailing wind at any given commander of the newly formed Although they scored some invasion stripes were
time. In dogfighting, fighter pilots No 144 Wing, a Canadian Spitfire successes, the wing leaders found added to Johnson’s
had the benefit of gyroscopic IX formation comprising Nos 441, the Luftwaffe more elusive than regular No 144 Wing
gunsights, which computed the 442 and 443 Squadrons. Based expected. One theory was that, mount, Spitfire LFIX
degree of deflection, but there initially at Digby in Lincolnshire, it when the RAF fighters escorted MK392. He achieved
another 12 aerial
was no such technology to assist later moved down to Tangmere. In tactical bombers, the Germans victories in this
them in releasing bombs. They the run-up to D-Day the wing took moved their aircraft before the aircraft, plus one
resorted to various expedients, part in a variety of missions against raids began. To counter this, shared ground kill.
including counting up to three or German defences. These included Johnson decided to take his CHRIS THOMAS

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 ‘JOHNNIE’ JOHNSON Wing leader

section about 20 minutes ahead reinforcements began to arrive and attacks caused their crews in many
of the bombers, flying at tree-top the pilots found themselves in daily cases simply to abandon them.
height, to locate the enemy aircraft combat with Bf 109s and Fw 190s. The 2nd TAF enjoyed total air
before they took off. This entailed Tactics had to be revised to supremacy over the battle area
some careful planning to avoid the take account of the new realities since the Luftwaffe was almost
most heavily defended areas. In in Normandy. The 2nd TAF faced completely absent, focusing instead
his memoirs Johnson recalls the groups of rarely more than a dozen on withdrawing to airfields closer
thrill of racing over the countryside, German aircraft, which might attack to Paris. The Allied aircraft operated
sometimes being acknowledged without warning at low level. A wing in pairs, maintaining a constant
enthusiastically by farmers on of 36 or even 24 aircraft would be tempo of attacks as the groundcrews
the ground in anticipation of the too unwieldy in such a fast-moving worked rapidly to rearm and refuel
coming liberation. environment, so there was a shift them. Although the envelopment
Low-level attacks of this kind, to smaller, more adaptable units was not complete, with some of
known as ‘Ranger’ operations, which could be airborne in the the German forces escaping across
did not always proceed smoothly. shortest possible time. This meant the River Seine, the Falaise pocket
On 21 April Johnson was leading — as Johnson recognised — that the was still the decisive point in the
his section in a sweep of airfields wing leader was becoming a less Normandy campaign. The scale
around Paris. Flying just a few significant figure. Squadron and of the devastation made it, in
feet above a wooded river slope, flight commanders began to assume Johnson’s later words, “one of the
they suddenly came upon a large more importance great killing-
grass airfield where, this time, the as the invading grounds of the
German flak towers were ready for armies pushed In his memoirs war… a classic
them. There was no possibility of
turning back as this would have
southwards.
Following a he noted that most example of the
devastating
exposed the Spitfires’ vulnerable
undersides to enemy gunfire.
reorganisation of
the 2nd TAF in
senior RAF officers effects of tactical
air power.”
Instead each pilot had to trust to July, No 144 Wing in WW2 lacked It was shortly
passing low over the aerodrome, was disbanded. afterwards,
Johnson himself going at top speed Johnson was current operational thanks to an
through a gap between two hangars
and then hugging a poplar-lined
transferred to
again take charge
experience untypical lapse
in concentration,
road beyond, as tracer shells burst of No 127 Wing, that Johnson
all around. It was a narrow escape. which consisted of Nos 403, 416, was hit for the first and only time
421 and 443 Squadrons. His new by an enemy fighter. This was on
appointment coincided with the 23 August, north-east of Paris. By
D-Day itself proved to be an anti- start of the Allied push southwards this stage there was less need for
climax, as initially the Luftwaffe was from Caen, and in mid-August his fighter-bombers and Johnson was
BELOW:
The last in-service
largely absent from the skies over Spitfires were in action together flying the kind of operation he
Spitfire to bear the Normandy beaches. But it was with rocket and cannon-equipped preferred, against enemy fighters.
Johnson’s initials a rapidly evolving situation. On 8 Typhoons, as Allied forces sought He was leading No 443 Squadron,
was FRXIV MV257, June, No 144 Wing set up its base to trap the retreating Germans in with 421 providing top cover.
allocated to him soon near Sainte-Croix-sur-Mer, on the the ‘Falaise pocket’. The Typhoons Sighting a flight of some 60 Bf 109s
after the end of the first advanced landing ground to inflicted terrible damage on the and Fw 190s, he ordered an attack
war in Europe. While
stationed at Kastrup,
be established after the invasion. transports which jammed the from above and with the advantage
Denmark, he flew This made it the first RAF unit to narrow country lanes below. The of the sun behind the wing. The
this aeroplane — return to France since the Allied Spitfires then made low-level British fighters claimed 12 kills
which sported much defeat four years earlier. It also strafing attacks on the soft-skinned for only three losses, but in the
less prominent ‘JEJ’ significantly extended the wing’s vehicles, including trucks, staff cars course of the action Johnson found
code letters than radius of action, since the pilots no and even farm carts commandeered himself pursued by two 109s, with
its predecessors
— in a flypast over
longer had to fly across the Channel by the fleeing Wehrmacht. Later another pair to each side of him. He
Copenhagen in to engage the enemy and then make analysis showed that relatively few extricated himself only by climbing
August 1945. the perilous return journey at the tanks were hit, but the panic created until the Merlin’s supercharger cut
CHRIS THOMAS end of the mission. Soon Luftwaffe by the continuous wave of air in, giving him enough power to

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 ONE MAN AND HIS ‘SPITS’
outpace his pursuers. But he took
cannon shells in his rudder and Perhaps the best-known of the ‘JEJ’
Spitfires is the first, MkIX EN398 of
elevators as he made his escape. No 127 Wing. VIA ANDREW THOMAS
In the autumn of 1944, the
Luftwaffe was still capable of
putting up a good fight, and
German industry was producing
remarkable numbers of new
fighters. But its pilots were less
skilful and experienced. Johnson
had noted the poor shooting by
most of the 109s that had tried
to ambush him in August, and
he witnessed it again during
January 1945, when the wing’s
base at Melsbroek was attacked
with limited success during the
A rare image of a MkIX at Sainte-Croix-sur-Mer
Ardennes offensive. The period of in July 1944, coded ‘JEJ JR’ (junior) to denote his
intense fighter combat was coming spare aeroplane. Its identity has never, as far as is
to an end. By the time of the Rhine known, been precisely confirmed, though some
crossing in March 1945, when sources say it was MK329, something of a ‘bitsa’
Johnson was once again carrying airframe used — unarmed — to transport beer
out ground attack operations, the barrels underwing. ‘JOHNNIE’ JOHNSON VIA P. H. T. GREEN
Luftwaffe had vanished from the
sky. His last aerial success had
been notched up on 27 September
the previous year, a Bf 109 shot
down near Rees am Rhein during
Operation ‘Market Garden’, the
Arnhem offensive.

‘Johnnie’ Johnson ended the war

as a group captain, in command
of No 125 Wing, equipped with
the latest Griffon-engined Spitfire
XIVs. He remained in the RAF for
MK392 with a serif version of the personal
another two decades, ending his codes, in a photo probably taken at
career as an air vice-marshal, in Eindhoven in early 1945. VIA ANDREW THOMAS
command of RAF Middle East in
Aden. But it was as a wing leader
that he made his most enduring
contribution to the development
of military aviation. He was
engagingly modest, comparing
himself unfavourably with ‘Sailor’
Malan’s smaller total of 32 kills
since they were won, in 1940-41,
against greater numbers of enemy
aeroplanes.
Johnson was more critical of
his superiors than of his peers.
In his memoirs he noted with
some asperity that, unlike their
counterparts in the other services,
As CO of No 125 Wing, Johnson experienced the Griffon-
most senior RAF officers in engined MkXIV for the first time. This is MV268, pictured —
World War Two lacked current again, possibly at Eindhoven — in April 1945. H. HALLIDAY
operational experience. This meant
that talented pilots at his level,
with an instinctive grasp of the
day-to-day realities of air fighting,
gained deserved promotion. It
was his ability to think tactically,
combined with a capacity to lead
by example and to inspire others,
that made ‘Johnnie’ Johnson
one of the most outstanding
commanders of his time.

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 AIRLINER HISTORY BAC X-Eleven

MARKS
SPOT
THE

It started out as Britain’s last go-it-alone attempt to produce a medium-

sized airliner. It ended up being the final home-grown commercial
aircraft concept to emanate from BAC’s renowned Weybridge design
team, passed over in favour of a collaborative, multi-national design as
Europe sought to take on the might of the US industry in the 1980s.
Why, then, did the BAC X-Eleven fail? WORDS: RICHARD PAYNE

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 I
n 1969, the British Aircraft
Corporation’s prospects looked
bright. The Weybridge plant,
then Europe’s most successful
commercial aircraft factory, was
starting to produce front and rear
fuselages for Concorde, which had
gained some 74 commitments.
Although the final Super VC10s
were in build, work continued on
the One-Eleven with additional
orders being received, mostly for
the recently introduced Series 500.
More than 40 examples of all models
were delivered during the year and
two developments were proposed,
the Series 475 and the stretched-
fuselage Series 600, to seat up to
131 passengers and powered by a
development of the Rolls-Royce
Spey engine. The company’s five-
year projections foresaw sales of at
least a further 100 aircraft.
However, the big project to
sustain Weybridge and its sister
location at Hurn during the ’70s and
beyond was to be the twin-RB211- after 215 aircraft, leaving six still programme looked doubtful ABOVE:
powered, 250-300-seat, wide-body unsold. Over the same three years beyond the 16 production examples An impression of the
Three-Eleven. Weybridge would be the One-Eleven’s competitors had already authorised. So it was that One-Eleven Series
800 from 1975, the
the design centre and undertake done rather better. Boeing sold 79 One-Eleven developments were re- forerunner to the
component manufacture, with examples of the 737 and Douglas 84 examined in a serious way. X-Eleven. ALL BAE SYSTEMS
Hurn as the main assembly facility. DC-9s. The European Aircraft
At its peak it was expected that the Positivity around Concorde Committee, or EURAC — usually OPPOSITE PAGE:
programme would directly employ had also abated. Its American known as the ‘Group of Six’ — A period display
about 10,000 BAC staff, more than counterpart, the larger Boeing 2707, was formed during 1974 to look model of the
X-Eleven. The rear-
6,000 of them at Weybridge alone. A was cancelled in early 1971 as fuel into studies for new European engine configuration
mock-up was built, as well as some costs rose and the environmental short/medium-range airliners by did bring a penalty in
small components. lobby awakened. A mere five Aérospatiale, BAC, Dornier, Hawker weight.
additional Concorde commitments Siddeley, MBB and VFW-Fokker. On
were received in 1972 and by 6 September that year, these firms
Things seemed so optimistic as mid-1973 the options system had signed an agreement whereby they
the new decade dawned. What collapsed, leaving just nine orders would work together to meet the
a difference a year made. Just 12 for BOAC and Air France. needs of European airlines for the
months later, as 1970 ended, the For BAC, eager 1980s, principally
British government had decided to maintain Air France,
to back neither the Three-Eleven, its design and Come the end of British Airways
nor Hawker Siddeley’s re-entry
into the multi-national Airbus
manufacturing
staff, new
1973, the future for and Lufthansa.
During the
A300B programme as a full partner. projects were BAC’s commercial middle of that
All available cash had gone to essential. In 1971 year BAC had
bail out Rolls-Royce and fund its the company aircraft division revealed the
subsequent nationalisation.
At BAC in excess of 900 staff were
announced the
140-seat, wide- looked bleak One-Eleven
Series 700. A
made redundant, and the firm’s body QSTOL 119-134-seater,
commercial aircraft future looked (Quiet Short Take-off and Landing) it was to be powered by twin Spey
bleak. The One-Eleven, the mainstay concept. This led on to the 200- Mk606 engines with a new front
of its civil business, was seeing new seat, RB211-powered Europlane, a fan and higher bypass ratio, which
orders dry up at an alarming pace. joint venture with Messerschmitt- would have been quieter and
This aircraft was vital to sustaining Bölkow-Blohm, CASA and Saab. Yet afforded an increase in gross weight
employment, income and profits. despite major efforts — especially to 117,000lb (53,060kg). But neither
The rate of decline was dramatic. on the latter — these designs the aircraft nor the engine ever
Although the new Series 475 had remained purely on paper. materialised.
been given the go-ahead, only 10 Come the end of 1973, the future The six became seven in early
orders for all models were received for BAC’s Commercial Aircraft 1975, when Dassault-Breguet joined
in 1970. This fell to just four in 1971 Division looked bleak. Only two the group. Its modern Mercure
and a mere three in 1972. At the end One-Elevens were flown and twin-jet seemed likely to provide
of that year it was decided to stop delivered that year, new projects the basis for a new European
One-Eleven production altogether had stalled and the Concorde airliner, especially given the

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 AIRLINER HISTORY BAC X-Eleven

ABOVE: determination of the French Airways had been looking at a from runways of 1,525m (5,000ft) for
Diagrams from government for its development to wider-body One-Eleven with two short stages. The aircraft emerged as
BAC’s X-Eleven be centred in France. The company 10-tonne engines. A short time later, a credible alternative to the Super
sales brochure had already been promoting a details were released of this new Mercure/Mercure 200.
released in 1976,
illustrating different stretched 170-seater Mercure and, in the event, final large jet-liner BAC had carried out extensive
seating layouts, the powered by two CFM56s, which from BAC. The X-Eleven followed studies into world markets since
fuselage cross- became the Series 200. similar principles to the Super One- 1973, predicting a need for some
section, airframe Not to be outdone, that same year Eleven design of the mid-sixties. 1,400 new aircraft in the 140-160-
commonality with BAC unveiled its more ambitious Both involved a scaled-up One- seat segment by 1990. During 1975-
the existing One- One-Eleven Series 800. It too Eleven with a six-abreast fuselage. 76 the company had visited about
Eleven, and a general
arrangement side- would use a In its brochure 60 airlines around the globe to
pair of CFM56s
view.
with 22,000lb Some 40 per cent from August
1976, BAC saw
ascertain their future requirements.
At the 1976 Farnborough show it
thrust, while
accommodation
of the aircraft was the X-Eleven
meeting the
unveiled its new jet, the X-Eleven
being shown in model form for the
was to be based around the substantial need first time. It was to be a 160-seater,
provided for 144- identified for powered by two CFM56s or Pratt &
161 passengers. One-Eleven a 140-160-seat Whitney JT10Ds of 22,000lb thrust.
The design airliner with a BAC proposed that development be
featured fuselage plugs fore and aft range of up to 3,700km (2,000nm), a European collaborative venture,
of the wing, an increased wingspan very low fuel consumption and saying it favoured a new “Eurojet
with new centre-section and a much-reduced noise levels. The industry” to run the programme.
revamped cabin. Proposals were design would blend advanced At the same time BAC was citing
put to Air France in April 1975. technology with proven its greater customer base when
Seeing that airlines were now components and materials, burning compared to Dassault’s one buyer,
favouring wider, six-abreast cabins, 30 per cent less fuel per seat than Air Inter, for the Mercure.
by April 1976 the Series 800 was current 115-160-seaters, offering The X-Eleven’s design
no longer being pursued by BAC. seat-mile costs lower than the philosophy was based around
Instead it was revealed that British Boeing 727, and able to operate cost-effectiveness, combining the

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 latest advances in technology with vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. 10 per cent reduction in seat-mile
existing parts where appropriate. It was predicted that the majority of costs. Over a 10-year comparable
It was considered that the One- routes operated would be around operation the advantage of using
Eleven’s moderate-sweep wing 500nm, although a maximum range an X-Eleven over a 727-200 was
was appropriate to use again, of 2,000nm was possible. envisaged as saving some $8
less the landing gear support With the new high-bypass million. For the future, longer-range
structure, combined with a new turbofans, fuel consumption was capability was planned, and with
centre-section of greater span and calculated as being 15 per cent less higher-thrust engines the aircraft
undercarriage based on the One- than the airliners then in service. could be further stretched to
Eleven. No leading-edge devices Against the 727-200, BAC claimed accommodate 186 seats, as well as
were to be fitted to initial versions. the X-Eleven would have 12 per fitting high-lift devices for shorter-
cent lower aircraft-mile costs and a field performance.

A SENSE OF DÉJÀ VU
Some 40 per cent of the aircraft
as originally envisaged was based
around the One-Eleven. The main

T
change was the X-Eleven’s six-
abreast fuselage of 3.91m (154in) he X-Eleven revisited a concept BAC One-Eleven into the Super One-Eleven, a
external diameter and 3.66m had explored some years earlier. When six-abreast design powered by Rolls-Royce
(144in) internal width, which would in 1966 British European Airways had a Conway engines. This in turn evolved into the
enable greater seat width than the requirement for a new medium-range Two-Eleven (see Aeroplane December 2014). In
727/737 or DC-8/DC-9. Passenger airliner, it wanted to place an order for the the event, it was the stopgap Hawker Siddeley
accommodation ranged from 166 in Boeing 727. Denied permission by the Trident 3 which won BEA’s order. The
a tourist-class layout, through 152 in government to buy American, British government announced in December 1967 that
all-economy, to 137 in a mixed-class manufacturers turned their attention to this it would not fund development of the Two-
configuration. The existing flight potentially lucrative contract. Eleven, which was duly cancelled. But further
deck would be blended into the new BAC originally looked at developments of the offshoots of the One-Eleven line would occupy
fuselage, while new root sections VC10, but then turned to ‘upsizing’ the BAC for years to come.
would increase the area of the

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 AIRLINER HISTORY BAC X-Eleven

Boeing on the latter’s 7N7 twin,

while also pursuing its own all-new
AS200 in twin-, tri- and four-jet
forms, which later became the 160-
seat, twin-engined A200. Britain
too was offered a role in the 7N7
during July 1976, while McDonnell
Douglas and Lockheed sought
to gain UK involvement in their
projected airliner. Dassault-Breguet
signed a deal with McDonnell
Douglas to develop the Mercure
200, which became known as the
ASMR (Advanced Short/Medium
Range). This would have seen the
US company taking a 15 per cent
stake, Dassault five per cent and
Aérospatiale 40 per cent, with other
European firms including the new
British conglomerate being offered
ABOVE: The story of the X-Eleven was, small orders for the One-Eleven, the remaining 40 per cent.
BAC was gone, however, intrinsically linked with plus a proposition that the BAC jet Behind the scenes, the
subsumed into the nationalisation of Britain’s major be built under licence in Romania government was less than
British Aerospace,
airframe companies. This started with reducing numbers of British enthusiastic about the X-Eleven. In
by the time the
X-Eleven was canned to move forward after Labour’s components. So it was that the UK November 1976 Gerald Kaufman,
in 1978. Renewed decisive win in the second general government began discussions with Minister of State for Industry,
participation in election of 1974. It was to occupy all the world’s major commercial said he didn’t believe it would
Airbus was viewed the government, as well as BAC and aircraft manufacturers to find new be able to get off the ground as
as a more lucrative Hawker Siddeley, until its conclusion projects for Britain to invest in, the a collaborative venture. To him,
alternative.
with the formation of British X-Eleven being part of this. the X-Eleven came a bit too late
Aerospace in late April 1977. Three versions were planned: the in the day, and he may have been
During the early part of this Series 100 with 136 seats, the Series right. BAC put the project forward
process, the parent companies 200 with 154 and the Series 300 to the Hawker Siddeley board in
— GEC/Vickers for BAC and the with 166, although it was envisaged early 1977 in advance of the two
Hawker Siddeley Group — were that only the 100 and 300 would be companies being nationalised. They
naturally reluctant to invest millions built. On looking over the X-Eleven too expressed doubts about the
in new projects or derivatives when data, Hawker Siddeley questioned aircraft’s attractiveness, preferring
their final compensation for being the economics of the Series 100. It the clean-sheet Aérospatiale A200.
taken over was unclear. At the same was also dubious about BAC’s sales
time, it was imperative to develop projections, doubting even 300-
a framework for the vast new firm’s 400 aircraft could be sold. Having Interest was being shown by
future. One of the main aims was to dropped its own Trident 5 design, Lufthansa, Bavaria Fluggesellschaft
regain a large share of the potentially Hawker Siddeley was in favour of a (already a One-Eleven customer)
huge commercial aircraft market. wholly new aeroplane rather than a and South African Airways. A
This was a field in which Britain radically altered derivative. hundred airlines had been visited
had been left well behind. Apart It was essential that any project be around the world, and close
from Concorde production ending, produced as a collaborative venture, contact was being maintained with
Trident 2 deliveries to China’s but BAC was not alone among about 60. British Airways looked
CAAC were entering their final manufacturers in trying to gather at a possible order for 25, but then
phase. A large Trident 3 order from international interest. This covered a seemed to deem the X-Eleven too
that carrier did not materialise, whole range of types and sizes, with big for its needs.
and nor did a potential contract everyone talking to everyone else, Crunch time came in 1977.
from Korea for the Trident 2. This seeking to grab the initiative. Decisions had to be made over the
left sub-contract work on the A300 During 1976 Aérospatiale had next 12 months if deliveries were to
wing-box and a handful of potential formed a loose agreement with begin during 1981. During March
Lockheed offered British Aerospace

AN EVOLVING DESIGN
collaboration on the 200-seat
L-1011-600, a twin TriStar. In return
for that investment, Lockheed would
assume a sub-contractor/supporter
Super One-Eleven One-Eleven 800 X-Eleven 300
role on the X-Eleven in the USA.
Length 151ft (46m) 142ft (43.9m) 139ft 8in (42.57m) Boeing was proposing work on the
Height 27ft 9in (8.5m) 25ft 8in (7.9m) 28ft 4in (8.64m) 7N7, which seemed to be spanning
the 126-188-seat bracket, and the
Wingspan 113ft 2in (34.5m) 103ft 5in (31.55m) 106ft 2in (32.36m) 180-220-seat 7X7. The submission
Seating capacity 176 161 166 from McDonnell Douglas involved
industrial offsets on the RB211-
Powerplants Two R-R Conways Two CFM56s Two CFM56s
engined DC-10-30R and partnership

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 on the 200-seat DC-X-200, which forces with Europe on the A200, the for the JET aircraft, provided that
had replaced the ASMR. Or there X-Eleven or a new aircraft in that project was managed from and had
could be a European solution, with market slot, as well as reviving the its assembly line in the UK. In return
the X-Eleven against the Mercure four-engine, STOL HS146. for these conditions, the UK would
200 and A200. One idea was for During June 1977 the Joint provide 40 per cent of the costs
a new 120/160-seat airliner to be European Transport (JET) and France 25 per cent, with the
produced by a joint company which project had been set up, with balance split between Germany, the
would be registered in Britain but an engineering team based at Netherlands and others.
associated with Airbus. Weybridge. It consisted of BAe, The X-Eleven was still not dead,
By the time of the 1977 Paris Air Aérospatiale, MBB and VFW- but at the beginning of 1978 new
Show, the X-Eleven was emerging Fokker, and had a view to reporting aircraft studies began to emerge
as the spearhead of a British on its conclusions before the year’s from the JET team, which were to
initiative to take the lead in any end. The 30-man international supplant it. Later that year BAe
new European airliner. With a low, technical team was led by Hawker finally decided to become a full
unsubsidised cost of $13 million per Siddeley engineer Derek Brown, partner in Airbus again, rather than
airframe, one carrier commented and would evaluate the A200 and working with Boeing on the 757,
that if the aircraft could be built at X-Eleven as well as new projects. as the 7N7 was now dubbed, or
that price, it The only certainty McDonnell Douglas on its ATMR
might be on to a was that the (Advanced Transport Medium-
winner. British To Gerald 150-seater would Range). Rejoining Airbus and
Aerospace be powered by launching the A300B10, later the
was looking to Kaufman, the two CFM56s. A310, also effectively meant any
contribute some
50 per cent of
X-Eleven came too Further
development
new narrow-body airliner would
come under the Airbus wing.
non-recurring late in the day of the X-Eleven For a while it seemed as if the
costs, amounting followed a tour new 130-seat JET 1 and 160-seat JET
to about £90 of US airlines. 2 projects could still be run from
million, which it said could be By 1978 the design was about Britain, but as these became the
funded from its own internal 80 per cent new, including fully SA1 and SA2 (SA for single-aisle),
resources. France was offered a powered controls and some of and ultimately the Airbus A320, this
BELOW:
30 per cent stake and Germany 20 the aerodynamic modifications diminished. BAe did for a while try to Was Labour trade
per cent. Saab, too, had shown an developed for the One-Eleven obtain the A320 final assembly line minister Gerald
interest in participating. BAe was Series 670, an update of the for Filton and build the cockpit, but Kaufman right
talking about being able to place at Series 475. However, delays led in the event it elected to continue to consider the
least 60 aircraft with customers as to one major potential customer with wing design and manufacture. X-Eleven a bit late in
soon as the first metal was cut. suspending studies, while The X-Eleven was gone, having the day as a means
of saving British
Such optimism persisted. In the marketing efforts by BAe were held occupied the thoughts and plans of mainstream airliner
third quarter of 1977, BAe believed up over the JET discussions. BAC, BAe and the UK government production? Maybe
it could secure launch orders for BAe’s management were looking for nearly two years. Would it have the adapted One-
50 aircraft, with a number of US for launch orders of about 40 gone on to achieve the phenomenal Eleven design looked
airlines interested, in time for a go- aircraft, plus a manufacturing success of the A320 family? somewhat dated
ahead by the end of the year. Break- partnership, before they would give Almost certainly not. But if it had when compared
with the new,
even was put at 400 aircraft, while the go-ahead. But the French would progressed, it could have sustained Boeing 737-esque
development costs were estimated still not allow Britain to lead the new a British-based commercial offerings put
at $300 million, against just under airliner effort, while BAe said it was aircraft business for a little forward by European
$800 million for the A200. prepared to abandon the X-Eleven while longer. manufacturers.
Now national politics came to the
fore. One moment it appeared as if
the French were looking to concede
leadership on the new 120/160-
seat airliner to the British, in return
for BAe becoming a full member
of Airbus. The next they were not
prepared to accept British control,
and instead had two proposals of
their own: either a Mercure 200
development, the 200-2, combining
a new wing with the fuselage of the
existing Mercure 100, or the brand-
new A200.
As the year drew to a close Lord
Beswick, BAe’s chairman, had to
consider the many commercial
aircraft options now open to him.
These included rejoining Airbus
Industrie, collaborating with the
US on 160 or 200-seaters, or even
both. Alternatively he could join

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 FLIGHT TESTING Prone Meteor

LYING DOWN
ON THE JOB
It was a unique opportunity for the unit test pilot on No 33 Maintenance
Unit — to sample the one-off prone pilot Gloster Meteor, one of the most
notable trials platforms of its day, from both the conventional and prone
positions. Naturally, he took full advantage WORDS: HUGH FIELD

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 I
t was among the important, if would offer a marked improvement
unappreciated, aspects of post- in controllability.
war aircraft development: how The Hunter’s ailerons and
to provide a more comfortable elevators were operated by Fairey
workplace for the pilots who would Hydrobooster units. On early
fly the latest generation of ever more marks these were selected ‘on’,
manoeuvrable aeroplanes. The causing hydraulically powered
design of the fighter pilot’s ‘office’ pawls to engage with the actual
would largely be determined by the ailerons. Care was needed, because
adoption of the ejection seat, but operating a hydraulic service at the
research was also being undertaken same time as a rapid movement of
to see whether front-line combat the ailerons could result in a line
aircraft could safely be flown by pressure loss sufficient to allow
pilots lying in a prone position. the pawl to disengage from the
The first aircraft to be modified aileron. This, sadly, resulted in a
with a prone cockpit was the sole number of fatal Hunter accidents.
prototype of the Reid and Sigrist Visual engagement of the pawls was
Desford light twin-engined trainer. confirmed during the after-start
As the Bobsleigh, it took to the air checks by means of white ‘doll’s-
as such on 13 June 1951. The small eye’ indicators. A refinement of
number of flights undertaken the design incorporated from the
demonstrated that control was Hunter F6 onwards ensured the
barely possible, but that there pawls were permanently engaged.
might be some merit in taking the I have gone into this in some
experiment to a higher level, where detail because all published
there would be scope for evaluating references to the prone Meteor
the concept in an aircraft of simply note that “power control
greater performance. Funding was assistance was provided for the test
approved and the pilots”. When
choice made to I first walked
use a converted The lateral round the
Gloster Meteor as
the test vehicle.
control offered aircraft following
its delivery to No
The results, it
was felt, would
to the prone pilot 33 Maintenance
Unit at Lyneham
help inform was deemed to be I realised it
development of had been given
Bristol’s Type 178 inadequate powered ailerons
rocket-powered and elevator.
interceptor, which anticipated using Checking in the cockpit I saw there
a prone pilot layout. were ‘doll’s-eye’ indicators, just
A contract was placed with like those on a Hunter. There was
Armstrong Whitworth to modify a only one thing for it — fire up the
Meteor F8, the last of which were Derwents. With the engines idling
coming off the production line at I felt the aileron control forces over
Baginton. The company had ample the full deflection and found them
experience of the type, having been to be normal. Selecting ‘power’ was
given responsibility for design and a revelation; the stick force reduced
production of the night fighter markedly. Now it was important to
variants. It had also produced early find out if it was affected when a
versions of the Hawker Hunter, hydraulic service was selected at the
which contributed to one of the same time.
most significant design changes Simulating a power reduction
to be incorporated on the ‘prone’. was limited to selecting flaps or
As a late-series Meteor F8, WK935 airbrakes (the aircraft was standing MAIN IMAGE:
would have been completed with on its undercarriage), and after a Both cockpits are
spring-tab ailerons, felt by many few cycles it became obvious that occupied as the
— but not all — to be a marked the integrity was assured, however prone pilot Meteor
undertakes a test
improvement over the original fast this process was repeated. In all flight on 27 May
geared tabs. Improved or not, the other respects, as far as I could see, 1955. By this point
lateral control offered to the prone the aircraft was in fine condition WK935 was being
pilot was deemed to be inadequate and reference to its service history used solely for a
at an early stage in the project and revealed that it had flown for less research effort
needed a return to the drawing than 60 hours. Even allowing for any at Farnborough,
the Bristol 178
board. The outcome of some deterioration during storage, it was interceptor
inspired lateral thinking was to take clearly in good order. programme having
a close look at the Hunter, reasoning The aircraft had been cleared for been cancelled.
that the new-generation design a ferry flight from Kirkbride to KEY COLLECTION

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 FLIGHT TESTING Prone Meteor

the additional flying, but at unit 50 minutes I was satisfied. WK935

level we were quite convinced that was, after all, a relatively young
it was worth it after doing a series of aeroplane, not subjected to hours
checks of our own. of airframe-twisting aerobatics, so
For a start, we had to ensure the I was confident it was unlikely to
integrity of the basic hydraulics, for have any tricks up its sleeve when I
instance by jacking the aircraft up flew it in power mode.
and operating the undercarriage The exciting flight came two days
and flaps. That cleared me to fly later. The weather remained on my
a trip in manual control followed side as I selected power controls
by one in power. They would both after start-up and taxied out,
be no more than 40 minutes in exercising the stick vigorously to
duration because no external fuel confirm that the pawls were solidly
tanks were fitted. The trip in manual engaged. Then, finally, airborne,
control reminded me of my early and what a revelation! There really
days flying the Meteor F4 and the never was another Meteor like it.
aircraft was decidedly less than I had to be careful on the rotation
sprightly. The next flight, in power, for take-off because there was
was a joy. ample control to have banged the
While the aircraft was on jacks we rear fuselage on the runway, but
needed to validate the prone pilot’s adopting the old law of ‘gently
escape system if, as I intended, I does it’ we eased into the air. Gear
was going to try it out. The system up — perfectly normally — we
was simple: pull the handle and climbed away into clear airspace
the rear of the floor beneath the over northern Wiltshire. The only
prone pilot would unlatch, allowing negative about the flight was the
the pilot to slide out. Mats were lack of cabin pressure. OK, it was
obtained from the gymnasium and no worse than the unpressurised
placed to cover a wide area beneath Meteor T7, but it would have been
IAN FRIMSTON

the forward fuselage. A spry young nice to have.

fitter was all too keen to have a go Simple aerobatics demonstrated
and there were ample witnesses the powered controls at their best
to his rapid descent. It was clearly with a quite remarkable rate of roll.
a wholly exciting experience, and It would have been a dream of a
before long not only had he had machine for flying a display. A slight
several goes but so had a fair few of thickening of the cloud urged me
the hangar personnel. In short, the not to hang around, and I headed
escape system worked. However, down and back to Lyneham to
there was a big ‘but’: a lowered record a 35-minute flight.
nosewheel would be in the way of
the exiting pilot. Painful!
There was, of course, one All was now safely in place for
important item to be attended to a flight in the prone seat, but the
— a parachute. Luckily, one of the weather had other ideas. Obviously,
parachute storage depots was along we wanted as near ideal conditions
the road from us at Wroughton, and as possible. My safety pilot, Wg Cdr
it was able to pack and supply a Peter Villa — the unit CO — would
KEY COLLECTION correct back-type parachute. When be trying the power controls for
I was in position on the ‘bed’ the the first time and, for me, it would
ABOVE: Lyneham on the basis of a primary parachute was firmly attached to me be a ‘one-shot’ experience on the
A period diagram of inspection, but there had clearly and I had a simple, rudimentary, bed. Eventually all the factors came
the prone position’s been a degree of nervousness harness which would release me together on 12 June and we were off.
internals, and (top)
about the hydraulics because the when I pulled the handle to escape. The long, uphill, taxiway from No 33
a contemporary
image of the forward clearance was for one flight only, These safety preliminaries had MU to the Lyneham main runway
cockpit in WK935 as leaving the undercarriage down — to take their place in the priority gave plenty of time for both normal
preserved today, in and, by implication, not touching of everyday work, and this eroded taxiing and for me to have a short
precisely the form as the power selectors. those valuable 28 days. Outside the ‘go’ from the front.
it made its last flight I discussed with my CO and weather, as ever, offered another For the take-off, whichever of us
with Hugh Field lying
senior technical officer the variable, which — together with the took the controls, the other would
there, back in June
1959. possibility of flying the aircraft hangar work — resulted in 12 days be following through closely. I truly
again, not initially to explore the passing before I could fly again. cannot remember, although I would
prone position but to try out the Luckily, when all was ready on 27 like to think I flew the aircraft off. I
powered controls. The prospect May 1959, the weather dawned fine certainly climbed away, accelerating
was exciting because there simply with no more than three-eighths to a normal speed, and that’s when
wasn’t another Meteor with cloud at, if I remember correctly, the one weak point revealed itself.
powered controls in the sky. I don’t about 5,000ft. This was to be a more The prone pilot’s windscreen
believe we ever sought permission exhaustive flight in manual control, sealing had deteriorated over the
from HQ No 41 Group to undertake purely for safety’s sake, and after years in storage and the noise was

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 The newly modified airframe prior to all-over application
of a silver finish. One change — other than the nose —
involved an increase in tail fin area. KEY COLLECTION

WK935 banks away from the camera aircraft. In prone

pilot guise, it measures fully 52.5ft in length and was
thus the longest Meteor of them all. By comparison,
an NF14 night fighter is 51.4ft long. KEY COLLECTION

indescribable. Peter and I were

just able to converse but it was
obvious that this was no time for a PRONE PILOT METEOR: A POTTED HISTORY
prolonged flight. I flew some gentle 10 February 1954 Maiden flight in modified form, flown by Armstrong Whitworth’s Eric
manoeuvres at around 3-4,000ft Franklin from Baginton to Bitteswell
but we were forced to call it quits.
Now, of course, came the wildest 31 August 1954 Ferried from Bitteswell to Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough
sensation for me lying in the nose — 1 November 1954 Start of use by Institute of Aviation Medicine; various pilots from IAM,
the descent on the final approach. RAE, RAF and industry conducted 99 sorties
The runway seemed to rise up
under my chin as Peter produced 31 July 1955 Trials programme complete; aircraft placed in storage
a ‘greaser’ and then the nosewheel 20 April 1956 Flown to No 12 MU at Kirkbride
quickly became apparent.
The flight was only 20 minutes 15 May 1959 Flown to No 33 MU at Lyneham
long and the circumstances were 12 June 1959 Last of short series of flights conducted by No 33 MU, as described in
not going to allow any more. There this piece
was no time left on the 28-day
inspection and we would never 12 January 1965 Allocated to Air Historical Branch for preservation; moved by road to
have got authority for an extension. Colerne
Equally, the windscreen of the 6 October 1975 Transferred to museum at St Athan
prone position was almost certainly
beyond repair. So ended a flight 1977 To RAF Cosford Aerospace Museum as was, RAF Museum Cosford as it
which is certainly one of the most is now; there ever since, though included on November 2020 list of
memorable in my logbook, and the aircraft being considered for potential disposal
last ever undertaken by this Compiled by Ben Dunnell
unique aeroplane.

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 CLASSICS Sopwith Dove

BIRDof
PEACE

It’s often described as an offshoot

of the Pup, while the Snipe made a
contribution to it. The reality, though,
is that the Sopwith Dove is an aircraft
type all of its own. We sort fact from myth
Sopwith Dove
reproduction — and find out about flying Andrew Wood’s
G-EAGA up from
Old Warden in
September 2020.
reproduction, G-EAGA WORDS: PHILIP JARRETT
DARREN HARBAR

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 CLASSICS Sopwith Dove

W
ith the end of the First respects a new design. It would component — and the name ‘DOVE’
World War, Britain’s obviously have been unwise to in small capitals on the fuselage side
aircraft manufacturers offer private owners an aeroplane aft of the cockpits. It had an Integrale
began to consider the based on the company’s subsequent propeller and Sopwith’s distinctive
possible markets for their products wartime fighters, such as the split-axle undercarriage suspension.
in the new age of peace. The fighting notoriously tricky Camel or the Two footholes were provided on the
services were being drastically powerful Snipe of the late-war port side of the fuselage to facilitate
reduced, and large orders for period, and the Pup had a reputation entry into the cockpits. This aircraft
military aeroplanes were abruptly as a ‘pilot’s aeroplane’ with excellent was eventually allocated the early
cancelled, production being halted flying qualities. However, the Dove civil registration K122 and then
in mid-flow. The major makers actually shared many structural G-EACM, though the latter was
therefore turned their attention features with the Snipe. never applied. The date of the Dove’s
to the envisaged demand for civil Superficially the Dove resembled maiden flight has not been recorded,
aircraft: airliners, cargo-carriers and the Pup, but it was an altogether but it certainly took place soon after
machines for private owners. sturdier machine. A single-bay its arrival at Brooklands.
In 1919, the Sopwith Aviation Co biplane spanning 24ft 9.5in and On 10 May 1919, Maj William
of Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, having a wing area of 240ft2, it was George Barker VC DSO treated the
developed three designs for this powered by an 80hp Le Rhône nine- young Prince of Wales — later King
predicted new outlet. The Transport cylinder air-cooled rotary engine Edward VIII — to some ‘stunt flying’
was a single-engine, long-distance, and accommodated the pilot in the at Hounslow in the prototype. This
high-performance weight-carrying front cockpit and a passenger in the machine, with protective bamboo
utility aircraft, based on the Atlantic rear. With an empty weight of 850lb, bows added beneath the lower
built for Hawker and Mackenzie- it carried a useful load — excluding wingtips and registered K122, was
Grieve’s attempt on the Daily Mail’s pilot, fuel and oil — of 180lb, had sold to Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes
£10,000 prize for the first non-stop a maximum speed of 100mph, a of Toronto, Canada, a company
trans-Atlantic flight. The Gnu was a landing speed of 40mph, and could dealing in war-surplus aircraft, in
high-performance three-seater with reach an altitude of 5,000ft in seven- mid-1920 and re-registered G-CAAY,
either an enclosed passenger cabin and-a-half minutes. though it never seems to have worn
or open cockpits. Then there was that identity. It was sold to Albert R.
the appropriately named Dove, a Highstone of Ontario, who crashed
“very fast sporting two-seater” with The prototype Dove, works it beyond repair on 16 September.
BELOW: open cockpits. order number W/O 2714, was Unfortunately, any plans the
With pilot and Although the Dove was described delivered to the company’s test company might have had for mass
passenger up, the
first prototype
as being “based in point of design airfield at Brooklands, Surrey on 26 production of its new offerings
Dove takes off from and general arrangement upon March 1919. It sported its maker’s were dashed by the market being
Brooklands. the famous Sopwith Pup” single- inscription on the fin, rudder stripes flooded with vast numbers of
VIA PHILIP JARRETT seat fighter of 1916, it was in many — this was a standard military surplus military aeroplanes offered
at peppercorn prices, the Avro
504 being by far the most prolific.
Consequently, despite prominent
advertising in the aeronautical press,
sales were not forthcoming. Things
became so tight financially that by
January 1920 it had been decided
that, owing to a lack of storage
facilities for the Doves and Gnus so
far built, they would have to be sold
off for the best prices that could be
obtained. Customers were sought
abroad, but any chance of sales
in the USA was eliminated when
American manufacturers, fearing
loss of business, were granted
injunctions making it impossible for
foreign builders to sell aeroplanes in
the USA at bargain prices.
During 1919 some 17 or 18 Doves
were built. The second one to
appear, photographed at Brooklands
on 30 April, was a special one-
off long-range single-seater for
Australian aviator Bert Hinkler. He
intended to use it for a staged flight
to his home country, in an attempt
to win the £10,000 prize offered by
the Australian government for the
first aeroplane flight from England
to Australia. Hinkler had worked as

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 a mechanic at the Sopwith works
in the old roller-skating rink at
Kingston upon Thames, and in 1918
had served as a pilot in the Royal
Naval Air Service, flying Camels in
Italy with No 28 Squadron, RAF.
Although his Dove was
superficially similar to the two-
seater, the space where the rear
cockpit would have been was
replaced by an enormous auxiliary
fuel tank which also extended into
the front cockpit to form the pilot’s
seat. It had a Lang propeller, and
the normal fuel tank in front of
the cockpit was retained. Hinkler
planned to make the 11,000-mile
flight over 10 days, in 10 stages of
about 1,000 miles each. He made a
good number of flights in his new
mount, but his plans were stymied,
either because he was told he would
not be able to start until other entries
were ready, so that there might be a
race, or because he intended to fly
solo and the Air Ministry would not
sanction the flight. Thus the single-
seat Dove vanished from the scene
after a brief existence.

Tierp on 26 February 1921, it was shipped to Larkin-Sopwith, arriving ABOVE:

There followed a production then scrapped. in October. After a spell with the Bert Hinkler with
line of some 15 or 16 two-seat Registered K157 on 3 July 1919, the short-lived Aerial Transport Co the one-off single-
seat Dove, his
Doves, seven of which ended third production Dove, W/O 3004/1, of South Australia in Adelaide, intended mount for
up unsold and broken down for never carried its later registration, during 1920 it was sold to wealthy an England-Australia
storage. The first of these, W/O G-EAGA. It was the first of seven landowner Dudley Angas. It had solo flight that never
2769/1 — probably the first to have sold to the Larkin-Sopwith Aviation acquired a distinctive overall scheme happened.
a variable-incidence tailplane Co of Australia, based at Glenhuntly, of black-and-white diamonds. On VIA PHILIP JARRETT

— was registered initially to the Victoria, where it arrived on 15 17 August 1920 Angas and pilot
Sopwith Aviation Co (as they all October 1919. In August 1920 it was ‘Don’ Loftes set off in an alleged
were) as K133 on 24 May 1919. It acquired by Dudley Angas in a futile attempt to set a new record for
later became G-EACU and was sold attempt to cover up his crash in K168 flying time between their base at
‘second-hand’ for £400 to Maj Olof (see below), being given a similar Glenelg and Melbourne. However,
Enderlein of the Swedish Air Force overall diamond paint scheme. the aircraft was written-off en route
in December The aircraft was when it hit a tree and crashed while
1922 and fitted subsequently taking off. In a vain attempt to cover
with a ski Superficially the operated by Maj up the mishap, Angas hurried to
undercarriage.
After a crash
Dove resembled the G. A. C. Cowper
of Aviation
Glenhuntly, bought K157 and had it
painted in a similar scheme. There
due to engine
failure on 31
Pup, but it was an Ltd, and on 17
February 1921 it
followed a complex farrago of deceit
and contradiction that ended in
March 1923 it altogether sturdier overturned when embarrassment for those concerned.
was repaired a wheel collapsed The next Dove acquired by
and registered machine on landing. In Larkin-Sopwith, W/O 3004/3, was
S-AFAA. Then, March 1921 Mr registered to Sopwith as G-EAJI
following a change of ownership E. A. Brooks chartered Cowper and on 7 August 1919 and sold to
in 1925 it was purchased by Svensk the Dove to fly him to his Clifton the Australian company in 1920.
Filmindustri and appeared in films, Hills Station in the north-east corner Around June of that year it was
ending its life as a wind machine. of South Australia, a return trip bought by P. T. Ulm’s and Capt G. C.
The next Dove, W/O 2769/2, of 1,162 miles. Dove K157 made ‘Billy’ Wilson’s Aviation Service Co,
began life as K148 and then the last flight by the type in South which had announced ambitious
became G-EAFI. About September Australia on 30-31 May 1921. It plans to use six Doves costing
1920 it was bought by the Nordic was still being used for joyrides £8,300 for multifarious tasks in the
Air Company (NLR) of Sweden, elsewhere, however, in 1922. Sydney-Bathurst region, including
departing from Croydon on 22 W/O 3004/2 was registered as touring, joyriding, pamphlet-
December 1920, in the hands of K168 on 22 July 1919 and then dropping and aerial photography.
Gösta Andrée. Damaged during an G-EAHP, but the marks were Alas, the company was short-lived,
emergency landing by Andrée at cancelled in September and it was being wound up in July 1921

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 CLASSICS Sopwith Dove

to Australia in March 1920. On 27

December that year it was flown to
third place in the Aerial Derby at
Melbourne’s Epsom Racecourse by
Capt G. C. Mathews. At the same
venue in April 1921, Mathews and
passenger Howard Jolley escaped
uninjured when it crashed. On 12
July that year it was registered as
G-AUJJ with the Larkin Aircraft
Supply Co. In June 1923 Lt F. S.
Briggs of Larkin was disqualified for
flying too low during the Melbourne
Herald Aerial Derby from Geelong
to Melbourne. Withdrawn from use
on 18 June 1925, G-AUJJ was then
scrapped.
W/O 3004/5, G-EAKH, registered
ABOVE: because it was unable to pay its a friend crashed it he was unable to Sopwith on 14 August 1919, was
Probably pictured at debts. It seems Sopwith did build to get it repaired. Not until 13 May also sold to Larkin in March 1920
Epsom racecourse the five additional Doves for the 1932 was VH-UDN re-registered, and exported. It was registered as
in Melbourne, where
Capt Vigers flew
Aviation Service Co, but that, as no to R. G. Ross of South Yarra, but its G-AUKH on 12 July 1921, and the
it in a race on 26 payment had been forthcoming, registration then lapsed twice more. company displayed it at the 1922
December 1919, is they had never left the UK, were On 20 April 1933 it was sold in the Motor Exhibition in Melbourne.
K157. VIA PHILIP JARRETT unregistered and were placed in liquidation sale of the General Last flown on 18 June 1925, it was
storage along with two other unsold Aircraft Co of Sydney for £60 and subsequently scrapped, having
examples — of which more later. restored to the register. Subsequent logged 25 flying hours.
The next owner of G-EAJI was owners in 1933 were L. Gornall The seventh and final Dove to
Ernest Cudmore of South Yarra, of Sydney and J. W. Haworth of go to Larkin’s in March 1920, W/O
Victoria, who was advised on 5 Narrandera, New South Wales. On 3004/6, was initially registered with
November 1921 that the Dove had 27 February 1934 VH‑UDN was Sopwith as G-EAKT on 19 August
been allocated the registration damaged beyond repair in a forced 1919. Larkin sold it to A. L. Long
G-AUDN. When Cudmore damaged landing near Goulburn and its of Hobart, Tasmania, but although
the aircraft in a take-off accident registration was cancelled. G-AUDP was reportedly reserved, it
at Essendon in March 1922 the was crashed before registration.
registration was cancelled, but in A batch of seven more Doves,
January 1930 it was acquired by Apparently, during its later life, W/O 3004/7 to /13, was produced.
Tommy J. Stratton of Daceyville, a this Dove was re-engined with Five of them were very probably
multi-instrumental jazz musician either an 80hp Clerget or a nine- those built for the failed Aviation
and band-leader, and became cylinder Bentley rotary (or both) Service Co but never delivered. It
VH-UDN. Dubbed ‘the Flying and named Belle of the Blue. It is probable that the third Swedish
Saxophonist’, Stratton kept his was certainly advertised in 1923 example, acquired by NLR in
Dove, which had a large dragon and 1933 as having a Clerget. The September 1920, was one of these.
emblazoned along its fuselage sides, Bentley would have had to be fitted Most, however, were probably never
at Bathurst, and sometimes flew in 1933. Unfortunately, further assembled and kept in store.
it to performance venues. On one details are lacking. The one that went to Sweden,
flight he had a close encounter with Larkin’s next Dove, W/O 3004/4, identified there as ‘c/n 4212’, was
the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He had registered to Sopwith in the UK as bought by NLR about September
not insured the aircraft, so when G-EAJJ on 7 August 1919, was sold 1920 and flown to its new home

RIGHT:
The Dove that
became the
Shuttleworth
Pup, G-EBKY, at
Shoreham in the
early 1930s. Having
been fitted with
Snipe tail surfaces,
it looked less like a
Pup or a Camel than
a Snipe with single-
bay wings.
VIA PHILIP JARRETT

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 by Johnstone in January 1921. at Lenham in Kent, where a new and rudder were later incorporated
C. L. Carlsson took possession Snipe tail unit was fitted in 1931. in the Snipe reproduction ‘E6655’
of it in February. At Sundsvall on On 23 September 1932 its certificate now displayed in the RAF Museum
28 February 1921 it suffered an of airworthiness lapsed, and upon at Hendon. Skysport Engineering
accident during start-up. After Lowe-Wilde’s death on 13 May built a new Dove, incorporating
repair at Malmslätt it was 1933 the Dove was abandoned parts from G-EBKY, including much
unsuccessfully offered to the army at Maidstone Airport (later West of the trimming mechanism. It
aviation service on 26 October Malling Aerodrome), later being installed dual controls so it could
1923, but was sold to Oscar Bladh stored there. be used as a two-seat trainer for
of Sollefteå, a renowned aerial In the mid-1930s the Dove rotary-engine aircraft, as well as
photographer, and registered was sold to Christopher Penrose being a ‘company demonstrator’ and
S-AYAA. The registration was Bartholomew Ogilvie of Kingsbury, a personal mount for Tim Moore and
cancelled on 31 December 1926. London, and based at Hyde Farm, Cathy O’Brien of Skysport.
During 1924 ex-RAF pilot David Kingsbury Green. In 1935 Geoffrey
Leonard Hollis Williams BA, later Austin Chamberlain of Bedford
to make his mark as a designer with purchased it for £45 and kept it Although it was registered
Fairey Aviation and General Aircraft, at Marsh Ley’s Farm, Kempston, G-BLOO on 12 October 1984, this
was working at Hawker Engineering but the C of A was not renewed identity was not taken up, and on
when one of the workshops was and it was damaged on landing. 22 November 1989 it was became
being cleared Chamberlain G-EAGA, the unused registration
to make space sold it to Richard originally allocated to K157. The
for DH9A Converting the Shuttleworth Dove was then exchanged for Miles
reconditioning. during August Falcon G-AEEG and passed into the
He later recalled Dove to a Pup must 1935 in part- ownership of Roger Reeves. Based
that “six partly
finished
have necessitated exchange for Avro
504K G-ABSN,
at Old Warden, it took to the air
during 1993.
uncovered some major and on 12 July When G-EAGA became the
airframes 1937 it was property of Andrew Wood — the ‘A’
intended as alterations registered to him in P & A Wood, experts and dealers
conversions at Old Warden. in Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars
from Pups to Doves” were going Richard Shuttleworth converted old and new — in early 1997, he
to go to a scrap metal merchant as the Dove to resemble a Pup, which fitted the engine with aluminium
junk. Draughtsman Charles Herbert must have necessitated some major pistons, which cooled the incoming
‘Jimmy’ Lowe-Wilde suggested that alterations, and it was flown again charge better and gave a noticeable
he and Williams should acquire one on 26 February 1938. Throughout improvement in performance.
of these airframes, and this they the Second World War it was Wood suffered a landing mishap
did. It cost them £5. Hollis Williams stored at Old Warden, reappearing at Andrewsfield, Essex, on 16 July
states that he couldn’t find a tail, thereafter in Royal Flying Corps 2000, damaging the engine cowling,
but, “luckily there was a Snipe tail”. colours as ‘N5184’ and later ‘N5180’. propeller and undercarriage. The
He evidently believed — or had A long-time mainstay of the aeroplane was repaired and then
been told — that the Dove was a Pup Shuttleworth Collection, it retains its kept at Andrew’s private airfield
conversion, which it was not, and civil identity, now with serial ‘9917’ near Wethersfield until mid-
the tail they retrieved was probably and the colours of a Royal Naval May 2015, when it was returned,
the correct one for a Dove. They Air Service aircraft flown from the dismantled, to Old Warden. There BELOW:
also managed to acquire an 80hp seaplane carrier HMS Manxman. it currently resides, having taken to The diamond-
bedecked K168, with
Le Rhône engine, and Hawkers During the ‘Pup’s’ overhaul in the the air again in the hands of ‘Dodge’ Capt Loftes in the
replaced the wing spars and fabric to early 1980s the remaining non-Pup Bailey on 5 May 2016 — the first front cockpit, during
render the aircraft airworthy. components were deleted, and some time G-EAGA had been airborne August 1920.
Helped by H. H. Robinson of 60 per cent of G-EBKY’s Snipe fin for nearly 16 years. VIA PHILIP JARRETT
Fairey’s, Williamson eventually
completed his Dove, ‘W/O 3004/14’.
It was registered to him as G-EBKY
on 27 March 1925 and based at
Brooklands, where it made its
first flight on 10 October 1926.
Having suffered major damage
in a crash during the Easter Race
Meeting at Bournemouth on 16
April 1927, which turned it from a
Dove of peace into pieces of Dove,
it was rebuilt at Fairey’s with a
new fuselage and tail unit. Thus,
by this time, much of G-EBKY’s
original structure had already been
replaced.
Following deletion on 26 July
1930, ownership passed to Lowe-
Wilde and the aircraft was based

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 CLASSICS Sopwith Dove

ON THE WINGS
OF A DOVE
A pilot’s viewpoint on Sopwith’s peacetime sportster WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

P
arts of Pup, a soupçon of
Snipe. It’s an interesting
combination, the Sopwith
Dove, and the very faithful
reproduction G-EAGA reflects this.
Owned by Andrew Wood but based
with the Shuttleworth Collection at
Old Warden, it helps immeasurably
in telling the ‘Sopwith zoo’ story.
For Shuttleworth’s chief engineer
Jean-Michel Munn, now a very
seasoned collection pilot himself,
the Dove proved an important
stepping-stone. Having sampled the
Snipe, courtesy one of The Vintage
Aviator Ltd’s examples, as his first
rotary-engined mount, he then
piloted G-EAGA before taking the
helm of the Shuttleworth Pup —
sometimes known jokingly as the
‘Sopwith Something’, he says, given
its own mixed lineage. The obvious
question, then: how do their flying
characteristics stack up?
“The Dove is a nicer Pup”,
comments Jean-Michel, “certainly
solo. It would probably be a
different story altogether with a
passenger”. Fellow collection pilot
Stu Goldspink knows about that,
having flown G-EAGA often when it
was first built by Skysport. Once he
did so two-up, with Pete Kynsey in
the other seat. “The primary issue
with it”, Munn continues, “is the
centre of gravity. You’ve got early
flying characteristics, which are
common to most First World War
aircraft: usually a poor-ish rate of
roll, directionally unstable, and
sensitive in pitch, the latter of which
is largely down to the centre of
gravity being much further aft than
we would expect it to be nowadays.
When they converted [the design]
to two-seat, they pushed the cockpit
forward and added the second
Jean-Michel Munn keeping a cockpit behind. The thing about
watchful eye on the camera that is that when you fly it solo,
aircraft from the Dove’s front your C of G is quite a bit further
cockpit. DARREN HARBAR
forward than the Pup’s C of G. That’s
good because it increases the

52 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2021

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 CLASSICS Sopwith Dove

longitudinal stability, which makes

it less sensitive in pitch.
“However, with a rear passenger
the C of G will be even further aft
than the Pup’s. Now, where this has
a bigger effect is on a rotary-engined
machine, because of the gyroscope
— which is effectively what it is —
up front. If you remember back to
your physics lessons, a gyroscope
displaces the force you put into it
by 90° in the direction of rotation.
So, if a rotary engine’s turning with
a right-hand tractor, clockwise from
behind, if you pitch the nose down
it will result in a yaw to the left. The
aeroplane will still pitch nose-down,
but you’ll get a coupled yaw to the
left. Likewise, if you pitch up it will
yaw to the right.
“If you’ve got something
which is very sensitive in pitch
— so, with control movements or
turbulence causing the aircraft
to pitch — you get this pitch-yaw
coupling going on. In something
like the Snipe, where you’ve got
a very large gyroscope, this effect
tends to dominate its handling
characteristics. Additionally, in
the Snipe, and incidentally even
more so in the Camel, the rudder much more powerful machine with How practical a proposition does ABOVE:
is simply not powerful enough to a much higher rate of climb. And, as Jean-Michel think the Dove might The Dove from
overcome the pitch-induced yaw I say, the gyroscopics dominate. But have been to the private owner in its above. Jean Munn
brings G-EAGA in to
under certain, easily reached, in terms of how the rate of roll is, day? “Not really that practical — it’s land at Old Warden.
conditions. In the Pup or the Dove, and the interaction with the rudder, a rotary-engined machine, and one DARREN HARBAR
perhaps you could call it ‘annoying’. it’s very similar to the Pup and the that’s a very marginal two-seater.
You notice it’s there, but it’s not Dove. One difference between them OK, people were a lot lighter back
causing you much of an issue. The is that both the Dove and the Snipe then and flying two-up would have
Pup is lighter than the Dove, due to have a trimmer, which is a rather been a bit more plausible, but the
the lack of the second seat and so pointless device on an aeroplane handling in this condition would
forth, so it’s a bit more sprightly all which is either only just stable or still have been quite unpleasant,
round. Other than that, they’re very, slightly unstable longitudinally not to mention the poor rate of
very similar. The handling is almost because there are no out-of-trim climb. The engine is really early-war,
identical — both sweet, very light, forces! All it really does is move so you’re talking about 20 hours
machines. The 80hp Le Rhône is a the ‘neutral’ position of the control between overhauls, which is very
very sweet rotary to run, too.” column. You can also use it to give low. It’s single-ignition, which is not
Now a comparison can be made, you a bit more elevator authority, that great for going cross-country.
the family lineage shines through. but I simply find one position which And if you were going to fly it as
“Interestingly, you can tell they’re works for me and there is no need a single-seater, why buy a new
all Sopwiths when you fly them. to adjust it again in flight. Dove when you could get a surplus
The Snipe is a heavier, much faster, aeroplane?”
Why indeed? This may explain
“There appears to be a bit more its relative failure in period. But
control in the Dove on landing. today G-EAGA represents a very
Perhaps being heavier than the Pup, significant part of British aviation
it lands a bit faster. On the Pup at history, its existence helping
touchdown, the only control that is educate us as to how the Dove
LEFT:
still effective is the elevator holding originally came about, exactly what The twin cockpits
the nose up. This means that, when it was, and its part in the lineage of this beautiful
flown solo at least, the Dove has a of one of our most illustrious Skysport Engineering
slightly better crosswind limit than aircraft manufacturers. creation. DARREN HARBAR
the Pup. With a bit of practice you
can take a few knots’ crosswind in
it, though they had omnidirectional Dove G-EAGA is being offered for sale by owner Andrew
airfields back then and weren’t Wood. For full details, see the Historic and Classic Aircraft
expected to land in a crosswind Sales website, www.historicandclassicaircraftsales.com
at all.”

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 HIDDEN HISTORY Harrier for Latin America

VERTICAL SALE
There is a counterfactual history
in which, during the Falklands
War, RAF Harriers and Royal
Navy Sea Harriers found
themselves in combat against…
Argentine Navy Harriers and Sea
Harriers. A deal to sell Argentina the V/STOL
machine was, more than once, a very real
possibility — and the same went for other Latin
American nations, too WORDS: SANTIAGO RIVAS

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 T
he Harrier was an ideal to be passed up. Formerly HMS The Harrier made a very good OPPOSITE PAGE:
platform for Latin America. Venerable, from the same class as impression on the Argentine Hawker Siddeley’s
Even by the late 1960s the Independencia, it had already Navy officials. They considered it Harrier T52 G-VTOL
over the Cristo
and early ’70s, the region been upgraded to launch jets, and similar to the Skyhawk in terms Redentor (Christ the
had comparatively little airfield its flight deck angled to 8°. The ship of performance, while having the Redeemer) statue in
infrastructure, and some of its was re-christened as the ARA 25 de advantage of V/STOL versatility. Rio de Janeiro on 1
naval aviation forces possessed a Mayo, and prepared for transfer to In January 1970 the navy asked the October 1973.
carrier-borne capability. With a the Argentine Navy during 1969. British government for authorisation BAE SYSTEMS HERITAGE VIA
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
long tradition of buying British, What would fly from it? In the to buy six examples, with an option
Latin American air arms knew well wake of the US government’s refusal for another six. It wanted delivery of
how to deal with equipment of that to sell the newer Skyhawks, other the first two by January 1971 and the
origin. But US pressure, combined options were assessed, even if there remainder in 1972.
with budgetary restrictions, saw the weren’t many on the market. France By that time, Hawker Siddeley
V/STOL jet failing to find a sales had only the Dassault Étendard IV was committed entirely to Harrier
foothold. while British carrier-borne offerings, production for the RAF. To meet
Argentina was an early target. like the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer, Argentina’s needs, on 14 January
It was, as of the 1960s, the only were too big 1970 the British
Latin American country with an for the 25 de Ministry of
embarked fixed-wing fighter and Mayo. But there The Harrier Technology
attack force: Vought F4U-5 Corsairs was another asked the RAF
operating from the aircraft carrier alternative. The made a very good if two aircraft
ARA Independencia, the former
HMS Warrior of the Colossus
Royal Air Force
was preparing
impression on the could be
diverted from its
class. The Argentine Navy also
flew the Grumman F9F-2 Panther
to introduce Argentine Navy order for delivery
BELOW:
the Harrier GR1 by March
and F9F‑8T Cougar, being the sole into service, and 1971, which it John Farley and
export customer for both types, but though the Royal Navy had not yet thought could be acceptable to the Harrier GR1 XV757
on Argentina’s ‘new’
the Independencia’s weak catapult ordered the type, Argentina asked Argentine Navy. aircraft carrier, the
and the carrier’s slow speed due to Britain if it could test the V/STOL jet The Ministry of Defence replied ARA 25 de Mayo,
its old engines rendered it unable on the 25 de Mayo during its voyage that it would find this very difficult. on 4 September
to launch jets. A programme of from the Netherlands to Argentina. It cited the fact that Rolls-Royce had 1969, with ‘plane
renewal was necessary, and plans The British government and also to accomplish the supply of guard’ Wasp HAS1
were put in train. Hawker Siddeley agreed, and Pegasus engines to the US Marine in attendance. A
few North American
In looking to replace those the carrier sailed to the UK from Corps for its AV-8As, and there T-28P Fennecs —
aircraft types, the Argentine naval Rotterdam. On 4 September 1969, were no prospects of a significant T-28Fs modified
aviation command intended to HS test pilot John Farley landed increase in engine production in locally for carrier
procure the Douglas AD-5 Skyraider on the 25 de Mayo in Harrier GR1 that timescale. The MoD blamed operations — and
to replace the Corsairs on attack XV757 and performed a series of Hawker Siddeley and Rolls-Royce Grumman S-2A
and close air support duties and trials, a Royal Navy Westland Wasp for being unwilling to make “even Trackers were the
Argentine Navy’s
Douglas A-4B Skyhawks as fighter/ in attendance for rescue stand-by the smallest speculative provision only fixed-wing
attack platforms, but a lack of funds and photographic duties. XV757 against the future exports of which aircraft able to fly
delayed negotiations. During 1966 had not yet been handed over to the they have maintained there were from the carrier.
Argentina requested permission RAF, this taking place 15 days later. considerable prospects.” VIA SANTIAGO RIVAS
from the US government to buy
a batch of second-hand A-4Bs,
leaving the Skyraider idea behind
as the type was now considered
obsolete. But the response from
Washington, offering 30 older
A-4As, didn’t satisfy the Argentine
Navy and was duly rejected.
Another attempt was made two
years later, when a request was sent
for 10 A-4Fs and two TA-4Fs. This
time the US government turned it
down. By then, the Corsairs had
been retired and the Panthers were
nearing the end of their career.
Eight Aermacchi MB326s were
purchased from Italy as jet trainers
and light attack platforms, but they
were not carrier-capable.
The cost of modernising the
Independencia was considered
excessive, so when the Royal
Netherlands Navy offered the
cheaper option of buying its carrier,
the Karel Doorman, it was not

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 HIDDEN HISTORY Harrier for Latin America

RIGHT:
The great Hawker
Siddeley test pilot
John Farley talking
with a Brazilian Air
Force officer at Santa
Cruz Air Base.
BAE SYSTEMS HERITAGE VIA
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN

On top of that, engine problems least until February or March 1972, regarding the Falkland Islands was
found by November 1969 had led in that process. relatively satisfactory, and neither
to a reduction in the number of At the same time, the Ministry the US nor Chile was considered
airframes available to the RAF. The of Technology considered the likely to launch a major protest. He
MoD considered that diverting two South American market of recommended going ahead with
aircraft to Argentina with, at least, great importance for Britain’s talks, but asking again for final
two spare engines would affect aviation industry. It feared that approval once a contract was ready
considerably the rate at which the Argentina could turn to the to be signed. Chalfont explained
RAF Harrier squadrons were being US for an alternative if the two that negotiations in Latin America
built up. The existing RAF order for aircraft couldn’t be delivered as a could take a long while, during
Harrier GR1s was to be completed bridgehead. While by early 1970 which time the local circumstances
by the end of 1971, when Britain there was no might have
had promised to declare four fully clear interest changed.
equipped squadrons to NATO. The in the Harrier The British As soon as the
diversion of two aircraft and four
engines from the RAF production
from other
Latin American
government never US government
knew of
line in 1971 would mean a delay, at nations, the MoD
said in a letter on
agreed to the negotiations
for the Harrier,
8 May 1970 that diversion of two it proposed
G-VTOL taxiing on the Brazilian some of those supplying a
aircraft carrier NAeL Minas Gerais countries had Harriers batch of 24
on 28 September 1973.
VIA SANTIAGO RIVAS
older types in A-4Bs, 16 of
need of successors — it mentioned which would be upgraded in a
the Hunter, which Peru was similar way to the A-4Bs already
thinking of replacing. The sale to delivered to the Argentine Air
Argentina, the ministry considered, Force. The British government
would be useful as a way of showing departments never agreed to the
less sophisticated air forces that diversion of two Harriers, so in May
the operation and maintenance of 1971 the Argentine Navy decided
the Harrier were completely within to go ahead with the US offer. The
their means. Skyhawks came in at about 10
Foreign Office minister Lord per cent of the price. However,
Chalfont said his department was Argentina informed Hawker
not against the sale. The situation Siddeley that it wasn’t cancelling

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 the Harrier purchase outright, and LEFT:
expected to resume negotiations. The last existing
For its part, Hawker Siddeley hangar built for the
Graf Zeppelin, at
believed a smaller batch of aircraft Santa Cruz Air Base
could be supplied by 1973 or ’74. near Rio de Janeiro,
The British manufacturer provides a mighty
remained keen to display the backdrop for the
Harrier on the Latin American two-seat Harrier
stage, and the 1° Salão International demonstrator.
BAE SYSTEMS HERITAGE VIA
Aeroespacial, staged at the Centro THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
Técnico Aeroespacial at São José
dos Campos in São Paulo, Brazil
from 14-23 September 1973
provided an ideal opportunity. This
was the first and only big aviation
trade show in Brazil and proved
extremely successful, with major
international participation. The UK
decided to send a large delegation:
on the civil side, Hawker Siddeley
supplied an HS125-600 and HS748,
while Britten-Norman exhibited a
BN-2 Islander. The RAF, meanwhile,
deployed a Vulcan B2 and a Nimrod
MR1, while the show served as the
starting-point for Hawker Siddeley’s
two-seat Harrier demonstrator,
Mk52 G-VTOL, on its tour across
part of South America in the hands
of Dunsfold-based test pilots John
Farley and Don Riches. This was the
first visit to Latin America by both
the Nimrod and the Harrier, which
took part in the flying programme,
while the Vulcan was on static followed by another display at São took place a day later, as did a sortie
display throughout. José dos Campos. One of the demo carrying a Brazilian Air Force officer
sorties on the 21st saw the carriage in the second seat, something
of a pair of SRAAMs (Short-Range repeated on the 27th.
G-VTOL was transported by air to Air-to-Air Missiles), then under A successful landing on the Minas
Rio de Janeiro and reassembled at El development by Hawker Siddeley. Gerais took place on 28 September,
Galeão. It made its first three flights With the last two displays done on again toting the extra tanks. Once
over Brazilian soil on 12 September, the 23rd, the following day G-VTOL aboard the carrier, G-VTOL made
flying to São José dos Campos two flew to the Brazilian Air Force’s another two flights before leaving
days later. Two demo flights were Santa Cruz Air Base. Carrying two for São Pedro da Aldeia Naval Air
completed on both the 15th and 150-gallon fuel tanks, the Harrier Base, east of Rio de Janeiro. From
17th, while on the 19th, according attempted on 25 September to there, it returned to Santa Cruz and
to Farley’s logbook, the Harrier deploy to the Brazilian Navy aircraft on 1 October performed a photo
carried out a photo session together carrier NAeL Minas Gerais — HMS session over Rio, equipped with two
with the HS748, the HS125 and, Vengeance in a previous life — but 330-gallon tanks.
somehow, the Parachute Regiment’s had to abort, returning to Santa The tour continued, flying
Red Devils freefall team. This was Cruz. A demonstration over the base to Asunción, Paraguay, on 2

ARGENTINA AND THE ‘SHAR’

D
uring the 1970s the Argentine Navy developed major A-4E, F and M Skyhawk models and the Dassault Super Étendard.
modernisation plans, with the purchase of new The UK Ministry of Defence considered the request. It assessed both
submarines, destroyers and corvettes. It also considered a possible sale of HMS Hermes once she was decommissioned in
the acquisition of a new aircraft carrier, as the ARA 25 de 1983 or a new-build Invincible-class vessel. Argentina wanted to
Mayo, now 30 years old, was becoming outdated and needed close a deal before then and placed particular emphasis on acquiring
replacement in the 1980s. Thanks to close ties with the Royal Navy, new aircraft in the short term. It therefore elected to go ahead with
especially after the sale of one Type 42 destroyer and a licence to that and to postpone procurement of a new ship. In September 1979
build a second, the government in Buenos Aires asked its British Argentina finalised the purchase of 14 Super Étendards from
counterpart if it could procure an aircraft carrier with a force of Sea Dassault, but the navy was still thinking of using them for attack
Harriers. These would succeed the 25 de Mayo and the Skyhawks. duties and maybe acquiring Sea Harriers for air defence. The 1982
The navy was also considering other options, studying the Douglas Falklands conflict, however, ended any chance of that.

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 HIDDEN HISTORY Harrier for Latin America

October. The Harrier was exhibited

At Quito airport, G-VTOL is prepared for at Silvio Pettirossi Airport, where
its next sortie. The Harrier undertook guests included Paraguayan dictator
high-altitude tests from this airport, Alfredo Stroessner. Cochabamba,
situated more than 2,800m above sea
Bolivia, was the destination on the
level. Behind can be seen DC-3s, a
DC-4 and an AT-6. GIOVANNI ROTA 3rd, and Lima, Peru on the 4th. The
transit was made on 5 October to
Guayaquil, Ecuador, the venue on
the 6th for a demo flight and a trip
with a senior Ecuadorian Air Force
officer. Later that day G-VTOL flew
clean to Quito for high-altitude
tests, the airport being situated
2,800m (9,186ft) above sea level.
Not until 12 October did the aircraft
return to Guayaquil, whereupon it
went back to Quito, continuing the
tests there on the 13th and carrying
three more Ecuadorian Air Force
pilots the next day.
Flying back to Peru on 16
October, Lima International Airport
was the destination. A Peruvian
Air Force general was the next VIP
Pictured from the top of the Zeppelin hangar, passenger, on the 17th, while the
G-VTOL was parked together with Aermacchi’s
MB326K demonstrator and two Embraer 18th included a demo at Las Palmas
EMB-326 Xavantes of the Brazilian Air Force. Air Base, also in Lima. The final
BAE SYSTEMS HERITAGE VIA THE AVIATION HISTORIAN demonstration sorties on the 19th
under its belt, the Harrier’s tour
finished, G-VTOL being dismantled
and loaded onto a CL-44 Guppy for
its return to Dunsfold.

No orders were generated by the

visit, but Latin American interest in
the Harrier continued to bubble up.
The Peruvian Navy was one of the
region’s most powerful maritime
forces, but had never possessed an
aircraft carrier. When it considered
the possibility of acquiring one,
among the aircraft examined for
deployment on it, the Harrier was
notably interesting to the Peruvians.
The Argentine Navy offered to
sell the Independencia, retired in
1970, before she was scrapped,
but the offer was rejected due
to her age and condition. When
in August 1975 the Royal Navy
confirmed that HMS Bulwark
was going to be decommissioned,
the Peruvian naval attaché in the
UK, Rear Admiral Daniel Masías,
informed his headquarters. On 9
September he received an order to
request information on the possible
purchase of the ship. A letter
of intent was sent to the British
government, which replied on 16
December saying the Peruvian
Navy would be given priority
should it be offered for sale. Masías
was informed on 13 January 1976
that Bulwalk would be kept in
reserve until HMS Invincible was
commissioned, but on 6 April he

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 inspected the older ship, together
with two other officers.
The Yarrow shipyard in Glasgow
also offered Peru a new-build
18,000-ton aircraft carrier for US$42
million, for delivery in six to eight
years. However, the estimated
price of Bulwark was calculated as
US$4 million, and it could be made
available sooner.
Ultimately, delays to the delivery
of Invincible and the decision
to use Bulwark as a helicopter
carrier ended negotiations with
the Peruvian Navy and its interest
in the Harrier. The ship was
recommissioned by the Royal Navy
in 1978 and used until 1981.
The Peruvian Air Force
evaluated the Harrier as a possible
replacement for its Hunters, with
the intention of buying a batch of
Harrier GR1s. Instead, however,
it decided in 1976 to acquire 36
Sukhoi Su-22 ‘Fitters’.
When it looked as though
HMS Hermes might be surplus to
requirements, in 1981 the Royal
Navy offered the carrier for sale
to the Chilean Navy, including a
batch of Sea Harriers. It had been
interested in acquiring such a
ship since a border dispute with
Argentina in 1978, given that
Argentina already had a carrier.
The Falklands War held up Lecomber’s Microlease-backed but later in 1994 it opted to buy 25 TOP:
negotiations, but in 1983 a Chilean Pitts Special — led to stronger Mirage 5s from the Belgian Air Force. A low, fast pass
Navy delegation inspected the ship. participation in the 1992 show, Despite the 1973 visit, Brazil during an October
1973 demonstration
Budgetary constraints delayed a now held at Santiago’s Los Cerrillos was a latecomer when it came to by G-VTOL at Las
decision and Hermes was sold to the Airport. Among other types two genuine Harrier interest. By 1996 Palmas Air Base in
Indian Navy as INS Viraat during Harrier GR5s, ZD347 and ZD378, the Brazilian Navy had begun Lima, Peru.
April 1986. came from No 233 Operational negotiations with the government AMARU TINCOPA ARCHIVE
By 1989, the Chilean Navy was Conversion Unit. During one of the to enable it to operate fixed-wing
again looking to buy an aircraft Harrier demonstrations, ZD378’s aircraft, forbidden by a 1965 decree. ABOVE:
A new era, and a
carrier and a fleet of Harriers, so the undercarriage was not lowered It had already started to assess the new Harrier. No
British government decided to send prior to a touch-and-go. The under- acquisition of fighter and attack 233 Operational
two RAF Harrier fuselage gun types to fly from the Minas Gerais, Conversion Unit sent
GR3s from the pods touched the A-4 Skyhawk, Super Étendard, two GR5s to Chile’s
Belize-based No The Peruvian Air the ground A-7 Corsair II and Harrier coming FIDAE show in 1992
— this is ZD347,
1417 Flight to and the aircraft under the microscope. The A-7 was
Santiago for the Force evaluated the skidded along considered too heavy to operate
on the wing of the
supporting VC10
FIDAE airshow
and exhibition Harrier, but bought the runway for
a few metres
from the carrier, there were no Super
Étendards available, and the lack of
during the transit
flight. JERRY LAKIN
in March 1990.
Supported by
Su-22s instead before Flt Lt
Andy Suddards
second-hand examples rendered the
Harrier too expensive. The Skyhawk
a VC10 tanker/ returned to the was chosen, and after Kuwait put its
transport, serials XZ129 and XZ998 air. An emergency landing ensued. A-4KUs up for sale in 1997 they were
made the trip with stops at Quito Fortunately, only the gun pods were purchased on 30 April 1998, the navy
and Lima. They were exhibited damaged. having been authorised on 8 April to
throughout the event at El Bosque FIDAE 94 saw the attendance of start fixed-wing flying.
Air Base from 25 March-1 April, one Harrier GR7s ZG861 and ZG510 This was the last chance for the
giving flying displays. from No 3 Squadron and a VC10 K3. Harrier to be bought by a Latin
Again there was to be no sale, They had all been deployed to Belize American air arm. All the sales tours
but the success of the inaugural for an exercise, along with Harriers and demonstrations had come to
British presence at FIDAE — which from No 4 Squadron. At that time nothing. But, on each of them,
also included civilian display the Chilean Air Force was seeking a the V/STOL jet had shown
acts such as the Fournier RF4- Hunter replacement and considered capabilities no other platform
equipped Skyhawks team and Brian the Harrier among its options, could match.

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 PROTOTYPES Payen Pa 49

DELTA
BLUES
There’s niche, and then there’s niche. A very small — quite charming
— and low-powered jet, intended as a delta-winged trainer. Is it any
surprise that the Payen Pa 49 remained a one-off? WORDS: TONY BUTTLER

Test pilot Antoine ‘Tony’ Ochsenbein

in the cockpit of the Pa 49A, this angle
showing the air intakes and how well
the cockpit and fin were blended into
the fuselage. ALL VIA TONY BUTTLER

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 R
oland Payen must have engineless aircraft was ready for LEFT:
been frustrated. He’d a public debut at June’s Salon de Roland Payen was a
built France’s first jet- l’Aéronautique, as part of the static pioneering exponent
of delta-wing
powered aeroplane to have exhibition in the Grand Palais
designs. He died in
a delta wing, and this designer/ on the Champs-Élysées. At this 2004, aged 90.
aeronautical engineer looked set stage its future remained far from
to write his name in the French certain, but a meeting between
aviation annals by beating the big Payen and the French air minister,
manufacturers into the air with such Pierre Montel, offered the promise
a machine. Then he was just pipped of progress. Montel agreed that the
to the post, while the raison d'être government would permit wind-
for his creation slipped away. tunnel tests of the Pa 49A airframe.
The Payen Pa 49 was destined If they were successful, it would
to remain a curiosity. In this it had supply an engine, a Turbomeca
something in common with many Palas centrifugal-flow turbojet.
other concepts from the same Payen had to wait until late
drawing board. Since 1931, Nicolas 1952 before the Pa 49A could be
Roland Payen had produced several taken to the large ONERA (Office
delta/arrowhead-shaped aircraft National d’Etudes et de Recherches
designs. One type that did reach the Aéronautiques, the French National
hardware stage was the tandem- Research Establishment) wind-
wing, piston-engined Pa 22. It was swept to an angle of 27° (the tunnel at Chalais-Meudon. Tests
first flew on 18 October 1942, and leading edge was swept back to 55°). began the following February, their
part-completed a trials programme However, there was no horizontal conclusion being that the design
under the direction of occupying tailplane, so it was a true tail-less was fundamentally unstable and
German forces before being aeroplane. The trailing edge had would benefit from the addition of a
destroyed in an air raid. full-span control surfaces with conventional horizontal tail. Payen,
In 1948 Payen proposed the outboard ailerons and inboard however, wished to persevere
Pa 48/3 Mars tail-less fighter elevators, the wing was built in one with the delta arrangement, and
project, powered by a Rolls-Royce piece and blended nicely into the would be vindicated. The Pa 49A
Nene, against a French air ministry fuselage, and the fin came directly was moved to SupAéro, the
requirement for a new interceptor. behind the cockpit and had 78° of École Nationale Supérieure de BELOW LEFT:
This was not taken up, but he sweep on its leading edge. At its root l’Aéronautique, in Paris’ so-called As originally built
in 1951, the Pa 49
followed it with a scaled-down the fin was as wide as the cockpit ‘Cité de l’Air’ — home of the air had a bicycle
single-seat research aircraft called and a near-full-length rudder was ministry, the Armée de l’Air HQ undercarriage with
the Pa 49. He thought this machine stretched along the trailing edge. and other institutions — and put outrigger skids.
could fulfil a training role for pilots The powerplant was to be fed by in the university’s smaller wind-
converting from conventional- small air intakes in the wing root tunnel. The results showed a stable BELOW:
wing aircraft to delta-wing fighter leading edges, just to the rear of the configuration. Back at Chalais- The Pa 49A is
readied for a
types. The designer elected to move nose. At this point the Pa 49 used a Meudon, it transpired that one of manufacturer’s test
ahead with this project using his basic bicycle undercarriage with the poles on which the aircraft was flight, presumably
own funding, and without any wingtip skids. mounted in the tunnel had caused from Melun-
government support. an airflow disturbance. The delta Villaroche. Visible in
The Pa 49 had an all-wood was deemed flyable after all. the background are
airframe, mainly in birch plywood In his workshop in Athis-Mons, At the little Athis-Mons facility, a Sud-Est Languedoc
‘mother ship’ for
and spruce, with the wing blended in the southern suburbs of Paris, Payen’s true vision took shape. one of René Leduc’s
into a simple fuselage structure. Payen and a team of three other The prototype Palas engine was ramjet aircraft,
It was not quite a true delta-wing workers apparently built the Pa 49A delivered and installed, while the and two Dassault
aircraft, since the trailing edge in a single month, May 1951. The bicycle undercarriage — deemed Ouragans.

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 PROTOTYPES Payen Pa 49

ABOVE: insufficiently tall for practical use Ochsenbein from getting airborne handed over to the French state
The revised Pa 49B — was replaced by a fixed tricycle because he was wearing the wrong flight test centre, the Centre d’Essais
goes for a test flight arrangement. The Pa 49A was given type of flying helmet. The story goes en Vol (CEV) at Brétigny-sur-Orge,
on 14 June 1955.
the French civil test registration that a suitable replacement for his for an official assessment in the
F-WGVA, and moved by road to venerable leather headgear was not hands of Lt Dominique Ferrigno.
the flight trials base at Melun- to hand. Apparently the intention was to
Villaroche by November 1953. This delayed the first flight fit the retractable gear shortly
There, in ground tests, pilot Antoine until 22 January 1954, just a week afterwards, but this never happened.
‘Tony’ Ochsenbein familiarised after the Nord 1402 Gerfaut I had One significant change did occur,
himself with the machine. High- become France’s first pure delta- though. While the Pa 49A was with
speed taxi runs saw it making short wing aircraft to take to the air. In the CEV, a new split rudder airbrake
hops off the runway. fact, the Gerfaut had also beaten was developed by Fléchair, Payen’s
A bizarre problem reportedly the Pa 49A in achieving brief hops company. To provide speed-braking
occurred on 16 December 1953. during taxi trials. Nevertheless, at the rudder’s twin surfaces would
This date was to have seen the this time Payen’s separate at a
type’s true maiden flight. However, creation was the
officials are said to have prevented smallest delta- The Pa 49 had point just below
the tip and open
wing aeroplane
in the world.
practically zero into a V at the
hinge, while
TECHNICAL DETAILS Ochsenbein was chance of reaching for yaw control
Length: 16ft 9in (5.10m) at the controls the elements of
Wingspan: 16ft 11in (5.16m) for the 10-minute production this split rudder
maiden flight would rotate
Wing area: 120.97 sq ft (11.25 sq m)
and subsequent initial sorties, together. The flight test programme
Empty weight: 1,008lb (457kg) all carried out from Melun. That verified the effectiveness of this
Gross weight: 1,426lb (647kg) March, flying at full throttle and ‘crocodile jaw’ configuration, which
Powerplant: One Turbomeca Palas turbojet, 331lb thrust
despite the fixed undercarriage, he saw the aircraft being redesignated
reached a level speed of 186mph as the Pa 49B. A tangible result
Maximum speed: 249mph (400km/h) (300km/h). Payen, however, hoped was a significant reduction in the
Range: 280 miles (450km) to attain 310mph (500km/h) once a aircraft’s landing speed. At the same
Service ceiling: 27,890ft (8,500m) planned retractable undercarriage time, the undercarriage was further
was in place. revised and a largely silver colour
Rate of climb: 1,142ft (348m) per minute initially
The Pa 49A had completed 10 scheme applied, along with the
Time to height: 4,920ft (1,500m) in seven minutes, hours of manufacturer’s testing name Katy on the red nose, after
6,560ft (2,000m) in 11 minutes by the end of March 1954 and was Payen’s youngest daughter.

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 A CEV objective was to compare transition between conventional 180 hours in the course of nearly ABOVE:
the Pa 49’s flight characteristics and delta-wing configurations 300 flights. With no further purpose ‘Tony’ Ochsenbein
with conventional types in the same easier than anticipated. foreseen for his creation, Payen gives scale to the
Pa 49A.
category. Its flying qualities were donated it to the Musée de l’Air et
considered generally satisfactory de l’Espace at Le Bourget. There it BELOW:
and relatively conventional, with By the time of the aircraft’s Le remains, part of the outstanding Another new look
good longitudinal and acceptable Bourget Salon appearance in late collection of post-war French for the Pa 49B, now
directional stability, but laterally May 1957, the Pa 49B was sporting experimental aircraft that recalls so named Katy, as it
there was considerable sensitivity faired undercarriage legs and well an incredibly innovative period. participates in the
1955 Paris Salon.
to turbulence. This and the slow mainwheels enclosed in spats. The Undaunted, Payen continued to
response of the control surfaces nosewheel spats were later removed. design delta-winged aeroplanes
made steering a delicate task for a But all these alterations were to into the 1970s. None achieved sales
pilot new to the aircraft. no avail. During 1958 the French success, but his status as one of
On the whole, performance was government reclaimed the Palas French aviation’s great innovators
modest, and indeed significantly powerplant, which brought its flying was undiminished — and the
inferior to more conventional career to an end. It is understood Pa 49 still stands as testament
designs using the same engine. A that the aeroplane completed some to that.
good example was the straight-
wing, twin-boom SIPA S200 Minijet,
first flown in January 1952, which
could also carry two people. Quite
simply, the delta wing showed poor
aerodynamic characteristics at
low speeds and was of little value
until one approached the transonic
region.
The Pa 49 attended both the
1955 and 1957 Paris shows at Le
Bourget, Flight magazine describing
the aircraft in June 1955 as “an
endearing aeroplane to watch”
but “with little or no future”. Sadly,
indeed, the Pa 49 had practically
zero chance of reaching production,
in part because pilots found the

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 meets

REG
URSCHLER
He’s best-known
for his association
with P-51D Mustang
Gunfighter, but this
legendary warbird pilot
had an outstanding US
Air Force career, too
WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

S
ometimes a combination flying more than a decade ago. His
of individual and machine store of memories remains limitless,
simply gels. The two his recounting of them warm,
become intrinsically linked authoritative and amusing. Always
with one another, their relationship he gives credit to the groundcrew:
almost symbiotic in nature, rather “None of this was done alone
like that of a master craftsman without the dedicated support of
with his tools. How it happens is those who believed and felt as I”, he
hard, even impossible, to define, says. Quite apart from his “marriage”,
but happen it does, and the results as he puts it, to Gunfighter, there are
A flight of 55th SRW RB-47Hs
speak for themselves. hours to be spent discussing Reg’s
en route from Forbes AFB,
In historic aviation, Ray Hanna’s active-duty air force commitments at Kansas to Thule, Greenland.
relationship with Spitfire IX MH434 a perilous time in world history, one VIA REG URSCHLER
remains perhaps the most famous during which he performed missions
example, but there are others. closer to what would have been the
Across the Atlantic, for some three front line than most, as well as actual
decades, Brig Gen Reg Urschler combat sorties in South-east Asia.
and P-51D Mustang Gunfighter Regis was born in Pittsburgh on 23
were just such a draw. Stalwarts April 1935, his parents both having
of the Confederate Air Force, this emigrated from Austria in 1921-22.
great aviator and his immaculate “You know, my earliest memories
fighter were guaranteed to put on are about aviation and airplanes.
an outstanding show. But it was My parents had a small lot in this
not as a fighter pilot that Reg spent immigrant neighbourhood, and the
his illustrious US Air Force career. sound of an airplane for some reason
Rather, most of his time was in the caught my attention. I had to look up
reconnaissance community, flying and see what it was. In subsequent
clandestine missions in the Boeing years, sitting down for our evening
RB-47 and RC-135. meal, I’d hear an airplane and would
Today this veteran Cold War bolt from the kitchen table, much to
warrior is 85, and retired from my mother’s chagrin. But where

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 In P-51D Gunfighter, Reg Urschler leads a superb
Heritage Flight formation out of Midland during the
Commemorative Air Force Airsho 2005. With him are
a QF-4E Phantom II from the USAF’s 53rd Wing and
the East Coast Demo Team F-15C Eagle. PETER AEGERTER

ERB-47H 53-6249 was a regular

mount for Reg, not least during
his deployment to Brize Norton
in 1962. STEVE BOND

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Reg Urschler

this came from I don’t know. It’s a

question I’ve posed to friends along
the way.
“My uncle, also from Europe, who
was a butcher and very forward-
looking, saw in me this fascination
and my frustration that I had no
option to follow it up. He said,
‘Look, let’s go to the Allegheny
County Airport’. At the time it was
the main airport serving Pittsburgh.
We drove out and we stood next
to the fence, right outside the
administration building, and waited
for an airplane. This American
Airlines DC-3 taxied up, the door
opened, the groundcrew brought
up the steps, the hostess departed
the aircraft and the passengers
deplaned. That sticks in my mind.
“In my senior year at high school
I did a research paper on B-25
Mitchells and Jimmy Doolittle, and
became fascinated with multi-
engined airplanes. My goal was
aviation, but I had no clue how
to get there. I looked into it and
discovered that at the local Butler
County Airport you could do a
course in 65hp J-3 Cubs. In the
summer of ’53, after I’d graduated
high school, I decided I was going
to undertake flying lessons. I did
not discuss it with either my mother
or father, for fear of disapproval.
I asked my father, ‘If I take you
to work in the morning and pick
you up after work, can I have the
car?’ He wondered where I was
going, and unfortunately I was
not truthful. I said I was going
swimming. ‘Oh fine’, he said. I
would drive to this airport and
engage in these J-3 lessons.

“I had a summer job delivering

beer all around the city of
Pittsburgh, doing home deliveries
in a pick-up truck. I earned $1 an
hour, and my flight lessons were
$11 an hour, $8 for the airplane —
‘wet’ — and $3 for the instructor.
I can remember my first solo just
as clearly as I can see my coffee
cup sitting here. We were shooting
landings on a grass strip, my
instructor in the front seat, me in
the back seat. We taxied in, and he
started unstrapping. I said, ‘What
TOP: Capts L. W. Hall, P. E. Fortin, D. J. Birmingham, D. D. Brockel and R. F. A. Urschler in front of an early-
are you doing?’ He said, ‘You’re
configuration EB-47E(TT) ‘Tell Two’ platform. Three such aircraft were converted for the 55th SRW, the
sensor pods later being removed and the equipment incorporated into the aircraft’s interior fit. going solo’. Oh my God! ‘This is what
VIA ROBERT S. HOPKINS, III I want you to do. I want you to make
one full-stop landing, then we’ll talk
ABOVE: Otherwise known as ‘Lisa Anne’ or the Rivet Amber, the RC-135E, 62-4137, was a one-off, its
enormous Hughes phased-array radar being able to track even small targets up to 300 miles away.
about it’. I taxied out, advanced the
Mounted on each wing, just outboard of the fuselage, were small pods resembling additional jet engines. power, and the next thing I knew
One was in fact a Lycoming T55-L5 turboshaft engine, used as an extra power source; the other housed a this little machine surprisingly
heat exchanger for the radar. VIA REG URSCHLER leapt off the ground because of

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 the absence of his weight. I was
just delirious at this unbelievable
accomplishment. My God, I was
flying! I came around, shot a three-
pointer and taxied in. He said, ‘Fine,
do two more’.”
The beer delivery job was
seasonal, so when it came to an end,
so did Reg’s flying after about eight-
and-a-half hours. But the two men
who ran the company he’d been
working for, both Second World
War army veterans, had mentioned
the US Air Force’s aviation cadet
programme. In September 1953
he went to the main post office in
Pittsburgh, in which were located
the armed forces’ recruiting offices.
After an abortive chat with the navy
about joining their cadet scheme,
which foundered due to his lack of a
college education, he went down the
corridor to the air force office. Again,
he faced the same obstacle, but
the recruiter told him it would be him, ‘Sergeant, all I want is a chance’. training. “I was sent to Reese AFB in ABOVE:
possible to join as an enlisted man We agreed an entry date.” Lubbock, Texas, into what was then The ‘Office Boy’
if he met the physical co-ordination Reg joined up on 8 December established as a pre-aviation cadet programme
produced the
requirements and passed an exam. 1953. It was a poignant occasion, status. In my case I was still under-
RC‑135D, later
“This guy made a tremendous for the uncle who’d first taken him age — I was not 19 yet. Around 1 known as Rivet
impression on my life”, says Reg. “He to the local airport had just died of April 1954 I got my orders to report Brass. Three aircraft
said, ‘We have a test, the standard cancer. “I had the chance to visit to Lackland AFB, San Antonio, into were thus converted
armed forces his body, and Class 55S-9 as an aviation cadet — this crew, with Reg
entry exam of then my father pilot candidate, and to do that at right, is standing
100 questions. I told the air took me to on 24 April, the day after my 19th
in front of serial
60‑0356.
From the results
we can get a
force recruiter, the recruiting
office and said
birthday.”
For Reg, that training took place
VIA REG URSCHLER

pretty good ‘Sergeant, all I want goodbye. I and at Hondo, Texas. “It was 15 months,
idea of a lad’s a group of 20-25 broken down into three months of
chances to enter is a chance’ other enlistees pre-flight, six months of primary
the programme were transported flight training and six months of
and proceed. We will offer it to you to Allegheny County Airport, loaded basic. The air force had civilian
with no obligation. Would you like to aboard a civilian DC-3 and flown to contract schools then, and first of
take it?’ I took the exam right there, Sampson Air Force Base, New York. all we flew 20 hours in a PA-18 with
and I scored 93 out of 100. ‘Well, That’s when it started.” civilian instructors — mine was a
son’, he said, ‘indications are that Basic training there went well, former World War Two guy — to
you would be competitive’. I told and Reg was able to progress to pilot determine if the applicant had

THE BRITISH LINK: FLYING WITH 51

R
eg describes himself as a great Anglophile, dating back to like to try a ‘roller’, which I immediately and enthusiastically
his days on temporary duty at Brize Norton. Fast-forward accepted. We — I — did two, the second I suspect to confirm to them
more than two decades, he recalls, “I had the very great I had done the first one well and it wasn’t beginner’s luck, followed
pleasure of flying a mission with No 51 Squadron in a by a full-stop landing. That evening I was invited to become an
Nimrod R1 at Wyton back in ’84 or ’85, which was a fascinating, honorary member of No 51 Squadron and presented with the
insightful and learning experience. I rode the jump-seat for take-off, squadron tie, which I proudly have retained.
where very shortly after the undercarriage was retracted the cabin “Incidentally, this was not my first exposure and flight in the
door opened, one of the flight crew entered and announced, ‘Tea’s jump-seat with No 51 Squadron, as they had visited us in the late
up’, asking if I preferred mine white or black. After tea and climbing fifties at Forbes AFB in their then modified Comet when we were
up to our assigned altitude, I departed the front cockpit to observe flying the RB-47H. I was a young lieutenant and RB-47H co-pilot, and
the back-end crew performing their assigned duties. The flight was not invited to attempt any landing. Our three squadrons, the
happened to be into the Baltic that day and as I recall was 38th, 338th and 343rd, hosted No 51 Squadron both operationally
uneventful, as in no ‘escort’. — flying indoc flights in the RB-47H — and socially, and at the three
“Returning to Wyton, I once again occupied the jump-seat until the social nights spent at the officers’ club they outlasted the three
captain invited me to occupy the co-pilot position, asking if I would hosting squadrons!”

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Reg Urschler

everything else. You did your flying

in squadrons. My instructor pilot
was a West Point graduate, Maj
George W. Danforth, who was a
cigar-chomping, grouchy kind of a
guy. Two ‘out-of-the-can’ second
lieutenants were assigned to these
IPs for training. We were given
six-hour missions, and each trainee
co-pilot would get three hours in the
back seat. Then we were sent up to
the standards evaluation board for a
flight check to see if we qualified to
be combat-ready in the RB-47.
“The airplane had two additional
thrust capabilities: it had a water-
alcohol injection system, a tank
which provided 110 seconds of
additional power, and it had the
capability of having a JATO [jet-
assisted take-off] rack attached.
ABOVE: sufficient capabilities to justify then, and the other wing, the 90th, We never used JATO — we never
With the RC-135S moving them into the T-6 Texan. was somewhere else. The mission took off at weights like the bombers
Rivet Ball, 59-1491, in In six months we did 110 hours on of the 55th had just been changed did, when they were uploaded with
front of hangar 2 at
the T-6. from photo-reconnaissance to maximum fuel and weapons in the
Shemya.
VIA ROBERT S. HOPKINS, III
“While there our civilian electronic reconnaissance, and bomb bay. But it was still a long, long
instructors evaluated our future as a consequence, as a friend of take-off run. At Forbes, our runway
capabilities, either for single-engine mine described it later, ‘it was like was, I recall, 11,800ft, and thank God
or multi-engine training, and someone opened a can of second we had it. We could be still on the
made recommendations for our lieutenants’. There were pilots like runway at 8,500, 9,000ft. There were
assignments. Harry K. Johnson — myself coming from undergraduate times when we had to restrict our
they addressed us as ‘Mr’ there — pilot training, there were electronic fuel, even with the water injection.
said, ‘Mr Urschler, you’re qualified warfare officers coming from The climb rate of that airplane was
to do both. What is your decision?’ Keesler AFB, Mississippi, and from not impressive: 1,000ft a minute,
Well, remember I’d done a paper operational units on the RB-36 and that was it. The first operational
on the B-25, and then I’d had the RB-50. level-off altitude, having taken off
chance to sit in the cockpit of a “The wing came back with its at 185-190,000lb, was 28,500ft. Then
C-45. I said, ‘I’d like to go to B-25s’. RB‑47Es, and the first RB-47H of course, as the airplane lightened,
I was transferred then to Vance dropped in during September we climb-cruised up. I’ve been as
AFB in Enid, Oklahoma, for the or October. There were three high as 45,000ft on a test flight in an
last six months squadrons: the RB-47K, the weather ship, which was
of training,
arriving there We’d seen the re- 38th, 338th and
343rd Strategic
clean and had the slick nose.

in late January
1955. Now I
entry vehicle coming Reconnaissance
Squadrons. The “At altitude, ‘coffin corner’ was
was 19, about down and burning up 38th and 343rd very narrow, ‘coffin corner’ being
to turn 20. I flew the RB-47H low-speed stall or high-speed
graduated at through space when they were buffet. If you reduced speed 5kt, you
age 20 and delivered, 15 stalled. If you accelerated 5kt, you
three months later, on 1 August in each squadron. The 338th flew were in high-speed buffet. We were
— under-age, of course, because 15 RB-47Es and then brand-new very cautious about that. But I loved
commissioning was supposed Ks, and their mission was weather the airplane. I flew 3,000 hours in 10
to be at minimum age 21 — my reconnaissance. So, the wing had 45 years in all variants of the ’47.”
assignment was to Forbes AFB in RB-47s with that combination, plus Much of that was spent on
Topeka, Kansas, to the 55th Strategic the 55th Air Refueling Squadron, deployment, the ‘bread and butter’
Reconnaissance Wing.” which received brand-new for the 55th. Reg had his first TDY
The ‘Fighting Fifty-Fifth’ was to KC‑97Gs. experience in 1956 at Yokota AB,
dominate Reg’s career. “When I got “I trained on the RB-47H with Japan. For 1957 the destination
there on 1 August, on one of the the 343rd, which was my squadron was Thule, Greenland, from where
hottest days in Kansas, the entire of assignment, as a co-pilot. the RB-47Hs collected electronic
wing — and this was standard McConnell AFB in Wichita was intelligence emanating from the
for those days in Strategic Air the ‘schoolhouse’ for B-47s, but it northern Soviet Union. The climate
Command — had deployed in its was full, so Air Training Command and, for much of the year, the lack
RB-47Es to Ben Guerir, Morocco, set up detachments of NCOs at of daylight made for a punishing
for a three-month TDY [temporary Forbes and other bases around the operational environment. “The total
duty] wherein they flew photo country, where you went to learn aids available for navigation were
missions. The base was empty. There about the hydraulics, electronics, three star fixes every 20 minutes —
were two wings on every SAC base gunnery, celestial navigation and no Doppler read-out, no ground

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 speed, no GPS, no LORAN, no On being upgraded to aircraft were flying up Kamchatka at night.
nothing, save forecast winds and commander in 1960, Reg was given The mission took us up north,
dead-reckoning — as we flew over Incirlik as his first deployment, and we turned around at about
the North Pole en route to the Soviet once more in the ‘Tell Two’. It was the down-range ICBM impact
polar landmass. The missions were a difficult year for the 55th, with point for missiles launched from
11-and-a-half hours, and we saw the loss on 1 July of an RB-47H Kapustin Yar and Tyuratam. We
sunrise and sunset a couple of times flying from RAF Brize Norton started south, and all of a sudden
because of going across the Pole.” — Detachment 1 — on a signals to our right rear we saw this streak
In 1958, Reg was sent on TDY intelligence mission over the in the sky. I thought we were being
to Adana (or Incirlik), Turkey, Barents Sea. Serial 53-4281 was shot at, and I told the co-pilot to
where the wing maintained its shot down by a Soviet MiG-19, four turn around, turn on the gunnery
Detachment 4. As many as four of the six-man crew being killed. radar and have a look. I asked the
aircraft could be present, situated “They were dear friends of mine”, Raven [electronic warfare operator]
next to the hangar occupied by says Reg. “They were from my if he was picking up any airborne
the CIA U-2 detachment. This squadron”. Investigation showed intercept signals, and he said no.
time his focus was the debut the aircraft had not strayed beyond So, what the hell was it? Well, it
deployment of the EB-47E(TT), international waters. disappeared, and we landed. In
or ‘Tell Two’. Newly converted by our debriefing we provided the
E-Systems at Greenville, Texas, to details of this experience, and
collect telemetry data from Soviet Reg himself had deployed to Brize went to bed. The next morning we
missile tests from Kapustin Yar in 1959, flying RB-47Hs on what were called immediately down
and Tyuratam, otherwise known he calls, “the standard peripheral to the detachment. We were the
as Baikonur, the variant initially collection missions off Murmansk, only agency or whatever to report
sported large sensor pods on either in the Baltic, along the East-West the launch of a Soviet missile.
side of the nose. German border and sometimes in Intelligence and everybody else had
“We received two of the three the Mediterranean”. When next he missed it. We’d seen the re-entry
airplanes in November of ’58”, returned, during 1962, it was at the vehicle coming down and burning
recalls Reg, “and SAC and the air helm of an ERB-47H, an electro- up through space.”
force were in a rush to get us over magnetic radio frequency ‘ferret’ The times were changing, and
to Turkey. We had two of the three aircraft of which the 55th had three. the USAF sought an improved
crews on continuous 24-hour alert. “We flew them specifically into intelligence-gathering capability.
You were on alert for 20 days: five the Baltic, ‘threading the needle’. We Early steps with modified
days primary, five days secondary, were required to maintain a 12-mile KC‑135As led in 1962 to the first
BELOW:
five days primary, five days limit from Soviet territory and three new-build RC-135s, offering far Not long after Reg
secondary. miles from friendly territory. There more capacity and performance. started operating
“We launched in our EB-47E(TT) was a passageway 15 miles wide As the fleet built up Reg carried his P-51D, registered
to the Black Sea initially, orbiting off between East German and Danish out a KC‑135 conversion at Castle N5428V, he took it
Baku. When we took off in the ‘Tell territory, and we would fly right AFB, California, in December to Offutt AFB where
Two’ we were given the proposed down that line. We were looking 1964, before being posted to the he was commanding
the 55th SRW. At this
launch time of the Soviet missile, so for specific radar signals which 4157th Strategic Wing at Eielson stage, Gunfighter
we could set up an orbit to intercept previously had been identified.” AFB, Alaska. He started out flying wore the markings
it. Once airborne, the co-pilot would If one sortie stands out, it was a the RC‑135D on what he calls of the 361st Fighter
monitor HF for a coded signal every tasking from Yokota in 1964. “We “pretty much ‘vanilla’ collection Group. USAF
five minutes, which we decoded,
and which would confirm the
time given to us prior to take-off
or update it. We adjusted our orbit
so we would be flying down-track
with the antennae pointed up-range
to Kapustin Yar, to try to pick up
‘powered flight’. Since the distance
between our orbit and the launch
site was over the horizon, we had
to wait until the missile broke the
line of sight to pick up any ‘powered
flight’ telemetry. I can remember
that, initially, if we picked up eight
or 10 seconds of it the engineers
were delighted.
“The missiles had an armature
in the engine that rotated and
went across contacts. Each contact
provided a different aspect of
the missile’s flight engine power,
trajectory and so on. The engineers
then interpreted for the throw-
weight of the missile and its range
capability.”

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Reg Urschler

missions… over the Pole and down As it happened, both the RC-135S
the western Kamchatka peninsula”. and E were lost in separate accidents
Less ‘vanilla’ were sorties in the within months of each other.
one-off RC-135S and E models, for The S-model over-ran Shemya’s
which Reg deployed to the remote runway without fatalities on 13
air force station at Shemya in the January 1969, while the E-model
Aleutian Islands. and all 31 crew members on board
These two aircraft combined disappeared without trace during a
to collect intelligence on the routine ferry flight from Shemya to
re-entry of Soviet missiles at the Eielson on 5 June that same year. By
impact range in Kamchatka. Of the then, Reg was well into his next tour,
E-model, Reg says, “It had a huge back with the 343rd SRS, but now
hole cut on the right side of the located at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, and
airplane, above the right wing, in flying the RC-135C and T.
which an immense, heavy, phased- From there he returned in June
array radar was installed. That radar 1970 to another familiar haunt,
could reach out, if I recall, 300 miles. Kadena, to join the 82nd SRS, first
It would pick up the re-entry vehicle as operations officer and then
before we visually sighted it. The the squadron commander. It was
operator would drive the crosshairs equipped with the RC-135M, of
out, lock on, and the radar would which six examples were converted
acquire RADINT, radar intelligence, from C-135B airlifters, and was very
provided by the re-entry vehicle. The heavily engaged in the Vietnam
other airplane, the S-model, would War, flying ‘Combat Apple’ ELINT
provide PHOTINT [photographic and COMINT (communications
intelligence] and ELINT [electronic intelligence) missions over the Gulf
intelligence] of the re-entry vehicle, of Tonkin.
Reg retired from the USAF
on 1 June 1985, having and the electronic signals being
latterly been the first vice- transmitted from the Soviet ground
commander of Electronic radar station. It had 10 very thick “You’ve got to know what your
Security Command. USAF quartz glass windows, behind which people are doing to understand the
cameras were mounted.” challenges”, comments Reg, “and I
Shemya was a highly flew enough missions to log more
unforgiving location. “If we had than 1,500 combat hours. They were
a bolter at Shemya because of 18-and-a-half-hour missions from
weather and had to divert, our Kadena […] flying into our area of
alternate was Eielson, which was interest, which was immediately
1,500-something miles away. At off Haiphong. We’d get there and
Shemya on final approach we orbit for 12 hours. Because of the
were carrying enough fuel to get exposure the mission required
to Eielson with reserves. We were fighter CAPs [combat air patrols]
flying final approach at 225,000lb for protection, and the navy would
gross weight in that airplane, and launch them from carriers. Of
— depending on the winds and the course, they had to withdraw south
gusts, which were always there — at for fuel — they would go for ‘happy
a speed somewhere around 165kt. hour’, and we would be required
Our crosswind limit was 37kt, which to withdraw below 18° north until
required flap retraction so we could they’d refuelled, when we’d go back.
control the airplane on the runway, It was a 60-mile orbit, north-east/
and in turn increased our stopping south-west, just a holding pattern
distance on this 9,990ft runway. for our guys in the back to collect.
Without the reverse-thrust TF33-P-5 We had linguists back there, we had
engines on the S-model, we simply code people.”
wouldn’t have made it. Home at Offutt from May 1973,
“Some of those landings were Reg studied for a degree in business
of such a nature that, when I economics. While doing so, he
finally got the airplane stopped recalls, “I happened to be watching
using the reverse thrust and television when there was an item
spoilers and brakes as soon as the about this organisation called
nosewheel touched the runway, the Confederate Air Force that
I could not have stood up. My proposed to do an airshow at the
knees were shaking, not during former NAS Olathe, Kansas. I saw
A pair of CAF-
the approach or the landing phase, these airplanes and, my God, I was
operated P-51Ds,
Gunfighter leading but after stopping. It was the most overwhelmed. That airshow day
the organisation’s challenging, but at the same time, I got into my brand-new rotary-
founding aircraft, ‘Red from a pilot’s point of view, the engined Mazda to drive to the field,
Nose’. FRANK B. MORMILLO most rewarding flying I ever did in and it was so crowded I couldn’t
my air force career.” get in. I stood on the hood of this

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 new car to look over the fence, and flown by a World War Two Mustang airplane. It was very disappointing, ABOVE:
promptly put permanent dents in it. pilot, and TBM Avenger, flown by but if I was going to fly the airplane When Gunfighter was
“After the crowds dispersed I went a Korean War colonel who was I had to do it. That was the only way repainted, Reg had it
finished as a 343rd
onto the field — the airplanes were a physician and a professor at my dream was going to come true.
Fighter Squadron
still there, the pilots were still there. the university in Columbus. On Of course, I’m very grateful I got to machine, having
I approached this gentleman and he weekends we would go and do fly it for 30 years. served with that very
told me about the CAF. I contacted airshows around Ohio, or across the “I was supposed to pick the unit in its later guise
them, told them who I was, what my border to Canada. airplane up at the main CAF Airsho as the 343rd Strategic
experiences were, and said I’d like “In the process I met a fellow, in 1976, but unfortunately, during Reconnaissance
Squadron.
to fly a Mustang. They told me they a very successful fellow from a demonstration by a civilian pilot,
PHILIP MAKANNA/GHOSTS
were sorry but they had enough San Antonio, who was flying his the engine failed and it required
Mustang pilots. Would I consider Mustang. At the bar, talking back an engine change. I delayed the
flying the and forth, I transfer to February ’77, when
Hellcat? They shared with him I went to Harlingen, collected
told me what We were not just my childhood the Mustang and brought it to
the sponsorship
was. The Hellcat
an airplane and pilot, fascination and
dream of flying
Rickenbacker. The rest is history. It
was a marriage. We were not just an
was the first from my point of view. a Mustang. airplane and pilot, from my point of
airplane I During one of view. We were one.”
constructed out We were one these meetings Some of the flying Reg and
of balsa wood at the bar he others got up to in those days of
during World War Two. I said not said, ‘How would you like to buy the CAF would not, it has to be
only ‘yes’ but ‘hell, yes’. Gunfighter?’ This was not the P-51 said, be tolerated now. Once he
“During my time as a senior he was flying. ‘My God’, I said, ‘I and a colleague went to north-
controller in the SAC ‘underground’ would love to’. eastern Ohio to collect a pair of
at headquarters I travelled down “He said, ‘We’ll do it this way. Zero replicas. Unfortunately,
and checked out on the Hellcat. You send me a series of cheques, he says, they “inadvertently
Then, after I was transferred to and then you can come and get the shut down Rickenbacker when
Rickenbacker AFB as the vice- airplane’. I sent him those cheques, the tower identified me as
commander of the 301st Air but then he told me he’d changed ‘unidentified’ and rolled the trucks”.
Refueling Wing, I went to Harlingen, his mind. He was donating the His wingman saw the red lights of
Texas, to pick up the airplane and airplane to the CAF, and he was the emergency vehicles flashing
brought it to Rickenbacker, where going to reimburse me my money. on the tarmac during one of their
it was housed that summer. I also I could donate it to the CAF and simulated attack runs and left for
invited the CAF’s SBD Dauntless, become the primary sponsor of the the nearby international airport.

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Reg Urschler

ABOVE: When Reg landed, he was met by understand nor can empathise. the pattern, and he said, ‘All right,
The Gathering armed personnel, weapons at the I started immediately deploying sir, we’re going to use the absolute
of Mustangs ready. “Our command post had with the crews, and, of course, I altimeter and I’ll be calling out air
and Legends at
called SAC HQ and closed the base. was still an instructor pilot, so I speeds. When I call out 200ft, slowly
Rickenbacker — by
now a civil airport We had no radios, but I had co- instructed from the right seat on the start reducing power and tapping
and Air National ordinated prior to take-off with the deployments. I flew missions out of in electric spurts of back-trim. As
Guard base — in tower, which they later denied. And Mildenhall in the left seat, into the I say 50ft above the ground, bring
2007 brought Reg I was the SAC wing commander…” Baltic, in formation with another the throttles to idle and execute
back to the place Still, it didn’t do his career any RC-135. I flew out of Athens, I your round-out, I did, and I greased
he knew so well as
harm. May 1978 deployed to that monster onto the runway…
commander of the
saw Reg being Kadena.” We executed a touch-and-go,
active-duty KC-135
wing there. It was posted back to I was blessed, for In December went round and came back. Same
also one of his final
public shows in
Offutt, now as
commander
30 years and 3,000 1979 he took the
controls of what
routine, another grease job. On
downwind I said on the interphone,
Gunfighter.
PETER R. MARCH
of the 55th hours, to be married he calls, “the ‘In my view, landing this airplane
SRW. “I flew most impressive is a piece of cake’. The IP held his
every airplane to this airplane airplane I flew finger up to his lips and said, ‘Ssssh
we had”, he on active duty”. — don’t tell everybody!’ It was a
says. He also visited all the wing’s This was the upgraded E-4B, the magnificent airplane. Still is.”
overseas TDY locations. “You’ve Boeing 747-200-based national
got to know what your troops are advanced airborne command
doing and experiencing, so when post, on delivery from Boeing Tours at Fairchild AFB,
you say, ‘I understand’, you really Field. “The response of that huge Washington as commander of
do understand. In my view, you airplane, control-wise, was just SAC’s 47th Air Division, and then
don’t understand anything until amazing. I didn’t check out — I as vice-commander of Electronic
you’ve experienced it. You may flew it from the left seat, including Security Command at Kelly AFB,
appreciate it, or sympathise with it, air-refuelling, with a wonderful IP Texas, brought Reg’s air force career
but until you do it you can neither [instructor pilot]. We came back to to a close. He retired as a brigadier

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 general on 1 June 1985, having
received numerous decorations: the
Legion of Merit, the Distinguished
Flying Cross, Distinguished
Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal,
Meritorious Service Medal, the Air
Medal with 18 oak leaf clusters, and
the Air Force Commendation Medal
with three oak leaf clusters. But
when it came to Mustang flying, he
was only getting started. Gunfighter
had gone with Reg to Omaha
during his posting to Offutt — in
his retirement, it moved to Council
Bluffs, Iowa. With more time on his
hands, that relationship blossomed.
The last decade of Reg’s warbird
flying was dominated by the USAF
Heritage Flight programme. At the
service’s 50th anniversary Golden
Air Tattoo at Nellis AFB in 1997,
various historic aeroplanes were
teamed with modern fast jets. So
popular did it prove that efforts were
made to formalise arrangements.
“Ten of us from the civilian
community who flew Mustangs
were invited”, says Reg. Many great
displays ensued, including his
sole UK show appearance. This
brought him back to Mildenhall —
a location he knew well from his
years in command of the 55th — to
fly alongside Ed Shipley in a P-51D
pair at Air Fete ’98, and to join an
F-15C Eagle in the Heritage Flight’s
British debut. On this occasion,
the Mustangs were borrowed from
Rob Davies and Pink Floyd’s David
Gilmour. No-one had ever seen
such close-formation warbird and we were asked to stand down. frustrations, knowing there are TOP:
aerobatics on these shores. My lady also told me many times other people out there who have A quintessential
All good things must come to an it was time for me, as she thought I those same desires who never have Heritage Flight
duo over Midland
end, and for Reg that happened would eventually end up — as too the chance. As a consequence, we during the 2002 CAF
rather sooner than he’d hoped. many of my friends had — killing made the airplane available.” Airshow: Gunfighter
Having had a multiple heart bypass myself in the Mustang. It was very Describing one of those occasions and a 1st Fighter
operation in 2001, he was soon back difficult, given my relationship makes Reg emotional to this day. Wing F-15C.
in the Mustang’s saddle, but when with the airplane, to cut the cord He had landed Gunfighter at a PETER R. MARCH
the USAF imposed an age limit of and give it up. I never got back in small airfield to refuel, whereupon
ABOVE:
65 on Heritage Flight participants, the Gunfighter again, ever. But, on a crowd inevitably gathered. “At Heritage Flight
the decision to stop was made for reflection, it really was time for me the back of the crowd was an training over the
him. “My very last flight was with Ed to hang up my spurs. elderly gentleman, standing there Sierra Nevada in
Shipley”, he says, “during the annual quietly, patiently. When the crowd 2007, P-51 heading
Heritage Flight training scheme at dispersed, he walked up, shook QF-4E, A-10A and
Davis-Monthan in March 2008. Ed “I was blessed, for 30 years and my hand and said, ‘Thank you F-16C. USAF
was in the back seat, I was in the 3,000 hours, to be married to this very much. The last time I saw a
front, and I flew an acro routine. particular airplane and any other Mustang, I was a waist gunner in a
When we landed and taxied in, Mustangs I had the opportunity B-17, and it saved my life’. I said, ‘Sir,
of course, the fire trucks were out to fly. Doing airshows around the it was not I’. ‘I know’, he said, ‘but
there with the arch of water. When country in the Mustang I had the thank you for being here’. To me,
I got out of the airplane, I was very good fortune to meet Bob that was the second most gratifying
soaked, and I was given a bottle of Hoover. He was a gentleman in the aspect of my experience with the
champagne. strictest sense — a gentle man. I Mustang. First was the opportunity
“What essentially kind of learned from him the essence of to have flown it, but secondly,
encouraged me to retire was that flight and the importance of, to the bumping right up against that, was
the air force decided that Chuck best of your ability, sharing that. the opportunity to have shared it
Hall, Bill Anders and I were too I needed no convincing based with those folks who have the
old as far as they were concerned, on my childhood aspirations and passion, the interest.”

AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2021 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 77

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 PERSONAL ALBUM

SALUTE
TO ‘WINKLE’
In marked contrast with December 2020, 25 years ago there was
much activity ahead of the 50th anniversary of Lt Cdr Eric ‘Winkle’
Brown’s great achievement in making the world’s first landing and
take-off by a jet aircraft on a carrier. Peter R. March was invited to
cover the commemorations

During the first week of November 1995, Don Wood’s Source Classic Jet Flight
extended its Bournemouth-based fleet of airworthy de Havilland twin-boom jets when,
on successive days, two newly restored ex-Swiss Air Force Vampires were flown. FB6
J-1173/G-DHXX was airborne in the hands of Dave Mackay on 2 November, having been
comprehensively rebuilt, modified and painted to resemble Eric Brown’s mount in 1945,
LZ551/G. The following day Bob Cole flew T55 U-1219/G-DHWW, freshly finished as Sea
Vampire T22 XG775, in the colours of an admiral’s barge as operated by Yeovilton’s
Flag Officer Flying Training. Flying in another T55, U-1230/G-DHZZ, Peter was able to
capture these colourful Vampires flying around the Isle of Wight and along the Solent.

Have you got photos to contribute to Personal Album? If so, e-mail the editor at [email protected]

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 ‘LZ551’ fitted with
underwing fuel tanks.

The Source Vampire/Venom flightline at

Bournemouth on 3 November 1995.

Later in November, to mark the anniversary, ‘LZ551’ made a number The two-seater, ‘XG775’,
of approaches to the deck and flypasts over HMS Illustrious in Lyme along with a Harrier
Bay, prior to the carrier’s departure to the Adriatic. It was flown by T4A from 899 Naval Air
Bob Cole. Thanks to the ever-helpful public relations staff at Yeovilton, Squadron also joined in
Peter was able to fly out to the carrier in Sea King HC4 ZE425 to the celebrations.
photograph this very special event.

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 MAIL ORDER 529/20

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 DATA
DATABASE

Background
17
IN-DEPTH
PAGES

Re 2000
A Hungarian Air Force
Re 2000, or Héja, serial V.418.
This was an Italian-built example,
which served on the Russian front.

Re 2001
CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY

REGGIANE
Re 2000, 2001,

Re 2002
2002 & 2005
Re 2005
WORDS: LUIGINO CALIARO

Re 2005 MM092352 in Regia Aeronautica

markings at the Reggiane plant on 4 June 1943.

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 The Reggiane firm’s brief, but colourful,
BACKGROUND involvement in the aviation sector

The Reggiane-built Piaggio P32 bis prototype minutes

before its sixth, and last, take-off, on 25 February 1938.
Minutes later it crashed due to an engine malfunction,
claiming the life of Reggiane test pilot Mario Gamna.

T
he history of the In the same period, the production of the Savoia- potential of Reggiane’s products.
Officine Meccaniche spring of 1936, its activities in Marchetti S79 three-engined This was the case with the
Italiane Reggiane has the aeronautical field started bomber while — thanks to Re 2000 which, despite having
its origins in the early with an order for 24 P32 bis the return from the USA of superior performance and more
1900s, being connected in bombers, a variant of the original Ingegnere (Ing) Roberto Longhi, modern construction than its
particular with the production Piaggio P32 design extensively who became director of the contemporaries, was rejected by
of railway locomotives and redesigned by Reggiane. In design office — the company the air arm.
wagons. During the First World comparison with the Piaggio took its first steps on the road Despite this, the evolution of
War the company, located in version, the P32 bis retained the towards building an all-new the range of Reggiane aircraft
Reggio Emilia, established an same wing and Isotta Fraschini family of fighter aircraft. continued until a halt was put
early association with the Asso XI RC40 engines, but The Re 2000 series would to production on 8 January
aeronautical sector, signing featured a different fuselage prove the company’s design and 1944, when an Allied bombing
contracts with the Società and tail assembly. Because of production abilities, resulting raid razed the factory to the
Aeroplani Caproni which technical delays and problems — in its rapid expansion to the ground. At the end of the war,
covered the construction of which also resulted in the aircraft point where, at the end of 1942, the disposal of the company by
600hp Caproni Ca 5 bombers. being re-engined with the it boasted a workforce of more Caproni rapidly led Reggiane to
In the difficult post-war period, Piaggio PXI RC40 radial and the than 11,000. Unfortunately, leave the aeronautical business,
the firm, now in crisis, loss of one of the two prototypes however, the leaders of the Regia reconverting its production
increasingly diversified, — and coupled with significant Aeronautica were not always capabilities to the railway and
eventually being rescued only issues encountered with the capable of appreciating the construction spheres.
through its acquisition by the original P32 in service, the order
Italian state. was reduced to
It turned a 16 aircraft, and REGGIANE AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION
corner at the The air force did not cancelled in Type Quantity
end of 1935, 1938.
thanks to the
always appreciate the Using the AIRCRAFT BUILT UNDER LICENCE
acquisition potential of Reggiane’s P32 bis as a Piaggio P32 bis 2
of a majority products basis, Reggiane Caproni Ca 405 2
shareholding had in 1936
by the Gruppo developed the Savoia-Marchetti S79 405
Industriale Aeronautico Caproni. Caproni Ca 405 Procellaria, a RE 2000-SERIES FIGHTERS
The company quickly initiated special competition variant Re 2000 156 (of which 60 for the Swedish Air Force
a process of transformation, of the bomber designed for and 70 for the Hungarian Air Force)
and in 1936 at Reggio Emilia the participation in the Istres-
Società Studi e Brevetti Gruppo Damascus-Paris race of 1937. Re 2001 237 (including one Re 2001 Delta and 10
Caproni was founded, headed However, the two aircraft, CNs constructed by Caproni Predappio)
by Ingegner Giovanni Pegna, to created by reworking two P32 bis Re 2002 Around 250 (some 60 of which
engage in the design of aircraft airframes under construction, constructed by Caproni at Taliedo)
and technical solutions for the were not completed in time Re 2003 2
already substantial aviation to meet the entry deadline. In
element of the Caproni group. 1938, Reggiane began licence- Re 2005 31

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 The first Reggiane fighter never
Re 2000 achieved the success it deserved

O
n 5 January 1938 the structure, becoming a ‘wet’ wing. a speed of 541km/h (336mph). by Longhi, revolutionary by

Background
Ministero This on the one hand rendered Reggiane quickly received an Italian standards of the period.
dell’Aeronautica impossible the application of initial order from the Regia During comparative trials at
launched a self-sealing equipment, but on Aeronautica for the construction Guidonia that August, the
competition among the the other enabled increased fuel of two examples together with an Re 2000 illustrated its superiority
principal Italian aircraft capacity and, thus, endurance. airframe for static testing. over the Fiat G50 and CR42,
manufacturers, from which Nevertheless, this proved to be The new aircraft was and even the Messerschmitt
would eventually emerge a one of the reasons which led to subjected to official testing at Bf 109E. Nevertheless, for certain
single-seat monoplane fighter the rejection of the aircraft by the Guidonia in August 1939, again inexplicable reasons, the MC200
with a radial engine and two Regia Aeronautica. in the hands of De Bernardi, was preferred. Working against
12.7mm (0.5in) machine guns, the Reggiane fighter, apart from

Re 2000
intended to re-equip the Stormi the unreliability of the engine,
da Caccia e da Intercettazione During comparative trials, the Re 2000 showed was the conviction held by the
(fighter and interceptor wings) its superiority over the Fiat G50 and CR42 Regia Aeronautica regarding
of the Regia Aeronautica. its presumed vulnerability due
Reggiane presented the to its integral non-self-sealing
Re 2000, conceived under the The prototype, serial MM408 and confirmed its abilities in wing tanks. Also, both the
direction of Ing Roberto Longhi — also known as the Falco, albeit comparison with the fighters G50 and MC200 were already
on the basis of his experience in unofficially, as the same name which were about to enter in production, while the
the USA, where he worked with had been assigned to the Fiat Regia Aeronautica service. In Reggiane aircraft was still in its
various aeronautical companies. CR42 — performed its first flight particular it bettered the Macchi development phase.

Re 2001
Benefiting from the technical from Reggio Emilia airfield on MC200, not least in terms of Despite this, in August 1939
drawings for the Seversky P-35 — 24 May 1939, in the hands of handling, stability, speed and the Ministero dell’Aeronautica
for which Caproni had acquired Mario De Bernardi. From the landing characteristics. This awarded a contract for 200
a construction licence — Longhi, outset it demonstrated excellent was without doubt down to the examples of the Re 2000, and
together with Ing Antonio flying characteristics, achieving variable-profile wing adopted during September Reggiane
Alessio and the Reggiane design
team, partly reconfigured the
American fighter. Without The prototype Re 2000, MM408, still
departing from the basic unpainted during an official photo

Re 2002
structure, the wing and fuselage session at Reggio Emilia on 18 July 1939.
being in practice unaltered, they
created an aircraft which was
in many respects revolutionary
compared with the Italian
aeronautical and technological
standards of the period.
The main changes over the
P-35 were the flush-fitting,

Re 2005
retractable undercarriage
designed by Ing Vardanega, and
the installation of the Italian
1,000hp Piaggio PXI RC40
engine. The central wing box, like
that of the P-35, incorporated
the sealed fuel tanks within its

A line-up of Héjas operated by the

Hungarian Air Force’s 1st Fighter
Squadron, probably at Szolnok in 1942.

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
was tasked with building
12 aircraft for a Squadriglia
Sperimentale (experimental
squadron) and equipment for
the series-manufacturing of the
remaining 188. Yet in April 1940
the orders were reduced to just
a single example — which, with
a Piaggio PXIX engine, became
the prototype for the Re 2002.

Technical details
The Re 2000 was a cantilever
low-wing, single-seat, single-
engine fighter. Its circular-
section fuselage was all-metal
monocoque in structure. The
cockpit was enclosed, fitted with
a glazed rear-sliding canopy interceptor variant used a
which could be detached in Piaggio PXI RC40 radial, a
flight. The wing was semi- 14-cylinder air-cooled unit
elliptical in form with a variable which developed 1,000hp at
profile and divided into five 4,000m (13,123ft). The Re 2000
sections, with a central section Grande Autonomia and the
that included the fuel tanks, Catapultabile were equipped
while the two lateral sections with the more reliable Piaggio
contained the wells for the PXI bis RC40, also rated at
main undercarriage. The 1,000hp. The propeller was a
A look inside
split flaps were mechanically metal, constant-speed, three-
the cockpit
of the first controlled, and extended from bladed Piaggio P1001 unit of
Re 2000. one aileron to another, passing 3.4m (11.2ft) diameter, with
under the fuselage. The ailerons variable pitch in flight controlled
were located at the extremes electromagnetically by the pilot.
of the wings, and were metal Fuel was contained in two tanks
structures clad in fabric. The formed by the wing structure,
metal tailplane was of cantilever one containing 450 litres and the
construction, with the moving other 190 litres.
surfaces fabric-clad. Offensive armament
The undercarriage retracted comprised two Breda SAFAT
electrically to the rear, the 12.7mm machine guns,
rotation of the shock absorber synchronised to fire through the
enabling almost total enclosure propeller disc, and featuring a
into a bay covered with a normal magazine of 300 rounds
dedicated door. The tailwheel per gun. A stores attachment
This longer-range Re 2000 GA version did away with was steerable, and retracted with point was located under the
the cockpit glazing behind the pilot, as is visible on the main undercarriage. fuselage, while two wing
the standard examples in the background. The Re 2000 adopted a hardpoints could carry 80kg
variety of engines. The initial (176lb) bombs.

Re 2000 VERSIONS
DATAFILE

Re 2000 Intercettore (I Serie): Very similar to the prototype Piaggio PIX bis RC40. Further detail changes were the modification
configuration, this featured a smaller air intake on the engine of the cockpit profile, with the disappearance of the rear glazing,
cowling to improve the pilot’s visibility, while the cowling panels new radio apparatus, and the ability to mount up to 200kg (441lb) of
were modified to provide better engine accessibility. Five aircraft stores under the fuselage. Twelve aircraft were delivered.
were delivered, of which three were subsequently modified to the
GA variant. Re 2000 Catapultabile (catapult-launched embarked version, or
III Serie): This variant was also fitted with the PIX bis RC40 engine,
Re 2000 GA (Grande Autonomia — long range — or II Serie): a new seat for the pilot fitted with a rigid back and headrest, new
This version was conceived to increase the fighter’s radius of action on-board and radio systems and, naturally, special structural
through the addition of two 170-litre tanks in the fuselage, reinforcements for the shipboard catapult attachment mechanism
positioned behind the cockpit. They afforded a range of more than under the wings and on the fuselage sides. Ten such aircraft were
1,800km (1,118 miles). The engine was replaced by the more reliable ordered, but only eight were delivered.

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
Regia Aeronautica
service Re 2000 Intercettore variants of the 377ª Squadriglia,

Background
most likely at their Palermo Boccadifalco base.
With Italy’s entry into the war, the
Regia Aeronautica was mindful
of a need to possess fighter
aircraft with longer endurance
than the G50 and MC200, to
be used in particular for the
escort of shipping convoys and
bombers operating between
Italy and North Africa. It duly

Re 2000
ordered from Reggiane a small
batch of five Re 2000 Intercettore
variants, which were taken
directly from production aircraft
for foreign orders. After serving
briefly with the 74ª Squadriglia
at Comiso in the spring of 1941,
they were transferred to the 377ª
Squadriglia Autonoma, based at obsolete IMAM Ro 43 stimulated been launched, it was obliged was cancelled in favour of a
Chinisia near Trapani. This latter interest in the development of a to land at an airfield. Selected similar number of Re 2001s.

Re 2001
unit also took on charge the 12 version that could be catapult- initially for embarkation on At the time of the armistice
Re 2000 Grande Autonomia/ launched from battleships. An the aircraft carrier Aquila, then of 8 September 1943, of all the
II Serie aeroplanes, and the order was placed for 10 aircraft. being fitted-out in Genova, Re 2000s delivered to the Regia
three original I Serie aircraft The first, still fitted with the Reggiane received a new order Aeronautica, just a few former
were later modified to the same completely transparent canopy, for 50 catapult fighters, but Re 2000 Catapultabile machines
standard. Its Re 2000s escorted began catapult launch trials from towards the end of the year this were still in existence, all
naval convoys and interdiction the Regia Marina battleship RN
patrols over the Mediterranean Vittorio Veneto in July 1941, tests
between Sicily and North Africa, which identified some defects in DATAFILE

Re 2002
ITALIAN FIGHTERS
being the only Italian fighters the supporting undercarriage.
capable of doing so. They were Having suffered numerous

FOR BRITAIN?
also involved in the defence of interruptions, the trials were
Sicilian airspace, but seldom concluded on 9 May 1942
encountered hostile aircraft. by using the catapult on the

P
Combat operations by the seaplane carrier RN Miraglia.
Re 2000s continued until 16 Thus, only in summer 1942 aradoxically, if in Italy the Re 2000 did not much appeal
September 1942, when the could the Re 2000 Catapultabile to the Regia Aeronautica, abroad its prospects were
remainder, by now largely be assigned to the new 1ª very different, and Hungary became the first nation to

Re 2005
ineffective, were retired. They Squadriglia Aerea of the Forze acquire the aircraft. More surprisingly, Britain was the
were sent to Reggiane for Navali da Battaglia, but the second nation to express an interest. In the spring of 1939 a
overhaul and conversion into aircraft saw only limited use on British commission, led by Lord Hardwick and Wg Cdr H. N.
the naval version. the battleships Roma, Vittorio Thornton, visited Italy to inspect several of its armaments
Veneto and Littorio. There were factories. Having had the chance to visit Reggiane, it returned
Re 2000 Catapultabile reliability problems with the expressing favourable opinions of the Re 2000. In December
Piaggio engines, even in their bis 1939 flight trials were conducted by RAF pilots Gray and Barnett
The Re 2000’s good endurance version, and logistical difficulties and, following a positive outcome, the British government issued
and the need to replace the given that once the fighter had an order for 300 aircraft.
Unfortunately for Reggiane, the political situation was
deteriorating, and the contract obviously came to nothing. The
Re 2000 MM8281, a Catapultabile Italian government was subjected to pressure from Germany —
version, on the Regia Nave Miraglia. having declared no interest in the sale to Britain on 18 March
At the controls was Lt Giulio Reiner. 1940, the Germans revoked their decision on the following 6
April. Reggiane even attempted to evade the German embargo
by supplying the aircraft through a Portuguese associate, but this
effort also foundered.
Between 1940 and 1941, both Switzerland and Spain gave
serious consideration to acquiring 50 aircraft each, while Finland
initiated negotiations for 100. Yugoslavia, besides ordering 50
examples, looked into licence-production. The Italian government
constantly impeded these possible contracts for political and
industrial reasons, seeking to avoid the loss of essential materials
for the national war effort. However, negotiations with the
Hungarian, and subsequently Swedish, governments proceeded
favourably thanks to their supply in exchange of prime materials,
especially chrome-nickel.

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
front line. It is believed that, by
MÁVAG-built Héja IIs looking the end of the year, Héja pilots
purposeful, and sporting the Hungarian had achieved at least 12 victories
Air Force’s new national markings. against the loss of two of their
own aircraft.
After the military situation
deteriorated in early January
1943, the last Héjas in Soviet
territory were destroyed on
the ground by Hungarian
personnel to prevent them being
captured. In the same period the
Hungarian fighter force began
re-equipment with the Bf 109,
and the remaining Héjas were
transferred to home defence
units or advanced flying schools.
The majority of the Héja IIs were
used for advanced training,
but some defended Hungarian
airspace against Allied attacks.

Swedish service
of which were unserviceable. with the licence-manufacturing maiden operational tasking was
The only one recovered in the effort. It is believed that MAVAG on 11 August 1941, five Re 2000s In 1940 the Swedish government
Allied-occupied south was constructed just under 200 escorting Caproni Ca 135 turned to Italy for the re-
subsequently modified to two- aircraft, with deliveries from bombers on a raid near Nikolaev. equipment of its fighter force,
seat configuration and used by the summer of 1942, the aircraft Having been withdrawn to thus overcoming the shortages
Cap Giulio Reiner, at the time being identified locally as the Hungary for a short period at created by an American embargo
the commander of Catania Héja II. the end of the year, in early 1942 on the delivery of 70 Seversky
Fontanarossa. He operated it for As opposed to the fighters the Italian machines returned EP-1-106 and 144 Vultee Model
a limited period as a personal delivered to action on 48C Vanguard fighters. It ordered
liaison aircraft, wearing a natural from Italy, the Russian 90 Fiat CR42 biplanes and 60
metal colour scheme and the Re 2000s In clashes with front, with two Re 2000s, together with 80
tricolour roundels. of Hungarian Soviet fighters the squadrons Caproni Ca 313 light bombers.
construction placed The contract with Reggiane
Hungarian Héjas were fitted Héja demonstrated its under the was signed in Rome on 28
with 985hp prowess control of the November 1940, with deliveries
On 27 December 1939 a contract Gnôme-Rhone Autonomous planned by June 1941. The
was signed between Reggiane K14 engines Fighter Wing of Swedish aircraft — locally
and the Hungarian Air Force manufactured under licence by the 2nd Air Brigade. In clashes designated as the J 20 — were
for the supply of 70 Re 2000s, the Manfred Weiss company of with Soviet fighters the Héja Intercettore variants with minor
specifically the Intercettore Budapest, and designated as the demonstrated its prowess, differences from those used
version, together with a licence WM K/14 B. This unit drove a recording just a single loss in by Italy. They had a second
for production. Deliveries were three-bladed Hamilton Standard combat. From October 1942, the bracing strut on the glazing
planned to start in July 1940, but propeller with a slightly larger Héjas were gradually returned to behind the pilot and an external
by December only seven had diameter than those fitted in Hungary, and in December just rear-view mirror, as well as,
been handed over. As of June Italy. The Héja was therefore a one squadron remained on the from the third example, the
1941 that number had swelled little longer than the Re 2000, by
to 48, but many months passed around 35cm (13.8in), as well as
prior to full fleet availability. offering a slight improvement J 20 serial Fv 2331 of F 10 wing,
Due to long production delays in speed. The Breda SAFAT Swedish Air Force, with stablemate
in Italy the final aircraft would machine guns were replaced by 2329 hidden from view behind.
be delivered in the spring of locally produced Gebauer guns.
1942. In Hungary the aircraft Further modifications included
was known by the name Héja, armour plating for the pilot,
and the fleet was assigned although this resulted in stability
serials from V.401 to V.470, the V problems, and the addition of a
indicating ‘Vadasz’, or fighter. 100-litre fuel tank in the fuselage.
Meanwhile, towards the end The combat debut of
of 1940, Reggiane passed the Hungary’s first Italian-built
manufacturing drawings and Re 2000s took place in August
equipment to MÁVAG (the 1941, when an initial squadron
Magyar Királyi Államvasutak of six aircraft entered operations
Gépgyára, or Royal Hungarian on the Russian front. They flew
State Railroad Factory) in bomber escort and ground attack
Budapest, which had been missions, although they never
charged by the government encountered enemy aircraft. The

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
Piaggio PXI bis RC40 engine,
capable of delivering 20hp more The ‘cutaway’ side of J 20 Fv 2340 in

Background
on take-off than the standard the Flygvapenmuseum. BEN DUNNELL
PXI. Flygvapnet serials were
allocated from 2301 to 2360.
Deliveries were slowed
by material shortages and
the requisition by the Italian
government of aircraft built to
satisfy foreign orders. Some 20
aeroplanes from the Hungarian
order and eight from the Swedish

Re 2000
one were taken directly from the
production line and diverted to
the Regia Aeronautica.
The first two Re 2000s arrived
dismantled in Sweden in April
1941, being assembled in the
Swedish Air Force workshops
at Malmslätt. Regular deliveries
commenced during September
1941 and were completed in July

Re 2001
1942. Just one Flygvapnet wing,
F 10, flew the type, receiving its
first J 20 in May 1941. Based at DATAFILE

SURVIVORS: Re 2000
Bulltofta, the unit operated the
Reggiane fighter until the end of
the war. Given the type’s speed,

T
the Flygvapnet principally used
it to intercept foreign aircraft here is just one complete, restored unrestored but conserved fuselage of MM8287,
violating Swedish airspace. Re 2000: a former Swedish Air Force an Re 2000 Catapultabile which ditched off the

Re 2002
The Swedish pilots who flew J 20, serial Fv 2340 (c/n 405), in the coast near La Spezia, out of fuel, on 16 April 1943.
the Italian fighter were very Flygvapenmuseum at Malmen, Sweden. The remains were recovered in 2012, and are
satisfied, considering it fast and The aircraft served with F 10 at Bulltofta from owned by the Italian Air Force Museum. Also
manoeuvrable. Their mechanics 1942-45 and was then used as a ground held by the Caproni museum, but in store and in
were not, however, of the same instructional airframe, hence the ‘cutaway’ port unrestored condition, is the two-seat Re 2000,
opinion, being unhappy with the fuselage side. The Museo dell’aeronautica Gianni MM8285, used by Cap Reiner as a personal
reliability of the engines, which Caproni in Trento, northern Italy, has the liaison aircraft after the war. Ben Dunnell
often proved disinclined to start
in the cold Scandinavian climate.

Re 2005
with initial deliveries planned for and wing fittings for a further the little information available,
Reconnaissance Re 2003 September 1942. Reggiane also two 7.7mm (0.3in) machine it seems that after the armistice
prepared a second prototype, guns. It flew on 13 October 1942, MM478 was requisitioned by
In 1941 the Regia Aeronautica MM12415, which took in some but the order was cancelled the Germans and used at the
asked Reggiane to build a detail modifications to the following delays in refining the Caproni airfield at Taliedo as a
two-seat aircraft optimised for cowling, a new central stores aircraft and decision-making trainer for pilots destined to fly
reconnaissance. It modified an station for a 500kg (1,102lb) on its effective employment by the Re 2002s manufactured for
Re 2000 from a foreign order, bomb or a supplementary tank, the Regia Aeronautica. From the Luftwaffe.
MM478, altering the fuselage
to incorporate an observer’s
position behind the pilot. Test The first Re 2003 built, MM12415,
flights got under way in July photographed on 4 November 1942.
1941, in the hands of company Notable are the different shape of
the engine cowling and the two
test pilot Cap Francesco Agello, wing-mounted 7.7mm guns.
holder of the world seaplane
speed record. After further trials
in November 1941 involving
Regia Aeronautica pilots,
the observer’s position was
modified to improve visibility
through lateral and under-
fuselage windows, while two
cameras, one planimetric and
one panoramic, were installed.
The Aeronautica had issued
an order for 200 examples of
the aircraft, now dubbed the
Re 2003, on 16 December 1941,

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 Hopes for this Reggiane fighter to have greater
Re 2001 success than its predecessor were soon dashed

The prototype Re 2001 CN night

fighter, MM90760, unpainted but
with the two cannon pods fitted.

I
n the summer of 1939, when The two aircraft differed in produced promising results, in some on-board systems were
the Re 2000 was formally several ways. While it retained particular in terms of its speed — improved, and two 7.7mm
presented at Guidonia, the the ‘wet’ wing and the tailplane, more than 560km/h (348mph) at machine guns were installed in
air ministry asked that the new model had a different an altitude of 5,500m (18,045ft). the wings. During late October
Reggiane redesign the aircraft, fuselage, increased in length The air ministry had requested 1940, the ministry converted an
modifying it to accept the and reduced in width, with the a second prototype with some option for 200 Re 2000s into a
1,175hp Daimler-Benz frontal section obviously substantial modifications, firm contract for the new fighter,
DB601A-1 in-line liquid-cooled redesigned to accommodate the principal among which was and ordered the production
engine. Alfa Romeo had completely different shape of the modification of the wing to of another 400 examples to be
acquired licence production the in-line engine. contain self-sealing fuel tanks. In divided between Caproni at
rights to the German The first prototype, MM409, November 1940 Reggiane thus Predappio and Taliedo, and the
powerplant, calling it the was completed in June 1940. Ten presented the second example, Breda plant.
RA1000 RC41-1 Monsone. Col Pietro Scapinelli started test- externally distinguished from The future awaiting the
Longhi duly reworked the flying a few weeks later at Reggio the first by the disappearance of Re 2001 was potentially much
Re 2000, and the new aircraft Emilia. On 9 August the aircraft the fuselage glazing behind the better than that of the Re 2000,
was assigned the designation was transferred to Guidonia cockpit. The tailwheel was now but the reality would be very
Re 2001, plus the name Falco II. for certification flights, which fixed, rather than retractable, different. On 14 March 1941,
Scapinelli lost his life in a flying
accident involving an engine
failure on the second prototype.
Following the initial production
of 10 pre-series aircraft, a range
of delays and manufacturing
problems arose. These were
caused in part by organisational
issues, but also by the scarcity
of engines. In fact, the Re 2001’s
performance in various respects
proved worse than predicted,
above all in comparison with the
Macchi MC202, which had been
afforded priority production
status and primacy for the
supply of the DB601 engine.
Having been put into dark green camouflage, the first prototype Re 2001, MM409, prepares to leave Towards the end of 1940,
the Reggiane factory for Guidonia in August 1940, in order to perform its military test programme. Longhi, in an attempt to improve
the fighter’s performance, had

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
developed the Re 2001 bis with
a completely redesigned wing. The very different-looking ‘business end’

Background
This contained the radiators of the Re 2001 Delta. For the air-cooled,
for engine cooling, thereby 12-cylinder inverted-V Isotta Fraschini Delta
RC16/48 engine, the fighter was fitted with an
reducing the drag created inlet under the propeller spinner.
by having them positioned
under the wings. The results
of trials by test pilot Francesco
Agello were encouraging, and
a speed of 600km/h (373mph)
was achieved, but for certain
unexplained reasons the project

Re 2000
was abandoned.

Production and variants

The first series aircraft,
MM7209, was taken on charge
in September 1941, and further
deliveries were very protracted
as a consequence of delays in the
supply of engines by Alfa Romeo.

Re 2001
This precipitated a decision
to cancel, between July and
October 1941, the orders placed
with Breda and Caproni Taliedo,
reducing those with Reggiane
and Caproni Predappio to 100
and 10 aircraft respectively.
Due to the shortage of engines,
by the end of January 1942

Re 2002
Reggiane had managed to supply the air ministry’s poor project months, with long delays having Furthermore, Reggiane
the Regia Aeronautica with management. From the end of built up in completion of the produced several prototypes
little more than 40 production 1942 it told Reggiane to perform first Italian aircraft carriers, of derivatives conceived for
aircraft together with the 10 a series of modifications to the the programme was cancelled. other roles. Some Re 2001s
pre-series examples. For the aircraft in order to adapt it for Those Re 2001 ORs already were modified for photo-
same reason, negotiations with various marginal roles, which completed were converted for reconnaissance through the
Sweden relating to the supply inevitably resulted in a vast normal use and distributed to addition of a camera in a
of 100 Re 2001s did not bear waste of limited resources and fighter units. housing on the leading edge of
fruit. To rescue the potential energy. The order for 100 aircraft In mid-1942 the Re 2001 the wing. Their operational use

Re 2005
sale, Reggiane even proposed was modified to include 39 in CB (caccia-bombardiere, or was very limited, if indeed they
to supply the airframes without ground attack configuration fighter-bomber) made its first were used at all.
powerplants, but to no avail. and 14 extensively modified flight, this version capable of One aircraft, the Re 2001 H,
The crisis resulted, during for shipborne operations, with carrying a bomb of up to 250kg was adapted for the anti-tank
1942, in Reggiane’s bosses structural reinforcements, (551lb) under the fuselage. The role with two 20mm cannon
deciding to adopt the Isotta attachments for catapult aircraft proved useful for this and stores hardpoints, but the
Fraschini Delta RC16/48 version was not pursued. The
12-cylinder air-cooled in-line same fate befell the Re 2001 G
engine, producing 840hp at The Re 2001’s performance in various respects torpedo attack aircraft, featuring
5,300m (17,388ft) and 2,780rpm. proved worse than predicted a ventral torpedo attachment
The result was the Re 2001 point and a taller tailwheel. This
Delta, constructed by Caproni aircraft saw brief service with the
at Taliedo. The maiden flight launching, and an arrester role and numerous fighters were Scuola Aerosiluranti at Gorizia.
of this prototype took place hook. These were identified by converted to CB configuration, Three Re 2001 CBs were
on 12 December 1942, but the the designation Re 2001 OR. It the bomb mounting points being further modified as Re 2001
flight trials failed to produce had been planned to use the installed at unit level. GVs, intended to be used in the
good results due to the engine’s Re 2001 on board the carriers The Re 2001 CN night fighter anti-shipping role with a 630kg
limited power output, despite Aquila and Sparviero, the first had flame-dampers on the (1,389lb) bomb. The satisfactory
the weight of the aircraft having of which was at an advanced exhausts and two Mauser outcome of initial trials
been reduced by more than stage of fitting-out in Genova at MG 151 20mm cannon in resulted in the establishment
200kg (441lb). The project was the time. Of those, two would be underwing gondolas in place of of an operational three-aircraft
definitively abandoned after a ‘super-light’ variant without the 7.7mm machine guns. Many section, which flew its one and
an accident on 27 January 1943 radios, armament and armour to of these aircraft resulted from only mission on 12 August 1942
which resulted in the loss of the be used for the ground training the conversion of those ordered when two aircraft attacked
aircraft following an engine fire. of pilots. In April 1942 a further as shipborne fighters, though a the Royal Navy carrier HMS
Undoubtedly the production 50 aircraft were ordered, and significant number went without Victorious during Operation
problems suffered by the subsequently another 50, but the cannon due to supply ‘Pedestal’, the Malta resupply
Re 2001 were influenced by in the course of the following shortages of these weapons. effort. The mission was

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
assessed as successful, as the
fighters achieved a direct hit on Newly built Re 2001s
ready for delivery to the
the ship with one bomb, which
2° Gruppo Caccia Terrestri
failed to explode. The Re 2001 in December 1941.
GVs all returned undamaged to
base. Difficulties in perfecting
the specialised munition
resulted, however, in the
abandonment of this promising
design.
When all the different versions
and contract modifications are
taken into account, it is believed
that 237 examples of the Re 2001
were manufactured. Among
these, besides the prototypes,
were 87 fighters, 94 night
fighters, 39 fighter-bombers and
14 shipborne fighters.
A 358ª Squadriglia pilot
ready to fly a bomber
Technical details escort sortie in his Re 2001,
while an S79 bomber
The Re 2001’s fuselage was departs for a mission over
constructed from duralumin Malta during early 1942.
with a monocoque structure,
the enclosed cockpit featuring a
canopy hinged on the right. The
wing was elliptical in planform
with an asymmetric bi-convex
profile decreasing towards the
extremity, the structure being
built from duralumin. In the
central portion of each wing
were two self-sealing fuel tanks,
containing 280 and 220 litres.
An additional 77-litre fuel tank legs and the simultaneous fire through the propeller disc, of the 22° Gruppo. It was
was located in the fuselage. The rotation of the wheels. These and two 7.7mm, 600-round able to participate, together
moving parts of the wing and were housed flat within the Breda SAFAT machine guns with the fighters belonging
the cantilever tailplane were central wing section, their in the wings. Depending on to the 2° Gruppo Caccia
made from duralumin and clad legs protected by a dedicated the version, the fighter could Terrestri, in actions to counter
in fabric. housing. On production aircraft be fitted with mountings to Operation ‘Pedestal’, flying from
The retractable main the tailwheel was not retractable. carry bombs of up to 250kg, or Monserrato in Sardinia. After the
undercarriage was formed by The principal armament supplementary fuel tanks. 2° Gruppo returned to Trapani-
two rear-braced legs, which were comprised two Breda SAFAT Chinisia in Sicily, the 362ª
enclosed in the wing following 12.7mm machine guns with 350 Regia Aeronautica Squadriglia also moved there to
the rearward retraction of the rounds each, synchronised to service participate in the last offensive
against Malta of October 1942.
The first pre-series Re 2001s Now with 23 Re 2001s, the 362ª
were delivered to the 2° Gruppo Squadriglia returned to Sardinia
Caccia Terrestri of the 6° Stormo, in early November, following the
made up of the 150ª, 152ª Allied landings in North Africa.
and 358ª Squadriglie, in early Together with the Reggianes
September 1941. Following a of the 2° Gruppo, it conducted
few months of training on the escort and attack missions. In
new type at Gorizia, in May the same period the 59° and 60°
1942 the unit was transferred Gruppo Intercettori, based at
to Sicily, tasked with escorting Venegono and Lonate Pozzolo,
Axis bombers engaged in attacks began to fly in defence of Italian
on Malta. On many occasions cities against Allied bombers,
the Reggiane pilots clashed using the initial Re 2001 CNs.
with Fairey Fulmars, but mainly The 2° Gruppo was heavily
with Hurricanes and Spitfires. engaged in escort and protection
Compensating for its inferiority missions for Italian naval
in other respects, the Re 2001 convoys in the Mediterranean
Very few Re 2001s were operated by the Regia Aeronautica del Sud, proved an effective low-level during the autumn of 1942. It
commonly but improperly known also as the Co-belligerent Air Force, dogfighter. was reorganised the following
which flew on the Allied side after the 1943 armistice. First deliveries of the Re 2001 spring as the 2° Gruppo
CB were to the 362ª Squadriglia Intercettori, deployed to Sarzana

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS

A 630kg bomb being loaded onto an Re 2001GV at Cagliari-Elmas for the type’s first and only

Background
operational attack, against the Royal Navy carrier HMS Victorious on 12 August 1942.

Re 2000
Re 2001
Re 2002
airfield in Liguria. From there 160° Gruppo Autonomo Caccia on 29 November 1943 when a Repubblica Sociale, the air force
the unit collaborated in the Terrestri at Venafiorita, Sardinia, Reggiane, fitted with a specially of the German-aligned Italian
defence of Italian skies with 22 aircraft, 10 serviceable; and modified drop tank and escorted Social Republic in northern
the 167° Gruppo Intercettori at a Sezione of the 160° Gruppo in by six Macchi MC205s, flew Italy following the armistice,
Ciampino, formed on 10 May Corsica, four serviceable. to the airfield at Pljevlja in operated some Re 2001s

Re 2005
1942 with the 300ª and 303ª The armistice saw, in a period Montenegro and dropped a recovered on its territory, flown
Squadriglia, also operating in of extreme confusion, most of considerable sum of money to by the 2° Gruppo Caccia on
the night fighter role. the few Re 2001s that were still support the Italian garrison. It limited secondary duties.
By mid-July 1943, at least 72 serviceable being deliberately returned to base on the limits After the end of the war,
Re 2001s of different versions destroyed by their groundcrew. of its endurance, after a flight of the new Italian Air Force, the
were still in existence with Despite this, at least 15 managed two hours 35 minutes. Aeronautica Militare, managed
the fighter units of the Regia to fly to Puglia, being assumed The last operational Re 2001 to maintain five Re 2001s in
Aeronautica, by the Regia missions were recorded in the airworthy condition. Two were
around 50 Aeronautica del late spring of 1944. Serviceable used for a couple of years by
of which Compensating for Sud, the Allied- examples were reassigned to the Squadriglia Collegamenti
were actually supporting the training role with the Scuola at Rome-Centocelle, and three
combat-ready.
its inferiority in other air arm of Addestramento Caccia at Lecce- by the Centro Osservazioni
From the data respects, it was an the royalist Leverano, and used for liaison Meteorologiche at Venice-Lido
available, effective dogfighter government flying. The Aviazione della for weather observation.
they were in southern
distributed Italy. They
thus: 2° Gruppo Intercettori, were assigned to the 21° Gruppo DATAFILE

SURVIVORS: Re 2001
four aircraft, of which three Caccia Terrestri and, following
were serviceable; 60° Gruppo

I
its disbandment in January
Intercettori at Lonate Pozzolo, 1944, the 101° Gruppo Tuffatori,
10 aircraft, seven serviceable; which also was operating the n the collection of the Italian Air Force Museum, otherwise
167° Gruppo Intercettori at remaining Re 2002s. known as the Museo Storico Aeronautica Militare, at Vigna di
Ciampino, 11 aircraft, nine The surviving Re 2001s were Valle north-west of Rome is Re 2001 MM08071. This pre-
serviceable; 22° Gruppo Caccia sporadically used over Balkan production example is the subject of a long-term restoration,
Terrestri at Capodichino, 10 territory in support of Italian having been recovered by well-known society GAVS (the Gruppo
aircraft, nine serviceable; 59° troops. They were mainly Amici Velivoli Storici) from the sea off Capo Ferrato, Sardinia,
Gruppo Intercettori at Metato, engaged in reconnaissance during 1991. BD
11 aircraft, eight serviceable; or special duties, such as that

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 The armistice having truncated its Regia Aeronautica
Re 2002 use, the Re 2002 found a niche with the Luftwaffe

Re 2002s of the 239ª Squadriglia

at a dusty Tarquinia airfield in June
1943, a few weeks before the unit’s
transfer to Crotone in response to
the Allied invasion of Sicily.

T
he Re 2002 was the Bernardi reported good flying hoping to further improve the two-seat Re 2003, ordered
result of a study, qualities, particularly in terms performance and desperately another 198 Re 2002s. Tests were
initiated in the summer of speed. seeking to solve the reliability performed that year to examine
of 1940, for a successor Given that, and in the hope issues. Despite the intention that the potential for the Re 2002 to
to the Re 2000 equipped with the the engine maladies would be it would be a fighter, the Re 2002 be embarked on aircraft carriers,
new Piaggio PXIX RC45 Turbine resolved, on 10 September 1941 would actually demonstrate but these were overtaken by
B 1,180hp air-cooled radial the Ministero dell’Aeronautica the best of its qualities as a the armistice, announced on
engine, and with performance placed an order with Reggiane fighter-bomber, even though 8 September. A further order
optimised for low and medium for a first batch of 200 aircraft. the carriage of stores impacted for 300 aircraft was placed
altitudes. The modifications In the second half of the year, negatively on its performance. with Reggiane in March 1943,
were such that, in the end, the Reggiane decided to install a In January 1943 the air with deliveries scheduled for
Re 2002 was very similar to the new version of the PXIX engine, ministry, having cancelled August, but again the armistice
Re 2001 apart from, obviously,
the engine. It was undoubtedly
the poor availability of the Alfa Having returned to Reggio Emilia after military
Romeo-built DB601 that evaluation at Guidonia, Re 2002 prototype
resulted in its development. MM454 is pictured on 19 April 1941.
The maiden flight of the new
aircraft, officially named as
the Ariete, was conducted by
Tullio De Prato at Reggio Emilia
in October 1940. Fine-tuning
proved particularly laborious
due to the unreliability of the
Piaggio engine, which resulted
in the suspension of flight-
testing in December. It was
therefore only possible to send
the prototype to Guidonia for
certification testing in March
1941. Despite further delays,
again caused by powerplant
unreliability, test pilot Mario de

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
intervened. By that date, 147 operational mission on
aircraft from the original order 10 July.

Background
had been delivered, while Operational activity was
around 100 more were at various intense, the pilots constantly
stages of assembly. being involved in ground attack
The German authorities and anti-shipping tasks. The
decided to go ahead with sortie of 13 July was noteworthy,
construction of the 53 aircraft 11 Re 2002s attacking British
of the first batch and a further shipping off the coast between
30 from the second order. Augusta and Syracuse. In this
Somewhat ironically they asked action the cruiser HMS Nelson
Reggiane whether it would be was hit, suffering damage that

Re 2000
able to produce further examples obliged it to return to Malta for
with a ‘wet’ wing, the same repairs to be carried out.
configuration that lay behind On the date of the armistice,
the type’s rejection by the the Re 2002s serving with the
Regia Aeronautica. It was also Regia Aeronautica included
proposed to install the 1,600hp The production line of the Caproni plant in Taliedo near Milan, 10 aircraft, of which four were
BMW 801 engine, which should undertaking Re 2002 manufacturing. serviceable, that had recently
have afforded the Re 2002 flying been delivered to the 159°
characteristics on a par with, or Gruppo of the 50° Stormo at
even superior to, those of the Fixed armament comprised to the 5° Stormo d’Assalto. The Lonate Pozzolo. They were

Re 2001
Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Nothing ever two 12.7mm Breda SAFAT two unit’s Gruppi, the 101° and immediately requisitioned by the
came of this. Before the bombing machine guns with 450 rounds 102°, were transferred from Germans. In addition there were
raid which completely destroyed for the right-hand gun and 390 Lonate Pozzolo to Crotone 23, including 12 serviceable, with
the factory on 7-8 January 1944, for the left: these were mounted in Calabria in early July 1943, the 5° Stormo, which had moved
Reggiane managed to supply on the nose and synchronised and were heavily involved to Manduria airfield in Puglia.
the Luftwaffe with 15 new-build to fire through the propeller arc. countering the Allied landings The 5° Stormo’s pilots,
aircraft and another 10 which Two other Breda SAFAT 7.7mm in Sicily and Calabria, suffering now in the ranks of the Regia
had been in store with the machine guns — 290 rounds on heavy losses in terms of both Aeronautica del Sud, wished
company, ready for collection by the right, 350 aircraft and to intervene against German

Re 2002
the Regia Aeronautica. on the left — pilots. Among operations against the Italian
Some of the surviving factory were mounted The Re 2002 would the latter were garrisons on Corfu and
equipment was relocated to in the wings. Cap Gino Cephalonia. However, they
Caproni at Taliedo, which A 450 or 500kg
actually demonstrate Priolo, shot were forced to wait until the
by some miracle was able to bomb could the best of its qualities down on 19 end of September by a delay in
produce another small series of be carried on as a fighter-bomber July, and Magg the Allied command granting
aircraft for the Germans before the ventral Giuseppe permission for the unit to restart
the end of the war. In all, 225 attachment, Cenni, lost in combat operations, whereupon
Re 2002s were completed. and two 16kg (35lb) bombs combat on 4 September, both of the Re 2002s began attacking

Re 2005
under the wings. whom were decorated with the outposts, landing craft and
Technical details Medaglia d’Oro al Valor Militare. German forces. Despite the
Regia Aeronautica Cenni had only assumed efforts of pilots and personnel, it
The majority of its technical service command of the 5° Stormo was not possible to prevent the
characteristics were similar from Magg Nobili a few weeks sacrifice of around 15,000 Italian
to those of the Re 2001, such The Re 2002 entered service at earlier, Nobili having been lost soldiers who were massacred by
as the monocoque fuselage the beginning of 1943, assigned during the unit’s inaugural German troops.
clad in duralumin, the cockpit
and canopy, the wing design
and structure, and the fabric- Post-armistice, around 40 Re 2002s
covered duralumin ailerons went to the Regia Aeronautica del
Sud. This example served with the
and flaps. Four self-sealing fuel
239ª Squadriglia of the 102º Gruppo.
tanks housed in the wing had
a capacity of 200 litres, that in
the fuselage holding around
130 litres. Endurance could be
increased by a 240-litre ventral
supplementary tank and two
wing-mounted drop tanks of
100 litres each. On production
aircraft the engine was a Piaggio
PXIX RC45 14-cylinder air-
cooled 1,180hp unit, fitted with
a compressor, and driving a
three-bladed Piaggio P2001
constant-speed propeller with
mechanically controlled variable
pitch in flight.

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
Fliegerzielgeschwader 2, but as
A new-production Re 2001, carrying c/n 5240, waiting to be delivered to the Luftwaffe. French resistance operations
Most of those supplied after the summer of 1943 had the engine mounted lower in the grew in intensity during early
fuselage, with a new, tapered cowling shape and a shorter radiator oil air vent. 1944 two of its Gruppen were
re-roled as a specialised anti-
resistance unit, the Geschwader
Bongart, named after its
commanding officer Hermann-
Josef Freiherr von dem Bongart.
Formed in April 1944, the
Geschwader flew many different
aircraft types on attack and other
sorties from different bases in
the areas of greatest resistance
operations. For most of its
existence, it was headquartered
at Bourges. It is confirmed that,
in 1944, Luftwaffe Re 2002s
were operational in the Aisne
department, the Vercors Massif,
and the area around Limoges.
In May 1944 some of the
aircraft were destroyed in a
On 13 October 1943, after operations and were Luftwaffe service bombing raid on the airfield
the Italian government had transferred to the Scuola Caccia at Etampes-Mondésir, while
declared war on Germany, (Fighter School). Even then As previously stated, the another two were shot down
the 5° Stormo’s Arietes were their poor condition did not Luftwaffe requisitioned the during a low-level attack against
employed in operations to allow them to fly safely, and they Regia Aeronautica Re 2002s a group of Maquis in the Vercors
support the remaining Italian were consequently dumped, present at Lonate Pozzolo region. A further Re 2002 was
forces still holding out in the later to be scrapped at the and Reggio Emilia, together brought down, once again by
Balkans. These missions proved end of the war. During a few with other aircraft new off the the Maquis, in the Limoges area
very demanding for such a small months of activity with the production line, obtaining on 16 June 1944, and today the
number of aeroplanes, to the Regia Aeronautica in southern around 70 examples. Most restored fuselage is on display
point that in June 1944 they Italy, nine Re 2002s were lost in were flown initially by in the city’s Museum of the
were declared unfit for combat combat. Luftwaffe target-towing unit Resistance.

DATAFILE

SURVIVORS: Re 2002
H
aving recently been restored, Re 2002 MM8669 is a display, completed in late 2017, was done by Celin Avio. MM8669 is
prized exhibit in the Museo Storico Aeronautica Militare at painted as an aircraft serving with the 239ª Squadriglia after the
Vigna di Valle. It served briefly during wartime with the September 1943 armistice. In addition, as mentioned in the main
Regia Aeronautica before being requisitioned by the text, the Musée de la Résistance in Limoges, France, has the
Germans. From the late 1960s onwards, this sole survivor was the fuselage of ex-Luftwaffe Re 2002 c/n 1256, shot down on 16 June
subject of various restoration attempts — the work to ready it for 1944 while serving with the Geschwader Bongart. BD

Newly finished Re 2002 MM8669 on show in the impressive Vigna di The strikingly displayed, well-restored Re 2002 fuselage is much
Valle museum. GREGORY ALEGI prized by the Musée de la Résistance in Limoges. RAQUET PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY

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 The finest Reggiane fighter was
Re 2005 a case of ‘too little, too late’

A very pleasing study of second

Background
Re 2005 prototype MM495.

Re 2000
Re 2001
Re 2002
T
he Re 2005 was the last, In July the fighter was Technical details construction with the moving
and definitely the best, transferred to Guidonia for sections covered in fabric.
of the monoplane more flight tests, and the The Re 2005’s fuselage, 53cm The retractable undercarriage
fighters produced by following month it moved to (20.9in) longer than the Re 2001’s was formed by two independent
Reggiane during the Second Furbara for armament trials. Its due to adoption of the DB605 legs, each formed by a lateral
World War. At first glance, it performance impressed, one engine, was of monocoque and rearward-braced elastic leg
could be considered an test seeing a speed of 678km/h construction in duralumin. The with a swing arm for the wheel.

Re 2005
evolution of the Re 2001, but it (421mph) being reached at one-piece wing, redesigned in The wheels retracted laterally
was a very different aircraft, with 7,000m (22,966ft). The Re 2005, structure and profile and also in towards the outer wing and, with
a more tapered and aerodynamic officially dubbed the Sagittario, light alloy, was of semi-elliptical the undercarriage fully retracted,
fuselage, a new engine, revised also stood out for its handling, planform with a bi-convex each leg was housed in a bay
armament and a completely endurance and armament. variable profile of decreasing between the first and second
revamped undercarriage. Some pilots judged it the best thickness. It was fitted with longerons, entirely contained
The design of the aircraft of Italy’s ‘series 5’ fighters from detachable wingtips. The Frise within the thickness of the
began in 1941. By the end of that difficult time, ahead of the ailerons were of duralumin wing. The tailwheel retracted
the year the first prototype Macchi MC205 and Fiat G55. In structure clad in fabric, and the simultaneously with the main
had been prepared to receive each case, their development left-hand aileron was fitted with a undercarriage. Fuel was housed
the 12-cylinder Daimler-Benz was limited by the state of the trim tab which could be adjusted in four independent self-sealing
DB605A-1 engine. However, the conflict when they entered on the ground. The cantilever tanks located in the wing,
powerplant was the subject of a operational service. tailplane was also of metal holding a total of 580 litres.
strange saga, which resulted in a The armament was made up
few months’ delay to completion of two Breda SAFAT 12.7mm
of the aircraft. Having been machine guns installed in the
despatched from Germany in fuselage and synchronised to
December 1941, after crossing fire through the propeller disc,
the Italian border all trace of the a Mauser 20mm cannon on
engine was mysteriously lost, the engine firing through the
probably to an act of sabotage. It propeller shaft, and two 20mm
was located four months later in Mauser cannon positioned in the
a railway depot near Milan. For wing, firing outside the propeller
this reason the first prototype disc. The magazines held 350
Re 2005, MM494, was only able rounds for the machine guns
to complete its maiden flight The first prototype, MM494, ready for its long-delayed maiden and 200 rounds for each cannon.
on 10 May 1942, with Magg Da flight, performed at Reggio Emilia on 10 May 1942. The fighter possessed a ventral
Prato at the controls. hardpoint, capable of carrying

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS
Adriano Mantelli of the Centro Other service
One of the few Re 2005s to become operational Sperimentale at Guidonia,
with the 362ª Squadriglia of the 22° Gruppo at who thought of employing the By 8 September 1943, Reggiane
Naples-Capodichino was MM092347.
twin-engine IMAM Ro 58 he had completed two Re 2005
was flying at this trials unit to prototypes and 29 of an initial
attack large bomber formations series of 34 aircraft, with the
by dropping its bombs on top remaining five under assembly.
of them, generating explosions Limited use of six was made by
among the offensive loads the air force of the Repubblica
aboard the Allied aircraft. The Sociale Italiana, which flew
Sagittarios would be used to them for a short period in the
attack any remaining bombers advanced training role during
with their standard armament. the early months of 1944.
As the Ro 58 was subsequently Soon after the armistice,
destroyed during an Allied raid, the German command
up to 1,000kg (2,204lb) of bombs, based at Naples-Capodichino the project was abandoned. requisitioned all the available
and two underwing stations and Capua, and composed August 1943 saw a suspension Re 2005s, whether manufactured
for bombs with a maximum of the 359ª, 362ª, 369ª and of operational flying due to or under construction. It
weight of 160kg (353lb), or 150ª Squadriglie, operating structural problems with instructed Reggiane to introduce
supplementary fuel tanks each principally in defence of the the tails of the aircraft. some major modifications, such
containing 100 litres. cities of Rome and Naples Two airframes were sent to as the inversion of the throttle
and obtaining some combat Reggiane for the problems to control function, changes
Regia Aeronautica successes against Allied be solved, the phenomenon to the electrical system, the
service bombers. In early July, with of aeroelasticity the probable replacement of the engine and
the Allied invasion of Sicily cause. It was all too late, propeller with original German
Despite its performance, the imminent, the 362ª Squadriglia though. On the day of the components, and application of
Sagittario appeared to be less Luftwaffe emblems. It is believed
favoured than the Fiat G55, that at least 13 aircraft were
judged by certain elements to be Despite its performance, the Re 2005 appeared completed for the Luftwaffe,
predestined for success, to be less favoured than the Fiat G55 which, due to the Re 2005’s
and the Macchi MC205, excellent performance, decided
which was already ready for to deploy them as part of the
production. Nevertheless, with eight aircraft was deployed armistice, 8 September 1943, defence of Berlin, but it
Reggiane was authorised to to the island and based at the personnel of the 22° Gruppo seems as if they never
begin manufacturing a first Sigonella. After just a couple of Caccia Terrestre engaged in the actually left Italy.
‘pre-series’ of 16 aircraft, and weeks and some clashes with destruction of the final seven
a decision by the Ministero British fighters, the squadriglia serviceable aircraft, putting an The author thanks Giorgio
dell’Aeronautica to launch returned to Naples with its few immediate end to the story of Apostolo and Enrico Leproni for
production was announced in remaining serviceable aircraft, this beautiful and unfortunate their assistance, together with the
January 1943, six months after reuniting with the 22° Gruppo. fighter in the ranks of the Regia Apostolo and Paulo Monti
the prototype’s certification The pilots belonging to this Aeronautica. archives for supplying imagery.
flights. Reggiane received unit, which besides its five
orders for 600 series production Sagittarios also possessed a few
aircraft and another 18 pre- Re 2001s and Macchi MC202s, DATAFILE

SURVIVORS: Re 2005
series versions — the latter, on a were strenuously engaged in
practical level, were effectively defending Italian cities from
the only examples constructed. Allied bombers.
Delivery of the Re 2005 to the It is worth mentioning an There is no complete Re 2005 still extant, but a rear fuselage and
Regia Aeronautica began in May attempt at making special tail section are exhibited by the Museo dell’aeronautica Gianni
1943, some 20 machines being use of two Re 2005s equipped Caproni in Trento. MM092351 served with the 362ª Squadriglia of
assigned to the 22° Gruppo with 500kg bombs. The the 22° Gruppo following the armistice of 1943. BD
Autonomo Caccia Terrestre, idea was developed by Cap

MM092351, the rear fuselage of which is preserved today,

shows the famous 362ª Squadriglia scarecrow emblem
painted on the white fuselage band. CHRIS SANDHAM-BAILEY

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 DATABASE REGGIANE FIGHTERS

Re 2000

Background
Re 2001

Re 2000
Re 2001
Re 2005

Re 2002
Re 2005

Re 2005

Re 2005

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 A PORTRAIT OF ONE OF THE ROYAL NAVY’S
MOST EFFECTIVE AIRCRAFT
The Fairey Firefly two-seater
strike-fighter emerged from a
troubled gestation to become
one of the most widely used and
effective aircraft of the Royal
Navy’s Fleet Air Arm.

In this book, naval aviation historian

Matthew Willis details the type’s
varied career - from fighter, to sub-
hunter, to pilotless target drone.
With over 160 rare or unpublished
photographs and a detailed
commentary covering every aspect
of the Firefly, this book pays the
ultimate tribute to one of the Royal
Navy’s most effective aircraft.

HISTORIC MILITARY AIRCRAFT SERIES, VOLUME 1.

SOFTBACK, 96 PAGES.

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SUBSCRIBERS CALL FOR YOUR £2 DISCOUNT!

370/20

370 Fairey Firefly book.indd 96 17/08/2020 16:48

 Reviews
REVIEWS RATING
★★★★★ Outstanding
★★★★★ Excellent
★★★★★ Good
★★★★★ Flawed
★★★★★ Mediocre
Enough said

The latest books for the discerning aviation enthusiast

the most accurate
Auster Production in black-and-white, some in reproduction of one,
Histories colour, are well-chosen and so these two have
well-reproduced, but printed the best credentials
by Malcolm Fillmore
small. Interspersed are a few to write a book
published by Air-Britain
Auster advertisements of old, on this highly
Here we have, two years later, one marvellously understated significant type.
the companion volume to Air- example extolling the Aiglet An early chapter
Britain’s Auster: The Company Trainer as “One of the Best and looks at Geoffrey de
and the Aircraft. The original Cheapest aerobatic trainers”. Havilland’s initial
title gave the history of the An appendix gives production experiments in aviation, leading to his
company, both as Taylorcraft figures for each model and employment by the Royal Aircraft Factory
and as Auster, profiles of
BOO K comes up with the surprising, and the design of the BE2. This was, it
the aircraft types produced not to say impressive, grand turns out, a fortuitous result of the ‘old boy
and plenty of tabular data. This of the total of 3,697 Austers built. network’, de Havilland having been at school
follow-up offers no narrative MONTH This is a work of reference, a with Maj F. M. Green, who was the senior
descriptive text but goes straight labour of love and a tour de force, engineer at Farnborough. It’s reasonably
in at the deep end with the history produced in the best Air-Britain well-known that the prototype BE2 was
of every Auster built. Each entry gives a style. Taken together, these two volumes built as a benchmark for the 1912 military
construction number, serial/registration, provide an unrivalled, never-to-be- trials, but ended exceeding the performance
ownership (and changes of ownership), surpassed record of one of the UK’s major of all of them; however, I was unaware of
significant life events and status or fate. The manufacturers of light aeroplanes. the many experiments the machine was
treatment is rigorous; only in the case of Denis J. Calvert subjected to. These are detailed in the
the Israeli Defence Force/Air Force, which following chapter, including fitting with
acquired 21 Austers from RAF stocks, ISBN 978-0-85130-535-6; 12.0 x 8.5in floats, and some rather unusual upper
and of licence-production in Portugal is hardback; 256 pages, illustrated; £39.95 wing sails intended to improve directional
there, as explained, significant conflicting (£29.50 to Air-Britain members) stability.
information about identities. Photos, some ★★★★ After this, the majority of the book
consists of the history of each of the 81
aircraft manufactured. Each one is covered
Sharks of managed a return to aircraft design with in detail and copiously illustrated, taking
Spanish and Egyptian companies. in many individual stories of triumphs and
the Air On the down-side, the occasional mis- tragedies. For the technically minded, there
by James Neal spelling of a German title and the incorrect are sections on the engineering of the BE2a
Harvey designations given for German aircraft types and its subsequent developments, the BE2b,
published by (for instance, ‘Bf-109’ and ‘Me-262’ rather c, d, e and f, the many experiments carried
Casemate than the correct Bf 109 and Me 262) are out on bombing, aerial fighting and radio
As a biography unfortunate. Similarly, reference to the post- communication, and the four distance
of Wilhelm Emil war ‘Fiat G31’ (Fiat G91), licence-produced and altitude records broken by the BE2a.
Messerschmitt — by a consortium including Messerschmitt, This book has been designed and printed
known to all and should not have sneaked past the proof- to the highest standards, with excellent
sundry as ‘Willy’ reader. A final point concerns the enigmatic photographs on every page, influenced,
— this volume statement on page 34 that the Supermarine no doubt, by Willox’s previous career as a
covers the ground well. The author sets Spitfire “had first flown as a racer”. I’m still graphic designer. David Bremner
the scene for Messerschmitt’s early aircraft pondering that one. DJC
designs for his own company, Flugzeugbau ISBN 978-0-646-81386-8; 10.2 x 10.2in
Messerschmitt; then, after a company ISBN 978-1-61200-892-9; 9.0 x 6.0in hardback, 191 pages, illustrated; £30 from
merger, for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG softback; 402 pages, illustrated; £18.99 [email protected]
(hence the ‘Bf’ designation prefix) and finally, ★★ ★★★★
after a rename, for Messerschmitt AG (the
‘Me’ prefix). There is much of interest in his
account of the difficulties facing an aircraft BE2a: A Definitive History Jet Man
designer in Germany in the 1930s, and by Paul R. Hare and Andrew Willox by Duncan Campbell-Smith
similarly when relating how Messerschmitt published by Aerohistory published by Head of Zeus
survived the war, avoided war crimes charges,
was intensively interrogated and probed by Paul R. Hare is among the leading historians This comprehensive biography is subtitled
British and American engineers, and finally on the BE2a and Andrew Willox has built ‘The Making and Breaking of Frank

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 Reviews

Whittle, Genius of Scout and Lynx, to the exceptionally potent experiences flying zero-g parabolas in an
the Jet Revolution’. attack capability afforded by the Westland/ Airbus A300 (the ‘vomit comet’) and, finally,
In his text, AgustaWestland-built WAH-64 Apache. his time on the International Space Station.
Campbell-Smith Today, the (eventual) acquisition of the The facts are as well-marshalled and clearly
steers a mid-course Apache seems an obvious move to have presented as one might expect. This volume
to give equal weight made, but Gibson’s new book reminds us scores with the honesty, reflection and
to discussion how this was not so. Indeed, in one of the humour with which Peake approaches the
of the man, his most interesting chapters, it details the range story. There are some glorious asides, such
flying career with of contenders — not just those that, in the as details of the urinary infection he suffered
the RAF and his 1990s, ended up competing for the contract, on board the ISS and his understated
pioneering work on but the unbuilt projects preceding that stage. comment, “A fever in micro-gravity has very
the jet engine, while Indeed, this is surely the fullest account of little to recommend it”. An engrossing read.
avoiding diving Westland’s own WG44, 45 and 47 concepts DJC
over-deeply into the technical aspects. yet committed to print.
Whittle was only 21 years of age when he Helping draw together the different ISBN 978-1-529-12557-3; 9.5 x 6.3in
first put forward, in his thesis as a Cranwell strands, the author outlines well the hardback; 478 pages, illustrated; £20.00
cadet, the concept of an ‘air turbine’ (gas changing strategic and political landscape, HHHH
turbine) which would, he argued, “be more while his text is supported by a good
efficient than the petrol internal combustion range of photos and illustrations, all well-
engine and […] more suitable for high reproduced. And the two appendices, Safety is No Accident:
altitude work”. This statement he backed detailing the outlandish Westland WG37 From ‘V’ Bombers to Concorde
up with pages of calculations, drawings advanced combat helicopter and Hawker
by John R. W. Smith
and diagrams. But however convincing his Siddeley’s HS812 VTOL battlefield aircraft,
published by
arguments, he met a wall of scepticism and make for a fascinating read in themselves. Pen & Sword Air World
the heavy hand of bureaucracy for some 10 Much recommended. Ben Dunnell
years. It was not until a complete about- While the shelves of
face by the Air Ministry in June 1939 that he ISBN 978-0-9561951-7-3; 11.0 x 8.3in aviation bookshops
finally got the backing he needed to develop softback; 64 pages, illustrated; £11.95 are, at least
a “flight engine and the aircraft that would plus p&p from metaphorically,
test it”. How fanciful is it to suggest that, had [email protected] stacked with a
his work been funded earlier, the course HHHH selection of titles
and the duration of the war might have been written by test pilots,
different? there is by contrast
This is a fascinating account, well- Limitless a definite dearth of
written and detailed. The fact that photo by Tim Peake volumes penned
reproduction is only ‘acceptable’ is more a published by Century by aeronautical
comment on the paper stock used than on engineers, whose
the photos themselves. DJC This is the role in flight-testing is equally important
autobiography of if largely unsung. Flight test engineer and
ISBN 978-1-788-544696; 9.5 x 6.2in Tim Peake, one of author Smith here relates his experiences
hardback; 534 pages, illustrated; £30.00 that very select band during the 1960s, ’70s and into the ’80s, with
HHHH of British astronauts, both Avro and the Civil Aviation Authority.
which tells his story While at Avro, he was involved with the 748,
in 25 chapters and its military derivative the 748MF/Andover,
The General Staff in three parts — the Shackleton in its many different marks,
and the Helicopter ‘earth’, ‘sky’ and the Nimrod and the Victor Mk2, whose
‘space’. It covers his conversion to air-to-air refuelling tanker
by Chris Gibson
life through school, configuration was finally entrusted to Avro
published by Blue Envoy Press
model aircraft flying, once Handley Page had been allowed to go
The number of Sandhurst, the Army out of business.
British military Air Corps as a helicopter pilot, an exchange This account of his 1,907 hours of flight-
aviation projects posting flying the AH-64 Apache with the US testing is well and engagingly presented,
that would go Army in Texas, Empire Test Pilots’ School, with a good balance struck between
largely ignored by and then — not wanting to ‘progress’ to a technical detail and the more human
publishers were it desk job in the army — joining Westland aspects of the job. Photos, many of them
not for Blue Envoy as a test pilot. In fact, his time there would from the archives of the wonderful Avro
and its ProjectTech be limited. He had, with the company’s Heritage Museum at Woodford, are decently
Profiles series knowledge, already applied to the European reproduced. Your reviewer’s cry ‘where was
continues to be Space Agency for astronaut training, the proof-reader when he/she was needed?’
substantial. This competing with 8,000 other applicants. was, though, heard as early as page 3 on
goes for rotary- Progressing through the selection process, encountering the line, “the Handley-Page
wing topics in particular. The General Staff he succeeded in becoming one of the six airfield at Radlet” (and not “the Handley
and the Helicopter follows on from similar selected. To its great credit, Westland was Page airfield at Radlett”). The devil, as ever,
volumes covering the Air Staff and the pleased to have the publicity and to have lurks in the detail. DJC
Admiralty, examining how the Army Air an astronaut on its books, despite his quick
Corps’ front-line helicopter force developed departure. ISBN 978-1-52676-944-2; 10.0 x 7.0in
from very limited beginnings with lightly The story continues with his astronaut hardback; 278 pages, illustrated; £25.00
armed Skeeters, through the missile-armed training, his learning Russian, weightless HHH

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 AVIATION SPECIALS ESSEN T IA L R E AD I N G F R OM KE Y P U B L I S H I N G

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 A DAY
AT T H E

FLYING
SHOW

LEGENDS
1993
How it all began… the very first, ‘toe-in-the-water’ edition of The Fighter
Collection’s renowned warbird display WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

F
lying Legends. Good a practical way of doing so. But all-in historic aeroplane show,
name for an airshow, this one would be different. Very both military and civil. He asked
certainly. But what different, in fact. whether I thought the public
was it? Only, as things Interviewed for this magazine would come, because they like
turned out, the proof-of-concept a couple of years ago, Stephen the noise and all the rest of it. I
exercise for what became the said, “When I decided we were said, ‘Yes, that’s exactly what I’m
world’s finest warbird display. going to do it, I said to Ted, saying’. If a jet comes roaring in
They were rather simpler ‘Look, this may not be to your and does an afterburning show
times when Stephen Grey, liking but we’re not going to and then we fly a Spitfire it is
founder of The Fighter bring in jets’. It was a question of difficult to have somebody in
Collection, put to IWM Duxford choreography. I’m not anti-jets awe of it. To a new visitor, it’s just
director Ted Inman his idea for a — they’re very exciting things a small aircraft flying around,
new event. Inman was receptive — but Duxford is an historic making little noise. If you have
— indeed, he was keen to fill out airfield, we were only there a Spitfire there all on its own,
Duxford’s calendar, and having because we had some historic people will come to recognise a
extra shows organised by the aeroplanes and I believed the Spitfire and its wonderful sound.
based private operators offered place was worthy of having an Ted agreed: ‘OK, fine, have a go’.”

The star of Flying Legends 1993: the first appearance

of The Fighter Collection’s recently restored FM-2
Wildcat, BuNo 86711/N4845V. It had arrived in March,
following restoration by Fighter Rebuilders at Chino,
and duly appeared on the flightline with TFC’s F6F-5K
Hellcat and F8F-2P Bearcat, and Plane Sailing’s F7F-3
Tigercat, though the latter was soon to leave British
shores and did not fly in the display. PETER R. MARCH

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 That was quite a step. Others
felt such a purist affair would
only ever appeal to a niche
audience. Even Duxford’s
existing warbird event, the
Classic Fighter show — run

EUAN LEITCH
jointly by the IWM, TFC and the
Old Flying Machine Company
— always had a jet element,
both modern and historic. The
The opening gambit: TFC’s
Great Warbirds Air Display, by
P-38J Lightning, with
then being staged at Wroughton, show founder Stephen
and the North Weald Fighter Grey at the helm, leads
Meet went further by including in P-47D Thunderbolt No
present-day helicopters, Guts — No Glory! and P-51D
airliners and aerobatic acts. Mustang Candyman/Moose,
accompanied by Intrepid
Flying Legends would have none
Aviation’s North Weald-based
of that. After more than a quarter P-51D, in the hands of the
of a century, the rightness of the late Norman Lees. B-17G
idea — that historic aeroplanes Sally B also joined in this slot.
could stand on their own — Another Mustang, Franklin
seems obvious. But back then it Devaux’s F-AZIE Short Fuse

PETER R. MARCH
Sallee from Dijon, appeared
was quite the innovation.
on static display after a major
overhaul by Historic Flying at
I believed Audley End.

Duxford was
worthy of having
an all-in historic
TFC’s then chief pilot, the late
aeroplane show, ‘Hoof’ Proudfoot, introduced
the newly arrived Wildcat to the
both military and display scene. It was one-sixth of
a US Navy flight with Skyraider,
civil Bearcat, Hellcat and two Corsairs
— the OFMC’s example of the
Come the day, 3 May 1993 — a latter joining TFC’s — before the
diminutive fighter had its own
Bank Holiday Monday — the slot. N4845V spent only one
doubters would be silenced. season in these US Marine Corps
Flying Legends felt suitably colours before receiving the
different. For a start, TFC Fleet Air Arm scheme it wears to
introduced a flightline walk, this day.
a chance to get closer to the
display aircraft for a nominal £3.
PETER R. MARCH

Given time, all the IWM shows

would follow suit. And then
there was the flying, three hours’
worth of it, non-stop in nature,
including many combinations EUAN LEITCH
never before seen at a British
display. Most importantly, on
a pleasant spring day, 12,000
PETER R. MARCH

people came to watch. Just as

Stephen Grey said it would, the
experiment had worked.
It proved a stepping-stone
to much bigger things. 1993’s
Classic Fighter Air Show was the
last, and TFC was asked to fill
the gap. A larger, two-day Flying
Legends was the result, and
no-one who was there will ever
forget it. Now, with the move to
Sywell, the show is heading on
to its next phase. But what better
time to relive a few highlights of
the year it all started.

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 A DAY
AT T H E
SHOW

It was a frustrating day for

Mark Hanna, in the Old Flying
Machine Company’s Fury
ISS, G-BTTA. The fighter, then
in Royal Netherlands Navy
markings, made two take-offs
but only managed a short display
appearance due to technical
problems.

EUAN LEITCH
From the start, Flying Legends wasn’t just about the potent
warbird end of the spectrum. To that end, the de Havilland Moth
Club’s Diamond Nine team of Tiger Moths, led by Charlie Shea-
Simonds, was tailed by Trevor Butcher in Classic Wings-operated
Dragon Rapide G-AKIF. They formed part of a de Havilland-themed
PETER R. MARCH

segment, which further saw DH88 Comet Grosvenor House coming

over from Old Warden, and BAe’s Mosquito TIII, that great stalwart
we all assumed would be around forever…
PETER R. MARCH

Oh, to see this again… the

Ministry of Defence-owned,
IWM-operated Bf 109G-2/
Trop ‘Black 6’ in action.
Very unusually, John
Allison flew the fighter in
a tailchase with the Battle
of Britain Memorial Flight’s
EUAN LEITCH

Spitfire Vb.

The RAF’s 75th anniversary provided the theme for the

finale — rather than a big Balbo, then still the Classic
Fighter show’s closing showpiece, this one involved a
range of RAF-related types. Sqn Ldr Chris Stevens led
the main element in BBMF Spitfire Vb AB910; the other
‘Spits’ were TFC’s LFIXe ML417 and FRXIVe MV293,
Eddie Coventry’s LFXVIe TD248 and David Tallichet’s
LFXVIe RW382. Bringing up
the rear was TFC’s P-40N
Kittyhawk. A further trio
saw Shuttleworth’s Hind
and Gladiator being led
by TFC’s Hurricane XIIa
‘Z7381’. Right from the start,
PETER R. MARCH

Flying Legends was setting

EUAN LEITCH

a new standard for unusual

formations, one it’s always
maintained.

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 Classified Call Gemma on 01780 663011 Ext. 153
E: [email protected]

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