Any News On Duxford Sea Fury T20 D-CACY?

As I understand it, work on the single-seater out there (WG599) is progressing well (though I have no timeframe for its completion).

The crashed VX281 that was sold to TFC has also gone out there as a spares source for VZ345 – useful given the differences between T20 and FB11.

We can all hope time will tell

Fingers crossed they both remain Centaurus powered…

I saw your post at WIX John, thanks for sharing! Some excellent news for British enthusiasts.

Are both owned by Stephen, or just VZ345?

It has been reported via the latest edition of “Warbirds International” that both WG599 and VZ345, owned by Stephen Grey, are under restoration to fly at Matt Nightingale’s California Aerofab shop, now located at Chino airport. The work to be done on getting WG599 completed/flying sounds to be fairly straight forward, but the work to be done on returning VZ345 to the air is considerably more, so some components of VZ345 are with Steve Hinton’s Fighter Rebuilders shop. California Aerofab was of course responsible for the restoration of TFC’s Hawk 75, P-36 and early P-40’s. (Also, California Aerofab have the Frasca family’s very complete Spitfire Mk.XVIII TP276 under restoration to fly, which had previously been in storage for many years).)

Back in 2012

http://www.platinumfighters.com/sold?lightbox=MPG0_sitepage_3_photoStackerGallery10_pic_2

A recent thread on WIX reported some Sea Fury activity at Chino airport that included WH599 and a possible VZ345 sighting.

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=65810

I happened to be reading Goodall’s Sea Fury stuff yesterday:
(Griffiths died 2011, Precision Aerospace ceased ops)
struck-off Register as “non-flying aircraft, parts sold” 22.6.15
reportedly exported to US with VZ345 .15

I thought it moved on from Australia some time ago and restoration was underway again

She was exported to Australia and ended up at Wangaretta with Airworld but got caught up in the issues there. As far as I am aware she is still there awaiting completion.

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/modalapplication.aspx?catid=1&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=detailnosummary&fullregmark=SEAF

Remember hearing two elderly visitors have an argument about what it was.
The final line went. “Has it got a German registration? Yes, SO IT IS A FW190” 😮
mmitch.

Wasn’t the talk, at the time of it’s departure from Duxford, that it was going to the Bianchis for restoration for Kermit Weeks?

Still is

Last spotted stored dismantled in Norfolk, at least part of it being outside.

Easy mistake to make seafuryfan, D-CACY was the DLB’s only single seater.

Thanks for the replies and photos, Gents. Having seen Thomas’s website again, I think the aircraft in its present state would be rather nice to keep as a time capsule, to illustrate this interesting role. But, market forces being what they are and all that

I didn’t know it was a single seater.

I often wondered wha had happened to this airframe. Here’s a view that supports Ant’s single cockpit statement.

Last I heard,she was in storage somewhere in Norfolk awaiting restoration and/or export. She appeared in the static line-up at one of the Legends shows (can’t remember which,’95 possibly),and was in one of the hangars at DX for a year or two after. Incidentally,she’s actually a single-seater and not a T.20.

IIRC Ask Kermitt