As many of you will probably recall,the Sabena Old Timers Westland Lysander had a pretty nasty take-off accident at Brussels Airport a couple of years ago.I know Sabena have been having some chronic financial trouble and the machine was seriously damaged,so I’d be pleasantly surprised to hear of a rebuild plan.Does anyone know whether there is a plan to rebuild her to fly?
By: Mr.Tipsy - 6th May 2006 at 16:06
There indeed was no SOT aircraft in the hangar, but SOT will probably have some difficulties as there will now be a lack of hangarspace.
By: Fouga23 - 5th May 2006 at 22:05
as far as I know no SOT aircraft was in that hangar. I did read however that they need to move from the hangar they are now using
By: Newforest - 5th May 2006 at 20:43
We hope it is safe. In 2003, the Lysander was in Hangar 6 at Zaventem.
By: Propstrike - 23rd March 2004 at 21:50
This Lysander was seen in the UK on a number of occasions, notably the time when three flew in formation at Flying Legends in 1995 (I think) .
With a few days to kill before RIAT at Fairford, the Lysander turned up at White Waltham, and I managed to persuade the pilot to formate on me in a Tiger Moth, for a brief air/air shoot, though the speed differential was not ideal, and the Tiger is tricky to shoot from, being very windy, and with struts in all the wrong places. Luckily, the Lysander was fairly happy at 75 knots, and staying on the outside of an orbit helped a bit.
Photographer Austin Brown also has a crack at it, shooting from a Colt, on the flight to Fairford.
By: Stieglitz - 23rd March 2004 at 15:51
Originally posted by David Burke
The ARCO Lysander is for themselves. I believe the Sabena Lysander is destined to fly again.
Yes, it is planned that the Lysander will fly again, but much hard work needs to be done. I spoke with some people of The Sabena Oldtimers who own the Lysander.
They will restore their Lysander back to airworthy condition in the future. But first, they are restoring a second Lysander for static display for the royal museum of the the military airforce in Brussels. The money that the museum pays to the Sabena Oldtimers will be used to restore theire own Lysander to airworthy condition. This might take some years to complete.
The Lodestar is still owned by the team, but all the attention goes to the Lysanders for now. They will attempt to finish these two projects before their attention will go to the Lodestar. So, have patience!:)
By: duxfordhawk - 6th December 2003 at 20:03
Lysander
Hope she will fly again always thought that was the plan and would be great to see a pair of lizzies together in the air again and Lysanders were so vital to the war effort .
Is ARCO planning to rebuild one to fly again also?
By: David Burke - 5th December 2003 at 19:33
The ARCO Lysander is for themselves. I believe the Sabena Lysander is destined to fly again.
By: Kenneth - 5th December 2003 at 17:34
I read somewhere that it will be restored for static display in the museum in Brussels (which is where their CASA 352 went as well). Wonder what happened to the Lodestar they also had?
By: Black Knight - 5th December 2003 at 16:29
I thought that Lysander fuselage that ARCO got from Kermit Weeks was for that project.
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December 5, 2003 at 4:07 pm