WW2 in storage in uk

Graeme,

I’m sure we would all love to see the Flying A aircraft fly, however as I say the owner has no interest at all in flying them, or letting anybody else fly them for that matter. The thing we need to bear in mind is that these aircraft are all appreciating assets which are showing a good rate of return on their investment currently (or have been in recent years at least).

The Jim Pearce Me110’s were sold off to the Alpine Fighter Collection in New Zealand a long time ago, they have since been sold on again to a museum in Germany who rebuilt one to static condition using parts of the others along the way.

Probably the most exciting piece of kit in rebuild to flying form at the moment is HAC’s Yak 1.

yeah, i think that Flying A should fly all these planes they have, at the moe not alot of people can enjoy seing them.

i have few questions

if the TFC keeps there mossie, will they restore it in house or send away to be restored, if?, who 2?

Second question, jim pearce has the fw189, what else does he have that could fly or be restored to fly? i would like to know what he has in store, at one point he had a Me110?

thanks
Graeme

Flying A Services………

Now there’s an interesting one, Flying A is a direct descendant from Warbids of Great Britain. Warbirds of Great Britain ended in November 1992 following the death of Doug Arnold who had performed wonders with the aircraft preservation movement for almost 25 years by this point, although most of this was behind closed doors and largely unseen by the general public. During November 1992 the collection, other than the Naval Aircraft were dismantled and containerised and simply vanished, the Naval machines flew away.

A few years later (1996) David Arnold started Flying A Services, with plans to open a museum with interactive displays, Warbirds, Military Vehicles etc. At this point the Bearcat moved on to be operated by TFC before derating to America. A small team were dispatched on an overnight ferry on 2nd July 1996 from Harwich to Holland to prepare the F4U5 Corsair and Wildcat for the ferry flight to Earls Colne where they were overhauled by Hawker Restorations. The Wildcat making it to the UK on 4th July and the Corsair a few days later. By this time the Seafire had already arrived for completion of its restoration, however the original restorers work left an awful lot to be desired which has now resulted in the entire aircraft being stripped down to nothing again.
The Fw190 had been quietly being rebuilt throughout the 90’s in southern England, this later moved to Norfolk where it remains today although now under new ownership.
1996 was an exciting time with some rare aircraft being bought including the P47G and F82 Twin Mustang, although two other Mustangs and a P63 were sold at this time.
1997 saw the Corsair and Wildcat move to North Weald for storage where they were joined by the Hellcat which had remained hidden in the US since 92, in addition the P51D, P40N, Spitfire IX, XI, XVI and XVIII returned from their hiding place in containers and the Catalina was made to fly to North Weald (the orange one). Various sites were looked at for the museum which was to be on its own airfield close to the London area but none found as yet. 1997 also saw the Biggin Hill and Bournmouth hangers emptied of spares and the buildings sold.

The last five years have seen the Corsair and Hellcat sold to American owners, the Spit XI to a British operator and lost in a flying accident in France and the Catalina sold as well. The Wildcat has regularly been run, but has not flown since it arrived at North Weald and a few other aircraft have come and gone.
Today sees the Wildcat and Mustang for sale, with the Mustang being overhauled at North Weald, everthing else sits in the same container that has been its home for over 10 years. The museum may one day come, but……………………

One interesting piece of news is that I hear that another Mustang has been registered to the same registered owner of the Wildcat, so maybe we will see another container. I wouldn’t hold my breath to see any of the collection fly under their present ownership, David wasn’t keen on flying them even in 96 when the project was in full swing.

As for AJD Henschel, its in a bit of a state, not sure if they still have it even.

what is it with Flying A services? they have alot of aircraft at north weald. Was there Cat painted in british colours during the summer? Flying A is a weird collection, it has a good amount of rare aircraft, which should fly. When the Seafire is restored to flyin condition is it gona fly often? i think that if its the case with the wildcat and p47G, the HAC should operate them on behalf of flying A. When they had the Corsair and hellcat at north weald, did they fly at any airshows?

Is the me109E C.4E-88 that was at Hungerford, at north weald now? Flypast had a survey out a while back and it said that they werent sure what happened to that aircraft.

Yeah if any1 could answer the question about flying A and the Me109 would be grateful!

thanks

Graeme

Hi, the french site you listed says aircraft under restoration, not in storage.
I seem to remember a picture of the P36 in America, in an old issue of Warbirds Worldwide mentioning a european customer, so I believe this is the TFC one.
Finding it hard to keep up with the Spitfires listed in that page, also the P47G for Flying A is news to me.