The UK’s newest Mustang to appear at night photoshoot

The Thomas Castle Aviation Heritage Scholarship (TCAHS) has confirmed Fighter Aviation Engineering’s newly acquired Commonwealth CA-18 Mustang G-JERK (c/n 1435) ‘Jersey Jerk’, is to appear at its night photoshoot at Sywell Aerodrome, Northamptonshire, on March 16.

The event will give attendees the first opportunity to get up close to the fighter ahead of its first UK airshow season and initial experience flights as part of the Ultimate Warbird Flights fleet.

The former Royal Australian Air Force Mustang, which only arrived in the UK in November, has been repainted in the colours of 44-15152/QI-T Jersey Jerk – the personal mount of Maj Donald J Strait, commanding officer of the USAAF’s 361st Fighter Squadron, 356th Fighter Group based at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk during 1944. Strait flew 122 combat missions to become the 356th’s leading scorer with 13.5 ‘kills’.

In a statement, the Thomas Castle Aviation Heritage Scholarship said: “We’re extremely pleased and honoured to have been given the opportunity to showcase Jersey Jerk and the fantastic work of Air Leasing at our event. The goodwill of Richard Grace and all involved at Air Leasing, Ultimate Warbird Flights and 2Excel Aviation in supporting TCAHS demonstrates just how well-respected Thomas Castle was as both a pilot and an aeronautical engineer, as well as the importance of our work in his memory.”

Confirmation of Jersey Jerk’s appearance at the event continues a trend of TCAHS’ events offering the first chance for Air Leasing and Fighter Aviation to unveil their recent restorations to the public. In March 2023, Lockheed 12A Electra Junior, G-AFTL (c/n 1203), made its first public outing at a photoshoot in aid of the scholarship just 48 hours before the aircraft made its first flight in the UK in more than 80 years.

2Excel Aviation has also lent their support to the event, confirming that they are to provide the Zivko Edge 540 V2, N540BM (c/n 0039A) ‘24’, in which former Red Arrows pilot Ben Murphy competed in the Red Bull Air Race during 2018 and 2019.

The March 16 event is additionally set to feature several other Sywell-based aircraft, including a Pitts Special, Cassutt Racer, de Havilland Chipmunk, Slingsby SE.5A replica, and the de Havilland Tiger Moth, G-ANTE, around which the scholarship was formed in 2019.

TCAHS has also partnered with the Breighton-based Real Aeroplane Club to offer a second night photoshoot, to be held at the North Yorkshire airfield on March 30. That event is set to feature a pair of Buker Jungmeisters, a Fairchild Argus, Yakovlev Yak-18A and a Saab Safir, while Miles Hawk Trainer, G-AKAT/’T9738’, is to conduct an engine run.

Both events will raise funds for the Thomas Castle Aviation Heritage Scholarship, which was created by the family and friends of Thomas Castle, who lost his life in an aerobatics training incident in 2019. It aims to inspire young aviators and promote vintage aviation to young pilots by offering five hours of instruction in a de Havilland Tiger Moth. To date, more than half a dozen scholarship recipients have gone solo in Thomas’ Tiger Moth, G-ANTE.