dark light

How many "real" Furys and Sea Furys are there still flying?

As there is always a dicussion about Bouchons with Mercedes engines, it would be very interesting how many Furys still have their original Centaurus engine. Is the the aircraft of the RNHF really the only original one? (As long as the German example isn´t flying)

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,904

Send private message

By: STORMBIRD262 - 15th December 2017 at 10:12

good question mate, hopefully someone might pop up with the answer

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

843

Send private message

By: Kenneth - 14th December 2017 at 19:09

Are there any of the Iraqi Furies recovered in the Seventies still around which have not yet been restored?

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

2,156

Send private message

By: Stieglitz - 14th December 2017 at 17:57

And how about VH-ISS in Belgium? I know it is not flying at this point, but it is still a project in progress.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,130

Send private message

By: Zac Yates - 13th December 2017 at 02:41

Steve Hart aka Flying Fighters bought VH-SHF from New Zealand. It was operated by him for a few years – including a trip back here for the 2002 Warbirds Over Wanaka show – until it and several other aircraft were seized by the Australian Federal Police for tax reasons, as alluded to by Archer. I don’t know the full details but there are plenty of news stories and court documents online.

Only this year have some of the aircraft (not the Fury) been offered for sale at auction. I’m not sure if any sold, or what the future holds for ‘SHF.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,614

Send private message

By: Archer - 12th December 2017 at 15:34

Another small addition: According to the Flying Legends site (and my memory) the Fury now registered as G-CBEL is not the same airframe as the one I had in my list as VH-SHF.

  • G-CBEL is c/n 37539, originally a Fury ISS, restored to fly in 1991 as N36SF. Flew in the UK since 2009 as G-CBEL before moving to Australia as VH-SFW. Then came back and became G-CBEL again, taking on the ‘SR661’ prototype colours.
  • VH-SHF is c/n 37723, another Fury ISS that was originally N43SF but moved to NZ for a post-restoration flight as ZK-SFR in 1987. She gained a wing-fold mechanism courtesy of WG655, making this a hybrid ISS/Sea Fury I guess. This airframe then moved to Australia as VH-SHF and WarbirdRegistry lost track of her after 2005. A post on this forum from 2010 mentioned that the aircraft from this syndicate were held by the government in lieu of back taxes (see here: https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?102772-Sea-Fury-VH-SHF-still-around).

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

114

Send private message

By: OZFURYFAN - 12th December 2017 at 12:46

Small adjustment, VH-HFG is NX97SF owned by Walt Bowe and very active, N57JB is with John McGuires collection in Texas, previously as VH-HFA in Aust. VH-ORN is in storage in Wangaratta with the engine here in Darwin for overhaul, has been inactive for a few years so will need to be loved a little before flight:)))

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

128

Send private message

By: Pulsar-xp - 12th December 2017 at 10:07

So it is amazing that only four original Furys are still flying.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

128

Send private message

By: Pulsar-xp - 12th December 2017 at 10:03

Thank you very much for your help. As the warbird registry isn´t up to date,
it is very difficult some detailed informations about the current status of most of the flying aircraft.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,614

Send private message

By: Archer - 12th December 2017 at 09:35

Thank you John for updating the list. I knew that the WarbirdRegistry is outdated in some areas but I figured it would give us a starting point.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,411

Send private message

By: TempestV - 12th December 2017 at 08:05


F-AZXJ ~ R-2800
F-AZXL ~ R-3350(?)
G-CBEL ~ Centaurus
G-RNHF ~ Centaurus
N15S ~ R-3350
N19SF ~ R-2800
N1954H ~ R-3350
N20SF ~ R-4360
N233MB ~ R-3350
N24SF ~ R-3350
N39SF ~ R-3350
N42SF ~ R-3350
N62143 ~ R-3350
N71GB ~ R-3350
N85SF ~ R-3350
N924G ~ Centaurus
N97SF ~ Centaurus”

Well thank goodness that the airframe is adapable to a few different makes of engine, otherwise seeing a Sea Fury in the air would be a very-very rare thing…. and hat’s off to the Americans who made the conversions.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

20,613

Send private message

By: DazDaMan - 12th December 2017 at 06:53

Nothing to add, other than this video of N85SF getting air under her wings after rebuild to stock T.20 configuration (except for the R-3350, of course)

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

376

Send private message

By: JohnTerrell - 12th December 2017 at 01:51

Of all of the Sea Furies/Furies that are actually flown at this time, which total 17, only 4 of these have a Centaurus installed, as indicated below. These are all of the Sea Furies/Furies that I have totaled that have been operational within the past few years and could be flown right now. A couple of these are based in France, a couple are based in the UK, a couple are based in the Czech Republic, one is based in South Africa, and the rest are in the US.

(This list does not include Getchell’s Centaurus-powered N260X, which has not flown for more than a few years now, as I recall.)

F-AZXJ ~ R-2800
F-AZXL ~ R-3350(?)
G-CBEL ~ Centaurus
G-RNHF ~ Centaurus
N15S ~ R-3350
N19SF ~ R-2800
N1954H ~ R-3350
N20SF ~ R-4360
N233MB ~ R-3350
N24SF ~ R-3350
N39SF ~ R-3350
N42SF ~ R-3350
N62143 ~ R-3350
N71GB ~ R-3350
N85SF ~ R-3350
N924G ~ Centaurus
N97SF ~ Centaurus

Going through the list in Archer’s post which is based on the outdated Warbird Registry information…

-The former VH-HFG, now N57JB (same aircraft), has a Centaurus installed, but it hasn’t flown since 1989.
-The former VH-SHF is now G-CBEL, as seen in my list above.
-N103FD, which became VH-ORN, sold to Jan Roozen about 5 years ago, I believe, and I haven’t seen any sight of it since.
-VR930 hasn’t been flown in a number of years I believe.
-VX281 is the same as G-RNHF in my list above.
-VX300 is the same as N924F in my list above.
-WH587 is the same as N260X, which hasn’t been flying lately.
-WN480, also known as N60SF, has been in very long-term storage/restoration with the Military Aviation Museum.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

114

Send private message

By: OZFURYFAN - 11th December 2017 at 22:30

TJ, not lately as far as I know, he had some issues with plugs fouling I think, would be nice to see it back in the air with him in it!!

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,614

Send private message

By: Archer - 11th December 2017 at 20:56

G-CBEL
VH-HFG
VH-SHF
N57JB
N103FD
VR930
VX281
VX300
WH587
WN480
But this is based on what is probably outdated information from WarbirdRegistry.org.

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,067

Send private message

By: T J Johansen - 11th December 2017 at 20:20

Does Getchell still fly N260X?

T J

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

561

Send private message

By: DH82EH - 11th December 2017 at 18:35

This one sure can fly. Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6F5N8DJvwE

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

1,503

Send private message

By: Sopwith - 11th December 2017 at 18:10

The one at Sywell has a Centaurus G-CBEL.

Sign in to post a reply