Russell Aviation Group

I see it has been sometime since anyone asked about the Russel Group aircraft so not sure if this info will be relevant anymore? I hope this next link may be of some use?
https://bigginhillheritagehangar.co.uk/

The aircraft have never really been advertised for sale.
Over the years there are been many rumours of what Ed is asking for the ME109
The most consistent has been $10,000,000. I have never heard $14 million until reading it here.
In reality Ed has never publically put a price on any of his aircraft.

Err…….. 😉

http://www.platinumfighters.com/#!bf-109e/c7r0

I thanked him and headed back on the road for my next set of pictures.

Can we see them please 🙂

Pleasure riding my Roadking only yesterday near Chippewa Ontario, i came across a static Spitfire and stopped to take a picture. The access gate was closed so the pics were took from the road side. I was getting on the bike when a black Lincoln town car pulled up to the gates and the driver opened them. I walked up and asked if i could get close up for pictures and was granted permission. A group of three elder gentlemen were assembled nearby and i walked up and asked if the proprietor was among them. One spoke up and said he was and i began to ask questions. One of the other made a comment about the plane not being a P-51 and i quickly indicated the P-51 wasn’t a “real” plane until it finally got the Spit’s Merlin installed. The owner laughed and indicated that he owned a flying Spit and a Hurricane at one time and that he still possessed an Me109. “you seem to be an enthusiast” he said and added “wanna see it?” to
That gentleman turned out to be Mr. Russell and he opened up his hangar to show me his plane. I asked if i could take pictures to which he replied “by all means”. This man is a gentleman and he certainly made my day. The 109 is all there, her cowl removed revealing her DB engine. I gather that the plane is for sale, Mr. Russell’s age playing the large part in his decision to part with this trophy. I thanked him and headed back on the road for my next set of pictures.

Yes, that’s why I cited that price as “mentioned”. I have no idea whether that’s the real figure..or even anything close. Of course Mr Russell does not need to sell the Hurricane or 109. This same thing happens constantly with vintage cars: for example, one of my two Studebakers was previously owned by a gent who had two of them himself, both of which were constantly, tacitly, for sale, at prices a bit above actual market value. The owner did not need to part with the cars, but if someone offered his price or something near enough, he would. He did eventually sell both–the second one to me at a “firesale” price after it developed a mechanical fault.

In the meantime, the Hurricane and 109 are safe and sound at Niagara South, and both will doubtless reappear on the circuit–sometime, somewhere!

S.

The aircraft have never really been advertised for sale.
Over the years there are been many rumours of what Ed is asking for the ME109
The most consistent has been $10,000,000. I have never heard $14 million until reading it here.
In reality Ed has never publically put a price on any of his aircraft.
These rumoured prices may or may not be realistic .
Ed has experienced people close to him that would that would give him an accurate assessment of their value.
As someone that knows him and his people, I doubt those prices came from his camp.

The aircraft have never really been advertised for sale.
Over the years there are been many rumours of what Ed is asking for the ME109
The most consistent has been $10,000,000. I have never heard $14 million until reading it here.
In reality Ed has never publically put a price on any of his aircraft.
These rumoured prices may or may not be realistic .
He has experienced people close to him that would that would give him an accurate assessment of their value. Knowing Ed and his people, I doubt those prices are from his camp.

Why are warbird prices such a taboo subject? AFAIK; P-38 “Glacier girl” sold for $7,000,000, P-51’s sell from $1.5 to $2.5 Million, P-40’s around the $1.5 million, F4F’s $850,000. Obviously there are alot of variables involved. I’m just throwing out ball park figures to question the $14,000,000 that is mentioned above as a possible asking price for the 109. If it’s true, then he’s not advertising one of the world’s most expensive warbirds. Must be a new selling style I’ve not heard of before.
Steve T, I appreciate your post, and this is NOT a critisizm of it, just strikes me as strange.

Thanks for all the updates Steve on RAG. I like yourself consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to see his collection fly in Canada and across the border.

I had a chance to chat with some of the Gatineau lads from VWoC last fall and I asked about the RAG Hurricane and I was more or less told that its original center section had some pitting issues….sorta similar to what was perhaps found in the Whereats Hurricane. Yes both could be flown with that condition but perhaps with some limitations.

Andrew

I remember seeing the Hurricane when it was being pieced back together by Jack Arnold at Seneca airfield near Cayuga, Ontario; at that time it was a bare frame painted all silver, and I suppose there could’ve been pretty much anything under that paint! Regrettably I never got a photo of 5481 back then. This of course was long before she went to the UK for rebuild to fly…1977 or thereabouts. (My uncle was part-owner of an Aeronca Champ based at Seneca around that time.)

The remaining Russell warbirds seem to be sort of tacitly for sale, but not actively marketed. A while ago I heard a figure of $14 mil mentioned on the 109; no idea how near the actual mark that was, but that’s probably too high in the present market for the 109 and Hurri together! As an aside, sort of, anyone have any info on plans for the Harvard (C-FFLR irc) Mr Russell also had?

S.

I imagine that this aircraft is flying with its original centre section rather than having been restored with new spars etc.

Very odd that they would clear it for flight with issues of corrosion.

Not sure about restrictions on centre section -seems a little odd to have any restrictions of that kind.

There’s at least one Hurricane in the UK that is restricted from performing aerobatic maneuvers

Not sure about restrictions on centre section -seems a little odd to have any restrictions of that kind.

My sources stated that is some questionable corrosion issue with the centre section , so absolutely no aerobatics allowed with this aircraft.
Transport Canada ruling.

Not sure about restrictions on centre section -seems a little odd to have any restrictions of that kind.

If the Russell 109 is for sale, where is it listed? Not with Courtesy Aircraft Sales, Classic Fighter Sales or Platinum Fighter Sales.

…Oh, and as to the centre section issues with the Hurricane…CWH would not likely operate the aircraft aggressively, so the restrictions would be less important to the museum than to many potential private operators.

If I ever find myself sole winner of one of the bigger LottoMax pots…somebody’ll have to be ferrying a certain Hurricane the few miles northwest from Niagara South to Mt.Hope. I wouldn’t even care I’d overpaid a smidge…

S.

Bf109E CF-EML, seen probably much as it currently looks, but this shot and the next one were taken in one of CHAA’s hangars at Tillsonburg, rather than at Niagara South airfield where Mr Russell’s fleet was based.

Ace’s office…

Parked with the Hurricane during a spell of very British weather…

CF-EML taxiing out for its duo display with the Hurricane.

Goes without saying, I miss seeing these…but then I’d have declared nuts anyone who told me 15 years ago that I would see a DB-engined Messerschmitt airborne over southern Ontario…ever! Thanks, Mr Russell.

S.

Hurricane XII 5481/C-FDNL at Tillsonburg

Taxiing in

Flyby in company with the 109

Aft view, parked

109 next…

S.

Here are a few pix of the Russell Group fighters…taken during two of the CHAA Wings & Wheels car/air events of the past few years at CHAA’s Tillsonburg, Ontario, base (I took my 1962 Studebaker Lark to these shows).

Spitfire MK912/C-FFLC, Mr R’s initial post-lawsuit acquisition. I referred to this Spit as “Mad Mickey” for the furious-looking mouse cartoon on the cowl! (And I decided the reg stood for “Conjured Forth From Legal Confrontation”…):rolleyes:

C-FFLC with another charismatic British classic, a Healey roadster…

The Spit taxiing at T’burg

Airshow pilot Rick Volker belts past in the Spit

Hurricane and 109 to follow…

S.