Alpine airshow impressions – IBT 04 Berne

Fellas

even as a Mustang maniac I stated that the Morane was my personal highlight at Berne. Both the Morane and the P-51D have not gone far over the last few years; the Morane was at La Ferté Alais once –
I guess it’s a safety issue here and considering the stretch of water to cross over to DX, this might be the blocker. In addition to that, the resources of the Swiss warbirds movement most probably are a bit thinner – also regarding logistics.

BTW: the newly restored D-3801 Morane had its first flight on 9th June 2000.

The only flying example of this type actually is a composite airframe, made up from the remains of three airframes:the fuselage of J-84, the wings of J-276 and other components of J-143. Restoration started in June 1994 at the premises of MSW Aviation owned by Max Vogelsang.

As from January 1995 the fuselage construction was rebuilt. October 1995 saw the provisional installation of a replacement engine. During 1996 the wings were reskinned and the landing gear was installed. The first rollout on its own wheels took place in October 1997 and starting from summer 1998 the first engine runs were done at Buochs airfield.
During winter 1999 a new radiator was manufactured and installed; the successful first flight was on 9th June 2000, and the airshow debut already was on 17th June 2000 at the International Airshow at Dübendorf Airbase near Zurich (I was there… 😀 😀 😀 ). This aircraft is registered HB-RCF. The 6-year restoration took over 12’000 man-hours.

Best regards
Martin / Swiss Mustangs

Sure Eddie,

Point taken. But this is just bar-room type chat. Reality checks in here only occasionally! However it is worth saying that (sadly IMHO) another Mustang is regarded by many as prefferable to ‘something else’ – and avaliability is part of that.

James – I agree that it would be lovely to see the Morane at Legends. However – just because it’s flying and other aircraft have come from Switzerland, it doesn’t necessarily mean that TFC could get the Morane for Legends.

It’s only been flying a couple of years IIRC.

Dare I say that adding a Swiss based Mustang seems to be more desirable at Leg Ends than another completely unique type? OK I dare. I’m sure everyyone will have a great time at Leg Ends, but were I there, I’d swap every P-51 on site for the Morane in the display – that’s me (seen the Mustangs, not seen the Morane) but think for a moment, 6 Mustangs, 8 Mustangs or 4 Mustangs and a Morane… Hmmm. The Morane’s got a cheeky smile too!

if i had a large sum of money it would be one of the top contenders for a warbird in my collection.

Maybe the owners don’t want to bring it? Or maybe they want more money than TFC want to pay. Or maybe TFC have other priorities…

Why has that Morane never been to Legends?

The restorable bits that are now in the UK were last known to be at Spanhoe… Hope that is of some use.
Lovely pictures thanks.
OAW

Thanks for sharing this very nice moments here Martin. Congrats with the your new ‘personal’ avatar! 😉

J.V.

not really aerobatic

just cuban eights and barrel rolls – and the pilot is highly professional and the Morane is a though little fighter.

Martin

Mmmmm… I must question your definition of “aerobatic” cuban eights and barrel rolls are very aerobatic. No doubting the aircrafts or the pilots capabilities – just the need.

I have seen many great pictures from Swiss airshows, they always seem such great venues. I think I’ll go to one next year – which is the best? ( I would expect to see Venom / Vampire / Hunter ).

not really aerobatic

just cuban eights and barrel rolls – and the pilot is highly professional and the Morane is a though little fighter.

Martin

Hi Dave

the Morane D-3801 (Swiss Licence built Morane MS-506, a development of the MS-406) is owned by the same person that owns the P-51D N51EA; Max Vogelsang – he flew both aircraft that day – the Morane in the morning and the P-51D mid-afternoon.

Martin

Looks great – cant wait for Payerne – looks a lot better show than Waddington (!)
As usual one thing troubles me – It seems as though they are aerobatting the Morane – why oh why do they do this with such priceless, unique birds ???? :confused:

Hi Dave

the Morane D-3801 (Swiss Licence built Morane MS-506, a development of the MS-406) is owned by the same person that owns the P-51D N51EA; Max Vogelsang – he flew both aircraft that day – the Morane in the morning and the P-51D mid-afternoon.

Martin

Excellent photos Martin. I especially liked the Morane photos, I never realised any were still airworthy.

Who owns that aircraft? Is it privately owned, or belonging to a museum or national collection?

Nice to see photos of an Alpine Airshow that are not Wanaka.

Hi Swiss Mustangs,

Thank You so much for sharing these brilliant Pictures with us. Looks like it was a pleasure to be there…

Or my own personal favourite, the Comte Gentleman?

Nope – no chance – it’s been there 4 years ago though – and I have some other nice shots => PM me with your address pls.

Martin

Brilliant stuff, the Morane especially. Is it similar to the restorable parts that recently tuned up somewhere in the UK?

Yup – there have been substantial items and eventually they will probably look the same; those in the UK are from D-3800 airframes however; difference (initially) was a a less powerful HS engine and the radiator had a different shape and could be lowered (as in the French MS-406’s), but this was discontinued with the D-3801 series. All D-3800’s were later retrofitted to D-3801 standard.

Regards
Martin

Mmmm. What a smile in the last pic!

I LOVe the way the wheels are so ‘sensibly’ attached too…

Many thanks

Any more Morane pics?

JDK: here we go 😀

Nice pics, Martin. Was the C-36-thingy with the proper engine there?

Mike J: nope – haven’t seen it in a while 🙁

Martin