Canadian Swordfish bound for the UK

From the book of Face…..

As we reported in Scramble 481 – page 57, Fairey Swordfish Mk.II HS554 (C-GEVS) has been up for sale. It is due to the British CAA register website G-INFO, that we can inform you that this historic aircraft has been sold to a British owner.

It is currently unknown who the new owner is. HS554 was constructed as FBS/35270A under licence by the Blackburn Aircraft Co. in 1942. It served both the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy until being retired in 1946.

The aircraft was one of twelve Swordfishes collected by Ernie Simmons and stored in the open air in his garden in Tillsonburg (Ont.). His collection was auctioned in 1970 and HS554 was acquired by Bob Spence of Muirkirk (Ont.). He restored the aircraft and it has reportedly not flown more than 148 hours since this restoration (first flight 1992).

It was sold to Vintage Wings of Canada in 2006 and after an overhaul of its Bristol Pegasus Model 30 engine made its first flight from Gatineau in 2013. And although HS554 has not flown more than 23.5 hrs the Pegasus seems to need a new overhaul already. This may be the reason why the Canadians reluctantly have decided to part of their historic ‘Stringbag’.

Source: CAA International – Part of the UK CAA G-INFO, Aerodynamicmedia
Photo: Airfighters.com

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