Hurricane LF363

Thanks Fluffy.

Visitors centre opens at 10am and last tour starts around 3:30pm, price is about £3.50. Access is the same all year round, however PZ 865 is away at Duxford

Hope this helps

Fluffy,I would like to visit the BBMF visitor centre next week,but I cant find any details about opening times, prices etc on the web site could you help?
Thanks Alanl.
Ps what is acess to the hanger like at this time of year?

LF363 – the mishap Hurri?

I´ve read the greater damage to the airframe did not the mishap itself, but the corrosive foam from the fire extinguishers. Can anyone confirm this?

Same as the other two, however all the aircraft are stripped down for winter servicing apart from the Dak and Chipmunks.

AB ?

How’s “AB” doing?

Work on both aircraft is progressing well, both will be flying next season.

Re the above post.

Septic will correct me I am sure…

…but from memory wasn’t LF363 used in the film ‘The one that got away’ filmed I believe at Northolt in the 1950’s.

Mark

LF363 was definately used in the filming of The One That Got Away but I wasn’t aware it was filmed at Northolt……. 🙂

Oooh….500 posts……do I get a cookie 😀

The one that got away.

Re the above post.

Septic will correct me I am sure…

…but from memory wasn’t LF363 used in the film ‘The one that got away’ filmed I believe at Northolt in the 1950’s.

Mark

[PEDANT] And when built is certainly wasn’t ‘Papa Zulu’. While that’s a perfectly reasonable ‘handle’, one of my pet peves is modern phonetic alphabets being applied to historic aircraft. Really pointlessly picky, but if intended to be a period comment (which Firebirds’ wasn’t – so you are OK, FB) it’s WRONG! Argh. [/PEDANT]

Ooohhhh…..JDK…….ouch……..looks like that flight home really got to you ‘ol chap 😮 😮

Actually, talking period, it would be nice to see LF363 painted up as one of the 229 or 257 Sqn. Hurricanes (if they could be identified) that AVM Stanley Vincent scored victories in while Station Commander at RAF Northolt during the Battle of Britain, and thus becoming the only RAF pilot to score victories in both World Wars.
This would be entirely appropiate as LF363 owes it’s survival to AVM Vincent, as then Air Cdre Vincent was AOC 11 Group in 1947 when LF was transferred to the station flight at Thorney Island, under his command. He was determined that a Spitfire and Hurricane should remain airworthy to take part in the annual Battle of Britain flypast. It was Air Cdre Vincent that sent a fitter to get LF363 airworthy in the summer of 1949 and she flew over London in the Sept of that year.
The rest as they say is history………….. 🙂

“I suppose so, its odd they never called it BBMF until the 70s when the Lancaster joined.” Well actually it was called simply Battle of Britain Flight before that.

.

Just out of interest ,why did they suddenly call it the B B M F when the Lancaster joined,surely the Lancaster has less reason to be in it than a Hurricane with cannons? 🙂

Yeah, I have an old Flypast airshows video on which the Lancaster is referred to as ‘Papa Alpha four-seven-four’!!! 😮

And while we all know that the BBMF as it is now known came to be in 1973, there is a photograph of former flight Spitfire SL574 taken in 1959, where the engineer’s toolbox clearly has ‘BBMF’ written on it, even then! Obviously, the name was around unofficially long before it become adopted officially.

when built Papa Zula

[PEDANT] And when built is certainly wasn’t ‘Papa Zulu’. While that’s a perfectly reasonable ‘handle’, one of my pet peves is modern phonetic alphabets being applied to historic aircraft. Really pointlessly picky, but if intended to be a period comment (which Firebirds’ wasn’t – so you are OK, FB) it’s WRONG! Argh. [/PEDANT]

As Steve said, when built Papa Zula did have it’s cannon’s, as you would expect with a stock Mk11C, IIRC, the cannons were removed after Hawkers bought the aircraft back from the MOD.

There is a great top side air-to-air shot of PZ865 with George Bulman at the controls, taken on one of it’s early test flights, complete with 4×20’s…..

“I suppose so, its odd they never called it BBMF until the 70s when the Lancaster joined.” Well actually it was called simply Battle of Britain Flight before that.

“While I love those cannons on PZ865, it would be nice to see her as “last of the many”, minus cannons.” When first delivered as “Last of the Many” it did have cannons.

It wouldnt be easy – we took the mounting castings out of the wings when it was rebuilt, and they went into PZ865. The idea was that one could represent a Mk1 and one could represent a Mk2

Bruce

Sadsack, your wrong the TFCs Hurricane IV served with 6 sqn

RE: Hurricane LF363

I suppose so, its odd they never called it BBMF until the 70s when the Lancaster joined.

LF363 is unique as the only flying Hurricane in this country to have have served with the RAF. And while I love those cannons on PZ865, it would be nice to see her as “last of the many”, minus cannons.

RE: Hurricane LF363

I suppose it would be possible to put the cannon back on LF363,but personally I would be against it.The main point of the BBMF is to commemorate the Battle of Britain.With LF363 they have a Hurri that can convincingly wear BofB and other early war colour schemes,whilst PZ865 can represent later Hurris.
So,all in all,I think it would be best if LF363 stayed as she is.