Mark Hanna – Spitfires

Cheers for the answers.  

I’m currently in the middle of building a semi-scale model of PL983 in her Piece of Cake colours, hence my interest.

It’s frustrating, but it occurred late in the day and with 18 April set as the publishing deadline (and well promoted as such), we didn’t want to delay further. I guess it’s a reason to revisit it in future!

“That is indeed TE566 in part 4; a technical issue killed off the captions I spent hours writing out, sadly.” – I though the lack of captions was a weird an unfortunate oversight! Thanks for explaining.

I’m sure I read his critique of a T.IX back in the 1990s, but couldn’t say whether this was based on having flown one or back-seated. I can’t imagine Mark Hanna back seating anything, to be honest!

TFC’s ML417 was mentioned and corroborated by interviewees, but I didn’t have a chance to verify this in his logbook. If anyone knows any different… Pretty sure the comments above re: PL983 are accurate, too.

That is indeed TE566 in part 4; a technical issue killed off the captions I spent hours writing out, sadly. There are some nice tidbits in them, so hopefully a future upgrade will bring them to life!

He flew MV293 on several occasions during the 1999, including at Hahnweide and an airshow in Switzerland (I can’t remember which – maybe Bern? There are photos on airliners.net).

One little aside that did come to light in reviewing Ray’s logbooks is that he flew TFC’s EP120 at one of the early Goodwood Revivals – a pilot/aircraft combo I’d love to have seen!

In part four of The Vintage Aviation Echo’s series on him there’s a photo of what looks like Mark flying TE566 in Over Here filming markings: https://vintageaviationecho.com/mark-hanna-pt-4/

My pleasure! As a bonus, here’s more of Mark in NH799 along with Ray in TB863 at the same show:

https://youtu.be/QarkVkBiVb8

“Speaking of which, if he didn’t enjoy flying her as much he hid it well”

Brilliant clip, thanks K5054. He does seem to be enjoying himself there!

The TB863 photo was Sir Tim Wallis over Mount Aspiring, but according to Spitfire: The New Zealand Story Mark did log time in her as well as NH799. Speaking of which, if he didn’t enjoy flying her as much he hid it well:

https://youtu.be/OFiIrnwUhGs

Something tells me he flew TB863 in that famous photo by John Dibbs, with the mountain in the background, but I could be wrong.

He also flew MK.IXs NH238, and TE566 as well.

Plus he took TFC’s XIV MV293 to Europe on a couple of occasions during the Breitling Fighters period.

I guess he may well have flown TB863 as well when it was owned by Tim Wallis.

I’m pretty sure he did fly PL983 during it’s time filming ‘Piece of Cake’, as I seem to remember him saying how he and the rest of the pilots who flew it liked it’s ‘light’ handling compared to the MK.IX.

Cheers

Paul

I’d forgotten about PL965! 

He did the first flight of PL965 at Rochester in 1992.

Looking at the video, you can just feel the tension as the visibility clamped, and he hurried to get it back on the ground.
 

MARK HANNA_FIRST FLIGHT OF SPITFIRE PL965_1992 – YouTube

That was mentioned in one part of the article.  He let Gavin Conroy sit in the cockpit.

He flew Mk.XIV NH799 out in NZ while it was in Sir Tim Wallis’ ownership, seem to remember him making a comment in one of the magazines about not liking it as much as a Merlin Spit.