Mosquito to Miami 1987

Must admit I hadn’t spotted them. Absolute drivel. My apologies for the link.

It’s been posted before, but here is a link to a poor quality image of the George Aird Lightning ejection photo.
http://w1.rob.com/pix/oops/7392_G

He was also the pilot of the Comet at Cosford when it was used by de Havilland Propellers, and made its last flight into RAF Shawbury in 1968 I think it was.

A classic photo, but have you read some of the idiotic comments below the picture on that website, especially towards the bottom? Good grief!:rolleyes:

It’s been posted before, but here is a link to a poor quality image of the George Aird Lightning ejection photo.
http://w1.rob.com/pix/oops/7392_G

He was also the pilot of the Comet at Cosford when it was used by de Havilland Propellers, and made its last flight into RAF Shawbury in 1968 I think it was.

Ahh, RS709. One of my favourite Warbird occurrences…

At the end of January 1985, the Mt.Hope fire training compound gained an airliner fuselage (or so it seemed). At the start of February, AT-6/Harvard researcher Doug MacPhail and I went up to the Hope to try identifying the type doomed to be toasted…only to find it was an all-steel mockup! So as to keep the trip from being a waste of time, we decided to stop in at CWH and see what was new. On that particular day what was new was the pristine Mosquito B.35 in Hangar #3. I nearly passed out from surprise. It was G-MOSI/RS709, staying at CWH overnight en route to Dayton. And it forthwith became necessary to return to the Hope the next morning to see the Mossie depart. I’m fairly sure George Aird was also the pilot for that flight. Whoever it was, the all-too-brief beatup he performed in the Mossie that cold, cold, cold morning, in that dazzling sunlight, was unforgettable. Three passes. One was down the line with about 50 degrees of bank. Another, the last one, took the Mossie diagonally across the top of Hgr#3 and out of sight; as the cry of the Merlins began to fade, a huge cloud of snow rose into the air from the hangar roof, kicked up by the propwash. Glorious, glorious…

Thanx for the reminder!

S.

RS709 at USAF Museum, Wright Patterson

Serial #: RS709
Construction #: –
Civil Registration:
G-ASKA
N9797
G-MOSI
Model(s):
B Mk. 35
TT Mk. 35
Name: None
Status: Display
Last info: 2002
History:
Mirisch Films Ltd, Bovington, July 11, 1963-1964.
– Registered as G-ASKA.
– Flew in movie 633 Squadron at Bovington, July 1963.
— Flew as HR113/HT-D/G.
T.G. Mahaddie, Bovington, Aug. 1964.
Peter F. M. Thomas/Skyframe Museum, Staverton, Dec. 1963-1969.
– Flew in movie Mosquito Squadron at Bovington, June 1968.
Ed A. Jurist/Vintage Aircraft International, Nyack, NY, Aug. 1969-1971.
Confederate Air Force, Harlingen, TX, Dec. 1971-1975.
– Registered as N9797.
– Delivered Luton to Harlingen, TX, Dec. 11, 1971-Jan. 2, 1972.
David Tallichet/Yesterdays Air Force, Chino, CA, Apr. 1975-1979.
– Loaned to Combat Air Museum, Topeka, KS, 1976-1979.
Doug Arnold/Warbirds of GB, Blackbushe, Nov. 28, 1979-1983.
– Delivered from Topeka to Blackbushe, arriving Nov. 28, 1979.
– Registered as G-MOSI, Nov. 10, 1981.
– Rebuilt at Blackbushe.
– First flight Sept. 1983.
David Zeuschel, Van Nuys, CA, 1984.
USAFM, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH, July 1984-2002.
– Delivered to USAFM via Prestwick, July 22, 1984.
– Displayed as USAAF Mk. PR.XVI/NS519/P.

BtB

That could be this one. Here Ed Jurist and Duane Egli depart from Luton for the US.

Given a bit of time I could date this shot of mine, if important.

Mark

PS The back end of 1971

No that’s RS709 which became G-MOSI and resides in US scheme in Wright-P.

BTB – Yes RS712 is the machine that flew to Luton for a respray .

Was this the airframe that flew up from Booker to be resprayed in the rear of McAlpine Aviation Hangar at Luton?

BtB

That could be this one. Here Ed Jurist and Duane Egli depart from Luton for the US.

Given a bit of time I could date this shot of mine, if important.

Mark

PS The back end of 1971

Was this the airframe that flew up from Booker to be resprayed in the rear of McAlpine Aviation Hangar at Luton?

if anyone still has back issues of Warbirds Worldwide in their archive see issue No.4 for a fabulous write up from George Aird about flying this Mossie across the Atlantic – “Mosquito to Miami”

George Aird – now there’s a character. He was always approachable but very modest. I loved his displays in RR299. He was a natural choice for the RS712 epic. He was if I recall correctly in the famous Black Arrows Hunter team that looped at Farnborough and when a civilian test pilot in 1962 had to bang out of a Lightning at VERY low level then he landed on a greenhouse and broke his legs – the whole lot being shown in a marvelous photo (taken by a bye-stander) that was published in the daily rag next day.

So far as the Mossie goes – I was told (not certain it’s true) that the owner had been willing to let it stay here a little longer but that interest was insufficient from show organisers as there was another Mossie available. I recall it appearing briefly at Abingdon one very rainy day when it was being prepared for KW and then at a Biggin Hill event before it headed off across the pond. Last time I saw it in the EAA hangar at Osh’ it seemed to be well looked after but rather out of place. 🙁

Curlyboy – I guess when Kermit bought her for £100,000 back in 1982 he clearly wanted it! Chances of him wanting to sell her practically zero – chances of the BBMF
having a Mosquito sadly also gone.

Fantastic pics. Number 1 and 4 look like they could have been taken ‘back in the day’, with a bit of modding….!

Great pics make me a bit sad though.

What’s the chances of a whip round and buying her back from Kermit Weeks ?

It would be so good to see a mossie flying again, maybe we could donate it to the BBMF ?

curlyboy

Nice pics of a wonderfull old lady..

OLD???? still beats many newer models for looks!

Thanks for sharing them .