I don’t know much about Seafuries/Seafurys, or even how to spell it, but I came across these few shots in a file today and perhaps they are of interest.
They were part of bunch given to me by the late Lloyd Hamilton. The photos are dated 1972/3 and appear to show an Australian Seafury VH-BOU arriving/departing at the docks, covered in transit ‘cosmoline’, before morphing into N588/16, a racer and then a paint strip.
This was at a time when you could still pick up crated Seafury five blade prop sets in their crates in UK scrap yards. Lloyd would visit the UK, spares hunting, and I got to know him well through the Spencer Flack Seafury connection.
Well come on you Seafury aficionados what can you tell us about this one?
Is it one of the ‘Gorillas’?
Mark
By: JDK - 18th April 2005 at 02:15
Just a note on the scheme.
While the green and yellow might seem a bit of an odd combination, the ‘green & gold’ are today the Australian ‘colours’ and you may have seen them on a team beating the English at (insert name of sport here, except rugby, and we’ll be seeing you at that). 😀
It may be a pure co-incidence, but it’s rather like red white & blue for some other countries…
By: Ron Cuskelly - 18th April 2005 at 01:50
Mark
I believe that to be the case. The aeroplane was registered VH-BOU on 04APR67 and deleted from the register on 26APR72. Thank Roger McDonald for the photo.
By: Mark12 - 17th April 2005 at 15:39
A fine shot Ron, thanks for posting.
I wonder if in 1968 this was the first ‘civvie’ scheme and prior to that it had been RAN?
Mark
By: T J Johansen - 16th April 2005 at 22:52
This better image of VH-BOU in the red & white scheme comes from my friend Roger McDonald. It was taken at Bankstown (Sydney) on 17th Feb 68.
Very nice looking. Will send a copy to the owner in Sweden and try to persuade him to stock up on red/white. That was a nice paint job!
T J
By: Ron Cuskelly - 16th April 2005 at 12:43
This better image of VH-BOU in the red & white scheme comes from my friend Roger McDonald. It was taken at Bankstown (Sydney) on 17th Feb 68.
By: Propstrike - 11th April 2005 at 21:40
No offence surely.
Most pilots would be glad to be fondly remembered, and to fly a warbird is a pretty public pursuit. Paul Morgan clearly had a passion for his aeroplanes, and for us to continue to share his enthusiasm is about the best tribute that can be paid.
By: Archer - 11th April 2005 at 20:30
Extending the history forward a bit, I’ve always wanted to do a caption competition with this photo, but as aircraft and owner are no longer with us never did.
(I’ll remove the photo if this offends anyone!)
By: Stieglitz - 11th April 2005 at 20:28
Yes, I also hope this bird makes a good recovery.
Thanks all for sharing these wonderful pics. I hope to see one of these centaures powered Furies in the sky one day. A superbly designed plane. 😎
Stieglitz
By: T J Johansen - 11th April 2005 at 20:20
Very interesting photos of the Sea Fury. I must say I prefer the red/white over the green colors. The plane is now on rebuild in Sweden, and hopefully we will hear the Centaurus roar in Scandinavia soon! The owner is in need of some sleeves for the engine, so if anyone on the forum might have a couple in the bottom of their coat pocket….
T J
By: EN830 - 9th April 2005 at 18:52
I witnessed Paul doing a beat up at Old Hay in 2000, probably the last time I saw a Seafury. Was the airframe destroyed in the crash ?
Another pilot and aircraft at Old Hay that year that are no longer with us was Martin Sargent and PL985
By: PerfectPic Co. - 9th April 2005 at 16:02
Racing Sea Furies of the 1970s
Mark
I shot Paul in Baby Gorilla out of Sywell in the late 1990s.
A tragic loss –
PPC
By: Mark12 - 9th April 2005 at 10:56
Ron,
So Spencer Flack wasn’t the first to paint a ‘warbird’ Seafury in red livery, notwithstanding the working target tugs in Germany.
Nice shot.
Mark
By: Ron Cuskelly - 9th April 2005 at 06:08
Mark
I found a shot of VH-BOU in the red/white scheme but being a hangar shot it’s not brilliant. It was taken in the Fawcett/Illawarra hangar at Bankstown on 02JAN67. I’m afraid this is as far back as I go! To pre-empt any enquiries, the aircraft standing on its nose in the background is the unique Fawcett 120 which was more recently refurbuished for the Australian Aviation Museum at Bankstown. The two canopies in the left foreground are from Mustangs VH-BOY and VH-BOZ which were also used for target towing.
By: Mark12 - 8th April 2005 at 13:02
Ron,
A great shot to extend the history backwards.
After the paint strip it seems to have been painted in a pseudo Oz Navy scheme.
Here are the remaining photos of the sequence from Lloyd Hamilton.
MikeJ
Don’t get too excited – they are flesh coloured shorts!!
Mark
By: Ron Cuskelly - 8th April 2005 at 10:08
Mark12
Great photos of VH-BOU. I thought you might be interested in this shot without the grease. It was taken at Bankstown (Sydney) on 12th December 1970. The aircraft was used for target towing and radar calibration duties under contract to the military. In those days, civil operation of what are now known as warbirds was not permitted in Australia unless they were required for a specific function which could not be performed by a normal category aircraft. Prior to the green and yellow scheme, VH-BOU was painted in a more attractive (IMHO) red and white scheme. It was to the same design with red in place of the green and white in place of the yellow.
By: alanl - 7th April 2005 at 22:11
Brilliant pictures Mark ,thanks for sharing them.
Alan
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April 7, 2005 at 3:27 pm