TFC's fleet in the 1990s

TFC Bearcats

Dug out this print of the TFC Bearcats and did a quick scan. Always liked that Red Rippers scheme

Will try and scan some of the other fleet later

Chris

RK858, ML417, SM969.

Thanks Mike, I knew I had missed some.

Don’t forget the Harvard. Thought the question was what was flying in the 90’s, if you want to list every aircraft that has been on their books then be prepared for quite a list.

From memory,

MK.XIV MV262 – now in storage in Florida
Mk.XIV NH799 – now under restoration in NZ
Mk.XVI TB863 – now airworthy in Australia
MK.XIV NH904 – now in California
Mk.XIV SM832 – already covered. now in Texas

Any I have missed?

RK858, ML417, SM969.

Here is a bit from FofTFC archive 3 as a taster, no Yaks in this bit.

When you think about it just as interesting as the line up today, includes two blurry bearcats and a much missed P-38 which we can appreciate again over Duxford thanks to the Flying Bulls

From memory,

MK.XIV MV262 – now in storage in Florida
Mk.XIV NH799 – now under restoration in NZ
Mk.XVI TB863 – now airworthy in Australia
MK.XIV NH904 – now in California
Mk.XIV SM832 – already covered. now in Texas

Any I have missed?

Pretty sure the Mk.VIII MT719 was not TFC

Think a few Spit XIV’s went through TFC on their way to a new life overseas – never regulars with the UK based fleet as far as I can remember

One XIV went to Tim Wallis in NZ went through TFC and another to Kermit Weeks??? Did G-Fire as well on its way to Bob Pond? Probably some ex Charles Church/Dick Melton airframes included in the list

The Reynard Racing MKVIII lived at DX for a few years in the TFC Hangar around 1990. Did TFC temporarily own that before it set sail to the USA?

Thanks for clearing up the Yak situation Yak11 – I remember one of the conversions sitting out on the flightline in bare metal one year – probably at Flying Legends

Chris

Mention of the Grumman biplane fighters reminds me of ” a day in the life of a TFC pilot”. Said pilot, who I won’t embarrass by giving his name, flew to Spain in his “dayjob” 767 in the morning, did the CAA airtest in my 115 hp Airtourer at lunchtime, flew the P-47D early afternoon and then was asked if he’d like a go in one of the Grumman biplanes. He assumed they meant the two seater but was assured that the single seater flew better so off he went. That makes a pretty good day’s log book entry methinks.

TFC had G-KYAK as an airworthy Yak 11 in the mid 90’s

There is video of this displaying, with Paul Bonhomme as pilot, in the current video archive section of FofTFC site, mainly flying inverted from memory.

OFMC Avenger went to NZ

You might find the list of Spitfires is a little longer, Fighter Log ran an article on all the Spitfires a couple of years ago.

The old FofTFC blog which is still online includes a number of photos from the aircraft in the 90’s. You’ll have to go back a few pages though.

FofTFC are in the process of setting up an archive of old video and photos. So that would be another benefit of joining then: 😉

Yak 11 – converted to Yak 3 with OFMC example??

TFC had G-KYAK as an airworthy Yak 11 in the mid 90’s which is now with Max Alpha Aviation in Germany.
The Yak 11 (G-BTHD) converted into a Yak 3 (now in California) was an Egyptian project imported from France

Indeed.

Yes John Larcombe, poor chap. There was also a different Wildcat with them in the very early 80’s!

Rob

Just curious, Jane Larcombe at The Fighter Collection, any connection to John Larcombe? Daughter perhaps?

She’s been in California for a good couple of years now.

(No idea why I thought the Avenger had gone to France! :rolleyes: )

When she returned to the UK, SM832 was operated by TFC in 2002 on behalf of the Friedkin family I believe.

A quick google search for SM832 comes up with the following bit of information:

-TFC 1991-1997 (first flight 1995)
-Christophe Jacquard 1998-2002
-Back to TFC in 2002.

It did go to Switzerland I think. Great shame that! Miss the beast!

I’m sure AHT’s Avenger went to Switzerland…

Really pleased this has sparked a bit of interest. The TFC fleet in the 1990s sounded insanely good; if only we could have two Bearcats nowadays!

Could be wrong but I think it’s now in Europe. France, perhaps?