What happened to the Pilatus PC2 at airshows?

Or were you around when Robs asked why his P2 had acquired a redesigned wingtip?

A typical masterpiece of understatement from Watty there I think. Were you also there for the P40 drag race with the super car?

>>Would have been less embarassing had said Royal not been aboard.<<

I was there that day and asked John what he said to the ‘personage’ afterwards. He said “Gosh that was a bit sporting sir!’

Found another “baddie” lurking in my boxes of slides. This was North Weald 1987

Pilatus P2

Ray Hanna sourced GBJAX on behalf of Mark Hanna and John Watts. It was an early stablemate for MH434 in the recently established OFMC operation. For a pilot, the P2 was a well-mannered, agile aircraft with a smooth (although troublesome) Argus engine. When I had a go, John was swift to tell me not to spin however!

We used the P2 as a “victim” for the Spitfire at several shows and very extensively in the publicity run-up to the first “Fighter Meet”. One poor TV journalist spent a very hot day with us at Duxford playing the part of “Jerry” with Watts doing the flying. Mark Hanna was in MH434. Boys will be boys and the pair of them forgot about the journalist behind John and just spent an hour dog fighting! The result was a 12 minute slot on TVam repeated each hour. Great stuff!

At North Weald, John was flying a certain Royal personage in Robs Lamplough’s GPTWO, which had been borrowed for press day. Due to the notorious downhill runway slope at NW, he unfortunately ground looped on landing, shaving the starboard wingtip flat as a result. Would have been less embarassing had said Royal not been aboard. Took me quite some time to “kill” the story, there being 8 national newspaper photographers present. Ray Hanna issued instructions for the rest of the day’s flying to ignore wind direction and land “uphill”

I seem to remember that “Jacko” Jackson in the BBMF Lancaster skillfully avoided the same embarassment as John the same day!

P-2 06 U-136 still flies as HB-RAR. Here it is at Geneva Classics 25-9-2009.

Laurence

😮 Oh thank you – I was never good at keeping records of such things and tried to rely on memories alone from 30 years back…. Thanks for putting me right on that info – it’s already started my mind wishing I was back there again during that time…

Hi David,

I’ve just browsed photos of “Red 14” and that’s certainly not the same scheme the PC2 was at Brawdy. I was at Brawdy from ’79 to ’84 but not sure which year during that time that I flew in the back… The colour scheme of RF+16 is certainly distinctive enough – but was it the only one to carry these colours? I’m going to have to go loft-bound and dig out the photo I have and scan it….
😎

I think you’ll find that the pilot you refer to as being associated with G-PTWO/RF+16 was Flt Lt Pete John who was Robs Lamplough’s display pilot at that time and it was Robs that owned that P2 at the point you mention. Pete was an instructor on the TWU at Brawdy on the Hawks and also flew Mustang G-BIXL (Blue nose and silver airframe at that time). The P51 later spent an extended period at Brawdy when it was grounded following the death of Charles Church in Spitfire ‘EE606’. The engine in G-BIXL was affected with the same suspected crankshaft defect as that in ‘EE606’ as both had come from the same engine overhaul facility IIRC. It was later flown home to North Weald following crankshaft replacement, and later flew as “Miss L” in Memphis Belle before being re-refinished in its original Bodney Blue nose scheme as “Miss Helen” finally coming to grief with a heavy landing following engine problems at Flying Legends a few years ago. Last seen at Filton.:(

I recall that John flew the Catalina too at Cottesmore when I was posted there?

Plane Sailing’s first Catalina flew into Cottesmore at least three times for Family Days. I see from my logbook that I was in it on July 6th 1991 when it flew in from the BAe display at Brough and later departed for Duxford and again on June 3rd, 1993 when we came in from Duxford and returned later the same day and also on its third visit on June 7th, 1997 when it again came in and departed for Duxford. On the 1991 visit it was painted as RAF ‘JV928’ and on the second and third as RCAF ‘9754’. On the first two occasions, Paul Warren Wilson was captain and co-pilots were John Romain and Ray Coates respectively whilst the third trip had John Alsford and John Sharman at the controls. John Watts was killed in 1988 and I am not aware that he ever flew the Catalina into Cottesmore (he may have done) although G-BLSC performed a very low flypast over the village church there as mourners left at the end of his funeral – pilots Paul Warren Wilson and Dizzy Addicott.

Daz, you seem to have forgotten that it is a replica,

It didn’t look so good in 2009

Hi David,

I’ve just browsed photos of “Red 14” and that’s certainly not the same scheme the PC2 was at Brawdy. I was at Brawdy from ’79 to ’84 but not sure which year during that time that I flew in the back… The colour scheme of RF+16 is certainly distinctive enough – but was it the only one to carry these colours? I’m going to have to go loft-bound and dig out the photo I have and scan it….
I recall that John flew the Catalina too at Cottesmore when I was posted there? I’ll never forget my flight even after many years – it was great fun ‘attacking’ our home airfield in something of that vintage on a late summer’s afternoon 😎

Nice to see those photos – that third one marked as “RF 16” is one I’ve flown in down at Brawdy. IIRC it was based there as the airshow pilot was based with us and we used to happily volunteer to drag it out of the hangar at weekends for him. Got treated to a jolly as a thankyou. I’m sure that would have been John Watts who I gather was sadly killed later on in a Tornado crash. I still have my own photo of this aircraft somewhere in my archives.

RF+16 was G-PTWO whereas the P-2 that John Watts was associated with through Lea Aviation was G-BJAX which flew for a while as Swiss AF J-108 and then Luftwaffe ‘Red 14’. Not sure if he ever flew G-PTWO or if he was based at Brawdy around that time – you are right that he was killed in a Tornado mid-air though, ex-Cottesmore. For the 1986 Fighter Meet display at North Weald, John and Paul Warren Wilson flew a P-2 two-ship synchro aerobatics routine with G-BJAX and the borrowed G-BONE/U-142. The practices were flown the night before and I was fortunate to be in the back seat of G-BONE for the two flights – never to be forgotten! I later flew in G-BJAX several times too and flying pax in the P-2 was a very pleasurable experience.

That was mentioned in a recent article in “the other magazine”…

G-PTWO belongs to Richard Meridith and lives at Headcorn.
The Blue Max Collection I belive is at Booker at the moment with a plane to house it at Stowe Maries in the future.:)

Thanks

Stow Maries would be a relevant place for it 🙂

Pete

G-PTWO belongs to Richard Meridith and lives at Headcorn.
The Blue Max Collection I belive is at Booker at the moment with a plane to house it at Stowe Maries in the future.:)

Apologies it was Kemble G-VFWE not BOB display and it was G-PTWO anyone know the details?

Just as an aside, the Blue Max collection had gone from Compton Abbas last time I was there. Does anyone know where it is now?

Pete

No, I remember vividly a silver/natural metal P-2 in the hangar, not far from Spitfire AR213…. 😉

[QUOTE=DazDaMan;1741319]Always liked the P-2 🙂

Got up close and personal to G-BLKZ at Booker when she was part of the Blue Max Movie Museum collection there (having appeared as a “Messerschmitt” in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

/QUOTE]

Daz, you seem to have forgotten that it is a replica, as outlined to you in this very comprehensive explanation. 😉

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=19479

Nice to see those photos – that third one marked as “RF 16” is one I’ve flown in down at Brawdy. IIRC it was based there as the airshow pilot was based with us and we used to happily volunteer to drag it out of the hangar at weekends for him. Got treated to a jolly as a thankyou. I’m sure that would have been John Watts who I gather was sadly killed later on in a Tornado crash. I still have my own photo of this aircraft somewhere in my archives.

We did indeed have one at Kemble last year – lovely to see one again after so many years, but I don’t know who owned or flew it to our show?