"White 9" almost ready…..

And also at Sywell, the TF-51D (still on the schedule for Legends) to be re-unveiled within days, and perhaps the P-51D “Mary Mine” to be completed by next year(?). Seeing all four of the Buchons at Duxford in a couple weeks will be spectacular!

Yep we’re very lucky at Sywell 🙂 its funny how our sleepy old aerodrome which no-one ever really troubled with is now full of expert spotter types! 🙂

Yes they have another Buchon on the way…..they’re deffo experts on the Marque. You have to consider that in seven months the UK airworthy Buchon population has more than doubled…. Twochon first flew in November 17!

If you are coming to see us for a bit of buckshee warbird spotting, consider popping into our little Museum and having a look round – we’re open weekends 1030-1630 and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 1200-1600.

In recent weeks we’ve had three twintub Spits, the Twochon, two Buchons…P47…Sea Fury….Hurricane….P51…….Seafire…. never mind the GWDT who regularly pop in – a lovely selection of de H types… a JP came in today…. we dont warrant our own thread …yet 🙂 🙂

TT

Wohoo! Schwarm at Legends this year then, I’m sure everyone here is impressed at AL’s skill putting 3 Buchons up in the first half of a year – regardless of the paint scheme haha

Funny old forum. I caught a bit of flak for criticising the Hawkinge museum’s decision to cut ‘n’ shut a few Bolingbroke wrecks together and pretend it was a WW2-era Blenheim. At the same time people seem to lament the loss of the ‘good old days’ when Gary Numan flew a Harvard painted to look like a Zero! :applause:

Looks as though White 9 has been confirmed for Legends.

So there will literally be a schwarm of Buchons this year.

Gutted I can’t go!

Trolly Aux, You get it……Others who have never tried to put together an airshow just do not understand the dynamic however I do agree when someone advertises a Mk.26 Spitfire as a Supermarine Spitfire. I would be totally pis##d if I turned up expecting a Spit and one of those turned up to fill the slot. A Buchon is a Buchon but it is closer to a BF109 than anything else other than the real thing. Just how many people in the UK or Europe really think there are a fleet of BF109s out there…….Just enjoy what you see out there. We are so privileged just to see them. When a “real” 109 turns up we all know about it beforehand. No-one is trying to pass off a Buchon as a BoB machine, its “representative”: same as they were “representative” in the BoB movie. Again, get over it and enjoy what you see.

Here in the Antipodes is was the mid 1970s before we could see these machines flying apart from government contracts. When the first Wirraway was displayed here by Jock garden 40,000 people turned up. We were told here by the punditds in UK that we were incapable of restoring a Spitfire to cover for the illegal export of one such machine. We are over that type of criticism and just enjoy what we have here, Bet the Kiwis have had their fair share of naysayers about building Mosquitos but they just get on with it. I for one will be happy to see the latest Buchon in a Luftwaffe scheme at Flying Legends! Will there be a whole lot of chest beating about the fact that a certain Cr.42 will be in an Italian scheme rather than its original Swedish markings when it takes to the air? I am guessing not but I shall wait to see.

Just enjoy what is displayed and thank your lucky stars that you can actually see these magnificent machines displayed !

They have at least one more in the queue, and there’s the possibility of two more that were not movie stars (from what I’ve read, anyway).

T/T Ben ,how many Buchons do they have at Sywell ,is this the last or are here more in the queue for rebuilding ,Thanks and well done to all those who work on them.

A show is about 95 % public, interested but not much knowledge, and 5 % enthusiasts who know a lot ( and of course some know everything….perhaps ) . A show organiser will not turn many heads advertising a Hispano 1112, but ‘ Me 109’ strikes a chord, generates interest, and helps get people through the gates. Moreover, they will be perfectly happy with the spectacle.

Yes, the promoters are being a bit ‘flexible’ with the facts, but on balance it does more good than harm, by booking a Buchon and supporting vintage aircraft operation, and these days, with so much information readily at hand, anyone who cares what engine is at the front can readily find out with a moment’s research, avoiding disappointment on the day .

I get all the “Yay, Hooray, Woo-hoo, it’s a German plane” effect and I fully appreciate that for the sake of the show, pantomime or film it may be necessary to paint aircraft in spurious markings. That is the norm for entertainment and is genuinely not the issue here. Countless airshows advertise these aircraft as “Me109″s. They are categorically NOT “Me109s”. They are a “HA-1112 M1L”. That is an indisputable fact. Just because it has the same Rumpfwerk/empennage shape/design as a German-built wartime fighter called a “Bf 109” it does not give show organisers the right to fluff up the sales pitch, advertisements and refer to them as something they are not. I’m just not as gullible and naive as some. Why not just advertise it as what it is, a “replica Me109”?

I personally get sick to death of people telling owners what colour scheme they paint their aircraft in. I wonder what would happen if they spent thousands respraying their cars in the colour or colours of their choice only to have John Romain or someone of his ilk knocking on their doors and telling them that he didn’t the scheme and they should change it to suit him! I think they might probably tell him to go forth and multiply or something similar and yet they think it’s ok for them to do it!

Indeed TA, you are a lucky man with the frequency of warbirds you have passing your way. Here, in the middle of Hampshire, I am lucky if I see 3 or 4 warbirds a year passing my way. Somehow the transit routes always seem to avoid my patch and there’s no warbird operators for quite a distance (Goodwood and Biggin Hill are probably the nearest).

The Buchons must have been in a pretty good condition before arriving at Sywell, but even so, the amount of work carried out in such a short(?) space of time is pretty incredible. I wonder what will be the next machine to go in through / come out of those doors will be?

Sywell aerodrome must be a great place to work with the variety of aircraft passing through…

Mustang 51 good post, i am in my 60s i can remember a time here in the UK one Spitfire made an airshow great I never take any of these aeroplanes for granted and thank the owner/collectors/keepers of all of them and allowing us to see them perform. Where I live I get good sightings of passing warbirds sometimes on a daily basis sometimes on a weekly I never fail to look up and think “that was nice how lucky am i” here in lots of parts of the UK you will not see a warbird or vintage from one year to the next.
The companies out there turning around the aeroplanes like the Buchons from the BoB film in months used to take years and sometimes decades the Sywell guys must have more hours in a day than any other human to do what they do.
I would like to take some of the moaners back to those days Ok you may see 22 Hunters or 18 Lightnings but they were our airforce of the time not someones hard earned cash.

Jeeez, guys, just get over it. Just be happy that you can see these aircraft flying. I would love to see a Buchon in its original markings but so what if it is carrying Luftwaffe marks? Cannot wait to see the comments, righteous indignation or whatever on all the forae when someone puts a Lycoming in a Tiger Moth just so he can keep flying it

Just this

This thread is a classic example of why it’s sometimes better to stay away from a keyboard!
Well done Richard, Steve and team at AL in getting another barnfind back where it belongs.
Roll on Legends!

It Flew today.

Amazing work from the Air Leasing team there!

Intrigued why it hasn’t got the ‘crooked cross’ is it due to go overseas? Or did 109Fs not always have them?

Superb! Great shots, Duxman!

A great end to an otherwise crappy day (for me!)

A few images of White 9 this afternoon.

G-AWHH White 9 first flight since 1968 by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

G-AWHH White 9 First flight since 1968 by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

G-AWHH White 9/ G-AWHM Yellow 7 by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

G-AWHH White 9 by AJCDuxman, on Flickr

Duxman

Flikr — https://www.flickr.com/photos/64209520@N05/