What on earth did they do to her in the USA ,wasn’t she airworthy when she left here?

She needed new bag tank(s).

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/rare-f-86a-sabre-air-again.html

Now registered N48178. Hopefully soon to go back to natural metal for the first time in 45 years!

[QUOTE=WH904;2263460]Clearly, a Mosquito will excite those with a passion for the WWII era but for the rest of us it will be the Shackleton. QUOTE]

Well as ‘one of the rest’ I liked the Mosquitos over the years, but they’re middling for me really. And it would be great to see a Shack again, but if we’re dreaming then for me it’s neither of those: not big or loud, but I’d go a long way to see an Arab F.2b, an RE.8 (again) or a BE.12. HP.42 has already been talked about, as has a big H-P: ditto for me.

Aviation had come a long way and done a lot before we got to the Mosquito or the Shack: those years are often overlooked, and even when we get a display by a ‘WW1’ aircraft, it’s often powered by a radial or a more modern liquid-cooled lump.

Talking of ANs – how about persuading one of the few remaining civil operatrors of the AN124 to display??!! I saw it a few times at Manston – very impressive indeed!!

Why go 124 when you could do 225? But neither rival the An-22 for sheer noise (quality of, not loudness) and spectacle (eight propellers for goodness sake!)

Mmmm – rings a bell!! As does XH558’s stay there for the 2012 Air Show! And I think Vulcans made use of it as an emergency landing facility a few times in the 60s and 70s and of course XH483 spent her final days there perishing on the fire dump!!:(

Used to be a couple of Vulcans and Victors at Manston over the years (maybe more), as well as a P.1B and a Shack from memory. We used bits from many of them to make leaving presents for departing colleagues.

I thought the Helena (G-AAXF) made a single post repair test flight in early 1941 Donibristle before corrosion was found.

Helena was lost on 1st August 1940.

This one’s turning into a wish list, rather than ‘The Next Big Thing’.

So in the hope of turning it around, I just thought of one: Beluga.

A300-based versions are due retirement soon, reasonably cheap to maintain and have a massive weekday value. Paint a huge Minion face on it and Bob’s your uncle: pester power and a few million adult devotees later you have a showstopper.

From my experiences of these, every time one turns up the traffic stops and people get out and look. Could we say that of any of the other suggestions on here?