Jack–

Neat…Barkley Grow T8P1. Had never seen one until a visit to Alberta in 1995, whereupon I saw three of them!

S.

Zombie thread of course…but I thought the forum might like to see the CWH Bolingbroke project in its present (as of this past June) state…This shot was taken on the weekend of the revived Hamilton airshow, for which the Boly and also the “new” TBM Avenger were rolled out for display. (Rolled way out, to the infield between the old and new main runways!)

The original intent with this project was to complete it as a Mk.IVW variant of 119 (Hamilton Tiger) Sqn RCAF; the IVWs were fitted with Pratt & Whitney R1535 Twin Wasp Junior engines. Subsequently the decision has been taken to complete the Boly as a standard Mk.IV with Bristol Mercuries. 119 Sqn operated both versions, so the markings will be the same except for serial number and code letter…BTW the brown-and-black cosmetically-refurbished nose section also resurfaced on the airshow weekend, on the purpose-built trailer it used to travel on for display, so it, too, remains at CWH. The aft fuselage of 10040 was found to be slightly warped early in the restoration process, that being why the section from 10117 was substituted, but for a museum rebuild 10040’s fuselage would be fine. Most of the spares, as has been mentioned, went to Vince O’Connor near Uxbridge, Ontario, for storage.

S.

I’d be interested in more detail on this too. I think the story could make a fine film (and with all the newbuild Yaks, Fw190s et al, now on the scene, the flying in such a flick could be breathtaking…) I only know of one female VVS WWII pilot by name, that one being Lt. Lilya Litvyak, who flew a Yak-1 coded “44” and scored, iirc, about ten kills before being killed in action. Did a painting of Lt Litvyak’s Yak on takeoff once.

I also find it hilarious that the pop-up ad at the bottom of the thread is for a Russian dating service…! How topical can you get.:rolleyes:

S.

That translation is fairly sidesplitting! Reminds me of some of the mangled-English instructions that came with old model kits from Asia back in the day…

As to the Ilyusha herself: Wow. Just wow. And, much as I hope she’s headed to Jerry Y’s because that’d mean I might well see her firsthand at Geneseo or Mt.Hope, I also hope the Russians get an Il-2 flying for themselves and keep her “at home”. That aircraft is every bit the emblem of national fortitude in Russia that the Spitfire is in Britain, or the B-17 in the USA…

S.

Oh dear.

All three levels of government involved one way or another…yikes.

VWoC would certainly not be interested in the Lanc; all else aside they have nothing like enough room for it…CWH might welcome it so as still to be able to display a Lanc while their flyer is on tour, but even there space is an issue. Trenton? Logical, very, but again, not enough room indoors. Rockcliffe, of course, already has a Lanc on show. Probably moot anyway: as has been said, the city of Toronto owns FM104, and I expect it would simply be packed off to storage somewhere…hopefully under cover, at least…until alternative plans can be made for its completion in Toronto.

As to the Arrow, well, there at least they can do something with a historical slant.

Reenact the infamous 1959 scrapping of the originals.:mad:

(Yes, I am being facetious…)

Have signed the online petition for what that may be worth.

S.

Well well well. “January 20, 2012″…a release date! I first recall hearing about this project in about 1990; over time had come to doubt I’d ever see the film. It can’t but raise at least some interest in Second World War history, and even if the younger set just end up buying P-51 flight sim software…where’s the harm in that? Some of that trailer, to be sure, did remind me of scenes from Star Wars I through III and V/VI; but the flying–and the characterisations–look less comic-book than I had feared. Maybe the HBO version of this story from 16 years ago will not go unchallenged. Either way, I’ll certainly go see this in the theatre, and I don’t go to many movies.

S.

Cees–

As a Canuck, this idea’s dear to me…the Siskin IIIA having been the first fighter type flown by the infant RCAF in the twenties.

A couple years ago I tried to talk a friend of mine in the States into considering recreating the look and “feel” of a Siskin, using the basic core airframe structure of a Grumman/Schweizer AgCat as a basis. (That idea stemmed from my unexpectedly finding a disassembled AgCat in an open storage yard some time back; its basic dimensions and proportions were surprisingly Siskin-like, except for the sesquiplane wing cellule of course.)

Better still would be a limited run of faithful replicas of the type. Static display examples would be desired by at least two of Canada’s major museums; flyers would appeal to several Canadian collectors (and to my friend in the States too). The appeal would doubtless be even stronger in the UK, though there the Siskin competes for historians’ and collectors’ attentions with such ravishing-looking items as Hawker’s Fury…

S.

There certainly was no next year for the Cape May NAR. If NJ banned air racing after the Cape May T-6 tragedy, there was a precedent for such a drastic reaction: the horrific 1955 Le Mans accident that killed eighty spectators prompted Switzerland to abandon its Grand Prix for that year…and motor racing ever afterward! (There were two “Swiss GPs” in the late 70s/early 80s…but they were run at Dijon, in France.)

Ginny, thank you for a poignant post about a little-remembered tragedy in air racing and aviation history.

S.