Nice to see that the Hellcat has grown the correct F6F-3 rear windows behind the canopy since its last appearance in public at Legends.

Poor Arnold. 🙁

According to an announcement by RAF Waddington an hour ago, the PAVE is already full!

You said it yourself, it is a ‘unique event’. I understand that the PAVE is being constructed on-base especially for it, so nobody else has been either! Best just to turn up early if you’re planning on going, I’d say, and hope that the RAF have made a reasonable provision for the numbers that do turn up on the day.

If you read Bill Ramsey’s article, he makes it clear where the aircraft will route.

http://www.globalaviationresource.com/v2/2014/08/19/aviation-feature-bill-ramsey-on-leading-the-vulcan-and-lancaster-formation/

“The route itself, starting at RAF Waddington, will see the three aircraft departing and then flying a box pattern to the south-west / west of Lincoln to allow them to form up. They will then fly over the turf-cutting ceremony for the new Bomber Command Memorial and on to Metheringham, RAF Coningsby and then a straight line on to RAF Marham. From there the Vulcan will push on to Clacton for its display slot, and it will be followed by the Lancasters, which will have met up with the BBMF fighters by this time, for their own slot at the airshow. The Vulcan will return home to Robin Hood while the Lancasters head to Southend to prepare for a weekend of airshows in the south of England.”

Do they still have the airframe that made an off-airport wheels-up landing a few years back?

No, because it doesn’t exist…

That’s a trifle harsh, I’m sure they manage to field an aircraft now and again.

I did have a list at one point, I’d say around 20, quite a number of which came from the Ernie Simmons cache in Ontario. Quite a few of the survivors are either unrestored projects or parted out airframes used to restore others.

Here’s an incomplete and outdated list as a starting point http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/aircraft/preserved/swordfish.html