avion ancien

Oh what a tangled web they weave:rolleyes: …

I don’t profess to be any kind of an expert on company or insolvency law but as I understand it Erinaceous have sold to Albemarle Ltd. a subsidiary company who previously purchased part of the Fairoaks Airport group of companies.

Another inextricably interlinked company Longmint own Fast Helicopters at Shoreham and bought both Alan Mann Helicopters and Mann Aviation Group (Engineering) at Fairoaks for £1.

There is plenty on the internet if you google Longmint or Albermarle Ltd.

Wicked Willip :diablo:

Thanks, Newforest

Pleased to say my friend got his aircraft back today, being the first arrival and indeed first movement once Shoreham Airport officially reopened for business this afternoon after one and a half days out of action.

Confirmation of the details of the new owners/managers is still awaited along with how the change will affect things in the long term.

Suffice to say that for the moment normal flying activities at least continue as before.

Wicked Willip :diablo:

Thanks for the list Ewan. I count 30 – at odds with Willip’s suggestion that ther were 28. It’s interesting to see that all but 8 of them did include a “Z” in the registration.

But, there is one missing :confused:

Rollasons built another with detachable wings for promotional purposes – but it only travelled by road 🙂

It has been with the Midland Air Museum, Baginton for about 30 years. I had hopes that it would be painted up to represent the Turbulent that won the King’s Cup at Baginton (can’t remember it’s registration offhand) but it’s not happened yet.

Roger Smith.

Thanks Ewan for the comprehensive listing and to everyone else who responded with subsequent feedback.

Ewan’s initial list, plus G-APLZ since added, makes a total of 31 aircraft. In my hasty mental calculation I omitted 3 – RZM (due to concentrating with those with a registration ending in ‘Z’), THP (didn’t even realise it was a Rollason-built example) and BIVZ (still not convinced – knew about it but the CAA’s GINFO website gives Ian McLennan as the builder).

The only one I don’t remember seeing is SDE, which I suspect went Stateside without ever carrying its UK registration – does anyone know for sure?

I am pretty sure WPA was written off somehow but don’t have the details and of the rest it is a salutary reminder of the extra vigilance needed when flying one of these remarkable little aircraft that the attrition rate is approximately 50% (rather than the 40% originally reckoned) and there have been at least 8 fatal accidents, involving PKZ, PMZ, ‘RIZ (lost in Ireland in a mid-air collision with a Taylorcraft Plus D), SHT(original aircraft – since rebuilt) and THP, plus the 3 written off in Tiger Club Air Displays, SDB at Shoreham on 11/8/68, WPB at Sleap 25/5/70 and BIVZ at Swanton Morley on 9/8/98.

I was present at the Shoreham occasion but did not witness what happened. It was during the ‘flying through the hoop’ display, when seemingly the unfortunate pilot Arnold Green (owner at the time of RCZ) inadvertently spiked the pole holding up the contraption and lost control and crashed whilst trying to shake it off his wingtip.

Regarding the ‘Z’ registrations I am reminded that as well as those already mentioned Rollasons/the Tiger Club had the Super Tigers PDZ ‘The Bishop’, NZZ ‘The Archbishop’ and NMZ ‘The Canon’, Jodel D140 Mousquetaires OVZ/RDZ, Stampe ROZ and the first 2 Condors RHZ/RVZ.

Wicked Willip :diablo:

Thanks Michal in Poland and T-21 again.

As ever the information and knowledge held by the guys on this Forum leaves me dumbfounded.

Cheers

Wicked Willip :diablo:

A trawl through Google and specifically http://www.airliners.net reveals the existence of another Cessna Bobcat SP-GLC, presumably in a Polish museum.

Anyone know its previous history and with which squadron and where did these aircraft serve with the USAAF in Europe before their release onto the civilian market?

Wicked Willip :diablo: