However it is pronounced it is still an amazing acheivement to get this one back in the air but would anyone other than a modern military pilot ever be able to fly it.
If you had the money and inclination to buy a WW2 warbird like a Mustang or Spitfire it is possible, with the right approach and tuition, to work up from a PPL to the point where you can fly new pride and joy.
I appreciate that with a pilot with the appropriate experience on board an owner could go along for the ride in a SU-27 and may get a bit of stick time but, even assuming the owner had a bottomless pit of money for fuel, maintenance etc, I would have thought that graduating from a PPL to fly this unaided must be impossible.
I wouldn’t like to pick up the fuel, maintenance or insurance bills either!

G-APMM was owned by the Historic Aircraft Museum at Southend dutring the 70’s. It was never restored for display as one of the museum directors bought G-ANPE which was often in the museum when not flying and we also had G-AGYU on loan from Tony Haig-Thomas for a long time.
At that time G-APMM was kept in one of the hangars on the airfield and was a complete but dismantled airframe still covered and with Bustard Flying Group badges on the cockpit side. The museums unrestored Stampe F-BDFE alias G-AYHV was also in the same hangar.

Roobarb Just to say thanks for clarifying the Jersey incident. I was only 12/13 years old at the time of the Battle of Britain film. In those days Duxford seemed miles away from Southend and one of my regrets is that I never managed to persuade my dad that our old Austin A50 would get that far although I did manage to get him to take me to the 1968 Debden display which included some of the film aircraft. I pestered him for weeks to take me and eventually he gave in. It was a great day even though it all seems a very long time ago now.

I had always thought one of the Buchons was written off in a landing accident at Jersey probably during the delivery flight to the UK. The aircraft made a stream landing and one of the Buchons made a fast landing and removed the tail unit of the aircraft in front.
I believed that the aircraft written off was G-AWHF but other web sources say this was written off in May 68 at Duxford in what is variously described as a heavy landing or a ground loop.
Can anyone shed any light on the Jersey incident or os it just a myth that has been perpetuated over the years?
There were also 4 static Buchons brought to the UK for spares and at least one went to Pinewood for cockpit shots. I wonder what happened to these after filming was over. Did they go to Connie Edwards or were they disposed of elsewhere?

When I delivered took some cockpit internals down to Lasham to reunite them with the Drover in about 1986 I was told that the spar pins had been badly butchered during the move from Southend as they just wouldn’t come out. If this is true it would make even the remotest chance of her flying again even more unlikely. There would also be certification problems as I am sure that there was never another british registered Drover and the only way this one has ever left the ground since arriving in the UK is on the end of a crane hook.

Previous posts omitted to say that she was bought from Southend by Patrick Luscombe for the much vaunted British Air Reserve and it was claimed that she would be used for an attempt on the World Air Speed Record for prop driven aircraft which I think at that time was held by Darryl Geenamyer with Bearcat Conquest 1.
As stated she landed up at Duxford and moved on to the States. The Centauras engine fitted when she was at Southend was well and truly seized.
The other Southend Sea Fury WJ244 was never assembled at Southend and eventually went to Spencer Flack and became G-FURY.

what i meant, was that since the town “Beverly” is in close ish proximity with Raf Leconfield, id guess that the Paull Beverly was ferried into there and then roaded to the Transport Museum?

Sorry abviously a bit of a **** up on the communications front. From memory the Beverley actually flew into Paull from Luton when she was bought by Hull Aero Club from Court Line. All the moves after that were strickly at zero feet.

Beverley XB259 was acquired from Court Line by Hull Aero Club for use as a clubhouse and I am pretty sure it flew into Paull, which must have been quite a sight.
I am not sure if the Aero Club ever used it but it was sold on to the Museum of Army Transport based nearby. The army museum foundered a while ago and the Beverley moved the short distance to her current location.
I think this a pretty accurate summary of events but there may be others who are much closer to Paull who can add more.
I see someone beat me to it but I don’t think the website info is entirely accurate as Court Line bought the Beverley with the intention of using it to move Tristar engines. At the time I seem to remember there had been a few reliability problems with early Tristar engines and Court Line wanted to ensure that they could get a replacement engine to a stranded aircraft ASAP. They ran into certification problems with the Beverley and never flew it as intended.