Earlier in this thread someone asked about the fate of a red and white Pembroke. It just so happens that in the late 80’s (1988 ?) my friend Paul and I were contracted to get this aircraft ferriable for the Yankee Air Force. At the time we were working at Republic Airport in Farmingdale NY (USA) on a group of ratty old t-6’s (trust me these things were ratty) used for skywritting. We always saw this old Pembroke pushed back into the weeds rotting away and the story we got was that it was a confiscated drug smuggler (early 80’s ?). One day the airport security cheif came over and said there was some guys from a museam called the Yankee Air Force looking for someone to make this aircraft ferriable and wanted to know if we were interested. It kinda made sense since we were the only guys out there that knew about round engines and we weren’t really smart enough to know what we were gonna get ourselves into. We eagerly accepted. After pumping up the tires and pulling it out of the dirt we started investigating this airplane and found that it was in fairly good condition (sort of). We pulled the battery out and serviced it, we uncowled and removed all the birds nests and we disabled the long range fuel tanks that were in the fuse (probably used for running drugs). We pulled all the spark plugs, preoiled the engines, put everything back together and like little kids scrambled up to the cockpit to see if we could start this thing. I am telling the truth that these engines turned over about three blades and started and ran perfectly (except for all the smoke that turned the field IFR). We worked on this airplane for about two weeks (running and taxing it every chance we got of course) and had to fix problems with the brakes and the flaps (they are pnuematic) plus one of the engine oil tanks was cracked and leaked pretty bad. Once ready we called the YAF to come out with a pilot and fly this thing home (Caldwell, NJ). We dealt with our local FAA about the one time ferry permit, the YAF showed up with there pilot (don’t remember his name) and flew it over to Caldwell, NJ (gear down of course). As far as I know this was the last time this airplane has flown. (I just recently was told that it is still there and once again is rotting into the weeds)
I have loads of pictures from this experience (mess). I will try to post them (not really sure how to, so bear with me)
Stu McAfee
Thanks for posting that story and pics Stu. It just goes to show what can be achieved by some, but not appreciated by others. Unfortunately, I feel this happens to too many vintage British aircraft that end up in the States. They just don’t get treated with enough respect and interest to be worthy of proper restoration and preservation and end up this way. I don’t know which aircraft you had there, but it appears it might be N51966 which was previously ‘RM-10’ of the Belgian Air Force (and still wears their basic colours).
I photographed this aircraft in France in 1966 and it was at Mojave, California, in 1982. Perhaps someone can confirm the i/d?
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