Jetflap,

Your pictures bring back some great memories of my first visit to Hendon in April of 1976, I think my pictures show the museum in the same state as yours. I have a few with me, but I’ll have to dig out the rest of the photos and scan them tomorrow. I had forgotten about the Sunderland and the Beverly, but that is exactly how I remember them now, even though I didn’t get pictures of them at the time. The biggest impression for me that trip was pulling into the parking lot and seeing the Ju-57, Me-262, and V-2, as I had never seen them in person before then. They were frozen in my memory for over 30 years and only last year did I actually find the original pictures from that day.

Scouse I think your pictures show almost the same layout at the museum as mine, but there may be a few changes here and there. I’ll have to compare my photos to yours to see what has been moved.

Here is what I have for now, more to come later.

Oops! Thanks for the correction and apologies. I know better but I wasn’t thinking at all when I wrote Dutch instead of Danish. The RNLAF never used the Super Sabre, so I don’t know why I typed that.

Yes, that Super Sabre came back to the U.S. after serving with the Turkish Air Force in the late 1980’s. It ended up at Tracor Flight Systems, and I assume it was converted to a drone, but I don’t have the info on it with me right now. That was probably about 20 years ago. If it served as a drone it survived because it was registered to a civilian in California a few years ago, but I don’t remember the “N” number. It was built in 1955 and is an F-100D. I think the “F” models were the 2 seat trainer variant. Turkey did have a few “F” models to go along with their fleet of F-100D’s, and except for a few Dutch birds, they all came from the U.S.

J Boyle,

I agree that does seem strange. I guess that it’s mostly a matter of economics. There have been quite a few MiG 15’s, 17’s, 19’s, 21’s, and 23’s available from many of the former Soviet states over the last 20 years or so, and often at a very good price. The U.S. on the other hand, often de-milled and/or scrapped their aircraft or sent them to museums, and there just weren’t as many available to buy. When they were for sale, I think they were substantially more expensive to buy and restore. I’m curious as to how many F-86 Sabre’s currently flying even came directly from the U.S. inventory. Most of them that I have seen were purchased from Canada or other U.S. allies, even if they did serve with the U.S. originally. I still remember Darryl Greenamyer building his F-104 Starfighter from de-milled pieces of several aircraft in the 1970’s, and up until that point I can’t recall any U.S. jets more powerful than a T-Bird in civilian hands. Things are a little different now.

There are 4 or 5 MiG-23’s registered in the U.S. these days, depending on which database you check.

There are 2 registered to Warbirds of Delaware, and there are pictures and video at their website: http://www.warbirdsofdelaware.com/html/mig-23.html

They have N51734 and N5106E based at New Castle Airport (ILG) and the site says N51734 is available for purchase. The lease rate is $6,800.00 per hour dry!

The Texas MiG-23 is N923UB and is registered to MiG 23UB #22 LLC of Dallas, Texas. It is serial # A1037622.

The 2 MiG-23’s in Sarasota, Florida are N223ML and N23UB, and were bought by Doug Morgan from the former Czechoslovakia several years ago and shipped to the U.S. for restoration and sale. There is a short article and video about them here:
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/Sarasota_man_buys_rebuilds_MiG_fighter_jets

I first saw them at the Sarasota Airport in December of 2006 and was told they had recently completed engine runs. I believe some ex Czech technicians had been there to assist in the overhauls.

This is what they looked like on December 23rd, 2006, sitting outside at SRQ.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=169971&stc=1&d=1235493103

The museum at Pensacola is probably responsible for more Wildcat restorations than anyone else I can think of, including the one in their museum and the one at O’Hare airport in Chicago to honor Butch O’Hare. I would think that they have, or have created some technical drawings of the Wildcat’s rudder. Also the USAF Museum at Dayton, Ohio would be very likely to have the blueprints you need. The USS Yorktown Museum in South Carolina has a nicely restored Wildcat F4F-3A and might be able to help. I think they have restored at least one Wildcat at Chino, California in recent years, and closer to you is the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton that has the only surviving original Martlet in their restoration hangar. There are 2 or 3 flying examples in private hands here in the states but I don’t know who the owners are at the moment, but they shouldn’t be too hard to find, the planes have been at several airshows over the last few years. Good luck.

Yes the wing root, window size and location, door shape and door handle location all match the DC-4/C-54. Judging by the seat backs inside the door I’d say it’s a DC-4. I think J Boyle is right about the letters above the windows, they look like the bottom of the letters “NES” to me. If it were an American Airlines DC-4 it would probably have a stripe under the windows so I think you can rule them out.

Regarding the location, there is an Esso sign under the belly of the plane which makes me think Heathrow is more likely than Northolt, but that is just a guess. Would Northolt have had commercial fuel signs like that in 1950? And what is the name or logo on the side of the stairway? That should be a pretty good clue to the airline or possibly the airfield.