Is a medium-sized dog considered to be a UMD?

C’mon, stop trying to put one over on us!

It’s clearly a 1950s Lockheed proposal for a back-dated piston-engined taildragging T-33, for use in the emerging COIN role. The prototype was unsuccessful, but was later purchased by Hamish Mahaddie to stand in for a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain movie. After the filming was complete, this aeroplane was sold in the US, and painted in this faux late-war Spitfire scheme. But its Lockheed lineage is clearly visible.

Hat, coat…

With only a handful of years between these two types, did this ‘escort’ scanario ever happen for real in any theatre / conflict ie, Korea for example?

Unless a flight of Sabres provided cover or put on a show for a general in a VB-17G, I’d be surprised. Other than Israel, I wonder what was the last ‘normal’ combat op of a B-17?

Yeah, given that had spent three decades slowly decaying, only to be acquired by a well-meaning group who had no capacity to undertake the work required, it isn’t a surprise that it was chopped.

It is a shame, but the melodramatic nature of the article doesn’t help the objectivity of it.

I’m part of a group that is working on a DC-3 in an Australian museum. This airliner was preserved, but has deteriorated severely since 1972. The story is similar, but the work undertaken so far has vastly changed the outlook for this aeroplane.

As we all know, it can be done, but it requires time, money, and effort. It seems that the group who acquired the Italian Albatross had none of these.

Cheers,
Matt

I hate to say it, but it’s nice to read of one of the big names of historic flying being able to retire, rather than reading about another fatality.

So maybe Mr Grey has defied the well-known adage and will indeed be an old, bold pilot.

Cheers,
Matt

I’m taking it as given that we’re not including the BBMF aircraft, even though they’re still on charge.

KN645, the Cosford Dakota was taken on charge with the RAF in May 1945, and last flew in the early 1970s, before going to Cosford around 1975. I understand that this was the last active RAF Dakota to have been on charge since WW2. Is this the case?

Cheers,
Matt

One of the most humble men I ever met was an elderly priest, Fr Maurie Carse. He was a mentor to me before he passed away in 2002. I knew he was ex-RAAF, and flew with the USAAF, but he never spoke much. Years after he passed away, I researched him, and found that he flew with the 90th BS, 3rd Attack Group, and was co-pilot to Bob Chatt, the pilot of B-25C “Chatterbox”. During the Battle of the Bsmarck Sea, this aircraft heavily damaged the IJN destroyer Arashio, which led to its destruction.

Carsie flew several tours, and was in northern Australia on B-24s when the war ended. He flew Lancastrians with QANTAS then went to the Department of Civil Avation. In 1948, he entered a monastery, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1956. I knew him in the nineties, and his example inspires me still.

Rest In Peace, Carsie.