RE: Spit in sea off Cyprus.

Interesting story – regards the RAF Association they do not have any influence on what should happen with war graves. That is the job of the Commonwealth War Graves Commisssion – the RAFA is a support organisation for both serving and former members of the RAF and their dependent’s.

RE: Catalina

The former Greenpeace machine wouldn’t require a vast amount of work
to return her to fairly ‘stock’ condition. She has her original fin
and engine configuration and I am sure with some further work she could be returned to wartime guise.
Regards a latter thread the North Weald example is for sale but the difference in the asking prices of it and the Greenpeace machine
was considerable .

RE: Supermarine Swift up for grab

I don’t think the CAA are totally intractable regarding afterburners – after all the OFMC at Duxford have-had a MIG-17 on the British register and I don’t think Mike Carlton would have acquired her in the first place if the CAA would not allow her on a permit to fly.
The main problem in most people’s eyes is who in the public knows what a Swift is and how many really care?
Hawker Hunter’s are available at realistic prices and have the option of two seats so if you want to tear around the countryside
at a fast rate of knots at least two people can enjoy the sound of that 600 gallons of fuel burning rather than one person in a Swift wondering about what happens when a PFCU goes wrong and the is no spares back up.
The comments regarding the CAA are not really bore out in reality – it’s lovely to say arn’t they terrible for not allowing
these aircraft to fly but the reality of it is that these aircraft make a nasty mess when they come down so they wisely try and keep them in the hands of responsible operators who appreciate the seriousness of what they are doing.

RE: Catalina

That’s not strictly true – the Greenpeace machine was available at a price which they could not refuse. Along with the aircraft was a comprehensive spares package which can be utilized to help in the rebuild of G-BLSC as she was before she adopted the Bermudan register.
The Greenpeace machine can operate as a crew trainer and as such when the unfortunate original ‘Killer Cat’ is airworthy again they can make a decision on what way forward – speaking for myself I have never been a particular ‘fan’ of the Super Cat mods and would much rather they retain the Greenpeace machine and let ‘Killer Cat’ go home to the ‘states’.
As regards Plane Sailing I am curious as to how much interest the is in seeing more than one Catalina on the airshow circuit in the U.K.

RE: Duxfords new arrivals!

Duxford has got a Buccaneer-it arrived from Coningsby at least two years ago.

RE: F4U-4 to be rebuilt

Regards the Buchon the is no particular problem with the type. They just seem to suffer more than their fair share of accident’s.
As such in Spanish service they were used as fighters and didn’t as such carry out directly the same type of flying as is the case of a private owner machine.

RE: F4U-4 to be rebuilt

In other words build a ‘new’ Corsair looking at the extent of the damage.

RE: Duxfords new arrivals!

She had been based in the U.K for about a year – at various stages operating out of Heathrow and Enstone. She is sadly missed – it’s about time we had a replacement either airworthy or not!