There’s at least 2 on your list that are unlikely to be there though…..

I know – but I am not biting 😀

7 P-51 Mustangs where will they come from never knew we had 7 P-51 Mustangs in europe.James

You are rather adept at displaying your ignorance sometimes James. There are seven flyable Mustangs in England alone 🙂 :

TFC x 2
RACo x 1
Hangar 11 x 1
OFMC x 1
Rob Davies x 1
Maurice Hammond x 1

Not counting Robs Lamplough’s ‘Miss Helen’ (still undergoing repairs).

I find it somewhat hard to believe that they could keep six replicas a secret..(are there 24 Merlins available?) what are your opinions about this rumor??

Please read my earlier post :rolleyes: They have not commenced construction of these ‘replicas’. They will be for a movie, these will be movie props to perform specific movie functions and not necessarily, made of metal, be full size, be powered by Merlins etc.

‘Oldest flying Spitfire’ could actually be redefined as actually being airworthy for the longest period. Clearly anything that crashed in 1940 is likely to have flown only a couple of years !

Surely that would be ‘Longest flying Spitfire’?

Cheers James, saved me writing a long post!

Would have hoped the Kennet Seafire

Thats already on the list.

I don’t know anything about the rules of keeping an aircraft in the air so a “possible” stupid question coming.

There is no such thing as a ‘stupid’ question 🙂

So the rules are “regardless of the age of the flying machine then these are the rules and it’s right across the board”.

Pretty much (as far as ‘simple’ Permit to Fly aircraft are concerned anyway), most of the historic aircraft we enjoy today (the Spitfire , Hurricane, Mustang etc) do not have a finite airframe life, but their status as airworthy machines is maintained by a series of detailed inspections of various levels of complexity throughout the year coupled with (flying) time related prop and engine overhauls.

I had heard it had something to do with the main spar but didn’t know that this particular part of the aircraft could be changed. Sounds like big job but with the Lanc it’s worth it.

Yes it is a very big job but the Lanc as an airframe is made from a number of different ‘sub-assemblies’ and the main spar is a large part of the central fuselage/inner wing sub-assembly so it is possible to break the spar down and replace the sheet metal components and fixings. And yes, it does deserve it!

Once these are used up????? Are there only a limited amount from original stock? Surely with todays modern toys in manufacturing more could be made?

The spar is more of a built-up assembly than an individual part, so it can be replaced so long as the raw material, bults and rivets are still available.

I heard somewhere that it only has a limited amount of flight hours left on that aircraft and then it will be grounded. Any truth in that?

Ali

Not really. The Lancasters flying time is governed by the ‘life’ allocated to the main spar. This ran out of hours a few years ago and the structure was replaced allowing many more flying hours. Once these are used up (in many years time) the spar can be replaced again.

In common with all other aircraft the engines and props are also required to be overhauled after a certain number of flying hours but this is common to all aircraft and not something which is particular to PA474.