RE: German Aircraft Carrier in WW2?

Construction work on Graf Zeppelin stopped in 1942,and she was pushed over to one side of the harbour,where she was left until the end of the war.She fell into Russian hands in 1945 and the Russians showed a great deal of interest in her.She had repairs carried out to make her roughly seaworthy,with the intentioned that she’d be towed back to the USSR for examination and evaluation,the Germans having used some pretty novel welding techniques,amongst other things, on thier warships which the Russians were keen to learn about.
Unfortunately for the Russians she capsized and sank in the Baltic whilst under tow.

RE: Radial engine running in reverse ?

I’ve heard that the engines on both the Avro Tutor and the Hawker Tomtit of the Shuttleworth Collection will run backwards.I’m not sure I want to know how they found that out!

RE: Brussels museum pic

Hi Steve,
The IWM’s Fw190 was in for a check over and a respray,the work being done by ARCO if I remember rightly.
The Mossie in the picture is NF.Mk.30 MB24/RK952.I think the nose has had a section of skin cutaway and replaced by perspex to give the public a view into the nose,which could explain why it looks a bit odd.RK952 never actually served with the RAF,being sent straight into storage from the Leavesden factory in May 1945.She was the last Mosquito to be flown by the Belgian Air Force,being struck off charge in 1956.All other Belgian Mossies had been grounded and struck off the year before.

RE: OFMC Mig-21

Yep,the former OFMC MiG21 is now owned by the people at MAM.There was some talk of making it ground runnable at some point,but whether this is a serious proposition or just a nice idea we’ll have to wait and see.As a side note,the former OFMC MiG-17 is now at Bournemouth with the long term intention of returning it to the air, paperwork etc permitting.
I agree it would be nice to have the Su22 on public display,but I was told that the Duxford runway isn’t long enough for it,part of the reason why it went to Scampton in the first place.It would have to be dismantled and transported by road,which would be a bit of an undertaking in itself,and then there’s no garauntee it would get hangar space,so perhaps she’s better off where she is.

RE: Beaufighter !!

Excellent website FiltonFlyer!Keep up the good work mate 🙂

RE: XV474

I could well be wrong,but I’m lead to believe that all UK Phantoms are affected by the SALT II treaty.The treaty states that all US built/funded aircraft in the UK and other countries have to be scrapped/permenantly decommissioned at the end of thier service lives.
This would prohibit them being flown in civilian hands.I’m also lead to believe that there is even some controversy over whther they should even be preserved for static display.
Correct me if I’m wrong,it certainly seems very heavy handed policy.

RE: RM689 To Fly Again

Hi Brad,
I’d heard one or two rumours going around on the net about this one,but I had my doubts that it was true.If Pilot are reporting it,then I suppose there must be some sort of substance to it.
To be honest,I personally don’t see what the point of resurrecting RM689 would be.If you consider the number of Spits,and the number of Mk.XIVs that are currently airworthy or under rebuild,it makes no sense to rebuild a wreck when you could go out and buy,for instance, HFL’s RN201,newly restored and ready to fly away.If,as I understand,it’s being rebuilt for Rolls Royce,it seems doubly pointless,being as they already have Mk.19 PS853.The 19 isn’t that much different to the 14,so why bother??To my mind,RM689 was destroyed in 1994,and it should be left at that.Building a new machine with RM689’s identity would in a way erase the fact that it ever crashed and claimed a life.
Rebuilding a machine that was damaged/destroyed in a fatal accident is a touchy subject at the best of times,but to my mind it could be reasoned on the grounds of the rarity of the machine,or perhaps it’s present condition,ie.whether the majority of what flew again would be the same machine.IMHO,I don’t think the rebuild of RM689 is a reasonable proposition-Spitfires are not too rare,and the original RM689 was destroyed almost totally,leaving probably nothing that could be flown again.