RE: Hurricane LF363

I suppose it would be possible to put the cannon back on LF363,but personally I would be against it.The main point of the BBMF is to commemorate the Battle of Britain.With LF363 they have a Hurri that can convincingly wear BofB and other early war colour schemes,whilst PZ865 can represent later Hurris.
So,all in all,I think it would be best if LF363 stayed as she is.

RE: Aircraft control columns

Try Corke Aero,a UK based specialist.You can get control columns,flying suits,Merlin pistons etc.

http://www.corke-aero.co.uk

Hope this helps.

RE: WWII aircraft

Just to add to the listing:
Il2 Sturmovik-A number of these survive as wrecks in various places.Atleast 2 are currently in the UK,with one said to be under restoration.Others are on display in the former Soviet Union,and there is said to be a cache of these machines lying at the bottom of a Hungarian lake.
MiG-3:There are currently no MiG-3’s as far as I’m aware.
P38J “DroopSnoot”:There are or atleast have been one or two droopsnoot and pathfinder-nosed P38’s around in recent years,but I don’t know the exact details of them,or whether they are still airworthy.It should be remembered that the droopsnoot was a conversion of a standard P38J or L,so it’s possible that other droopsnoots might be created from existing regular P38’s.
Fokker D.XXI-These were ‘extinct’ until a few years ago when one or two wrecks were recovered from the old USSR,having formerly served with the Finnish AF.Last I heard there was a plan to rebuild one complete static example from these parts.
Hs.129-So far as I know,only an armour plated nose/cockpit section survives in Germany,having been recovered from former USSR.
Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien-There is one example currently on display in Japan,and there are other substantial parts that might one day create another complete aircraft.
Mitsubishi A5M ‘Claude’-so far as I can remember there is one on display in Japan,although this may only be a substantial wreck.
Mitsubishi J2M Raiden ‘Jack’-There is one example with Planes of Fame at Chino in California,and I think there may also be another in US,and possibly yet another in Japan.
Petlyakov Pe2-There was a wreck recovered from Russia a few years back,which was muted to be potentially airworthy and I think it went to the states,but i’ve not heard anything since.There may also be others as wrecks or on display in Russia and China.
Il-4/SB2-There are one or two wrecks and other bits and pieces,but I don’t know of any complete examples.
Tu-2:There are a number of Tu-2’s in existence in a number of places worldwide,with a number in China,aswell as one or two in USSR and another fairly rotten looking example in Bulgaria.There is another potentially airworthy example in the US,and the project is currently up for sale.
To add to the Hampden listing,we mustn’t forget the example coming together slowly but surely at Elvington in Yorkshire.
With regard to the Whirlwind,it is true to say that it’s engines let it down etc,but it should also be remembered that it was quite a hotrod,with a high landing speed which meant that it needed a very long runway.Even though it would have been effective as a fighter-bomber,it’s hard to see how it could have operated from forward airfields in places like Normandy.All in all,I think we should be glad that the Typhoon was around to fill the gap.

RE: Hendon free entry

The free entry scheme is a nationwide government scheme to allow free entry to many national museums,both aviation related and otherwise.I can only presume that the difference will be covered from the government’s own funds.

RE: *Restorations Update* Whats going on lads?

The RAF Museum example is currently the only one in existance,but there is also a long term rebuild underway at Shoreham in West Sussex,although this too is very much static.
Hawker Restorations have made one or two comments about the possibility of scratch building a Typhoon or two,but so far nothing has happened,and whether they would be feasable to operate is yet another matter.
So all in all there is definately NOT a Typhoon on the cards at BBMF,or anywhere else for that matter.
BBMF have recently taken delivery of a low back Mk.XVI Spitfire which was previously used by the RAF’s exhibition flight,but this is purely being utilised as a spares source.Perhaps this machine,complete with D-day stripes,has been confused for a Typhoon??

RE: Whatever became of the………

I can’t imagine for a minute that XL391 has any sort of long term future,except perhaps as frying pans!She is in such a bad way that I’m not convinced she would be moveable even if some sort of plan were put into action.All in all i think we have to admit that she is now something of a lost cause. 🙁

RE: WWII Air-Sea Pilot Resque

Whoops!Me make a boo-boo!I picked up the latest edition of ‘Wingspan International’ today and lo and behold there was a feature on air-sea rescue Lysanders!They were used during the Battle of Britain period and into 1941.They were however purely used as spotting aircraft,dropping life rafts and smoke pots to help the rescue launches find the exact location,with the smoke being colour coded to indicate what had been found (yellow smoke for a downed airman).
The Lysanders were actually rather vulnerable in this role,and a few were shot down by 109’s,leading to the introduction of Hurricane escort for each Lizzie,although this too was not always effective.
Apologies for the mistake.I’ve once again learned that it’s better to do the research BEFORE posting the message!!

RE: WWII Air-Sea Pilot Resque

Yep it’s true that things like Spits and Defiants were used to drop life rafts.The idea was that these aircraft had a good turn of speed,so could get to the scene pretty sharpish.Thier other role was to give the downed airman/airmen some element of air cover and moral support while rescue arrived,and also to provide fighter protection for the rescue flying boat or rescue launch.The fighter could also ward off any attempts made by the Germans to pick them up if rescue by thier own side was imminent.
The RAF were not the only ones to operate these ‘rescue fighters’.The USAAF also cottoned on,and formed ERS’s (Emergency Rescue Squadrons). They were equipped with war-weary P47’s,and were used in a similar way to the RAF aircraft,dropping life rafts,providing air cover etc.
I’ve not seen anything about Lysanders being used in this role,although it is ofcourse possible.I do know that Lizzies were used to lay smoke-screens for the D-Day invasion fleets,so it isn’t too uncommon to see footage of one flying low over the sea with strange cannisters dangling off the undercarriage spats.