Are you in a position to elaborate on the Aussie Desoutter James?
Interesting question about Diamond Lil Moggy, personally I’d say she is unique as the early model Libs were pretty substantially different to the later models, and also ofcourse she spent many years flying around as an ‘LB30’ transport model.
Just out of curiosity, did her transport mods bring her up to full LB30 standard or would she have been better regarded as a modified B24A? Anyone?

I think we need to steady-on a bit here, FMS has a valid point about the BBMF’s participation not being fully described.The ‘trademark’ BBMF are the Lanc, Spit & Hurri and most if not all organisers do go to the trouble of listing which individual BBMF aircraft are participating, especially if the Lanc is not going to be there. It’s a case of how the participants were advertised rather than being about a ‘poor show from the BBMF’ etc as some have suggested. The bottom line is that clearer advertising by the Cosford organisers would’ve saved alot of bother.

For anyone interested on WW1-era AOP operations, I can highly recommend “Sagittarius Rising”, Cecil Lewis’ autobiography of his time in the RFC. His first frontline posting was to an Army Co-op squadron flying two-seater Morane Type-L parasol monoplanes, and his vivid accounts of the dangers these guys faced makes your hair stand on end.
Firstly, the Type L had some pitch stability problems, and if you let go of the stick the aircraft could bunt so violently that the wing could part company. Keeping a hand on the controls at all costs was the order of the day!
Secondly, they were often operating well within range of the German flak (“Archie”), and even small arms.
Thirdly, they often operated alone, with no escort or top cover of any sort, leaving them open to attack from German scouts.
The fourth hazard is perhaps the most hair raising. This was the artillery shells themselves, both German and Allied. The standard response to an artillery barrage was to return fire with a barrage of your own. AOP crews often had shells pass them by in both directions, Lewis even recounts how you could see the shells rotating as they ‘drilled’ thier way through the atmosphere. Shells would sometimes collide and detonate in mid air, often too close for comfort for the AOP guys, and ofcourse there was every chance that your machine could be struck by a passing shell. This is in fact how Lewis’ usual Observer lost his life whilst flying with another pilot, his aircraft being hit by a British shell.
It’s also worth mentioning that the shells caused severe disturbance and turbulence, so it was extremely bumpy and uncomfortable work aside from the dangers. Bear in mind that the machines were already a tad unstable and that the wings didn’t need much encouragement to part company and you can begin to understand how nerve wracking the whole experience was.
Sagittarius Rising is a great read in general, if you haven’t read it you’re missing out on a brilliantly written aviation autobiography. Mine takes pride of place up on the shelf alongside Wing Leader etc as one of the greats.

Piston engine fighter? Interesting aircraft, and good to see one airborne again. How many are there in airworthy trim worlwide at the moment?

There’s a listing of her 2007 display commitments listed in the ‘Airshows’ section on the link below. This is the official website for R4118.

http://www.hurricanedisplay.co.uk/

Hi Daz,

I don’t think ‘983 ever had the four gun configuration, you’re probably thinking of Mk.IX NH238 which was also used in the filming of Piece of Cake.

The two P6M losses were down to problems with the primary flight control systems, the first accident being fatal. That aircraft was doing a low level, high speed run over the sea during a test flight when the elevator jack malfunctioned and slammed the elevators into the full nose down position. The aircraft bunted so suddenly that it momentarily carried on travelling horizontally even though the nose was almost vertical. Analysis of the film of the accident later established that the wings had flexed downward so far that the wingtips had actually touched beneath the fuselage before the wings failed.

Sorry mate, ’97 was my only Shepway show. It was a bit of a trek away from where I was living at the time.