“XN923-I’d like to get to the bottom of the Swift situation though. Is the owner
a) unwilling to sell under any circumstances
b) unwilling to sell but could be persuaded if he could be sure the buyer would not do exactly what happened with the Spitfire and immediately sell on for a huge mark up
c) unwilling to sell for all but un unrealistically exorbitant sum because he thinks some moneybags enthusiast will one day come along with a blank cheque?”

My understanding is that all three have been true at one time or another, with the latter two probably most accurately describing the current state of affairs. All sorts of deals have been mooted over the years, with some coming very close and then having the goalposts moved at the last minute. Solent Sky (Southampton Hall of Aviation) for example made atleast 3 attempts to purchase the aircraft without success (they now have F.7 XF114).
As for where ‘275 would be most appropriate, I’d say Duxford would be a fitting place for her. The Swift was the first swept wing British fighter to enter service and claimed a World Speed Record for Britain,surely making her a fitting candidate for AirSpace. I emailed a senior member of IWMDux’s staff with this in mind a few months back, but sadly he said the museum would only be able to consider taking the aircraft on if it were donated.

Hi Disco,
Have you configured the joystick via the Control Panel in Windows? Go to the start menu,go up to ‘Settings’ and click on ‘Control Panel’. Once in control panel, you should see an icon marked ‘Game Controllers’.Clcik on that and it should allow you to activate and configure your joystick.
Failing that,or if you’ve already done it, there’s an ‘Input’ icon on the first page of the game. Clicking on that should take you through to a menu of audio,video etc options,and control options. You should be able to click where it says ‘mouse’ or ‘keyboard’ and scroll down to ‘joystick’.
Hope it helps and hope I haven’t made it sound like launching an Apollo mission or turned it into gobbledygook.

I’m convinced it’s a B24,the fuselage appears to have the Lib’s very deep section and the windshield looks distinctively Lib too. It’s also worth noting that the fuselage has broken in the same places as Lib fuselages tended to do in a belly landing.

I played a minor part in a negotiation attempt with the owners a few years ago,sometime around 2002. As has been mentioned above, there is still some bad feeling surrounding the sale of the Spitfire some years ago. Basically, the owner was duped into letting it go for too low a price,and the middle-man who bought it promptly sold it off to someone who knew what it was worth,making a fair old mint. By all accounts, the owner is a decent chap, and you can’t really blame him for being a bit sceptical of offers on the Swift when someone supposedly from the preservation movement has come along and stitched him up like a kipper in the past.
I’d say that anyone wanting to save her would have to spend quite a bit of time regaining the owners trust before any offers were made.
As for the Harrier swap,that’s been dead in the water for a few years. As mentioned above, the owner’s sons who now manage the store don’t want another aircraft.
I last had a look around her about 18 months ago and while it seems that she’s in a rather dire overall condition, there are a number of areas where she still looks like new, namely the roofs of the nosewheel bay and inside the mainwheel bay in the area largely hidden by the closed wheelwell door. She does have quite a bit of skin corrosion and the majority of her nut’s and bolts are corroding nicely, but aside from the damage to the left wing tip her structural parts appear to still be in good shape. A major restoration project,but not beyond hope.
WK275 is unique in having been built as a Mk.4 and then brought up to basic Mk.5 standerd (albeit without the cameras in the nose). She was the test-bed for the various improvements that went into the FR.5, such as the taller tailfin and the frameless canopy. She’s best described as an F.Mk.4-and-a-half.

G for George at the Australian War Memorial?

Hi Daz,
The Spit looks very much like Mk.XIV TZ138, now owned by Bob Jens in British Colombia, Canada. As far as I know, this is another little-flown Spit having only been ground run since the delivery flight to it’s present owner. She shares the hangar with Bob’s airworthy Mosquito project.

It could’ve been the Sheppard’s Swift, but on a farm not too far away there’s also a private collection that includes a Hawker SeaHawk-a straight wing jet fighter in Navy colours that might be mistaken for an Attacker.

Beautiful,thanks for the pics Martin. I posted a queery about the status of this project a couple of years ago,it’s great to see Mr.Goddard’s handywork flying at long last. Am I right in thinking the fuselage was fitted (and ground run?) with a rotary at one point?