IIRC,the ‘complete’ IWM Zero is the collection of manky looking bits in the restoration hangar,the Zero cockpit is as far as I’m aware still at Lambeth. The Duxford example is an A6M3 recovered from the Marshall Islands,along with a handful of others in a similar state.

I haven’t the first idea what to say,I’ve only just logged on and seen this thread and can’t quite take it in. I never met Steve but I’m in no doubt that I’m the poorer for it.Through his threads and contact via PM’s etc it was clear that he was an intelligent,passionate and considerate man,a top bloke all round. I’m sitting here on the verge of tears for a man I never met,which I think perhaps says something about the character of the man we’ve lost.
My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Steve’s loved ones.
Steve,here’s to an eternity of turbulence-free flying and unlimited airspace,and may those wings of yours be made by DeHavilland Canada.

Beautiful stuff mate,thanks for sharing. I’m not usually much of a T6 nut,but there’s something very pleasing about that first take-off shot. 🙂

Another aspect to consider is the fact that the potential for an aircraft to fly can be the impetus behind its restoration in the first place. I suppose an example of that would be the Mew Gull,kept in storage in a leaky shed for years and very rotten by the time anyone thought of saving it. If someone hadn’t had the dream of flying it then it might well have ended up as firewood. Sure a large proportion of it is not original material (and even less after the landing accident at OW a number of years ago),but I’d stick my neck out and say there’d be no Mew Gull at all if there’d been no prospect of it flying.
Another example is probably the Fw189,it was a pretty hopeless mess to begin with and I suspect that even if it had been recovered eventually for a museum it would’ve been displayed as a wreck rather than resored. The amount of money and effort being put into it at the moment can surely only be justified by the goal of making it fly.

Thanks for the correction David,sorry for the confusion but glad to hear the population of Suez airframes is double what I thought. 🙂

Excellent footage Dave,thanks for sharing. Just one thing though,are US airshow commentators always that loud??

Lovely shots Merlin,the landing shot of the two Annies and the Electra is probably my favourite. I like the B17 & P47 shot,talk about close escort 😀

Wonderful stuff Franck,my eyeballs nearly popped out when I saw the first pic. Gorgeous 🙂