Just to be pedantic and provide a bit of extra info,the Nimrod that ditched was one of the RAF’s top secret R.1’s.rather than the bog standard MR.2. The R.1 specialises in intelligence gathering and other hush-hush activities,so the RAF launched a salvage operation after the accident to retrieve as much of her as they could to save anything falling into the hands of others. I think she was one of only 3 R.1’s in existstance (certainly there are only 2 now) and she’d only just undergone a major overhaul.
Referring to W&R,the nose is as Steve said at Aeroventure. The serial number may be of interest to the suspicious amongst us,it was XW666!

The history of D.VIII/E.V replicas and indeed the originals has not been a particularly happy one. When the type was introduced a number were lost in accidents,a fair proportion of those from structural failures of the wing. So tainted was the type’s reputation that when it was re-introduced into service after modification it’s designation was changed to D.VIII to sweep it’s ugly past under the carpet. Even then,it has the reputation of being a bit ‘hot’. A replica that used to be flown here in the UK in the early 80’s crashed fatally,Kermit Weeks had a serious ‘prang’ in his replica about a year ago and Dutchman Karel Bos went ‘ar*e over tit’ in his replica a couple of years ago,and was lucky to survive with minor injuries. A lovely looking machine and by all accounts a great fighter,but as I say it does seem to have a reputation…
How about a Fokker Eindekker?I believe a handful of E series replicas have been built over the years,both over here and in the US so it might not be too difficult to find someone with experience of building/flying/maintaning one. It’s an attractive machine and being a monoplane there would (in theory atleast) be less of it to build.
Then there’s the possibilty of producing a lookalike out of an existing machine-a couple of DH Tiger Moths were turned into convincing Pfalz D.III replicas for the movie ‘The Blue Max’ (I think the guys at Old Rhinebeck still fly one of these) and then more recently a couple of 1950’s Bowers Fly-Baby homebuilts have been modified to look like Junkers J.1 monoplanes and appear at airshows here in the UK,complete with animated dummy rear-gunner!
If you were considering building something that wasn’t German,I could perhaps point you in the direction of a chap who owns a set of plans for something French. Drop me a PM if interested…

Interesting pics Colin,thanks for sharing.:)
The Mustang was NL5747 which paid a visit to the UK in the late 70’s,there’s an often published picture of her flying alongside Spitfire MH434 when she bore Sir Adrian Swire’s personal AC-S code letters.
The Mustang returned to the States and tragically was destroyed in a fatal crash in 1980.:(

Ok,perhaps not that local then 😀 I was working from memory so it’s much more likely that W&R is correct.

Mark12:”Not sure I can see the RAAF markings.”

Now that I look closer,I can see traces of the red star in the middle of the blue/white roundal.I thought at first that it was a wartime RAAF roundal-doh! Looks like both of us need our eyes checked! 😀
What an absolutely stunning collection of relics in the store-room pics,Alladin himself would proud of that little haul.
Thanks again for sharing Mark,and thanks to ageorge for the info on the film. 🙂

Excellent pics Mark,thanks very much for sharing.I have to say the Hurri looks pretty tasty in Yugoslav markings and interesting to see one fitted with a tropical filter.
Interesting to see the Soko 522 wrecks in the very last pic wearing Luftwaffe/RAAF markings!Any idea what the markings were applied for?

According to Wrecks and Relics 19,the Cloughjordan Hector remains have been/are being incorporated into the restoration of Hawker Demon K8203/G-BTVE at Skysport Engineering.The aircraft is owned by Demon Displays and work is apparently well advanced.
Hope this is of interest 🙂