Thanks for sharing the photographs. By the looks of things they have some pretty rare birds in there! I was shocked to see the Catalina suspended from the roof… that must be quite a site in person! I was more shocked to see that it was not an amphibian though, but a pure flying boat. Is this it’s original form, or was it converted? I had no idea that any of the pure flying boat versions were still around. Looks to be in great shape too, and clearly well looked after. Anyone know its history? Many thanks again for your post.

Cheers,
Richard

Hi Peter… you say FM213 won’t be flying for much longer… that’s a real shame! How many hours does she have left? Many congratulations on your impending flight though!

Cheers,
Richard

Isn’t this the one that Jerry Yagen used to own (with the sawed off wing), or has he just got another one? If it’s the Yagen one, then it’s this one…

Fighter Factory Corsair

It’s a very rare F4U-1D, and I believe it is also a combat veteran. Here’s hoping they figure out how to make new spars for her… so far a feat not accomplished (at least not to original specs).

Cheers,
Richard

There’s one at Cosford isn’t there? At least one will be preserved then, as it’s supposed to be going inside the new building. It is an awesome beast, isn’t it! Glad to see a couple still soldiering on though, long may it continue.

Cheers,
Richard

Does it honestly cost 150,000 pounds for an engine overhaul, and 70,000 for a new prop.? Prices in Blighty are more expensive than I realized! You can buy a fully overhauled P-51 prop for $45-50k here in the States, and while I’m not certain what it costs for a Merlin overhaul, I do know that you can buy a fully overhauled R-2800 for around $50k from a reputable firm. Why are spit bits so much more expensive? What is missing here… this makes no sense? The whole flying spitfire can’t be worth much more than about 650 thousand pounds in the first place.

Richard

I nearly went cross-eyed trying to read some of the captions there last year. In the gallery with the rockets, leading up to the aviation hall they actually have descriptions written in black ink (small letters too) on dark blue paint… in a very dark room. It was nearly impossible to read! I was really shocked at the very poor quality of information presentation. The exhibits themselves are quite magnificent though, so I really shouldn’t complain…. but since it was brought up…

Cheers,
Richard

’98 was a very good year. Southern Cross battled Riff Raff in the Silver, and I believe it was Stew Dawson’s rookie year in Spirit of Texas, where he raced in the Gold. It was also the year that Howard had engine failure on takeoff in his Sea Fury (due to a film crew accidently bumping the fuel selector in the cockpit). Howard cranked her around and landed without incident.

A very good year…let’s hope ’05 will be even better.

Thanks Steve… I thought ’98 was fantastic too. I remember Howard’s Sea Fury escapade very well…. that was an amazing recovery! I was out on pylon 7 when that happened, and we all had our hearts in our throats when he lost power on take-off…. and were all scratching our heads in wonder and relief when he managed to land safely. The one which really had me going though was the heat where Voodoo and the all white Yak-11 (forget it’s name) may-dayed. I remember the Yak pulled out of the race in a steep climb, belching smoke…. then there was a bang and huge gout of flame from the belly… we all thought that was going to be that, but thankfully he landed ok.

2005 should be fun, and I hope to be there too. Will you be racing #47?

Cheers,
Richard

Miss Ashley II qualified in ’99 with something like 437mph if I remember correctly… certainly not Strega-fast, but up there. Sadly she was lost with her pilot, Gary Levitz, in the gold that year.

Back to Red Baron though. Steve Hinton set the absolute world speed record for piston powered aircraft in her in 1979 at a whopping 499.083 mph! That’s fast in anyone’s book… mind you, it was in a straight line, rather than on a closed course… perhaps the prop torque helps in a circuit race, maybe that’s the clue. Anyway, I believe that this record wasn’t broken for another ten years…. by Rear Bear I think. To my knowledge there have only been three contra-prop racers of the modern era (excluding the XP-60 from the Cleveland days… which crashed before the race if IIRC… and the Macchi Costoldi’s of the Schneider trophy if you want to go back a bit further), and they all have all been highly experimental, and had teething problems.

I think there’s still room for improvement there… it would be interesting to see what could be done with a little time and money… still, I do love Sea Furies. Incidentally, I have some lovely pics of Southern Cross at Reno in ’98 when John Bagley owner her if you’re interested Steve. She sure is a beauty, and you’re a very lucky man indeed in my book!

Cheers,
Richard