So many wonderful photos posted in the time since I was last here, excellent! It’s hard to pick out any favourites although it’s great to see the Seafire up again…and that Cessna 140! It’s so highly polished it’s almost camouflaged!

Brilliant. I don’t envy your journey ahead, Ian, but regardless of outcome this will be a significant, fascinating and ultimately spectacular project. Bravo, best wishes and good luck! I hope to see more updates as and when 🙂

I’ve long enjoyed his scores but had no idea until now about his passion for flight, nor his involvement with The Horsemen. The video about his composition for the team – surely a first anywhere? – had me in tears at a few points, especially when he talked about what flying meant to him and felt like. It was beautiful.

A real loss.

Hi All,
Does anybody else remember a third RNHF Swordfish being restored to fly not to long ago ? I seem to remember reading somewhere there was another being added or was that just as a spare for the two flyers ?

Geoff.

I do, funnily enough I was reading up on the RNHF late last week. Wikipedia has the following data:
– Fairey Swordfish Mk.I W5856 21 Oct 1941 – 1945 Used as a training aircraft during the war and kept in reserve. Served with the Mediterranean Fleet for a year and restored to flying condition in 1993. Currently undergoing overhaul.
– Fairey Swordfish Mk.II LS326 Aug 1943 – 1945 836 War-time service on MAC ships, including MV Rapana and Empire MacCallum. Appeared as aircraft ‘5A’ in the film Sink the Bismarck!. Following discovery of corrosion in 2002 the aircraft was withdrawn from service. New wing spars were manufactured by BAE Systems as part of a complete restoration. As of November 2010, LS326 is airworthy.
– Fairey Swordfish Mk.III NF389 Apr 1944 Aircraft Torpedo Development Unit, Torpedo Trials Flight, 781 NAS Under reconstruction (Jan 2009).

Wonderful news and an unexpected joy to find the photo in my Facebook news feed. Well done to all involved!

The USAFM acquired a Spitfire XI, a type which the USAAF operated extensively, to replace a type they never used at all.

And I believe after the exchange the new owner then on-sold it, it ended up in NZ being restored and was then sold at auction to China.

Thanks piston, she certainly takes lovely photos.

Thanks for pointing that out, Mark12 – a lovely pair of photos. Well done to the pilots and lensman(woman?). Now I’m even more jealous of those attending the show.