Thanks Steve for that link to surviving Bristol types. That is a great site.

I am staggerred at how many Blenheims and Bollingbrokes remain today. I used to think it was a rare aircraft. Are any of those restorations close to flying?

And there seem to be a good number of both Beau types too. Not as plentiful as the Blenheim though. That place in Aussie with loads of Beaus in one facility must have dissolved and dispersed by the look of this list.

Are the East Fortune Beaufighters going to fly? Or the Hatch or Dayton ones?

I am saddened to see there are no Freighters still flying. One left NZ for Canada only a few years back in flying condition.

I just found this picture in my collection which I took at the Auckland International Airshow in 1992. It demonstrates the skill this team has in very low formation flying. Look closely and you’ll see all three planes!

Thanks guys. I feel the Blenheim is a type of aircraft that played a big role but is somewhat neglected. At least a few survive. That goes for its descendants, the Beaufort and Beaufighter too.

Hmm, a Blenheim flying with a Mk 1 nose. Hmmm. I’m not so keen on that idea as I prefer the Mk IV’s lines anyday. But it would certainly make an interesting warbird, especially for Battle of Britain displays. It would be good if they could make it interchangable between the ugly but interesting Mk 1 nose and the lovlier Mk IV nose, using a big zip or perhaps velcro or something!! LOL

I have been wondering, did any Blenheims operate in France during the Battle of France? I’ve read that Hurricanes, Defiants and Battles operated there, but no Spitfires, and I wondered if maybe Blenheims or that other BofB veteran the Gladiator ever got used in the French defences.

I also wonder, at the time was there a general feeling of envy or even jealousy among Spitfire squadrons that they were not sent to the front lines in France in 1939-40? Or were they generally happy to be the defence rather than offence as it were? I assume they still made sweeps over the continent from Britain? There’s a famous photo of a Spitfire crashed on the beach at Dunkirk so they must have I guess.

Yes I guess that is a very fair point Eric, it probably won’t have been a live broadcast. It’s hard to know what they ‘really’ did, after all we now know that all of Winston Churchill’s most famous wartime speeches were not actually Winston Churchill!

We’ll fight them on the beaches, etc. His real speeches were never recorded as they went out in parliament where recording was illegal, and he was too busy to record them for the BBC so they got actor Norman Shelley to record them.

Winnie later recorded them himself after the war, which are the genuine ones we here now, whereas the genuine wartime ones a re not ‘genune’.:confused:

I have just looked out an article from the NZ Herald newspaper from the 2nd of November 1996. It is about the Confederate Air Force Beech 18. The author Lawrence Watt states:

“The Royal New Zealand Air Force assembled three twin-engined Beeches from American kitsets in the Second World War. One transported the American commander-in-chief, Vice-Admiral R.L. Ghormley, and his staff (including a future United States president Lyndon Johnston). Another plane was used by the American Legation. The third was used for aerial mapping and is now at the Museum of Transport and Technology (Motat).
Ghormley’s plane apparently disappeared when Vice-Admiral Halsey took over in late 1942. The embassy’s Beech lasted until 1957.”

I’m not sure where I read that it was in the colours of Macarthur’s transport, but I know I read it. Must have been a misleading piece though. And it isn’t the original, just in the scheme of Ghormley’s plane. So that clears that up.

Oh right. Interesting. Do you know if they plan to restore it? I hope so.