I know someone who’s restoring an M1.C – it’s “no”, “no” and “yes” to your questions.

London-Heathrow to Copenhagen-Kastrup as a regular, commercial flight possibly by an SAS DC-4, DC-6 or even a Saab Scandia or a BEA Viscount.

Copenhagen-Kastrup to Warsaw possibly by a LOT Ilyushin IL-12 (there’s a picture on airliners.net of one in Copenhagen taken in 1952).

I can’t understand the excitement about this.

What I see in the pictures are chunks of torn, twisted, encrusted and corroded aluminium.

As could be expected from making an emergency landing (as in “impact”) and remaining for almost 70 years on the seabed.

Moreover, there are no resources/interest in Denmark to fund a restoration of this scale, which has never been carried out before, least of all by the recovering organisation.

My local flying school has one, and it is indeed a VERY cool aircraft. It’s allegedly as easy to fly as a C172, consumes only 40 litres of MOGAS (not expensive AVGAS) per hour in the cruise, and operates with ease in and out of our 400 m paved runway. I also think of it as the spiritual successor to the Gemini.

Maybe the answer is a search for the Osprey F-86 book !

I have a couple of the Eighties Osprey Books, including some by Michael O’Leary. In one of them, there are some F-86 pictures with mention of the drone programme, including a picture of a derelict ex-Luftwaffe example with the code JA-120. There are however no aircraft recognisable as ex-RAF or ex Italian Air Force airframes.

Eric,

Thanks for the info. The revenue hire was mentioned earlier and I counted that under “visitors”. The reliance on that also seems risky to me, given the museum’s location. I go to The Hague fairly often and have nonetheless never managed to visit the museum. Despite the excellent Dutch train network, it seems like quite a daunting trip to get there from The Hague.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all concerned and interested!

Has anyone tried persuading Kermit weeks to sell his? He clearly will not be flying her.

Are there not doubts about the integrity of the wooden structure of this aircraft, after having spent time in humid Florida?

I seem to recall having read somewhere that the big stumbling block for any Mosquito restoration is that it is virtually impossible to determine the integrity of the plywood/balsa sandwich structure without destroying it? Is this correct… Bruce?

@twinotter: I’ll see what I can dig out of the basement, may not get around to it this side of Christmas but won’t forget…!

For the Monospar team in the meantime:

The museum displaying the aircraft was not involved in the actual restoration of the aircraft. This was done essentially single-handedly by a former employee of Skandinavisk Aero Industri (who built the KZ range of light aircraft), the late Ove Alexandersen, as a member of Dansk Flyvehistorisk Forening (Danish Aviation Historical Society). Have they been in touch with this organisation? I wouldn’t be surprised if they have something relevant in their archives. Contact them at info@danfly.dk