Doug ferried the Hars Convair out from South Africa last year.
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I saw a media photo last year of that HARS Convair taken during its initial take off climb. As a former Convair 440 pilot from over 50 years ago, I noticed that one upper cowl flap was fully open on one engine. The angle of the photo restricted the view of both upper cowl flaps. Normally that would be a serious event as the drag from a fully open upper cowl flap would be prohibitive in event of an engine failure at that stage.
My thought was maybe the cowl flap motor was inoperative and the crew had perhaps mechanically wound the cowl flap to the full open position for a ferry flight due lack of spares at the point of departure. That would be inconceivable to me as the CHT on that engine would be very low with all that cooling airflow through the engine and effect on the cylinders. I wrote to HARS for their comment but received no acknowledgement