HP,
Hi, I have seen Dudley's beautiful Fury - I was hugely impressed by the streamlined flying wires and the hand beat alloy cowls. He did sell it for very little and it does seem that Furies don't fetch much money. I've always thought it was strange because they are an absolutely gorgeous aircraft both in the air and to look at - perhaps it's because of their reputation for being a bit of a handful on the ground.. which there're not really.
I half own G-ASCM John Isaacs' original Fury. It's a real privilege to own a piece of British avation history. She's been pranged a few times over the years and has been re built with twin fuel tanks, brakes and a tailwheel. Sadly, the original alloy blister cowlings have gone and, at present, is in 'dirty' configuration. Dudley flew in to our strip back in the summer and gave us the number of his panel beater - we're hoping to restore her original lines as in John's book at some point. She's been out of the air for a while - we've had problems replacing the mags, but finally settled on new slicks with no impulse, we've fitted a lovely new GT prop too. I'll be digging her out of the back of the hangar next weekend and going for a start...!
Don't pass up a chance to fly a Fury as they have perfect 'British' handling and really do feel right in the air, with the ratio between the controls being spot-on. Just watch out for the masses of drag..
Cordially
Kingy