Mosquito Squadron

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by Haraka

Thanks Chev, IIRC Jeff Hawke (RIP ) was the main player in that docu. .

He was indeed... got a copy on DVD recently, better than my poor quality dodgy VHS to MP4 version... Remember seeing the B-25s lined up at Blackbushe after the filming of Hannover Street ended. Also think one of the 633 Sqn Mossies may have been there on that occasion, certainly recall seeing one in the hangar there at some point.

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

He was indeed... got a copy on DVD recently, better than my poor quality dodgy VHS to MP4 version... Remember seeing the B-25s lined up at Blackbushe after the filming of Hannover Street ended. Also think one of the 633 Sqn Mossies may have been there on that occasion, certainly recall seeing one in the hangar there at some point.

Yes Doug Arnold acquired one of the Mossies; some people said he flew it but I doubt that because he wasn't very little; I got in one at Bovingdon and it was a tight fit for me at only 144lb at the time and I know Doug bought a Partenavia at one time and quickly got rid of it because (according to the pilot he engaged for a while) he couldn't get through the door!
I think Dougs Mossie is the one which ended up with Kermit Weeks in the USA.
As an aside, I met Doug's son at Fairoaks in about 2014 and (after mentioning his father used to own the airport) he told me he was running an aviation collection in the US.

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Yes Doug Arnold acquired one of the Mossies; some people said he flew it but I doubt that because he wasn't very little; I got in one at Bovingdon and it was a tight fit for me at only 144lb at the time and I know Doug bought a Partenavia at one time and quickly got rid of it because (according to the pilot he engaged for a while) he couldn't get through the door!
I think Dougs Mossie is the one which ended up with Kermit Weeks in the USA.
As an aside, I met Doug's son at Fairoaks in about 2014 and (after mentioning his father used to own the airport) he told me he was running an aviation collection in the US.

Doug's Mossie is now with the USAF Museum, Kermit acquired his from Strathallan. I believe George Ellis ferried both of them across the Atlantic. Pretty sure David Arnold still has one or two of Doug's treasures squirelled away somewhere in the UK!

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

Doug's Mossie is now with the USAF Museum, Kermit acquired his from Strathallan. I believe George Ellis ferried both of them across the Atlantic. Pretty sure David Arnold still has one or two of Doug's treasures squirelled away somewhere in the UK!

Definitely; I did hear mention of a Lincoln being re-built just before Doug died.

[DH106]

Originally Posted by chevvron

Definitely; I did hear mention of a Lincoln being re-built just before Doug died.

Could that be the same Lincoln parts of which were dumped behind a hangar at Sandtoft for quite a few years in the late 90's / early 2000's? I think there was a B-25 there dismantled as well.
I used to fly out of Sandtoft in those days.

[treadigraph]

Yep, the Lincoln is the Napier owned aircraft that was displayed at Southend. Doug Arnold had a cache of parts from several Lancasters and the Lincoln stored outside the WoGB hangar at Biggin for a while, then the Lincoln ended up at Sandtoft and is now in Australia - or bits of it are... Some of the Lancaster bits are with Kermit Weeks, he has at least an entire airframe (the ex Charles Church/Strathallan G-BCOH damaged at Woodford), other parts also went to Oz for the Lincoln rebuild out there.

Very sad to think what wonderful flying collections we had 30/40 years ago which have scattered...

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by DH106

Could that be the same Lincoln parts of which were dumped behind a hangar at Sandtoft for quite a few years in the late 90's / early 2000's? I think there was a B-25 there dismantled as well.
I used to fly out of Sandtoft in those days.

Always co-incidences.
My brother was at ATC summer camp at Lindholme in 1961 only a few miles from Sandtoft and he told me there were several Lincolns dumped on the north side of that airfield.

[DHfan]

Isn't the ex-Sandtoft Lincoln rear fuselage with Kermit Weeks to replace the ex-Charles Church Lancaster fuselage that was destroyed in the Woodford (?) hangar collapse?

[treadigraph]

As far as I know Kermit's kit is all Lancaster though there was a plan to use part of the Lincoln before his acquisition. It's quite a plate of spaghetti!

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

As far as I know Kermit's kit is all Lancaster though there was a plan to use part of the Lincoln before his acquisition. It's quite a plate of spaghetti!

Correct.
After the hangar roof collapse, Charles Church acquired from a farm in Canada, the fuselage of Lancaster KB994 to use in the rebuild of KB976. Kermit Weeks acquired this along with all the non-damaged bits of KB976 as a job lot, and which is still all packed in the shipping crate, that it all arrived in in Florida some 30+ years ago.

The roof damaged mid-section of KB976's fuselage went to Australia for use in the rebuild of a Lincoln at Moorabbin. And the damaged rearmost section of KB976's fuselage is (or was) on display at Aeroventure in Doncaster.

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

Doug's Mossie is now with the USAF Museum, Kermit acquired his from Strathallan. I believe George Ellis ferried both of them across the Atlantic.

Correct, DA's was indeed RS709 that is now at Dayton.
I believe its the only Mosquito to have made 3 x transatlantic ferry flights, as after filming of Mosquito Sqn it was sold by Skyframe to Ed Jurist/CAF in the USA, but stayed in the UK until being flown from Luton, UK all the way to Harlingen in Texas in 1971, via the southern ferry route via the Azores. It changed hands again a few time before being bought by Doug Arnold in 1979, and it again made another ferry flight across the Atlantic back via the northern route to the UK arriving at Blackbushe in Nov 1979, via a beat up of Heathrow at the request of LHR ATC.
DA had it fully refurbed, and it flew again in 1983, before he sold it to the USAF Museum. It was George Aird that flew it back over the Atlantic for the 3rd and final time to the USAFM, not George Ellis. George Aird was a BAe TP and flew BAe' RR299 at displays, but was probably better known for being the DH TP seen banging out of this doomed Lightning near Hatfield in the early 60's....

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by GeeRam

It was George Aird

Brain fart! And he flew Kermit's across... George Ellis was a Shuttleworth pilot I think...

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

Brain fart! And he flew Kermit's across... George Ellis was a Shuttleworth pilot I think...

And Harry Ellis was the Chief Instructor on the Mosquito at CAACU at Exeter when the Mosquito's were retired in 1963, and was involved in checking out the pilots for the filming of 633 Squadron

[uxb99]

In the 80's, 90's there was the nose of a Lincoln sporting laminar flow research kll markings and a B25 "Bedsheet Bomber" outside a hangar at North Weald.
The B25 was the film one. Was the Lincoln nose part of the Lincoln mentioned in this thread?
Bedsheet Bomber was often parked next to Dolly. Two camera B25 ships together.

[POBJOY]

Originally Posted by GeeRam

And Harry Ellis was the Chief Instructor on the Mosquito at CAACU at Exeter when the Mosquito's were retired in 1963, and was involved in checking out the pilots for the filming of 633 Squadron

My goodness if I had known they were still flyind Mossies at Exeter in 63 I would have hitch hiked down the A30 from Surrey in my ATC uniform and hung around for a flight.
As it was I used to go up to Northolt and fly from there. On one short flight from NH to Bovingdon we had to wait for a return trip so wandered around the airfield only to find two ex Exeter machines in a hangar having finished filming for 633 S. With the doors open and the ladders in place we skipped lunch and enjoyed another 'ground flight.'

[treadigraph]

Originally Posted by uxb99

Was the Lincoln nose part of the Lincoln mentioned in this thread?.

Yup, Aces High owned her for a bit - nose now with Flying Heritage Collection at Paine Field... not sure what the Aussies can do for a nose though they do have one there.

[WB627]

Both as a QFI in the Reserve of Instructors and after 1958 as an AEF pilot, my dad did an annual flying camp nearly every summer. Having been recommended for Mosquitos when he passed out at Cranwell, he found himself flying Dakotas. Having always wanted to fly a Mosquito, he fixed one of his annual camps at Exeter. The Mossie trip was organised with the CACU, but the weather was so bad the runway, grass at the time, was waterlogged and the Mossies were grounded. So he never got to fly one.

[possel]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

Another one mentioned by Neil Williams - when he flew the Hummingbird from Leavesden to Old Warden, he got as far as Henlow before another engine problem where it spent some time sharing a hangar with the Mossie...

You mean Hatfield, not Henlow (as related in "Airborne" by Neil Williams). I was working at Hatfield at the time (73 or 74, I think) and saw him take-off for the leg to Old Warden. Henlow was mentioned in the story because he saw Henlow airfield, flew on for some minutes, looked down and saw an airfield, then realised that it was STILL Henlow!!

[possel]

Originally Posted by GeeRam

Correct.
After the hangar roof collapse, Charles Church acquired from a farm in Canada, the fuselage of Lancaster KB994 to use in the rebuild of KB976. Kermit Weeks acquired this along with all the non-damaged bits of KB976 as a job lot, and which is still all packed in the shipping crate, that it all arrived in in Florida some 30+ years ago.

The roof damaged mid-section of KB976's fuselage went to Australia for use in the rebuild of a Lincoln at Moorabbin. And the damaged rearmost section of KB976's fuselage is (or was) on display at Aeroventure in Doncaster.

I visited East Kirkby recently and they have the rear fuselage of KB976 in a jig being repaired. The plan is that this winter they will fit that to NX611 (so that it remains taxiable), then repair the rear fuselage of NX611 in the same jig and swap them back again. They are doing the same sort of thing with the wings of NX664 at Le Bourget. This is all part of the plan to make NX611 airworthy with original components. Make donations at www.lincsaviation.co.uk (I have no connection with them other than I remember NX611 on the gate at Scampton...).

[Jhieminga]

Originally Posted by GeeRam

Correct.
After the hangar roof collapse, Charles Church acquired from a farm in Canada, the fuselage of Lancaster KB994 to use in the rebuild of KB976. Kermit Weeks acquired this along with all the non-damaged bits of KB976 as a job lot, and which is still all packed in the shipping crate, that it all arrived in in Florida some 30+ years ago.

The roof damaged mid-section of KB976's fuselage went to Australia for use in the rebuild of a Lincoln at Moorabbin. And the damaged rearmost section of KB976's fuselage is (or was) on display at Aeroventure in Doncaster.

The Kermit Weeks Lancaster in kit form featured in a couple of videos a while ago:

You Tube

You Tube

They reshuffled the contents of some of the storage containers and used the opportunity to show what they've got. It's a long way from a complete Lancaster but as far as I can see, he appears to have a complete IKEA kit there.

Edit: if the Youtube videos don't want to play along, go to Kermit's YT channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/KermitWeeks444/videos