Mosquito Squadron
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Definitely; I did hear mention of a Lincoln being re-built just before Doug died.
I used to fly out of Sandtoft in those days.
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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...
Very sad to think what wonderful flying collections we had 30/40 years ago which have scattered...
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.
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?
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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!
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 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....
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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.
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.
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.'
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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.
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.
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.