NEW SERIES OUR ARCHIVE NEWS FROM 1940

January 2020
Issue No 561,
Vol 48,
No 1

HISTORY IN THE AIR SINCE 1911

WIN! REVEALED:
IRANIAN SIX
CAMEL SABRE OPS APPEAL
PILOT Keeping Air
BOOK the peace Atlantique’s
in Congo DC-6 days

EAGLE DAY
Closing date: 14 February 2020

Unique fighter formation over Germany

FW 19w0o
and t s!
Bf 109

JANUARY 2020 £4.99

PLUS… Christmas delivery by C-47 • Kawanishi N1K in detail

01_AM_Cover_UK_Jan2020_cc C.indd 1 29/11/2019 09:46
 Contents
January 2020

See pages
14-15 for a gre
at
subscription
offer

64

28

76

36 58

NEWS AND FEATURES TECHNIC

DETAILSAL

COMMENT
An American
technical
assessme
nt of the

DATABASE
Japanese
fighter

28 AIR ATLANTIQUE DC-6s

DATABASE KAWANISHI
N1K1 SHIDEN AND N1K2

Developm
Unforgettable memories of operating Developmen
Development

ent
4 FROM THE EDITOR
N1K2-Ja Shiden-Kai
‘343-A-11’ of CPO Shoichi Model 21a

the mighty Douglas transport

Sugita from
the Sento Hikotai, 301st/343rd
at Matsuyama in March Kokutai,

Technical
1945. JIM LAURIER t

6 NEWS
Technical
Technical Details

Details
36 IRANIAN SABRES IN THE CONGO 15
Details

• Argentinian Magister back in Europe

IN-DEPTH
PAGES

In Service
Iran’s involvement with the KAWANISHI
In
In Service

• Tri-State FW 190 flies

Service

international community was very N1K1 SHIDEN Followin

g
SSgt R. B. a thorough examina

Insights
Aldrich created tion of photogr

AND N1K2 T
this cutaway aphs taken
drawing of N1K1-Js

• Duxford CASA prepared to move

of the ‘George found at
Marcott
Insights
Insights

he US Navy 11’ in March in

1945. NATIONALearly 1945, Technic
Naval IntelligDivision of rounded ARCHIVES
AND RECORDS
al Air Intellige
Technical ence’s tips. ADMINISTRA nce Comma
wing is integraCenter portion

different in 1963, when it deployed a

Air TION nd (TAIC)
Intelligence of artist
Summary Center and an outer l with the fuselag An automa
tic maneu
contained
No 33, from to the center panel is attache e, installed in the ver flap was
an explana July 1945, construction,section. Two-sp
d which functio original model fulcrum change

…and the month’s other top aircraft SHIDEN-KAI

N1K1/2’s tion of the ar , but kept
structu
how the fuselag re. It outline span, while with one spar full and in additio ns at low speed, increased
rudder and the
monocoque e was of semi-d only to the the other extends fulcrum arm n changed the with flaps
down. Operati elevator
its skin materia construction, “Flaps are
outer panel. and elevato on ailerons, rudder the flaps
is complic on of

quartet of F-86Fs to join a UN mission

The cockpit l was aluminand hydraulically Fowler type, control at rs so as to get more the flap handle ated in that
ium. actuate low speeds, to must be returne
and narrow canopy was angular travel d, with an mainta ining light while neutral in order to
still d
vision. Cockpi , with good “high two hydrau of 30°. There are at high speeds. control forces pressure,
and have brake

preservation news
all-round lic cylinde Produc are require also two handles
t layout is airplanes
WORDS: TONY HOLMES generally
good. Instrum
rs per flap. eliminated tion Flap
d to retract
fl
well groupe automatic the handle aps.
ents are SPECIFICAT flap and the position and must be in the up
handles are d and all cranks and IONS: N1K2- aileron

15
dump valve an additional flap
easy to operate readily availab POWERPLANT J SHIDEN-KAI must be pulled
, with the le and order to retract

47 HANGAR 10 FW 190
exception DIMENSIONS One Nakajim in
of the landing a NK9H Homare brakes of flaps…
and wing gear Length: 21, 1,990hp panel design Dive
flap found but were
“quite deep” controls”. The Wingspa 30ft 8in (9.35m) were
n: “The fin and bolted closed.

16 WORKSHOP
fuselage aft portion Height:
gave the of the WEIGHTS 39ft 4.5in equal taper rudder have
(12.00m an
N1K1/2’s ‘George Empty: 13ft 0in (3.96m) ) fore and aft
Allied reportin ,’ the with a rounde and
“an unusua g name, Maximum 5,858lb (2,657kg d tip. The
PERFORMANC stabilizer
appearancel and distinctive take-off: is vertical
E 10,714lb (4860kg ) all-metal of […] aluminum,

First air-to-airs of the latest Luftwaffe

in side aspect.” Maximum
The wing speed: ) and flush-riv
Range: 369mph rudder is eted. The
and trailing had “tapered leading (594km/h) of
edges termina ARMAM 1,488 miles a cockpit fabric and metal,
ENT (2,395km -contro with

The Newark Air Museum’s General

ting in Four 20mm with external ) “The horizon llable trim tab.
cannon in tanks tal stabiliz
(250kg) bombs wings; elevators er and
on underwi four 551lb
present an
AEROPLANE ng Type of greater appearance
97 Ko racks taper on
JANUAR edge, lesser the leading

warbird in German skies

Y 2020
and rounde trailing edge taper,

IN-DEPTH
d tips.”
Of the handful of N1K1-Js
from the85-99_AM
341st Kokutai
January-February 1945, _Databasefound at Marcott
in

Aircraft Monospar restoration enters its

this aircraft, coded 341-S23,
_Jan2020
intact. Although none was _ccthe
C.indd
most
of the
old, some, like this example,Shidens were more than a few months
89
had suffered heavy weathering www.ae
roplanemonthly

PAGES
tropical conditions. NATIONAL in the .com 89
ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
ADMINISTRATION
AEROPLANE JANUARY
2020

58 FLEET REQUIREMENTS UNIT

www.aeroplanemonthly.com
85

final stages
02/12/201
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The late John Horne recalls his wartime 85 DATABASE:

25 HANGAR TALK
years with Fleet Air Arm unit 771 Squadron KAWANISHI N1K1 AND N1K2
Steve Slater’s comment on the historic
aircraft world 64 D. V. ARMSTRONG They were potent fighters, the Shiden
The First World War aviator who truly and the Shiden-kai — but, as Tony
26 FLIGHT LINE
mastered the tricky Sopwith Camel, Holmes describes, too little, too late to
Reflections on aviation history with
and became his era’s most celebrated change Japan’s wartime fortunes
Denis J. Calvert
aerobatic pilot
70 BASTOGNE RESUPPLY
REGULARS A Christmas delivery by C-47 and CG-4
103 AEROPLANE ARCHIVE:
NEWS FROM 1940
glider to the front line A new series, looking back at how The
21 SKYWRITERS 76 AEROPLANE MEETS… Aeroplane covered a momentous year
22 Q&A MIKAEL CARLSON
Your questions asked and answered We sit down with Sweden’s legendary COVER IMAGE: The Hangar 10 collection’s Flug
74 BRIEFING FILE builder, restorer and pilot of early Werk FW 190A-8, Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14 and
Under the skin of aviation technology aeroplanes Bf 109G-6. RICHARD PAVER
and tactics — this month, how did
geodetic construction work?
100 REVIEWS See
page 105
The latest aviation books and products for full
in the spotlight details Your Aviation Destination SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE
106 NEXT MONTH

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 3

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 From the

Editor CONNECT WITH AEROPLANE…

www.facebook.com/AeroplaneMonthly
@HistoryInTheAir

T
hey were great days, when Air makes the memories which linger that bit
Atlantique was the UK’s last more precious. CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH
bastion of big, heavy, working
propliners earning their keep This month sees the start of a new series ANNETTE CARSON
and, at the same time, keeping memories for 2020, looking back to a momentous Annette writes on a variety
of non-fiction topics with a
of a bygone age of air transport alive. period. As we prepare to mark the 80th preference for history and
More importantly than that, it was a anniversary of the Battle of Britain, our biography. She was a
highly professional operation whose ‘Aeroplane Archive’ feature will be given member of the team of
historians who found the
influence remains strong today in terms over this year to the aviation news of 1940, grave of Richard III in 2012.
of the expertise it passed on. That came as reported by our ancestor The Aeroplane. Her involvement in
aerobatics dates from the
across when talking to people for our We’re deeply proud of the fact that there’s 1970s, and she has served
DC-6 retrospective this month. Take this no other historic aviation magazine with as British team manager, delegate to the FAI
Aerobatics Commission, and international jury
comment from pilot Julian Firth, who such a rich heritage as our own, and the member. In 1986 she published Flight Fantastic:
still flies the ‘Six’ for the Flying Bulls: “… coverage from 80 years ago provides some The Illustrated History of Aerobatics, earning the
FAI’s Tissandier Diploma, and has contributed to
although they were unique — sometimes, Encyclopædia Britannica on the subjects of stunt
patently obsolete We have definitely very opinionated — flying and aerobatics.
in modern terms viewpoints.
they were absolutely lost a lot in terms of post- It’s just one of our TONY HOLMES
“I have only relatively
operated like the
serious, 50-tonne,
war aeroplanes exciting plans for
the year ahead. We’ll
recently come to appreciate
just how advanced and
potentially effective late-war
four-engined trans-Atlantic airliners that be commemorating the Battle of Britain Japanese aircraft types
they were. Mechanically, they were among with our biggest ever issue, and some were”, says Tony, “having
the best aircraft I’ve ever flown, and that’s unusual, never-before seen perspectives. always believed that they
were little more than
still the case.” The de Havilland centenary is in our cannon fodder for American
Yes, Air Atlantique was about much sights too, and we’re going to bring you fighters. Almost certainly
the pick of the bunch was the N1K1/2 Shiden/
more than air displays and pleasure other new themed issues. Always, we’re Shiden-Kai, which gave as good as it got following
flights, even though both were important, striving to offer compelling coverage of the fighter’s operational debut over the Philippines
in October 1944. Indeed, pilots flying the Kawanishi
and enjoyable. Its own events at Coventry lesser-known subjects — if you’ve any fighter were credited with more than 250 victories
in 1999, 2000 and 2003 now seem suggestions, do get in touch. We’re always by war’s end, despite the N1K1/2 only being fielded
redolent of a time long ago — shows hugely grateful for your feedback, and in small numbers.”

featuring, to name but a few, Electras, a your support for Aeroplane. JOHN E. M. HORNE
DC-2, Convair 440, Twin Pioneer, Howard From all the magazine’s team, have a Born on the Scottish island
500, Venom and HS748, all now grounded very happy Christmas, and best wishes for of Islay, the late John Edgar
McKechnie Horne spent
or gone. The common thread linking the new year. most of his early years in
them: they’re types unlikely, with the best Edinburgh, leaving the city’s
will in the world, ever to be seen in British university part-way through

skies again. Then there’s the Meteor, no New next month… a forestry course to join the
Fleet Air Arm in 1942. He
learned to fly in the USA
longer available for UK flying displays, From the February issue, we’re and Canada before joining
even if Martin-Baker’s aircraft make introducing exclusive subscribers’ 771 Squadron in Orkney early in 1944, serving on
static appearances; the Hunter, not seen covers on Aeroplane — special this Fleet Requirements Unit until after the end of
the war. Horne passed away in 2015.
displaying here since 2015, even though collectors’ editions with a single, bold
examples from overseas are available; image. It’s another excellent reason JOOP WENSTEDT
and the Sea Vixen, ground-bound since to subscribe, quite apart from the Since his youth, Joop — a
its 2017 mishap. Yes, there have been trained engineer — has
guaranteed delivery of your favourite been interested in aviation
significant gains in other areas, but we’ve magazine and the offers that go with history and worked in his
definitely lost a lot in terms of post-war it. You’ll find details on pages 14-15. spare time as a science and
technology reporter. He has
aeroplanes. The reasons are obvious, and also been a glider pilot for
largely concerned with simple operating 40 years, mostly of historic
gliders, which he restores.
economics. That can’t be helped. It just Ben Dunnell This explains his interest in
the Waco CG-4A missions that resupplied Allied
troops during the Bastogne campaign, the subject
Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane, of his piece this month. Today Joop is busy flying
founded by C. G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was electric-powered, long-endurance remotely piloted
relaunched as a monthly in 1973 by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25
aircraft systems, mostly for governments.
ESTABLISHED 1911 years until 1998.

4 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 RAAF MUSEUMPoint Cook I Victoria 3027 I Australia
Located at historic RAAF Base
Point Cook, the birthplace
of the Royal Australian Air
Force, the RAAF Museum is
home to an amazing range of
beautifully preserved historic
military aircraft.
Here you will find a treasure
trove of priceless artefacts
and fascinating stories of
past deeds, giving visitors an
understanding of the rich history
and traditions of this arm of the
Australian Defence Force.

Our Heritage Gallery incorporates multimedia technology

and hands-on experiential activities to take the visitors
through time from the Australian Flying Corps operating
during World War I through to the RAAF’s peacekeeping
and civil aid missions to the present day.

The displays are augmented by thirty historic aircraft

from the entire 98 year history of the RAAF, some of
which are maintained in flying condition for displays at
1:00pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (weather
permitting). Additionally, visitors are also treated to an
opportunity to see the Museum’s Restoration Hangar,
where staff and volunteers are currently rebuilding a
World War II Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft and a
DH60 Gypsy Moth training aircraft.

Models, books, patches, clothing and mementos can be

purchased at the Museum shop.

OPEN: Tuesday to Friday - 10am to 3pm

Weekends & Public Holidays - 10am to 5pm

CLOSED: Mondays, Christmas Day & Good Friday

Call us on: +613 8348 6040

Or Email us: [email protected]
Main Website: www.airforce.gov.au/raafmuseum
Shop Website: www.shopraafmuseum.org.au
See Facebook: www.facebook.com/RAAF.Museum

RAAFBaseWilliams_FP.indd 1 29/01/2019 09:26

 News
The 81-year-old Miles Magister N3827 airborne at
Podhořany u Ronova on 22 November, with the original
NEWS EDITOR: TONY HARMSWORTH
E-MAIL TO: [email protected]
TELEPHONE: +44 (0)7791 808044
WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK

blind flying hood over the rear cockpit. PETR KOLMANN

Argentinian ‘Maggie’ back to Europe

M
ore than 70 years October that year, stationed first In late September 1944, & Cia of Buenos Aires as its
after leaving the at Hanworth and then Meir. It N3827 went to the Mosquito agents in Argentina to handle
UK for Argentina, remained there until 9 January NFXVII-equipped No 125 the negotiations. Its certificate
Miles Magister 1942, when N3827 went to the (Newfoundland) Squadron at of airworthiness was issued on
N3827 arrived at Podhorany u Montrose-based No 2 Flying Middle Wallop as a hack, moving 28 August 1946, and the last day
Ronova airfield south-west of Instructors School. This aircraft’s with the unit to Coltishall on 18 of June 1947 saw an Argentinian
Pardubice, Czech Republic in strong Czech provenance was October and Church Fenton on civil registration, LV-XSG, being
a container on 5 November for established at Montrose during 24 April 1945. Between April- allocated in the name of the
new owner Richard Santus, the the spring and summer of 1942, June 1945, N3827 gained another Secretaria Estado Aeronáutica.
CEO of Prague-based company when several Czechoslovak Czechoslovak connection: Czech It was then delivered to the Aero
Aeropartner. On 22 November pilots passed through the pilot Fg Off Pavel Kudlác flew Club Villa Maria in Córdoba.
the 1938-built machine made courses. Among them was Fg Mosquito NF30s with the unit, LV-XSG was re-registered in
its first flight from Podhorany, Off Jan Mokrejš, a veteran of and quite possibly flew in N3827 August 1962 to the Aero Club San
and it is to be registered in the September at some time. Martín in Mendoza, and stayed
the UK as G-CLHY. It joins 1939 Polish The Magister there until its recent sale. For
two other British-registered campaign The arrival of N3827 stayed with No many years the ‘Maggie’ sported
trainers in Richard’s RAF Station with the exiled means the world’s 125 Squadron a civilian livery, in overall
Czechoslovakia collection, Czechoslovak following white with thin red, white and
in the shape of DH82A Tiger forces. Mokrejš entire population of the end of blue stripes down the fuselage
Moths N9503/G-ANFP and flew N3827 for airworthy Magisters is hostilities, sides, but in more recent years
R5246/G-AMIV. The arrival seven hours 10 based in Europe appearing it has worn 1940-style RAF
of N3827 means the world’s minutes during at Church camouflage. The registration was
entire population of airworthy the course Fenton’s first changed to LV-X246 in 2005.
Magisters is based in Europe, the of six flights from Montrose post-war Battle of Britain Day The other airworthy Magisters
other four being in the UK. in July 1942. Another Czech display on 15 September 1945. are the Shuttleworth Collection’s
Delivered to the RAF on 18 who piloted the Magisters Placed in storage with No 51 P6382/G-AJRS, David Bramwell’s
November 1938 and stored and Airspeed Oxfords at the MU at Lichfield on 12 December Old Warden-based N3788/
with maintenance units at Scottish station that year was 1945 before being disposed of, G-AKPF, the Real Aeroplane
Waddington and Kemble Fg Off Benedikt Blatný, a No N3827, along with 149 other Company’s T9738/G-AKAT
prior to its allocation to No 26 311 Squadron Wellington examples of the type, went which lives at Breighton, and
Elementary and Reserve Flying veteran who was awarded the back to Miles Aircraft in June Francesco Baldanza’s R1914/
Training School at Kidlington on DFM in July 1941. Blatný was 1946 to be refurbished for the G-AHUJ, currently based in
10 July 1939, the machine was to die in the crash of an Oxford Argentinian government for Norfolk. N3827 is set to visit the
transferred to No 5 Elementary while instructing at Moose Jaw, distribution to flying clubs. UK for a check and repaint in
Flying Training School on 15 Canada on 8 July 1943. Miles appointed H. Hennequin due course.

6 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 John Maloney flying the Tri-State Warbird
Museum’s FW 190 N190AF over Ohio on
News January 2020
12 November, against a snowy Eastern
Front-style backdrop. VIA DAVE O’MALEY

Tri-State FW 190 flies

T
he Tri-State Warbird that we have altered extensively Werk design was our decision projects. Our crew have a lot to
Museum’s Flug Werk in-house, our restoration team to use a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 be proud of in this aircraft. It
FW 190A-8/N made being led by Mike Durkee, instead of the Russian ASh-82. is more than just a typical Flug
its maiden flight at though it was very much a “There were a lot of factors that Werk 190. Their attention to
Clermont County Airport in team effort by mechanics played a role in that decision, but detail is truly spectacular.”
Batavia, Ohio on 12 November, Steve Emery, Greg Muir, Kenny ultimately we felt that the R-2800 The aircraft came with an
in conditions similar to those Wiggers and Jared Barrow. was a more proven platform for original Arado Flugzeugwerke
encountered on the Eastern “With our Curtiss P-40 safety and reliability reasons. Fw 190F-8 data plate. It was
Front 78 winters ago. At the restoration” — P-40M 43-5813 Because of this change, nearly originally painted by Flug Werk
controls of the aircraft, N190AF, won the Grand Champion everything firewall-forward to represent an Fw 190 A-8 flown
was John Maloney from the Warbird Trophy at Oshkosh in was redone from scratch to by Heinz Barr, but the restoration
Planes of Fame museum, owners 2016 — “we set for ourselves facilitate the large-diameter team chose to repaint it last
of FW 190A-8/N N190RF. a quality and workmanship engine and ensure safe and year to more accurately reflect
Tri-State president Dave standard that the guys have done reliable operation of the aircraft. the data plate. They spent a
O’Maley says, “We are extremely a fantastic job of matching with Other significant changes and lot of time studying reference
appreciative of John Maloney’s the FW 190. This was definitely improvements include in-house- material to ensure their work
efforts in helping us dial in the a different type of project to the designed wheels to accept was as accurate and realistic as
aircraft and its systems. We are P-40, and one that involved more Bell P-63 brakes, a redesign of possible. The colour scheme
immensely proud of the work engineering challenges, as we the landing gear linkage and and aircraft configuration are
done by our restoration team were designing many systems up-lock systems, making a new representative of a late-war F-8
to finish this incredible aircraft. from a blank sheet of paper. The canopy that actually worked and ground attack aircraft complete
It began life as a Flug Werk kit biggest departure from the Flug countless other smaller scale with low-visibility markings.

Joe Hauk’s Sopwith Pup replica ‘B1777’/N1917P

gets its tail up during fast taxi trials at New PUP REPLICA NEARS FLIGHT
Berlin, Wisconsin, on 6 October. BOB JESKO A long-term project by Joe Hauk of New Berlin, Wisconsin, to
build a replica Sopwith Pup is nearing completion, the aircraft
having made its first high-speed taxi trials on 6 October in the
hands of Mark Zilinsky. Constructed from Replicraft plans, the
machine has a Warner Scarab radial engine. It is registered
N1917P and finished as B1777, the No 46 Squadron mount of Capt
Arthur Gould Lee. While stationed at Suttons Farm, Essex, in
July-August 1917 Lee’s aeroplane was named Chin Chow after
Chu Chin Chow, a West End musical comedy popular with First
World War troops. It also carried British Guiana No 2 titles,
reflecting B1777’s status as a presentation aircraft. These
markings have been reproduced on Hauk’s replica, which is due
to make its maiden flight in June 2020. Ben Dunnell

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 News January 2020

Rare autumn morning sunshine at Duxford on 18 November shows up the now faded splinter camouflage applied to CASA 2.111B B.2I-103 at Tablada,
Spain before shooting of the Heinkel formation scenes for the Battle of Britain film in the spring of 1968. DAVID WHITWORTH

Hawkinge-bound CASA emerges at Duxford

D
uring the morning the other end of the airfield, an CASA will be at Hawkinge before museum, and will be displayed
of 18 November, ARC team removed the elevators, the end of the year. outside until a temporary
CASA 2.111B B.2I-103 the 26ft-wide horizontal tail At the end of November, building has been constructed to
emerged into the sun and the undercarriage doors, the haulage company tasked house the rare Battle of Britain
from Hangar 5 at IWM Duxford and freed up the undercarriage with the move was awaiting film survivor. The CASA — which
for the first time in nearly two legs in order to retract them for permits to transport the bomber arrived at Duxford from Tablada,
decades, on the first, short, the first time in nearly 50 years. overnight to its final home, Spain in the spring of 1998 and
part of its move to a new home With the wings removed the which will require rolling road was recently deaccessioned
with the Kent Battle of Britain Spanish licence-built Heinkel closures on the M11, M25 and from the IWM collection — will
Museum at Hawkinge. After He 111H-16 is 23ft wide at the M20, and Spitfire Way and then be inhibited against any
being towed down to the Aircraft centre section, just within limits Aerodrome Road in Hawkinge. further corrosion, and painted
Restoration Company hangar at for a road move. It is hoped the Due to its size, the CASA will in Luftwaffe markings before the
have to be craned over the fence museum reopens to the public
into the main compound at the on 4 April 2020.
Standing in front of Mosquito B35
TJ138 at the RAF Museum London

Mosquito memories
,
on 26 October are, from left to right
ident Sir Gerald How arth ,
HAA pres
former Mosquito Pathfinder pilot
Colin Bell, and Wally Epton, the HAA
chairman. ANDREW SMITH
at HAA symposium
Highlight of the Historic Aircraft Association’s 2019 symposium at the
RAF Museum London on 26 October was a spellbinding talk by
98-year-old former Pathfinder Mosquito pilot Flt Lt Colin Bell DFC.
Colin — who first visited Hendon as a child in the late 1920s for a
Royal Air Force Pageant — spoke eloquently of his experiences
during 50 bombing raids to Germany, of which 13 were over Berlin.
Among the other presentations was a highly informative talk by John
Lilley from The People’s Mosquito (see Aeroplane December 2019),
and a revealing portrait of what it takes to set up a warbird operation
from Aero Legends founder Keith Perkins. The 2019 HAA Darrol
Stinton Memorial Trophy was awarded to Cliff Spink, who retired
from a long and illustrious display flying career in September.

8 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 News January 2020

Ex-Delta DC-7B flown to Atlanta

T
he latest exhibit for the
Delta Flight Museum
arrived at Hartsfield
International Airport
in Atlanta, Georgia on 17
November in the glorious shape
of Douglas DC-7B N4887C.
Originally delivered new to
Delta Air Lines in November
1957, it was sold on in 1968
and subsequently operated by
several of the travel clubs that
were popular at the time.
The machine was converted
to fire-bomber configuration
by T&G Aviation at Chandler,
Arizona in 1980, its final user
being Mesa-based International
Air Response, with whom it
flew sporting the fleet code ‘33’.
During early 2000, shortly before
the end of its flying career,
N4887C was repainted in vintage Sixty-two years almost to the day after making its maiden flight, Douglas DC-7B N4887C touches down at
Delta Air Lines colours, before Atlanta for the final time on 17 November. VIA DRAKE CASTAÑEDA
going into storage at Coolidge
Municipal Airport in southern
Arizona. ferry flight to Atlanta on 16 July, Erickson Aero Tanker of Madras, these units will now be returned
Although the Delta Flight but the number three Wright Oregon, the QEC (quick engine to Erickson. The mighty ‘Doug’
Museum officially announced R-3350 turbo-compound engine change) unit arriving in Mesa on departed Mesa on 15 November,
the acquisition of the DC-7 on failed shortly after take-off, 21 October. During a test flight overnighting at Midland, Texas
15 July 2019, work had been causing a diversion to nearby on 5 November the number four before the final leg the following
under way to get it airworthy Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. engine also failed. Another QEC day, which brought an end
for six months. N4887C got A replacement was leased from had to be leased, but following to the epic ferry flight and to
airborne for the first leg of the DC-7 fire-bomber operators the arrival in Atlanta both of N4887C’s flying career.

TYPHOON TWO-SEAT PROTOTYPE FOR NEWARK

Eurofighter Typhoon DA4 (serial ZH590),
the first British two-seat example and the
last of seven development aircraft in the
Typhoon programme, has been transferred
from IWM Duxford to the Newark Air
Museum and is due to arrive at the
Winthorpe site in early 2020.
The IWM’s recently appointed disposals
manager said, “As a prototype, this airframe
is an experimental model and not
representative of a production or
operational aircraft. DA4 was one of the
seven original industry development
aircraft before becoming an RAF ground
instructional airframe.”
The machine made its first flight on 14
March 1997 from Warton and was used on Typhoon DA4, pictured recently in Hangar 5 at Duxford,
will move to the Newark Air Museum in early 2020. NAM
radar, two-seat variant handling tests and
avionics development. During March 2002
ZH590 made the first air-refuelled AMRAAM (Advanced Medium-Range completion of its 650th flight, on 13
Eurofighter sortie carrying external tanks Air-to-Air Missile) at the QinetiQ range at December 2006 ZH590 was transferred to
and the first night air-to-air refuelling Benbecula in the Hebrides, when a Mirach RAF Coningsby for use as a ground
mission. The following month it carried out subsonic target was successfully tracked instructional airframe, and after presentation
the initial fully guided firing of an AIM-120 and targeted with a direct hit. Upon to the IWM arrived at Duxford in April 2009.

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 9

6-10,12-13_AM_News_Jan2020_cc C.indd 9 02/12/2019 09:16

 News January 2020

Comet 1 goes under cover

O
n 28 November at
London Colney,
Hertfordshire, the
fuselage of the only
surviving square-window de
Havilland Comet 1A, F-BGNX,
was craned into the de
Havilland Aircraft Museum’s
newly completed hangar. The
move was the first part of a
major programme to relocate
the majority of the museum’s
collection into the new hangar,
construction of which has cost
nearly £2 million and been
supported by the National
Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Comet is one of three
examples sold to Air France
in 1952. It was gutted of all
fixtures and fittings for water
pressure tank testing at RAE
Farnborough two years later
during investigations into the The beautifully restored fuselage of DH106 Comet 1A F-BGNX being craned into the new hangar at the de
loss of Comets G-ALYP and Havilland Aircraft Museum on 28 November, not a minute too soon after spending a punishing 34 years on
G-ALYY over the Bay of Naples display outside. DHAM
in January and April 1954. When
it arrived at the museum the
wings, empennage, engines, Museum marketing director what it looked like in service. fabricating on site, so when work
undercarriage, flight deck, 44 Mike Nevin says, “The Comet But our restoration volunteers is completed on ’BGNX it will be
passenger seats, four flight had been on display outside ever have managed to source almost as close to original as possible.”
deck seats and even the cabin since it arrived at the museum all the flight deck equipment The new hangar will be fully
floor of the aircraft had all been in 1985 so it was absolutely and instruments and the seating accessible to visitors when
removed, leaving the fuselage as essential we get it under cover. It for the passenger cabin, and the museum reopens on 16
just an empty shell. is a tremendous job to re-create what they can’t get they are February 2020.

BOHEMIA RESURRECTED AT KBELY

A reconstructed Bohemia B-5 Little of the original aircraft
biplane, generally credited as being survived. Part of the B-5’s fuselage
the first aircraft type of indigenous structure and other random
design to fly in the newly established components were passed to the
Czechoslovakia, has been put on museum at Kbely in 1979, and the
display at the Letecké Muzeum at fuselage was eventually exhibited
Kbely airfield on the outskirts of there during the 1990s. From May
Prague. Dating from the earliest days 2004 onwards, the staff at Kbely
of the independent Czechoslovak began the build of what is essentially
nation — which gained its sovereignty a full-size reconstruction of the B-5,
from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in using some original parts mainly as
October 1918 — the two-seat B-5 first patterns, and the rest being
flew in April 1919. Designed and built contemporary hand-crafted
by a group of aviation technicians, components. The museum has stated
just one example was apparently that nearly 3,500 new parts were
completed, with power coming from a produced, many by hand.
The impressive reconstruction of the first indigenous
40hp NAG (Wright) engine. Tragically Czechoslovak aircraft, the Bohemia B-5, now on permanent The ‘new’ B-5 has now been
this unique aircraft was involved in a indoor display at Kbely in the Czech Republic. MALCOLM V. LOWE placed on permanent indoor display
fatal accident during May 1919, but at Kbely, with some of its airframe left
following a complete rebuild and a without fabric covering to show the
change of ownership the B-5 was eventually reconfigured as a structure. The surviving fuselage framework from the original
glider. It was apparently unsuccessful in this form and was duly aircraft has been the subject of conservation work and will be kept
placed into storage. in its authentic condition. Malcolm V. Lowe

10 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 News January 2020

NEWS IN BRIEF Single-seat Chipmunk flies again

T
GLYN POWELL he only single-seat
Glyn Powell, whose vision and de Havilland Canada
drive to build de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk Mk23
Mosquito tooling and fuselage remaining in Britain
moulds has enabled the type to is now flying again following
return from operational acquisition by Spanhoe,
extinction, died in a rest home in Northamptonshire-based
New Zealand on 26 November. Richard Ellingworth.
He was 85. His own personal The yellow-and-black
project, Mosquito T43 NZ2308, is machine, G-AOTF —
earmarked for the Mosquito affectionately known as
Pathfinder Trust in the UK. ‘Bumblebee’ — was originally
delivered to the RAF in February
MARTIN NEEDHAM 1950 as WB563, spending
Looking almost like something out of the Pixar animated film Planes, the
six-and-a-half years as a basic characterful single-seat Chipmunk, G-AOTF, gets airborne again from
trainer before being passed on to Spanhoe during the autumn. MARTIN NEEDHAM
the Royal Aircraft Establishment
Aero Club at Farnborough in
July 1956. canopy with one reminiscent of with the RAFGSA, the 145hp de
After being sold to Farm those fitted to the Piper Pawnee, Havilland Gipsy Major 8 engine
AUSTER FOR REBUILD Aviation of Rush Green, the forward cockpit having been was replaced with a 180hp
AT SPANHOE Hertfordshire in 1963, it removed to accommodate crop- Lycoming O-360.
Auster J/5G Autocar G-ARNB became one of five Chipmunks spraying equipment. Although currently resident at
recently arrived at Spanhoe, converted into single-seat Following a nine-month spell Spanhoe, Richard Ellingworth
Northamptonshire for agricultural aircraft by the with Lasham-based Air Tows, plans to base ’AOTF at Saltby
restoration to flight, and had company. The most startling the aircraft joined the RAF airfield in Lincolnshire. It is
its Blackburn Cirrus Major visual change was the Gliding and Soaring Association understood that it will be used
engine run for the first time in replacement of the standard in 1969. During its 43 years on glider-towing work.
35 years in early November.
The Rearsby-built tourer last

CAF WILDCAT GETS AUTHENTIC SCHEME

flew in 1974.

POLISH TRIBUTE DUO

FOR 2020 SHOWS The Commemorative Air Pfleger adds, “We
The Duxford-based Historic Force’s Mesa, Arizona- were contacted by Steve
Aircraft Collection’s Spitfire Vb based Grumman/Eastern Atkin of Warbird Colour
BM597 and Hurricane XIIa FM-2 Wildcat, BuNo in the UK. He offered his
‘P3700’ will be operated as the 86819/N5833, recently aircraft painting services
Polish Heritage Flight to received a new, at no charge to us. All
commemorate Poland’s authentic World War Two we had to do was
contribution to victory during the colour scheme. For many arrange a location for the
Battle of Britain for the 80th years, the fighter was work. The administration
anniversary commemorations painted in a very at Cable Airport, San
taking place in 2020. inaccurate Fleet Air Arm Bernardino, California
The CAF’s Wildcat now wearing an authentic US Navy
scheme to represent a helped us with that, with
scheme following a repaint project supervised by UK-
TE308 ARRIVES AT BIGGIN Wildcat VI — the name based Steve Atkin. SCOTT GERMAIN access to the paint shop
Spitfire IXT TE308 arrived in the for the FM-2 in FAA for two weeks.”
Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar service — flown by 835 Schaich says of Atkin,
workshops on 21 November. Squadron from the escort carrier HMS Nairana. “He wanted to be authentic, so used methods
The two-seater, The FM-2 Sponsor Group, the aircraft’s operator, Grumman and Eastern Aircraft used in wartime
acquired from had long wanted to repaint it in a US scheme. This production. The airplanes were sprayed and
Bill Greenwood would not only better represent American veterans, finished in stages, so they weren’t all uniform and
of Colorado, but make the aircraft more attractive for airshow pretty. There were differences, overspray, and
will undergo a and film work. “As aircraft sponsors, we want to fulfil things like that. He replicated all of that in detail to
further the mission of the CAF and have the aircraft seen World War Two specification. The result is a
restoration to by the public,” says Michael Pfleger, the Wildcat stunning representation of the Wildcats that served
flying project manager. in World War Two.”
condition, “The CAF’s Twelve Planes of Christmas Chaich continues, “We purposely chose not to
BHHH after which it fundraising campaign provided initial backing via re-create a specific aircraft or squadron. We chose
will join IXTs some generous donors”, said Chris Schaich, one of generic for the overall feel, although we could
MJ627 and MJ772 and MkVIII the pilot sponsors. “Scott Germain, a CAF Airbase easily apply temporary markings for movie or
Trainer MT818 in providing Arizona pilot, organised a donation with Scott Cavin display work”. The aircraft can be seen during the
passenger experience flights of Phoenix-based PPG Aerospace. Not only did they winter months at the CAF Airbase at Mesa, and at
with FlyASpitfire.com. graciously donate the paint, they mixed it to our Cable Airport in the summer period, as well as a
exact specification.” number of airshows in the western USA.

12 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 News January 2020

Everts DC-6 for Norway

Everts Air Cargo DC-6 N151, formerly
with Braathens-SAFE as LN-SUB,
is scheduled to return to Norway in
March 2020. HAMFIVE/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM

T
he Flyhistorisk Museum (Museum of Aviation History) at operator as LN-SUB from 1962 onwards. Prior to that it had been
Sola Airport in Stavanger, Norway has acquired a former VR-HFK with Cathay Pacific.
Braathens SAFE Douglas DC-6B from Fairbanks, The Sola museum currently has 32 aircraft on display, including
Alaska-based Everts Air Cargo. a former Scandinavian Airlines System Convair 440, LN-KLK,
An Everts crew is scheduled to ferry the 1956-vintage freight- which was operated by the Norsk Metropolitan Klubb during the
hauler, N151 (c/n 54496), across the Atlantic in late March 2020. 1980s and made popular pleasure-flying appearances at the
After arrival at Sola this last surviving Braathens DC-6 will be Great Warbirds Air Displays at West Malling in 1984 and 1987, and
repainted in the scheme it wore while flying with the Norwegian the 1987 North Weald Fighter Meet.

Dragon debuts at Edinburgh

The first airshow to be held by McBain in January 2004 from
at Royal Australian Air Force the defunct Air World collection
Base Edinburgh in 12 years at Wangaratta, Victoria, the
attracted 60,000 people over the machine was originally built at
weekend of 9-10 November to Mascot Airport, Sydney by de
the Lockheed AP-3C Orion and Havilland Aircraft Pty in late
Boeing P-8A Poseidon base just 1942 and taken on charge by the
north of Adelaide for a show RAAF that December. In May
rich in historic content. Former 1946 it was declared surplus and
RAAF DH84A Dragon A34-30/ acquired by the Queensland
VH-AON, which only came out Ambulance Transport Brigade at
of long-term restoration with Brisbane, going in January of the
owner Harvey McBain in Nelson, following year to Qantas Empire
Victoria during October, made a Airways. It was to spend the next
welcome appearance. Acquired 11 years based in New Guinea,
before returning to Australia
in 1958 and going through the Harvey McBain’s recently completed DH84A Dragon A34-30/VH-AON,
hands of a multitude of small making its flying display debut at RAAFB Edinburgh. NIGEL HITCHMAN
operators until being acquired in
1973 by Australian preservation
pioneer Joe G. Drage of The stand-out formation graduate — Jim Whalley in his
Wodonga, Victoria. In 1985 the display at Edinburgh comprised CA-12 Boomerang, A46-63/
Drage Airworld museum was the Temora Aviation Museum VH-XBL, from Adelaide.
established at Wangaratta, the Lockheed Hudson III, A16-112/ It was the first time such a
collection passing into the hands VH-KOY, accompanied formation had ever been staged.
of the city of Wangaratta in by Commonwealth CA-13 Amazingly, Jim’s father, Flt Lt
The stirring sight of Hudson III
VH-KOY flying with Boomerangs
August 1987. It eventually closed Boomerang A46-112/VH-MHR Alan Whalley, regularly flew
VH-MHR and VH-XBL at its doors in January 2002 due from the same stable, and A46-63 while he was with No
Edinburgh on 10 November. to increased costs and falling former RAAF pilot — and 84 Squadron stationed on Horn
NIGEL HITCHMAN visitor numbers. Empire Test Pilots’ School Island, Queensland during 1943.

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 13

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 The magazine for all scale modellers

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 WORKSHOP An overview of the Monospar at the end
of November 2019. Not for many, many
years has VH-UTH been this complete.

Monospar
Milestones
In about a year from now, the Newark Air Museum’s very rare — and very
significant — General Aircraft Monospar restoration should be complete.
As this outstanding project nears its end, the background helps inform
how it’s reached this stage WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: HOWARD HEELEY

16 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 I
n part, the Newark Air Museum’s
General Aircraft Monospar
ST-12, VH-UTH, has remained
an enigma to some people.
Progress with the restoration of
this rare 1930s airframe has been
hindered by a lack of drawings,
available parts and, in the early
days, the low level of enthusiasm
for civilian types. However, all that
has changed. VH‑UTH has always The partially reassembled airframe
been considered a long-term out in the sunshine during May 2010.
project for the museum’s mainly
volunteer-based restoration team,
but now, after more than 50 years,
it’s approaching the final stages.
The Monospar was among
the first airframes acquired for
the fledgling museum by Mike
Hutchinson and Doug Revell back
in the mid-1960s. VH-UTH was
moved to Abbotts Yard in Newark
during 1967, and for many years the
airframe languished in deep store at
various locations on the museum’s
former RAF Winthorpe site. In the
1980s the NAM established itself
at its present location and secured
grant funding from Newark &
Sherwood District Council to build
its first display hangar. The success
of this acted as a spur to encourage
the NAM to start raising funds for
the Monospar restoration. However,
there was still a lack of knowledge
and skills to undertake this in-
house at Newark.

Pete Hood (left) and Mick Clarke

A solution was eventually found working on the Monospar wing.
through the then British Aviation
Preservation Council (BAPC),
when contact was established with
the Cotswold Aircraft Restoration
Group (CARG) based at RAF
Innsworth near Gloucester. In the
summer of 1995 the wings were
transported to Innsworth, going
into the space created by Tiger
Moth G-MAZY having made the
journey from Gloucestershire in
the opposite direction. The fuselage
eventually went south as well, and
CARG members started to restore
the airframe.
CARG made steady progress,
working to a high standard and
with great attention to detail.
From the outset it reused as many
of the original components as
possible. Mike Toombs led the
small Monospar team at Innsworth,
assisted until the autumn by Bob
Kent and Brian Orchard. Significant
efforts were focused on the cockpit
area, where the main ‘standard’ Covering an inner wing
fuel tank was refurbished and section in July 2014.
refitted to form the base of the

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 17

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 WORKSHOP Newark’s Monospar

primary cockpit seats. The auxiliary was needed to move it forward. This starboard wing was structurally
long-range fuel tank that was in the involved a full parts check, which complete, all control cables,
starboard passenger seat location identified a lack of appropriately pitot fittings and navigation light
for the machine’s epic flight from formed stringers (longerons) to cabling having been installed. A
Australia in 1961 was refurbished complete the fuselage. This ‘top hat’ similar process then started on the
and refitted as well. type of profile could not be found port wing, along with a detailed
An example of the team’s with the normal aviation suppliers, restoration of the trim controls.
dedication is highlighted by work so the museum commissioned In September 2011, to mark the
on the single main spar. Corrosion Ormonde Aircraft to form them for 50th anniversary of VH-UTH’s
caused from being stored outside the Monospar. landing at Lympne after its journey
in the 1960s took more than two Refitting the wings helped from Australia, the museum hosted
months to be treated. The top identify a misalignment of the a short photocall. The partially
areas of the spar fuselage restored airframe was lowered from
were covered
in rust, which Tasks still to framework. This
was initially
its trestles and moved outside to
allow photographic access.
was burnished
out before being
be tackled include thought to have
occurred in
The complex nose section
structure was embarked on later
stabilised with refabrication of the June 1936 when that year. This involved some new
an epoxy primer, VH-UTH made curved rib sections being connected
primed and cabin roof, finishing a forced landing to the lower fuselage stringers,
painted.
The wing
the cockpit trim and at Beaudesert
near Brisbane
around the non-standard nose
lamp housing. Great assistance
structures were the application of all while carrying for this and subsequent phases of
more or less the former the project came from Monospar
completed by the markings Prime Minister ST-25 restoration photographs from
CARG before of Australia, Denmark, supplied by the Danish
VH-UTH was transported back to William Morris Hughes. However, Museum of Science and Technology
Newark in October 2007. However, subsequent examination in Helsingør and the Dansk
the group was unable to refit the highlighted that this was not the Flyvehistorisk Forening.
wings to the fuselage to check case.
everything was assembled correctly A lack of drawing and part
BELOW: and aligned as necessary, which lists was a limiting factor for Fitting the re-covered tail fin
August 2015 saw leads on to the next part of the story. the volunteers, so appeals for highlighted the problem with
the wing and inner
wing sections being
Over the winter of 2007-08, information were sent around the alignment of the fuselage
test-fitted, showing NAM volunteers Mick Clarke and the world. Identifiable parts were with the cockpit and tailplane.
the complex folding Pete Hood undertook a significant refitted and missing items scratch- Measurements showed it needed
mechanism. evaluation of the project and what built. By September 2009 the a correction of 2.5in horizontally
and 3° vertically on the tailplane.
Careful adjustments were made
by adjusting the tie rods at frames
one and two, by slackening the
starboard side and tightening the
port side, thereby swinging the tail
to port.
A note in Mick Clarke’s work log
for 18 April 2013 said, “Checked
diagonals, wingtip to rear fixing
pin for tailplane, both readings
26’ 105/8th”. The issue had been
resolved. Later that year the same
log reported that Pete Hood had
moved away for family reasons and
the project took another direction.
In the summer of 2013 Adrian
Adkin fitted the two Gipsy engines.
During 2014 he was joined by
Ken Richmond, and they began
applying polyester fabric to the
inner wing sections. Apart from
the step forward this represented,
this allowed them to develop their
fabric application techniques on a
relatively straightforward section
of the airframe. By autumn the
team was ready to work on the
starboard wing in the workshop and
a full batch of fabric was ordered.
Adverse paint reactions saw epoxy

18 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 primer coating being applied to original General Aircraft drawings making the seat backs and covers, ABOVE:
the complex lattice-work wing for the type. and the application of all of the Monospar
structure. Once this had cured the When the last rear sections aeroplane’s markings. restoration team
members Adrian
fabric application began. of fabric were applied in June When people are asked about Adkin (left) and Don
The wing had been re-covered 2017, the fuselage was once again their particular highlights of the Paxton with VH-UTH
and returned to Hangar 1 by the fully covered, another major project, everyone comments on this November.
spring of 2015. Soon afterwards it achievement. Detailed finishing the visit by Charles Morris and his Ken Richmond was
was finished in the peacock blue of the cabin/canopy roof section family to the museum on 15 July not present on this
paint as worn by VH-UTH on its and additional fixtures and fittings 2016. It was Charles’s late father, Dr occasion.
flight back to the UK. The second delayed the application of the John Morris, who piloted VH-UTH
wing proceeded alongside the primer and top-coat of peacock to England in 1961. They were
fuselage, as did refurbishment blue paint until the late summer shown round the airframe and
of the complex wing folding of 2019. presented with a booklet about the
arrangements. restoration by Adrian Adkin. They
A significant milestone was hope to return once it is completed.
achieved in October 2015 when, for The current VH-UTH restoration Indeed, everyone involved is
what is believed to have been the team is comprised of Adrian looking forward to the day when
first time for more than 50 years, Adkin, Ken Richmond and Don a General Aircraft Monospar
both re-covered and repainted Paxton. They estimate that perhaps is exhibited in the UK.
wings were fitted. In a further boost another 12 months are required to
a cache of spares was imported finish the aircraft. Tasks still to be
from a donor in the southern tackled include completion of the When the Monospar is completed, Aeroplane will bring
hemisphere, and some parts were refabricated cabin roof, finishing you a complete history of this very rare and fascinating
used on the airframe. The shipment the internal cockpit trim, reworking aircraft. Watch this space…
included a huge collection of the new port engine cowling,

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 19

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 Skywriters
In association with…

WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,

PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
E-MAIL TO: [email protected],
putting ‘Skywriters’ in the header

In every issue, the writer of our Letter of the Month wins a £25 book voucher to spend with leading military and transport publisher Crécy.

An old and LETTER

trusted friend of the
Your Aeroplane shots of Spitfire MONTH
AB910 in the November issue
are more interesting than
you think. I scrutinised all
the 150-odd images I have of
AB910, from a wartime shot
with the WAAF on the tail up
until the respray for the Battle
of Britain film in 1968. Not one
shows the type C1 roundel on
the fuselage as in your photos.
How can that be? I decided
to tabulate all the civil and
military livery and visual
variations on a spreadsheet Spitfire AB910 at White Waltham on 22 June 1958, as seen while sheltering from the rain under Hurricane
and there were more than I G-AMAU. The two are now, of course, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight stablemates. PETER R. ARNOLD
anticipated.
The first military scheme
applied by Vickers some Q-JJ on the starboard side. All possibly made just the single right through until 1968, albeit
time before June 1954 was terribly wrong. appearance at Lee-on-Solent with spinner colour changes.
a superficial brown/green What I think happened was and The Aeroplane’s photo- At 15 years of age the
affair with no unit codes that during the early part of shoot in this new livery on 31 Biggin show was one of my
and a fuselage roundel of 1957 the Spitfire was totally August 1957. Could it be that first airshow ventures and
type C proportion with no stripped and repainted, this The Aeroplane pointed out the Spitfire did not get too
yellow outer, a roundel type time in an accurate brown/ the error? Just a couple of close, but I managed to
not applied to Spitfires. This green with the correct codes weeks later, on 14 September wangle my way in to the Royal
was latterly enhanced by large QJ-J on both sides but with 1957 I photographed AB910 Aeronautical Society Garden
underwing military serial an incorrect type C1 roundel at the Battle of Britain display Party at White Waltham in June
application, followed as late as that was not introduced at Biggin Hill sporting the 1958 and get right up close and
July 1956 by codes in the form until May 1942 when the correct A1 fuselage roundel. touch it.
of QJ-J on the port side but camouflage was grey/green. It AB910 carried this scheme Peter R. Arnold

Runaway Washington realised I had seen it before. It shows a Do 17 on the Bump, the wounded airman was
Regarding the Washington incident at Wisley that was shot down on 15 September 1940 carried on a stretcher by the ambulance
(Aeroplane November 2018), I worked with and crash-landed in the Darenth Valley crew, which included my grandfather, to the
a number of ex-Wisley people when I was above the village of Shoreham, Kent. One of waiting ambulance but he died on the way to
on the Concorde flight test team at Fairford the German crew was killed and the other Sevenoaks Hospital.
and these witnesses of the event said it three were captured. One of the three uninjured German
wasn’t quite as you put it. No pilot would On that day a message was relayed to the airmen was entrusted to Col ‘Benny’
kill hydraulics when he needed braking, but first aid post in Otford that hop-pickers at Greenwood of the Home Guard, who
he might kill engines away from the parking Shoreham had been machine-gunned by an thought the German was pale and
and see if he could coast all the way in. This overflying German aircraft. An ambulance very shaken, so they stopped off at The
was done competitively between the pilots duly left to try and locate the incident. The Crown and bought him a brandy before
until the inevitable happened. I believe ambulance and its crew — Jack Marriot, turning him in. Bob Ogley’s book also details
a Canberra was wrecked at No 23 MU, Jim Edwards and my grandfather Jack that two of the surviving German crew, Fw
Aldergrove for the same reason. Pilots are Boakes who was serving in the St John’s Hans Pfeifer and Fw Martin Sauter, were
easily bored… Ambulance Brigade — were diverted to reunited for the first time in Germany in
Graham Skillen another incident at nearby Castle Farm 1984 since their days in a PoW camp.
where they came across a crashed Dornier. David Boakes
Downed Dornier Three of the crew members were taken off
On reading the November issue, I quickly by the local Home Guard, and the fourth
noted that a photograph in the issue — on was found beside the aircraft with bullet The editor reserves the right to edit all
page 87, part of the Database on the Dornier wounds in his chest. As shown in a letters. Please include your full name and
Do 17 — had a family connection to me. I photograph in Bob Ogley’s book Biggin address in correspondence.

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 21

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 Q&A COMPILER: BARRY WHEELER
WRITE TO: Aeroplane, Key Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1XQ, UK
E-MAIL TO: [email protected],
putting ‘Q&A’ in the header

Are you seeking the answer to a thorny aviation question, or trying to trace an old aviation friend? Our ‘questions and answers’ page might help

THIS MONTH’S QUESTIONS

Freddie Laker’s Air Charter company for
Spitfire over the QE2 The picture of work at the Woomera rocket range in
Spitfire G-AIDN and

Q In 1969, Chris Penney remembers 1955-56, Ian Stewart was reminded of the
the QE2 that Chris
having a postcard of Spitfire VIII Penney recalls — but stop-overs he made at Karachi airport and
Trainer G-AIDN, painted dark blue, what are the details? the vast airship building erected to
photographed over the then-new Cunard accommodate the ill-fated R101. Ian
liner Queen Elizabeth II transiting the wonders whether it still exists, and if anyone
Solent. Based at Andover, the aircraft was can provide details of its subsequent use
regularly flown by Supermarine test pilot following the airship’s crash at Beauvais,
Dave Morgan, but Chris no longer has the France in 1930.
picture and hasn’t seen it published since.
Does anyone remember the event, why Portsmouth’s Horsa?
the sortie was flown and who the
photographer was? Q With reference to the Database on
D-Day assault gliders in the June
issue, Graham Squires recalls that when
living in Drayton in the early 1950s, a large
Cryptic logbook Ju 52w [sic] 1SUB” which could indicate a glider was parked adjacent to what was

Q A friend of reader David Muggleton is

trying to decipher some cryptic notes
in his father’s logbook and hopes a reader
floatplane version of the tri-motor
transport. With the squadron flying mainly
coastal missions, could the abbreviations
probably the Air Training Corps hut next to a
main road on the outskirts of Portsmouth. He
continues, “At some point, the aircraft
can assist. His father flew as second pilot indicate naval craft? disappeared, possibly succumbing to wood
on Martin Marauders of No 14 Squadron rot. Can anyone corroborate the existence of
based in Tunisia and entries include Karachi R101 hangar the glider, where it actually was and what
“Spotted 2VM 2DD” and “1VM 1DD”. Less
problematic is “Attacked and damaged Q Perusing his logbook entries showing
flights from Stansted to Australia with
happened to it? I can confirm it was not
associated with Portsmouth airport.”

THIS MONTH’S ANSWERS

Scimitar props
Q In the July 2018 issue, a photograph
of an Auster Arrow with a scimitar-
shaped propeller was published, the
question being, ‘what was the purpose’?

A Replies appeared in the September

edition and now Andre Rousseau
has e-mailed to say that, in the July 1951
edition of the American Flying magazine, The hoped-for
tests were flown with the Munk Flex-O- 700mph P-47
Prop. This appeared to have two ‘dished’ Thunderbolt in 1946
blades designed by Dr Max Munk of — but what speed did
Meteor men Brentwood, Maryland, and in flights on it actually achieve?

Q In the May 2019 issue, Bill Clark requested the identity of

pilots on No 56 Squadron’s 1954 Christmas card. This was
followed in July by a similar photograph, but showing WF655 of
an Erco Ercoupe there were some
advantages compared with the standard
metal propeller, including less vibration and in some flight
No 66 Squadron and sent in by Andrew Harrington. regimes a noticeable improvement in performance. Andre also

A Before being doctored by the photo section, the shot above

appears to be the original
view of the No 66 Squadron
reports a more ambitious approach to the curved propeller which
was a three-blade design aimed at pushing blade speeds into the
transonic range to exceed the Mach barrier. Curtiss-Wright hoped
Meteor F8, WF655. It was taken to attain speeds of up to 700mph by fitting the scimitar-bladed
by Flight at Linton-on-Ouse in airscrew to a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and a picture was
November 1951 and is worth published in the 7 October 1946 edition of Flying. Does anyone
comparing with that published have information on what happened to the trials programme and
in the July 2019 issue (right). where did Munk’s design go?

22 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

22_AM_Q&A_Jan2020_cc C.indd 22 02/12/2019 09:19

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 Comment

Hangar Talk
STEVE SLATER
Comment on historic
aviation by the chief
executive of the UK’s
Light Aircraft Association

The one-off Luton Minor Duet,

G-AYTT, at Sywell in 1973. No
wonder Arthur Ord-Hume was less
than enamoured of its looks.
KEITH BLINCOW/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM

W
hat colour or livery would you and fabric-covered aircraft is that it actually and much-missed Tom Castle with the
most like to see your favourite contains aluminium in the dope, acting as a preparatory ‘silver’ dope. Perhaps I should
aircraft carry? The thought blocker to ultra-violet rays which cause more fly her for a while as a 1940 RAF fundraising
was prompted by a picture in rapid degradation and brittleness in the ‘Flitfire’, I thought, or even a silver US Army
last month’s Aeroplane, showing Mosquito covering. In the early days of fabric-covered Air Corps machine? But no, as one of the
RR299 in the all-over silver scheme in which aircraft, when linen or cotton coverings very last of the J-3 line she’ll be painted just
it initially flew under its Hawker Siddeley were not treated with a UV-blocker, the as she came off the Piper production line in
custodianship in the mid-1960s. To my life of a fabric covering might be lucky to February 1947, in Cub yellow with the black
eye it looked stunning, as does the picture be measured in months. Even today, with ‘lightning’ stripe — about the only fast-
of Mosquito T43 NZ2308 at Glyn Powell’s modern polyester coverings, ‘silver’ dope moving concession on a Cub!
workshop in New Zealand. It depicts the can significantly extend covering life. Interestingly, William Piper saw good logic
Mosquito at its best, without the distraction of I can speak personally of the dichotomy in painting his aircraft Cub yellow. Piper was
wartime camouflage breaking up one of the that such an issue creates. When Matthew a strong advocate of the production-line
purest aircraft shapes Boddington and I techniques of Henry ‘any colour you like so
ever to be penned.
The same might
Certain aeroplanes rebuilt the ‘Biggles
Biplane’ BE2c replica
long as it’s black’ Ford. Piper chose Cub yellow
for two reasons. The first was that it stood out
be said of Boultbee’s will never look right, a decade ago, we well for visibility against both blue skies and
‘Silver Spitfire’, MkIX deliberated long darker backgrounds around busy training
G-IRTY, currently whatever the colour and hard about how airfields, and the second was that it saved him
in the closing we could create the from stopping the production line to clean the
stages of ‘The Longest Flight’, a global translucent ‘natural’ finish of an early World paint guns, as he would have had to do if he’d
circumnavigation touching down in more War One aircraft, which would be entirely offered a wider choice of finishes. Speaking
than 30 countries, many of which have lost if we applied aluminium ultra-violet personally, if an early civilian Cub isn’t
special associations with the Supermarine protection. In the end we simply accepted painted yellow, it just doesn’t look right to me.
fighter. Of course, arriving in the Spitfire we need to live with a potentially shorter life However, there are certain aeroplanes
carrying World War Two camouflage and for the covering, which we monitor carefully which in some people’s opinion will never
roundels might have raised some diplomatic with a tensile test on the fabric each year. We look right, whatever the colour. I recall once
hackles, so the polished all-natural metal also minimise the amount of time we leave walking around a fly-in with the great Arthur
finish, carrying sponsor IWC’s logo, both the aircraft out in direct sunlight, by avoiding Ord-Hume and looking at the Luton Minor
achieves ambassadorial discretion and looks lengthy static displays. Duet, a rather angular variation of the design
blooming lovely. More recently, I must admit to being of which he most definitely did not approve.
The reason for Mosquito NZ2308’s current tempted to move away from the original “Perhaps it would look better with a different
silver finish is likely more prosaic. The prime livery on my Piper J-3C Cub when I saw paint job”, I said in a conciliatory manner.
reason ‘silver’ dope is applied to wooden her fuselage being sprayed by the late “Yes, camouflage” came the response…

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 25

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 Comment
DENIS J. CALVERT

Flight Line Recollections and

reflections — a seasoned
reporter’s view of
aviation history

DH108 VW120 getting airborne on the day, 12 April 1948, on which it set a new world air speed record of 605.23mph over 100km. KEY COLLECTION

I
make no apologies for returning to W. A. of Supply, but this name was never made — with a head-banging frequency of three
‘Bill’ Waterton’s glorious, bitter but well- official, while one of the Fleet Street dailies cycles per second. He somehow managed
argued autobiography The Quick and the dubbed it, even less officially, the ‘Whistling to regain control and lived to tell the tale.
Dead (Frederick Muller, 1956), in which Boomerang’. Two further DH108s were built, As recorded in his book Wings on my
he gives his very personal ‘insider’s’ view, as these for high-speed research, as TG306 Sleeve, Brown subsequently realised he
Gloster’s chief test pilot, on the state of the (marked ‘TG/306’) and VW120, and for had experienced the situation that killed
British aircraft industry from the mid-1940s supersonic flight. All were powered by a DH Geoffrey de Havilland.
through to the mid-’50s. If you haven’t read Goblin centrifugal turbojet offering no more TG283 and VW120 flew on for several
it, you really should. One of his underlying than 3,750lb static thrust. Only VW120 had years, pilots agreeing that the type was
arguments is that the British test pilot of the an ejection seat fitted. generally pleasant to fly despite a few
time was forced to take undue risks for too During the DH108’s test programme, the awkward characteristics and ‘rough edges’,
small a financial reward, and that his views three examples were flown primarily by de and the three aircraft accumulated some
were accorded little Havilland test pilots 550 flights. 1950, though, saw the end of
weight at board level. Geoffrey de Havilland, the programme with the loss of both the
That the life of a test One must hope the John Derry and remaining examples. Muller-Rowland died in
pilot was dangerous John Cunningham, the crash near Bletchley, Buckinghamshire of
is not in doubt. This cost in human life was in and by the RAE VW120 on 15 February 1950. While carrying
is amply illustrated
in the story of the de some way justified by the Aero Flight’s Chris
Capper, Eric Genders
out a steep dive from 27,000ft, he was
seemingly incapacitated by the failure of his
Havilland DH108, a
single-seat research
knowledge gained and Stuart Muller-
Rowland. There
oxygen supply. The final loss was of TG283,
which crashed near Blackbushe on 1 May
aircraft built to were some notable 1950 when it entered an inverted spin during
specification E18/45 for conducting “full- achievements, with John Derry in VW120 stall tests. Eric Genders was killed.
scale experiments into the possibilities of achieving Mach 1 on 6 September 1948, Three aircraft, three crashes, three
high-speed flight using swept-back wings”. If albeit in an uncontrolled dive from 45,000ft, fatalities. High-speed flight surely had its
it looked like a tail-less Vampire with swept this generally agreed as being the first British cost. One positive outcome of the DH108
wings, it’s because that’s exactly what it was, supersonic flight. There were also disasters. test programme was the abandonment of
the fuselage coming straight off the Vampire Geoffrey de Havilland was killed on 27 the original tail-less design for the DH106
line at English Electric’s Preston plant. Three September 1946 practising for an attempt Comet in favour of a more conventional
examples were contracted for, the first, on the world air speed record, when TG306 configuration. While it is surely the case
TG283 (curiously marked on the aircraft broke up over the Thames estuary near that the pilots who flew the DH108 knew
‘TG/283’) emerging in spring 1946, intended Gravesend. Eric Brown later got to fly the and accepted the risks involved, one must
for low-speed research and to investigate the DH108, and it was during a sortie in VW120 applaud their courage at the same time as
handling of a swept wing. The aircraft was on 8 July 1949 that he encountered violent hoping that the cost in human life was in
referred to as the Swallow in the Ministry longitudinal oscillations — ‘porpoising’ some way justified by the knowledge gained.

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 NEW-LOOK January issue - OUT NOW

I
t is with great pride that the FlyPast team brings
you a new-look magazine. Taking on board the
things you’ve been telling us, we’ve introduced a
fresh design, with easier to read text.
We’ll also be running some fresh features, including
FlyPast Classics, which continues in this issue with a
detailed study of Ilyushin’s Il-28 Beagle.
This edition’s cover feature throws a spotlight
on the epic clash between the RAF’s Spitfire
Mk.V and the Italian Macchi 202 fighter, over
Malta in 1942. We also visit the newly created and
ambitious South Wales Air Museum, to report on
its fascinating exhibits.

O K!
PLUS FlyPast continues to celebrate its relaunch

LO
with four FREE A4 photo prints of classic aircraft
types, perfect for framing, and the second W
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January issue available now from WH Smith and other leading newsagents

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Published by Key Publishing Ltd. The entire contents of these titles are © copyright 2019. All rights reserved. 817/19

b
817 Flypast Latest fp.indd 75 22/11/2019 09:22
 AIRLINE HISTORY Air Atlantique DC-6s

SIX
APPEAL Many might have
considered it outmoded,
but for Air Atlantique
the Douglas DC-6 was
a more-than-viable
freighter well into the
21st century — and its
crews loved it
WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

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 F
or long-time Air Atlantique go… we worked with Tony Moy, DC-6A/B G-SIXC joined the fleet.
DC-6 pilot Julian Firth, one of the founders of the Page & As N53459, the 1958-vintage
the memory still rankles. Moy travel firm, to acquire [them]”. machine had previously served
“Walking into the crew room Both were DC-6B models, OY-DRC with Trans Continental Airlines
at Brussels of an evening, there being re-registered as G-SIXB, and at Willow Run, Michigan. It was
would be all these DHL Boeing OY-DRM becoming G-SIXA. They able to go straight into service,
727 drivers, and even people flying promised to provide a significant unlike a second ‘Six’ that entered
almost equally aged aircraft that step up in capability. Atlantique’s orbit. “Instone asked
happened to have jets, and I think Delivered initially to Coventry on if we wanted another DC-6”, Mike
there was a sense that we were 10 March 1979, the following month Collett recalled, “because they were
some kind of Mickey Mouse outfit. ’SIXB went south to Manston to be thinking of buying it and for us to
Nothing could be further from the prepared for its UK certificate of do a lease deal. It was in Yemen, at
truth. I’ve only worked for a few airworthiness by Invicta Aircraft Sana’a. God, it was in a mess.”
airlines in my life, but I’m absolutely Engineering. With six tonnes of ex- Last in the UK when operated by
certain that we were right up there. Greenlandair DC-6 spares aboard, British Eagle as G-APSA, this DC-6A
There was a frustration that some ’SIXA arrived at Atlantique’s home had been 4W-ABQ with Yemen
people didn’t take that seriously.” on 2 June, and followed its sister Airways, but years of external
Yet when one of those more ship down to Kent. While ’SIXB flew storage had taken their toll by the
modern airliners had a problem, for a time with time racehorse
and needed a part now, who did
their operators call on? “One great
Atlantique titles
and a modified I loved the DC-6, transportation
specialists
trip we did was down to Tenerife
with an aileron for an airliner”, says
version of the
Greenlandair
I was familiar with it, Instoneair
decided to buy
Firth. “We did the same thing into livery — it visited and when we heard it. “It was a fairly
Alicante once. If somebody needed several airports eventful and
an aileron bringing down for a around Europe that Greenlandair stressful event”,
757, there weren’t very many other
aircraft hanging around that were
during 1979 —
there was no
had got two for sale company boss
Jeremy Instone
ready to do it.” such activity for we decided to give it remembered.
Nor, indeed, a host of other ’SIXA. “On departure,
ad hoc freighting jobs that were “We operated a go one of the
Atlantique’s bread and butter. G-SIXB on cargo engines failed,
After one false start, the Coventry- charters”, Mike Collett said, “and and the aircraft returned to Sana’a
based concern made a great it was quite busy, until BP told us for an engine change, resulting in
success of ‘Six’ operations. Many that they could not provide us with more delays. Unfortunately another OPPOSITE PAGE:
The latter-years Air
may recall them primarily for avgas any more due to a worldwide engine failed on the next ferry flight Atlantique livery
some memorable air displays, but, fuel crisis [in 1979]. Shell also told and the aircraft diverted to Djibouti. sets off the lines of
barring their last few years, these us that we had to take 33 per cent An engine was flown out from the DC-6A/B G-SIXC a
were working freighters rather less than we had picked up in 1978 UK and the French Army assisted treat in this June
than airshow performers. It was when we didn’t have the DC-6 in in fitting it. The aircraft eventually 2001 air-to-air view.
ADRIAN M. BALCH
a time when a certain corner of service. This led to us being unable arrived back in Southend having
Warwickshire, inhabited as it was by to operate G-SIXB, and it was deposited fairly large amounts of oil BELOW:
DC-3s, DC-6s and Lockheed L188 subsequently leased by Tony Moy and fuel at various airports on the Just after its arrival
Electras, had something of Miami to Air Swaziland. G-SIXA was never way, including Athens, who were at Coventry in
International about it. completed, and sadly ended up not terribly impressed.” March 1979, DC-6B
Air Atlantique already had several being scrapped at Manston. So, that The engineering arm of HeavyLift G-SIXB still sports
DC-3s by the time its founder Mike was the end of our first foray into Cargo Airlines had been earmarked its old Greenlandair
scheme, and
Collett decided the carrier needed DC-6 operations.” to work on G-APSA. “The overhaul previous registration
more capacity. This dyed-in-the- But Air Atlantique still saw took considerably longer, and of OY-DRC remains
wool enthusiast knew the ideal the value of having a DC-6. course cost a lot more than the visible.
aircraft from the years he’d already So it was that, in March 1987, original budgets”, said Instone, CARL FORD/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM
spent flying from Jersey. “I think it
was familiarity”, he said when asked
why he selected the ‘Six’. “In Jersey
we used to have DC-6s coming in
regularly, mainly from Belgium.
Delta Air Transport used to operate
them into Jersey, as did another
Belgian company, and occasionally
a TAT [Touraine Air Transport]
DC-6 came in from Paris.
“I loved those DC-6s, I was
familiar with them, and when we
heard that Greenlandair had got
two for sale we talked about it —
this was James Foden and myself,
because James was now my chief
pilot — and decided to give it a

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 AIRLINE HISTORY Air Atlantique DC-6s

“but eventually the aircraft

G-SIXA on the Coventry reappeared in flying condition.
grass in June 1979. It left for Once it was out of HeavyLift, we
Manston to be worked on,
handed it over to Air Atlantique to
but never flew again after
that, and was scrapped in operate, and we never operated
1985. ROB HODGKINS it with our own crews or flight
numbers. The aircraft actually never
carried any horses but was a great
success as a freighter.”
Indeed it was. Atlantique had
little difficulty finding work,
whether ad hoc or contract, for the
two DC-6s. Andrew Breeden was
the company’s operations manager:
“The thing I became quickly aware
of when I started at Atlantique
was that the aircraft were not for
pleasure flights and airshows, but
really did earn a lot of money. It was
not uncommon for both DC-6s to
be flying day and night.”

One notable mission involved

internal company business. In
late 1987, Atlantique took on the
Department of Trade and Industry’s
pollution control spraying contract.
After a host of problems, DC-6A G-APSA
At first it used Britten-Norman
finally arrives at Southend from Yemen —
via points various — in April 1987. VIA INSTONEAIR Islanders and a couple of DC-3s,
but soon further ‘Daks’ were
earmarked. Andrew Dixon, then
one of Atlantique’s pilots, says, “I
flew G-APSA out to the States and
we collected all the spray kits to
convert the next five ‘Daks’. That was
my first trans-Atlantic, straight out
G-APSA being loaded in of Coventry to Gander. It was the
Belfast. ANDREW BREEDEN days before GPS and what-have-
you, so we put a Loran-C in it to
navigate. We went to Burlington,
West Virginia, where we parked
Having delivered a consignment
of ship spares, G-SIXC sits on the ourselves up while all this gear was
Gibraltar tarmac. ANDREW BREEDEN brought across. It was loaded up
and we flew it back.
“It was interesting, starting a
DC-6 that had been sitting outside
in -20°C at night and -5°C during
the day for about a week. I was
very glad a really good old flight
engineer, a guy called Bernie
Murphy, had come with us on that
trip. He’d actually delivered G-APSA
to British Eagle and had basically
been on DC-6s all his life. He got it
started, but there was coughing and
banging and pools of fuel pouring
out of the bottom of the engines.
“We got airborne out of
Burlington, originally going back to
Gander, but the nosewheel wouldn’t
stay up. The DC-6 has a very high-
pressure hydraulic system, and if
it’s running all the time it overheats.
Once you’ve got the gear and flaps
and everything up, you neutralise it,
so there’s no pressure in it, and then
re-energise it when you need it. We

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 put the gear up, put the hydraulics
into neutral — bang, down went the Both ‘Sixes’ together
nosewheel. We were not flying the on the Coventry apron,
G-APSA framing G-SIXC.
whole way across the Atlantic with
DUNCAN CUBITT/KEY
the nosewheel hanging down, so we
went back into Burlington to try and
work out what it was, and couldn’t.
“But we’d bought ’SIXC from
Trans Continental Airlines
in Willow Run, who were still
operating other DC-6s at the time.
They weren’t that far away and said,
‘Bring it up and we’ll see what we
can do’. We flew it from Burlington
to Willow Run with the gear down,
and they got it in the hangar. There’s
a rubber bungee in the gear system,
and in the cold it had stretched
and frozen, so it wasn’t doing its

THE SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

job. They just replaced that, we got
airborne and the wheels stayed up.
We took it straight to Gander and,

H
from there, direct back to Coventry.”
Most trips were rather shorter, ow did G-SIXC and G-APSA differ? There was another noticeable distinguishing
if no less interesting. “One year”, “In some quite fundamental ways”, feature, too — but only to the crews. “For some
remembers Dixon, “we took ’SIXC says Julian Firth, “although that was years, G-APSA had an odd vibration at
to Le Bourget just before the Paris subsequently straightened out. 2,100rpm, which was one of the standard
Air Show with a whole load of bits G-APSA was a DC-6A at build… a cargo power settings. We’d either use 2,000 or
for British Aerospace out of Warton aeroplane with a strengthened cargo floor. It 2,200, whereas on ’SIXC we’d use any of those
that were going on their stand. That had a slightly higher empty weight than ’SIXC, three. Basically, it was the difference between
was one occasion when the French which was built as a passenger aircraft and was 1,100, 1,150 or 1,200hp. Then, when they built
air traffic were revolting, shall we modified to have the front and rear cargo doors the spray rig [see page 35], it was blueprinted
say. We called up to come back: on the left-hand side. One of the ways you to the original design of the aircraft, as I
‘Non’. No clearance, no nothing. could tell it was a passenger aeroplane understand it, rather than being bespoke to the
But the great beauty of the piston- originally was that it had a very large crew door airframe. There was some talk that when it was
engined DC-6, unlike an Electra on the front right — that was where things like fitted to G-APSA it pulled the thing back into
or anything like that, was that you mailbags were loaded on passenger aircraft, true and got rid of the vibration. I don’t know
could fly it low. It was a nice day, whereas on the freighters, obviously, they could whether that’s true, but certainly, after the
so we took the VFR route out of Le use the big doors. When they replaced the floor modification was done, G-APSA performed very
Bourget, which was basically over some time later, they put a carbon fibre much like ’XC. Or it could have been the
the middle of Paris at 900ft. That sandwich floor in to save a bit of weight.” tailplane repair they did around that time!”
probably woke a few people up…”
“In the late ’80s and early ’90s
we did a lot of work for Ford”, says — a fully fuelled DC-6 at maximum blasting explosive. It was forbidden
Andrew Breeden. “They used a take-off weight would need to fly to carry Class 1 explosive by aircraft,
broker called Artac in London, for six hours before it could land. but we had a CAA exemption. The
who would call and book flights, In fact, the take-off weights and authorities decided it must fly out of
and often wake me up at home. regulated landing weights could be Prestwick straight over the sea and
We didn’t have mobile ’phones, of complex to calculate for an ops guy into Belfast Aldergrove, avoiding
course, but the office ’phone would in the middle of the night. any built-up areas. Ironically
divert to our landline on weekend the explosives were delivered to
nights. During the week the office Prestwick by a truck that drove
was manned 24 hours a day.  “The Martin-Baker charters from hundreds of miles from the south
“Our other customers included Chalgrove to Langford Lodge were of England. The explosives require
DHL, the Post Office, Martin-Baker, originally operated by DC-3s, but detonation, and the boxes can
and various brokers Europe-wide. later on we carried large rocket actually be thrown around.
We had a contract for Lufthansa to motors for them that would only “But as we started for departure,
operate twice-weekly Heathrow- fit in the ‘Six’. And we used to fly we had a technical problem which
Frankfurt flights while their own newspapers out of Manchester on resulted in a night stop with the
737 freighters went through a check a Friday night to Dublin, when the aircraft already loaded with the
cycle. They were concerned that crews would often ‘race’ the TNT explosives. The Prestwick airport
maybe we would not have a great BAe 146. Though faster, it could not management were stressed…
dispatch rate, which by the end of keep up the speed like a DC-6 to the
the contract proved to be better
than their own! 
marker, and the ‘Six’ would often be
the victor…” By the end of the contract our
“The big problem with this flight
was a lack of avgas at Heathrow, so
One particular flight sticks in
Breeden’s memory: “A charter out of
dispatch rate proved to be better
it needed to be planned very well Prestwick to Belfast with 10,000kg of than Lufthansa’s own

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 AIRLINE HISTORY Air Atlantique DC-6s

If there were storms in the Channel or the Irish Sea, strikes on the production line
or somewhere else, we became the people in a position to quickly rescue things

ABOVE: thankfully, the next morning we they were patently obsolete in exercise. Brian Porter in particular
Now with Atlantic were fixed and said goodbye.” modern terms they were absolutely was excellent at getting us to think
Cargo titles, G-APSA All the while, Atlantique was operated like the serious, 50-tonne, about the implications of all the
helps handle the
pre-Christmas freight
introducing new pilots to the type. four-engined trans-Atlantic airliners possible failures, not just in terms
rush at Shannon in One of them was Julian Firth. “I that they were. Mechanically, they of our immediate emergency
1996. MALCOLM NASON first started flying the DC-6 at the were among the best aircraft I’ve responses but what that meant for
back end of 1994”, he says, “but I’d ever flown, and that’s still the case. continuing the flight.
been interested in it as a type for “I had excellent line training “I remember my first observed
years. It was one of the reasons I from a group of pilots who, at that trip, where I went along as an
got involved with Air Atlantique”. stage, had been flying the DC-6 extra non-flying crew member and
Having completed his aeronautical with Air Atlantique for many years. helped load and unload the aircraft.
engineering degree at Imperial I think of people like Brian Porter, We flew from Coventry to Valley —
College London, Julian joined Doug Brown and Chris Proctor, I’m not sure why it was Valley, but
Atlantique’s cadet scheme for new who treated it like a very serious it would have had something to do
pilots, and relatively soon was
ready to take the step up to the
four-engined beast. “It was my first
commercial type, so with 700 hours
and a freshly minted commercial
pilot’s licence I finished my DC-6
type rating. That was a pretty
outstanding bit of good fortune.
RIGHT: “The way Air Atlantique trained
No autopilot or GPS
here — just good
its crews to operate the aircraft,
old-fashioned hand- and the attention it paid to making
flying as G-SIXC plies sure they were serviceable for the
its trade. The regular jobs they were doing, actually made
crew comprised it less of a challenge than it could
two pilots and a have been. I think one of the great
flight engineer, or
occasionally three
successes of Air Atlantique was how
pilots, one of whom it proceduralised and formalised
was operating the the way in which it operated these
systems. ANDREW BREEDEN aeroplanes, because although

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 LEFT:
A different look for
G-SIXC in July 1994,
masquerading as
Air France DC-4
F-BBDG for a movie
called Une Femme
Française, filmed at
Berlin Tempelhof.
ADRIAN M. BALCH COLLECTION

BELOW LEFT:
The Pratt & Whitney
R-2800s on G-APSA
fire into life at its
Coventry base. The
aircraft bore the
name of Instone, its
owner, on the tail
until 1995, when
the Atlantic Cargo
scheme on the
opposite page was
applied.
DUNCAN CUBITT/KEY

with the fact that the ferries weren’t was all ad hoc work. We did a great 115ft all around. If I were to fly
running at Holyhead. Basically, trip overnight from Belfast to Tel a DC-6 or an Embraer 195 from
whether it was the DC-6s or any Aviv, which took about 10-and- Southampton to Malaga, it would
of the other cargo aircraft we had, a-half hours — and this was in burn the same weight of fuel.”
we became busy when something an aircraft without a functioning Even so, operating the Douglas
had disrupted the supply chains. If autopilot. I think everybody was transport commercially did
there were storms in the Channel pretty good at instrument flying become quite a bit harder for
or the Irish Sea, strikes either on the by the end of it. The return trip, as Atlantique through the late 1990s
production line or somewhere else, well, coming back across the Greek and on into the 2000s. “We were
we became the people in a position islands and up along Croatia, was having problems with the noise
to quickly rescue things for a client. just stunning. Ten days later we of the DC‑6s”, said Mike Collett.
That’s when the aircraft really came were down in Rhodes. We went to “It actually started to screw the
into their own. Sfax in Tunisia fairly frequently, rationale of the ad hoc charter,
“Schedules we ended up doing but the most common route was which is supposed to go at night”.
for other people, largely, were when Southend to Valencia, because that Germany, a familiar destination
their aircraft became unserviceable. was connecting two Ford plants. on car parts runs, was one country
For example, Parcelforce might Likewise we’d go quite a lot to to impose restrictions. The
need extra capacity, or British Saarbrücken for General Motors, Netherlands was another.
World Airlines might be down a and other airfields nearby for “There was a slightly bizarre
Viscount. Even our own Electras — diversionary purposes.” situation one night, flying from
sometimes, if they were unavailable Cardiff to Maastricht”, recounts
or needed to go and do something Firth. “Because of very strong
else, we could do pretty much the One aspect of the DC-6 that tailwinds, we looked as though we
same sort of stuff, certainly on the might surprise many, given its were going to get there early, so
short-haul runs. We had a freight advanced age, is its efficiency. we came back to minimum cruise
capacity of 13.5 tonnes, and we Firth — who now works as principal speed. Even then we arrived about
could be either bulk freight, with inspector for the Air Accidents 20 minutes early, and they said they
just a flat floor, or palletised. We Investigation Branch — remarks, “I couldn’t let us land, so we had to
could carry the same ‘125’ pallets as fly an Embraer 195 currently, as a go into the hold. Now, of course,
the Electras, albeit one less, I think. guest pilot with a regional airline. we were holding over the city, at
“One year I counted up Physically it’s almost identical in somewhat higher power than we’d
something like 70 destinations in size to a DC-6: it’s 48 tonnes max have been using if we’d just made
19 different countries, and that take-off weight, it’s round about an approach to the airport…”

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 AIRLINE HISTORY Air Atlantique DC-6s

RIGHT: Atlantique’s last commercial

The KLM scheme DC-6 flight took place during 2004.
applied to G-APSA Firth had left to fly the Airbus A320
in 2007 looked very
fine indeed. One
for Monarch, but rejoined the fold
of its late-summer in 2006. “A couple of things came
show appearances together quite neatly. One of them
was at the Jersey was a contract to provide airframes
International Air for Casino Royale, to make Dunsfold
Display. look like Miami. Both G-APSA and
SIMON WILLSON/
AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM
’SIXC were contracted, so we had
to fly them down. At the same time,
BELOW RIGHT: we were invited to do the Biggin Hill
On the ground at the Air Fair”. There the transport ‘Balbo’
2008 Farnborough staged by Atlantique, involving
show with British fully eight aircraft — two Dragon
Eagle founder Harold
Bamberg (sixth
Rapides, Anson, Devon, Pembroke,
from right) and a Twin Pioneer, DC-3 and DC-6 —
group of ex-Eagle won the Battle of Britain Sword
employees, among for the show’s best overall flying
them company demonstration.
archivist Eric Tarrant.
“He’s somebody
that, I think, is not
given to outward With the Bond filming over,
displays of emotion”, G-SIXC spent a brief period
pilot Julian Firth said parked at Deenethorpe, the
of Bamberg, “but Northamptonshire airfield then
he was clearly quite under consideration as a possible
moved by being
able to fly in his
new home for Air Atlantique’s
aeroplane again.” Classic Flight. “It was somewhat
DENIS J. CALVERT vandalised by people in the local
area”, says Firth. He made the
aircraft’s last ever flight when he
delivered it back to Coventry. But
Biggin Hill presaged a renewed
burst of activity for G-APSA.
“Whether or not the aircraft was on the 60th anniversary of the transporting the BRM team’s
ever going to return to commercial founding of Eagle Airways and Formula One cars to West Berlin
operation, I think we felt there was 40 years on from British Eagle’s for the German Grand Prix, held
mileage in trying to do some more demise, and made what turned out that year on the city’s notorious
airshows. There was a pretty clear to be a farewell tour. Avus circuit. Now it was back for
understanding that it was very It was a busy summer of shows, one final fling before the famous
unlikely to make a profit doing so, Firth’s spectacular display a star airport closed, joined — uniquely
so it was essentially always going wherever it was seen. Among — in formation by Europe’s other
to rely on Mike Collett’s amazing many highlights, the DC-6 became airworthy ‘Six’, DC-6B N996DM of
generosity.” the largest aircraft ever to land at the Flying Bulls. Their low passes
And, in two London City, were simply unforgettable.
different colour
schemes, it
Whether or not it Middle Wallop
and Goodwood,
Late at night on 30 October,
G-APSA left Berlin for Rotterdam,
looked superb.
The first was the
was going to return and called in at
Blackbushe to
becoming Tempelhof’s last
international departure. It flew
1950s KLM livery to commercial pick up Harold back to Coventry on 17 November,
of DC-6 PH-TGA Bamberg, the by which time preparations for
when it flew in operation, we felt ex-boss of British 2009 were already under way. The
the London-
Christchurch,
there was mileage Eagle. Making
the short hop
DC-6, however, was not destined
to fly again. Consider that getting
New Zealand, in trying to do some from there to the the aircraft ready for a display
air race. Applied Farnborough season, including crew training,
by the Dutch more airshows Airshow, took somewhere in the region of a
national carrier Bamberg was quarter of a million pounds, and the
in the summer of 2007 for the joined by a large number of former decision is far from surprising. It’s
making of a film called Bride Flight, Eagle employees. greatly to the credit of Mike Collett
it stayed on for the rest of that October’s trip to mainland that it went on as long as it did.
season. Appearances included the Europe was the icing on the cake, Subsequent efforts by Instone
propliner ‘formation’ — more of and another deeply nostalgic and Firth to get G-APSA going
a loose gaggle — at the Hamburg affair. At Innsbruck, G-APSA was again, operating on high-end
Airport Days. Then 2008 topped returning to an airport it had often corporate work, sadly did not
even that. G-APSA returned to its visited on Eagle’s charter flights. succeed, and the aircraft remained
original British Eagle markings, It had been to Tempelhof in 1959, parked at Coventry. So does

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 G-SIXC, its days as a diner now over. with the ‘Six’, as a regular pilot of assisting the engineers, filling up ABOVE: The last-but-
G-APSA will end up on display at the Flying Bulls’ Salzburg-based the oil and the water injection, and one day of operations
St Athan, as part of the new South example. “I’ve been flying DC‑6s much more besides. Such was life at Tempelhof, 29
Wales Aviation Museum, but as of for slightly more than half my with the venerable ‘Six’, but no- October 2008, was
the only time the
writing it hadn’t been moved. These life”, he reflects. Operating that one would have missed it Air Atlantique and
things, too, take time and money. opulent, highly polished machine for the world. Flying Bulls DC-6s
Old aeroplanes, whether flying or is quite different to those hard- flew together, Julian
static, demand a lot of both. grafting nights and days with Air ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to Firth and Raimund
Julian Firth is fortunate enough Atlantique’s freighters — doing the David Halford for material from his Riedmann in
still to maintain a close connection refuelling, helping with the loading, interview with Jeremy Instone. command. BEN DUNNELL

SPRAYING ‘SIXES’
I
n the late 1990s, Air Atlantique found a new role for its DC-6s:
they joined the pollution control spraying fleet of DC-3s. “Full
marks to Mike and the team for coming up with ways to make
sure the aircraft could keep flying”, comments Julian Firth, “but it
really did change the aircraft quite significantly. It had to have
additional internal structure to support the beams on the outside… it
was a bit Victorian. But I believe some great minds put a lot of work
into getting it right, so no disrespect to them.”
The DC-6 could carry 11 tonnes of oil slick dispersant, compared to
five tonnes for the DC-3. “We did trial it [on G-APSA], and it wasn’t as Capt Ceri Still demonstrating the spraying system on G-APSA at
easy to use in some respects. On the DC-3, the pumping system 2003’s Coventry Classic Airshow. ADRIAN M. BALCH
could be used in a sideslip turn, which meant you could do a
wings-level turn to maintain your flight over the slick, whereas in the
DC-6 you couldn’t. You had to do co-ordinated turns, which meant for the pumps. I did do a couple of trials flights on it, and it was quite
you couldn’t get quite as close to the water. And I’m sure they did impressive to watch from the outside, but it was never used in anger
what they could to make it safe, but you effectively had a petrol- — probably a good thing”. Still, it made an impressive air display
burning engine in the back of the aeroplane to generate the power showpiece on occasion.

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 COLD WAR HISTORY Iranian Sabres in the Congo

JOINING
FORCES
Iran’s involvement with the
B
efore the 1979 Islamic Congo’s first prime minister, Patrice
Revolution, the Iranian Lumumba, of selling the country

international community was armed forces were

guardians of peace in
out to the Soviet Union. In order to
maintain close ties to the west — and

very different in 1963, when it MENA, the Middle East and North
Africa region. The country was ruled
specifically Belgium — he led the
secession of Katanga from Congo on

deployed a quartet of F-86F by a secular and intellectual king,

Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi,
11 July 1960, backed by Brussels.
Tshombe appointed himself

Sabres to join a United Nations and its military took an active part
in United Nations peacekeeping
president of Katanga and hired
white mercenaries to establish a

mission in the Congo. Flying missions, beginning in the Congo.

In January 1963, four North
paramilitary force. They were led
by an ex-Belgian Army colonel,

alongside Swedish J 29 American F-86F Sabre fighters and a

supporting Douglas C-47B Skytrain
Jean ‘Black Jack’ Schramme, who
recruited teenage soldiers from local

‘Tunnans’ and further F-86s transport were deployed to the war-

torn country. Their commitment
tribes to form the Leopard Group,
which later became 10 Commando.

in the hands of pilots from was a brief one, but for the Imperial
Iranian Air Force (IIAF) it was a first
Another Belgian, Maj Jean-Marie
Crèvecoeur, was contracted by

the Philippines, they — and step towards building the capability

to perform international missions.
Tshombe to create the Katangan
Gendarmerie. It comprised

the Imperial Iranian Air Force The Congo became independent

on 30 June 1960. Congolese
10,000 troops organised into three
battalions, led by 400 mercenaries.

personnel — proved their worth businessman and politician Moïse

Tshombe had established the
Most of them were Belgian, but
there were former French and

in an unfamiliar operating Confédération des associations

tribales du Katanga, or CONAKAT,
British Army servicemen too.
On 10 July 1960, Tshombe’s

environment one of three main political

parties in the Belgian Congo. It
paramilitaries began their war
on the Congolese National Army
assisted in the repatriation and (Armée nationale congolaise, ANC),
WORDS: BABAK TAGHVAEE evacuation of Belgian civilians upon which was loyal to Lumumba and
independence. Tshombe accused had Soviet support. Lumumba

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 LEFT: Organisation des Nations Unies
au Congo (ONUC) air power in Kamina
during the UN secretary-general’s
visit in 1963. The nearest aircraft are
the four Imperial Iranian Air Force
F-86Fs with serials 3-133, 3-140, 3-146
and 3-150. On the right are five Saab
J 29Bs of Swedish Air Force squadron
F 22, serials 29374, 29371, 29445,
29365 and 29393, and the ONUC
F-86E(M)s, serials 19695, 19483,
19709, 19784 and 19542. The UN-
operated DC-3 beyond was numbered
218, while the Sikorsky S-55/UH-19D
helicopters are unknown.
ALI GHOLAM-ALI COLLECTION VIA BABAK TAGHVAEE

demanded UN assistance, and on

14 July 3,500 troops from Tunisia,
Morocco, Ghana and Ethiopia as
well as 625 Swedish peacekeepers
were flown to Congo. They formed
the Organisation des Nations Unies
au Congo (ONUC), an urgent
attempt to counter increasing Soviet
influence over the country. UN
forces occupied and closed most of
the Congolese airports, using some
of them for their operations.
Lumumba was later overthrown Iranian F-86F pilots, two of whom
during a CIA-orchestrated coup by flew in the UN mission, during an
exercise at Dezful in 1962. Seated
Joseph Mobutu, his chief of staff at front right is 1st Lt Mohammad
and head of the army. Mobutu Abol-Moluk; standing at left is 1st Lt
seized power on 14 September Ismail Memari, who died a year later
1960. Lumumba was handed over in an F-86F crash. VIA BABAK TAGHVAEE
to Katanga by Mobutu and was
murdered by Katangan and Belgian
officers on 17 January 1961.

When the last group of Belgian

forces departed from Congo on 15
August 1960, 16 fixed-wing aircraft
and two helicopters of the Belgian
Air Force were left behind. Despite
mostly having been withdrawn from
service, they were used to form the The Flygvapnet’s
Katangese Air Force (Force aérienne J 29Bs being viewed at
katangaise, FAK). Among them, Luluabourg on 27 October
eight AT-6G Texans were initially the 1961 by Brig Frank
sole aircraft able to provide close Goulson (left), commander
of the UN force in Kasai
support for the Katangan gendarmes province, and Lt Col Sven-
during operations against the ANC. Erik Everstål, the Swedish
This small air arm was expanded squadron commander. UN
after a series of procurements, most
prominently of nine Fouga CM170-1
Magister light attack/training jets Four Canberra B(I)58
from France, of which three were bombers from the
delivered in February 1961. Five Indian Air Force arrived
Piper PA-22-150 Caribbean light at Léopoldville on 10
liaison aeroplanes and five Dornier October 1961. UN
Do 28B light utility machines were
acquired from South Africa and West
Germany respectively.
Piloted by Belgian mercenaries,
the FAK used its Magisters against
ONUC several times. Their efforts
resulted in deaths and injuries
among UN troops during

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 COLD WAR HISTORY Iranian Sabres in the Congo

an ‘air force’ for ONUC. Soon after

its formation, its primary objective
became the destruction of the
FAK’s last combat aircraft, as well
as providing close air support for
UN and ANC troops who were
attempting to defeat the Katangese
mercenaries and capture the
airstrips and airfields being used
by them. ONUC’s air power came
under the command of Air Cdre
Morrison from the Royal Canadian
Air Force. Its first aircraft were four
Ethiopian Air Force F-86Fs, based at
Léopoldville.
In addition to them, the Swedish
Air Force and Indian Air Force sent
five Saab J 29B ‘Tunnan’ fighters
and six English Electric Canberra
B(I)58 bombers respectively.
Deployment of the Swedish jets
began on 30 September 1961 when
all five aircraft, belonging to F 8 wing
at Barkarby, started the 12,000km
(7,456-mile) flight south to N’Djili
BELOW: Operation ‘Morthor’ and the siege along with the other 10 passengers airport in Léopoldville, where
F-86F-25-NHs of the of Jadotville, major engagements and five crew. Three days earlier, they arrived on 4 October. After a
Imperial Ethiopian Air between ONUC elements and both Magisters were flown by week, they were repositioned to
Force detachment
at Léopoldville on
Katangese forces that took place Belgian pilots on a sortie to try and Luluabourg in the province of Kasaï.
3 October 1961. In from 13-17 September 1961. At destroy SE-BDY on the ground at Under the command of Wg Cdr
front of them, the that time, the air arm had only two Élisabethville, but they caused only A. I. K. Suares, the six Canberras, all
commander of the CM170s, two de Havilland DH104 minor damage from the IAF’s No
UN force, Lt Gen Doves and a PA-22 left at Kolwezi to it and instead 5 Squadron, took
Sean McKeown,
chats with fellow
airport after most of its inventory destroyed a U Thant asked off from Agra on
was captured at Élisabethville by DC-4, OO‑AND, 9 October. They
officers after a formal
inspection of the ONUC in Operation ‘Rum Punch’ on operated by UN member states too were heading
Sabres and their
crews.
28 August.
One of the FAK’s last two CM170s
ONUC. At
Kamina airport
including Iran to for Léopoldville,
a journey of
BELOW RIGHT:
may have been used by a Belgian
mercenary, Jan van Risseghem, to
on 17 September, provide air power 6,000km (3,728
the Fougas miles).
103rd FS F-86Fs
lined up for
shoot down Douglas DC-6B SE-BDY destroyed Everything was
inspection at Kamina of Transair Sweden over Northern G-APIN, a C-54D-5-DC of Starways calm until 29 October when a UN
by the UN secretary- Rhodesia on 18 September 1961. that had been chartered by the UN. transport aircraft was shot down.
general, U Thant, in Leased by the UN, it was carrying FAK air strikes against UN Half an hour later the Swedish
1963. the organisation’s secretary-general troops in September 1961 led to ‘Tunnans’ were out on patrol along
VIA BABAK TAGHVAEE
Dag Hammarskjöld, who died the establishment that month of the border with Katanga, mostly as

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 a show of force. On 6 December the LEFT:
J 29Bs and six Canberras conducted An image originally
their first attack missions against published on the
cover of the IIAF’s
Kolwezi and Jadotville air bases in monthly magazine in
Katanga, carrying out three waves of February 1963 shows
air strikes. the four Iranian
Kolwezi was targeted by a pair F-86Fs at Dezful
of Canberras led by Suares. He during their first
personally destroyed a DC-3 refuelling stop en
route to Congo.
and a DC-4 parked near the VIA BABAK TAGHVAEE
airfield’s control tower with his
20mm cannon, while the second FAR LEFT:
Canberra put paid to a Magister. Flying over Congo
They returned and made two more are J 29Bs 29440,
passes, during which they wrecked 29374, 29393 and
two Do 28s and a Dove as well as 29398 from the
Flygvapnet’s F 22
the control tower and fuel depot. squadron. FLYGVAPNET
On 9 December, the Canberras
made another air strike, destroying Sweden strengthened its Congo- their aircraft. Iran’s king, His
the Katangese Gendarmerie’s based squadron, F 22, with four Imperial Majesty Mohammad-Reza
main communications facility more J 29Bs from F 8 and two S 29C Shah Pahlavi, accepted the request
and other facilities in the centre of unarmed reconnaissance jets. and ordered the deployment of four
Élisabethville. IIAF F-86Fs and accompanying
With the outbreak of war between technicians to Congo.
India and China in 1962, the U Thant, Hammarskjöld’s Four Sabres with serials 3-133,
Indian bombers left to protect their successor as UN secretary-general, 3-140, 3-146 and 3-150, all
homeland. The Ethiopian Sabres asked member states including Iran belonging to the 102nd Fighter
also left Congo that September after to support ONUC with air power Squadron of the 1st Fighter Brigade
one of them crashed. In response, after India and Ethiopia withdrew in Tehran, departed Mehrabad at

“I WON’T SWEAR ALLEGIANCE AGAIN…”

B
orn south of Tehran in the Gholam-Ali retired from service in 1976 or
mid-1920s, Ali Gholam-Ali joined 1977. When the Iran-Iraq war started in
the Imperial Iranian Air Force as a 1980, he volunteered to return and serve
non-commissioned officer just a what was now the Islamic Republic of Iran
few years after the end of World War Two. Air Force, or IRIAF. He joined the air arm’s
Like his older brother, he became an self-sufficiency and industrial research
aircraft technician, starting out on the group and helped it to build adaptors,
F-47D Thunderbolts of the 1st Fighter Wing missile launchers and pylons for its fighters.
at Ghaleh-Morghi. His expertise was in His most notable work was on Project
airframes and fuel systems. Sedjil, manufacturing special adaptors and
While a warrant officer, second class in pylons for the MIM-23B surface-to-air
January 1956, he was sent to US Air Forces missile to be carried by Iran’s F-14A
in Europe’s Central Air Materiel Area at Tomcats during the conflict.
Châteauroux, France for 11 weeks of His co-operation with the IRIAF was
on-the-job training that included 120 hours ended in 2010 after the head of the air
on F-86 IRAN (inspection and repair if force’s counter-intelligence department
necessary) work. He graduated from the wanted him to swear allegiance to the flag
course on 30 March 1956. A year later, the of Iran’s Islamic regime in order to renew
IIAF began receiving 69 ex-USAF F-84Gs his ID and obtain permission to enter air
under MDAP (the Mutual Defense Sgt Maj Ali Gholam-Ali in Congo during 1963. force bases. He refused, telling the counter-
Assistance Program) and Gholam-Ali ALI GHOLAM-ALI COLLECTION intel commander, “We are soldiers and we
became a technician on the type. He swear to Iran’s flag only once, when we
transferred to the F-86F in 1960 when the start our career. I won’t swear again.”
IIAF started taking on 52 former USAFE examples. Prior to that, he helped produce four special outboard pylons for
Now promoted to the rank of master sergeant, Ali Gholam-Ali the IRIAF’s F-4Es, allowing them to use C-802A anti-ship missiles.
changed jobs to become a C-130B Hercules airframe and fuel After his dismissal, he continued his career with Tose Fannavaran
specialist after attending a training course with the Lockheed- Havapayeh, a civilian company owned by IAIO (the Iranian Aviation
Georgia Company in Marietta, Georgia between 10 January and Industries Organization), and was involved in developing four
8 July 1966. A few years on, he was appointed as the IIAF’s inboard pylons that enabled Iran’s ex-Iraqi Air Force Mirage F1EQ/
representative to IACI (Iranian Aircraft Industries), which had BQs to carry external fuel tanks. In 2011-12, the author of this article
responsibility for depot-level maintenance of the air force’s C-130s was a colleague of Ali Gholam-Ali, working on the overhaul and
and other types. upgrade of the Mirages for the IRIAF.

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 COLD WAR HISTORY Iranian Sabres in the Congo

with three pilot officers, a jet engine Sgt Maj Ali Gholam-Ali, an
technician and two technical aircraft technician and sheet
non-commissioned officers on metal worker, was one of 33
board was tasked to transport the non-commissioned IIAF officers
ground equipment and supplies in assigned to the 103rd Fighter
the course of three sorties between Squadron. He recalls, “We were
March and June 1963. told to pay attention and follow
To get to their destination ONUC’s orders because where we
6,300km (3,915 miles) away, the were going was a territory unknown
F-86Fs made five refuelling stops: to us — not only the language and
at Dezful in south-western Iran, people, but also their culture. Capt
Dhahran and Jeddah in Saudi Seyyed-Javadi was appointed as
Arabia, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and leader of our group and there was
Entebbe in Uganda. A flight time also Maj Kamiabpoor, a noble, well-
of 10 hours was required to reach educated man. He was one of the
Kamina in Katanga. There the four technicians who did his jet engine
F-86Fs and the personnel formed maintenance training in the UK.
the 103rd Fighter Squadron.
Just a few days before the arrival
ABOVE: 08.00hrs local time on Wednesday of the Iranian contingent, ONUC “The day of our departure arrived.
The sole surviving 16 January 1963. Before they left, received five F-86E(M) fighters We went to Mehrabad, to the flight
Fouga CM170 IIAF commander-in-chief Lt Gen donated by Italy. These ex-RAF equipment branch, where the pilots
Magister from the
Mohammad Khatami gave a speech Canadair Sabre F4s had been get their flight equipment and are
Katangese air arm
was this example, to the airmen during an official operated by the Italian Air Force’s briefed about their flightplan and
apparently captured ceremony also attended by deputy 4a Aerobrigata. They were sent to weather conditions. It was a room
by UN troops at commander Lt Gen Azazi and other Congo on 8 January 1963, via a where all of us, 43 people, could
Kolwezi airfield. high-ranking Iranian army and air 10-leg trip. Support came from two fit inside. A C-130 which the UN
Among the aircraft force officers. Italian Air Force C-119Gs. Once had received from Lockheed came
parked behind
Under the command of Capt there, the Sabres were handed over to Mehrabad. We flew on board
are several DC-3s,
including an Air Mostafa Haj Seyyed-Javadi, the to Filipino personnel and operated this C-130, which had a bare metal
Katanga example, expeditionary unit consisted of by pilots from the Philippine finish. Our pilot and all the crew
and a Sikorsky S-58. nine pilots and technical officers Air Force’s 9th Tactical Fighter members including the crew chief
UN as well as 33 non-commissioned Squadron. They were maintained by were Americans. The F-86s piloted
technicians. A C-47B, serial 5-24, the Iranian technicians. by Seyyed-Javadi, Memarian,

PERSIAN SABRES
T
he IIAF received its initial batch of 21 Republic F-84G
Thunderjets under the US Mutual Defense Assistance
Program (MDAP) in 1957. They became the air arm’s first jet
fighters. As their numbers increased in service with the
1st and 3rd Fighter-Bomber Squadrons at Mehrabad, the F-47D
Thunderbolt fleet with the 2nd Fighter Bomber Squadron at Qaleh-
Morghi declined until the air force took delivery of 20 ex-USAFE
F-86Fs in the first quarter of 1960. Thirty-two more F-86Fs followed
during the second and fourth quarters of 1961, in batches of six and 26
respectively, increasing the number in the Iranian inventory to 52. 
With USAFE the Sabres had served with the 10th Fighter-Bomber
Squadron of the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing at Hahn, West Germany
until 1956, when the F-86F was relinquished in favour of the F-86H,
and the 21st FBW’s 72nd FBS at Châteauroux, France until 1958. They
were then stored at the French base. Before delivery to the IIAF, the One of the F-86Fs committed by Iran to the Congo effort was serial
3-140. Later, it was among almost 40 Iranian Sabres to be overhauled
airframes were sent to Turin, where they were overhauled in 1960. by Israeli Aircraft Industries at Lod. In the image at right, colourised by
Upon delivery of the Sabres, the IIAF began phasing out its last Shay Finkleman, it is pictured with the IAI technicians and test pilots.
F-84Gs. Out of 69 Thunderjets received under MDAP in 1957-58, NIMROD TAVOR COLLECTION
only 56 were left in service, almost a quarter being grounded during
1961. Except for five examples, including one that had been used by
the IIAF’s Golden Crown aerobatic display team, the other F-84Gs The Fars insurgency in southern Iran during 1962 saw the IIAF
experienced the same fate as the F-47Ds and were sent back to the F-86Fs entering combat. The Qashqais, led by landlords, rioted
US to be scrapped after their retirement in the summer of 1963. To fly against the Pahlavi government due to the reforms of the Shah’s White
these new jets, the IIAF sent 25 pilots — mostly from the F-84G force Revolution which stopped speculators from owning unlimited land and
— to the US for training. In addition, 62 more pilots converted in West property across the country. During operations against the Qashqai
Germany. The Golden Crown team was an early adopter of the Sabre, guerrillas, F-86Fs that were forward-deployed from Mehrabad to
beginning displays with the type in 1960. Shiraz provided close support for Iranian ground forces.

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 Memari and Alaghe-Band departed around our aircraft with eight F-86s.
before us. After our landing, we stayed for a
“We landed in Saudi Arabia night and we were invited by the
where the F-86s had a refuelling commander of the Ethiopian Air
stop. The main hose on the Saudis’ Force to have dinner with them.
aircraft refuelling truck had a major “We flew from Ethiopia to Congo
fuel leak — at that time, Jeddah the next day. Before our arrival,
airport was not well-equipped. Indian and Pakistani [UN] troops
Our pilot didn’t permit the Saudis had arrived and looted whatever had
to refuel the aircraft, because he been left in the houses previously
said it was unsafe. Then they told occupied by the Belgians. So, we
us that their new fuel truck would had nothing in our rooms. They
arrive tomorrow had even taken
morning, so we the curtains! No
stayed a night One F-86F was hit fridges or water
there. heaters had been
“The next by a bullet, but was left. They billeted
morning, the
F-86s left Jeddah quickly repaired and us three to a villa.
We stayed in them
and flew to
Uganda, and
returned to flight for six months
and 25 days.”
we flew next to Compared to
them. In Uganda, the weather was the 18 Swedish and Filipino fighters
bad, so we stayed for three or four at Kamina, the IIAF’s F-86Fs were
nights there. We were in a hotel mission-ready at all times. Thanks
just next to Lake Victoria. After the to high-quality maintenance and
weather got better, they flew to the Katangese Gendarmerie’s lack
Ethiopia, where at the time Haile of powerful anti-aircraft guns, the
TOP: ONUC’s Iranian and Pakistani troops standing together at
Selassie I was emperor. In Ethiopia, 103rd FS didn’t suffer any accidents Kamina in 1963. ALI GHOLAM-ALI COLLECTION
when they heard we were coming, or incidents, with one exception.
ABOVE: Serial 19695 was one of five ex-Italian Air Force
they sent their aircraft to greet us and The F-86F of Lt Alaghband was hit F-86E(M)s used by ONUC. This Canadair-built aircraft was Sabre
escort our aircraft. They had greeted by a bullet, but was quickly repaired F4 XB857 in RAF service. IIAF technicians were responsible for
our four F-86Fs before our C-130 and returned to flight in less than maintaining the ONUC Sabres at Kamina, and one of them, Ali
arrived. They flew in formation 24 hours. Gholam-Ali, is standing on the aircraft’s wing. ALI GHOLAM-ALI COLLECTION

its air-to-air gunnery skills were poor. Iran’s first fighter weapons
gunnery competition was held in September 1963. No contest took
place in 1964, due to the lack of 2.75in training rockets, but Sidewinder
training progressed in the form of ground school classes, practice
loadings and flying training with captive missiles. Each Sabre squadron
was allowed to fire two live missiles per year, but this was not
effective, leading to a lack of confidence in the AIM-9B as an air-to-air
weapon. In the early 1965, a US technical assistance team was
successful in determining and correcting the problems affecting the
missile’s capability. This turned things around.
According to USAF records, the IIAF increased its emphasis on
maintaining the F-86s’ fire control systems in 1966. Plans were put in
place for the establishment of an IIAF gunnery school at Dezful, the
2nd Tactical Fighter Base, which led to the formation of the
203rd Combat Crew Training Squadron. Its excellent facilities
welcomed their first class in 1967.
After taking delivery of Northrop F-5A/Bs, the 101st and
102nd Fighter Squadrons of the IIAF’s 1st Fighter Wing were
redesignated as the 101st and 102nd Tactical Fighter Squadrons and
the 1st Fighter Wing became the 1st Tactical Fighter Base in 1965. The
air force transferred its F-86Fs to the new 2nd TFB, named ‘Vahdati’, at
Dezful, where they formed the 201st and 202nd TFSs.
The Sabres reached their MTBO (mean time between overhaul) in
Compared to the F-84Gs, of which 11 crashed for various reasons 1965. From October of that year, they were transferred to Lod airport
between 1957 and 1959, the F-86Fs were more reliable. By the end of in Tel Aviv where almost 40 airframes were overhauled by Israeli
June 1963, five Sabres had been lost in incidents and accidents, Aircraft Industries during 1966. They were painted in the so-called
leaving 47 in use. Asian Minor II camouflage, which later became the standard colours
In late 1962, training began in the use of the AIM-9B Sidewinder for Iranian fighters. The IIAF — including its Golden Crown team —
air-to-air missile. Although the IIAF had consistently demonstrated continued operating the F-86Fs until 1971, when they were withdrawn
highly satisfactory proficiency in all phases of air-to-ground gunnery, from service.

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 COLD WAR HISTORY Iranian Sabres in the Congo

to the fact that at 08.00hrs local

time every morning we had our
four aircraft ready for a mission. We
were awarded medals by him, and
he gave us UN stickers which I put
on the vertical stabilisers of our four
aircraft. It was our good fortune that
our aircraft were in good condition,
the quality of our maintenance was
high and none of them had to be
grounded. Only in one case was one
of our aircraft hit by enemy anti-
aircraft fire. A bullet made two holes
in the engine’s air intake, which was
easily repaired in a day.
“After spending six months and 25
days in Congo, we returned to Iran
with the same C-130. Fortunately,
in this period we never experienced
any accidents. The eight pilots who
participated in the Congo mission
were Capt Mostafa Seyyed-Javadi,
Capt Fariborz Paivar [deputy head
of operations for the 103rd FS], Capt
ABOVE: “During our stay in Congo”, says a large fridge, a cinema projector Abolfazl Mostafavi, 1st Lt Ismail
Two ONUC F-86E(M) Ali Gholam-Ali, “I was tasked to and two films were among the items Memari, 1st Lt Mohammad Abol-
Sabres on patrol repair a total of two aircraft. For in the Dakota. Moluk, 1st Lt Mohsen Memarian,
over Katanga in
1963. The nearest
example, when an aircraft logged “About 25 days before the end 1st Lt Mohammad Alagheh-Band
aircraft is 19784, 100 flying hours, it was grounded of our mission, the commander of and 1st Lt Vahid Kimiagar.”
another Canadair- and we had to perform its 100-hour ONUC, who was Swedish, visited While the Iranian F-86Fs were
built Sabre which periodic inspection. We removed our forces. Then Gen Khatami sent redeployed to Tehran, the IIAF’s
was XB896 with the the panels under the aeroplane for a camera for us to photograph our technicians stayed behind in
RAF from 1953-56 this purpose — the F-86 has a lot forces and our activity there, so we Congo in order to maintain the
and MM19784 with
the Italian Air Force
of panels under its fuselage. Some took a picture of our aircraft parked ONUC-owned F-86E(M)s that
until 1963. of them had their fastener rivets together with the UN’s F-86s and were being flown by the Philippine
FRANCIS NERI COLLECTION VIA broken, but we had transported our the Swedish jets, using a helicopter. Air Force pilots. Those personnel
PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE special tools from Iran to remove returned to Iran in July 1963. It
these broken rivets by pneumatic is not clear whether the ONUC
air gun, because we were not able to “Maj Kamiabpoor [pilot and F-86Es remained operational after
unfasten them by hand. technician] was responsible for that time, but it is known that they
“At Dezful it took a week to planning our missions. He was were scrapped at Kamina after
perform a 100-hour inspection of in Léopoldville while we were in the end of their mission. Two
the aircraft, but at Kamina, when Kamina. But, once a month, he Swedish Air Force J 29Bs and two
missions were finishing at 15.00 came to Kamina to fly to keep S 29Cs had flown home that April.
or 16.00hrs and the aircraft were himself current [on the F-86]. After The following year, the remaining
taken to the maintenance hangar, a few months, the secretary-general ‘Tunnans’ were scrapped in
even the pilot, the secretary, the of the United Nations visited Congo due to the cost of
warehouse-keeper — in total, 45 or Kamina to thank us personally due getting them back to Sweden.
46 people — were working on them,
preparing for the next flight at 08.00
or 09.00hrs the next day.
“After two or two-and-a-half
months in Congo, we heard about
the arrival of an Iranian Dakota.
We were all happy and rushed to
the terminal to unload its cargo. Its
cargo was our food supply, which
was personally chosen and bought
by Gen Khatami after he heard
complaints from our troops about
the low quality of food and the long
RIGHT: queue which we had to stand in to
The contingent from get it. So, he sent us high-quality
the IIAF’s 103rd Sadri rice, peas, beans, lentils, cans
FS returning to
Mehrabad in Tehran
of Iranian foods and all necessary
after completion of goods and material for cooking,
the Congo mission. plus a chef who was from Babolsar
VIA BABAK TAGHVAEE [a city in northern Iran]. In addition,

42 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 EAGLE
WARBIRDS Hangar 10 FW 190

SOARS
For the Hangar 10 collection in Germany, the long-awaited return to
flight of its FW 190 project is a major milestone — and the latest of its
restorations to incorporate new technology in the name of safety and
sustainable operation WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD PAVER

F
or any collection focused on The FW — for Flug Werk, as the interior with original Focke-Wulf
German Second World War opposed to Fw for Focke-Wulf — fittings and not those that came with
aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 190 wreckage was initially placed the wreckage. Many genuine Fw 190
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at Heringsdorf airfield on the north MeierMotors had other restorations incorporated into the restoration.
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enhanced with a representative of to its most basic components of the other items involved in the
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by MeierMotors at Bremgarten from progress had been made on the systems were completely replaced
some original parts and the wreck fuselage and tail. Efforts moved on in accordance with wartime wiring
ABOVE:
of Flug Werk FW 190A-8/N F-AZZJ, during 2015 to the wings, the front diagrams, using Focke-Wulf plugs, Klaus Plasa flying
delivered to Bremgarten following end and the engine mount, while switches and relays. A great deal Hangar 10’s FW 190
its ditching off Hyères, France, in fitting-out and painting started in of sheet metal work was done and D-FWAA over the
2010. The new-build machine’s early 2016, and assembly of the all hydraulic, oil and fuel systems Baltic Sea near
Shvetsov ASh-82 engine was a total wings and fuselage took place the replaced. The aircraft was ready Heringsdorf, showing
well the fighter’s JG 1
loss, having suffered major saltwater following year. for engine runs in April 2019.
markings, including
damage, but the airframe was MeierMotors used authentic Initial test flights were carried out the characteristic
rebuildable and Hangar 10 decided Fw 190 structural and wing drawings, at Bremgarten in April and July by black-and-white
to take on the project. while efforts were made to complete Klaus Plasa. cowling.

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 WARBIRDS Hangar 10 FW 190

ABOVE: For its fly-in on 27-29 September, Klaus Plasa flight-tested the The aircraft has been finished
A magnificent Hangar 10 made a particular effort aeroplane at Heringsdorf and all in standard Luftwaffe day fighter
Luftwaffe echelon, as to have its newest warbird fully involved were delighted to present camouflage and represents
the FW 190 is joined
serviceable and on display. Only the FW 190 as the star of the show. Fw 190A‑8 Werknummer 170389
by the two Hangar
10-owned Bf 109s, 10 days beforehand it was still Several different ‘Yellow 4’ of
the G-14 and G-6. at Bremgarten with an oil cooler formation flights Jagdgeschwader
They were in the problem which prevented a transit were arranged, Hangar 10 was 1. In 1944 JG 1
respective hands
of Messerschmitt
flight. The Hangar 10 team, led
by Martin Glockner, arranged for
including the
very rare sight keen to paint the 190 was given the
name ‘Oesau’
Stiftung pilot Volker
Bau and Mikael
the FW 190 to be dismantled and
transported by road to Heringsdorf,
of two Bf 109s
with the FW 190.
as a JG 1 aircraft as it in honour
of its sixth
Carlson, the latter
checking out in the where it was reassembled on 20 It is believed to provides a link with commanding
G-6 during the fly-in September. The oil cooler was have been the officer, Walter
weekend. rebuilt by Michael Rinner just first time such Heringsdorf Oesau, a
in time for the fly-in. Cracking a combination 125-victory
had occurred due to the internal had flown together in Germany ace who was shot down that May.
pressure being beyond the original since World War Two. Hangar 10 is D-FWAA wears the unit’s ‘Winged
design specification, but this was planning further unique formations 1’ emblem on the forward fuselage.
successfully solved. for 2020. The red band on the rear fuselage is

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 Erich Brunotte, now
96, in the rear seat of
the Bf 109G-12.

FROM PAST TO PRESENT

I
n addition to the aircraft, the other star of the Hangar 10
fly-in weekend was former Luftwaffe ace Feldwebel Erich
Brunotte who flew Bf 109s and Fw 190s over the Eastern
Front and notched up 33 aerial victories. Brunotte flew with
13./JG 51 in 1944-45, completing his last mission on 3 May
1945. On the Saturday of the Heringsdorf event Erich was
given a flight in the two-seat Bf 109G-12 with Klaus Plasa.
While the Bf 109G-12 has gone to the Manching-based
Messerschmitt Stiftung (Foundation), Hangar 10 has entered
into an agreement to provide that organisation with pilot
training services. The G-12 has thus remained at Heringsdorf,
to be operated by Hangar 10 and convert new pilots onto the
type. The Stiftung has in recent years suffered several landing
and take-off accidents to its Bf 109s, and this new
arrangement is working very well. Heringsdorf has both hard
and grass runways and unrestricted airspace, enabling
uninterrupted training to take place.
In addition to the German warbirds, Hangar 10 flew its
Spitfire XVIII, TP280/D-FSPT, and TF-51D Mustang D-FUNN
during the weekend. The collection is actively involved in
trading aircraft in order to provide the capital for new projects,
which has led to both the T-6 and Yak-9 being sold. There are
some exciting prospects for 2020, so watch this space.

A pre-flight discussion
between chief pilot
Klaus Plasa (right) and
Hangar 10’s Volker
Schülke.

also representative of JG 1, having

been applied in the later war years
to the unit’s fighters used in the
defence of the Reich. By the end of
1943, fighter squadrons so deployed
were given a coloured fuselage band.
Up to that point these markings were
common only on fighters engaged
on the Mediterranean and Russian
fronts, which had white and yellow
ones respectively.
Hangar 10 was keen to paint the
FW 190 as a JG 1 aircraft because
it provides a unique connection
with Heringsdorf airfield, originally
known as Garz after the local
village. The Luftwaffe moved in
during 1935 and developed it into
a key fighter station. It was also

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 WARBIRDS Hangar 10 FW 190

used for experimental flying from

1942-44, air-launched guided
weapons being tested. Elements of
Kampfgeschwader (KG) 100 were
based there in 1943 and ’44, this
being the pioneering bomber wing
which used unpowered precision-
guided munitions. JG 1 was
stationed at Garz between February
and April 1945, when its fighters
were very active defending the
Baltic coast from the Soviet advance.
Before the end of hostilities JG 1
moved to Parchim and re-equipped
with the Heinkel He 162 jet.
Garz became a Soviet fighter
base post-war, providing protection
for the Soviet Navy Baltic fleet. An
extensive military training ground
incorporated much of the airfield
plus further land to the east on the
Polish border. In the mid-1970s a
new and realigned main runway was
laid, and the airfield was renamed
Heringsdorf. Today the Hangar
10 collection is housed in a World
War Two Luftwaffe hangar which
has been extensively modernised
and extended with new offices,
workshops, a restaurant, visitor
centre and apartments for visiting
pilots. Close by is another wartime
hangar which is used for storage.

The FW 190 is currently fitted with

another new 14-cylinder ASh‑82T
engine. However, a genuine BMW
801 is under rebuild with Michael
Rinner in Austria and will be
installed in either late 2020 or early
2021. The specially adapted exhaust
pipes from the Shvetsov unit have
flattened outlets, which improve
cooling and produce a wonderful
sound. Additional oil coolers sit
in the wing root, with the air inlet
from a vent in the wing leading
edge. Rinner and his team have
rebuilt the oil coolers in order to get
the aircraft running at the correct
temperatures. On the original BMW
801 the oil cooler reservoir design
was ingenious, the reservoir being
incorporated into the engine cowling
with an oil cooler ring just aft of it.
This lessened aerodynamic drag and
greatly boosted oil cooling efficiency.
During the war new BMW engines
TOP: Work well under way on the FW 190 in MeierMotors’ Bremgarten workshop during August 2016. were supplied to fighter units with
the cowlings already fitted, making
MIDDLE LEFT: Many original instruments and other period items are incorporated into the 190’s cockpit.
Just visible at left, above the attitude indicator, is one of the modern additions in the form of the flight test engine changes easier.
display unit. On the ASh-82 in the Hangar
MIDDLE RIGHT: On top of the cockpit coaming, easily visible by the pilot, sits the display for the engine 10 aircraft, a front oil reservoir
data interface unit. The lights turn amber or red if the oil temperature, oil pressure or fuel pressure go out of is incorporated into the engine
limits. VIA HANGAR 10 cowling as per the original design,
ABOVE: The Shvetsov ASh-82T engine and cooling system installation has undergone a lot of work to but it doesn’t have the front oil
ensure reliable operation. radiator. Instead there are two

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 separate radiators in the gun bays at by the FW 190 using the Stock at the end of 2018, Hangar 10 and ABOVE:
each wing root. These are ventilated Flight Systems flight performance Stock continued to improve the A diagram showing
by ram air going through the former management system. Designed CDARS in readiness for fitting to the the extent of the
new digital systems
gun barrel openings, connected to and built by Michael Stock, it has FW 190. One of the biggest changes incorporated into the
the radiators via tubular ducting. been used on all three Hangar was the addition of a new engine FW 190.
To develop innovative engine 10 Bf 109s and will be installed monitoring system, known as the VIA HANGAR 10
management systems, Hangar in the 190 next spring. To allow a engine data interface unit (EDIU).
10, led by Volker and Johannes detailed analysis of the aircraft’s The ASh‑82T is now instrumented
Schülke, has worked in partnership characteristics throughout its flight to record throttle position,
with Michael Rinner and his envelope, a data probe will be fitted propeller rpm, oil pressure, oil
staff at Rinner to the port wing temperature and fuel pressure.
Performance to record angle The on-board computer records
Engines, and A genuine BMW of attack, air this data throughout each flight for
Heinz Dachsel
and colleagues
801 engine is under speed, altitude,
air temperature
subsequent downloading. An extra
cockpit panel right in the pilot’s line
at Dachsel rebuild in Austria and yaw. In of sight has amber and red warning
Flugmotoren. addition, Stock lights which illuminate in the
Rinner is and will be installed has developed event of an engine problem being
an expert in
Daimler-Benz
in 2020 or 2021 for Hangar 10
a sophisticated
detected.
The system reduces the
V12 powerplants CANaerospace pilot’s workload, allowing them
and has his workshop in the digital flight data acquisition and to concentrate on flying and
Austrian state of Carinthia. Dachsel recording system, or CDARS. It too navigation, and provides far better
specialises in bench-testing aircraft will be incorporated into the 190, advance warning of possible engine
engines, and is based near Munich with sensors attached to the flight problems, well before the traditional
where his firm acquired the engine controls to record control inputs, analogue instrumentation would.
test facilities of Hanns Häusler and cameras inside the cockpit It will be used throughout the test
Flugmotoren. monitoring the flight instruments. programme and will remain on the
For 2020, Hangar 10 has planned Once the flight test programme aircraft after that as it is an excellent
some more extensive test flights for the three Bf 109s was finished safety measure.

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 WARBIRDS Hangar 10 FW 190

ABOVE: Additional digital equipment and other control surfaces to be deal and any new technology that
‘Yellow 4’ off the designed by Hangar 10 and Stock adjusted by the crew chief to the can ease pilot workload in the test
coast of Usedom. assists the pilot in conducting liking of the pilot, as each aircraft regime is very welcome. In the case
The FW 190 is
flight test profiles with far greater had different flying qualities and of the Hangar 10 aircraft it became
now reported as
flying much more accuracy, safety and efficiency. A none were the same. This is still very clear very soon that the biggest
predictably than dedicated flight test display unit, much the case for all the restored improvement over all the other 190s
the early Flug Werk measuring just 85mm by 65mm, 190s that I have flown — today, no is the effectiveness of the redesigned
airframes did. is installed directly on top of the Fw 190 flies the same as any other. oil cooling system. On the aircraft’s
attitude indicator. A rotary switch, second flight at Bremgarten in
still operable while wearing flying April we had a major oil pressure
gloves, allows one to select a “The very early Flug Werk versions problem in flight, but I put it down
specific manoeuvre and the system did certain unexpected things to safely. Since then the combined
provides precise guidance on how the pilot, rather than the other way Rinner/Meier/Hangar 10 team has
to fly it, displaying the relevant around. This was because they had worked very hard and successfully
parameters and required limits. too much structural flexibility and overcome this, and the aircraft now
The FW 190 is a very good when in high-g manoeuvres their flies beautifully.
example of Hangar 10’s underlying aerodynamic behaviour suddenly “On each sortie we are learning
philosophy, which involves changed. This structural weakness more. I am not saying that for
restoring aircraft to original was very unsettling for the pilot as ASh‑82 powered FW 190s we
condition and at the same time the behaviour of the aircraft was have now reached the end of
using today’s digital tools to both unpredictable and very difficult development, as the aircraft has
carry out a flight test programme to handle. Later versions were been improved every day it has been
to the highest safety standards. improved dramatically, and Hangar flown. There is of course always
The combination of 75-year-old 10’s latest addition, which has been room for further improvements and
technology with digital flight rebuilt as a genuine Fw 190, flies that is what makes the test-flying of
management and recording extremely well. It is very stable and these machines so interesting and
systems is unique in warbird solid in all manoeuvres and clearly rewarding in the long run.
restoration today. many lessons have been learnt. “The next, biggest, step will of
And what of the flying “As always when breaking in a course be the fitting of a genuine
characteristics? Hangar 10 chief new aircraft and engine, my eyes BMW 801. Now, what do you think:
pilot Klaus Plasa says, “When are glued to the engine parameter am I really longing for the day that
Fw 190s were delivered to the indicators and the pure ‘stick and Michael Rinner and Volker
front line, it is well-known that rudder’ flying comes second. The Schülke’s team have the BMW
they always required the ailerons Stock Systems EDIU helps a great 801 ready? You bet I am!”

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 Few in Britain would avoid the
reach of the Luftwaffe during the
Second World War. Even in the first
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Enemy Coast Ahead

The first and final losses of the conflict.

Last Night of The Blitz

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A Flight into Hell

The reinvention of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190
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Waiting for Overlord

As D-Day looms, German bombers continue
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 The Hangar 10 collection’s Flug Werk FW 190A-8, Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14
and Bf 109G-6 flying from their Heringsdorf base. RICHARD PAVER

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54-55_AM_Centrespread_Jan2020_cc C.indd 55 29/11/2019 09:47
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 WW2 HISTORY 771 Squadron

TARGET
for TODAY

Born on the Scottish island of Islay, the late John Edgar McKechnie Horne
spent most of his early years in Edinburgh, leaving the city’s university
part-way through a forestry course to join the Fleet Air Arm in 1942. He
learned to fly in the USA and Canada before joining 771 Squadron in
Orkney early in 1944. Horne passed away in 2015, but before his death
he wrote at length and in detail about his naval flying experiences on the
‘home front’, not least acting as an aerial target WORDS: JOHN E. M. HORNE

I
am flying the towing aircraft for from the winch — 5,000ft of piano the neck. The shoot is carried out
a practice shoot with a cruiser wire. We do runs over the ship from with practice shells, which give a
lying about five miles south of port and starboard sides alternately, convincing puff of white smoke but
Sule Skerry, a lighthouse some and the gunners blast away in the relatively little explosive power. An
40 miles out in the Atlantic, often general direction of the drogue. occasional lucky shot will destroy
taken as the reference point for a Meantime the marking aircraft is the drogue or cut the cable, which
rendezvous. My Miles Martinet is keeping formation several hundred means reeling in the piano wire,
a target-tug with a winch driven feet below me. Guided by his TAG, attaching a new drogue and starting
by a small propeller on an arm he flies at the same height as the again. At the end of the shoot, if the
ABOVE: projecting from the port side of the drogue while, using a Perspex grid, drogue is still attached it is wound
John Horne flying fuselage between the pilot’s and the TAG books the positions of the back to within about 15ft of the
Miles Martinet target telegraphist air gunner’s (TAG’s) shell-bursts, which are reported to tailplane. Returning to the airfield,
tug NR832/T8Q of positions. I am followed by the the ship. The pilot’s job is extremely the pilot swoops low and the TAG
771 Squadron out marking aircraft, also a Martinet but boring, with a view of nothing cuts the cable, aiming to drop the
of RNAS Twatt circa
1944.
without a winch. As we approach but the backside of the towing drogue on the apron in front of the
ALL PHOTOS JOHN HORNE
the ship at 3,000ft my TAG streams aeroplane, and after an hour or two appropriate hangar, occasionally
COLLECTION VIA DAVID HORNE a drogue and the cable is run out he ends up with an acute crick in successfully.

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 Twatt (HMS Tern) in Orkney and that everyone else had finished
equipped with a variety of aircraft, with. I had only flown them once
mostly leftovers from operational or twice, and on the return journey
squadrons. The only purpose-built the weather closed in, clouds hiding
machine we had was the Martinet, the tops of the hills near the airfield.
designed for target-towing and I managed to come in below cloud
spotting. One learned to fly new level, but my approach was too
types from the handbook and a few high and I had to go round again. I
words of advice from a senior pilot. pulled up and was almost instantly
In my time with the squadron I flew in cloud. My wheels and flaps were
the Blackburn Roc and Skua, Gloster still down, which left the Skua
Sea Gladiator, Fairey Swordfish, feeling about as manoeuvrable as
Vought Corsair, Hawker Hurricane, a steamroller, but I managed my
Supermarine Seafire, Grumman second approach and duly delivered
Martlet/Wildcat, Stinson Reliant and my passenger. He descended
of course the Martinet. from the cockpit ashen-faced, and
The unit also had some twins: shouted, “You were down to 60kt in
Bristol Blenheims, Douglas Bostons the cloud!” As the stalling speed of
and Havocs — the latter ex-RAF, the Skua with wheels and flaps down
with Turbinlite noses — and one was about 66kt, his concern had
Martin Maryland. Only officers a certain amount of justification.
were allowed to fly these. The When he had gone, the air mechanic
acquisition of Bostons, used on in charge said, “He needn’t have BELOW:
The author pictured
calibration flights for fleet and land- worried — the air speed indicator in in 1945, possibly at
based radar installations as well the rear cockpit is about 15kt slow…” Zeals or Gosport,
as for training TAGs, necessitated The Hurricane was nice to fly with a Martlet/
extending the runways beyond the and I had quite a lot of time on Wildcat behind him.
existing perimeter taxiways. With
a good headwind you could land a
Swordfish on one of these extensions
and turn straight off to taxi in
without using the rest of the runway.

By the time I joined 771 as an

acting petty officer, later advanced
to petty officer and then chief petty
officer, the CO was Lt Cdr H. T.
Molyneux, shortly to be replaced
by Lt Cdr W. Dobson. Other rating
pilots when I arrived were Frank
Delaney and Eric Haslam, who had
been a course ahead of me. Eric and
I stayed with the squadron until
demob in 1946. There was one petty
officer observer and some petty
officer and leading aircraftsman
TAGs. Other pilots, the majority,
were officers. Also at Twatt were a
Supermarine Walrus and a couple
of Sea Otters, flown by two chief
I had an easy war. During four petty officer pilots, Bill Crozer and
years in the Royal Navy I never ‘Sharkey’ Ward. They were station
fired a shot in anger, and was in pilots, not strictly members of the
more danger from my friends than squadron. Bill had been a Walrus
I ever was from the enemy. After pilot on the battleship HMS Repulse
my training I did approximately 600 and survived its sinking by Japanese
hours of flying in two years — that’s aerial action off the coast of Malaya
about six hours’ work a week. After on 10 December 1941 by being in
discounting time for parades and the air at the time.
occasional administrative duties, I Shortly after I joined the
suppose I spent 20 hours a week just squadron, I had to fly an old
sitting around in the crew room and Skua over to Castletown, an RAF
developing an already established station on the Caithness mainland
tendency for idleness, which has near Thurso, to pick up an officer
never really left me… returning from leave. The Skua was
771 Squadron was a Fleet disliked on 771, perhaps because we
Requirements Unit based at only got the clapped-out machines

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 WW2 HISTORY 771 Squadron

ABOVE: that. Flying on a normal day would straight run-in from the sea towards A treasured assignment was the
Wearing the familiar be two hours or so in the morning the guns, for a couple of hours until daily meteorological flight, recording
black and yellow or afternoon, rarely both. Orkney told to go home. By the end of 1944 air temperatures and pressures
target tug stripes,
771 Squadron
weather meant many days of we were using 16ft-wingspan glider and other data at various heights
Blackburn Roc ‘clampers’ when it was not possible targets instead of drogues. We also during the climb. We used our only
L3104/T8G is parked to get airborne. On one gusty day experimented with a 32ft-span Sea Gladiator, the most delightful
at Twatt. the Hurricane and I did not agree target, which was very difficult to aeroplane to fly, with a rate of climb
so well. I made a normal landing handle and, if hit, tended to take that could take it up to 14,000ft in a
— three bounces — but as I turned charge of the tug. few minutes. It was very tempting to
off the end of the runway the wind throw it about a bit on the way back.
got under my tail, and we stood The CO liked to keep the met flight
on our nose. The flying control There were various other to himself, but I was allowed the
officer screamed at me over the exercises, such as flying — usually privilege two or three times.
RT, “Switches off and sit tight!” The a Skua — at precisely 10,000ft on a The test of machismo for the
first order was correct — I already course over Scapa Flow to enable squadron was to fly between the
had switched off — but the second, ships and shore establishments to Old Man of Hoy, a tall sandstone sea
in retrospect, was perhaps not so calibrate their range-finders. We stack, and the adjacent cliff — strictly
brilliant as petrol was dripping from carried out trials with ‘Window’, forbidden. I decided to try it one day
a ruptured fuel pipe. Anyway, the metallised strips in various shapes in a Hurricane, but discretion got the
fire engine and ‘blood wagon’ were and sizes which, dropped in better part of valour and I pulled up
there almost instantly, followed by clusters, would look like aircraft over the gap at the last minute.
the CO in his Jeep. To my relief he to enemy radar and thus distract Though Scapa Flow had seen
seemed amused by the episode and attention from approaching quite a bit of enemy action in the
nothing more was said, other than attackers. early years of the war, I do not
a few ribald remarks about having Most popular were fighter control recollect any in the time I was there.
chosen the wrong three points. exercises for radar trainees, flying We nevertheless had a few casualties
I flew the Martinet a lot, not only a Hurricane or a Corsair and being on the squadron due to bad luck or
towing targets for naval gunners to directed onto the ‘enemy’ from the bad judgement. The Martinet, with
shoot at but also carrying out mock ground. The Corsair was delightful its Bristol Mercury radial, was fairly
attacks on ships. The most boring in the air, but difficult to get off the reliable, though the engines in the
towing exercise was the daily shoot ground safely and a pig to land. You older machines had the annoying
with Northern Range, a gunnery couldn’t see over the nose if you habit of throwing back little spots
training station on the west coast of attempted a three-point landing, of oil onto the windscreen. To cope
the Orkney mainland near Yesnaby. so you landed on two, which was with this we always carried a wad of
We flew a regular circuit, with a against the rules. cotton waste in the cockpit, and after

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 A Corsair II, coded G,
of 771 Squadron on a
hardstanding at what may
be Gosport in late 1945.

The test of
machismo for the
squadron was to
fly between the Old
Man of Hoy and the
adjacent cliff

an hour’s flying one usually needed

to throttle back and lean out to clear
the windscreen. If the spots became
a stream, one headed back to base
pronto — it happened to me once
or twice. It happened to another
pilot when a few miles out over the
Atlantic; the engine coughed once
or twice and he called the petty One of 771’s twin-engined types,
officer observer in the back seat to this Douglas Boston provides the
say, “We’re going home”. Whether background to a group photo of Twatt-
the observer thought he had said based telegraphist air gunners.
“going down” we shall never know,
but he promptly bailed out. They
picked him up in his rubber dinghy
A late-1945 view of
a couple of hours later, dead from Martinet PX190 outside a
exposure. The water was pretty cold hangar at Gosport, with
up there in winter. John Horne on the right.
I lost one of my best friends in
a sad manner. Keith Foster was a
young petty officer pilot who joined
the squadron a few months after
me. Carrying out a mass mock
attack on ships in the Flow, I was in
a flight of Martinets with Keith on
my right. We came in round Hoy at
about 200ft and ‘attacked’. Last time
I saw Keith he was still on my right
and about 50ft below me. Then he
wasn’t. I didn’t see what happened,
but someone in the flight behind us
called over the RT, “Who’s gone in
the drink?” It was Keith. He seems
to have hit the mast of the battleship
and gone straight in. His funeral

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 WW2 HISTORY 771 Squadron

ABOVE: was in St Magnus’ Cathedral in quickly with a Jeep and brought us on the gravity tank. The main tank
Lt Cdr H. T. Kirkwall. into the station. Bill Crozer with his in a Swordfish was in the fuselage,
Molyneux, the CO I had my logbook endorsed for Walrus flew in from Twatt an hour but there was an auxiliary tank
of 771 Squadron,
and Sea Gladiator
writing off a Swordfish, of all things, or so later and took us home. in the centre section of the upper
N2282/T8M, which making the half-hour flight over to mainplane, holding fuel for half an
was used for met Castletown to pick up an officer. hour’s flying and fed to the engine
flights. Parked Crossing the coast at about 1,000ft, I think I can say that, from the by gravity — an emergency reserve
behind in this view and within sight of the airfield, time the engine cut to the moment if the fuel pump for the main tank
from Twatt is an the engine cut out. On using the of impact, no thought of death or failed. In the cockpit was a rather
all-black Boston or
Havoc — its serial
hand pump the engine briefly serious injury had entered my mind. primitive dial with a pointer and
is illegible — with spluttered and died completely. The fear was of the trouble I would three positions: gravity, main tank
codes T8C. According to the book I would then get into for smashing up a valuable, and normal both tanks. In the
look for the best spot for a forced if aged, aeroplane. And on the way ‘normal’ position the pump kept
landing, turn into wind and make back in the Walrus, Bill warned me the gravity tank topped up as well as
a glide approach. I wondered if that they had already diagnosed my supplying the engine directly. Taking
I could make it to the airfield — problem — I must have been flying off and flying on ‘gravity’ would,
not by several hundred yards I
couldn’t. Heather moor and peat
bog were rushing up to meet me.
I suppose I stalled about 15 or
20ft up and landed with, as they
say, ‘a sickening crash’. Amazingly
RIGHT: neither I nor my TAG in the back
A hangar frame, seat suffered more than a shock and
possibly at Zeals — some light bruises, but we were out
or maybe Gosport of the aeroplane very smartly and
— provides scant
protection to this 771
moved away in case it caught fire (it
Squadron Martlet/ didn’t). Our plight had been noted
Wildcat coded 8P in by the control tower at Castletown
late 1945. and a rescue crew was out pretty

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 TWATT TODAY
O
therwise known as HMS Tern, RNAS Twatt
closed to flying at the end of September
1946. However, the remains of the station
are open to the public and well worth a
visit. Guided tours are available. The grassed-over
layout of the runways can be clearly seen on Google
Maps or Google Earth and, although the hangars are
long gone, many brick buildings — most notably the
control tower — are still standing. The Birsay Heritage
Trust (www.birsay.org.uk), with the help of the Aviation
Research Group Orkney and Shetland (www.
crashsiteorkney.com/a-r-g-o-s) have been working to
clear the site and open up more of the remaining
buildings for visitors; guided tours are available. You
can also find it on Facebook — for more details, see
www.facebook.com/HMSTernOrkney.

of course, cause the engine to cut the helicopters were most useful to be cranked up by hand after take- ABOVE:
out after half an hour’s flying, but I in visiting Westray and the smaller off — 23 turns of a handle placed so The RNAS Twatt
could not imagine that I would have islands to collect crates of fresh eggs low in the cockpit that it was difficult (HMS Tern) control
tower is of unusual
done that. However, the fitter who for the wardroom! These were the to both crank and watch where configuration, having
examined the wreckage swore the first helicopters used by the navy. you were going. The Seafire was a been built atop the
gravity tank was empty, so I hadn’t a Soon after VE-Day we moved joy, though at first it felt laterally station operations
leg to stand on. I duly appeared on south to a small grass airfield at unstable after the Hurricane. block. DAVID HORNE
‘captain’s report’ and was sentenced Zeals, on the borders of Somerset At Gosport we lived in relatively
to “three days confined to ship and and Wiltshire, which, though far civilised conditions in naval
logbook endorsed.” from the sea, was named HMS barracks. Eric Haslam and I shared
In 1944, although we were about Hummingbird. We were there less a room with some furniture and an
as far from the D-Day landings as than two months, but the world open fireplace, and we managed
one could be in the British Isles, changed in that time. The day after to win enough coal to have a fire at
we were aware that something was we arrived the result of the general weekends in the winter. I applied
going on. Occasionally a senior election was announced: Churchill’s for early discharge so that I could
officer had to be ferried over to government was out and Attlee was resume my forestry course in
‘Port ZH’, an airstrip on the shores Prime Minister October, but
of Loch Erribol in Sutherland. From
the air one could see what appeared
in a Labour
government with No thought of there was a fairly
rigid policy of
to be huge boxes or containers
on barges being assembled in the
a huge majority.
Then came the
death entered my ‘first in, first out’,
which was fair
loch. Towards the end of May we news, heard on mind. The fear was enough, and
saw strings of these barges being the mess radio, my request was
towed round the coast. Only in about a bomb of the trouble I would turned down. So
June, after D-Day, were we told that
they were caissons for the Mulberry
much more
powerful than
get into for smashing I idled my time
away until April
harbours being established on the any yet known, up a valuable, if 1946, when Eric
French coast. After the squadron dropped on and I were sent to
moved south in 1945 I saw the a place we’d aged, aeroplane Littlehampton for
Arromanches harbour, or what never heard demobilisation.
was left of it, from the air during a of — Hiroshima. Then another one After 10 days there we went to a
photographic exercise, but by then on Nagasaki — we’d heard of that. warehouse to choose our civilian
the war was finished. Unbelievably, in a week the war clothing. Eric, who was going back
During our last few months at was over. to a job in the bank, had a blue pin-
Twatt, early in 1945, the squadron In September the squadron stripe Burtons suit. Ready to resume
was supplemented by a flight transferred to Gosport. Our my student’s life, I chose a sports
of three Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly Hurricanes were replaced by jacket and flannels and set off
helicopters, commanded by a Wildcats and a few Seafires, and to face the world.
French-Canadian, Lt Jean-Paul we kept some of the Martinets. I
Fournier. His number two was Sub- don’t recollect doing a lot of work ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Lt Alan Bristow who later achieved at Gosport — I managed two David Horne, who edited his late
fame and commercial success with or three flights in a Seafire, for father’s article, thanks Keith Johnson
Bristow Helicopters when the North ‘familiarisation’, but mainly flew and Andrew Hollinrake of Orkney,
Sea oil industry took off. I flew once Wildcats and Martinets. The Wildcat and modern-day Swordfish pilots Bob
in a Hoverfly piloted by Bristow, was a pleasantly manoeuvrable Childerhose from Vintage Wings of
looking for a drifting mine north machine to fly once properly Canada and Mike Abbey, formerly of
of the islands, but from memory airborne, but the undercarriage had the Royal Navy Historic Flight.

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 PROFILE D. V. Armstrong As portrayed by Lynn Williams, Capt
D. V. Armstrong in Camel B3826, on
a visit to Sutton’s Farm, spies a line
of parked Camels with one machine
missing. Wheels brushing the grass,
he performs a loop through the
gap… ANNETTE CARSON/LYNN WILLIAMS

“The
finest
acrobatic
pilot I have
ever seen”
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 That description is one of many to have lauded the
prowess of Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force
pilot Capt D. V. Armstrong, a man renowned for
flying the Sopwith Camel in a manner no-one else
could emulate. But, as the author of a new biography
describes, Armstrong was much more than just the
aerobatic exponent of his day WORDS: ANNETTE CARSON

T
oday’s pilots seldom In my newly published biography D’Urban Victor, to Hilton College,
give thought to flight’s of the celebrated Capt D. V. one of South Africa’s leading
first decade of pioneers. Armstrong, readers will meet an present-day schools.
But it was due to these extraordinarily gifted young RFC There in 1911 he learnt of the
early aviators’ pursuit of three- pilot, of whom Oliver Stewart was sensational flying exhibitions being
dimensional control that they himself in awe: “He set a standard held in the Cape by another Hilton
were able to perform loops and in aerobatics which in artistry and alumnus, Evelyn ‘Bok’ Driver, who
S-turns, and even learn whether spectacular effect has never since with his Blériot-type monoplane
they could fly for periods upside- been surpassed”. These skills were was demonstrating the first really
down. It was only from their brave entirely self-taught, and in my successful sustained flying ever seen
experiments that reliable aeroplanes research into DVA’s early life it has by South Africans. Obliged to register
were developed to make flight an been revealing to discover the likely for military service in 1915, it was not TOP LEFT:
everyday practicality. genesis of his fascination with flight. long before Armstrong found his way Armstrong in relaxed
Yet the utilitarian approach to into the embryonic South African pose, in one of the
images found in his
flying never quite overcame the Aviation Corps which had been personal album.
playful. Though the First World War Famous as he was, it’s not formed as recently as January that ANNETTE CARSON COLLECTION
turned aeroplanes into fighting generally known that Armstrong year, although records of his service
machines, there were always pilots was actually South African, from with it are tantalisingly deficient. BELOW:
who delighted in exploring this a family whose globetrotting took Nor could my researches unearth Members of No 44
freshly discovered playground of the them from Scotland to try their any logbooks, diaries or family Squadron in 1917:
DVA is standing third
sky. Plus, of course, the development hand in Australia, New Zealand and reminiscences of D. V. Armstrong, from right, his arms
of instinctive control in every flight America. They settled in Natal where but on the other hand I did locate his linked with those of
attitude was a vital necessity in they helped establish the sugar wartime photo album and was given Bill Haynes.
combat. Your gunnery skills made industry, sending the youngest son, carte blanche to use copies in my VIA MATHEW CRAIG
you a deadly threat as long as you
had the drop on your opponent,
but in the face of a worthy foe in
a dogfight there was no chance of
victory or even escape from the
whirling melee except by split-
second reflexes — and by split-arse
stunting, as it came to be known.
Combat-hardened advocates
of ‘trick-flying’ knew it played an
essential role for all pilots, not only
in aerial fighting but in getting
to grips with aerodynamics and
the mechanics of flight, whose
mysteries had originally been
thought unnecessary to plumb in
early pilot training. Some, like Maj
Oliver Stewart, adopted more of
the test pilot approach. Attached to
the experimental establishment at
Orfordness, Stewart took advantage
of limitless facilities to hone skills
in aerobatics that were purely for
personal and artistic satisfaction.
From the 1930s he would be editor
of Aeronautics, and in the 1950s
and ’60s a founder of the Lockheed
Trophy aerobatics competition,
hosted by Britain.

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 PROFILE D. V. Armstrong

Camel B3826 visiting the RNAS station at Fairlop in the early summer of 1917. DVA is in the
cockpit, and leader’s streamers are visible on the rear struts, meaning he was deputising
in the absence of his commander. Armstrong flew 123 hours on this 130hp Clerget 9B-
powered machine while he was with No 44 Squadron. ANNETTE CARSON COLLECTION

BELOW: endeavour to preserve and recount gainfully employed in passing its temporary withdrawal from the
A studio portrait of his story. The album provided a large on his piloting knowledge to less front. Armstrong was one of just four
the then 20-year-old proportion of the 175 illustrations in experienced trainees. Selected as a surviving active pilots, and the only
Armstrong wearing
Camel Pilot Supreme, many never founder member of the renowned one remaining from his flight.
the new RAF uniform
from 1918. before published. No 60 Squadron, and operational Trenchard next resolved that
ANNETTE CARSON COLLECTION Even while undergoing flight on the Western Front from late they should be returned to the front
instruction DVA immediately June in the build-up to the Somme line re-equipped with Nieuports,
impressed an admiring Harold offensive, he underwent a baptism which were loved by those who flew
Balfour by looping their BE2c of fire when allocated the hardest them, not least for the sesquiplane’s
training workhorse, and was soon taskmaster of all, the fiendishly great downward field of view. The
treacherous Morane-Saulnier Type new machines were slow to arrive
N, or ‘Bullet’ — the only aircraft, and Armstrong soldiered on flying
said his friend Willie Fry, “which ‘Bullets’ in combat for two more
made you certain it was doing its months. Last in the squadron to
best to kill you.” receive his
Built on Blériot
monoplane
Armstrong was Nieuport 16, he
used it to obtain
principles, when sent to demonstrate his first recorded
the mid-wing victory on 9
Morane ‘Bullet’ how the ferocious November.
went to war it
had all-flying
machine could be As winter
followed his
tail feathers and mastered seven gruelling
wing-warping months in
for lateral control. Its original engine France, DVA would gain valuable
was an 80hp Le Rhône 9C rotary, piloting experience in his next
and it had steel deflector plates deployment test-flying and ferrying
fitted to the propeller in the hope a great variety of machines between
they would prevent the blades being the main aircraft depots in Britain
shot off by its single forward-firing and France. It was a job that
Vickers machine gun. required pilots to brave weather and
Gen Hugh Trenchard, visibility that a few years previously
commander of the RFC in the field, would have kept aviators firmly on
had been reluctant to let an entire the ground and aeroplanes safely
squadron be equipped with Morane inside hangars. In ferrying duties
monoplanes and biplanes, and his he crossed the Channel 88 times
concerns were well-founded. By — which, calculated as an average
the end of its first six weeks at the figure, would equate to one Channel
Somme, No 60 Squadron’s heavy crossing for every two days of his
losses in death and injury forced six-month tour.

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 Twenty miles of Channel seems
not too daunting today, but it was
a different proposition in 1917
with an open cockpit and no radio,
when navigation was entirely by
ground features with the aid of an
erratic compass and instruments
comprising a slip-bubble like a
builder’s spirit level, an unreliable
air speed indicator, and an altimeter
that suffered horribly from lag. In
No Parachute, reflecting on the
perils of aeroplanes made of wood
and covered with highly flammable
doped fabric, having no brakes,
heater, oxygen or parachute, Arthur
Gould Lee added, “Only when you
are young can you relish to the
full the exhilarating sensations of
mortal danger.”
It was in the summer of 1917
that Armstrong returned to combat
duties with a posting to No 44
Squadron, equipped with the
Sopwith F1 Camel, on which his
prowess soon became legendary.
44 was one of the dedicated Home
Defence squadrons formed that
summer to counter the Gotha without raising itself above the level that varied with the fuel load, made ABOVE:
bombing campaign unleashed by of the shed roofs, and flattened out the Camel highly unpredictable — “This photo”, wrote
the Imperial German air force on with the wheels again skimming unless and until you survived long Armstrong (standing
second from right)
south-east England, which has since the grass”. Stewart told journalist enough to figure out the full gamut in his album, “was
become known as the First Blitz. Grenville Manton that DVA “had the of its behaviours in all conditions. taken on an occasion
With this machine his phenomenal hands of a surgeon.” The toll of deaths and injuries when I went
gift for aerobatics earned him His admiration increased on mounted until they were counted in across to Hainault
acclaim from comrades and top acquaintanceship, knowing the the hundreds. Fear of Sopwith’s new for a War Office
brass alike, being described as the 20-year-old had thoroughly studied machine rose commensurately. cinematograph
show”. It took place
greatest pilot of his day by admirers the science of his aerial manoeuvres. With Armstrong’s fame as an in early 1918. In
during the war and for decades During Armstrong’s time with No 60 exponent of ‘Camelbatics’ spreading the foreground, his
afterwards. Squadron he had learnt much from throughout the RFC, the authorities personal Camel,
Among many accolades Capt Robert Smith Barry, that great recognised his morale-boosting C6713 Doris, is
penned by Oliver Stewart was innovator who later introduced value. They sent him around the having a new tailskid
his recollection of first seeing an the Gosport system of instruction training units to demonstrate fitted.
ANNETTE CARSON COLLECTION
Armstrong air display: “I received which concentrated on aerobatics how the ferocious little machine
a shock such as no exhibition of — although whether they practised could be mastered and exploited
aerobatics has ever given me before them with their Morane ‘Bullets’ is in aerial combat where its extreme
or since. For I believe I am right in highly questionable! In 1916 Smith manoeuvrability made it the Allies’
saying that Armstrong was the first Barry was already hammering at the most successful fighter. In the
to introduce really low aerobatics. authorities, and by November had Sopwith Camel, with its unrivalled
He flew across the aerodrome, the begun to wage his lengthy written agility and responsiveness, DVA had
wheels of his machine skimming campaign to get pupils taught a machine that matched his abilities.
the grass. Suddenly, yet without advanced skills like crosswind D. V. Armstrong’s reputation was
any jerk, the machine reared up, manoeuvring, steep turns, spinning based on a spectacular aerobatic
turned completely upside down and spin recovery. repertoire that far surpassed the
casual stunting and general flinging
about the sky which characterised
DVA met the Camel at precisely normal RFC high spirits. But it
the moment of its introduction to was not this alone that made his
the Royal Flying Corps, when too name. His renown — indeed, his
many pilots in the squadrons and immortality — rested on the superb
training units were ill-prepared for precision and control of his flying,
the encounter. Those who rashly especially in ultra-low figures, like
assumed it was no more demanding landing off a flick roll performed
than a stepped-up Sopwith Pup were at 10 or 15ft. An eyewitness (of LEFT:
Demonstrating his
often doomed to learn a dreadful impeccable credentials) reported an aerial artistry over
lesson. Its more powerful rotary occasion when, without any prior Fairlop in Camel
engine, combined with instability recce or rehearsal, DVA proclaimed B3826.
in all axes, plus a centre of gravity his arrival at a neighbouring ANNETTE CARSON COLLECTION

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 PROFILE D. V. Armstrong

D. V. Armstrong’s flight under Thames bridges can be seen among a

series of colour artworks of his feats by aviation artist Lynn Williams,
specially commissioned for Camel Pilot Supreme. Williams
contributed many memorable images to Carson’s previous
publication Flight Fantastic: The Illustrated History of Aerobatics.
Himself a pilot, aircraft designer and aerobatics aficionado, Lynn
Williams has again come up with a vibrant jacket design, a close-up
of Armstrong performing one of his trademark grass-cutting flick
rolls. These two paintings are available as art prints for framing —
see www.annettecarson.co.uk.

ABOVE: aerodrome by looping through a wings on the fellow’s tunic, black, nights. This, of course, meant
Lynn Williams’ narrow gap between parked aircraft, sleek hair and a hand gripping the battling adverse weather at a time
depiction of the with wheels almost touching the stick. Meanwhile the Le Rhône was when night flying was in its infancy,
famous Thames
turf — and then proceeded to running at full bore, its note falling with instruments of little use, with
bridges flight, DVA
and Doris leading do precisely the same thing all and rising, falling and rising as the rudimentary take-off and landing
fellow members of over again, a feat which can be machine climbed and dived three aids, and without a visible horizon or
No 78 Squadron seen illustrated in my book. This times… And then he slipped away, illuminated ground features.
under Richmond eyewitness was moved to have the leaving a faint smoke trail while The citation for his DFC, awarded
Bridge. gap measured, and found that DVA we stood and watched, shook our in October 1918, mentioned an
ANNETTE CARSON/
LYNN WILLIAMS
had twice looped a 28ft-wingspan heads and laughed.” incident when an enemy aircraft
Camel through a 39ft gap. Less well- was sighted
The stories of Armstrong’s
amazing aerobatic exhibitions
known is that
D. V. Armstrong
The bridges are over his section
of the front
are legion, although accounts by was one of the very, very narrow and Armstrong
witnesses who understood his level earliest pioneers volunteered to
of skill are less easy to find. Grenville of night flying in and it is practically go up despite
Manton, a fellow RFC officer,
remembered his ultra-low flick
the Camel when
the Germans
impossible to get rainstorms and
a wind speed
rolls so well that he painted one to switched to through of 50mph,
illustrate an article which described night-time remaining on
“aerobatics such as I had never seen bombing raids. Whether serving patrol for over an hour. This was
previously and, I am certain, shall on home defence or at the Western breathlessly reported in the Daily
never see again.” Front, DVA’s supreme mastery of the Mirror with the headline, “Chased
“Three times”, said Manton, “the machine was demonstrated in his Hun Airman in Roaring Gale:
pilot pulled a loop so low that, as readiness to fly at night in the most British Captain’s Dashing Feat in
he swept inverted above our heads, challenging of wind and weather. Driving Rain”.
we could see for a few fleeting One of his commanding officers After his two tours on home
moments intimate details within the described him as among the best of defence, during which he took part
cockpit: the instruments glinting in his leaders in giving practice to their in the defence of London against
the sun, the green canvas belt, the searchlights on cloudy, unfavourable all but three enemy raids, he was

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 not, as you might expect, afforded and it is practically impossible to been performed until after the war.
a spell on the less onerous duties of get through… He was possibly the In the UK we know this half-loop,
pilot instruction for which he of all most wonderful pilot in the world. half-roll figure as a roll off the top. It
people would have been particularly We all looked on him as such, and is sometimes called an ‘Immelmann
suited. In mid-1918 the call came for although I have seen all of our best turn’ beyond our shores, although of
him to return to the Western Front. pilots fly, and the best of the French course it was never achieved by Max
And with his expertise in night and Italian, I have never seen Immelmann in his low-powered,
combat he was made senior flight anything to equal the exhibitions of wing-warping ‘Eindecker’.
commander of No 151 Squadron. flying he used to give.” “Armstrong would come diving
This unit was the first to be tasked Even during his front-line duties down at the field”, said Joyce, “level
with pioneering night intruder DVA was again detailed to pass on off about two feet from the ground,
operations, intercepting German his technical skills to others, this pull up into a loop, and when he
bombers and targeting occupied time instructing in the dark arts of reached the top, he would roll out
airfields with low-level bombing night operations. In France he was and go on his merry way.”
and strafing raids. His work with 151 attached to support various units Never having seen an aileron
brought his total of victories to five, including the French aviation corps, roll, Joyce didn’t realise how it was
in the course of which he acquired a although he tended to wreck the performed and fell into several
Parabellum machine gun as a trophy nerves of his hosts, who dared not inverted spins attempting to
from a downed Gotha whose crew watch what they considered his emulate DVA’s figure using flick roll
were taken prisoner. neck-breaking ground-level stunting. control inputs. Interestingly, John
Billy Bishop, another famous Grider had also seen the same figure
name from the war, knew and failed to understand it, thinking
Armstrong well and retained a But the attachment he enjoyed it was Armstrong’s way of exiting a
lasting admiration for him. Bishop most of all was three weeks with loop half-way if things weren’t going
remembered DVA visiting his the American Expeditionary Force right: “He runs his wheels on the
squadron at Hounslow to give an at the 3rd Air Instruction Center at ground and then pulls up in a loop
exhibition of flying, “and it was Issoudun, where he helped devise and if he sees he hasn’t got room
beautiful. The pilots of the night a complete course in night flying enough, he just half-rolls at the top.”
flight, of which he had charge, were and night combat. A close friend Having mastered it at last, Joyce
all trained by him, and the whole at the 3rd AIC was the American claimed to be the first American to
lot of them could fly extraordinarily Lt T. N. (Temple) Joyce, one of the replicate DVA’s half-loop, half-roll
well, but of course not up to his unit’s regular exhibition pilots. figure, which he declared ought to
standard. I doubt if any person will Joyce wrote an article in Cross & be named ‘the Armstrong’ in his
ever equal him as a stunt pilot”. Cockade declaring his admiration honour. Back home after the war he
Anyone familiar with War Birds: for Armstrong’s exceptional skill. was still being asked how to execute
Diary of an Unknown Aviator will With the compact biplane fighters of it, and when congratulated on his
remember John Grider’s description the First World War, the gyroscopic prowess he always said how he had
of watching this same exhibition. effects of rotary engines were such learnt it from Armstrong, “the finest
Bishop saw him again some time that flick rolls were the standard rolls acrobatic pilot I have ever seen.”
in May 1918, shortly before they both employed in combat, and hence in For his part, Armstrong
departed for the front. In bidding displays of stunting, often known remembered the three weeks with
farewell to England DVA and others as ‘horizontal spins’. So Joyce was his American friends at Issoudun
of his flight had apparently decided mightily impressed by Armstrong’s with great fondness. In his thank-
to drop in at Hounslow on their way ability to fly a half aileron roll — you note, sent after his return to No
to the Sopwith plant at Brooklands, today’s slow roll — in a straight line 151 Squadron, he said they were
probably to get some attention to out of the top of a loop, a type of roll “by far the finest and happiest
their Camels by the factory before that Stewart later declared had never he ever spent in France.”
going overseas. Bishop described
how Armstrong led his flight up

WIN! CAMEL PILOT SUPREME BOOK

the river Thames, “and they flew
under all the bridges en route”.
Reconstructing their track, it seems
likely they started with the bridges at Thanks to publisher Pen and Sword, we have two copies of Annette
Richmond followed by Teddington Carson’s excellent Camel Pilot Supreme to give away. For a chance of
Lock Footbridge and Kingston winning this book, answer the following question:
Railway Bridge. A last candidate
could have been Hampton Court What were D. V. Armstrong’s first names?
Bridge, although this would entail a To enter, simply visit www.aeroplanemonthly.com and complete the
small diversion. Most probably they online competition entry form. Alternatively, send your name, postal
went cross-country to Weybridge address and e-mail (if you have the latter) to:
from Kingston via Thames Ditton Aeroplane Camel Book Competition, Key Publishing, PO Box 100,
and Walton-on-Thames. Comments Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1XQ, UK.
and suggestions are welcome from
anyone with local knowledge. The winner will be drawn at random on 14 February 2020 and notified
“This was a most marvellous by post/e-mail by 21 February 2020.
performance”, Bishop continued, No purchase necessary. There is no cash prize and the editor’s decision is final. The
“and showed wonderful judgement, competition is not open to employees of Key Publishing or their families.
as the bridges are very, very narrow

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 WW2 HISTORY Bastogne resupply

CHRISTMAS
DELIVERY
While many thought at the end of 1944 that World War Two would
soon be over, the German onslaught around the Belgian town of
Bastogne showed it would take a little while longer. In seeking
to stand their ground, US Army troops ran desperately low on
ammunition, supplies and medics — this was where Douglas C-47
transports and Waco CG-4A gliders came in
WORDS: JOOP WENSTEDT

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 F
or the men of the US booster to the men on the ground, Corwin Jr and Flt Off Benjamin F.
101st Airborne Division, though not all the items landed Constantino. The initial destination
Christmas 1944 was a in the right areas, meaning the was airfield A-82 at Verdun, where
difficult time. Instead of Germans profited from them too, they were to pick up medical
resting they had to fight to the and the supplies would not last for staff and supplies. They departed
utmost, trying to stand their ground more than a day or so. A-82 at 14.36 and were escorted
in the almost pulverised town of A further 42 Skytrains from by P-47s for the 67-mile (120km)
Bastogne in the Ardennes. Missions Membury would follow the same stretch to Bastogne. According to
were planned to resupply the troops route as Crouch. Because of the Constantino’s mission report they
using transport gliders. adverse conditions they did not arrived at 15.10.
It all began on 19 December take off together, but in small The last seven minutes of the
with the capture by the Germans of groups or even individually. This flight would be over German
most of the 326th Airborne Medical proved detrimental. The weather armoured units. It was still rather
Company in Bastogne. Having meant there was no fighter cover, foggy with brief sunny spells,
broken through the thinly defended so the transports were easy prey for which rendered landing difficult.
front of the 101st Airborne, in one German flak batteries. Only 28 of The P-47s stayed with the small
go they robbed the division of its these C-47s reached the drop zone formation the entire time. The tug
medical organisation, including or came close enough to make their brought the glider in at 300ft, but
personnel and supplies. Needless drop. Three came back unharmed, the low altitude made it harder to
to say, more staff — especially while 26 had minor to medium find the landing zone (LZ). There OPPOSITE PAGE:
surgeons — were desperately damage. Four were shot down, and was confusion between the pilots as C-47A serial
needed, owing to the numbers of nine made emergency landings in to where the LZ was and the glider 42-24051 of the
wounded. France or England. ended up touching down 1,000 Aldermaston-based
The problem with resupply yards inside the German lines. 434th Troop Carrier
efforts using air-drops and gliders The CG-4A alighted near a Group’s 73rd Troop
Carrier Squadron
was the weather. The area around In the meantime, preparations farmhouse that was inhabited by overflying the snow-
Bastogne was often covered by were made to try the use of gliders Germans. Those on board had covered countryside
fog, limiting visibility for pilots and by sending a single C-47 with a to keep quiet, so as not to alert near Bastogne
navigators. Early on 23 December Waco CG-4A on tow. The aim them. Constantino ordered them during a supply drop,
two pathfinder Douglas C-47s got was to perform the mission on 25 to load all the medical supplies with other Skytrains
airborne from Chalgrove, one flown December, but foul weather delayed onto stretchers and make it in one in the distance.
ALL PHOTOS NATIONAL
by IX Troop Carrier Command it until the 26th. The C-47, from the dash to the American lines. Luckily ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
Pathfinder School commander Lt 440th Troop Carrier Group’s 96th they were helped by men from B ADMINISTRATION

Col Joel Crouch. They dropped a Troop Carrier Squadron, took off Company, 1st Battalion of the 101st
BELOW:
radar beacon, which was set up in at 09.00hrs from advanced landing Airborne. Once on friendly soil, A US Army Waco
Bastogne at 09.25hrs. Just before ground A-50 at Orléans-Bricy. It was the medics were transported to the CG-4A is towed off
10.00 a group of 21 Skytrains from towing a CG-4A, serial 43-40471, divisional hospital. The sortie was an airfield in France
the 441st Troop Carrier Group piloted by 2nd Lt Charlton W. considered successful, having during late 1944.
took off from Dreux, following
the N4 road between Marche-en-
Famenne and Bastogne. They ran
in for their drop at about 900ft, but
they happened to pass right over a
Panzerdivision en route along the
N4 to Rochefort. The tanks opened
fire with small arms and light flak.
The second ship in the formation
from the 302nd Troop Carrier
Squadron was badly hit and its crew
bailed out. Except for the pilot, they
were captured by the Germans.
The remaining aircraft disgorged
their cargo on the red smoke
markers. There were no German
fighters in the sky, only USAAF P-47
Thunderbolts from the 510th Fighter
Squadron. They had strict orders to
protect the C-47s and, oddly, did
not attack the tanks.
Later that day, 253 C-47s dropped
334 tons comprising ammunition,
rations and medical supplies.
The troop carrier groups involved
were the 434th at Aldermaston,
the Welford Park-based 435th, the
436th from Membury and the 438th
at Greenham Common. The mere
sight of the aircraft proved a morale-

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 WW2 HISTORY Bastogne resupply

in Bastogne, and doubled up as

sentries during the journey.
The 439th and 440th TCGs
planned a final 50-glider resupply
sortie for 26 December, but it was
delayed by the weather. A lack of
the latest intelligence was a concern
for the mission commander, Col
Charles H. Young from the 439th.
When Young got word of the fact
that the 10 glider pilots from the fuel
resupply mission were returning to
A-50, he travelled to Orléans during
the night of the 26th to obtain the
most up-to-date details of the
situation as possible.

The group’s planners realised they

had a major task in assigning crews,
since the logistics of locating and
moving 100 glider pilots were more
difficult than had been anticipated.
The shortage of glider pilots led the
commanders to decide they would
fly without co-pilots. Though it
was never officially recorded, amid
all the fighting in Bastogne, the
planners were not optimistic about
the prospects for survival among
the glider crews. This way, at least,
their losses could be minimised.
In the end the 439th TCG
furnished 37 C-47s and 50 gliders,
while the 440th provided 15 C-47s.
Just a few minutes before take-
off the 50th Troop Carrier Wing
ABOVE: been completed without damage to moon appeared, affording a further HQ relayed a revised route to the
A period graphic crew, passengers or cargo. It set the degree of protection. At around objective, without any explanation
maps out the pattern for future missions, which 17.10hrs the gliders all landed as to why. Young was concerned
resupply sorties
took place very soon. safely at the designated LZ near that a hold-up to rebrief the crews
mounted in and
around Bastogne at The next effort began almost as Bastogne. Many were hit by small would be detrimental to the 101st
the end of December the single CG-4A landed on the arms fire and flak, but there were Airborne as it was desperately low
1944. battlefield. It involved 10 of the no incendiary hits. Likewise, the 10 on ammunition, the primary cargo
Waco gliders, each carrying 300 tugs made it back to Orléans, but in the gliders. He decided to go
gallons of much- many now bore as planned, rather than delay by
needed fuel in bullet holes and another day. Young may not have
five-gallon jerry- It was uneventful flak damage. known that the armour brought in
cans, lashed up One C-47 took by Patton’s 4th Armored Division
behind the pilots until we turned no fewer than was also in need of ammunition.
so as to maintain
an acceptable towards Bastogne. 70 hits. This
mission too was
Take-off time was 10.25hrs
on 27 December. CG-4A pilot
centre of gravity.
The total weight
We were welcomed seen as wholly
successful,
Flt Off Claude A. ‘Chuck’ Berry
remembered, “It was well below
of the fuel and by so much flak I although it was freezing on the tarmac in the
the cans was recommended morning of the 27th. The aircraft
some 1,222kg thought we could that the were loaded the day before, but
(2,500lb)
per aircraft.
land on it aircraft should
henceforth
not in time before it went dark. The
mission was flown from A-39 [at
The risk was change their Châteaudun] to Bastogne. The flight
considerable, as one incendiary route, so as to avoid flak from the was uneventful until we made the
round could set the glider ablaze. areas around Morhet and Sibret. turn towards Bastogne. We were
The mission took off late, as So few glider pilots were available welcomed by so much flak that I
briefing, loading and positioning of that the men who had flown this thought that we could land on it!”
the tugs and gliders on the airfield sortie had to get quickly back The incoming aircraft flew right
needed more time than expected. to Orléans. They were put onto over the LZ. The weather was clear
However, this allowed the gliders trucks loaded with German troops and they could see ice and snow on
to land after sunset and before the who had been taken prisoner the ground. Hulks of tanks littered

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 the area, some still burning. The
Germans had the altitude of their
flak set pretty well, but the tugs and
gliders descended to 750ft, so the
bursts exploded above them. Berry
recalled, “I sat there fat, dumb and
happy watching the tracers go past
the nose of the glider and thumping
on the wings. The signals from the
tow-plane were right on time. I
released at the same moment as the
glider next to me [each C-47 towed
two Wacos], so I had to keep the
spacing so that we would not collide
with each other. I had to land faster
than normal, as my glider was at
least 500lb heavier than usual. I
hit the ground hard and could not
stop. I kept sliding, and pretty fast.
The brakes did not work. I guided
the glider on the skids, tail up in the
air. I hit two fence posts; the first
knocked off the right landing gear
and the second the left gear. At last
we came to a stop and as soon as I
got out, the artillery men in a six-by
started unloading the Waco. I had
made it.”

Fourteen C-47s failed to make it

back because of the intense flak. No
German fighters were encountered.
Thirty-nine men did not return, of
whom 17 were killed in action. This
was the highest loss of any of the
glider missions. Three CG‑4As and
their pilots were also lost.
One of the C-47 tugs that crashed
was Capt Ernest Turner’s aircraft,
42-100862 Ain’t Missbehavin’ from
the 439th TCG/94th TCS. It received
heavy machine gun fire, which took
out the port engine. Turner did
not release the glider but kept on
towards the LZ. When the starboard
engine was hit, Turner pressed the
tow release and ordered everyone
out before belly-landing the Skytrain
in an open field near Hemroulle.
The occupants were rescued by
personnel from the 321st Glider Field
Artillery Battalion headquarters.
The CG-4A that Turner towed, in
the hands of Flt Off Albert Sehman
Barton, landed almost two miles
west of Bastogne, less than a mile
inside the territory held by the 101st
Airborne. Six men from the 101st
came out to greet the lone pilot and
thanked him for the high-priority
cargo: 155mm ammunition and
four surgeons. It was a late
Christmas present.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to TOP: Thanks to the snow, the landing locations of the gliders after the 50-aircraft mission on 27 December
Patricia Overman from the National are very clear.
World War II Glider Pilots Association. ABOVE: Capt Ernest Turner’s C-47A Ain’t Missbehavin’ after his heroic actions saved the glider he was towing.

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 BRIEFING FILE
Under the skin of aviation technology and tactics
Geodetic principles Geodetic construction in the Wellington
Barnes Wallis ran Duralumin geodetic helices in opposite directions around the fuselage and other
surfaces. Anchored together, they formed both a strong structure and a streamlined shape Duralumin geodetic
The fuselage consists of member
four longerons, to
Geodetic
which the geodetic
joints
Load applied to a rectangular frame panels are attached
(compression shown) tends to distort it
A D

B
C

Geodetic* members are added

diagonally. A-C and B-D distort, raising
and lowering their centres

Geodetic
If anchored together A-C and B-Ds’ loads
attachment
now work against each other. Net load
to longeron Spacing between the
lowers almost to zero, creating solidity Stringers for fabric covering
members is dictated by the Attached to geodetic members
*A geodetic member follows a geodesic line, the shortest loads they are required to carry

GEODETICS
distance between two points on a specific curved surface

WORDS: JAMES KIGHTLY

ARTWORK: IAN BOTT

M
ost famously used in surface of both wings and
the Vickers Wellington fuselage, thus getting a much
bomber, geodetic lighter, stiffer and stronger
airframe construction structure than ever before.”
was a remarkable method. The This was revolutionary.
term ‘geodetics’ originates with Wallis first trialled geodetics
the global earth measuring with the Vickers Type 253
concept ‘geodesy’, adopted due biplane, a contender for the
to the related spiral ‘wrapping’ G4/31 requirement to replace
lines evident in both three- the Westland Wapiti. It won the
dimensional systems. Its earliest contract, but was supplanted
aeronautical employment seems by the private-venture Type 246
to have been a 1911 Schütte-Lanz monoplane from the same team.
rigid airship, followed by 1924’s It entered production as the
sole Latécoère 6 four-engine long-range Vickers Wellesley,
French biplane bomber. which was to set world records —
After the closure of the British enabled in part by its design.
airship programme, Barnes Next, from 1936, came the
Wallis said, “I transferred Wellington. It was able to carry
to aeroplanes. At that time Wellington Is in production at the Brooklands factory in 1939. AEROPLANE double the bomb load twice
their structure consisted the distance agreed on in the
of a rectangular skeletal initial contract specification.
framework, the outer skin being of adding considerably to the not only abolish the wooden Geodetic construction enabled
doped fabric supported on a weight of the basic structure. falsework, but could at the same the aircraft to absorb a good deal
complicated and otherwise “With the knowledge of time enlarge the internal skeletal of damage in combat, and gave
useless wooden framework geodesics gained from the structure to full streamline the Wellington some unusual
shaped to produce a streamlined gasbags of R100 in my mind, dimensions, by forming its features. In a January 1946 issue
form, but with the disadvantage it occurred to me that I could members as geodesics in the of Flight, ‘Indicator’ wrote, “In

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 The construction technique best-known for its use on the Wellington

Geodetic wing panels The geodetic construction

Anchored to three spars allows for a large internal
space, uncluttered by bracing

ic

Typical geodetic Fore and aft spars Carry

joint Vickers’ geodetic lineage
lifting forces and are
8,350lb
attached to the fuselage Type 253** 1,500lb
1934
Main spar Carries 11,048lb
bending loads, Wellesley 1935
2,000lb
passes unattached, 1936
through the fuselage 28,500lb
Wellington 4,500lb

45,000lb 1939
Riveted cleat
Key Warwick
6,000lb
Riveted gusset Gross weight
1943
Channel-section 54,000lb
Bomb load Windsor
member 12,000lb
ng (if applicable)
s
**First use of geodetics, in rear fuselage Viking*** 34,000lb 1945
***First four aircraft had geodetic outer wings

fact, the only duty the Wellington frightening from my line of sight.
has not been able to manage The sweep of the arc decreased
has been that of glider-towing. somewhat in the cruise, but still
Apparently this work really gave the impression of a giant
tended to ‘lazy-tong’ the fuselage bird flapping its way through
too much…” He continued to the air”. He added, “I would
describe flying the ‘Wimpey’: not have relished getting into a
“Everything waved quietly about, Vickers made sure to document the sole Type 253’s structure. BAE SYSTEMS tropical cu-nim cloud with those
and all the time one could feel flapping wings”. Worse was to
the very cross-section of the come, even in good conditions.
atmosphere. In bumpy weather because most factories set up proposed by Vickers, which was Brown recalled, “everything
the control column would move to perform geodetic airframe clearly up a technical dead-end. vibrating, wings and fuselage
gently backwards and forwards… construction couldn’t switch Testing revealed worse, including flexing violently and the control
the motors rocked slowly up and to conventional stressed-skin ballooning of the fabric covering column seesawing continuously
down, and the wing-tips weaved manufacturing without a major and other teething problems. with no corresponding control
in miraculous rhythm.” loss of time. The RAF got geodetic Fabric covering was very much movement!’’
aircraft whether it wanted obsolete by 1944, and a bespoke Despite the great success
them or not. The Wellington’s ‘metalised’ fabric was developed of the Wellington, there’s no
Wellington mass production successor, the Warwick of 1939, to allow the continued use of question geodetic airframe
was initially difficult to set up had inadequate performance geodetics in the airframe. design had been retained in
due to geodetic construction due to engine issues rather than Test pilot Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown use too long. But it is easy
requirements. Nevertheless, airframe problems. remembered the Windsor with hindsight to know what
more than one Wellington was Geodetics hit their limit with fondly, but noted, “my first the ‘right’ answer was, while
rolled out per day from three the Vickers Windsor, intended visual introduction to aeroelastic developing different solutions
separate factories, nearly 11,500 as a four-engine bomber. The distortion. This phenomenon gives a greater chance of
being built. The type remained in Royal Aircraft Establishment consisted of flexing of the wing success. It may yet prove to
production throughout the war, was highly dubious about over- tips up and down through a be an answer to a future
well past obsolescence, simply ambitious fabrication techniques six feet arc, which looked very aerospace challenge.

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 Mikael Carlson flying his
Tummelisa near his home base

meets in Sebbarp, southern Sweden.

The reproduction fighter trainer
has an 80hp Le Rhône engine.

MIKAEL
DANIEL KARLSSON

CARLSON
The legendary Swedish
restorer, builder and
pilot of early aircraft
truly evokes the spirit of
the pioneer era — but
there’s far more to his
flying than that
DANIEL KARLSSON

WORDS: BEN DUNNELL

T
here are many early aircraft, delightful location and, of course,
whether original or replica, the ideal place to talk about Mikael’s
flying today: pre-World career. We’re joined for part of the
War One aeroplanes, interview by the resourceful Gunilla,
1914-18 combat types. But there is a former wingwalker who flies their
no other pilot who conjures up the Piper L-4 Cub and Boeing Stearman
impression of how such machines Kaydet, and has for many years
performed in period quite like been her husband’s ever-present
Mikael Carlson. From a project groundcrew.
to construct a reproduction FVM “I grew up in a small village south
Mikael’s first Thulin A during the
Ö1 Tummelisa, a Swedish biplane of Åmål”, says Mikael, “and there
making of Swedish film Så vit
fighter trainer from the 1920s, was no flying in the family at all. It som en snö (As white as in snow),
he has built up an outstanding started when I was four with plastic about Sweden’s first female pilot,
fleet: two original examples of the models, and very soon balsa kits Elsa Andersson, who flew the type
Thulin A, the Swedish licence- powered by rubber bands. When at the Thulin flying school in 1918.
manufactured Blériot XI, followed I was 12 I worked for the whole KEY COLLECTION

by further superb reproductions summer in a grocery store to buy a

of a Fokker Dr.I and D.VII, with a radio-controlled aircraft. Of course I
Pfalz D.VIII to follow. In each case crashed the first one, but I continued
the engines are original, restored from there. I started gliding at 14,
by Mikael himself. His knowledge travelling 40km on a moped because
and experience relating to these my father refused to drive me — he
airframes and their powerplants, was only into horses. I went solo
amassed over many decades, is in a Bergfalke III, but only flew 26
immense and highly sought-after. hours before I realised I could afford
Today the work goes on inside a gasoline and then gave it up.
small complex of farm buildings in “I was building more and more
the south Swedish village of Sebbarp, scale models, competing at scale
where he and his wife Gunilla modelling, and won the world
have their home and airstrip. It’s a championships in Canada and

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 The second ever landing by the newly built Tummelisa back in 1989. VIA MIKAEL CARLSON

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Mikael Carlson

ABOVE: later at Reno in the team contest. In Johansson at Transwede, which flew rating. I flew them for West Air
Nearly there! Mikael 1978 I started taking lessons towards Caravelles. One evening me and a Sweden in Karlstad — they had
and the Thulin near my private pilot’s licence, here in friend went to have coffee with her, three of them for charters, night
the white cliffs
Sweden with a Cessna 172, but the and they were looking for pilots. I mail and flights between cities. At
on 1999’s 90th
anniversary Blériot problem is that in the winters you took a felt-tip pen and wrote on a the same time they had the HS748,
cross-Channel can’t fly and I had to do my national piece of paper: ‘My name is Mikael, so I flew those, and I was flying the
tribute. RICHARD PAVER service in the air force, sweeping I have so many hours, I want a job’. 737 for Nordic East just to keep
hangars. So, in 1980 I went to Florida That’s all it said. I slipped it under currency on it. The boss in Karlstad
ABOVE RIGHT: to get my PPL in a Cessna 150, and the door, and I got a job. I flew 1,500 was an old friend: ‘Do whatever you
Mikael’s wife Gunilla,
went back the next year to get my hours on the Caravelle, and after want’, he said.”
a pilot herself, is
a key element of instrument rating. that the Boeing 737. I was on my That gave Mikael time for his
hisx vintage aircraft “When I was in the States I didn’t way to becoming a captain on the interest in vintage aircraft, but this
operation. do my commercial licence, because Caravelle, but they phased them was an enthusiasm that went back a
VIA MIKAEL CARLSON the closest you could get to a flying out, so I got my captaincy on the 737 long way. “I was 17 when I decided
job then was to drive the airport bus when I was 29. to build the
at Arlanda. To pay for it, I built more “When I Tummelisa”, he
than 10 one-sixth scale models for started, I had No-one believed says. “I went out
the Swedish Air Force Museum, of nothing to into my father’s
aircraft missing from their collection, compare it I could do it. I was forest and
as well as working for my father as
an electrician. As soon as I started
with, but I liked
the Caravelle. young and naïve, so I chopped down
the pine trees to
flying, I dropped the tools and ran.
I went to Bromma in 1984, did
Sometimes you
had to use a
just pushed on dry the wood.
I started when
my ATPL [airline transport pilot’s hammer to knock I was 19, and it
licence] written test, and the week the instruments into life, but the took me 10 years to build it. I did it
after I had a job with a company in aircraft did the job and it was really at the same time as I took my ATPL
Karlstad flying a Cessna 402, 404 and fun. I’m so glad I was able to fly it. It and started flying in Stockholm,
later a Metroliner. They were doing was the last company operating the which is why it took some time. And
mail flights at night, and in daytime Caravelle in Europe. while I was building the Tummelisa
we flew between Karlstad, Karlskoga “I quit Transwede and went I also found the first Blériot.
and Bromma, and back again to with Thomas Johansson to Time “No-one believed I could do it.
Oslo — eight flights a day. That was a Air Sweden, flying the 737 there. I was young, stupid and naïve, so
good start. In those days, if you had a I’d packed my suitcase to go on I started and I just pushed on with
licence they’d go, ‘Sit in the right seat a TriStar course, but they went it. A friend, Anders Ljungberg,
and shut up for two years’. Today you bankrupt that day. Thankfully I who started the EAA in Sweden,
don’t see that. knew the bankruptcy was coming, helped me with the paperwork and
“In 1988 a girl from the office in so I’d taken 10 days off, gone to exemptions. I didn’t have the engine,
Karlstad started working for Thomas Dallas and got my [IAI] Westwind but the local television in Karlstad

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 The Fokker Dr.I, SE-XXZ,
is finished as the Jasta
6 mount of Ltn Johann
Janzen. DANIEL KARLSSON

started filming [the project], and the systems exactly. I had an airfield
that helped me. A museum had a south of Karlstad where I kept it,
couple of engines, and was happy and I started taxiing it up and down
to help. This was the city museum there. One day the weather was nice
in Landskrona, which has a small and I just thought, ‘here we go’.”
section devoted to Thulin. I built a That was in 1989. “On that first
big model of a Thulin H aircraft and flight I went onto instruments. The
gave it to the museum. field where I took off is very close to
“I had to make everything myself Lake Vänern, and it was in the early
— I machined the bolts and the spring. I’d had some problems with
turnbuckles, I chopped the wood — the engine on the ground — later it
because I had no money. I’d learned was perfect, but I didn’t realise how
the trade making models. I was just the clouds came in from the sea.
19, I was living at home, my father The take-off was much quicker than
didn’t care about aeroplanes at all, expected — I was looking down,
and I had to work to get the money and when I looked out I was in the
The engineer/pilot in
to buy the materials. A friend lent air. When I was 300ft up, the clouds
his workshop, with
me a lathe and a milling machine, came in. They were the same colour fellow Swedish vintage
and for three months I was there as the sky, so I couldn’t see them. I aircraft owner Jon
producing the turnbuckles, just to just cut the engine, pushed down, Roth. DANIEL KARLSSON
get them correct. made a 360 and landed. That was
my first flight in the Tummelisa. I
flew it for 15, maybe 20, hours and For many years, Mikael has
“The only drawing left was a very then people started contacting me put on a spectacular crazy-
good 1:5 side-view, but my old about airshows. That first year I flew flying routine in his Piper
friend Carl Gustaf Ahremark, who it everywhere across Sweden, and L-4, SE-BMC. DANIEL KARLSSON
did a lot of paintings and books, then I built a trailer.
happened to have two original “During that time I began
drawings of the wing layout. The rebuilding the Blériot. When
rest of it I measured at the air force I first found that one, it was a
museum — which was just a storage disappointment. An old man who
facility then — which gave me free was a judge at a scale modelling
access to the aircraft. I measured it competition told me, ‘I have a
all and made the drawings myself. Thulin aircraft’. I went to see it,
“To prepare to fly it I did maybe thinking it was a Thulin K, or one
one hour in a Piper Cub, but if you of the later ones. But it was only a
spend 10 years building an aircraft Thulin A, a Blériot. Young, stupid
you really get to know it. You know me. It was the most wonderful

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Mikael Carlson

ABOVE: aircraft ever. It was packed in boxes, because at an airshow at Linköping said they didn’t want it. It was too
The characteristic and in 1986 I bought it. I kept it for some years ago an old man came much work and it had never been in
lozenge camouflage four years until I started it. up to me and pointed at it with his the air force. I kept in contact with
of the Fokker D.VII,
SE-XVO, is set off by
“Thulin went bankrupt after the stick. ‘Hey, son, I know that aircraft. the owner, and I called him once
the markings of Jasta First World War because of the state I was 15 and it was me who took it a year and asked, ‘What about the
68 pilot Wilhelm Stör. of the economy, and all the ‘left- to pieces’. The farmer said he didn’t Blériot?’ After five years, he said,
DANIEL KARLSSON overs’ were sold the next winter. At want it in his barn any more because ‘Mikael, do you want to buy it?’ I
Ljungbyhed there was an auction it took up too much space. He put all filled up my Volvo station wagon —
where private people could buy the bolts in one tin can, all the nuts all the pieces fitted inside it. When I
them. Two brothers up in Örebro in another one, and wrapped the got home my father was shaking his
bought two Blériots, numbers 18 ‘piano wires’ into a ball. He really head at spending so much money
and 23. Number 18 was sold to dismantled it piece by piece and put on ‘that junk’.”
another guy outside Östersund, it in boxes. That’s how it survived. How difficult was the project?
Jonas Jonsson. “Not at all — just
I still have the in terms of time.
documents — If I’d have had a 7in nail up my ass I It was complete.
he bought it
for 500 kronor
would have cut it in two, I was so scared It was a puzzle:
this is the top
and shipped it longeron, here
up to Nälden, a small village near “The previous owner to me, we have three holes, this bracket fits
Östersund. He put it together and Gösta O’konor, and his father ‘Pat’ here. The drawings I had were only
asked one of the personnel from the heard rumours about this aircraft. detail drawings, but with the help of
army flying corps at Östersund if he They bought it for 500 kronor and photos and the pieces I puzzled all
could fly it. It made some hops, but moved it to a hangar at Dala-Järna. of it together.”
the police officer from the village It was kept there for years. He The result took to the air in 1991.
came and stopped him because he also had a company at Bromma, “The first flight I ever did with it
had no licence. He put it in a barn flying Fairchild 24s and Noorduyn you’ll never see again, because I
and went to America to work as Norsemans. Then they took it down treated it like a modern aircraft.
a carpenter, as I understand. Ten to Ljungsbro, a village just outside It could have been really bad. I
or 15 years later the aircraft was Malmslätt. It was offered to the air thought, ‘This is another aeroplane
dismantled into small pieces. I know force museum, but the director then — let’s go flying’. Stupid. It’s not. You

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 especially the French politics. It was LEFT:
24°, no wind, calm weather. Like I Marking the
said on the BBC, it was just a nice, centenary of Belgian
military aviation at
warm flight. But first it was a fight to
the Kleine Brogel
get into Marck airport in Calais. The show in 2014, Mikael
airport director was very helpful, piloted the Thulin in
because how could I plan all of this this unique flypast
sitting at home in Sweden? Rob with the Belgian Air
Davies helped me with a safety boat Component’s F-16AM
solo display aircraft,
in case I had to land in the water, in the hands of Cdt
but in the morning, when we were Renaud ‘Grat’ Thys.
supposed to take off, they couldn’t JAMIE EWAN
launch the boat because the tide
was out. BELOW LEFT:
“We’d checked the land around Demonstrating the
Stockholm Technical
Dover Castle, where Blériot Museum’s hitherto
crashed — because he didn’t land, unflown Thulin A
he crashed — and there was a over Gardet in 2010.
meadow, just 200m long. We found BENGT OBERGER
out that the land belonged to the
MoD and was leased by a farmer,
and my British friends said, ‘Don’t
ask. Just do it’. When we landed in
the morning a lot of people came,
maybe 100 to 150. I was surprised,
because no-one knew about it. Then
the farmer had put a padlock on
the gate, so we couldn’t get out. We
dismantled the aircraft in the field,
and the people around came and
lifted the Blériot over the fence, into
the trailer.”
Less happy memories
surround 2009’s Blériot centenary
commemorations, to which Mikael
took his second Thulin, SE-AMZ.
“It was so bad”, he says. “In the
can easily create really bad problems calling around, and it was a disused afternoon we assembled the aircraft
for yourself. I’ve got to know them farm. They gave me full access and I outside [on Blériot-Plage] and were
over the years. Sometimes when found parts everywhere, except the starting up the engine, ready to
you fly the Blériot you can’t expect engine, which had been given away fly, when the French made us shut
that it will turn when you want it 30 years earlier. I started to restore down. Then they wouldn’t give
to turn. You can also paint yourself it when I found an engine. I knew take-off clearance to our helicopter,
into a corner. If you’re flying towards about one, but it took me 10 years and they said we couldn’t fly
some trees, you want to climb, but to get it. The wings were destroyed, because they didn’t have a rescue
suddenly, where’s the wind coming of course, but most of the important boat, even though we did. They
from? Maybe there’s a downdraught. stuff — the front metal part, the were putting obstacles in front of us
You will not be able to climb. controls and so on — was there. I so we couldn’t take off.
“Many times people have asked, could re-create the pieces I needed “I dismantled the aircraft at night
‘How did it feel?’ The feeling was, if with the information from my first and moved it to Calais airport. A
I’d had a 7in nail up my ass I would Blériot. I have the original drawings French friend contacted the airport
have cut it in two, I was so scared. from the Thulin company, but if director, who remembered me
You just have to sit and wait and you build from the drawings they from the first flight. He gave me the
follow the aircraft. Don’t try and do won’t fit the aircraft. The drawings code to the gate, so at five o’clock
something you can’t do. You cannot were done by engineers at a table, on the Sunday morning we went
climb and turn; you must climb, and when they get to the workshop there, opened up and assembled
level off, dive a little to get the speed I believe the guys would have gone, the Blériot. I called the Stockholm-
up and then turn. Even with the ‘What the hell is this? Let’s make it Arlanda briefing office, filed a
50hp Gnome it’s marginal. Always this way instead’.” flightplan and took off. The flight
plan the next turn, and I always fly wasn’t done on the right day, but it
with open ground below me. You was on a Sunday, like Blériot’s.”
can’t really glide it. It was with the first Thulin, In between, during 2006 Mikael
“The second one came when I SE‑XMC, that Mikael celebrated the had one of his longest trips in the
started flying the first one. Someone 90th anniversary of Louis Blériot’s Thulin, marking the 95th anniversary
told me at an airshow that they pioneering Channel crossing by of Jan Kašpar’s Blériot XI flight from
came from a village near Torsby re-enacting the feat in July 1999. Pardubice to Prague. “It was cold,
where a guy had a Blériot, and it “The experience was not the flight. and I wasn’t used to doing 100km in
should have been scrapped. I started It was all the politics around it — the Blériot. After five minutes my

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Mikael Carlson

RIGHT: scarf came loose and I couldn’t let

The Hahnweide is go of the stick, so I had my head over
a favourite venue to keep the scarf on, and oil from the
at which to fly
engine was running down my cheek.
the ‘Dreidecker’,
and especially at You need some practice to do a flight
sunset, as here last like that, not with the aircraft but
September. Mikael with the equipment. I landed on the
has performed racetrack in Prague, at night, with car
at the German lights illuminating the ground.”
venue’s Oldtimer
Operating the Thulins has
Fliegertreffen in
different aircraft ever brought many unforgettable
since the early 1990s. memories. In 2001 Mikael spent a
BEN DUNNELL month in Tire, Turkey, filming a TV
production called Altın Kanatlar
(Golden Wings) about the 1914
Istanbul to Damascus flight. The
centenary of the first Swiss mail
flight was marked in 2010 with a trip
from the racecourse at Avenches
to a field near Payerne, carrying a
mailbag. There have been displays
as far afield as Al Ain in the UAE,
Wanaka and Masterton in New
Zealand, and Dayton, Ohio. At
2003’s Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland,
Florida, the first Thulin won the
Antiques Grand Champion title,
and the Tummelisa the Replica
Aircraft Historical Preservation
award. “He was the first pilot ever
to get 100 per cent from the judges”,
says Gunilla proudly. They took
three aircraft to Zhukovsky for the
Russian Air Force centenary show in
2012, where Mikael helped organise
the historic aircraft element.
Almost always Mikael is assisted he’d wanted to build a Blériot. He got because it was coming up to the
by Gunilla. “She’s the only person in contact, and after a couple of years 100th anniversary of the first flight
who can assemble the Blériot I promised to build him one. He had in Sweden. After five minutes the
without me. She’s the crew chief, an old 50hp engine he’d found in guy from the museum asked me,
and she’s tough!” On occasion, Switzerland, in bad condition but ‘Do you think you could do the
that’s come in handy, as at Biggin which could be restored. I built this flight with our Blériot?’ I said yes, I
Hill in 2003. “We had another Blériot to commemorate the 100th could make it fly. I built the wings, I
helper with us, but Gunilla thought anniversary of Chavez’s crossing of restored the engine, but I borrowed
he wasn’t running fast enough to the Simplon, but Marini was killed a magneto, a propeller and an rpm
catch the aeroplane, so she wanted one year before in a Piper Malibu. gauge from my aircraft, because I
to show him. But she was a little too Then the family decided to make it don’t have so many duplicates.
fast… The [flying] wire hit her and static, and lent it “It had never
ripped half of her ear off. She did a to the Volandia been flown
somersault and landed on her feet. museum. The ‘Dreidecker’ before. I made
She was taken to hospital as having
been in an aircraft accident, so she
“I was building
the Italian one,
is demanding in the its first three
flights ever here.
got their full attention…”
Mikael’s knowledge of the Blériot
and I contacted
the Technical
beginning, but when There were three
original [Thulins]
types has, unsurprisingly, led to Museum in you learn it it’s a here at that time,
others requesting his services. For Stockholm. all from the
example, he was asked by Italian I knew their lovely aeroplane same production
businessman and pilot Giuliano Blériot was batch, and it
Marini to build a Blériot XI replica missing the tailplane, parts of the flew exactly like the others. Then I
in honour of Peruvian aviator engine and other parts. I offered to brought it to Stockholm and made
Jorge ‘Géo’ Chávez, who made the make those pieces for them, now I three flights there”. To mark the
first aerial crossing of the Alps in had the templates and the tooling. centenary of Carl Cederström’s flight
September 1910, but died from They said they were interested, and in the Swedish capital, a display was
injuries sustained in the crash- we talked about it. They asked me staged at Gärdet in September 2010.
landing with which the flight ended. what I wanted in return; they have “Afterwards it went up to the north
“Marini was brought up in a lot of engines there, so I said I’d of Sweden to hang in a small display
Domodossola, about 300m from like one of those. I also wanted to area there. I restored the original
where Chavez crashed. His whole life fly one of my Blériots in Stockholm, wings and put new fabric on them,

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 LEFT:
What a sight the
Pfalz D.VIII will make
when it takes to the
air. MIKAEL CARLSON

BELOW LEFT:
Flying the Hangar
10 collection’s
single-seat, DB605-
powered Bf 109G-6
for the first time at
Heringsdorf this
September was a
career highlight.
RICHARD PAVER

and kept the new-built wings as being restored, I contacted different The D.VII’s handling
spares for myself, so I have an extra people, and I managed to collect characteristics were easier than
set of wings here.” all the information. I would say Mikael expected. “It flies like a
Meantime, Mikael’s German it’s as accurate as it can be. I even Piper Cub. So powerful, good
World War One aircraft were under produced the tyres myself, in rudder control. I think that’s what
way. “By pure accident I found two metric sizes. made it a famous aircraft. Today,
Daimler D.III engines in Norway. If “I have a lot of German aircraft, if I had to choose between the
you find one of those, you have to but that is due to the engines. The ‘Dreidecker’ and the D.VII to go to
do something. I kept them for some engines tell me which aircraft to war in, I would take the ‘Dreidecker’
years up near Karlstad, and then I build. I managed to do a trade immediately, no doubt about it. The
built a Fokker D.VII. It took me 16 for a 110hp Le Rhône, a very rare ‘Dreidecker’ is demanding to fly in
years. It started up there, but then engine. I had it on the hangar floor the beginning, but when you learn
we moved down here and bought for a couple of months while I was it’s a lovely aeroplane. The D.VII
a farm. I gave the engine to a guy in thinking what to build. I realised can make a mediocre pilot a good
Germany who was an ‘expert’; eight I could build a Sopwith Camel, pilot. It was usable at the front. You
years later I picked it up and did a Nieuport 17 or a ‘Dreidecker’, could send them away on a mission
it myself. But during that 16-year because I wanted an aircraft that’s and they’d come back. With the
period a lot happened. I rebuilt my easy to transport. I went for the ‘Dreidecker’ they need experience.
second Blériot, I built my Fokker ‘Dreidecker’ because I could build This is my theory.”
‘Dreidecker’, I built the Italian it quickly and I could find the As for the Dr.I, “The only thing I
Blériot, I restored the Piper Cub information for an accurate one.” don’t want to do at low level is loops.
I crashed at Kamenz in 1997 and It’s the same with all rotaries: it’s no
ripped the landing gear off, we built problem, but if the speed is wrong
up this farm. Then I did the engine Mikael also had the time, because at the top, the torque of the engine
and I finished the D.VII.” in 2006 Falcon Air, for whom he’d can twist you sideways. You have to
The biggest difficulty with the been flying 737s, closed down. kick it right, otherwise it stays in that
D.VII was, Mikael says, finding “They paid me one year’s wages, position until it hits the ground. I
the details. “It’s much easier so I stayed here for a year, locked always climb up to loop the rotaries,
today, since Jim Kiger released his the workshop door and built the and I lean the loop a bit because if
drawings. I had to travel around — I ‘Dreidecker’”. It flew in November you do it straight and get the torque
went to Cardington to look at the 2008, followed by the D.VII during problem at the top you don’t know
RAF Museum’s one when it was April 2011. which way you’ll be falling.”

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 AEROPLANE MEETS Mikael Carlson

very rare side-by-side one, and the was looking outside a bit too much,
fabric was falling off it. I was asked looking for the [G-14] in a formation
if I could rebuild it for them… they take-off. I didn’t apply power at
gave me an engine in return. I tried exactly the right moment and
for 10 years to locate drawings suddenly I got a bit of a swing, so I
for a Siemens-Schuckert D.IV, in had to cut the power and correct it.
Germany, Finland, everywhere — You learn from these small things.
no chance. Then the Deutsches To fly the 109 with a Merlin engine
Technikmuseum Berlin bought is one thing; the DB engine has the
some Pfalz D.VIII remains from the same horsepower, 1,500, but it’s so
Caproni Museum. That has the same much stronger because it has 10
engine. Over four or five years I went litres more volume. Don’t compare
to Berlin, and I measured each part horsepower — it’s the volume, the
and made my own drawings. I have torque.”
a complete set now”. The result looks Just before our interview, Mikael
absolutely stunning, and should fly had returned home from another
this coming year. very special flight. He and Patrik
There’s another aircraft in Molander ferried DC-3 N41CQ,
Mikael’s workshops: an original long resident in Sweden, to China
Nieuport 28, owned by the Collings for its new owner. “That’s an article
Foundation, which he’s restoring by itself”, he says of the trip, which
to airworthiness. The aim is to have took 40 flying hours and required
the ex-Dawn Patrol film machine the overflight of some extremely
ready for Oshkosh in 2021, but inhospitable terrain. “We were
first it needs returning to stock lucky that we could do it before
condition, past restorations having winter. It couldn’t have been done
introduced non-original elements. without the company in Russia that
ABOVE: Mikael’s displays of the Dr.I helped us with the paperwork and
Mikael and Patrik illustrate just how powerful the the permissions.
Molander after their diminutive triplane is, positively While he’s best-known for his “We went from Stockholm to
successful arrival
at Nanchang on 25 surging through the skies, early aeroplanes, Mikael has long Tallinn, Yaroslavl, Ufa, Kokshetau,
October in DC-3 demonstrating its remarkably been associated with heavier Semipalatinsk [or Semay] and
N41CQ. The aircraft tight turning radius and aerobatic warbirds, too. During the 1990s Abakan, where we were arrested”.
has since been capabilities. “Imagine it in a he spent several seasons with That was because of a visa issue,
repainted. dogfight. That’s why [Werner] Voss the Scandinavian Historic Flight, which was rapidly sorted. “From
VIA MIKAEL CARLSON
beat up so many SE5s. You cannot sampling the P-51D Mustang and there we flew to Ulaanbaatar. We
turn an SE5 like that. You can go all A-26B Invader on many occasions, had to go there because we didn’t
over the sky in a ‘Dreidecker’ if you and displaying the Vampire FB6. have the range to get to China,
really push it much harder than I Much more recently, thanks to the but we couldn’t file a flightplan
do. I fly it safely”. Even so, he adds, generosity of Hangar 10 collection to Ulaanbaatar, so we made it
“My philosophy is that if the aircraft founder Volker Schülke, he’s been an alternate”. As it turned out, a
is airworthy, you should be able to able to fly the Messerschmitt Bf 109. diversion was necessary due to
do what they did It came about freezing water in a fuel tank. This too
then. originally as a was swiftly resolved, and the aircraft
“The Pfalz I Not so many result of Mikael delivered safely to Nanchang.
also think will
be a demanding
people have been acquiring
some Daimler-
Repainted almost immediately
in China National Aviation
aircraft that you lucky to fly aircraft Benz DB605 Corporation colours, it is now based
can’t give to powerplants. “It in Beijing, where the owner plans to
anyone, because from the first ones to was the engines set up a flying museum.
it’s got too much
power. Running
the latest ones that opened the
door. I was very,
For Mikael, it was just the latest
adventure in aviation. “There aren’t
the engine” — a very lucky with so many people who have been so
Siemens-Halske Sh.III — “on the them. Hangar 10 contacted me, lucky to fly aircraft from the first
test stand, it’s so powerful it’s crazy. and we came up with a deal”. First ones to the latest ones”, he reflects.
Now I must run it in the aircraft, he flew the two-seat Bf 109G‑12 And not just to fly them, but, in the
because on the test stand you get with a Merlin engine, and then case of the early types, to rebuild
the wrong vibrations. In the aircraft, in September, as shown on pages and maintain them and their
it tells you more. It’s all about feel. 47-52, he converted to the Daimler- engines, immersing himself in the
“I did a trade for that engine Benz-powered single-seat G-6. experience. “When you got your
25 years ago with a museum. The Mikael had already flown the pilot’s licence in 1912, you had to be
Swedish army air corps bought Spitfire IXT and TF-51D Mustang able to dismantle and reassemble
nine engines after the [1914-18] with Hangar 10, but he says, “I an engine. That was part of a pilot’s
war as surplus, but they were never enjoy the Messerschmitt much education. You must know them,
used. Six were scrapped, three more. I enjoy it a lot because I like you must listen to them. That’s
survived, and they ended up in the the challenge. Everything went why I’ve kept them running all
museum. The Technical Museum fine, but it wants to bite you. On my these years, but I still learn
has a two-seat Blériot XI-2 bis, a second-to-last flight in the G-6 I something every day.”

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 DATA
DATABASE
DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K1 SHIDEN AND N1K2

Development
Development
N1K2-Ja Shiden-Kai Model 21a
‘343-A-11’ of CPO Shoichi Sugita from
the Sento Hikotai, 301st/343rd Kokutai,
at Matsuyama in March 1945. JIM LAURIER

Technical Details
Technical
15

Details
H
IN-DEPETS
PAG

KAWANISHI

In
In Service
Service
N1K1 SHIDEN

Insights
Insights
AND N1K2
SHIDEN-KAI WORDS: TONY HOLMES

Of the handful of N1K1-Js from the 341st Kokutai found at Marcott in

January-February 1945, this aircraft, coded 341-S-23, was the most
intact. Although none of the Shidens were more than a few months
old, some, like this example, had suffered heavy weathering in the
tropical conditions. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

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 DEVELOPMENT The floatplane fighter that became a landplane

Just 97 N1K1 Kyofu floatplane fighters were

built by Kawanishi. This N1K1 from the
Sasebo Kokutai was photographed over
Kyushu in September 1944. VIA PHILIP JARRETT

I
n June 1944 the Imperial fortunate for the IJNAF that a amphibious landings in areas made its maiden flight on 6 May
Japanese Naval Air Force new interceptor which was both where there was no adjacent 1942. Teething troubles with the
(IJNAF) decided that the faster and more reliable was on airfield for land-based fighters. gearbox for the contra-rotating
myriad problems afflicting the cusp of entering front-line While Nakajima undertook propellers saw the MK4D Kasei
the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden, service. The Kawanishi N1K2-J the development of an interim Model 14 engine replaced with
developed as a replacement for Shiden-Kai (‘Violet Lightning aircraft (the A6M2-N, derived a 1,530hp MK4C Kasei Model
the venerable A6M Zero-sen, Modified’) would ultimately from the Zero-sen), Kawanishi 13 driving a conventional
were never going to be solved, prove effective as an interceptor, was instructed to design an three-bladed propeller via an
thus allowing the aircraft to fulfil although, as with the Raiden, it all-new aeroplane. The 15-Shi extension shaft. The Kasei Model
the 14-Shi specification issued suffered from poor mechanical specification covering it was 13-powered second prototype
to the company in 1939. It had reliability and paucity in issued by the IJNAF in September was delivered shortly thereafter,
called for the development of a numbers. 1940, and work commenced and although the new engine/
fighter that was capable of Unlike Mitsubishi, Nakajima immediately at Kawanishi. propeller combination was more
achieving a maximum speed of and Kawasaki, Kawanishi had Designated as the K-20 reliable, the powerful on-water
373mph at 19,685ft, the ability very little experience in building under the Service Aeroplane torque generated on take-off
to attain this altitude within meant only the most skilled of
five-and-a-half minutes of pilots could fly the Kyofu.
take-off and endurance of 45 Pilots were impressed by the Kyofu’s Nevertheless, service trials
minutes at full power. The manoeuvrability thanks to its combat flaps aircraft were handed over to
aircraft was to have a take-off the IJNAF from August 1942,
run at overloaded weight in the fighter being rated as
nil-wind conditions not fighters, specialising instead in Development Programme extremely pleasant to fly. Pilots
exceeding 985ft, and a landing large, long-range flying boats. In system and the N1K1 Kyofu by were particularly impressed
speed no greater than 81mph. an ironic twist of fate, Kawanishi’s Kawanishi, the comparatively by the Kyofu’s outstanding
Armament would consist of two affinity with water-borne aircraft heavy mid-wing, all-metal manoeuvrability thanks to its
20mm cannon and two 7.7mm eventually led it to produce one monoplane had a single central combat flaps. The N1K1 was
machine guns, as fitted in the of the finest land-based piston- float attached to the fuselage by armed with two wing-mounted
A6M2 Zero-sen, and, for the engined fighters of the war. a V-strut forward and an I-strut 20mm cannon and two fuselage-
first time, armour protection Both the Shiden and its lineal at the rear. Retractable stabilising mounted 7.7mm machine guns.
was requested for the pilot in descendent, the Shiden-Kai, floats near the wingtips were The Kyofu was ordered into
the form of plating behind owed their existence to the N1K1 proposed, but soon replaced by quantity production in the
the seat. Kyofu (‘Mighty Wind’) floatplane fixed cantilever floats. autumn of 1942 and deliveries
With the Raiden fighter. The development of the Following its completion began in the spring of 1943.
(‘Thunderbolt’) being clearly latter was prompted by an IJNAF at Kawanishi’s Naruo plant However, production was
all but a lost cause by the request in 1940 for a floatplane near Osaka, the first of eight slow in gaining momentum.
early summer of 1944, it was fighter to support Japanese prototype/service trials N1K1s In December 1943, when the

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K
delivery rate had reached 15 it was unique to Kawanishi’s
aircraft per month, the IJNAF late-war fighters. When flying a

Development
took the decision to cease Zero-sen in aerial combat, the
manufacturing the N1K1. The pilot had to engage the aircraft’s
last of just 97 Kyofus, including flaps manually. If he banked
eight prototypes and service sharply left to instigate a turn
trials aircraft, was delivered without correctly engaging the
in March 1944. The halting of flaps, the aircraft would instead
production in favour of the land- bank violently to the right. This
based N1K1-J Shiden reflected was because the right wing
the fact that Japan no longer had had stalled due to the greatly
the upper hand in the Pacific increased angle of incidence

Technical Details
War, hence the IJNAF had no The prototype N1K2-J completed its first flight from the newly associated with the turn.
need for a fighter designed to constructed Naruo airfield on 31 December 1943, with Kawanishi test The Shiden’s combat flaps
support offensive operations. A pilot Munekichi Okayasu at the controls. Production aircraft differed very lowered automatically at a
land-based interceptor capable little from this machine, only the cowling and exhaust stubs being altered. steady rate when the fighter
of defending the home islands The first 100 N1K2-Js also had the larger tail, as here. VIA PHILIP JARRETT started to manoeuvre, enabling
from impending attack was the pilot to make a sharp turn
now the priority, and Kawanishi without having to exert a heavy
believed it had just the fighter dictated that Kawanishi equip The Shiden was afflicted by force on the control column,
for the job. the fighter with lengthy and numerous problems during endure high g-forces or cause
In December 1941, while complex undercarriage legs that its flight trials programme. the N1K1 to stall. On 5 June
detailed design work was still contracted as they retracted into The Homare engine failed to 1943, a mock dogfight between
being carried out on the N1K1, the wing wells — for landings, produce the hoped-for power, the original Shiden prototype,

In Service
the Kawanishi engineering the process was reversed. reducing the prototype’s top which lacked the flaps, and a
team briefed the company’s Modifications were made to speed to 357mph. The fighter’s newly built aircraft with them
management on a land-based the combat flap system, which calculated maximum had installed saw the latter dominate
derivative of the Kyofu. Its was changed from manual been estimated at 403mph, but the engagement.
projected performance was control in the Kyofu to automatic the performance of the radial Nevertheless, IJNAF personnel
enough to convince Kawanishi to extension/retraction in the land- engine was compromised by remained unhappy with the
develop the machine privately. based fighter. poor fuel quality and unreliable Shiden, principally because it
By year-end it had submitted a Despite the landing gear carburettors. Hoashi complained had been developed privately by

Insights
proposal for the fighter to IJNAF presenting problems to the about limited visibility from Kawanishi without their direct
headquarters, and its technical design team, construction of the the cockpit during taxiing due input. Yet even with the reduced
director for aircraft, Vice Admiral prototype progressed rapidly to the excessive length of the engine performance, the N1K1
Rikizo Tada, was so impressed at the Naruo plant. Designated undercarriage, which quickly was faster than the A6M5 that
by what he saw that he gave the as the X-1 (Experimental proved too fragile for use on equipped front-line units and the
design his personal blessing. Interceptor No 1) by Kawanishi unpaved runways. Finally, the J2M2, on the cusp of operational
Although no official and, eventually, the N1K1-J fighter suffered from excessive service. It also had greater
specifications were subsequently Shiden by the IJNAF, the propeller torque on take-off. range and was more agile than
issued, Kawanishi believed that if prototype, with Air Arsenal pilot However, once in the air, it was the Raiden. With Corsairs and
it built a fighter better than those Lt Takumi Hoashi at the controls, a revelation thanks to the combat Hellcats now appearing in the
either in service or already under made its first flight from Itami on flap system inherited from the Pacific theatre, the IJNAF knew it
development, the IJNAF would 31 December 1942. Kyofu. A Japanese innovation, had to stick with the Shiden.
buy it. The company appointed
Shizuo Kikuhara to head the
engineering team, while the
IJNAF assigned Engineering Cdr
Junjiro Suzuki to offer guidance.
Initially, with the exception
of the replacement of the
ventral and outrigger floats
by a fully retractable, wheeled
undercarriage, few modifications
to the Kyofu were planned.
However, it was soon decided
to exchange the 14-cylinder
MK4C Kasei 13 engine for a new
18-cylinder Nakajima NK9B
Homare (‘Honour’) 11 radial,
expected to produce more than
1,800hp.
To take full advantage of all
this power, a four-bladed VDM
metal propeller with a diameter
of almost 11ft was selected. This, Designated as the X-1 (Experimental Interceptor No 1) by Kawanishi and, eventually, the N1K1-J Shiden by the
combined with the location IJNAF, the prototype — with Air Arsenal pilot Lt Takumi Hoashi at the controls — made its first flight from Itami
of the wings at mid-fuselage, on 31 December 1942. NASM

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K

DATAFILE IMPROVED SHIDEN-KAI

Only two examples of the N1K3-J Shiden-Kai 1 Model 31 space for two 13.2mm Type 3 machine guns in place of
were built, the aircraft having its Homare 21 moved the ineffectual 7.7mm weapons. Although the Model 21
forward 6in to overcome the centre of gravity problems was supposed to be replaced by the Model 31 from early
that had afflicted the N1K2 — it was too far back in the February 1945, the improved Shiden-Kai was never put
Model 21. This fuselage extension provided adequate into series production.
NASM

The aircraft was improved by design team started work on At an altitude of 3,000m [9,840ft] to 85 octane due to it being
Kawanishi with the help of IJNAF an advanced version. The there was no problem with mixed with oil extracted from
engineers and technicians, being Shiden was subsequently seen stability in either direction, even pine tree roots — this proved
fitted with the more reliable as a stopgap fighter, pending when the landing gear and flaps highly volatile. Nevertheless,
1,990hp NK9H Homare 21 availability of the N1K2-J. Keen were down. Stall came abruptly even under these conditions,
enclosed in a modified cowling to eliminate the need for the — this was different from the pilots on the front line would
that featured an additional lower long, complex and troublesome Zero-sen fighter. Visibility was claim that the Shiden-Kai’s
lip scoop, individual exhaust undercarriage of the Shiden, and OK. There was no problem with performance was good up to
stacks and an external oil cooler hoping to simplify construction the tailplanes or rudder. The around 30,000ft.
on the left-hand side of the and maintenance, Kawanishi Shiden-Kai was totally different Manufacturer’s trials of the
cowling. The Shiden’s armament moved the wings to the lower to fly than the Shiden. I signalled N1K2-J were completed in just
was increased, two additional fuselage, adopted conventional to observers on the ground that 15 weeks, allowing the type to be
20mm Type 99 Model 2 cannon landing gear and entirely the aircraft was fine to fly by handed over to the IJNAF in April
being installed in the wings redesigned the carrying out a 1944. The latter demonstrated its
outboard of the gondola-housed fuselage and shallow dive confidence in the Shiden-Kai by
20mm weapons originally fitted tail surfaces. Pilots on the front towards the authorising the start of quantity
to the prototype N1K1. Both The end result line would claim runway and production before completion
variants retained the fuselage- was a virtually then making of service trials. By June of that
mounted 7.7mm Type 97 new aircraft
that the Shiden-Kai’s a short-turn year seven additional prototypes
machine guns. that retained performance was good landing after had been built, and production
By the end of 1943, 70 N1K1-Js only the wings up to 30,000ft pulling up at aircraft, designated as the Navy
had been built by Kawanishi’s and cannon low altitude.” Interceptor Fighter Shiden-Kai
Naruo plant and the first armament Although Model 21, began rolling off
example had rolled off the line at of the N1K1-J (all four 20mm the Shiden-Kai could prove to the assembly lines at Naruo.
Himeji. Ultimately, 539 Shidens weapons were now installed be a handful near the stall — Although six other plants were
(prototypes and production within the wings, however). pilots were told to be sensitive also ordered to build N1K2-Js,
aircraft) would be completed The prototype N1K2-J with the flight controls, as production fell considerably
at Naruo and 468 at Himeji. completed its first flight from the rough handling could lead to behind schedule as B-29
Despite suffering ongoing engine newly constructed Naruo airfield an autorotation spin that was Superfortress raids on key sites
reliability and undercarriage on 31 December 1943, with hard to recover from — it was led to a shortage of both engines
problems stemming from low- Kawanishi test pilot Munekichi an excellent heavy interceptor, and airframes. Ultimately, by
grade fuel, poor machine tooling Okayasu at the controls. A week considerably better than the VJ‑Day, just 351 N1K2-Js had
and inferior-quality materials, later Air Arsenal pilot Lt Yoshio light Zero-sen. The performance been completed by the Naruo
they began to reach the front line Shiga took the aeroplane aloft for of the Homare engine continued factory and 42 by Himeji, as well
in early 1944. the first time. “It was a test flight to be lower than expected, as 22 more airframes at five other
Just four days after the first under limited conditions”, he however, principally because sites. It had been hoped to have
flight of the N1K1-J in X-1 said. “There were still problems the IJNAF was forced to use fuel 2,000 in service by the summer
prototype form, Kawanishi’s with the engine and propeller. with a quality rating reduced of 1945.

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 TECHNICAL
DETAILS An American technical assessment of the Japanese fighter

Development
Technical Details
In Service
Insights
Following a thorough examination of photographs taken of N1K1-Js found at Marcott in early 1945, Technical Air Intelligence Command (TAIC) artist
SSgt R. B. Aldrich created this cutaway drawing of the ‘George 11’ in March 1945. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

T
he US Navy Division of rounded tips. Center portion of An automatic maneuver flap was fulcrum change, but kept the
Naval Intelligence’s wing is integral with the fuselage, installed in the original model increased rudder and elevator
Technical Air and an outer panel is attached which functions at low speed, with flaps down. Operation of
Intelligence Center to the center section. Two-spar and in addition changed the the flaps is complicated in that
Summary No 33, from July 1945, construction, with one spar full fulcrum arm on ailerons, rudder the flap handle must be returned
contained an explanation of the span, while the other extends and elevators so as to get more to neutral in order to have brake
N1K1/2’s structure. It outlined only to the outer panel. control at low speeds, while still pressure, and also two handles
how the fuselage was of semi- “Flaps are Fowler type, maintaining light control forces are required to retract flaps.
monocoque construction, and hydraulically actuated, with an at high speeds. Production Flap handle must be in the up
its skin material was aluminium. angular travel of 30°. There are airplanes eliminated the position and an additional flap
The cockpit canopy was “high two hydraulic cylinders per flap. automatic flap and the aileron dump valve must be pulled in
and narrow, with good all-round order to retract flaps… Dive
vision. Cockpit layout is brakes of panel design were
generally good. Instruments are
SPECIFICATIONS: N1K2-J SHIDEN-KAI found but were bolted closed.
well grouped and all cranks and POWERPLANT One Nakajima NK9H Homare 21, 1,990hp “The fin and rudder have an
handles are readily available and DIMENSIONS Length: 30ft 8in (9.35m) equal taper fore and aft and
easy to operate, with the Wingspan: 39ft 4.5in (12.00m) with a rounded tip. The vertical
exception of the landing gear Height: 13ft 0in (3.96m) stabilizer is of […] aluminum,
and wing flap controls”. The WEIGHTS Empty: 5,858lb (2,657kg) all-metal and flush-riveted. The
“quite deep” aft portion of the Maximum take-off: 10,714lb (4860kg) rudder is of fabric and metal, with
fuselage gave the ‘George’, the a cockpit-controllable trim tab.
PERFORMANCE Maximum speed: 369mph (594km/h)
N1K1/2’s Allied reporting name, “The horizontal stabilizer and
Range: 1,488 miles (2,395km)
“an unusual and distinctive elevators present an appearance
with external tanks
appearance in side aspect.” of greater taper on the leading
The wing had “tapered leading ARMAMENT Four 20mm cannon in wings; four 551lb edge, lesser trailing edge taper,
and trailing edges terminating in (250kg) bombs on underwing Type 97 Ko racks and rounded tips.”

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K

N1K1-Ja SHIDEN

N1K1-Ja
SHIDEN

N1K1-Ja SHIDEN

N1K2-J SHIDEN-KAI

N1K1 KYOFU

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 A chequered, limited career at the war’s end —
IN SERVICE did it come too late?

Two N1K1-Ja Model 11As have their NK9B Homare engines

Development
warmed up at Genzan airfield in Korea prior to a training flight in
early 1945. The nearest Shiden has a Katakana ‘G’ as part of its
tail code, denoting its assignment to the Genzan Kokutai, one of
the IJNAF’s principal fighter training units. VIA YASUHO IZAWA

Technical Details
T

In Service
he first front-line unit from the Chinese mainland, but Initially, Zero-sens saw all of Hirakawa was not so fortunate,
to receive the N1K1-J poor serviceability meant none the action, the Shidens being ramming a Hellcat after he had
Shiden was the 341st were intercepted. Ironically, the kept in reserve until seven were exhausted his ammunition
Kokutai (air group, Shiden would make its combat led on patrol by Sento 401st downing three other F6Fs.
consisting of between three and debut against carrier-based Hikotai commander Lt Masaaki Hirakawa, who subsequently
six hikotai), specifically formed fighters of the US Navy when, on Asakawa. Encountering a force became the only Shiden ace, was
at Matsuyama, in Ehime 12 October, F6F Hellcats from of 60 aircraft as they approached saved by his parachute. A further
prefecture on the island of the Third Fleet’s Task Force (TF) Takeo, two of the Shiden pilots 14 N1K1-Js had been scrambled

Insights
Shikoku, on 15 November 1943 38 attacked targets on Formosa used their height advantage when Asakawa’s formation
to fly the aircraft. The 341st had in a series of strikes that lasted to claim eight F6Fs destroyed engaged the Hellcats, and pilots
to make do with A6Ms until the 10 days. Their aim was to prevent between them. Four were from the second group claimed
first Shidens reached the unit in Japanese aircraft on the island credited to PO1c Takeo Yamada, a further two aircraft destroyed.
mid-February 1944. By then it from participating in the Battle who eventually managed to The 10 victories credited to Sento
was flying from Tateyama, in of Leyte Gulf, scheduled to begin extricate himself from the action 401st Hikotai came at a high
Chiba prefecture. Ongoing later that month. and return to base. PO1c Hideo price, 14 Shidens being lost.
serviceability issues and the lack Just eight N1K1-Js remained
of aircraft in general meant the serviceable on Formosa after this
341st only started training with initial action, although Shiden
the N1K1-J in June. ranks had doubled by the time
By 10 July the unit had Sento 401st Hikotai sortied all
sufficient Shidens on strength of its available aircraft on 14
to create the Sento 401st Hikotai October as escorts for torpedo
(squadron) and Sento 402nd and dive-bombers sent to
Hikotai, each supposed to have attack TF 38. They enjoyed little
48 fighters. The Sento 701st success, six aircraft (including
Hikotai within the Yokosuka a Shiden) being shot down by
Kokutai was also formed on F6Fs. Five Hellcats were claimed
the 10th, this nomadic Shiden- in return. The following day
equipped unit later becoming N1K1-J numbers on Formosa
part of the 341st Kokutai and, were boosted by the arrival of
eventually, the 343rd following Sento 402nd Hikotai and Sento
re-equipment with Shiden-Kais. 701st Hikotai.
The 341st sent 17 N1K1-Js US forces landed on Leyte
from Sento 401st Hikotai to Island on 20 October to signal
Takao on 31 August in an effort the start of the retaking of the
to bolster Formosa’s meagre Philippines. Two days later, 40
aerial defences. This force had Shidens from the 341st Kokutai
been boosted to 32 by mid- and Sento 701st Hikotai flew
September, with Sento 402nd in to Marcott, part of the Clark
Hikotai receiving 30 Shidens Field complex, on Luzon. Only
PO1c Takeo Yamada of the Sento 401st Hikotai claimed four F6Fs
at Miyazaki. The Takao-based 21 were serviceable when
destroyed when the Shiden made its combat debut during the defence
N1K1-Js were supposed to of Formosa on 12 October 1944. Posted to the 343rd Kokutai’s Sento the 2nd Air Fleet launched
defend Formosa from attack by 701st Hikotai in early 1945, Yamada was killed while dogfighting with 300 aircraft in a strike on the
US Army Air Forces aircraft flying USAAF P-47Ns on 28 May 1945. VIA YASUHO IZAWA Pacific Fleet’s Fast Carrier

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K
five, making him the only known
Shiden ace.
From mid-December the
few surviving N1K1-Js were
increasingly used as fast
reconnaissance aircraft. Indeed,
future 343rd Kokutai pilot Lt
Takuo Mitsumoto frequently
spotted US Navy carriers
sailing off Luzon. The final four
airworthy N1K1-Js were flown
to Tuguegarao, in Cagayan
province, on 9 January 1945, and
they too were soon lost attacking
shipping in the Lingayen Gulf.
Although the 341st Kokutai’s
surviving Shiden pilots were
flown back to Formosa in IJNAF
Shiden-Kais, headed by ‘343-A-15’, of Sento 301st Hikotai at Matsuyama airfield on 10 April 1945 just before
and JAAF transports, the unit’s
the unit departed for its new base at Kanoya. Unit CO Lt Naoshi Kanno had this aircraft specially marked up groundcrew were left in Luzon to
with command stripes in the hope that they would attract the attention of enemy aeroplanes. VIA YASUHO IZAWA fight on to the death.
From 24 October 1944 to 10
January 1945, Shidens had flown
Task Force during the Battle of of which 15 were serviceable. Outnumbered whenever 303 sorties (compared to 1,049
Leyte Gulf on 24 October. The This figure took a hit six days it ventured into the air and by A6Ms) in the Philippines.
IJNAF suffered heavy losses in later when carrier-based hamstrung by the continued Between them, Shiden and
the unsuccessful operation, 11 aircraft again targeted Luzon unserviceability of its dwindling Zero-sen pilots had claimed 120
Shidens being among the 60 in three waves. Shiden pilots number of Shidens, the 341st American aircraft shot down and
aircraft destroyed. were credited with 10 F6Fs, was also forced to ‘volunteer’ 60 destroyed on the ground. The
On 28 October six Shidens two SBDs and two unidentified six pilots for Tokko Special vast majority of these had fallen
were part of a 19-strong escort aircraft destroyed, though seven Attack Units mounting kamikaze to aviators flying A6Ms.
for 24 bomb-laden Zero-sens N1K1‑Js were lost. missions against naval vessels
sent to attack US forces on Three more F6Fs fell to the off Leyte. The kokutai moved Homeland defence
Tacloban, the Kawanishi pilots Shidens’ to Mabalacat
fighting off 10 F6Fs and claiming guns on 13 shortly The IJNAF received a further
one destroyed, one probable November, but Shidens were used thereafter, its 112 Shidens during 1945, and
and a strafing victory without six Kawanishi in ever-diminishing trio of sento they would be used in ever-
loss. US Navy carrier aircraft fighters were hikotai now diminishing numbers by a
struck targets on Luzon the in turn shot
numbers by a handful being led in handful of units in the ill-fated
following day, and 11 Shidens down and six of units in the defence the air by ace defence of the home islands.
were scrambled to intercept more destroyed of the home islands Lt Iyozo Fujita. The first to see action over
the first wave. Six F6Fs and two on the ground. In December Japan was the 210th Kokutai,
SBDs were claimed to have By this time at least seven formed at Meiji, near Nagoya,
been shot down for the loss of Sento 701st Hikotai had been Shiden pilots were killed as a composite training unit
six N1K1-Js. Eight aircraft from transferred to the 341st Kokutai. during interceptions overhead equipped with different types of
the second wave were credited One of its more successful pilots Luzon, including PO1c Hideo aircraft. Flying no fewer than 31
to Shiden and Zero-sen pilots from this particularly trying Hirakawa on the 23rd. Attacking Shidens, the buntai (equivalent
who doggedly defended Marcott period was ace Ensign Akio USAAF bombers over Manila, to a hikotai but with a command
airfield from attack. Matsuba, who claimed four he perished when his N1K1-J element) assigned these fighters
There were 25 N1K1-Js at Hellcats destroyed off Taiwan collided with his target. This final was primarily involved in
Marcott by the end of October, and over the Philippines. victory took Hirakawa’s tally to

BELOW: The N1K1-J Shiden Model 11, coded 3, of

CPO Tomeshiro Hiro from the Tsukuba Kokutai
at Tsukuba during February 1945. JIM LAURIER

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K

Development
Technical Details
In Service
Insights
Sento 301st Hikotai pilots pose for a formal photograph at Matsuyama in January 1945, with the 343rd Kokutai’s commanding officer, Capt Minoru
Genda, and executive officer, Lt Cdr Yoshio Shiga, seated fourth and fifth from the left in the front row. All squadrons within the 343rd were
composed of approximately 40 pilots. VIA YASUHO IZAWA

intercepting B-29s when they once endured 9.5g in a test dive Fellow Yokosuka Kokutai probably shot down on 16
started attacking targets in Japan. without blacking out. Shiden-Kai pilot, and 23-victory February for the loss of CPO
Another training unit, the During the late morning of 16 ace, Ensign Kaneyoshi Mutoh Mitsugu Yamazaki, who bailed
Tsukuba Kokutai, was also February, the Air Arsenal and scrambled after the main out of his fighter and landed
equipped with a small number Yokosuka Kokutai scrambled formation, although he quickly safely.
of Shidens in early 1945, and a mixed formation of at least made up for lost time. He single-
these clashed with US Navy 10 fighters — A6Ms, J2Ms and handedly engaged 12 F6Fs over Combat for the
aircraft attacking the Kanto N1K2-Js — from Oppama. Atsugi — these aircraft were 343rd Kokutai
Plain in February. The first such Among the Shiden-Kai pilots probably from VF-82, embarked
engagement occurred on the were Lt Shigehisa Yamamoto, the in USS Bennington (CV-20), The principal recipient of the
16th when mixed formations of type’s chief test which lost six Shiden-Kai was the 343rd
Zero-sens and Shidens fought pilot at the Air Hellcats in Kokutai, formed specifically to
Hellcats on three separate Arsenal, and Ensign Kaneyoshi combat over fly the N1K2-J. It was created as
occasions. One F6F was claimed 17-victory ace Mutoh single-handedly Honshu on this a direct result of a new strategy
as destroyed and three damaged. CPO Masao date. Mutoh proposed by Capt Minoru
A single Shiden and five Masuyama.
engaged 12 F6F claimed to Genda, the mastermind behind
Zero-sens were lost in return. Veteran aviator Hellcats, probably from have destroyed the attack on Pearl Harbor on
A handful of N1K2-Js were PO1c Shin-ichi VF-82, over Atsugi four aircraft 7 December 1941. A brilliant
involved in the fighting over the Hirabayashi with only strategist, a combat veteran with
Kanto Plain that day, the Shiden- was in another short bursts both land- and carrier-based
Kai making its combat debut in Shiden-Kai, flying as wingman of fire, his success being widely units, and a former naval air
the hands of aces serving with for Ensign Matsuo Hagiri. The reported in the Japanese press. attaché, Genda was serving with
the Air Arsenal and the Yokosuka pilots circled over Atsugi waiting It was compared to the actions the IJN general staff in 1944
Kokutai. Ensign Matsuo Hagiri for the low-flying carrier aircraft of Musashi Miyamoto, a famed when he became increasingly
from the latter unit became to appear from the south-east. swordsman of the early 17th alarmed at the ineffectiveness
the first pilot credited with a Once they had spotted their century, at the Battle of Sagari- of naval fighter units in their
victory in the new fighter. An foes, they employed ‘dive and matsu. attempts to defend IJN vessels
engineer by trade, Hagiri was zoom’ tactics developed by Overall, the pilots from the battling the US Navy in the
highly valued within the unit the Yokosuka Kokutai. Hagiri Air Arsenal and the Yokosuka south-west and central Pacific.
for his analytical mind and claimed an F6F destroyed for his Kokutai claimed 13 enemy Following the IJN’s heavy
immense physical strength — he 13th, and last, success. aircraft destroyed and six defeat at the Battle of Leyte

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K
Gulf in late October 1944, when
it lost 26 warships (including
four aircraft carriers and three
battleships) and more than
300 aircraft, Genda proposed
a new strategy to naval GHQ.
Explaining that Japan was losing
the war because the enemy had
control of the skies, he tabled a
radical idea that saw the creation
of an elite unit commanded by
Genda, led by veteran squadron
leaders and equipped with
the IJNAF’s newest fighter, the
Shiden-Kai. His aim was to
regain air superiority and try to
turn the tide of war. Genda was
given approval.
Established on 25 December
1944, the 343rd Kokutai was
attached to the 3rd Air Fleet on
10 February 1945. Genda had
become its CO on 15 January,
the 343rd calling Matsuyama, on
the island of Shikoku, home. The
Sento 301st Hikotai would be the
first unit assigned to the 343rd
Kokutai, followed by Sento 407th
Hikotai, Sento 701st Hikotai
and Sento 401st Hikotai, which
functioned as a training unit.
The 343rd was primarily
A Shiden-Kai from Sento 301st Hikotai makes an attacking pass at a wildly manoeuvring Martin PBM Mariner
staffed by veteran pilots from VPB-21 north-west of Kyushu on 11 May 1945. Two US Navy flying boats were intercepted by four
hand-picked by Genda and his N1K2‑Js, three of which were equipped with unguided aerial rockets. One of the Mariners was so badly
immediate subordinates. The damaged by an exploding rocket that its crew had to ditch. US NAVY
group was still in the process
of converting from the Shiden
to the Shiden-Kai when it was with Sento 402nd Hikotai in the While US Navy pilots Although Ichimura and his
forced into combat for the first Philippines. conducted their final pre- three pilots got airborne without
time over the Inland Sea on The 343rd knew TF 58 was mission briefings and their any problem as dawn drew near,
19 March, opposing US Navy coming, for US Navy aircraft aircraft — more than 300 — were the right undercarriage leg of
aircraft from TF 58 that had been had hit targets in Kyushu the prepared for a dawn launch Yamada’s aircraft broke while
sent to bomb Kure. The kokutai previous day. On the morning on the 19th, Genda addressed taxiing. A common occurrence
scrambled no fewer than 72 of 18 March, the 16 carriers of all his pilots at Matsuyama at that plagued the Shiden
fighters, seven of them N1K1-Js. TF 58 sailing off the southern 05.00hrs: “The enemy’s invasion throughout its short service life,
Genda had drilled his pilots coast of Kyushu had launched is inevitable this morning. We Yamada abandoned his aircraft
ceaselessly, emphasising their attack. The vessels’ are going to intercept the enemy and requisitioned a fighter from
formation tactics above presence came as no surprise aircraft and deal a severe blow to the number three pilot in his
everything else. He knew that the to the IJNAF, as they had been them. Our target is the enemy’s formation.
Shiden’s inferior performance Genda received word at 06.50
(slower rate of climb and top that TF 58 had been located, and
speed), lighter armament and Genda knew the Shiden and Shiden-Kai could that its carrier aircraft would
shorter range compared to not undertake formation tactics together have to pass almost directly
the Shiden-Kai meant the two over Matsuyama on their way
could not undertake formation to and from attacking Kure. He
tactics together. Genda therefore detected by Japanese radar fighter force. Do not give your ordered his pilots to take off: 56
decided that he would use eight and patrol aircraft. Tasked eyes to bombers — ignore them. Shiden-Kais departed in seven
N1K1-Js as cover flights for the with knocking out airfields on Try to shoot down as many of the line-abreast formations of eight
Shiden-Kais. Sento 407th Hikotai Kyushu that could be used as enemy fighters as possible!” aircraft one after another. The
and Sento 701st Hikotai were staging areas for kamikaze units At 06.30 Genda ordered seven initial wave of US Navy aircraft,
each to contribute four aircraft, in advance of the amphibious Shiden pilots to take off and approaching Shikoku and
led by Lts Goro Ichimura and assault on Okinawa, hundreds circle the airfield at 16,400ft. It Kyushu from two directions, was
Ryoichi Yamada respectively. of US Navy aircraft strafed and would be their job to protect less than 80 miles away. All of the
The latter had volunteered to fly bombed bases in a series of Matsuyama long enough for the fighters committed by the 343rd
a Shiden because no-one else attacks that resulted in American 56 Shiden-Kais to get into the were now airborne and climbing
wanted to, and because he was pilots claiming 102 Japanese air safely. This would be the first hard to get above the enemy
familiar with the hard-to-control aeroplanes shot down and 275 — and last — day that the 343rd formations. At least seven aces
fighter following his service destroyed on the ground. would fly the N1K1-J in combat. were aloft in N1K2-Js.

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K
Their airfield protection detail taught, the Shiden-Kai pilots, made him a high-scoring ace by discipline and tactics. Their
over, the Shiden pilots were led by Sento 701st Hikotai downing three enemy fighters. tactics were similar to those of

Development
ordered to follow their respective squadron leader Lt Takashi Pilots noted post-mission that the US Navy. They appeared to
units into battle. Some 3,300ft Oshibuchi, made two-aircraft the Shiden-Kai’s 20mm Type be well trained and experienced
above the climbing Shiden- section attacks from above, 99 cannon had proven itself in combat flying.”
Kais, Lts Yamada and Ichimura then recovered together and a deadly weapon. Matsuba,
spotted the approaching Hellcats climbed back up to the rest of who claimed two successes Kamikaze escorts
first. Slashing through 20 F6F-5s, their formation in order to retain prior to his fighter being shot
the Sento 407th Hikotai shot their height advantage, before up, reported to Genda that The 343rd Kokutai next saw
down or disabled half of the attacking again. Within minutes the power of the cannon was significant action while trying
formation. the US Navy fighter pilots “enormous”, stating, “if our to defend aircraft carrying
Ichimura arrived on the scene realised their adversaries were range is right the enemy can be out suicide attacks on US

Technical Details
moments later: “I hurried into both skilled and dangerous. knocked out with one burst.” Navy vessels supporting
battle, joining the combat. After By the time VBF-17, the amphibious landing on
that, I did not know what I was the clashes embarked in Okinawa, which had begun on
doing! The white star markings came to an Pilots noted post- USS Hornet 1 April. For this operation, the
on one wing and the white end, the 343rd mission that the (CV-12), was unit was transferred from the
lines on the other wing for Kokutai had one of those 3rd Air Fleet to the 5th Air Fleet
identification persistently came claimed 52
Shiden-Kai’s 20mm units that had on the day of the invasion. The
into sight one after another. Each aerial victories. cannon had proven a felt the full kokutai’s primary mission would
time we closed in, tracers from Typically deadly weapon force of the be to open the air corridor for
our four 20mm cannon crossed for aerial Shiden-Kai’s the flow of kamikaze aircraft
with those from the Americans’ combat in the powerful heading south-west to Okinawa.
13mm guns.” Pacific War, the IJNAF pilots battery of four cannon, having This new assignment also meant

In Service
Yamada, whose division wildly overclaimed in the heat nine fighters destroyed on 19 Shiden-Kai pilots would have
was behind and above Sento of battle. TF 58 had actually March. The squadron’s after- to embark on very long-range
701st Hikotai, providing it lost 14 fighters. The 343rd had action report for the mission missions, flying from Kanoya
with top cover as the Shiden- 15 fighters shot down and 13 reflected the high calibre of the to Amami-oshima and back.
Kais targeted the Hellcats, pilots killed in aerial combat. opposition it had faced over The one-way distance was
recalled, “I hurried to a position Although last into the action, Shikoku: “It was the opinion of more than 240 miles, and these
straight above the combat, Sento 301st Hikotai had been the more experienced pilots of sorties would last in excess of
which by now had turned into credited with the most victories, this squadron, who participated two hours. Furthermore, pilots

Insights
a melee. I watched and found including nine to CPO Katsue in this melee, that the Jap pilots only had sufficient fuel for a
Shiden-Kais hunting down Katoh — this tally was revised to encountered here were superior maximum of 15 minutes of
the Grummans. As the zone of four destroyed and a probable. to those met in the Tokyo area. combat at full power.
combat expanded, some of the Squadron-mate CPO Shoichi They handled their aircraft well, Just 48 hours after the last
Grummans were forced to get Sugita demonstrated he had lost were exceedingly aggressive and Shiden-Kai reached the unit’s
out of it. Once getting out of none of the flying skill that had exhibited good organization, new airfield at Kanoya from
the zone, they could possibly Matsuyama, the 343rd attempted
regroup and come back with to sortie 44 aircraft for an escort
full advantage. I immediately mission on 12 April. As the
knew that my duty was to hit formation neared the island of
such aircraft like swatting Kikaiga Shima, the 343rd pilots
flies with a swatter, and began saw that its airfield was coming
manoeuvring to attack a four- under attack by Hellcats. The
aircraft Grumman formation. unit dived headlong after several
I concentrated my energy and Hellcats in the midst of their
started my attack run, closing strafing run, and within minutes
to within 330ft of the tail of one the kokutai found itself engaged
of the Grumman fighters. He by an estimated 80 fighters.
had not noticed me yet. I got so Outnumbered, the 343rd
near that I needed no gunsight, suffered heavy casualties, 10
pressing the firing button on pilots being killed in what turned
the throttle lever. Within half out to be a ‘turkey shoot’ by
a second the Grumman had American standards. In return,
caught fire. I gave him another the 343rd was credited with
burst for a quarter of a second. 20 Hellcats and three Corsairs
His wing flew off. The stout- destroyed. Only a fraction of this
looking Grumman banked. The number had in fact been lost.
power of the 20mm cannon was In their post-mission reports,
great. It was a key to victory in US Navy and US Marine Corps
formation fighting to prevent pilots noted that their opponents
enemy attacks while another Lt Ryoichi Yamada of the 343rd Kokutai’s Sento 407th Hikotai was at were flying aeroplanes that
section engaged.” the controls of a Shiden on 19 March 1945, having volunteered to fly an “were hard to burn due to their
N1K1-J following his service with Sento 402nd Hikotai in the Philippines.
Enjoying a height advantage, He would need all that experience to survive a seven-minute dogfight
armor plating and self-sealing
and with the sun at their backs, with two Corsairs directly overhead Matsuyama airfield, the Shiden tanks”. It was also stated that
the 343rd dived on formations being hit numerous times and Yamada eventually having to belly-land the IJNAF fighters were fitted
of Hellcats. As they had been his battered fighter. VIA YASUHO IZAWA with 20mm cannon only, and

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K
“there were no small-caliber of Hellcats were duly vectored Ichimura led Sento 407th Hikotai 1945, TF 38 turned its attention
guns”. Although Corsair and to meet them, approaching the into action. He subsequently back to the home islands. Naval
Hellcat pilots acknowledged that Shiden-Kai formation with a recalled, “The Shiden-Kais aircraft struck Tokyo, Hokkaido
the Shiden-Kai could out-turn height advantage. Despite having spread out to form a fighting and Honshu between 10 and 18
both types, the Japanese pilots no fuel reserves, and operating formation of two-aircraft July. At Omura, the 343rd’s ability
were criticised for their lack of at the very limit of their range, sections. Immediately, I changed to function effectively was being
organised tactics. Naval aviators the 343rd pilots nevertheless fuel supply from the drop tank to steadily reduced as its airfield
from VF-17 also noted that the engaged the enemy fighters as the main tank, pulling the drop became the target of a sustained
enemy fighters had excellent they had been ordered to. The lever hard. At the same time bombing campaign.
climbing characteristics and kokutai lost nine more pilots in the engine throttle was opened During the morning of 24
superior speed, and when the ensuing action, including the all the way, the gunsight was July, more than 500 carrier
confronted with Hellcats on high-scoring hero of 19 March, switched on and the four 20mm aircraft were launched on strikes
their tails, the Japanese pilots CPO Katsue Katoh. guns were test-fired. The combat against Japanese vessels in Kure
would snap-roll to the left. Their Also on 16 April, the 343rd flaps, of course, had already harbour. Against this mighty
automatic combat flap system Kokutai relocated to Kokubu been charged to automatic. I was force, Genda could only send 24
saved them time and time again. No 1 airfield, 25 miles north of ready for combat.” serviceable Shiden-Kais aloft. He
The combat experience of the Kanoya. The latter site, often Battle quickly ensued. Despite knew his best chance of success
343rd Kokutai in the handful packed with suicide aircraft, the IJNAF pilots forming up into was to hit the enemy aircraft
of engagements it had fought was proving too crowded for the two defensive Lufbery circles when they were heading back
since 19 March had starkly Shiden-Kai unit. Moreover, it and claiming 13 victories (not a to their carriers, possibly with
revealed that even with good was being increasingly targeted single F6F was in fact lost — four flak damage and definitely low
leadership, experienced aviators on fuel. Shortly after 09.00hrs,
(the unit-wide average was 500 all three sento hikotai sortied
hours of flying time per pilot) The automatic combat flap system saved the fighters. The 343rd lost six pilots,
and a superb fighter, one kokutai Japanese pilots time and time again including two aces, during a
could do little to stem the Allied fiercely fought engagement
tide of destruction now washing over Bungo Strait. In return, the
over the home islands of Japan. by USAAF heavy bombers. The suffered repairable damage), kokutai had claimed 16 enemy
American radar-directed combat 343rd moved again on the 25th, six Shiden-Kais failed to make it aircraft shot down. This proved
air patrols, an overwhelming this time to Omura, as Kokubu back to Omura. to be the final large-scale clash
number of Hellcats and was now also being continually American forces at last between the 343rd Kokutai and
Corsairs and excellent radio attacked by American aircraft secured Okinawa on 22 June, US Navy fighters.
communications were costing — it was bombed eight times after more than 10 weeks of bitter On 15 August, Emperor
the IJNAF dearly. during the unit’s nine-day stay. fighting, and the final series of Hirohito’s surrender speech was
During the morning of 16 The 343rd Kokutai was again kamikaze raids was mounted on broadcast live over loudspeakers
April the 343rd again supported tasked with kamikaze escort vessels offshore. Just 25 suicide at Omura, Genda having
the kamikaze offensive against during early May. On the 4th, 36 aircraft were mustered, escorted assembled all personnel to listen
Allied warships off Okinawa Shiden-Kais sortied from Omura, by 50 Shiden-Kais, the entire to the address. Later that day
by attempting to clear a path bound for Amami-oshima. En airworthy force of the 343rd. No the 343rd Kokutai’s executive
through American fighter route, they passed small groups fewer than 19 fighters aborted officer, Lt Cdr Yoshio Shiga, led
cover for the highly vulnerable of slow-moving kamikaze aircraft the mission, however, due to all airworthy Shiden-Kais — 18
Tokko aircraft heading south. silhouetted against the sea as deteriorating servicing and aircraft — aloft for one last flight
As the IJNAF pilots approached they hugged the waves to avoid supply problems. The remaining in the immediate vicinity of
their destination at 19,500ft, detection by US radar on their N1K2-J pilots encountered no US Omura. By war’s end the 343rd
unbeknownst to them their way to Okinawa. Navy fighters. Kokutai had claimed more than
progress had been monitored Shortly thereafter the 343rd With Okinawa now in Allied 170 victories in five months of
for the previous 30 minutes by pilots engaged Hellcats over hands and Iwo Jima having been combat, at a cost of 82 pilots
American radar. A large number Kikaiga Shima, and Lt Goro captured in February-March killed and 14 wounded.

DATAFILE

INTO AMERICAN HANDS

When US forces occupied Omura on 14 September 1945, they
found 80 N1K2-J Shiden-Kais of the 343rd Kokutai there. In
accordance with the surrender directives, the propellers and
spinners had been carefully removed to render them non-airworthy.
The following month, six of the fighters were restored to
airworthiness and flown (following the addition of US insignia) by
former IJNAF pilots to test their suitability for shipping to the USA
for further evaluation. Those deemed to be in the best mechanical
US Marine Corps Corsair pilot Lt Andy Pedrick of VMF-113 keeps a
condition were eventually flown to Yokosuka on 16 October, fitted
close eye on Lt Cdr Yoshio Shiga, formerly executive officer of the
343rd Kokutai, at Omura as the latter runs through his pre-flight with drop tanks for the ferry flight. Although a handful of Shiden-
checks on one of the N1K2-Js chosen for repatriation to the USA Kais were later shipped to the USA for evaluation, the majority were
after VJ-Day. US MARINE CORPS destroyed by fire on 30 December 1945.

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 INSIGHTS Allied pilots found the N1K1-J something of a mixed bag

Development
Technical Details
In Service
Ace WO Ryoji Oh-hara of the Yokosuka Kokutai goes in search of enemy aircraft during a patrol over the Kanto Plain in early 1945. VIA YASUHO IZAWA

A
t least two N1K1-Js of airplane”. The centre said the “Take-off is normal, with little speed and power. Stability
a handful abandoned N1K1-J’s favourable features tendency to swing, if the power was checked at 7,000ft, with
by retreating Japanese were good vision, stability, take- is applied gradually. Airplane is manifold pressure minus
forces at Clark Field in off qualities, performance and tail-heavy and the tail does not 150mm (24.0” Hg), 2,100rpm,
the Philippines and found by US instrument layout, the automatic come up very readily. Take-off oil and cowl flaps closed, air

Insights
Army troops were restored to propeller throttle control, its run is short and the airplane speed 189mph indicated.
airworthiness by the Technical high diving speed, and the leaves the ground easily at about Directionally and longitudinally,
Air Intelligence Unit-South West rudder and elevator control on 105mph. Landing gear retracts it is statically and dynamically
Pacific (TAIU-SWPA) and briefly approach and landing. Against slowly with little change in stable. Laterally, it is just about
test-flown. Technical Air that, rated “poor” were its trim. Initial climb is excellent. neutrally stable. Stability of this
Intelligence Center Summary No stalling and accelerated stalling Landing flaps were not used for airplane at cruising speed can
33 gave an insight into the characteristics, the brakes and take-off. be considered excellent.
Shiden’s performance aloft. the rudder brake action. The “Climb is very good. At “Airplane was stalled clean
Of the preliminary flight test, landing gear was felt “weak”, the 2,350rpm and manifold and dirty. The airplane has a
the report said, “One flight was undercarriage and flap system pressure of plus 200mm (34” bad left wing stall under all
made for a total of one hour “complicated”, and the controls Hg), indicated speed 140mph, conditions and will half-roll
and forty-five minutes. The if not caught in time. There is
main purpose of the flight was no stall warning except when
to make the initial check and The controls are unbalanced in that the rudder the cowl flaps are open. This
get the airplane in mechanical and elevator are much lighter than the ailerons airplane can be considered
condition for tactical trials. to have very poor stalling
The airplane was in excellent characteristics.
shape mechanically, except “poorly balanced”, while the stabilized rate of climb indicates “‘George’ cannot be
for the brakes, but was slightly ailerons became heavy at high approximately 2,200ft/min at considered good for either
left wing heavy. The right oleo speed. 8,000ft. maneuverability or acrobatics
leg collapsed at the end of the An Allied pilot’s evaluation “Airplane was tested from stall [sic]. It has a good rate of roll
landing roll, and the aircraft was report on a test flight in an up to 360mph. The rate of roll is below 320mph, and light
badly damaged”. It added that a N1K1-J said, “This airplane was good. At 360mph the ailerons elevators so that it turns well,
Japanese prisoner had described flown from a macadam [crushed are very heavy and rate of roll but the controls are unbalanced
“considerable difficulty with stone] runway. Taxiing and is not good. The controls are and the stick is too high and too
the landing gear in particular”, ground handling, in general, is unbalanced in that the rudder far forward. Pilot is continually
possibly as a result of the poor, due to poor brakes. Foot and elevator are much lighter aware that there is always a
initial floatplane-to-landplane brakes are fitted on a narrow- than the ailerons and may be heavy nose in front of him, and
conversion. type rudder bar and do not criticized as being too light. in addition the airplane has a
The conclusion of that phase operate well. Rudder is not “Rudder and elevators have bad accelerated stall. It does a
of testing read, “Excellent take- effective for taxiing. There is no excellent controllable trim snap 1/3rd left roll at 125mph
off, climb, high speed and good tail wheel lock fitted. Taxiing tabs, with the controls on the in 2g left or right turn. Rolls and
vision, but does not impress with the flaps extended is left-hand side of the cockpit. Immelmanns were executed
the pilot with that feeling of improved due to the fact that the No aileron controllable trim tab but the airplane does not do
confidence which one normally throw of the rudder is increased is fitted. There is considerable them nicely. It had no maneuver
gets in a good, substantial from 23° to 33° with flaps down. change in rudder trim with flaps installed. No rough

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K

ABOVE: This illustrated page maneuvers were executed as “Changes in trim with the use flaps are lowered. This device
was taken from the detailed this airplane had previously of flaps and gear are all in the increases the rudder throw from
TAIC report on the ‘George’. The been crashed and rebuilt and right direction. Change in trim 23° to 33° and the elevator from
purpose of these diagrams was
the strength of the repair was an with the use of gear is small and 17° up; 14° down to 35° up; 240°
to illustrate the aircraft’s areas of
vulnerability to fighter pilots and unknown quality. It is believed easily turned out. This aircraft down. As the flaps are lowered
ships’ gunners alike. that the airplane can easily be is fitted with a device which the stick moved forward due to
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION damaged by rough handling of changes the actuating arms of the fact that the elevators rotate
the light elevators. the elevators and rudder as the upwards. Fowler type flaps are
fitted and considerable ‘up
trim tabs’ is required to keep
the aircraft trimmed during the
approach and landing. Trim
changes due to use of oil and
cowl flaps are negligible.
“Engine was smooth at all
rpms up to the maximum of
2,900. There is no undue noise
or vibration in the aircraft.
“Approach is not considered
too good due to the fact that the
gear and flap handle must be
returned to neutral or there is no
brake pressure, and there is too
much change in trim as the flaps
go down and as the airplane
is slowed down for landing.
Other than that, approach is
very straight forward. Airplane
is easy to land, with all oleos
being soft. The tail comes down
readily. Vision for the approach
and landing is excellent. Only
Coded S9, this aircraft was the second Shiden to be flown by the TAIU-SWPA, completing a number of sorties. one landing was made and it
USAAF and US Navy test pilots found the N1K1-J to be an excellent high-performance fighter, although its fragile was made in a cross-wind. The
landing gear was a major weakness. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION airplane is stable in the landing

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 DATABASE KAWANISHI N1K
run, but it should never be
operated on prepared runways
DATAFILE

Development
due to poor brakes. PoW reports
that brakes should never be
used in this airplane unless
necessary, and then only at the
end of roll. This is due to weak
fitting of landing gear to wing as
evidenced by the continual large
amount of walk of gear even on
fairly smooth ground. Airplane
should be operated only off

Technical Details
smooth sod fields.
“Power plant, in general, is
very satisfactory. It is easy to
start cold, but loads up when
hot. Engine is smooth at all
rpms. Mixture control is similar
to that found on the US AT-6
type, with a positive lock fitted.
Propeller operation is hooked
into the throttle and works very
well. This automatic propeller-
throttle arrangement should be

In Service
a decided advantage in combat.
Engine cooling on this airplane
was not good. Cowl flaps had The largely unrestored N1K2-J exhibited in the Nanreku Misho Koen museum. EDWARD M. YOUNG
to be opened up fairly wide in

SURVIVING SHIDENS
normal climbs and cylinder
head temperatures were
very dependent on cowl flap

N
openings. Oil cooling appeared

Insights
1K2-Ja construction number 5128, the control of the City of San Diego. Donated to
An interrogation displayed in the National Naval the USAF in 1959, it was displayed within
Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, the USAF Museum until being removed in 1998
of a PoW reveals that was one of the aircraft shipped to to undergo a 10-year restoration using parts
he heard it was a very Virginia on board USS Barnes (CVE-20) in sourced from wrecks found in Japan immediately
difficult plane for the November 1945. It was passed on to the US Navy post-war and kept in long-term storage.
pilots to handle by the Army Air Forces and sent to the Naval An N1K2-J was recovered from Hido Bay in
Research Laboratory in Washington DC in 1946. Ehime Prefecture, Japan, on 14 July 1979. It was
Left to become derelict in a nearby children’s almost certainly the mount of Ensign Kaneyoshi
to be adequate. High blower was playground after it was declared surplus to Muto, one of six pilots from the 343rd Kokutai
not used. requirements by the US Navy, the fighter was who failed to return from operations on 24 July
“Airplane flaps and gear are placed in storage at NAS Norfolk, Virginia, in 1957. 1945. The Shiden-Kai was never fully restored,
hydraulically operated. Neither Subsequently loaned to the New England Air the airframe having its covering of barnacles
the flaps nor gear system are Museum at Windsor Locks, Connecticut, in 1975, sandblasted prior to being repainted, but no
considered satisfactory.” the Shiden-Kai was restored by Georgia Metal repairs were made. It is displayed in a small
In conclusion, the pilot Shaping in 1994-95 and handed back to the US museum at Nanreku Misho Koen, overlooking the
said that although the Navy in 1998 for display in what is now the NNAM. bay from where it was recovered.
aircraft “appears to function Another example that went to the USA aboard
satisfactorily in the air, it is USS Barnes was a N1K2-J with construction
apparently difficult to maintain number 5341. Probably evaluated by the Naval
in operation because of its weak Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, it ended up as
landing gear. An interrogation part of the Axis aircraft collection at NAS Willow
of a PoW reveals that he heard it Grove until 1983, when it was acquired by the
was a very difficult plane for the Smithsonian Institution. Initially stored, the
pilots to handle and they didn’t Shiden-Kai was restored between 1991-94 by the
like it. It was particularly tricky Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa, Arizona. It is
in landing and taking off, and now on display in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy
there were accidents and crack- Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
ups in almost every landing. The N1K2-J exhibited in the National Museum
There had been particular of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB,
difficulty with the landing gear, Ohio, is believed to be construction number
and this had held up production 5312. Declared surplus to requirements following The Smithsonian’s N1K2-J on display in the
a great deal. The gear would evaluation by the AAF in the late summer of National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy
simply crumble under any 1946, the aircraft somehow ended up under Center in Virginia. NASM
kind of a strain at all.”

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 Reviews
REVIEWS RATING
★★★★★ Outstanding
★★★★★ Excellent
★★★★★ Good
★★★★★ Flawed
★★★★★ Mediocre
Enough said

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aircraft carrier and ISBN 978-1-911628-70-5; 11.7 x 8.3in wary of books
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operations against ★★★ painters that regularly feature whole-page
Royal Navy attack submarines. The author examples of his/her works and, all too
carried out his research for this book both often, overblown accounts of ‘my five years
in Argentina and in the UK, in the latter case I’ll Call You Pod of research that allowed me to make it all
making full use of this country’s Freedom by Kenneth B. Senar look so lifelike’, the whole accompanied by
of Information Act in his attempt “to match published by Austin Macauley the cacophonous sound of blow-your-own
up the story of what had happened on the trumpets. This one is different, because
surface with that which had taken place This softback volume surely has the most the two American artists featured, Clayton
below”. Argentine forces were hindered intriguing title I’ve seen in many years of Joseph Knight and William John Heaslip,
both by obsolescent equipment and by an book reviewing. ‘I’ll Call You Pod’, but why? were born in the 19th century, were both
American embargo on the supply of war Sub-titled ‘Cold War Recollections of a Low military men and died 50 years ago. They
materiel, while their ASW procedures and Level Pilot 1951-1958’, this is an account thus lived and worked through the years

100 www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020

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 Reviews

between Lindbergh’s epic trans-Atlantic

flight and the end of World War Two,
producing illustrations and artwork for
MODELS
diverse publications. The authors, who
had access to both families’ archives, have
Staples & Vine P-38 Lightning
succeeded in putting together a highly The latest 1:72-scale release from high-
illustrated volume which covers the artists’ quality pewter model-makers Staples &
lives while at the same time relating the Vine is the P-38 Lightning. Two versions of
aviation history of the era. Reproduction of the Lockheed fighter have been produced: here
the illustrations, which range from a set of we show the P-38J model, specifically 42-103993 Marge
trading cards produced for H. J. Heinz to a as flown by Capt Dick Bong of the 49th Fighter Group in the
gloriously patriotic ‘all-action’ recruiting south-west Pacific, complete with very accurately rendered nose art.
poster featuring a painting of a B-26 Also available is an olive drab-painted P-38G. Both are strictly limited editions
Marauder and imploring young men aged of 25 examples each.
17-18 to join “Army Air Forces — the greatest
team in the world”, is every bit as good Price: £130 plus shipping; optional figures £15 each. Information and ordering:
as you’d hope. The text reads well and is www.staplesandvine.com
genuinely informative and interesting. DJC

ISBN 978-1-61200-779-3; 12.3 x 9.7in

hardback; 294 pages, illustrated; £40.00
DVDs Prices: DVDs £15.99 plus postage, Vimeo
downloads £7.99 Information and ordering:
HHHH Whittle: The Jet Pioneer and www.quantafilms.co.uk or call
Eric Brown: A Pilot’s Story 07435 973397

CLOTHING Very welcome

indeed are these
Dauntless:
The Battle of
GDMK Images two feature-length
TV documentary Midway
personalised clothing
releases from Bayou Pictures’
GDMK Images has launched a new Quanta Films. Dauntless: The
range of personalised clothing featuring The formats, in Battle of Midway
embroidered aircraft. The different each case, are is one of two
aircraft designs available can be straightforward: Midway-themed
modified to show particular squadron extended filmed films released this
colours and markings, with bespoke interviews with year, the first since
wording that can take in a name, last each of these two 1976. Dauntless
mission date, numbers of missions, great figures in British aviation. The chance differs in being a lower-budget affair with
service and loss dates — basically, to hear both Frank Whittle and ‘Winkle’ no big-name actors, and a narrower focus:
whatever you want to include in Brown outlining their lives and careers in SBD pilot Norman Vandivier (Jade Willey)
memory of a friend or relative. The such depth is, it goes without saying, of great and inexperienced gunner Lee Keaney (John
embroidery is available on all GDMK’s value in historical terms. Above all, it makes Enick), who ditch early in the battle and
clothing — polo shirts, sweatshirts, for compelling viewing. Other relevant drift, hoping for rescue.
hoodies, fleeces, hats and bags. The interviewees, such as German jet pioneer Visual effects rely on CGI and green-
garments themselves are high-quality Hans von Ohain, are included in the Whittle screen, but are solid. Scenes of SBDs
products from reputable manufacturers film as a means of outlining the story of gas launching from USS Enterprise to the strains
such as Regatta, RTX Pro and turbine power; with of Gustav Holst’s Jupiter are enjoyable, even
Beechfield. The example shown here is the exception of the impressive, while the confusion and muddle
a personalised fleece depicting a No 101 linking narration, of the early strikes is accurately portrayed.
Squadron Lancaster. Brown’s story is The battle is brief but frenetic and exciting,
  told entirely in followed by a nail-biting ditching. The
Information and ordering: his own words. tension ramps up as Vandivier and Keaney
gdmkimages.co.uk Highlights are struggle to maintain hope while battle fleets
many: this reviewer grapple, senior officers clash over aircrew
found Whittle’s safety and a PBY searches for survivors in
recollections of his hostile seas.
early life especially There’s little triumphalism, and
interesting, while it Dauntless excoriates the decisions that led
is good to hear Brown discussing his lesser- to so many aircrews lost and ditched. It’s
known post-war activities, including his most successful in maintaining tight focus
association with the nascent West German on the handful of main characters while
naval air arm and his Fleet Air Arm staff evoking the shape of the action, and in
postings. bringing under-appreciated aspects of the
Both of these unique, high-quality events at Midway to the fore. The scenario
productions are available from Quanta’s new asks much of both the script and the actors,
website, as part of its British Aviation Genius and if they sometimes struggle, the sense of
series. They come not just as DVDs, but also unnecessary sacrifice is very clear. Dauntless
Vimeo downloads, watchable on all major is a poignant, human-scale story within a
platforms. Ben Dunnell vast battle. Matthew Willis

AEROPLANE JANUARY 2020 www.aeroplanemonthly.com 101

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 Classified Call Leanne on 01780 755131
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 News from 1940
Ben Dunnell looks back 80 years to see how The Aeroplane covered the momentous events of 1940

than a perpetual source of fear, a between RAF Wellingtons

potential source of destruction. and Luftwaffe Bf 110s. The
“Meanwhile, in this New Year, Air issue commented on “the
Power stands to be proved, tactics revival by the Germans
to be learned, new theories fitted of picked Groups or
to the evolution of strategy or the Circuses of fighters in the
procrastinations of politics. tradition of the Richthofen
“Each week brings its lessons even Squadron of 1917-18”,
from the little actions of the present. this evidenced by what it
Fighters have proved themselves to called the ‘Schumacher
be the masters of bombers wherever Squadron’, “about half
they can make contact. Air attacks a dozen squadrons in
on defended military or naval our sense of the word”,
bases have proved to be expensive. engaging the Wellingtons
Reconnaissance in cloudy weather with “courage,
has proved that in such conditions dash and skill”. The
the weather is more to be feared Bf 109-equipped unit was
than the defence — an omen for the JG 1, stationed at Jever
5 January 1940 success of indiscriminate bombing and commanded by Oberst
should it ever be attempted.” Carl-Alfred Schumacher. However,
In its first issue of the new year, The The Aeroplane was critical. “In
Aeroplane was in reflective mood. 12 January 1940 the reversion to specially-picked
Its ‘The War in the Air’ item said, Groups for use in hot spots”, it
“Four months of War have served The first aerial engagements of the said, “the Germans acknowledge a
as a prologue in which the Air Arm year were reported. Among them weakness in their normal training
has been used tentatively in trials was the New Year’s Day attack and the general standard of
of strength on a small scale and on Royal Navy ships at Sullom their pilots. We can congratulate
dispositions have been made ready Voe in the Shetlands, described ourselves that all our fighter
for the real War which may not be as involving two He 111Ks. “One squadrons are basically of the
long delayed. At the shortest, ten was thought to have been brought same high standard.”
more years must pass before the evils down by anti-aircraft fire, but no
which caused this War and which are confirmation could be obtained.
covered by it can be rooted out and a Fighters were also in action. Three
saner World prevail in which Flying sheep are said to have been the only
shall be a blessing to mankind rather casualties caused by the enemy’s
bombs”. The mission was actually
mounted by six Ju 88s of KG 30, and
the interception by Gladiators from
the Sullom Voe Fighter Flight and
Hudsons of No 220 Squadron. The
anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry
sustained some light damage from
a near-miss. The Aeroplane also
mentioned an engagement between
two Hudsons, though it did not
identify the type, and what it said
were He 111Ks, but were really
Ju 88s. The item stated there were no
RAF losses, but a Hudson, N7232,
was in fact shot down, killing all
four crew. A Junkers was downed
by either a Gladiator or a Hudson,
possibly the one that was lost.
Elsewhere, there were more
combats over the Heligoland Bight

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 News from 1940

ABOVE: 19 January 1940 group of women pilots into the Air

Blenheims bore the Transport Auxiliary. This Aeroplane
brunt of some early
combats of 1940, but
This week there was a report on ‘A will cover in a feature next month.
even close formation Fighter Station at War’, though care
flying could not save was taken not to identify it, in line 26 January 1940
them. KEY COLLECTION with wartime security restrictions.
A demonstration for the press of There again being little to say about
Spitfires and Blenheims was called actual combats, barring a press
“very much Empire Air Day business statement from the RAF about the “We have two American types in
but all that was evidently a very close Blenheim versus Bf 110 engagement service, the Lockheed Hudson and
representation of the real thing”. The of 10 January — one the journal said the North American Harvard, and
venue was RAF Sutton Bridge in came in contrast to the “lamentably have ordered more. The Lockheeds
Lincolnshire, to judge from the No ill-written” communiques “padded have done well and have given good
266 Squadron Spitfire pictured. with garrulous rubbish” received service on long reconnaissances over
A notable sortie had taken place hitherto — The Aeroplane’s most the North Sea. Nevertheless, there
on 12 January when Bomber strident comment in this edition was have been several occasions recently
Command Whitleys, flying from reserved for the Americans. “Lacking when Lockheeds have figured
France, carried out a leaflet- a war of her own”, it said, “the United unfavourably in the news. Two civil
dropping mission over Austria, States finds it hard to refrain from Lockheeds have crashed recently,
Czechoslovakia and Germany, no patronising those who send her their one in the Mediterranean, one
losses being suffered. There was gold in exchange for munitions”. taking off at Heston. We hear that the
relatively little happening in terms of A piece by Paul Mallon in The bomber which crashed in Scotland
aerial combat, though engagements American drew particular ire for last week after failing to take off with
occurred over the North Sea, such saying of American aircraft ordered a load of bombs was a Hudson.
as 10 January’s tangle between by the Allies, “the American ’planes “We do not wish to decry
Blenheims and Bf 110s. “This will challenge the acknowledged American machines, nor do we wish
was their first meeting”, said the superiority of Germany in the air.” to endure this continual boasting.
magazine. It was also their last. As per the accompanying cutting, Probably Americans do not realise
Performing a shipping recce, The Aeroplane too reported on these the effect of their boasting and
the nine Blenheims hailed from expected orders. But it was keen to shouting on the British people, even
No 110 Squadron at Wattisham, point out the performance of home- on those who know something of
the Bf 110s from 2./ZG 76 at Jever. grown equipment. “Admittedly the the mixture of America’s population,
“The Blenheims held a compact French Curtiss fighters have done and of the country from personal
formation”, the piece went on, very well in France”, it remarked, experience and friendship. They
“but one was forced to fall out and “but so have France’s own Moranes”; have not been asked to join in
at once became a target for five likewise, a list of RAF types. Then this War, so why should they
Messerschmitts and was shot down the writer really got his claws out. protest so much?”
into the sea”. Not mentioned was the
fact that two other Blenheims crash-
landed in the UK, though Sqn Ldr
Ken Moran did continue his recce
mission and was awarded a bar to
his DFC as a result.
Rather heavier air fighting was
taking place in the Winter War
between the Finns and the Soviets,
but The Aeroplane was scathing
about Soviet efforts. Inspection
of its downed aircraft found
mechanical parts, “and particularly
the motors, […] in a poor state from
lack of skilled attention”. As for the
personnel, “in addition to their
ineptitude”, the writer thundered,
they appeared “to be badly trained,
and often formations get lost when
their leaders are shot down.”
The week’s other big talking-
point was the induction of the first

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 TH O M AS McKELVEY C L EAVER
Author of H O L D I N G T H E L I N E and T I DA L WAV E

MiG ALLEY T H E U S A I R F O R C E I N KO R E A , 1 9 5 0 – 5 3

Long believed in the West to have been a one-

sided affair, the battle for the skies over Korea
between 1950 and 1953 was in actuality
one of the fiercest aerial conflicts of the 20th
century. It was fought almost exclusively
by two antagonists: those flying the US Air
Force’s premier air superiority day-fighter,
the North American F-86 Sabre, and those
flying the Soviet Red Air Force’s powerful
interceptor, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15.

Drawing on first-hand accounts from the

pilots who were there, as well as American
and Russian archive sources, Thomas
McKelvey Cleaver reveals, for the first time,
the true story of the battle for ‘MiG Alley’.
ALSO AVAILABLE

‘Thoroughly researched … pokes holes

in some of the most revered sacred
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