Aircraft

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Russ, I was talking about the one my Dad saw crash into the Med. It broke up in a bunch of pieces. Hitting the water at over 200 mph will do some serious damage to a wooden plane.

I doubt that a plane made of primarily aluminum (as were most during WWII) would've fared much better.  One of them at 200 MPH straight down would leave bigger pieces, perhaps - but I'd bet there wouldn't much difference in the end result; i.e. - dead pilot & fragments.

Just sayin' ...

[Texas Lawdog]

 I am sure they sent a boat out to search for the pilot, Dad didn't say anything about a search.

[Texas Lawdog]

Well, I got my special plaque and my Senior Wings in the mail, I am know a Life member of the CAF, #2918. SHB, I'll bring the stuff to the Convention. I know that you will appreciate it.   

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Congrats!  Se you there!

[Arcey]

I've been to the airport several times since I've posted last. There hasn't been anything sitting outside. Winter time I guess. The hangar doors have been closed. I suppose they have Chuckie and the Junkers in newest hangar in the back.

This is running on the paper's website this AM re: the Mosquito. Hit the link. Pictures are included of its arrival in pieces. Credit noted in the text.

Restored WWII Mosquito warplane lands in Pungo

By Margaret Matray
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 17, 2013
VIRGINIA BEACH

When Jerry Yagen first saw the photographs, he was not impressed.

The heap of decayed wood and crumbling parts didn't look like much, let alone a warplane.

During World War II, the wooden, twin-engine Mosquito was known for its speed, built by the British and used as a reconnaissance plane, a fighter and a bomber.

This particular Mosquito had fallen a long way since its prime. It had been used for scrap parts to repair equipment on a farm in western Canada, sitting outside for 40 years, left to withstand the elements.

Still, from those photos, Yagen saw potential. Necessary parts such as landing gear and instrument panels were still there, and pieces of remaining wing and fuselage could be used for measurements.

Yagen asked whether there was any hope of rebuilding it. Then he bought the pile of plane.

It would take eight years to put the Mosquito together again, but it is now airworthy, making it the only Mosquito in the world capable of flight today, Yagen said.

Last week, the plane arrived at its new, permanent home: the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo. The Mosquito, which flew about 25 hours in New Zealand, where it was rebuilt, will make its first flight for the American public in May at the museum's annual Warbirds Over the Beach Air Show.

"It looks magnificent," said Yagen, president of the museum. "It's sleek, fast looking, and when it passes overhead, it sounds like a pair of Spitfires flying in formation."

Yagen, who founded Tidewater Tech - now called Centura College - and the Aviation Institute of Maintenance schools, began collecting vintage warplanes in the mid-1990s. In the early 2000s he established the museum, which has become one of the largest collections of flying warplanes in the U.S.

Plans to bring a Mosquito to Virginia Beach began after Yagen finished working on another plane with Avspecs, a warbird and vintage aircraft restoration company in New Zealand.

Yagen asked Avspecs owner Warren Denholm what he wanted to work on next.

A Mosquito, he said.

"I laughed," Yagen said.

Mosquitoes weren't exactly easy to find, Yagen said. And getting one to fly would be even more improbable.

"Nobody had ever rebuilt one. It was so difficult," Yagen said, adding that a Mosquito is like the "Holy Grail" among vintage fighter planes.

At the onset of World War II, the British de Havilland Aircraft Company pitched an idea for a wooden warplane at a time when aluminum was in short supply, Yagen said. Nearly 8,000 were built during the war in England, Australia and Canada. Called the "Wooden Wonder," the plane was lauded for its speed and versatility.

But a wooden plane had little use after the war. The company sold the planes, and over time, the stressed plywood and animal glue holding parts together began to wear, Yagen said.

The most recent Mosquito capable of flight crashed in 1996 at an air show in England.

Denholm knew of a New Zealand woodworker, Glyn Powell, who knew of a Mosquito in Canada. Yagen flew him out to see it, and Powell took pictures of the messy pile.

The Mosquito was built in 1945 in a de Havilland factory in Toronto, Yagen said. It was used as a training plane but did not see action during the war.

The plane needed completely new construction, from a wooden body, engines and radios to hydraulic and electrical systems.
It took a worldwide search to find all the parts needed. The brakes were found in England, the prop spinners from a fence post in Canada, Yagen said. One of the seats came from Australia, via eBay.

Back in New Zealand, Powell was able to bend wood into a fuselage using molds he created from partial blueprints, Yagen said. He had created the molds years prior, when he helped build a non-flying Mosquito for a museum.

As word spread, people started contacting the team to offer plane parts.

"One by one, these pieces all came out of the woodwork," Yagen said.

The plane was painted with the marking of a New Zealand squadron that flew in a prison raid during World War II.
Yagen declined to say how much the project cost, other than to say it was "well over $1 million."

"It's priceless because it's one of a kind," he said.

After several tests flights, the Mosquito flew for the first time in public at the end of September, in front of a crowd of several thousand in New Zealand.

Taken apart and boxed into three shipping containers, the plane made a one-month journey to the U.S. by ship and truck.
When the pieces arrived at the museum's maintenance hangar Thursday, a crew unloaded the tail, engines, wing, fuselage and parts bundled in bubble wrap and cardboard. Two crew members with Avspecs, the New Zealand company, will arrive in several weeks to assemble the plane, which should take three to four weeks.

The Federal Aviation Administration is working with the museum to approve the plane for flight in the U.S., Yagen said.
Yagen said he hopes the Mosquito flies for years to come, and that the image of dark green and sea gray buzzing through the sky is something that sticks with those who see it.

"I'm saving a piece of history," he said.

Margaret Matray, 757-222-5150, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/03/restored-wwii-mosquito-warplane-lands-pungo

[Texas Lawdog]

The Mosquito will be welcome addition to the Museum in Virginia. It will be first on the list of places to visit.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Awesome! 

Be still, my heart!

[Texas Lawdog]

I am hoping that Arcey can get us some pictures of it at some time/

[Steel Horse Bailey]

In the video of that Mossie there is a British-marked twin that I've never seen.  Not flashy or famous, but it has that "Early RAF" look.  Do you know what it is?  I think it's the 1st aircraft shown.  It's probably a "dive-bomber/recon/torpedo/transport/all-around-workhorse" type of aircraft.  One of the ones that were seen everywhere back then but since they didn't have much "cool," few folks wanted to save them - and now most are gone forever.

[Texas Lawdog]

That Museum at Pungo has got some wonderful warbirds and it is a private collection. It's a place that I wanna see some time. We have a wonderful private collection/ museum in Addison Texas called the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. He has a great collection of planes from WW1 through VietNam era. The CAF hangars it's B-24 and B-29 over there.

[Arcey]

Tex, ya gotta clue who the Trojan Warbirds that did the fly over before the Nationwide race last night belong to?

[Texas Lawdog]

No sir, I do not. There are a lot of privately owned T-28s. I know that the CAF has at least one at HQ in Midland.

[Arcey]

Was just kinda curious. Don't think they have three of 'em at Pungo. Guess they could have met up somewhere.

I saw a single plane in the air when I was checkin' on the farm stands Friday. Too far up for me to identify but it was headed north. The thought crossed my mind it could be headin' for RIC. Heck, they could leave the museum, do it 'n come home. Ain't far in the air. Couple hundred miles.

[Texas Lawdog]

Since they have done away with the military fly overs, the private sector has taken over. The CAF will be more visible at these future fly overs during the NASCAR season.

[Arcey]

That's what I was thinkin', or hopin' for. I'm lookin' forward to seein' more of 'em.

[Arcey]

This may be of interest.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/05/seven-decades-later-veterans-rekindle-wwii-friendship

B-17 veterans. God Bless them.

[Arcey]

When I rode out to check the produce stands, I heard this one before I saw it. He put on a right nice show. Here he was going back up the runway to take off again. With the angle of the sun I had a fit seeing the little screen on the camera. He did a couple touch 'n goes, some barrel rolls when he was away from the museum and he buzzed the parking lot, low, like a bat outta hell.



They had several sitting out back.





I brought this one closer with the software.



I couldn't get a shot of the B-25 in the back ground. Went to the other end of the building to try but all I could see was the tail. Head on the Brit thing or whatever it is was in the way.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

The Brit thing is a Hawker Hurricane, Arcey. The one you saw flying is a Focke-Wulf 190

Nice pics, though

[litl rooster]

Nice job there Shutterbug

[Arcey]

Thank y'all for the kind words.

The Mustang's heavily cropped. As is this one of the Hurricane. They're from the same shot.



Whatever the German thing is the pilot was having a Focken' good time with it.....................