Nanchang CJ-6A, G-BVVG June 14, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, Kemble, aircraft.Tags: 'warbird', aircraft, Albania, Aviation, Bangladesh, Bracknell, brakes, Cambodia, Chinese, CJ-6A, engine cooling gills, flaps, G-BVVG, GVFWE, Huosai-6JIA, Huosai-6JIA radial engine, Kemble, Kemble Airfield, Marlow, NAMC, Nanchang, Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Nanchang CJ6A Group, North Korea, oil cooler, Peeking Duck Group, People's Liberation Army Air Force, PLAAF, pneumatics, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, USA, Yak-18A, Zambia
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It would be perhaps wrong to describe this Chinese trainer as ‘universal’, but with over 10,ooo built it is, indeed, popular. Despite appearances, it is not a direct copy of the Yak-18A, but has been extensively re-engineered to suit Chinese requirements by the Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company. The prototype first flew on August 27, 1958, and entered PLAAF service in 1960, followed by over 3,000 examples for the Chinese armed forces. Since then, it has been exported to Albania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, North Korea, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and Zambia. Powered by a Nanchang Huosai-6JIA radial engine of 285hp, the CJ-6A is heavily reliant on pneumatics to operate flaps, brakes and start the engine. The control of various aircraft systems, such as the oil cooler and engine cooling gills are all manual, so there is a lot to manage during any flight.
The example seen here, G-BVVG, is parked at the GVFWE, Kemble and is in typical PLAAF markings. It was on the French register for a while, from 1999 to 2002, but is now owned by the Nanchang CJ6A Group of Marlow; prior to this it had been operated by the amazingly-named ‘Peeking Duck Group’ of Bracknell !
A very popular ‘warbird’, the CJ-6A is now being released in batches by the Chinese authorities, and several specialist companies in the USA are currently importing and overhauling these aircraft for re-sale.
Folland (Hawker Siddeley) Gnat June 3, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, Great Britain, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, RAF, Royal Air Force, aircraft, military.Tags: 'Teddy' Petter, 'warbird', aircraft, airframe, Airshow circuit, Aviation, BAe Hawk, Charlie Sheen, Cirencester, Delta Jets, E E Lightning, English Electric, feature film, film, Fo. 144, Folland, Fuse 13, Gnat, Gnat T.1, Gnat Trainer, Hawker Siddeley, Hot Shots, instructional airframe, jet, jet warbird, Kemble, Kemble Airfield, KM, Lloyd Bridges, Midge, No 4 FTS, Postmaster, RAF, RAF Flying Training School, RAF Kemble, RAF Scampton, RAF St Athan, Red Arrows, Royal Air Force, runway, signal square, South Wales, twinkle roll, US Navy, W E W Petter, Yelowjacks
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- Folland Gnat T.1
Kemble Airfield has many interesting residents. The local aviation company, Delta Jets, is better known for it’s fleet of Hawker Hunters, but it also owns this Hawker Siddeley Gnat T.1, XP502. Currently, the Gnat is located on the old airfield ’signal square’ , a relic of the early days of flying, when a pilot would join the circuit overhead, and look down at the square, to see which runway was in use (shown by means of black ‘dumbell’ markers) and even confirm WHERE he was (the two-letter code for Kemble, KM, is still there). XP502 is in spurious ‘Red Arrows’ markings, to commemorate the fact that Kemble was the home of the ‘Reds’ for nearly 15 years, from 1969 to 1983; the last four years of which had seen the Gnats supplanted by the BAe Hawk. Indeed, the Postmaster at nearby Cirencester still sometimes gets mail addressed to ‘The Red Arrows, RAF Kemble’ – it is carefully forwarded to their present home at RAF Scampton.
The feisty Fennec – a fiercer fox March 24, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, England, France, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, United States, aircraft.Tags: Aviation, Air Show, GVFWE, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, England, Hullavington, Museums, nose art, France, Wright R-1820 engine, 'warbird', Hurricane, French, Sud-Aviation, Imperial War Museum, Duxford, .50 calibre machinegun, Browning, Algerian civil war, Algeria, close-support aircraft, North Africa, COIN, T-6G, T-6G Texan, underwing gun pods, observer, North American Nomad, North American, T-28A, Trojan, USAF, primary trainers, St. Nazaire, R-1300, R-1300 Cyclone engine, R-1820-76B, Pac-Aero, Fennec, desert fox, T-28S, SNEB rockets, 87mm rockets, napalm containers, 'iron' bombs, light strike unit, Escadrilles d'Aviation Legere d'Appui, EALA, 7/72 'Fennec', Armee de L'Air, Haitian Air Force, Radial Revelation Inc, Wilmington, Delaware, The Aircraft Restoration Company, 'Little Rascal', Metropolitan France, Mirage IIIC, air exercise 'Carte Blanche', European, Haiti, Dassault Mirage IIIC, Dassault, 51-7545, hardpoints, armour protection, radio gear
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North American T-28S Fennec
In the late 1950s, with war raging in Algeria, French forces needed a close-support aircraft urgently. Their light strike aircraft being used in North Africa (in what would now be called a COIN role) included large numbers of the T-6G Texan. This aircraft had been upgraded, fitted with underwing gun pods and thrown into the fray. Standard French operating procedure was to use a pilot and an observer in the Texan on missions. This left the aircraft slow, underarmed and very vulnerable.
Two North American Nomads (civilianized versions of the T-28A) were purchased by the French for test purposes, quickly followed by 146 ex-USAF T-28A Trojans. These primary trainers were handed over to Sud Aviation at St. Nazaire, who oversaw the rebuilding of the machines; this included fitting standard French radio gear, armour protection for the engine and crew, and additional underwing hardpoints. The aircraft lost their 800hp R-1300 Cyclone engines, and were upgraded with a Wright R-1820-76B putting out 1425hp (these were sourced through Pac-Aero, who had produced the Nomad conversions). The aircraft was named Fennec, after the swift, cunning desert fox of North Africa, and the designation changed to T-28S; first flight took place on 10 March 1960, with each aircraft conversion taking approximately two months.
The war in Algeria was being fought over rugged mountain terrain, as well as in urban settings, and the Fennec suited the task. As well as being faster, more powerful, with extra armour protecting the engine and crew, the armament fit included a mix of .50 calibre Browning machine pods, SNEB rocket packs, 87mm rockets, napalm containers and ‘iron’ bombs.
The Fennec seen here is based at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, and is one of only two T-28 aircraft in the country. It was originally built by North American in 1951 (51-7545) as a T-28A, but was converted as the 119th Fennec. It carries the markings of one of the French light strike units (Escadrilles d’Aviation Legere d’Appui) EALA 7/72 ‘Fennec’ of the Armee de L’Air. Eventually, this example was disposed of to the Haitian Air Force, where it served until 1978. After a time on the US civil register, it was bought by Radial Revelation Inc, of Wilmington Delaware, and shipped to the UK, under management of The Aircraft Restoration Company.
This aircraft carries nose art, as ‘Little Rascal’, and the badge of 7/72, appropriately a fennec under the moon, under the cockpit. This feisty fox has been described as ‘a poor man’s Hurricane’; indeed, when the Fennecs were withdrawn to Metropolitan France after the Algerian War was over in 1962, they were issued to training and secondline defence units, and it is a matter of record that a Fennec claimed a ‘kill’ on an ‘opposing’ Dassault Mirage IIIC during air exercise ‘Carte Blanche’ in 1963!
‘Little Rascal’ is a fine performer on the European air show scene, and is shown here parked in the warbirds section at the GVFWE, Hullavington. A splendid conversion of an already successful type.
A faster dragon………… February 20, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, RAF, Royal Air Force, Second World War, aircraft.Tags: 'Valkyrie', 'warbird', 621 VGS, air ambulance, Air Atlantique, Air Atlantique Historic Flight, Air Show, aircraft, airliner, Aviation, Brush Coachworks, communications aircraft, crew trainers, Culham, De Havilland, De Havilland Major Six engine, DH 80A, DH 84 Dragon, DH 89A Dragon Rapide, DH Gipsy Queen 3 engine, Dominie T.1, Dragon Rapide, Dragon Six, Duxford, Edward Hillman, Fairey Reed propeller, G-ATGM, glider, GVFWE, hangar, HMS Hornbill, Hullavington, Imperial War Museum, Iraq, Iraq Transport Company, Jordan, JY-ACL, Leicestershire, light bomber, Lithuania, Loughborough, Mike Russell, NF875, Oxfordshire, Parachute Regiment, Puss Moth, RAF, RNAS Culham, Royal Air Force, Royal Naval Air Station, Royal Navy, Russavia, scheduled airline, Second World War, Spanish Civil War, Viking T Mk 1, Volunteer Gliding Squadron, Wiltshire, WW2
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- A faster dragon…..
Edward Hillman had built a economical charter and scheduled airline business using the safe, affordable De Havilland DeH 84 Dragon – the Dragon had arisen because Hillman’s DeH 80A Puss Moth wasn’t big enough, and he negotiated with the company for a ‘twin-engined Puss Moth’. What he needed now, in the late 1930s was a ‘faster Dragon’. Enter the Dragon Six (sometimes called the Dragon Rapide, and later just Rapide) with its Gipsy Major 6 engines of 200hp, and capable of carrying eight passengers, it was an instant success in the civil market. There was military interest too, with light bomber varients being used during the Spanish Civil War, and sold to smaller nations such as Lithuania. The Royal Air Force needed radio and crew trainers, as well as communications and air ambulance machines. The Dragon Rapide put on ‘warpaint’ and became the Dominie T.1, the vast majority of them being built by Brush Coachworks, at Loughborough in Leicestershire. G-AGTM was one of these, built in 1944 and originally bearing the RAF serial NF875.
Spanish? German? Sperman?? Another aviation mash-up….. February 7, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, Second World War, aircraft.Tags: 'warbird', 1/JG54, A/B Flugschule, aerobatic championships, aircraft, Anders Anderson, biplane, Brazil, Bu 131, Bu 131E, Bucker, Bucker Flugzeugbau GmbH, CASA, CASA 1-131E, CASA 1-131E Series 2000, Chile, Czechoslovakia, ENMA Tigre engine, Finland, Geschwader, GVFWE, Hirth HM 504A-2 engine, Hirth HM 60R engine, Hullavington, Hungary, Jagdgeschwader, Japan, Jungmann, lubrication system, Luftsportverband, Luftwaffe, Magister, nuisance raider, Po-2, Polikarpov, RAF, Red Army, rudder, Rumania, Russian Front, Second World War, Spain, Spanish, Spanish Air Force, Swedish, WW2, Yak, Yugoslavia, Zlin
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- Bucker Jungmann
When the fledgling Luftwaffe needed a primary trainer with aerobatic capability, it chose the new firm of Bucker Flugzeugbau GmbH and its Swedish chief designer, Anders Anderson, to build it. What emerged was a supremely agile biplane, with sharply raked wings. Thus the first Bu 131 Jungmann was born.
100 and counting – so here is a WW2 classic to celebrate with! January 29, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, RAF, Royal Air Force, Second World War, aircraft.Tags: 'Maggie', 'squadron hack', 'warbird', 1940, 74 Sqn, Air Schools Ltd, Al Deere, Ankara, Anopheles mosquito, Anopheles sacharovi, atomisers, Battle of Britain, British Midland Airways, Burnaston, Calais, Calais Mark, DDT, DDT tank, Derby, DSO, Elementary Flying School, Flt Lt James Leathart, Gipsy Major engine, Hawk Trainer III, Hullavington, Hurricane, Magister, Me109, Miles, Miles Hawk Trainer, Miles M-14A, mosquito, pump, RAF, Royal Air Force, Second World War, Spitfire, Spitfire Mk1, T.H.K Ucak Fabrikasi, Turkey, Turkish Air Force, Turkish Air League, Turkish Air League Schools, Turkish Ministry of Hygiene, WW2
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Miles Magister
Amazingly, I seem to have been around the circuit 100 times now – this is my 100th post – and so I could hardly be described as being on short finals anymore. Perhaps I should rename this thing ‘circuits and bumps’? Anyway, to mark this semi-auspicious landmark, I have chosen something used for ‘circuits and bumps’, the beautiful Miles M-14A Magister (ex Miles Hawk Trainer III). Developed from the Miles Trainer, and Miles Hawk Major (both used by the Royal Air Force), this handsome aircraft was used in numbers by the RAF from 1937, and was an ideal ‘lead-in’ to the world of the Hurricane and Spitfire, aircraft which many of their pilots would soon use in the Battle of Britain. Over 1,200 Magisters had been built by the time British production finally ceased in 1941.
As well as use their use by 16 Elementary Flying Schools, some Magisters were issued directly to fighter units as ’squadron hacks’. Indeed, one of these ‘Maggies’ was used to perform a most daring feat on 23 May 1940, when then-Flt Lt James Leathart of 74 Sqn, landed at Calais Mark airfield to pick up an officer who had been shot down, whilst his escort of Spitfire Mk1s fought off 12 attacking Me109s (the soon-to-be legendary Al Deere making his first kills in this combat). Flt Lt Leathart got clean away, after picking up the downed officer. For this amazing piece of flying he was awarded the DSO.
This ‘Maggie’ is one of the many converted after the Second World War for the civilian market, where they were known as the Hawk Trainer III (along with those built for civilian and non-RAF users). Indeed, there is a chance that I might have seen this actual aircraft when it was with Air Schools Ltd (the forerunner of British Midland Airways) at Burnaston, Derby from 1953 to 1958. Eventually extensively rebuilt as a Magister, this superb example of the breed, originally built in 1941, is seen here taxying at Hullavington during the GVFWE, its 130 hp De Havilland Gipsy Major 1 engine barely ticking over. This particular aircraft contains major components from at least two machines, and you have to admire the immense effort that went into the restoration to flying condition.
A little-known piece of Miles history is the production of Magisters in Turkey. The Turkish Air League founded a factory near Ankara, the T.H.K. Ucak Fabrikasi, which by 1949 was employing 1,200 people. Amongst other things, it was still producing Magisters under licence, as well as undertaking the overhaul and repair of their Gipsy Major engines. A total of one hundred Magisters were built for the Air League Schools and the Turkish Air Force. In 1946 T.H.K. were asked to produce a special version of the Maggie capable of spraying DDT. The front cockpit was faired over, and the area formerly occupied by the seat was fitted with a tank, pulverizer, pump and atomisers. These aircraft were operated under the direction of the Turkish Ministry of Hygiene, who waged a campaign against a particular mosquito species Anopheles sacharovi (the Anophelid which is the principal vector for malaria in that region). I dare say that this is the ONLY time a Magister fought a Mosquito – and won!
Silver bullet! January 28, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, Second World War, aircraft.Tags: 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', 'warbird', aircraft, Ar96, Argus AS 410-A2 engine, Aviation, Fw189, German aircraft, GVFWE, Hullavington, inverted V-12 engine, Luftwaffe, Me109, P2, Pilatus, Second World War, Swiss Air Force, synchronized machine gun, trainer, VE Day
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- Pilatus P2
The Second World War in Europe was winding rapidly down, when the Swiss aviation concern,Pilatus, rolled out a prototype of their new trainer – the first flight coming on 27th April 1945, not long before VE Day. Designed to be produced as quickly and economically as possible, the Swiss company used as many components from their German aircraft stocks as possible. The tailwheel, some canopy components and the main undercarriage and fairings were from the early model Me109s the Swiss had bought from Messerschmitt. The engine was an air-cooled inverted V-12 Argus AS 410 of some 485hp, as used in such Luftwaffe aircraft as the Focke-Wulf Fw189 and the Arado Ar96 trainer.
Percival Prentice vs De H Chipmunk…and the winner is… January 24, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, British Isles, RAF, Royal Air Force, aircraft.Tags: 'warbird', ab initio trainer, aircraft, Aviation, Aviation Traders Ltd, Chipmunk, Coventry, De Havilland, Freddy Laker, Gipsy Queen engine, L hangar, Percival, Percival Prentice, RAF, Royal Air Force
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Percival Prentice T.1
The Percival Prentice T.I was a direct contemporary of the De H Chipmunk in RAF service. Both of them were used as ab initio trainers, but there really was no contest, in many respects. The Prentice first flew in 1946, entering service in 1947, but all three hundred plus aircraft were withdrawn by 1953. Many of these aircraft were bought by Aviation Traders Ltd (the brainchild of Freddie Laker) and an attempt was made to convert them to four-seat touring aircraft – they were not a success. Powered by a 251 hp De H Gipsy Queen Six engine, this relatively large aircraft had marginal performance under some conditions (especially ‘hot and high’). There was also a history of difficult handling, including poor spin recovery, hence the sharp dihedral of the wingtips.
VR259 is shown hangared in one of the L-type hangars at Hullavington, although it usually is to be found at Coventry, the home of Air Atlantique.
In contrast the ‘Chippie’ looks elegant and a picture of efficient design. There are only five Prentices on the British register – dozens and dozens of Chipmunks!
A beautiful Chipmunk
‘There I was, upside down, in cloud, on fire, nothing on the clock except the maker’s name, when suddenly….. December 2, 2008
Posted by shortfinals in 'warbird', Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend.Tags: 'warbird', Air Show, aircraft, Alvis Leonides engine, Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, GVFWE, Piston Provost, RAF, Royal Air Force
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Well, here we are, having fun.........
N.B. ALL images are copyright Ross Sharp ©
For many years, I have been volunteering at the Great Vintage Flying Weekend. It’s a bit of a long haul from New England, but well worth it. I meet many old friends, make new ones, and talk….and talk…(as some would say) on the public address system. I get to play a bit, too, as you can see.
