Sea Fury Riff Raff in Iceland and then to the Czech Republic

[baldursveins]

On Monday Hawker Sea Fury NX62143, Riff Raff landed at Reykjavík Airport on the way from the USA. The German ferry pilot said that it was on its way to the Czech Republic, but was not willing to comment any more on that. Here are som photos from the landing and startup plus takeoff on tuesday morning.
Photo 1. A little bounce after touchdown.

Photo 2. A lot of smoke comes out of the 3350 on startup.

Photo 3. Made a long easy takeoff run at medium power.

Photo 4. Came round after a right turn and did a knife edge pass of the field.

Photo 5. And finally turned back and came roaring down runway 19 before he left for Egilsstadir in the east of Iceland and then over to Norway.

Enjoy.

[JohnTerrell]

Beautiful photos, thank you for sharing them! I wonder if the new owner of Riff Raff is also the same new owner of the P-51D Excalibur (also going to the Czech Republic).

[happymeal]

Excalibur is already in Czech rep. Riff Raff is going to the same airfield.

[kalamazookid]

That is such a badass Sea Fury. I was lucky enough to see this one at a large number of local shows. They're going to enjoy this one, wherever it's going.

[Fishing]

Great photos Baldur. Always enjoy seeing photos from Reykjavik.

[corsair166b]

Kudos to that pilot...if he's got the guts to fly a single engined warbird over the atlantic to the Czech republic, more power to him....no spare tanks, nothing....was there an escort plane? Would'nt have been my choice.....that's some darn cold stuff down there, and they may never find you....

I always thought the Sea Fury with the 3350 engine in it was kind of America's way at getting back at the British for sticking the Merlin in the Mustang....two great planes that did'nt fully realize their potential until another country got ahold of it and tweaked it a bit. While the Bristol Centaurus engine worked fine in the Sea Fury during the Korean war, it (the airframe) REALLY reached its zenith as a Reno racer and warbird aircraft after the 3350 was put in it and it was easier to work on. I guess they both worked out in the end.

Mark

Last edited by corsair166b on Sun Sep 18, 2011 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Dave Smith]

Nice comment about the engine, Mark!

When I was a kid, I saw a formation of 16 Sea Furies fly over during a Battle of Britain airshow. Not only that, 14 Fireflies followed ...