Robert "Bob" Diemert has passed away

[kenair]

Manitoba warbird legend Bob Diemert passed away yesterday at his home at Carman Manitoba, a link to the FB group on Diemert's warbirds. Probably best known for his Hawker Hurricane that flew in the Battle of Britain movie and his rescue of Japanese warbird from the jungle of New Guinea

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1586507791506826

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Hurricane engine run 1963.jpg (47.48 KiB) Viewed 5337 times

[quemerford]

Bob we owe you a debt of gratitude: you'll never be forgotten.

[JohnB]

Can anyone update us on his Zero restoration?

He is also remembered for his ultra low cost Defender attack aircraft. He had the idea to make dozens (hundreds?) of aircraft for the cost of one more capable aircraft to counter large Soviet armor units in Europe.
But as others have pointed out, a cheap "throw away" attack aircraft is predicated on having a lot of throw away pilots.

For those of you that haven't seen it, the National Film Board of Canada documentary, The Defender is worth seeing....
A well known part of Canadian aviation history.
RIP.

[Hooligan2]

This one John?

https://youtu.be/ZvbQMqd0kEY?si=9l2g_f7QX9Kgmpqz

[JohnB]

Yes.

[Randy Haskin]

Can anyone update us on his Zero restoration?

Sitting in the museum on Ford Island.

[Randy Wilson]

Randy Haskin is correct. To the best of my knowledge and logbooks, the last flight of the CAF A6M2 N58245 was when I flew it from MHV to CMA for an annual on 2 September 1997 on a ferry permit. Why it was at MHV is another story. Issues arising from the inspection ended up in the aircraft needing significant funding to be made airworthy again. That not coming, it was sold sometime later as a static aircraft. I'd rather not go into further details. My first flight in it as a self-checkout was on 5 June 1992 when I was also flying the CAF FM-2 N681S. Just FYI, if interested.

Randy

[JohnH]

Actually it's pretty well known , there was so much wrong w that Zero and correcting everything would have been a nightmare , that's why it needed so much funding, and why it was sold.
Just go up to Steve Hinton or anyone in the warbird restoration industry and say the name Bob Diemert and the word " restoration" and take a note of the look on their face after .
The Val Planes of Fame got from Bob? Where do we start? The duct tape?
God bless ya Bob , but , man oh man.

[k5083]

A true character. What always impressed me most about Diemert was not even his McGyver mechanical skills, but the charisma with which he was able to persuade people to help with his projects and to buy or trade for his airplanes. He had that incredible blend of true believer and con artist about him. Randy and anyone else who swung a pair big enough to fly in anything he touched, have my respect. Anyway, his capers saved some rare airplanes, some of which even morphed into good airplanes. If there wasn't a real Bob Diemert in the warbird movement, we would have had to make one up. I'm glad he bucked the odds and lived a long full life.

August

[Hooligan2]

A true character. What always impressed me most about Diemert was not even his McGyver mechanical skills, but the charisma with which he was able to persuade people to help with his projects and to buy or trade for his airplanes. He had that incredible blend of true believer and con artist about him. Randy and anyone else who swung a pair big enough to fly in anything he touched, have my respect. Anyway, his capers saved some rare airplanes, some of which even morphed into good airplanes. If there wasn't a real Bob Diemert in the warbird movement, we would have had to make one up. I'm glad he bucked the odds and lived a long full life.

August

I think his Hurricane which flew in the Battle of Britain film then joined the Strathallan Collection in Scotland - Harrier/Hawk test pilot Duncan Simpson did the test flying on it and found it flew horribly compared to the Hawker Siddeley owned aeroplane he was used to and which they had donated to the Battle of Britain flight; roll control was poor so they borrowed a set of ailerons from the Shuttleworth Collection and found the "home brew" ailerons were incorrectly profiled. A new set was made! Sadly the Hurricane was later lost in the fire at the Canadian Warplane Heritage's base.

[Dan Jones]

A true character. What always impressed me most about Diemert was not even his McGyver mechanical skills, but the charisma with which he was able to persuade people to help with his projects and to buy or trade for his airplanes. He had that incredible blend of true believer and con artist about him. Randy and anyone else who swung a pair big enough to fly in anything he touched, have my respect. Anyway, his capers saved some rare airplanes, some of which even morphed into good airplanes. If there wasn't a real Bob Diemert in the warbird movement, we would have had to make one up. I'm glad he bucked the odds and lived a long full life.

August

I think his Hurricane which flew in the Battle of Britain film then joined the Strathallan Collection in Scotland - Harrier/Hawk test pilot Duncan Simpson did the test flying on it and found it flew horribly compared to the Hawker Siddeley owned aeroplane he was used to and which they had donated to the Battle of Britain flight; roll control was poor so they borrowed a set of ailerons from the Shuttleworth Collection and found the "home brew" ailerons were incorrectly profiled. A new set was made! Sadly the Hurricane was later lost in the fire at the Canadian Warplane Heritage's base.

I think I remember something about the original ailerons on it being modified Harvard ailerons?

[Stoney]

I thought his Zero was at the Marine Corps museum at VA. If not his, who's?

[Dan Jones]

I thought his Zero was at the Marine Corps museum at VA. If not his, who's?

Was there not two of them? I think they are both his airplanes.

[Sopwith]

Never met him but what a character. People like him make the world a much more colourful place.

[Hooligan2]

I think I remember something about the original ailerons on it being modified Harvard ailerons?

May well have been the case! Long time since I read Simpson's article about it - also vaguely recall something about unorthodox "ground adjustable" trim tabs; might have been lengths of rope glued along the trailing edges. Or was that another aircraft.... Think the leading edge of the Hawker ailerons helped to balance them or something; as I say, it's been a few years since I read the article which was written around 1975. Wonder who flew it during the filming?