Warbird Information Exchange

Maybe we'll start to see some of these rare relics start to pop up in N and S Africa.

Isnt there anyone in the UK that could fly the Lizzie and give schooling etc to the cwh pilots? John Romain comes to mind but I think he lives in the US now??

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Cheers,
Peter

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I wondered that too.

WK et al--

Nice to see a thread about the local museum...Their open-house event BTW is this coming weekend, with a couple high-profile visiting aircraft slated.

Re the Hurricane--I clean forgot about the Tom Dietrich/Tiger Boys project, very longterm and under-the-radar at Guelph. I've only ever seen the engine for that, which iirc was a Merlin III...possibly ex-Battle? Anyway, thanx for the clarification on that. Back in the all-too-brief Carey Moore days locally, Carey's emerging outfit at Waterloo was going to collaborate with Tom and crew at Guelph on that rebuild, but of course all that ended with the Fury crash that killed Carey at Sarnia six years ago.

Re the Lizzie, I'd been thinking of John Romain in that context too, but have never heard anything one way or the other about that, so did not suggest it. Had the pleasure of watching Mr Romain fly the Russell Group Me109E last Sunday at Niagara South. (Hurricanes, plural, flying locally are surprise enough...who would have conceived of a Messerschmitt on the circuit here! Thanks, Mr Disney...)

Re Geneseo, CWH's Mitchell and Expeditor are slated to be at HAG's airshow next month. As has been said on this thread there have been some changes at CWH that seem to be resulting in more show apperances for the fleet than had latterly been the case. And I don't think the interesting news from the Hope is finished yet, either.

Cheers

S.

It's really been great seeing the CWH birds outside of Hamilton more often as of late. It seemed to be a 9-10 year period where they just about stopped going to airshows altogether. I remember years when almost their entire airworthy fleet was at the Wings of Eagles show. I hope to see this current trend of flying continue into the future.

I'm not sure where you got that one from, Peter.

I've always liked the idea of "Wings" of museums. The only groups that I’ve seen do this is the Planes of Fame and the C.A.F.

I've always fancied the idea of (What if the CWH started a small satellite group at Geneso or another airfield?)

A large group with many flyable aircraft, spaced out over various smaller factions will be able to fly a much greater amount of aircraft. But of course there is the downfall. Then you don’t have the entire collection under one roof.

So he still lives in the UK then?

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Cheers,
Peter

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If I did know I'd not discuss it on an internet forum. It's his business.

John is an experienced Lysander pilot, and an obvious choice, but he's not current. The only airworthy Lysander in the world at present is Shuttleworth's, and the team there, led by Andy Sephton are current, and in most cases trained and experienced test pilots as well.

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

I'd hope that the CWH are somewhat circumspect with their choice of test pilot for the Lysander. I seem to remember their Firefly was badly damaged in a take-off accident soon after restoration.

Mike, I might be wrong here, but I believe the crash was more attributed to an asymetrical flap situation instead of a pilot problem.

Ryan/Mike--

Yes, that and the fact that the resulting sideways off-runway excursion caused C-GBDG to run into a backhoe parked in the infield. Fortunately the pilot was OK.

That incident, BTW, was the luckiest thing that ever happened to that Firefly. Bear in mind that that was 1992. Had she come home to Mt.Hope soon afterward as originally planned...there is little doubt where she would have been located, under offseason maintenance after her first (albeit partial) airshow season, early on the morning of the following February 15. She'd have been in bits in the north bay of Hgr#3. On fire. And she would thus now be nonexistent...Sometimes there really is a silver lining! (And yes, she usually is flown solo, by Keith Houston. She's not a dual-control bird anyway, but occasionally another CWHer occupies the aft compartment.)

S.

Steve,

Did the Hurricane's RR Merlin survive the Hangar Fire....I think I read a few yrs back that it was off the aircraft for? when the fire destroyed the Hurricane...

And if it did survive....where is it now?

Andrew

Wow sorry i asked...

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Cheers,
Peter

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Sorry, Peter, it's not meant to be rude, but it's a bit easy on forums like this to start discussing people's private life without realising it's 'private'. Just my opinion. Don't take the comment amiss, please.

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com