Warbird Information Exchange

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Ray Middleton and crew putting the legs under the CAF's Swordfish......






Gary

I don't see this swordfish in the registry, is it airworthy?

Sadly, no. It was going to be restored to fly, but it was decided to just make it a static display. I must say though, it was VERY nicely done and looks fantastic!

Gary

It does really look fantastic. Hats off to the people who have been working on it.

Cheers,

David

wasn't this recovered as a basket case from a farm field in canada about 10 years ago??

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

It came from the same place as the VWC Stringbag as did most the the surviving Swordfish... Ernie Simmons. He died in the late 60s and his collection was sold at auction near Tillsonburg, Ontario.

Mike

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Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

Not sure if this is a former Ernie Simmons airframe, but it probably is... that auction went off back in the early seventies. This aircraft was restored to a representative state for David Price some time ago (late 80's???). I believe that the CAF got it from his museum.

Cheers,
Richard

PS. It looks fantastic... congratulations all round!

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

...previously on display inside the Santa Monica (CA) Museum of Flying.

Sweet!

I love the overall finish and markings, really nice job. Is it marked up as one of the Taranto birds, or ???

cheers

greg v.

This plane was in storage for a while at the Az Wing of the CAF. To understand just how remarkable the job that Ray Middleton and his group at QG aviation (The same place Bill Greenwood has his Spit taken care of) did, you would have had to have seen it before. This airframe had extensive corrosion in virtually every nook and cranny. Several restoration groups came out to Arizona to look at the airframe and place bids for the rights to restore it to flying condition. I think everyone was well over a million which the CAF just didn't have so it was decided to allow QG to restore it to static condition due to their experience with British aircraft. It was definitely the right decision. I know somebody on this site has the by line of, "airframes destroyed the the term static restoration". Well, if the money was available, this plane could still be put in the air. I transported the wings and tail surfaces to QG and the transformation is remarkable. A beautiful job by everyone at QG!!!!!!

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The more I learn about aircraft, the more I realize I still have to learn.

If its one of Ernie Simmon's birds she probably spent most of the war as a trainer at No. 1 Naval Air Gunners School, Yarmouth Nova Scotia.
Check out "A School of Swordfish" on the VWoC site.

http://www.vintagewings.ca/page?s=63&lang=en-CA

Most of you will be familiar with Ernie Simmon's story if not see here:

http://www.spitcrazy.com/simmons-1.htm

Sad but interesting.

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“Try to fly in the middle of the air. The edges are filled with mountains and oceans and rocks and it’s much harder to fly there.”

Glad to see the bird in one piece. I suspect we will see it fly some day.

August

I think the UK 'Roundel Police' will have a few comments on this one.

PeterA

In all cases....

Looks better than all the times I have seen it hanging from the ceiling "wingless" in CA.

Just my 2 Canadian cents

Neee Nawwww Neee Nawww......screeeeeech!!!! Roundel Police!

Can someone PLEASE explain why the roundel has been applied with those proportions??

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http://www.royalnavyhistoricflight.org.uk