Warbird Information Exchange

Hello,

My first post on the board, at last!
A bit of news concerning the Royal Navy Historic Flight (RNHF), based at RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset, UK

Today (Sept 13th) their FB.11 Sea Fury VR930, took to the air on a test flight, after a three year engine rebuild. The aircraft flew for 1hr 20 mins and no problems were reported.

This gives the UK an airworthy Sea Fury once more, and doubles the airworthy population in total present in this country.
John Bradshaw's gorgeous ex-Iraqi FB.10 has recently moved to Bournemouth and was reported to have flown a couple of weeks ago.

Mark

Mark

Great news, let's hope the RNHF has turned the corner with its run of bad luck recently...and particularly with the disaters they have had with Sea Furies in the past !

Dave

The RNHF haven't had the best of luck for the past 15 years, not just recently

I haven't seen it fly yet, but hopefully the wait will end later this week at Yeovilton!

Mark

Well you have to give them an A+ for persistence ! . IIRC one Sea Fury ended up in the Channel and one crash landed and argued with a tree..I think both pilots walked away ?. What became of the aircraft that crash landed...is this the one that is ready to go again now, or a different one [ could look up Warbirds Directory I suppose...but ..nah ] ?

Dave

Their first Sea Fury, FB11 TF956, was ditched in the sea after hydraulic/undercarriage problems (one up/one down). They reached the decision to ditch after two and a half hours of trying to get the aircraft in a landable state.

The second Fury, T.20 WG655 had a massive engine failure, but made a successful forced landing. Unfortunately the aircraft decided to turn towards two trees in the middle of the field. The resulting impact ripped the fuselage in half and tore both wings off. The two occupants were very lucky to escape serious injuries.
Parts of the aircraft are in the US and New Zealand being used for other Fury aircraft.

Their replacement Sea Fury was to be T.20 VZ345, but a survey before a restoration revealed major problems with the fuselage. This made a rebuild uneconomic to the Flight due to the huge costs involved.

VR930 is their fourth(!) Sea Fury, and was restored using VZ345 as spares.

Mark

Never any attempt to salvage it straight away, like the Corsair that did the same in the U.S. ?

Dave

I think the difference is that the Collings Corsair was ditched in a very controlled manner whereas the pilot of the RNHF Sea Fury was forced to use his parachute as a water-landing with one wheel down is obviously not an option. I guess that the way the aircraft came down means there will not have been a lot to salvage

Harm-Jan

Yes, ditching may not be the right word to describe its descent - it dived into the sea after the pilot had baled out.
The wreck was recovered but it no longer looked like a Fury

HTH,

M

It is my understanding that WG655 is being rebuilt to flying condition at Ione for Chuck Greenhill. Is the Fury at Ione actually WG655 or have major components from other aircraft been used with the id?

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Dan Johnson

From memory only and based on articles in the UK avaition magazines, I believe that there are components from WG655 spread around the US. Although Chuck Greenhill has most of them, I'm pretty sure that a section of the fuselage is stored elsewhere.

This could all be complete rubbish though. The best guy to ask would be Chuck himself to get the real answers

Now to remember that the next time I get a chance to talk to him. I have a tendancy to remember those kinds of questions in the car on the way home.

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Dan Johnson

Stringbag et al--

Great news re VR930, congrats to the FAAHF--especially with all they've been through lately. Long may this Fury fly.

The "both pilots walked away" statement about the two FAAHF Furies is amusing in a way, since it isn't technically true: both Furies were flown by the same gent, LCdr John Beattie, who was having an eventful couple seasons...! There's a good video put out years ago by FAAM, centring on the T.20 in its final season (1990), and including a rather wrenching "tour" of the remains of TF956 conducted by LCdr Beattie.

S.

Never saw a Sea Fury flying in my life. I am very happy to notice that I might get a good chance to see one in europe soon.

J.V.

It's great news. If you haven't seen a Sea Fury fly, you've missed out. As a warbird, it's No.1 fighter (not just my view - for piston fighter per buck in the US, it's unbeatable) and in my view it's No.1 fighter of all time. I've not seen a US engined machine in action, and I do prefer the 'original' engine, so major points to the RNHF for persitance. (Though I certainly support that people fly them with a different engine rather than leaving them sit there...)

I've just had some correspondance with the flight, and they may pull another rabbit out of the hat before the 2005 (NOT 2004) season's end. I'm sure we all wish them well.

One of the all time great displays was Ray Hanna in the OFMCo Sea Fury and Stephen Grey in the Bearcat. Two great pilots in the pinnicle of piston technology - it just showed how close the two types were - and how much great pilots make the crucial difference!

Fly Navy!

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James K

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

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

The RNHF have also got an airworthy Sea Hawk again, their FGA.6 WV908 was test flown on Wednesday!

Both the Hawk and Fury will be displaying at Yeovilton and Biggin this weekend, subject to the usuals.