B-25: The FHCAM’s B-25J was built in Kansas City in the last days of 1944. It was one of 117 B-25s modified to carry a Hughes E1 fire control radar for training. The plane served with the Royal Canadian Air Force for ten years until it was sold as surplus in 1961.
Soon after, the plane was purchased by Cascade Drilling Company of Calgary and converted to a water-carrying “fire bomber.” In the mid-1990s, the B-25 was purchased by the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum and restored to its wartime configuration by Aero Trader in Chino, California.
P-51: This P-51 is a combat veteran with the Eighth Air Force’s 353rd Fighter Group. It was assigned to Captain Harrison “Bud” Tordoff, who flew the aircraft during many of his air-to-air combats, including the day he shot down a German Me 262 jet fighter.
After the war, the plane served in the Royal Swedish Air Force and was later sold to the Dominican Republic. The plane spent more than 30 years in the Caribbean, most likely flying again in combat. The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum acquired the aircraft in 1998.
Tordoff was reunited with his plane in the summer of 2003—the first time he had seen it since the end of the war. This Mustang is restored to be almost exactly the same as it was in 1945.
Mosquito: The FHCAM’s Mosquito was built in Leavesden, England, as a training aircraft in 1945. The plane was among the last of the type to be retired from RAF service in 1963. Turned over to the Imperial War Museum (IWM), the Mosquito appeared in the 1964 film 633 Squadron.
After filming, the plane was displayed in an IWM facility until 1988. The plane was traded to the FHCAM in 2003 and sent to Avspecs Ltd. In New Zealand for restoration to flight status. It returned to the skies in late 2016. While the plane retains some aspects of a trainer, additions were made to give the Mosquito the appearance of a wartime FB.Mk.VI fighter-bomber.
Spitfire: This airplane was allocated to the Royal Air Force (RAF) No. 312 Squadron (a Czech unit) on September 11, 1942. Squadron Leader Tomas Vybiral was piloting this plane when he led his squadron on a daring wave-top raid against enemy shipping at St. Peter Port, Guernsey. On that day, his plane was hit by flak just behind the cockpit, narrowly missing Vybiral. After extensive repairs, the Spitfire served with other RAF units during the war.
The RAF used the plane as an instructional airframe, gate guard, and display aircraft after World War II. It was classified as scrap and sold to a museum in Canada in 1964. The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum purchased the plane in 1999.
Bf 109E-3: This Bf 109 was assigned to Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) 51 and piloted by Eduard Hemmerling, a veteran of combat in France. On July 29, 1940, during an air battle over Dover, Hemmerling earned his third victory in combat. But his own aircraft was mortally wounded, and Hemmerling turned toward home. His failing airplane crashed off the coast of Cap Blanc Nez, killing the 27-year-old pilot.
In 1988, a man walking on the beach near Calais noticed a piece of metal sticking out of the sand—the tip of this plane’s wing. The Bf 109 was excavated and later moved to England for reconstruction and restoration. The plane was added to the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in 2007.
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