A Visit to Ultimate Aviation and Forgotten Warbirds

[k5083]

Last week I had a very enjoyable visit with Ultimate Aviation in Utah.

Ultimate aviation is a restoration and maintenance facility located in Brigham City and Ogden, Utah, specializing in jet warbirds, especially British and other non-U.S. built jets. I had seen a lot of their work at various airshows, most notably the Meteor at Oshkosh this July, and had some spare time from a conference in Salt Lake City, so I decided to go have a look.

Unbeknownst to me, Ultimate Aviation has opened a sort of museum branch, called Forgotten Warbirds, at its main Brigham City location, and has a welcome attitude to visitors. When I drop in on restoration shops, I'm generally happy to get a peek inside without being chased off the premises by rent-a-cops or German Shepherds. So imagine my delight to be greeted by the proprietor and walked around to look at all the aircraft and projects in the shop. There isn't much there in the way of museum trappings - not even a sign! - but for sure, you get the personal treatment.

The airport at Brigham City, right off I-15 about an hour north of Salt Lake City and a half hour from the Hill Aerospace Museum (making it easy to visit both in a day, as I did) is picturesque, sandwiched between the wildlife refuge at the north end of Great Salt Lake and some imposing mountains to the east. Ultimate/FW occupies one of the northernmost of the row of hangars along the west side of the single, almost north/south (17/35) runway. The aircraft at the facility tend to change as things come in and out for maintenance and as projects get acquired and completed, but here is a snapshot of one day in August 2018.

Vampire T.55 BW-385 N172LA is the resident Vampire at Ultimate. Although painted in the colors of Switzerland, which did use the Vampire T.55, this one's military service actually was with the Indian Air Force, which is where it got its BY-385 serial. This plane has raced at Reno wearing race number 44, previously in RAF camouflage, more recently in this black Swiss scheme.



In for maintenance was this BAC Strikemaster, N2146J, wearing South Vietnamese markings and the number 18420. As far as I know, the Vietnamese never operated the Strikemaster. This plane is, or was, owned by Dragon Aviation, which at various times has owned a number of Strikemasters painted with ridiculous dragon faces and has demonstrated them at airshows. It is not clear to me whether they are still in business.



Also in the shop was Aero L-29 N129MR, race 55.



And there was Sea Venom WZ944, which I warmly remember seeing at Oshkosh several years ago.  I was told that she might show up at Oshkosh again in the near future!



Among the projects in the shop is this Soko Galeb, N143SG. Remember when there was a bunch of these around?



There was also this L-29. This looks to me like N37KF, "Raju Grace," which had a 2011 incident in which the mount holding its uprated racing engine failed, causing the engine to melt parts of the rear fuselage - luckily on landing rollout rather than in the air.



On the more sedate side, Ultimate hosts this very nice L-5.



Time for a look outside at some projects. Out back, recently retrieved from Colorado, were two Venoms. The one with RAF roundels is N402DM, ex Swiss J-1730, which I remember seeing in the 1980s (first photo). I didn't realize it had fallen on hard times, and never heard of a major incident involving it, but it clearly will need some major work before it flies again.





Also on site were bits of Venom J-1527, ex N21MJ "Swiss Miss," which in 2008 had a forced landing and subsequent fire that consumed most of the fuselage.



Here is some of the cool stuff in the shop.  Tail booms from Venoms J-1527 and J-1730, newly molded canopy parts behind them to the left, and the molding form to the right.



Then there was this Strikemaster Mk.83, ex Botswana Defence Force. Botswana inherited its Strikemasters from Kuwait, their previous users. This plane suffered a gear collapse and is being used as a parts source, but I'm glad I got to see it relatively intact. I'm pretty sure I've never seen an airframe with original Botswana military paint before.



Also out back was a Mig-15UTI project, and I was told there are more MiGs coming.



As you can see, the place is well worth a visit. Thanks to John Hammans for the warm welcome and for showing me around.

Ultimate Aviation is on the web here.

Forgotten Warbirds has a Facebook page here and is listed here on Gluseum, a site for finding museums in any locale you are visiting.

August

[DH82EH]

Nice post August.
Thanks.

I always enjoy your input.

Andy

[k5083]

My pleasure! Stay tuned for my update on the Hill museum.

August

[Zac Yates]

A great post and a fascinating bunch of aircraft and projects. Thank you for bringing it to our attention!

I'd quite like to see the Botswana Blunty return to the sky in its original colours.

[GRNDP51]

Also in the shop was Aero L-29 N129MR, race 55.

Did they swap a JT15 in? Gonna need it for this year

[Tony C]

Nice pictures but a quick question regarding the Venom, the hatch on the nose, is it hinged at the top or on the leading edge?

Don't think that I've ever seen one open before!

[k5083]

On the top. You can see both the left and right side ones open in this pic from the web.



August