Warbird Information Exchange

The Fairy Firefly is one of my all-time favorite aircraft. Thought I'd never see one fly after the crash at Duxford in '03. Imagine my surprise when I look up at the PoF airshow and see what I first thought was just another Mustang. It got closer and my little heart went THUMP...THUMP...THUMP. I couldn't believe it. We went to where it was parked and met Capt. Eddie. Sorry to say, no amount of groveling and kow-towing got me a ride in the back seat.
That makes me 0 for 2 at Chino.



Mudge the shameless

Well if ever in Ontario maybe see the folks at the Canadian Warplane Heritage, I think they give rides in their Firefly for a little $$

Dave C

Eddie is supposed to bring his to Willow Run this August. Now if we can just coax CWH into bringing theirs, we can have the first Firefly formation to be seen in quite a few years.

August

RAN one is due to fly again fairly soon at Nowra australia -

I am not being morbid here but what happened to the RN FAA crashed wreckage which I think is recoverable but being not mentioned until the emotion eases .....

Regards
John p

_________________
Air Vice Marshall
Sunshine State Air Farce

Nothing heard about possible rebuilding

Thought the wreckage was scrapped, MOD policy and familes wishes IIRC......
May be wrong though...

Was indeed discussed on Key Historical forum but the aircraft belonged to the Royal Navy (or in other words the taxpayers)

Hi Mudge et al--

During one of the interviews with LCdr John Beattie on the FAAHF's Fury video, he makes mention of the fact that the Royal Navy as a matter of policy will not reuse material from a crashed aircraft in a rebuild to fly.

However that doesn't bear on parts released by the MoD after a crash; else there wouldn't be that beautiful T.20 Fury flying now in California! Ironically of course Mr Greenhill's Fury is based upon T.20 WG655, the crashed "star" of that very same FAAHF video.

I do recall seeing a couple pix of the Firefly wreck online (way earlier than I would've expected to see such--iirc it was controversial at the time) and from those pix not much of the airframe was remotely intact. Realistically, I can't see someone taking the trouble to try reconstituting WB271 when other Mk.6 projects, far more complete (and less tragic), have been on the market for years. The Firefly seems to share with a few other quite charismatic Warbird types (Ventura, for instance; in some senses the Wildcat, and even my personal favourite the Fury) an unaccountable "dark horse" quality in the market. (Which is great if you do reach the point of entering the market and are keen on one of those types!)

Hadn't heard anything about CWH carrying passengers in WH632, but they have lately been expanding the scope of that activity to include other types than the Harvard and Stearman (most notably the Lanc, of course). Will have to ask about that next time I'm at the Hope...

Cheers

S.

Too bad Mudge, you finally find one that tickles yer fancy you can fit in...but they can't fit you in!
Anyone know the status of WD840? I last saw it ....complete but in pieces at LSFM around 2000-2001..maybe 02.
The registry has it as, in storage, but I'd heard it was traded off a few years back. Any straight news?

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

I was more thinking about the use of components in other rebuilds particularly static and the population of potentially airworthy late models has shrunken tragically over the years despite a couple being around there used to be a few more.

It would be still more unfortunate if this airframe was just scrapped without recourse to at least reclaimation of useful components but I do understand the sensibilities of those concerned which is why I hope it is tucked in a shed somewhere for a few more years

Kind regards
John P

_________________
Air Vice Marshall
Sunshine State Air Farce

I wonder about such sensibilities of the surviving family members clashing with the
desires of the deceased. I can't imagine anyone who loves the restoration and joy of display
of antique machinery wishing the object of their passion cease to exist upon their own passing.

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

airnutz
I agree however we will never know in this case - but a disclaimer / notice of intent prior to flying these things would clarify the situation somewhat

However ultimately in any case I cannot see what the destruction of an inanimate object such as an aircraft achieves - I am as I said sensitive to the feelings of the relatives but there are other factors to be considered like the public good. Perhaps just storing the aircraft remains for an appropriate length of time in sensitive cases is the best compromise. If asked as a taxpayer if I wanted a public assett destroyed because of tragic circumstances then I would say no even if it was me involved.

On a happier note I would love to see an update on the current status of the worlds population of Fireflies which thanks to the Ethopian discoveries seems to be burgoning. Anybody have any idea what happened to the machines which were due to go to AveSpecs in NZ ?

Kind regards
John P

_________________
Air Vice Marshall
Sunshine State Air Farce

Dave...I'm still 0 for 2. CWH says, "No chance, Sundance".

Mudge the hitless

Mudge,

Sorry to hear about your size dilemma...I kind of thought you'd be in trouble!

Tell you what, you help us raise the $600,000 US dollars we need to get the Red Tail C model Mustang back up in the air and I will make sure you get the ride of your life in her...

John
CC CAF P-51C

John,
$600,000? Sorry, can't handle that. It would only leave me $166,000 in the bank.

Mudge the strapped