Warbird Information Exchange

The B-25, now registered as N25JZ, was sold to Justin Zabel (ACV Group) early last year, and over the course of the past year has been brought up to ferrying condition for this recent flight to Marana, Arizona, where it will now be undergoing a full restoration program before it returns to the air. Its been good to know it will be finally receiving the attention it deserves. The same owner also early last year acquired the P-51D 44-84390 "Section Eight" (which last year was vinyl-wrapped to appear in its retro Bardahl Special markings), the TBM-3 Avenger BuNo.85794, and most recently the "Skyblazers" F-86F from Doug Matthews.

Warren Pietsch's P-51C Mustang "Thunderbird", a project completed by AirCorps Aviation, had its first flight today, piloted by Bernie Vasquez.

It is fantastic to see it airborne again! I had been greatly anticipating its return to flight, having noticed that it had been receiving more attention as of the past few months. Such a superb aircraft, in looks, flight qualities, performance, sound, etc.

Speaking of Gloster Gladiators, Retro Track & Air have been making significant progress on the restoration of N5719, with the expectation that it may be completed/flying as soon as the next year or two.

Eberhard Thiesen's Bf 109E-4 WkNr.1983, "Red 12", registered as D-FEML, was successfully test flown for the first time today at the Bonn-Hangelar Airport in Germany. The test pilot was well known English warbird pilot, Charlie Brown.

Dan Friedkin's (Comanche Fighters) Spitfire Mk.IX ML417 returned to flight on Tuesday, June 20th, at Duxford, England, piloted by John Romain. The aircraft was shipped from Chino to Duxford in early 2020, and over the past three years it underwent a detailed restoration by Historic Flying Ltd/Aircraft Restoration Company. Now freshly-restored, ML417 sports a more accurate depiction of its original wartime paint scheme, and the late (tall) rudder it had previously has been replaced with the earlier (smaller) rudder - the correct rudder type it had originally in WWII.

Lots of great news on first flights recently! Thanks for keeping this thread updated, John. It's a great resource.

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Matt

A couple warbird accidents in the past couple days:

Yesterday, July 6th, FM-2 Wildcat G-KINL was significantly damaged in a landing accident at Heveningham Hall in Suffolk, England, with the well-known pilot receiving serious injuries.
https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2023-07 ... o-air-show

Today, July 7th, the Historic Flight Foundation Spitfire Mk.IX SL633 was damaged as a result of a runway excursion during the landing rollout at Deer Park, Washington, due to a brake that locked up.
https://news.dpgazette.com/2023/07/airc ... 71IzZ2LQcs

Good news
https://www.facebook.com/reel/135101489633964

A couple of Mustang-related news items today:

The P-51D USAAF s/n 45-11518, now modified with the full TEMCO-style TF-51D extended dual-control cockpit, registered as G-CLNV and owned by W Air Collection in France, made its first post-restoration test flight today at Sywell Aerodrome in UK, where it had been undergoing restoration with Air Leasing. This Mustang, which originally served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force as NZ2427, had previously been restored and operated by Maurice Hammond for many years in the UK, painted in 353rd FG markings as "Janie", then registered as G-MSTG. It was significantly damaged in a landing accident in 2016, which resulted in the death of the aircraft's passenger and serious injuries to its owner/pilot, Maurice Hammond. The Mustang was sold to Graham Peacock in 2020, and it was moved to Air Leasing to begin restoration. The project was then sold to W Air Collection (Brice Ohayon) in 2021, which also owns/operates the Spitfire FR Mk.XIV RM927. Rebuilt in TF configuration, it has been painted in the black-tail color scheme of the 75th FS, 23rd FG, based in the China-Burma-India Theatre. The Mustang will be based at La Ferte Alais in France, making it the only airworthy Mustang based in France since the sale of "Nooky Booky IV" to Red Bull in 2021.

Secondly, it was publicly confirmed today that the Australian-manufactured CAC Mustang A68-110, named 'Snifter', which has been operated in Australia as VH-MFT, has been sold to a buyer in the UK and will soon be on a ship heading to England. In recent years, the aircraft was put through a thorough overhaul. Based on rumors, it sounds like the Mustang will be going to Sywell.

Thanks John, great work as always. As I'm sure you know, Mustang NZ2423 is well on track for public debut at Wanaka Easter 2024. And it has been announced that FG-1D Corsair NZ5648 is being worked on to return to the air in NZ this year.

https://rnzaf.proboards.com/post/317122/thread

I came across pics of the G-MSTG crash yesterday while looking for something else and wondered what had become of the airframe. A sad accident, does anybody know how Maurice Hammond is getting on?

I tried to keep up with any information posted publicly on Facebook about his well being after the accident. The last information I can recall was from a few years ago, maybe 2019, in which his recovery was going well enough to allow him to get back up in an airplane again. I hope he's been doing well. It's good to see the second Mustang he restored, 'Marinell', based back in the UK again.

In addition to my previous post, the CAF Socal Wing's Spitfire Mk.XIV, NH749, recently returned to the air again following deep maintenance/overhaul, and flew during the Wings Over Camarillo airshow last weekend.

Thanks John.

And FG-1D Corsair NZ5648 ZK-COR made a short ferry flight to Omaka today. My fingers are crossed for Wings Over Wairarapa Nov 24th.
https://www.facebook.com/ClassicWingsMa ... 9779386156