Vintage Wings of Canada Press Release - 11 December 2006

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:40 am

Vintage Wings of Canada Press Release
Re: Aircraft Acquisitions
Date: 11 December 2006

Vintage Wings of Canada (VWC) in Gatineau, Quebec, is pleased to announce the acquisition of three airframes to the collection; a De Havilland DH-83 Fox Moth, a Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk IV and a Vought F4U-4 Corsair. These follow the Swordfish which arrived on October 31st.

The Fox Moth has been acquired from Sir Tim Wallis of Wanaka, New Zealand. It is construction number 4033 and is currently registered ZK-AEK. Originally built for the Prince of Wales (who later became King Edward VIII) in 1932, 4033 was later used in commercial service in New Zealand and was abandoned in Fiji in 1957. The aircraft was recovered and restored by Colin Smith from 1998 to 1993 in the authentic colours it wore as the Prince of Wales’ airplane. It won the award as Reserve Grand Champion Antique at Oshkosh in 1993. Wallis bought the DH-83 soon afterwards and took it back to New Zealand. The DH-83 Fox Moth has special Canadian interest since many DH-83Cs were built in Toronto after war production came to an end and before the DHC-1 Chipmunk started full production in 1948. The DH-83Cs were used extensively as bush planes in northern Canada. The aircraft is currently being shipped from New Zealand and is expected in the VWC hangar shortly after Christmas. There are no plans to change the paint scheme.

The Kittyhawk was built as a P-40N and is currently under restoration with Pioneer Aero in New Zealand. It is RAAF s/n A29-414, USAAF s/n 42-104827 and construction number 28589. This airframe was operated 78 Squadron RAAF. A29-414 crashed on landing in poor conditions at Tadji in New Guinea in 1944 and was abandoned. A29-414 was recovered and shipped to Pioneer Aero in 2001 and the restoration commenced. The project has been acquired by VWC and the restoration, now well underway, will be completed Pioneer. VWC estimates the arrival of A29-414 at the hangar in 12 to 16 months. VWC has decided to paint the aircraft in the markings of 260 squadron to recognize the remarkable exploits of Stocky Edwards who was a Flight Sergeant at the time and is now the highest scoring World War II fighter ace among living Canadians.

The Corsair is a F4U-4 with Bureau Number 97359, construction number 9513 and is currently registered N240CA. In civilian life this Corsair was used in the filming of the television series “Ba Ba Black Sheep”. It was restored by Pacific Fighters in Idaho Falls, Idaho, from 1998 to 2002 and won the Grand Champion award at Oshkosh. The aircraft will spend this winter at Atlanta and Palm Beach and arrival at VWC is expected in the spring of 2007.

You can look forward to viewing these aircraft at an upcoming air show, or at one of the VWC Open House events to be held in the summer of 2007.

corsairboss · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:23 pm

Baa Baa Black Sheep Planes taken at Ventura Airport while
filming one day

This is the actual paint scheme for this Corsair during the Korean War while flying off the USS Boxer. This Corsair has Korean War Time, I met the pilot a few years ago, and he showed us B/W films that he shot of him on missions, and his buddy's filmed him taking off the carrier.

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3331

The Corsair has quite a nomadic existence over the past few years - here's hoping it settles into its new home!

Edward Soye · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 1:02 pm

Mike,

Thanks for the update. It’s great to hear that these long rumoured acquisitions by VWoC have managed to be finalized.

Look forward to seeing them added to the existing fleet!

Cheers

Edward

Michel Lemieux · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 1:12 pm

Wow.........

Amazing news for Canadian warbird lovers

Ontario-Warbird · **Joined:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 8:56 pm **Posts:** 407

Very Cool, been talking with Bob S about this for some time and glad it is now public.
Will be great to see a P40 flying without a sharks mouth on it.

Cheers Dave C

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:57 pm

Ontario-Warbird wrote:

Will be great to see a P40 flying without a sharks mouth on it.

You took the words right out of my mouth!!!

Mike

Jeff Hunt · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:11 pm

Outstanding news, always great to see more and more warbirds coming to canada to a guy who loves to show them around as often as possible.

Ollie · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 4:03 pm

That's most excellent news!

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:01 pm

mrhenniger wrote:

Ontario-Warbird wrote:

Will be great to see a P40 flying without a sharks mouth on it.

You took the words right out of my mouth!!!

Mike

And he avoided the shark teeths no doubt... :wink:

T J

AIRIC · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:18 pm

Sweet news Mike. Are there any plans for a new hangar in the near future? This is so excellent for our area something I never thought I would see. Give my best to the group when you see them.

Eric

Neil Medcalf · **Posted:** Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:36 pm

Great news....But how about a western canadian tour for us out west!

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:09 am

AIRIC wrote:

Are there any plans for a new hangar in the near future?

If there are plans, Mr. Potter is holding his cards very close to his chest. I honestly don't know if there are plans.

Mike

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:10 am

Neil Medcalf wrote:

Great news....But how about a western canadian tour for us out west!

I am certainly not a decision maker at VWC, just the messenger. I will pass on your suggestion.

Mike

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:06 pm

Did Canada operate F4U-4s or is it more of a "Corsair is a Corsair” thing? I'm not trying to cause problems; I'm just a bit ignorant about it and would love to know.

But I'm very happy to hear this news, is really great! I hope in the next few years to be able to see them at Geneseo if VWC would be so kind!

Tim

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Vintage Wings of Canada Press Release - 11 December 2006

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