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A considerable amount of time has elapsed since we last visited Murray Griffith’s Precision Aerospace Productions facility at Wangaratta, Northern Victoria, Australia. In fact, few people have visited the facility in recent times as the doors were closed to the public in 2006. Editor Graham Orphan decided it was time to return to the facility to gain a sense of how things are progressing. This extensive article takes a look at the multitude of types, from P-39 and Curtiss Hawks through to Ki-61 and Corsairs undergoing work at ‘the world’s largest restoration shop.’
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The Curtiss H-1 was the first multi engine flying boat made and derivatives of the type gave birth to the British Flying Boat industry. The first ‘America’ was built to attempt the first Trans Atlantic flight, but fate intervened. As our previous ‘Mystery Aeroplane’ we take a short look at the history of the elegant flying boat and follow the magnificent reproduction being built at the Curtiss Museum located in Hammondsport, New York. Steady progress is being made towards a projected first flight at the Museum’s 5th Annual Seaplane Home-Coming, Keuka Lake in September 2007.|
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On 23 September 1941, MiG-3, 3457, of the Fighter Air Regiment 147 took off from Murmashi airfield on a mission to support ground troops and it was during an attack on anti aircraft positions that the MiG was hit in the engine, forcing the pilot to crash land. The remains of the machine lay forgotten until recovered along with several other wrecks in order that two examples could be rebuilt by the Avia Restoration Company, based at Novosibirsk. The fruits of that labour appear on these pages, with the successful first test flight taking place on 28 May. Along with an overview of surviving relics, this beautiful aircraft features as the centre spread.
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During a routine flight to Northern Québec, Patrick Cloutier, bush pilot for Aventures Norpaq, noticed a familiar shape reflecting from the wilderness. It became clearer the closer he flew that this was not an ordinary aircraft and as he circled for a second glance, he recognized a Lockheed Lodestar. Upon his return he started researching the aircraft and came to the conclusion that this was in fact a Lodestar that flew with Canadian Pacific Airlines during WWII. This was the beginnings of what became known as the CF-CPA Project. In this article Michel Côté lays out the Project’s ambitious plans.
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We decided that since we had not produced an updated P-40 survivors list for seven years that it was time to go and visit everybody and get the ‘state of play’ on the P-40 passion that continues to burn brightly south of the Equator!
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