Volume 19 #1, Issue 84

BUTCHER BIRD DOWNUNDER!

Butcher Bird FW190 This article is not about the company or about the programme to produce multiple examples
of one of the world’s most desirable fighters. This story is about that first aircraft, c/n 990001
the aeroplane that broke that half-century Fw190 flying drought! More specifically, it is about the past 12 months in which this particular machine has been through a quiet, careful and methodical trouble-shooting process to bring it to its current status as a very airworthy, very functional World War Two era fighter.

CHARIOT OF FIRE – Pt.2

B29 Enola Gay Our previous edition author Scott Willey featured the life and times of B-29 ‘Enola Gay’ up until the aircraft’s move to the Udvar Hazy Centre where it was reassembled and on 10th October 2003 was put on stands in a final display position. To conclude the story we now take a look at some of the significant details that make up this iconic bomber. No matter how one feels about the ‘Enola Gay’ and its place in history, to millions of people the aircraft is the symbol of the end of World War II and the dawn of the Atomic Age.

ROMEO RETURNS!

When the national aviation press reported on the incredible find of a trove of Romeo Ro.37 bis wrecks outside Kabul, Italian historic aircraft enthusiasts started dreaming about seeing one on display in an Italian museum. This dream has come true, but only after a spending a lot of money and putting in a dedicated effort. Maurizio Longoni describes the epic journey which began with the discovery of a clutch of ‘extinct’ and forgotten wrecks, through the painstaking rebuild of an example , culminating in a museum gem in its homeland.

"BUT IT LOOKED GREAT IN THE PHOTOS!"

So how many times have you heard that comment made? Buying any commodity from photographs alone necessarily brings with it an element of risk. But to purchase an aeroplane from the other side of the planet, purely on the strength of photographs and of the associated description by the seller, must surely sound like a bad joke. This is the story of a full-size replica of France’s remarkable Nieuport 11 fighting scout – the horror story and the eventual flight of a representative of one of the most successful combat aeroplanes of the Great War.

SHAVROV SH-2

Shavrov SH-2 Our Mystery Aeroplane features Vadim Borisovich Shavrov’s amphibian flying-boat which he envisaged would be suitable for sports flying, training and light duties, particularly in the sparsely populated areas which had rudimentary facilities to support aircraft in any shape or form.
The aircraft would be the first of its type in the Soviet Union and would soon prove to be all of these things - displaying its versatility throughout the USSR from the Arctic to the Far East and from Karelia to Siberia – proving the old adage -simple but effective!

Airshow:

Classics of the Sky-Tauranga City Air Show