2016 02 (514) AEROPLANE.pdf

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SPECIAL ISSUE
FLEET AIR ARM SALUTE
More than a Century of History in the Air
®
www.aeroplanemonthly.com
FLY
NAVY
34 pages of British
naval aviation
FEATURING...
Barracuda
Swordfish
Buccaneer
Sea Vixen
and more
CONCORDE’S
DEBUT
40 years ago
A N N I V E R S A RY
Pacific B-25s packing a punch
AIR APACHES
H I S T O RY
DATABASE
MITSUBISHI J2M RAIDEN
FEBRUARY 2016 £4.40
02
9 770143 724101
Contents
68
44
62
NEWS AND
COMMENT
4
6
FROM THE EDITOR
NEWS
• Two-seat Buchón UK-bound
• Midair Squadron goes under
• Avro Heritage Museum opened
• Old Rhinebeck NYP replica flies
• P-51
Miss Helen
changes hands
• Wigram museum Oxford readied
• ‘Betty’ leaves Chino
• HARS restores Fokker F.VII replica
… and the month’s other top aircraft
preservation news
HANGAR TALK
Steve Slater’s monthly comment
column on the historic aircraft world
38
44
Vol 44, no 2 • Issue no 514
February 2016
24
30
82
FEATURES
FLY
NAVY
24
The history and
heritage of the Fleet Air
Arm in focus
68
75
82
TEXAS FLYING LEGENDS
An outstanding warbird collection in
the ‘Lone Star State’
‘AIR APACHES’ B-25s
Pacific theatre B-25 Mitchells that
packed a particular punch
AEROPLANE
MEETS…
PAUL BONHOMME
Britain’s three-time Red Bull Air Race
world champion is also one of his
generation’s foremost warbird pilots
DATABASE: MITSUBISHI J2M
UBISHI
I
RAIDEN
Tony Holmes
details a fighter that
couldn’t turn the
tide for the Imperial
Japanese Navy
15
30
36
17
REGULARS
18
20
80
SKYWRITERS
Q&A
Your questions asked and answered
HOOKS’ TOURS
More colour images from Mike
Hooks’ remarkable collection — this
month’s subject is the Saab Safir
BOOKS
52
FLYCATCHERS ABROAD
The Royal Navy’s Fairey Flycatchers
helped respond to heightened
tensions around the Empire and
areas of British interest
BARRACUDAS IN THE PACIFIC
As WW2 ended, two new Royal Navy
light fleet carriers were going to war,
with Fairey Barracudas on board
PACIFIC FLEET GROUNDCREW
Fleet Air Arm aeroplanes serving with
the British Pacific Fleet found their
way to some demanding locations,
as a former engineer recalls
806 SQUADRON AEROBATIC TEAM
The Fleet Air Arm’s 1948
showstoppers across ‘the Pond’
FLYING THE BUCCANEER S1
Former 800 Squadron pilot Andrew
Gleadow on how he came to
master the Gyron-engined ‘Bucc’
FLY NAVY HERITAGE TRUST
Helping recall the Fleet Air Arm’s
past in the modern era
CONCORDE INTO SERVICE
The path to Concorde’s service entry
was not an easy one. Forty years ago,
it reached its conclusion
95
IN-DEPTH
PAGES
110
JIMMY MELROSE
Outside his own country, Australian
flyer Charles James ‘Jimmy’ Melrose
is largely forgotten, and the cause of
his death often mis-reported
COVER IMAGE:
The Royal Navy Historic Flight’s Fairey
Swordfish I W5856.
LEE HOWARD
91
62
114
NEXT MONTH
See page 22 for a great subscription offer
Aeroplane
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to the weekly
The Aeroplane,
founded by C. G. Grey in 1911
and published until 1968. It was
re-launched as a monthly in 1973
by Richard T. Riding, editor for 25
years until 1998.
ESTABLISHED 1911
AEROPLANE FEBRUARY 2016
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3
t is always sad when a famous old airfield
bites the dust. The fate of Panshanger in
Hertfordshire is a case in point. This former
RAF training base, long a major site for
private flying and civilian pilot instruction, closed in
September when the lease expired. It will now assist in
aiding this country’s chronic housing shortage by providing
space for hundreds of new homes. Prior to this, there
had been a push to have the aerodrome designated as a
conservation area, ultimately rejected by the Secretary
of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Responding to
campaigners, John Whittingdale said that, “despite it
clearly being of some significance, Panshanger Aerodrome
does not possess the special architectural or historic interest
needed” to warrant such a move. Whittingdale noted how
“other sites survive in a better state” as representatives of
temporary wartime airfields.
With these arguments I find myself largely in agreement.
Just as it is impossible to preserve every airframe of some
significance, so it is with airfields. Sometimes, a balance
can be struck. Take the former RAF Coltishall in north
Norfolk. Closed to flying in 2006, there is no doubt
as to the airfield’s historical significance as a Battle of
Britain fighter station and a front-line RAF base. The
married quarters were (finally) sold off as housing, while
accommodation blocks have been turned into a prison.
In 2010 the runway and numerous buildings including
the three pre-war hangars, the control tower and officers’
I
E D I TO R
mess were given conservation area status. Norfolk County
Council bought the site in 2013, since when efforts to re-
develop it have proved moderately successful. A solar farm
covers much of the airfield, the officers’ mess is to become
housing, various businesses have taken up residence, those
buildings designated as historic monuments conserved, and
discussions held as to the potential establishment of a small
museum and learning centre in the control tower. Public
access was made possible during the recent nationwide
Heritage Open Days, hopefully a precursor to more to
come. Sometimes, preservation and new usage can go
hand-in-hand, even if flying is no longer possible.
Not long after we went to press with the last issue, news
broke that actor Anthony Valentine, who played Dickie
Marlowe in the first episode of ITV’s 1980s drama ‘Airline’
and was pictured in our ‘Aeroplane meets…’ feature,
had died at the age of 76. Well-known for major roles in
‘Callan’, ‘Colditz’ and ‘Raffles’, this versatile television actor
also made appearances in such well-known series as
‘The Avengers’, ‘Minder’, ‘Bergerac’ and ‘New Tricks’.
Subscribers, meanwhile, will have received with their
copy of the January issue our 2014
Aeroplane
index, kindly
compiled by John Donaldson. Any non-subscribers wishing
to obtain one should contact the subscriptions department.
Ben Dunnell
From the
CONTRIBUTORS
THIS MONTH
Andrew
GLEADOW
A r t h u r W. J . G .
ORD-HUME
Wa r r e n E .
THOMPSON
Matthew
WILLIS
Entering the Royal Navy at Dartmouth aged
15-and-a-half, Andrew volunteered for the
engineering branch in order later to become
a test pilot. After flying training at Linton-on-
Ouse, Brawdy and Lossiemouth, he served as
a Buccaneer pilot with 801 Squadron on
HMS
Victorious
and 800 on
Eagle,
and
subsequently as a maintenance test pilot at
Lossiemouth. Following the decision to
cease Royal Navy fixed-wing flying, he joined
an ex-RN colleague in forming a small
charter airline in Inverness. Twelve years
later he ceased flying for medical reasons,
but remained in mostly aviation-based
industries until retirement in 2002.
A founder member of the old Ultra Light
Aircraft Association, later the PFA and
now the LAA, Arthur was largely
responsible for establishing today’s
extensive home-built aircraft movement
at a time when amateur-made aircraft
were virtually prohibited in Britain. Pilot
and aircraft designer, he worked at
various times with de Havilland, Handley
Page and Britten-Norman. He established
Phoenix Aircraft and was the moving
force behind the single-seat home-built
Luton Minor. Today Arthur devotes his
time to recording civil aviation history
and has written a number of books.
“25 years ago”, says Warren, “I was able
to locate many of the ‘Air Apaches’. The
majority are now in their late 80s or
older, and many have died. Thank
goodness I did it then rather than now.
The ‘Air Apaches’ had one of the most
productive tours in the Pacific,
especially in terms of ships destroyed.
They pioneered low-level attacks
against all forms of shipping. They set
the pace in the destruction of enemy
airfields. Their heroic deeds might be
equalled but never surpassed. The
article in this issue shows just some of
what they did.”
Matthew grew up near the old naval
town of Harwich and the former
marine aircraft experimental site at
Felixstowe, leading to a lifelong
interest in naval aviation. His first
book, on the Blackburn Skua and Roc,
was published in 2007, and he has
also written for
Aeroplane
on those
aircraft as well as the Fairey Barracuda,
Fairey Fulmar and, most recently, the
role of the Fleet Air Arm in the Battle
of Britain. His book on the Fairey
Flycatcher, to be published by MMP
Books, is currently nearing
completion.
4
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