Category: Museums / Organizations

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Solway Aviation Museum Details Recent Work Reassembling World’s Only Remaining Blackburn Beverly [Video]

Solway Aviation Museum in Cumbria, England recently shared video updates on their work preserving the world’s only remaining Blackburn Beverly.

The Beverley was a large British military transport aircraft developed in the early Cold War period for the Royal Air Force. First flown in 1950 and entering service in 1956, it had a distinctive high-wing, twin-boom layout with a raised tailplane, four Bristol Centaurus radial engines, and a rear clamshell loading door that allowed bulky vehicles, cargo, and paratroops to be carried. Although slow and visually ungainly, the Beverley was valued for its rugged short-field performance and exceptional load-carrying ability, serving with RAF transport squadrons in Britain, the Middle East, and the Far East until its retirement in 1967.

The museum’s aircraft (XB259) last flew at the end of March 1974 when it was flown to Paull airfield for Hull Aero Club’s use as a clubhouse. It was saved from scrapping following the closure of a small museum at Fort Paull in 2020 and relocated to Solway where it is currently in the process of being reassembled. Check out recent video updates below, which detail the cockpit section and center wing section being lifted back onto the main fuselage and progress on the engine mounts.

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Museum Retrieves B-17 Remains, Future Plans to be Announced

The South Pacific WWII Museum in Luganville, Espiritu Santo (the largest Island of Vanuatu) has announced the acquisition and retrieval of the remains of B-17E (S/N 41-9227) “Yankee Doodle Jr.”

The aircraft crashed on December 31, 1942 while on a flight to Fiji to acquire liquor for a New Year’s Eve party, resulting in the deaths of the pilot and co-pilot. It’s remains had been lying in the jungle inland from Million Dollar Point until the acquisition, which came about due to the generosity of the local landowner.

Plans for the remains will reportedly be announced in the upcoming South Pacific WWII Museum newsletter. Check out the full announcement and accompanying photos below.

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New Video Documents Recent Formation Flight of World’s Only Airworthy Helldivers

On August 20th, 2026 Fagen Fighters WWII Museum SB2C-5 Helldiver joined the CAF SB2C-5 Helldiver and the National Museum of WWII Aviation SB2C-1A Helldiver for a formation flight over Colorado Springs, Colorado. This marked the first formation flight in decades for the world’s only remaining airworthy Helldivers.

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was a U.S. Navy carrier-based dive bomber developed during World War II to replace the Douglas SBD Dauntless. Larger, faster, and more heavily armed than its predecessor, it carried a two-man crew, internal bomb bay, wing-mounted 20 mm cannon, and could deliver bombs, rockets, or depth charges against ships and land targets. Although early production aircraft were troubled by handling, reliability, and structural problems—earning unflattering nicknames from many crews—the Helldiver was steadily improved and became an important late-war strike aircraft, serving in major Pacific operations from 1943 through 1945 and remaining in postwar service with several foreign air arms.

Today, Fagan Fighters WWII Museum released a new film produced by Scott and Kyle Guyette capturing the once-in-a-lifetime event. Check it out below.

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B-24 Liberator “Rupert the Roo II” Gets New Paint During Restoration [Video]

The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, GA has posted a new timelapse video showing the ongoing restoration of their B-24 Liberator Project – specifically the application of new paint.

For everyone who had something to say about the pink… we have an update. It’s gone. This timelapse offers a fascinating look as the old finish disappears and another major step in the restoration takes shape.The transformation continues for the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force’s B-24 Liberator. Now at LandLocked Aviation, the aircraft has moved into the paint and restoration phase, and this timelapse gives you a front-row seat as years of weathering begin to give way to a new finish.

As previously reported, the B-24J-20-FO Liberator (S/N 44-487821) was originally built by the Ford Motor Company at Willow Run, Michigan 1944. It has been on outdoor display for decades, most recently at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Over that time it has worn several liveries, including Laiden Maiden, Louisiana Belle II (seen above), and Rupert the Roo II.

In June 2025 plans were announced for the aircraft to relocate to The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, a process that includes painting and restoration. The aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Phase I was completed in May with the ailerons, flaps, horizontal stabilizers, turrets, propeller assemblies, and all four engines being cataloged and removed for transport and restoration. The completion of Phase II saw the wing assembly, fuselage, and remaining major components leave Barksdale for restoration at offsite locations.

The aircraft will be installed within the museum’s expanded galleries for public exhibition with the projected date being sometime in the spring of 2027. Check out newly released repainting video below.

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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s 60th Anniversary Celebrated With Updated Pictorial History

Coming soon from Pen & Sword Aviation and author Jarrod Cotter is The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight: A History in Pictures, an updated new edition to celebrate their 60th anniversary.

In 2007 the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight celebrated its landmark 50th anniversary and Jarrod Cotter was chosen to write a book charting the Flight’s history which began with the formation of the Historic Aircraft Flight in July 1957. This volume brings the story fully up-to-date to mark the BBMF s 60th anniversary. It still includes the in-depth story of the formation of the Flight, for which the author uniquely traced the families of those involved to reveal a host of illuminating insights. However, while the 50th anniversary book went on to tell the rest of the story in an in-depth fashion, this volume utilises high quality colour digital photographs taken in recent years to show the aircraft in flight and so acts as the perfect companion to the first volume. This will be the ultimate souvenir of the celebration of the BBMF s 60th anniversary.

The 304 page, hardcover book is currently available for pre-order with release set for October 30.

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USAF Museum Shares Interactive, 360 Degree Video of Aircraft in Storage

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has released a new, 360 degree video of their storage facility, which consists of restricted hangars and secure annexes at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Among the aircraft seen in the video are a Junkers Ju 52, a General Dynamics EF-111A Raven, Stearman PT-17, Douglas B-23 Dragon, McDonnell Douglas YF-4E Phantom II and an ultra rare North American F-107A, an experimental Mach 2 fighter-bomber that is easily recognizable by its unusual top-mounted intake over the cockpit.

Check it out below.

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Aircraft Restoration Company Welcomes Maude P-40E: “Exciting Times Lay Ahead”

This week the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk known as the “Maude P-40” arrived at the Aircraft Restoration Company’s Duxford base.

The aircraft (S/N AK803) was delivered to the RCAF in October 1941 and based at an RCAF Station in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where it saw use in anti-submarine patrols. Later, it was flown 4,000 miles to Annette Island, Alaska (setting a record in the process) before moving on to Boundary Bay near Vancouver, British Columbia, where it performed fighter affiliation work with B-24s and B-25s. In 1946 it was acquired for $50 by George Maude, an RCAF veteran, who floated it on a makeshift log raft it to his family home.

The aircraft is now described as an in-house project owned by the Aircraft Restoration Company, which states:

It has long been a pipe dream to add a P-40 to the collection, and we have been following the journey of this particular one for over a decade. When it came onto the market, we felt it was now or never! Exciting times lay ahead

Check out photos of its arrival below.

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USAF Museum Releases New Photos Detailing Bleriot XI Restoration

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has provided the best glimpse so far of their ongoing Bleriot XI restoration in a newly posted update.

The type is famous for being the first aircraft to cross the English Channel in July 1909, and it was used by several famous early aviators from Louis Bleriot himself, to Adolphe Pégoud to Harriet Quimby. It even saw service in the early months of WW1. The museum’s specific example was built from factory drawings by Ernest C. Hall of Warren, Ohio in 1911. He donated it to the museum in 1939. It was removed from public display in 2023 for restoration, with work beginning earlier this year.

The new update shows progress on the aircraft’s engine, controls and fuselage. Check it out below.

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USAF Museum Completes Restoration of Only Remaining Kellett XR-8 [Video]

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has completed restoration of the world’s only surviving Kellett XR-8 experimental helicopter after countless hours of work by talented volunteers.

Developed as a prototype for the USAAF in 1940s, the Kellett XR-8 tested the idea of stabilizing a helicopter by using dual offset horizontal rotors to eliminate the need to power a tail rotor. Nicknamed “Eggbeater,” the design used two intermeshing wooden propellers above the two person cabin. The XR-8 first flew on August 7, 1944. Though the XR-8 was a revolutionary design, the Kellett Aircraft Corporation encountered significant problems with stability control and timing the rotors. The company modified the vertical stabilizers in an attempt to resolve some of these issues. Because of these and other complications, Kellett only produced two XR-8s before cancelling the program.

An official photo shoot was carried out on Monday. Plans call for the machine to be placed by the Vertijet in the museum’s R&D Gallery this October. The fabric covering on the left side of the fuselage has been removed to showcase interior views.

Check out a video showing the restoration process and final product below.

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Cavanaugh Flight Museum Shares Progress Report on CASA 2.111E Restoration

Cavanaugh Flight Museum has provided an update on their 1950 CASA 2.111E one year after the aircraft was transported to Ezell Aviation of Breckenridge, Texas for restoration.

For those that may not know, the Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA CASA 2.111E is a Spanish license built German Heinkel HE-111. More than 200 2.111s were built. The museum’s CASA served in the Spanish Air Force and was featured in the 1969 movie ‘Battle of Britain’ and the 1970 movie ‘Patton.’ The museum acquired this CASA in 1995.

Work done so far is described as “impressive” with the aircraft being completely disassembled and the fuselage separated into three sections for inspection, repair and priming. All cockpit components have been removed for inspection, repair or rebuilding. A new instrument panel is in the process of being crafted which will house gauges for the Packard built Merlin engines that will replace the machine’s previous Roll-Royce 500-45 engines.

An 18′ tall jig has been made to mount the wings so they can be stripped and inspected. A smaller jig was also made for the stabilizers. As of this writing the right stabilizer has been completed and the left one is underway. In addition, the center section has also been stripped and repaired. New wing spars have also been fabricated. Work on the main landing gear struts and tail gear have been completed.

Currently the aircraft is expected to return to flight around 2029-30. Click below to check out the complete update along with photos of the progress.

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