Category: News

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Kermit Weeks Shares New, Two Part Video Update on Messerschmitt Bf 108 Restoration

For the latest installment of Fantasy of Flight’s Mechanic’s Corner, owner Kermit Weeks has shared a two part video update on the restoration of his 1936 Messerschmitt Bf 108.

Part 1 features restoration specialist Paul Stecewycz talking about the restoration of tail and wing components and demonstrating the operation of the mechanical trim wheel. In part 2 Stecewycz visits the large paint stripping booth to explain, then demonstrate, the process of plastic blasting the paint layers and filler materials off of the 108 wings.

Click below to check out both parts.

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BAe Hawk T1 Fuselage With Mock Up Cockpit Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

A BAe Hawk T1 fuselage / cockpit has hit the market.

Details are scarce, but the offering reportedly consists of the center/rear fuselage with a fiberglass cockpit mock-up included. The offering is described as “ideal for a movie prop / museum display.”

The fuselage/cockpit is located in Ipswich, UK and is currently available for GBP 3,595. Click here to check out the complete listing on eBay.

Please Note: This post contains an eBay affiliate link. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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Newly Restored P-39Q Performs First Engine Test in NZ [Video]

Pioneer Aero of Ardmore, New Zealand has announced that their P-39Q Airacobra project performed its first successful engine test earlier today.

As previously reported, the aircraft (42-20341) is based largely on an ex-Soviet Air Force P-39Q which was recovered around 1995, although it is also said to feature parts obtained from P-39Q 42-20341. The machine is reportedly owned by Jerry Yagen / Military Aviation Museum and is being restored to airworthy condition as USAAC 220341.

The company reports that high powers will be conducted later in the week “and who knows what after that.”

Click below to check out a video of today’s test.

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RAAF Museum Mustang Performs Initial Ground Runs [Video]

The RAAF Museum’s CA-18 Mustang Mk 23 is reportedly one step closer to returning to the air with initial ground runs of its newly installed Packard Merlin engine.

This particular aircraft, A68-170 (now painted as A68-750), was transferred from No 7 Stores Depot to the RAAF Museum for display in 1970. It underwent restoration in the mid-1970s and was known as “Duffy’s Delight.” Another restoration followed in 1989 which saw every component of the aircraft disassembled and refurbished. The project lasted 10 years, which the Mustang returning to the air in February 1999.

In recent years, the Merlin engine was removed and sent to the UK for overhaul, and was returned to the airframe in late 2018. Click below to check out a video of the test conducted earlier today.

Continue reading RAAF Museum Mustang Performs Initial Ground Runs [Video]

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“The Flying Machine” Winter 2019 Edition Now Available!

Aerodynamic Media, LLC is proud to announce the release of the tenth issue of The Flying Machine: Early Aero Quarterly.

Issue #10 Contents:

36 Pages – Recreating the Ferguson Monoplane: The First Irish Aircraft to Fly; Vintage Turnbuckles – Some History and Some Solutions; Military Aviation Museum’s Biplanes and Brews Recap; The Right Project at the Right Time (Part 2); News Briefs: World’s Only Fully Restored Curtiss Model F Takes Flight, Authentic WW1 Hangars for Your Vintage Aircraft Now Available, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Curtiss Jenny Touches Down, Products

The Flying Machine focuses exclusively on “aeroplanes” manufactured prior to 1920, as well as the current work of historians, builders, restorers, museums and collectors to preserve and promote interest in the early years of flight. Published in print and digital formats, The Flying Machine is offered on a pay-per-issue basis – no subscription required!

Join us as we pay tribute to early aircraft and the visionaries, geniuses and daredevils who conquered the air while producing some of the most fascinating, ingenious and beautiful machines in aviation’s short history.

Click here to purchase!

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Brickmania Releases 1/35 Ju87 G-2 Stuka LEGO Model Kit

Brickmania has released a new, limited edition 1/35 Ju87 G-2 Stuka LEGO model kit.

The offering (2221) represents the “tank buster” variant of the aircraft and includes 560 “new-condition” LEGO and BrickArms elements, a high-quality sticker sheet, and two German pilot minifigures.

The model is described as having been updated to include “key details seen on the real aircraft including longer wings, movable flaps, newly-designed canopy, and detailed cockpit.” Additional features reportedly include the type’s “less chunky” wheel covers, nose spiral, printed elements, engine exhaust pipes and two BrickArms short air-cooled barrels.

Click below to check out the product page and a video overview of the new kit.

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“Excellent Condition” Loehle 5151 Mustang Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

An “excellent condition” Loehle 5151 Mustang has hit the market. The listing states (in part):

Rotax 582 Electric Start, 162 total hours, airspeed, ALT, compass, tach, fuel gauge, water temp., dual EGT, Electric Trim, BRS, VAL Com, 760 Radio, 3 Blade GSC Prop, Heel Brakes, Retracts, Fuselage and Wings all Sitka Spruce. Always hangered in a climate controlled building. 12 1/2 gallon tank. Excellent Condition!

The aircraft is mostly made of Sitka spruce & aircraft plywood and covered with Poly-Fiber Finish.

The aircraft is located in McKean, Pennsylvania and is currently available for bidding. Click here to check out the complete listing on eBay.

Please Note: This post contains an eBay affiliate link. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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“Fully Restored, Better Than New” MiG-17 Offered For Sale

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

A 1960 MiG-17 (S/N 1D0620 / N620PF) is available for sale. The listing states (in part):

Nicest Award Winning 1960 MIG 17PF In The World. Fully Restored. Better Than New! Only 62 SMOH On Engine. Flown Regularly On The Airshow Circuit.

Additional features reportedly include an avionics package, two drop tanks and complete logs since new. The machine is located in Elmira, NY with pricing available upon request. Click here to check out the complete listing.

(Image: arz via Wikimedia Commons)

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Kermit Weeks Shares New Video Update On A-26 Project

Fantasy of Flight owner Kermit Weeks has posted a new video update on his A-26 project, which is currently underway in Chino, California.

As previously reported, the aircraft (S/N 41-39401) reportedly saw wartime service with the 9th Air Force and served with the Van Nuys Air National Guard before beginning civilian use as N3457G / “Whistler’s Mother.” Later acquired by Weeks, the A-26 was damaged during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and trucked to Chino in 1997, where it is now being restored by Carl Scholl and Tony Ritzman of Aero Trader.

Click below to check out the video.

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“Always” PBY-5A Catalina Offered With Reduced Price

Please Note: This is an archived post. The information presented here may not be current and the associated listing may no longer be active.

Consolidated Vultee PBY-5A Catalina N9505C (S/N 34027) has hit the market with a new, reduced price.

The aircraft, which was reportedly used in the movie Always, was modified to a Super Cat configuration with Wright R-2600 engines. The airframe is said to have amassed a total time of 4,667 hrs since new, while the engines have 464 and 890 hrs SMOH. The Hamilton Standard 23E50 props are described as having 699 and 822 hrs SMOH.

The machine lacks avionics and is reportedly in need of restoration, although it “could be made ferriable.” It reportedly includes original logs since its delivery to the military in 1943.

Click below to check out a video walk-around.

Continue reading “Always” PBY-5A Catalina Offered With Reduced Price