Ghosts over Duxford

This magnificent Hawker Hurricane was restored from the ground up by Hawker Restorations and made its debut at Flying Legends 2000 (held 8-9 july), Duxford, England. The aircraft made its first post-restoration flight on 7 June, becoming the world's eighth airworthy Hurricane. Hawker Restorations is located on a small

farm in Suffolk and is currently in the process of restoring their third Hurricane. The company was formed to rebuild Hurricanes and is a sister company to Tony Ditheridge's AID Engineering which has restored many excellent aircraft. Hawker Restorations

was formed in cooperation with Sir Tim Wallis in New Zealand. This aircraft, Hurricane Mk X AE977, is one of the second batch of Hurricane Mk. Xs built by the Canadian Car bi Foundry Corp.

during 1940-41. The plane was equipped with a Packard Merlin 228 powerplant. The first 100 were built with the eight-gun wing but the remainder had the twelve .303-caliber gun wing. It is not certain into which category AE977 fell. The fighter was shipped to Britain by sea and was eventually converted into a Sea Hurricane but minus the tail hook. Unfortunately, early service records are lacking. On 5 December 1942, while flying in a gun camera

exercise and being piloted by Acting Sub-Lt. Douglas Trevor Keene of No. 749 Squadron Fleet Air Arm, the plane collided with Hurricane 24702 flown by Midshipman John Samuel Bird. Fortunately, both pilots managed to lately bail out. In the 1970s, the wreckage of AE977 was recovered and was eventually transferred to Hawker Restorations in the early 1990s for the very difficult restoration back to flying condition - over 50,000 manhours went into the project. The craft is painted as Douglas Bader's personal No. 242 Squadron Hurricane, V7467/LE*D. The plane is being flown by Stuart Goldspink.

Grumman F5F-5K Helicat BuNo 80141 was held in reserve by the USMC Museum from 195-1970 and, for an unknown reason, had the registration N80'i42 assigned. The aircraft was disposed of to W.C. Yarbrough and was obtained by Tom Friedkin in 1977 and registered N100TF. The plane was very heavily damaged in a crash landing an 3 April 1979 and the wreckage was said to the Yankee Air Corps at Chino during 1981. The aircraft was painstakingly rebuilt utilizing the fuselage of BuNo 08831 and emerged in flying condition in july 1989. It was said to The Fighter Collection at Duxford in 1989 and shipped to the British. The aircraft, resplendent in US Navy markings, is now registered as G-BTCC and is being flown by Stephen Grey in the photograph.

One of Britain's heaviest -hitting naval aircraft was the Fairey Firefly. Numerous variants of the strike fighter saw service curing and after World War Two with the Royal Navy. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon 74 of 2245-horsepower, the Firefly was armed with four 20mm cannon as well as various underwing rockets and bombs. This example serial WB271, was originally built as an AS Mk. 5, meaning it was utilized in the anti-submarine role from Royal Navy carriers. On 7 March 1952, the plane was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy where it served until 1965 when it was put up for disposal. On 8 February 1966, hte craft was obtained y the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeoviton and shipped to England aboard the HMS Victorious during April 1967. Once in England, the aircraft was completely restored and make its first post-restoration flight on 21 September 1972 upon which it joined the Royal NavyHistoric Rlight. The aircraft regularly attends the Flying Legends show and is seen over the white cliffs of Dover bieing piloted by John Beattie. Magnificent Hawker Hind owned by the

Shuttleworth Collection, One of the stable of classic Hawker biplane designs of the 1930s, the Hind was a

general purpose/light bomber that saw extensive Royal Air Force service. This particular example was sold to Afghanistan and recovered in the i960s in remarkably good condition. The plane was collected by truck and driven, in an epic journey, back to Britain where it was painstakingly restored by the skilled craftsmen of the Shuttleworth. The Hind is being flown by Dodge Bailey.

Merlin-powered Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk. XVIe TD248 survived many years of outside gate guard duties after it was retired from alive flying. Bases at which it was displayed included RAF Hooten Park, RAF Sealand,

and RAF Henlow. It was briefly removed from gate guard duties and utilized as a non-flyer in the epic 1969 film Battle of Britain, after which it was returned to RAF Sealand. In 1988, the aircraft, along with other

Spitfire gate guards, was acquired by Historic Flying who sold the plane to Eddie Coventry the same year. The Spitfire then went to Audley End where it was completely restored back to flying condition, making its first post-restoration flight on 10 November 1992. Painted in a very distinctive postwar Royal Air Force color scheme, the aircraft is seen being flown by Charlie Brown. The Spitfire is now with a new owner in Belgium.

Hawker Hurricane Mk. Itc PZ865 was the test Hurricane to be built and made Its first flight from the Langley factory on 27 )uly 1944. The aircraft was retained by Hawker and stored from 1946 to 1950, upon which time it was taken out of storage and brought back to flying status, making Its first post-restoration flight on 13 May 1950. Given the dull registration G-AMAt) and painted in Hawker house colors, the aircraft was a regular visitor to various airshows and displays across Britain and carried the name Last of the Many. The plane also flew In the film Bti of Britain: On 29 March 1972; ownership was transferred to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and it has remained active ever since. The aircraft is regularly repainted to honor a different Hurricane unit and in the photo the classic fighter Is being flown by Captain Andy Williams.