The Fighter collections recently restored and Pratt & Witney re-engined, Hawker Sea Fury T Mk.20, WG655, G-CHFP flown by Brian Smith, displaying together with Anglia Aircraft Restorations Hawker Fury II, SR661, G-CBEL, flown by Richard Grace on the Saturday of the Duxford Air Festival 2018.
Hawker Sea Fury T.20 WG655 (G-CHFP)
• Year of Manufacture 1951
• Powered by one Pratt& Whitney R2800
• Colour scheme. Royal Navy WG655
Built at Hawkers, Kingston-upon-Thames with final assembly at Langley with serial No. WG655. Delivered 9.10.1951 to Anthorn for initial storage then to 781 Sqdn Lee-on-Solent 7.12.1951. Returned to RDU Anthorn and preserved 13.2.1952. Purchased by Hawker 27.4.1957 for conversion to Target Towing configuration. Sold to German MoD for TT operations) and registered D-CACU. Federal Republic of Germany c/o Ministry of Defence, operated by Deutscher Luftfahrt-Beratungsdienst (of Wiesbaden) on target-towing flights in Sigmaringen area, based on München-Riem airport. Operator changed to Rhein Flugzeubau (RFB) for operation in Todendorf-Putlos range in Baltic Sea, based at Lübeck from 1.1.1966. Undertook last flight of a German Sea Fury (Lübeck – Köln) on 12.11.1975 and stored at Köln airport. Withdrawn from use on 23.6.1976, unregistered and prepared for ferry to Royal Navy. Noted at RAF Colerne. To RNHF Yeovilton 29.6.1976 marked as 910/GN. Transported to RNAY Fleetlands 15.5.1985 for refinishing and initially returned to RNHF Yeovilton. Transported to Boscombe Down 14.5.1987. While flying with RNHF 14.7.1990 it suffered engine failure shortly after take-off and made a wheels-up forced landing in a field near Castle Cary. Fuselage broke into three sections on collision with tree. After the accident, the remains were inspected and deemed unrepairable then put up for disposal. The remains went initially to New Zealand with Grant Beal. Chuck Greenhill, Kenosha, Wisconsin, had always had an interest in aircraft with naval connections. He purchased the remains 17.8.1993 and had them shipped to Kenosha where Tim McCarter and his crew went to work. Re-Regd as N20MD. Nominally Re-Regd 12.9.2002 to Amphib Inc, Lake Zurich, Illinois. Shipped to Sanders Aeronautics for completion at Ione, California. Sold to The Fighter Collection, Duxford in 2008. Shipped in a container to UK and arrived Duxford 29.5.2009. Re-Regd G-CHFP 20.04.2012
Hawker Fury Mk.II (G-CBEL)I
Operator: Anglia Aircraft Restorations Ltd
Year of Manufacture: 1953
Powered by: Bristol Centaurus XVIII
Colour Scheme: Royal Navy prototype Sea Fury SR661
This Fury II, construction number 37539 was produced by Hawker’s as a Fury ISS – Iraqi Single Seat for the Iraqi Air Force, as part of contract number 53/1/012 for 60 aircraft, and was numbered 315 within this production batch. The aircraft was bought to Orlando, Florida, USA from Iraq in 1979 by Ed Jurist and David C Tallichet. In 1989 the aircraft passed to Laws/Coleman Warbird Museum, Coleman, Texas where it was rebuilt to airworthy condition, before flying again in April 1991, registered as N36SF. The Fury was then shipped to the UK in September 1991, passing into the ownership of John Bradshaw at Wroughton until 2009. During this time the aircraft flew in the markings of a Dutch Navy and latterly Royal Australian Navy aircraft marked as 361 and on the UK Civil Register as G-CBEL. She was then exported to Australia where she was registered as VH-SFW. She was imported back into the UK by her new owners, Anglia Aircraft Restorations Ltd. she was re-registered again as G-CBEL. The aircraft has been refurbished and repainted, by Air Leasing Ltd, in the colours of one of Hawker’s Sea Fury prototypes coded SR661, which was a modified Fury Mk.II with a tail hook fitted, but without the folding wings included on subsequent production Sea Fury’s.
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