Warbirds moving East
From the USA comes Grumman Bearcat N68RW which seems to have found a new owner, Flying Bulls in Austria. The warbird had been offered for sale by Platinum Fighter Sales. Unlike other airworthy Bearcats the fighter does not carry the 'standard' US Navy blue livery, but the lighter blue of 'US Navy Blue Angels #1' from the days the famous 'Blue Angels' demonstration team still flew piston aircraft.
N68RW is an F8F-2 (c/n D-1162), built in 1947 for the USNavy as BuNo121776. After its service life ended it became N1030B and was used as a windmachine by the Kaman Aircraft Corp, Bloomfield CT from 1960 to 1970. It was then stored at the USMC Museum, MCAS Quantico (VA) until 1996. By then the restoration of the Bearcat was taken up by the Lone Star Flight Museum, Galveston (TX). It made its first flight as N86RW in April 2003.
'Blue Angels #1' was bought by John O’Connor/ BA1945 LLC of Wilmington (DE) in 2011. The plane was damaged in August 2020 when it struck a Texan trainer but was repaired.
The second warbird on the move is Vickers Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk.IXb MH415 (c/n CBAF.IX533) OO-IXB. The Spit with code 'ZD-E' was flown from Brasschaat, Belgium to its new owner Flying Legends, based at Flugplatz Siegerland, Germany on 21 March 2025. The fighter is a welcome addition to the already interesting collection of Flying Legends which includes AT-6 D-FAME, Corsair D-FCOR and P-51D N51ZW 'Francis Dell'.
Interesting aspect of MH415 is the fact it has flown for both the Dutch (H-108, later H-65, B-12) and the Belgian Air Force (SM-40). After a career as civilian target-tug (OO-ARD) and almost ending up in the Congolese civil war, the plane was restored and flown as G-AVDJ, one of the stars in the 'Battle of Britain'movie of 1968. After the filming ended it was taken to the USA as payment by the famous Wilson 'Connie' Edwards and stored at his facility in Big Spring (TX) for 42 years! During its time with 'Connie' Edwards it wore the scheme MH415/ZD-E to represent the colours and markings it wore during its service with No. 222 (Natal) Squadron RAF during 1943.
After its FAA registration (N415MH) was cancelled, the fighter was sold via Platinum Fighter Sales in October 2015 and subsequently transported to Australia. Warbirds Flight Club of Scone (NSW) Australia restored the plane that had not flown for so many years. It was then shipped to Air Leasing Ltd, Sywell where the Spitfire returned to the skies on 8 April 2021 as G-AVDJ with code 'ZD-E'. Air leasing decided to dispose of MH415 and the warbird was then sold to Georg Raab of Flying Legends. Early July 2024 it was flown to FAST Aero - Flying Aces Services & Training BVBA, in Brasschaat, Belgium which placed her on the Belgian register as OO-IXB.