It was good to see Turbulent G-APIZ looking in excellent condition at RAF Shawbury on 19.3.09.
This small but elegant French designed Druine D.31 Turbulent aircraft was built by Rollason Aircraft and Engines Ltd ( RAE ) at the old Croydon airfield back in 1957. Altogether Rollason built approx 30 Turbulents. Note that Stark Flugzeugbau of Germany also built a version of this aircraft in the late 1950s.
I believe this is the oldest Turbulent still airworthy today in the UK. The aircraft has the PFA c/n PFA 478.
It is powered by a Volkswagen 1600 engine and has flown approx 225 hours by December 2007.
This aircraft was involved in a major accident in 1963 at West Clandon and was subsequently cancelled from the CAA register in 1965. It was restored to the register in 1987 after rebuild and was based at White Waltham during the 1990s.
Great to see this aircraft in such good shape.
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