Lots of aircraft flew in and many pilots set up their overnight tents alongside their aircraft.
Arriving just for Friday was the excellent Travel Air Type R "Mystery Ship" replica G-TATR. This aircraft was built by Aero Antiques and arrived from Boscombe Down mid morning. Travel Air originally built 5 Type R air racers in the USA in the late 1920s. This replica is powered by a Lycoming R-680 engine. Not an easy aircraft for the pilot to taxy!
Link to more info about the Travel Air Type R
Another great aircraft at Sywell was the French built mini Mosquito F-PMOZ - the aircraft is a 3/4 scale replica and first flew in April 2011 after a 17 year build period by RRAA. The aircraft looks and sounds very good and is a fantastic example of a homebuilt project. F-PMOZ arrived in the UK for the first time in mid August at Humberside airport before departing on to RAF Cranwell. This Mosquito is painted to represent Mosquito FB VI PZ460 of 143 sqd coded "NE-K". This aircraft operated with the Banff Strike Wing in Scotland. PZ460 was lost in action on 15th January 1945 during an attack on shipping off the coast of Norway killing the French pilot Wing Commander Max Guedj and navigator Flight Lieutenant J F Langley. This replica is an excellent memorial to those men.
Link to official F-PMOZ website
Link to discussion and video about Mosquito replica F-PMOZ
Another interesting replica at the LAA Rally was the Bonsall Mustang replica G-BDWM. This aircraft was built in the late 1980s and was painted in a green and brown camo to represent RAF Mustang serial FB226 coded "MT-A". The aircraft appeared at the PFA Rally at Wroughton in July 1991. In March 1992 it suffered a loss of engine power shortly after take of from Netherthorpe airfield and made and emergency landing in a nearby field and nosed over. The aircraft was repainted in 2010 into a silver USAAF P-51 colour scheme with side code "LH-I" - by 2011 the serial 414673 had been applied to the tail too.
Bonsall Mustang replica G-BDWM is now named "Rosie" although in 2011 it was named "Galloping Ghost". The CAA website shows the aircraft had flown 70 flight hours by 12.10.
Posing as a USMC with rockets this O-1E Bird Dog ( Cessna model 305 ) is registered as N134TT. This example was built in 1957 with Cessna construction number 24541 and delivered new directly to the French Army operating in Algeria. The aircraft was used for observation, liaison, and forward air control. By the mid 1980s the French had withdrawn this type from service ( some of the last French Army Bird Dogs operated from Baden-Baden in West Germany ) and this aircraft was sold onto the civil market as F-GFVE. In 2004 it was registered as N134TT based in the UK.
Photo link to F-GFVE in 1990 in basic original French Army olive colours
Photo link to F-GFVE in 2003 in white/red USMC warbird scheme in the UK
Another former French military aircraft was Nord 3202B G-BIZK still painted in its former French Air Force colours as serial number 78. This tandem trainer was built in 1962 and came onto the UK civil aircraft register in 1990. The aircraft is powered by a POTEZ 4D34D engine.
Steve
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