G-HKIT BAC 1-11

G-HKIT BAC 1-11 521FH c/n 196 at Hurn January 1999

I have many old photos of aircraft from the past 30 years. The image today was taken back in January 1999 at Bournemouth Hurn airport ( EGHH ).

The BAC 1-11 assembly plant was once located at Hurn so 1-11s were a familiar sight awaiting delivery or back in for servicing.

The photo above was taken on 16th January 1999 - the aircraft was still at Hurn on 29th December 1999 too.

This particular aircraft was built in 1969 and test flew as G-16-10 before delivery to Austral Líneas Aereas of Argentina as LV-JNT in November 1969. The aircraft operated in South Amercia until 1994. In June 1996 it was registered as VR-BEC and ferried to Bournemouth Hurn airport in the UK - the Bermudan registration prefix changed to be VP ( ie VP-BEC ) in April 1997.

It was registered as G-HKIT in June 1997 and registered to European Aviation ( a major operator of 1-11s at the time ). "HKIT" probably refers to "Hushkit" - the aircraft was to be used by European to help the test development of a quieter engine for the notoriously noisy BAC 1-11.

In the photo you can see it has no engines and is still painted in the colours of Austral - I believe this aircraft was stripped for spare parts and not flown as G-HKIT. The aircraft was eventually broken up and scrapped at Hurn in early 2001. This aircraft was "born" at Bournemouth in 1969 and "died" at Bournemouth some 32 years later.

The aircraft was de-registered from the UK CAA register in July 2001.


With thanks to airlinerlist.com for some of the above data


http://www.airlinerlist.com/


Steve

Warka, Poland - Preserved Lim-2

Preserved near the town square in the street Ulica Dluga near the centre of Warka is this former Polish Air Force Lim-2. This aircraft was presented to the town of Warka by 1 PLM ( based at Minsk Mazowiecki ) back in August 1969 - now 40 years later it is still "on guard" and looks to be in reasonable condition having spent so long outside in all weathers.

The serial 026 can just about be discerned on the port nose although I do not know the construction number for this aircraft - if you know more about this particular aircraft please let me know, thanks.

The Lim-2 was a licensed built version of the Mig-15 bis built by PZL Mielec. Some sources suggests that as many as 18,000 Mig-15 aircraft were built in the USSR and in licenced overseas production. If you look at the nose of this aircraft you can see the large Nudelman N-37 37 mm cannon and a pair of NR-23 23 mm cannons. This aircraft was probably built in the late 1950s.

The town of Warka is on road 731 approx 25 miles South of Warsaw - the photo was taken in August 2009.

The link below will show you this same aircraft on a picture postcard of the town of Warka probably taken in the 1970s

EXTERNAL LINK TO POSTCARD of "026"