Warbirds Arrive At EAA AirVenture

Spitfire Mk.IX, serial no. MK959, is a true combat veteran, having flown a number of combat missions with the RAF’s 302 Squadron and then with 329 Squadron over the Normandy Beaches. Later it was operated by the Royal Netherlands Air Force before an ignominious spell atop a pole at Eindhoven air base. Rescued in the 1990s, the Spitfire was shipped to the U.S. for restoration, and now flies with the Texas Flying Legends Museum.

One of the rarest of British warbirds is the Fairey Firefly, a Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter and anti-submarine aircraft principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm. British and Australian Fireflies routinely performed ground–attack operations from aircraft carriers during the Korean War, but the type entered retirement from the mid-1950s. This example, one of three still flying, spent its retirement as a memorial atop a pole in Griffith, New South Wales, Australia, before being rescued and shipped to the U.S. for restoration.

The Firefly on show here first appeared at Oshkosh in 2002 after an eight-year restoration, when it was named Grand Champion and its rebuilders, Colorado-based Q.G. Aviation of America, received the Oshkosh Golden Wrench Award. That restoration involved more than 40,000+ man-hours of work. The aircraft is powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine.

You can learn more about Fairey Firefly WB518 from its owner, Capt. Eddie Kurdziel, a retired U.S. Navy and commercial airline pilot. The aircraft will also be featured in a presentation called “Pole to Perfection” at Forum Stage 6 on Friday 26 July at 10am. One of Kurdziel’s goals is to take the Firefly to Europe for an air show season.

This North American P-51C Mustang, restored by AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota, as Lope’s Hope 3^rd, won Oshkosh Grand Champion in 2018. It’s returned this year. The restored airplane made its first flight on October 17, 2017

Lope’s Hope 3^rd was flown by Lt. Donald Lopez in the China-Burma-India theater with the 14th Air Force, 23rd Fighter Group, 75th Squadron. The 23rd Fighter Group was the descendent of the famous American Volunteer Group or Flying Tigers after the U.S. entered the war. The 75th’s mission throughout its service in China was to establish air superiority and strafe airfields, supplies, and Japanese troop concentrations. 

Warbird Adventures of Kissimmee, Florida, has added a dual-seat, dual-control Curtiss P-40N to its fleet and now offers flight experience and even flight training towards a P-40 rating in the aircraft. Although a handful of dual-control TP-40s remain, this converted P-40N is the only one offering dual instruction on a commercial basis to the general public. The aircraft is based on the remains of P-40N 42-104977, a WWII veteran which scored three victories before itself being itself shot down by an A6M Zero. It was recovered, and restored by Precision Aerospace in Wangaratta, Australia, taking to the skies again in 2008.

One can see the most astonishing mixture of warbirds here at Oshkosh. This line up comprises a turboprop Maule M-7-420AC, T-34C trainer, P-51D Mustang and Grumman F6F Hellcat.

An unusual aircraft on show at Oshkosh is the camouflaged Maule M-7-420C, distinguished by its Allison 250-B17 turboprop engine. The Maule series of short-takeoff-and landing aircraft is made in Moultrie, Georgia. The company delivered 2,500 aircraft in its first 50 years of business.

There’s nothing new about optional pilots. The EAA Museum’s Culver PQ-14B was built in 1944 as an optionally-piloted target drone that could be flown remotely from the ground or from another airplane up to five miles away. Most were blasted out of the sky (they were targets, after all) but about a dozen survived to become single-seat recreational, piloted aircraft, rewarding their owners with a sprightly performance and no tendency to go off on their own.