Bf109 Survivors - Part 5
In this final installment of what has panned out to be a year long series, Dave McDonald concludes his exhaustive survey of all known remaining examples of aircraft from the Messerschmitt family. This month he finishes off with the second half of the Spanish built Hispano HA-1112 Buchon series, and also outlines the few remaining aircraft from the post-war Czech production, the Avia 99/199 series. Top
	Precision Aerospace - Restoration On A Grand Scale
	Not far from the Hume Highway heading towards Victoria's northern border with New South Wales there can be found a restoration enterprise that has truly reached a global scale of activity yet which is still relatively unknown beyond Australian shores. Although the name may not immediately seem familiar Precision Aerospace Productions Pty. Ltd. has been in business for over five years, the first advertising for the company's wares appearing in Classic Wings as early as 1998. Founded by former rice farmer Murray Griffiths, 'Precision' had humble beginnings operating out of a machine shop at Moorabbin Airport on Melbourne's southern outskirts. Since that time, Precision has grown and grown to reach the stage at which it now employs 14 full time people working on over half a dozen World War Two fighter aircraft at any given time. Top
National Air Tour - USA
by John Coussens September 2003, for our band of diehard pilots, crew, and volunteers, will be forever burned in memory as the time we flew the National Air Tour. Our 80-strong gang ranged from doctors and lawyers to retirees and a construction contractor, and our planes were as different as we were. From open-cockpit biplanes to a trio of Trimotors, the common thread that tied them together lay both in their vintage and in their historic significance to the expansion of aviation from a mere circus act to viable commercial transportation. Top
	Lightning On The Sepik
	In another of our occasional series on wreck discoveries in remote areas, we are pleased to report on a Papua New Guinea Lockheed P-38 Lightning wreck not only investigated but recovered to aid in the restoration of other examples of the marque. BOB and MARGARET JARRETT of Classic Jets Fighter Museum led a recovery team in the middle of the year to effect the recovery of the twin boom fighter. The following report is an abridged version of their account of this adventure with their photographs accompanying. Top