pipe or cheroot with clouds of impenetrable

smoke, interspersed with the odd

“GAAAAAD DAAAMIT “ made our days

somewhat colourful at times. PT we wish

you the very best of luck in whatever you do

next.

Our experience with N2500 has taught us

many things. Check the fuel before starting

an engine. Ensure T shirts and mirrors are

stowed. Whenever possible paint inside not

out, but on a more serious note, it has made

us seriously consider placing our Beech 18

on the American “N” Register. It seems that

this is easier and more to the point cheaper.

More on this as it develops. PT (ed).

Beech Restorations

Newsletter

Ferry Pilot for the flight to Australia was Warwick “Wok” Woinarski. Why Warwick? Well he has done all of this before. A num-ber of years ago Warwick ferried another Beech 18 to Australia directly from the USA.

The story of this is featured in an old issue of Classic Wings I have somewhere, I must dig it out sometime.

Warwick began flying in 1969 at the age of 19 and purchased his first Tiger Moth in 1973. After obtaining his commercial pilots licence he flew light twin engine aircraft doing night freight services within Australia and New Guinea, this led Warwick into bush pilot airways in North Queensland flying twin engine turbo prop aircraft into Queensland Island resorts. From there he joined Trans Australian Air-lines. During this time he immensely en-joyed flying the Douglas DC9. The DC9 was the last of the classic jet airliners.

Warwick also flew the A300 Airbus, the first wide body jet to operate in Australia

Almost thirty years from when “Wok” started flying he is now able to fulfil his long time dream. Back enjoying the Tiger Moth at the grass root end of flying.

1st Quarter 2009

This issue centres upon the recent com-

pletion and departure of the Volpar Beech

18 N2500 owned by James (PT) Barnum

to Australia.

Beech Restorations has played host to

this aircraft since October 2005 when the

aircraft was ferried from Goose Bay Can-

ada to Bruntingthorpe via Greenland, Ice-

land, Scotland then Sywell.

Since PT had a serious bike accident he

had been somewhat less able to carry out

certain things and his aircraft was exten-

sively worked on by Beech Restorations

to bring it externally up to scratch. This

entailed removal of rudders, elevator,

ailerons and flaps and many of the exter-

nal panels.

Over the summer of 2008 all of these

parts were cleaned, inspected, repaired

where necessary & prepared for paint. PT

prepared the external fuselage and wings

and the aircraft was painted in sections

during the latter half of the summer.

An Art Deco style scheme was applied

consisting of dark Blue and Cream fuse-

lage, complimented by largely blue wings

with a “Beech Restorations” Signature

wing stripe.

An accident during engine runs resulted in

serious damage to one of the Port propel-

ler blades necessitating an expensive

replacement being fitted during the early

part of October. Magneto difficulties on

the same engine resulted in the aircraft

being un-serviceable for flight until an

overhauled unit arrived from Texas.

A Certificate of Airworthiness was issued during the first week of October & test flights were carried out, the aircraft transit-ing from Bruntingthorpe to Coventry and back on 11.10.08. A further test flight to Kings Lynn early the following week resulted in the overhauled magneto failing. A spare was fitted and N2500 transited back to Bruntingthorpe finally leaving on the 15th October. Landing for fuel in Jersey on the 16th it then took some 5 days to arrive at Malta. N2500 Arrived in Bangkok on the 28th of October & finally arrived in Cairns Austra-lia on the 6th of November some 23 days after leaving UK airspace.

I would like to congratulate PT for making

it and thank him for his help over the last

3 years on our hangar, mezzanine floor &

our many other projects.

Working with PT has lets say been inter-

esting. His characteristic Baseball cap,

Features Page

From the Workshop G-CPPM 2

Final Flights 1—Otis Redding 2

Final Flights 2 Return of the Icemen

3

Other Projects 4

Hollywood Aircraft 5

PT Portfolio—N2500 in Pictures 6

The FLYBOYS 7

Introduction 8

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Edited by S. Fisher—Brannigan

Researched & Compiled by P.L. Turland

He Made It!

FROM THE WORKSHOPFROM THE WORKSHOPFROM THE WORKSHOP. Harvard IIb G-CCPM—This airframe owned by Northamp-ton based Steve Wilch has been undergoing restoration in our workshop for some time now. The “Birdcage” has been X-Rayed for cracks and corrosion and is in the process of being fitted out. The rear fuselage required extensive re-skinning as did the centre section. Work has temporarily been suspended pending completion of our Hangar. Fuel tanks should however be fitted early in January and it is hoped the aircraft will be on its undercarriage before the Spring.

A “New” engine has been delivered and is in our engine shop ready for fitting of the ancillaries.

A propeller is in transit and will be held in bonded stores pending completion of the airframe.

Once completed it is hoped that Beech Restorations will be retained to maintain and service this aircraft on behalf of the owner at Bruntingthorpe.

Steve would like us to take his chipmunk under our “wing” for maintenance and repairs and at some point in the future undertake restoration a P-51 Mustang he is considering purchasing. Whilst these are exciting prospects we must be realistic, can we really maintain a Chipmunk……….

So what else is going on in our workshop? The answer is not a lot really. Because of our construction work it is almost impos-sible to get back onto planes. Additional external factors have also precluded actual aircraft restoration. G-CCOY is sitting on trestles awaiting instructions as is the 4th T-6/Harvard project which is currently residing in the Vulcan storage shed.

Realistically we are at this time unable to accommodate any further projects. Space limitations being what they are, we can-not get anything else into the hangar. Some of the current projects will either return to their owners or will be rotated for peri-odic attention but 2009 is the Beech Year. Interior headlining will be tackled during the latter part of January, seat upholstery is already in progress. More importantly we need to re-visit areas we left 3 years ago to establish what has and has not been completed. The rear floor will be modified to facilitate a fifth passenger seat to be fitted and carpeting will be cut to fit once we have finally carried out all checks in the under-floor areas. Wiring and instrument panel are one of our main priorities. With Barry being ill (see later) it is somewhat difficult to plan these elements but one way or another they will be completed in 2009.

On December 9, 1967, Otis Redding and his backup band, The Bar-Kays, made an ap-pearance in Cleveland, Ohio on the local "Upbeat" television show. The next afternoon, Redding, his manager, the pilot, and four members of The Bar-Kays were killed when his Beech 18 crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. The two remaining Bar-Kays were Ben Cauley and James Alexander . Cauley was the only person aboard Red-ding's plane to survive the crash. Alexander was on another plane, since there were eight members in Redding's party and the plane could only hold seven, and it was Alex-ander's turn in the rotation to take a commercial flight. Cauley reported that he had been asleep until just seconds before impact, and recalled that upon waking he saw band mate Phalon Jones look out a window and say, "Oh, no!" Cauley said the last thing he remembered before the crash was unbuckling his seatbelt. He then found himself in the frigid waters of the lake, grasping a seat cushion to keep

afloat.

Redding's body was recovered the next day when the lake bed was searched. The cause of the crash was never precisely determined. He was entombed on his private ranch in Round Oak, Georgia, 23 miles (37 km) north of Macon.

"(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was recorded only three days before Redding's death. According to Nashid Munyan, curator of the Stax Mu-seum of American Soul Music, Redding considered the song unfinished, having whistled the tune of one verse for which he intended to compose lyrics later. The song was released (with the place-holding whistling in-tact) in January 1968 and became Redding's only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 , and the first posthumous single in U.S. chart history

From the WorkshopFrom the WorkshopFrom the Workshop Page 2

Final Flight 1 Final Flight 1 Final Flight 1 ——— Sittin on the dock of the BaySittin on the dock of the BaySittin on the dock of the Bay

On the 18th of November 1942 Beech AT-7 41-21079 took off from Mather Field Sacramento on a routine training flight and disappeared into oblivion. The aircraft and the crew disappeared into oblivion. On board was Pilot 2nd Lt William Gamber and three student cadets: John Mortenson, Earnest G Munn, and Leo Mustonen. 63 years later in October, 2005, climbers found a mummified body embedded within the Mendel Glacier, it was later identified as Leo Mustonen, one of the cadets on board the aircraft that had disappeared over 60 years before.

2 years later researcher & climber Peter Stekel discovered the remains of a second man emerging from the glacier; he had found the frozen remains of Ernest G. Munn. So what happened? - We Can never be sure but using modern techniques we can attempt to reconstruct the last minutes of this fateful journey.

Lt. William Gamber was an instrument rated experienced pilot, as a flight instructor, he had flown 709 hours in seven months 505 of which were in the AT-7. On this occasion he flew with no co-Pilot but from the filed flight-plan this could be considered as not unusual as it was a local training flight.

What isn’t clear is why he flew so close and ultimately into a notoriously dangerous area. The Sierra Nevada is very high & produces its own weather patterns. Whilst his flight-plan didn’t take him anywhere near this area he may not have taken into account the approaching weather front. If Lt Gamber did take this into account it is possible he underestimated the severity of the situation.

Today using weather maps from November, 1942 we can see that there was a central low on that day. It is likely there were strong upper level winds & certainly poor visibility. The cloud level shown in the maps indicates the cloud base to be at about 7,000-8,000'.

It is possible the plane was ahead of the front for a time but was forced East by the strong winds into the Sierra Nevada. Gamber could not go high to avoid the high (12,000' - 14,000') peaks and although the AT-7 could fly at 26,000 feet he was limited to 10,000 as it was not pressur-ised and was not equipped with an oxygen system.

Gamber probably tried to fly below the clouds using an Alaskan Bush Pilot technique of flying within sight of the ground, this however during inclement weather in unfamiliar territory this becomes very difficult and is a recipe for dis-aster.

Without accurate navigational instruments Lt Gamber would have used a combination of pilotage and dead-reckoning to get himself out of trouble, but this doesn’t work when you are lost.

Odds are they were flying low; lost in cloud and mountains with high peaks & jagged ridges. With twisting narrow can-yons and unforgiving glaciers. he would have had little manoeuvring room, a disaster was about to happen as the plane simply didn't have the lift or equipment to get over an obstacle if one presented itself. It is easy to imagine Lt Gamber struggling with his aircraft, his cadets may have tried to help him, spotting for terrain, frantically searching for a canyon which might lead them to safety only to clip a wing or propeller on some narrow slot canyon wall or slam into an unseen ridgeline. Bad weather certainly caused the crash of AT-7 41-21079 taking with it the lives of 4 young airmen. The blazing remains of the aircraft tumbled to earth in the path of a Glacier.

Nature claimed the AT-7, and its remaining crew members Gamber & Mortenson, they are still hidden in the ice. Who knows when or if they will be discovered and returned home? What remains are a few grainy pictures of them smiling and proud in their uniforms, and a few parts which litter the valley floor where they tumbled after impact other than that and a few memories there is little to show of the aircraft and another 4 souls taken by the High Sierra.

Mustonen was buried on March 25, 2006, in a grave next to his mother's. His two nieces, Mary Ruth Mustonen, (11months at the time of his death) and Leane Ross (not born when he died), were in attendance at the ceremony in Brainerd, Minnesota.

On February 8, 2008, authorities notified Authorities have notified his sisters, now in their 80s that Cadet Ernest G. Munn had been found. It was reported that when he left for the service, he told his mother never to cut her long hair. His mother lived to be 102, never cut her hair and died awaiting word on his fate. He was buried on May 17, 2008, in Colerain Ohio. The remaining two bodies may be discovered in the near future, as the glacier continues to melt.

John Mortenson

Leo Mustonen

Ernest Glenn Munn

Lt. William Gamber

Final Flight 2 Final Flight 2 Final Flight 2 ——— Return of the IcemenReturn of the IcemenReturn of the Icemen Page 3

Page 4

Kettenkrad. In June of 2008 and after almost 3 years of very hard, dirty and expen-

sive work my Kettenkrad was (bar a few minor details) ready to drive. On Saturday the

14th I managed to drive my first tentative few yards.

During this test several faults came to light, the most serious of which was the lack of

steering. It seems that in my haste to install the differential I had neglected to connect

the steering brakes. This necessitated removal of the engine, gearbox and differential.

Whilst out of the hull I attended to a minor oil sump leak and addressed the starting

issues by converting it to 12 volts, and installing a new starter motor.

Additional difficulties were encountered with a reverse throttle. Some fabricating and

welding solved this.

Further test drives highlighted minor issues with track nuts and steering damping but

these have together with starting issues all been addressed.

My Kettenkrad now starts reliably and is ready for those finishing

elements. I need to fit a single kneepad, vehicle data plate and

manufacture the rear seat cushions. These elements do not pre-

vent me from driving the vehicle across the airfield at every oppor-

tunity which attracts lots of attention from the Drivers of the test

vehicles using the track and runway.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who assisted

me in my restoration.

Kubelwagen. In August of 2008 the kettenkrad was almost finished & I felt that I needed another restoration project to keep me quiet in

the coming winter months. Whilst wishing for something akin to a halftrack, I knew this would be out of my price-range and probably be-yond my engineering, financial and logistical capabilities. After a little thought it seemed to me that the logical stable-mate to Kettenkrad would be a something equally small and easy to work on, yet a cool bit of kit to charge about in, so how about a kubelwagen. The Kubel-wagen is the German Jeep., often seen with small units fulfilling almost the same role as the Kettenkrad when the latter is used by rear echelon troops.

After a little searching and some extremely good luck I managed to find the perfect project and it was only 2 minutes drive from my house.

What you see in the photographs was exactly what I was looking for, exactly, not finished, not pristine, yet not a complete wreck like the kettenkrad.

The vehicle is missing a few items and some parts are incorrect but in comparison to my Kettenkrad these details are minor and would only take a short while to rectify.

The Body number indicated it was built in February 1944, co-incidentally the same month and year as my kettenkrad. The Engine number indicates it was manufactured in 1943 but I have received information directly from the VW plant in Germany that this engine was also manufactured in 1944.

There is evidence of small arms damage to the engine hood and also to the spare wheel carrier. This will be left as is an helps preserve the wartime history of the vehi-cle. Some elements of the Kubel are not correct. The chassis seems to be Beetle with Beetle floor pans. These are different to original Kubel items and will be rectified in due course.

I plan to finish the Kubel in the early war dark grey scheme somewhat in the style of the kubels used in the film Where Eagles Dare.

I am really looking forward to getting stuck into this restoration which should result in a fun ve-hicle we can use on the roads. My wife said she

always wanted a convertible; I think she meant something slightly different. Then again I guess it is a Porsche in spirit if not body…………..or speed

Other Projects Other Projects Other Projects ——— Kettenkrad, Kubelwagen & JeepKettenkrad, Kubelwagen & JeepKettenkrad, Kubelwagen & Jeep

Beech Restorations don’t only restore aircraft, the skills associated with aircraft restoration can be easily turned to other vehicles. This section covers just a few of them

JEEP— Earlier in 2008 Adrian managed to locate himself something he had always wanted a Willey’s Jeep. Whilst wishing for a wartime Jeep, this was sadly outside of the budget

He managed to aquire a CJ2A version this has a four cylinder L-head Go-Devil engine with an 80 inch wheelbase, a modified and revised transmission and updated axles. Basically, the CJ2A is a modified Willys MB. Exterior changes included a hinged tailgate and the spare wheel was relo-cated to the vehicles side. In addition larger headlights, the fuel gauge, speedometer, oil pressure gauge, water temperature gauge and the gas cap was relocated.

For the most part the early CJ’s were designed for agricultural purposes only. A few models were fitted with fire fighting equipment. The Jeep CJ2A was manufactured until 1949 with 214,202 ve-hicles produced. There are many old CJ’s on the road to this day. It is not uncommon to see one with a bikini top and oversized tires climbing right up a hill. Pictures in the next issue.

The Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 has been featured here before. This short piece fits nicely into our Hollywood theme and serves as an update to the previous short. Designed by Otto Timm the makeshift aircraft used parts from a T-6 (Engine & Undercarriage) and the wings from an AT-11. The main reason for resurrecting this aircraft is the recent discovery of the thought to be lost film of the fatal crash landing. Whilst search-ing for information on Paul Mantz I stumbled across footage of the crash on Youtube. It clearly shows the hard landing which resulted in the separation of the rear empennage, the aircraft then begins to somersault killing Mantz and severely injuring his passenger. The crash occurred during shooting of the final moments of the film. The shots were already in the can when the director requested one more for insurance purposes. The intoxicated Mantz could not escape from the resulting catastrophe.

Remains of the aircraft were buried out in the desert. A few days after Mantz's crash, Tallman faced his own individual tragedy when doctors amputated his leg be-cause of a massive infection that had resulted from a smashed kneecap. Despite the loss of his leg and his close friend, Tallman re-taught himself how to fly using only one leg and returned to stunting. In subsequent years he worked on such films as The Blue Max, Catch 22, The Great Waldo Pepper, and Capricorn One. On April 15, 1978, Tallman, age 58, lost his life during a routine flight when he failed to clear a ridge near Palm Springs, California, due to poor visibility.

Hollywood Actor Robert Taylor's’ flying interest emerged after the movie Flight Command (1940), when he bought a single-engine plane and took lessons for a pilot's license. After World War II, when he served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1945 as a flight instructor and narrator of 17 trainings films, MGM bought him a twin-engine Beechcraft which he flew regularly until the early 1960s. Beech D18s NC80356 In 1951, Taylor starred in the film Above and Beyond a biopic of Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets. The two men met and found that they had much in common. Both had considered studying medicine, and were avid skeet-shooters and fliers. Taylor learned to fly in the mid-1930s, and served as a US Navy flying instructor during World War II His Twin Beech was called "Missy" (his wife Barbara Stanwyck's nick-name) which he used on hunting and fishing trips. She complained that he spent all his time polishing his guns and aircraft, but when airborne could "do anything a bird could do, except sit on a barbed wire fence".

It’s a MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. In the madcap comedy a Beech 18 is features in one of the most spectacular Hollywood stunts ever filmed. Famed aviator Frank Tallman flew a Beech 18 through a specially constructed hoarding and also into a restaurant through a plate glass window. This reveals which particular Beech it was and what subsequently happened to it.

The sequence was filmed on December 19th, 1962, and involved Twin Beech N63158, flying from Or-ange County (now John Wayne) Airport.

The hoarding was constructed specially for the stunt, however there were delays in filming & it dried much harder than expected. As a result the aircraft suffered a cracked windshield and dented leading edges consequently the film company were billed several thousand dollars for repairs. Tallman later stated he would never undertake a stunt like that ever again.

After filming N63158 was flown to Ontario airport and parked across from The Planes of Fame Air Museum, which was at that airport at the time. Shortly thereafter, the plane was sold at auction to a Nebraska auto dealer -- but it remained at the Ontario airport and never left California. Over three dozen Tallmantz airplanes were sold in 1966, after the death of Paul Mantz, (see later article).

N63158 was a bit of a hybrid aircraft. It was an AT-11 bomber/trainer fitted with a C-18 nose to make it look like a standard D-18. Tallmantz bought it for $10,000.

In 1969, the FAA mandated wing straps for the main spar on all Beechcraft 18s. Cracks had been found on older 18s, which caused several to shear wings in flight. This reinforcement was quite costly. As a result N63158 was sold again in 1970-71 to a plane broker named Richard Vartanian. Several months later, after the plane had sat at the Ontario airport for several years, it was dismantled and scrapped.

Hollywood Aircraft Hollywood Aircraft Hollywood Aircraft

A Beech Called A Beech Called A Beech Called MISSYMISSYMISSY

Flight of The PhoenixFlight of The PhoenixFlight of The Phoenix

Page 5

Taylor & Vivien Leigh Waterloo Bridge 1940.

Two Boys Land Plane on HWY-89—They became known as—

Jason and Kyle, recent friends from different sides of the track, become embroiled in the adventure of their lives when they dis-cover a mysterious airplane at the local small-town airport. The boys sneak aboard the plane for a look, but are forced to hide in the luggage compartment when two strange men show up. Soon Jason and Kyle unexpectedly find themselves airborne over the open Arizona desert. After hours in the air, the boys unwittingly uncover a bomb in the luggage compartment. When they burst into the cabin to report their discovery, they find that everyone on board has bailed out. The boys must take the controls and land the plane themselves. But their troubles are only beginning as Jason and Kyle realize that they've foiled a heist to steal mil-lions of dollars from the mob in this high-action, coming-of-age film.

Based upon a true story, The Flyboys production was shot on location in Utah and Nevada.

The Beech 18 is one of the film's central characters in itself. The pilot and owner of the plane, Skip Evans, purchased this air-craft in 1983. Originally manufactured as a 3NM model (the same as ours) in December 1952 for the Royal Canadian Air Force (the same as ours). After many years of service it was eventually sent for scrap . In 1980, Evans saw the plane sitting in a field, gutted and rusting. He struck a deal with the owner, Dale Rodendy: If Evans could get the plane flying, Rodendy would let him have it. Once it was running again, Evans flew the plane to attend the Reno Air Races. A year later, after extensive work to restore it, Evans finally owned the classic Beech 18. He named it Papa Alpha after its tail number, N476PA. They then became inseparable. Papa Alpha became an executive commuter plane and went on to star in many feature films & one of the most widely recognized Beech 18s in the aviation community.

The highway-landing sequence involving the Twin Beech 18 took place on a four-mile-long, twenty-four-foot-wide stretch of old U.S. Highway 91 between Mesquite, Nevada, and St. George, Utah. As the highway runs through Utah, Arizona and Nevada, The Flyboys production team had to coordinate and gain approvals from various government and law-enforcement agencies in all three states. In the film, the young characters, Jason and Kyle, find themselves the only ones onboard the plane flying over the Utah desert. To add to their plight, the plane's fuel gauge is indicat-ing "empty." The boys know their only chance to avoid a crash is to attempt a landing on a rural but busy highway. Jason has had some unofficial lessons from time spent flying with his pilot uncle, but he is far from experienced in flying unsupervised, let alone landing a plane.

When it came time for Evans to fly the plane for the filmed landing sequence, there was little room for error. The Twin Beech landing gear wheels were 13 feet apart, leaving only 3 feet of clearance on either side. Unfortunately, the entire four miles of the cordoned-off stretch of highway had a gradual down slope from south to north, and there were telephone lines on either end of the stretch. Also, the fact that the road ran longitudinally increased the chance of crosswinds. Several reflectors and milepost markers were removed from the roadside to provide a clear path for the wings, and the highway was combed to re-move any debris that could cause damage to the airplane.

When it came time to film the landing, cameras set up on the ground: one in the desert for a side view of the action, one at the end of the road looking straight down the barrel, and one in the back of a stunt vehicle to capture the ac-tion close up. On each run, Skip skimmed low over each vehicle and often touched down and bounced around between them to simulate the boys trying to land the plane. In one shot, he went head-to-head with the oncoming truck, pulling up at the last second. During the filming of the first run, the Beech 18 kissed the roof of a black Honda Civic owned and driven by The Flyboys co-writer and associate producer, Jason DeVilliers. The landing gear drove a trench down the roof of the car without injuring Ja-son or the camera mounted inside it. The unscripted moment, fully captured by the cameras, remains in the final version of the

film.

At another point in the film, the Twin Beech narrowly misses a mid-air collision with a mountainside. This required filming Evans flying directly at an enormous mountain ridge and pulling up at the last possible second. The first attempt to shoot the sequence found that the camera plane was too far away and the drama of the stunt was completely missed. Later, another attempt was made, this time with the camera inside a helicopter. The final shots used in the film from the third and successful attempt were amazing.

Some who have seen the film assert that the sequence was only possible through computer-generated effects and not by an actual pilot and plane. However, the film captures exactly what Evans and Papa Alpha were able to pull off. The Flyboys is not an ef-fects film. Everything was done the old-fashioned way - in-camera, with a very talented stunt team.

Page 6

The The The FFFLYLYLYBBBOYSOYSOYS

The The The FFFLYLYLYBBBOYSOYSOYS

Page 7 The PT Portfolio: N2500 in Pictures

Epic journeys have a beginning and an end, the end for N2500 was landing at a new home Redcliffe Aerodrome Quennsland Australia. We could say the journey from began at Bruntingthorpe but that would not be strictly true. That was just one chapter. The journey began when PT first purchased the Beech. At that time he probably didn’t realise the immensity of what lay in front of him. Pain, anguish and worry. The debt and the fatigue but he never gave up, he had his aims and his family and friends to support him when and wherever possible and against all of the odds and against all of our worst fears he made it. That doesn’t mean to say there weren’t moments of terror along the way. Running out of fuel on approach to an airport because he had forgotten to change fuel tanks, blowing cylinders because of contami-nated fuel and poor maintenance were all parts of the journey and will be long remembered.

This is not the end for N2500 and PT it is just another chapter. We look forward to hearing of his exploits in Australia. Photographically I have managed to document some of the steps in the journey of N2500. This is not a comprehensive record of his flight, if photographed in India or Thailand or any of the other countries along the way it seems they have not yet found their way onto the internet.

Montgomery field San Diego California 1993

Goosebay Canada 24.10.05

Wick Scotland 15.11.05

Landing at Sywell 15.11.05

Bruntingthorpe 19.11.05

Redcliffe Aerodrome Australia 27.12.08

Malta 21.10.08 Bruntingthorpe Sept 2008

Bruntingthorpe Aug 2008

Jersey Airport 16.10.08

End of the 1st Test Flight 11.10.08

2nd Test Flight 11.10.08

FFFROMROMROM THETHETHE EEEDITORDITORDITOR: : : Normally this sort of section would be nearer the front of the newsletter. News regarding the departure of N2500 seems

to have dominated this area in this issue so general news type stuff has in this issue been relegated to the back. Sometimes people read back to front so maybe this isn’t a bad place to put it.

Over the last few months we have been very busy erecting our mezzanine floor which now houses our spare parts store. The mezzanine has been extended to stretch across the whole width of our hangar, the extension to which now sports our new office which once completed will house our computer and technical library.

The hangar now has mains electricity connected. For the first time in a number of years, we can heat and light our facility without having to crank up one or other of our generators.

The Beech has during our construction phase been somewhat neglected. Barry occasionally comes along to work on the wiring, Leo occa-sionally attends to the almost symbolic engine oil leaks and once in a while she gets a bit of tender loving care with a wash and wax.

During the latter part of 2008 we discovered some damage to the elevator. When the Beech was on the field (courtesy of TVOC) the eleva-tor seems to have fluttered and damaged the lower skin where the elevator hinges meet the front elevator spar. Also the fluttering caused stress to the vertical spine on the rear fuselage bulkhead. Remedial work is relatively straightforward and will probably be attended to over Christmas 08, January 2009.

Some sad news regarding 4 of our team. Barry, our longstanding friend and electrician has been diagnosed with a form of lung cancer. We believe the prognosis is very good and we wait to hear more. Terry Levett who helps us out from time to time has also been diagnosed with cancer. This time a form of bone cancer. Whilst there is no cure for this, it is treatable and the chances of remission are very good. Eric has discovered he has angina. In his case unstable angina which cannot be treated with medication. He will require either a “stent” fitting or heart bypass surgery. Finally, Adrian; Adrian has been diagnosed with diabetes. Not the sort that requires injections so that is good news. With Leo who has asthma this leaves just 2 of us relatively fit.

Saying that, my knees are getting really bad now and I might have to have knee replacement surgery at some point in the future.

Adrian suffered a serious head injury during 2008. We were in the process of preparing our “old” site for clearance and somehow the vertical stanchion of a trailer tail-lift released and gave him a severe blow to the side of the head. The injury required urgent medical attention and he was hospitalised for several days. Thankfully he has made a full recov-ery.

We are now very tired of Beech Constructions. We have been building the hangar and not actually working on our Beech 18 or any of our other aircraft for almost 3 years now and it is time to draw a line under Beech Constructions and get back to what we started out doing back in 1996, restoring aircraft. I think we all managed to get a little time off this year to re-charge our batteries, mine turned into the holiday from hell and wasn’t really any form of break but that is one of those things. Maybe we should look at the milestones we have achieved and pat ourselves on the back. The hangar bar a few minor issues is now complete. We have almost completed the re-location and roofing for our “dirty” area, we are on mains electric. We have hot and cold running water, we have an office, my kettenkrad is running. All in all, we have done very well and we should congratulate ourselves on our achievements for 2008 and look forward to a very productive 2009 when our Beech 18 will run her engines.

Beech 3NM G-BKGM currently owned by Andy Fone of Skyblue Aviation Ltd visited Bruntingthorpe back in August 08. This was one of the original 3 aircraft that came from Canada with our Beech 18.

Beech Restorations

Beech House

8 Manning Road

Moulton

Northampton. NN3 7XE

Tel: 01604 790901

Fax: 01604 492946

Email:

philip.studfast@btconnect.com

Web:

www.beechrestorations.com

For Sale: We currently have for sale a selection of Beech Restoration merchandise. We have Polo Shirts, Baseball Caps, Bomber Jackets, Car Stickers and Cloth Patches. We can supply most of these from stock however the Polo Shirts and the jackets need to be ordered in advance. Should you require any of the above please email what you need directly to me and I will get back to you with payment details and delivery times.

Polo Shirts (Blue or Black) £15.00 Baseball Cap (Blue or Black) £6.00 Jacket (Blue) £35.00

We can accept payment by paypal

Jackets available in Small Medium or Large. Please specify. Post extra.

Included here for no other reason than we want one to restore is this picture of an AT-11 Kansan in the Dobbins AFB restoration area. Dobbins never operated this type of aircraft but it is representative of the type used by former bombardier and gunnery trainees across America in the 40’s. The base currently operates the C-130H Hercules of the 94th Airlift Wing.

If Only His Son Had Been With Him. On Sep 3, 1967. Mohammed Bin Laden (73), father of Osama bin Laden landed at Khamis Mushayt airport in his HS125. He changed planes to his Beechcraft 18 HZ-IBN and took off for the landing strip near Usran which had been cut out of the rough terrain by his workers so that he could land and inspect the work in progress. He crashed and was killed whilst trying to land on the mountain strip.