ex-extinct de Havilland Sea Hornet to be restored to fly

[FourWheelDrift]

Yertis said:

Do any other actual prototypes of WW2 aircraft exist?

Fleet Air Arm museum has 2, if you can squeeze the Vampire just in.
de Havilland Sea Vampire (3rd protoype)
Fairey Fulmar (prototype) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Fulmar

[yellowjack]

Yertis said:

FourWheelDrift said:

And of course you can now see 3 complete aircraft at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum.

The Three Mosquitoeers

Do any other actual prototypes of WW2 aircraft exist?

There's a Meteor prototype at the RAF Museum, Hendon, and the Science Museum has W4041 - a Gloster/Whittle E28/39, alongside a Hawker Siddeley P.1127 (Harrier to the layman). The only other E28/39 (W4046) was lost on a high altitude test flight in 1943.

I think there's a whole gallery in one of the US aviation museums devoted to prototypes and development airframes.

[aeropilot]

The 4th prototype XP-51 (effectively the first US one as it was a British contract) is only display at EAA Oshkosh. It was still a regular flyer well into the late 1970's IIRC.

[lufbramatt]

I think there is a guy in the states who found both fuselages of the xp-82 twin mustang (in different places!) and is rebuilding it to fly.

[Eric Mc]

The Gloster Whittle E28/39 is on display at the Science Museum.

And one of the prototype Gloster Meteor Is still exists. Last time I saw it was at Tangmere.

[Ayahuasca]

Some more Mossie / Merlin goodness.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Yertis said:

Do any other actual prototypes of WW2 aircraft exist?

Fairey Fulmar FAA Museum
Gloster E28/39 Whittle Science Museum
Gloster Meteor RAFM Hendon
Ryan PT-22 Shuttleworth Collection

[dr_gn]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

Kccv23highliftcam said:

Didn't know they kept the 303s thought they were deleted for the radar gear...

As dr_gn says that's a photo' of an NF Mk II which carried the AI Mk IV Metric wavelength radar. You can see the arrowhead transmitter aerial on the nose; the receiver dipole aerials were carried under the outer wing sections.

When the AI Mk VIII Centimetric waveband radar became available the aircraft were fitted with a 'thimble nose' (Mosquito NF Mk XII onwards) and the Brownings were removed.

It’s Tony Agar’s (sp?) Mosquito - I went to see it for some details for a model I was building. I did wonder why it wasn’t black. I knew there were a few colour scheme changes for the NF versions, but I assumed none of them would have been that green/grey scheme. The owner wasn’t around to ask.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

As far as I am aware, the late war nightfighter/intruder Mossies were Dark Green/Ocean Grey with black undersides.

[aeropilot]

Certainley when the NF.11 first went into service on home defence nightfighter duties in late 42, they were in all over night-black finish as the Beaufighter NF's were that they started to replace in service.

I must admit, I'm not wholly convinced that a NF.11 would have been in day fighter scheme's, certainly later NF marks that replaced the NF.!!'s in service were that were operated on home defence duties.

Haven't got the books to hand to have a check, but I'm sure Tony hasn't made such an obvious error after all the years he's worked on it!!

[dr_gn]

aeropilot said:

Certainley when the NF.11 first went into service on home defence nightfighter duties in late 42, they were in all over night-black finish as the Beaufighter NF's were that they started to replace in service.

I must admit, I'm not wholly convinced that a NF.11 would have been in day fighter scheme's, certainly later NF marks that replaced the NF.!!'s in service were that were operated on home defence duties.

Haven't got the books to hand to have a check, but I'm sure Tony hasn't made such an obvious error after all the years he's worked on it!!

According to a reference book I've got, it's correct, at least for a mid 1943 NF Mk.II - Medium sea grey overall with dark green upper camo. I thought that for conventional camo patterns, the upper and lower greys were always different (or sky, or black for the undersides). Every day a school day.