FlyPast Magazine September 2020 Back Issue

In the August 2020 issue of FlyPast, our cover story needs no introduction – the Aircraft Restoration Company’s (ARCo) unique Supermarine Spitfire PR.XI PL983. Affectionately known as ‘L’, this former wartime photo reconnaissance platform has gained a leading role in ARCo’s ‘NHS Spitfire Project’ – as assistant editor Jamie Ewan explains. A true ‘rhapsody in blue’ story that includes triumph, air racing, rebuilds and tragedy.

Elsewhere, Peter Cooper reveals an intriguing insight into the test career of Blackburn Buccaneer S.2C XV344 ‘Nightbird’, while Bill Cahill delves into the somewhat unknown history of the US Army Air Services and Air Corps defence of Hawaii in the years before World War Two. In Getting Closer, Christopher Warner visits the Silent Wings Museum in Texas – the world’s sole attraction devoted to the men and machines of the USA’s military glider program.

In news, Mikael Carlson provides an update on his unique Pfalz D.VIII project, while we explain why the skies over Duxford, Cambridgeshire, won’t resonate to the sound of B-17 Sally B. We also report on your chance to own a V-Bomber cockpit, the Łaguna’s Spitfire Legacy chosen build partner, the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection’s new RFC exhibition along with much more.

While Luigino Caliaro adds some Italian flamboyance by recounting the ground-breaking efforts of the country’s Cavallino Rampante between 1956-57, Kathleen Hanser reveals the heart-breaking consequences of Polish Air Force pilot Franciszek Jarecki’s defection in a MiG-15 during early 1953. With other features, including 263 Squadron’s heroic efforts in outdated biplanes over Norway, the mischievous folklore that followed the South African Air Force’s 40 Squadron through the desert in 1943 and a glimpse at the life and times of Germany’s famed aviatrix Elly Beinhorn, we hope you enjoy this issue!