Golden Apple Operations Limited

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*NEW*

23rd March 2011

Following engine and taxi runs the day before, the Sabre was due to take to the air on the
23rd March for its fist flight of the year following winter maintenance, but on arrival I was told that it had a slight problem so might not. Following work around the inside of the nose and front undercarriage, the problem was fixed and at 2.10 in the afternoon, the General Electric J-47 slowly powered up while the Sabre was parked in the ARCo compound. With Mark Linney in the cockpit, he taxied out to the M11 end of the runway and sat checking throttle response with lots of black smoke drifting over the motorway. Brakes off and starting to accelerate down the runway, the throttle was closed and the aircraft coasted to the end of the runway and returned to the compound.

It was a check to make sure that the problem had been fixed and there were no hydraulic leaks. Following a turn around and refuelling, Cliff Spink climbed into the cockpit and at 3 o’clock fired up the J-47. He turned onto the runway and taxied to the western end of the airfield as the wind had changed direction since the last run. The Sabre took off and disappeared to the north. Twenty minutes later and it returned with Cliff Spink putting it through its paces for the next ten minutes with a very nice aerobatics display over the airfield.

18th March 2011

Following winter maintenance, the F-86A was rolled out of the ARCo/HFL workshop on the 18th March. Ground running of the engine is to follow and if all goes well, test flying on the 23rd & 24th March 2011.

North American F-86A Sabre (c/n 151-43547)/48-0178/FU-178/8178/G-SABR

Construction of North American F-86A Sabre (c/n 151-43547) began in 1948 and was the 50th Sabre to roll off the North American Aviation production line in Los Angeles, California, in February 1949. When released to the US Air Material Command, it was allocated the USAF serial number 48-0178 and issued to the 1st Fighter Wing’s, 94th Fighter Squadron ‘Hat-in-the-Ring’ at March Field, California on the 14th April 1949. In 1970, Ben W. Hall, a former P-51 Mustang pilot based in Seattle, Washington State, acquired 48-0178 from a scrap yard in Fresno, California.
Following restoration to flying condition at Pain Field, WA, 48-0178 flew again on the 24th May 1974 registered as N68388. Ben flew the Sabre for 13 years during which time it was re-registered as N178 in October 1983. In 1989, it was acquired by Fort Wayne Air Service in Indiana, and in 1990 by Golden Apple Operations Ltd. After some further restoration work carried out on it by Fort Wayne Air Service, it was registered with the British CAA as G-SABR on the 6th November 1991. It was dismantled and travelled across the Atlantic by ship and re-assembled at Bournemouth in March 1992 an then on to Duxford where it has been based ever since.
Although finished in USAF Korean War markings of FU-178/8178, 48-0178 never ventured off the continental USA during its service life.

Stearman (Boeing) Model A75N1(PT-17)/s.n. 75-4041/44/G-RJAH

The Stearman Model 75 was built in the United States during the 1930’s & 40’s as a military trainer. Lloyd Stearman started the Stearman Aircraft Company in Venice, California in 1926 and then moved to Wichita, Kansas. It became part of the Boeing Aeroplane Company in 1934. Although there were several versions of the Model 75, G-RJAH/44 was built in 1942 as a PT(Primary Trainer)-17 which is now fitted with a Continental Motors Corp W-670-6A engine. During World War II, they served as primary trainers with the United States Army Air Force, the United States Navy as the NS or NS2 and the Royal Canadian Air Force as the Kaydet with production ceasing in February 1943. Although a Boeing design, they are still referred to as Stearmans or even Kaydets.

G-RJAH/44 is finished in the blue fuselage & yellow wings colour scheme with red/white stripes with a vertical blue band on the rudder of the USAAF, where as the Navy used an all yellow scheme. The old style national insignia of a white circle with blue star and red circle in the centre was carried on the wings with the red centre being discontinued from 1942. By 1944 a standard colour scheme of all over silver and the star and bar insignia was used by both services.