The forward fuselage, wheels and some of the wing parts from Blackburn B-5 Baffin NZ160/S1674 in the Subritzky’s hangar at Dairy Flat, near Auckland, in January. Steve Subritzky

The rebuild of the world’s only surviving Blackburn B-5 Baffin torpedo bomber is now getting underway with Don and Steve Subritzky at Dairy Flat, just north of Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island. The machine, NZ160, is one of 29 former Fleet Air Arm Baffins that were acquired for the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1937. It crashed into Little Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsular, after suffering engine problems during a navigational exercise while flying from RNZAF Wigram on May 10, 1939. The two crew were unharmed, and the Baffin was recovered by local resident Sir Bruce Stewart. An RNZAF crew removed the engine and guns, and the rest of the aircraft was left on Sir Bruce’s farm.

One of the last Douglas EA-3B Skywarriors to make it into preservation, BuNo 146453, at Davis Monthan just before dismantling began for the move to the Vintage Flying Museum (VFM) near Fort Worth, Texas. Alan Smith

At Meacham International Airport, near Fort Worth, Texas, reassembly and restoration of Vietnam-veteran Douglas EA-3B Skywarrior BuNo 146453 is now under way, following its recent arrival from Davis Monthan AFB in Pima, Arizona, reports Richard Mallory Allnutt.

After the retirement of the EA-3B from weapons testing programmes by Raytheon Systems at Van Nuys, California, during early 2011, the US Navy ordered that all remaining Skywarriors – commonly known as “Whales” – either go on loan to approved museums or to the scrapyard. Since then, the A-3 Skywarrior Association has been closely involved in helping several museums gain US Navy allocation of surplus aircraft and raise funds, and managed to find a place for BuNo 146453 at the VFM.

The fuselage of rebuilt Grumman TBM-3S BuNo 91426 being loaded up for transport to Hagerstown, Maryland, following completion of work by Jack Kosko and his team at Airville, Pennsylvania. Bill Butler

Following a three-year rebuild with a team led by Second World War Grumman Avenger radio operator Jack Kosko, the Commemorative Air Force Grumman TBM-3S, BuNo 91426, will soon make its first post restoration flight in Hagerstown, Maryland, reports Richard Mallory Allnutt.

The machine has been with the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) since 1998 when the now defunct Stars and Stripes Sqn in Frederick, Maryland, organised its purchase from firebombing outfit Forest Protection Ltd of Fredericton, New Brunswick. However, it wasn’t until 2009 that any real work started on repairing the aircraft, when the CAF’s National Capital Sqn in Culpeper, Virginia, acquired it.

The CAF worked out a deal with Kosko to do the majority of the airframe restoration work in a workshop on his farm at Airville, Pennsylvania. Kosko, who is now in his late 80s, served on Avengers in the Pacific Theatre during the closing stages of the war, and  many of the other volunteers who have worked on the aeroplane   are also veterans. The group’s average age is close to 80.

The Fantasy of Flight Stinson O-49 Vigilant, 40-3102/N63230 outside at the Polk City facility in early January. Flight testing will soon begin. Mike Shreeve

The latest restoration to emerge from the workshops at Kermit Weeks’ Fantasy of Flight Museum at Polk City, Florida, is Stinson O-49 Vigilant 40-3102/N63230. The two-seat light observation machine was seriously damaged while in the Weeks Air Museum at Tamiami, Florida, during Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. Of the 324 built, only four other examples of this 295 h.p. Lycoming R-680 radial- powered design survive, none of which are in flying condition.
Following flying displays by a Fieseler Storch at the Cleveland Air Races in September 1938, the United States Army Air Corps revised its requirements for a two-seat light observation aircraft. A USAAC design competition was held, the Stinson going on to win out over the other ten types that were entered. The prototype first flew on July 15, 1940 at Wayne, Michigan, equipped with Handley Page full-span leading-edge automatic slots and slotted flaps, and was controllable at just 31 m.p.h. After landing it could stop in less than its own length. In US service it served in both Europe and the Pacific, seeing use for artillery spotting, liaison, ambulance work, light transport, espionage flights, and also for towing training gliders. In its primary tasks of observation and liaison, it was replaced by the smaller and lighter “L” birds, the Piper L-4 Cub, Aeronca L-3 and another Stinson design, the L-5 Sentinel.

About 20 examples served with the RAF with the name Vigilant, being delivered during 1941-42 to 651 Sqn at Old Sarum. From October 1942, six 651 Sqn 0-49s saw frontline use in North Africa and Italy.