The RAF BBMF Hurricane IIc PZ865 getting airborne for a 15min test flight at Duxford on April 5. It is painted in 34 Sqn, South East Asia Command markings, representing HW840. In accordance with standard RAF BBMF practice, PZ865 – the last Hurricane built – wears its correct serial number. (tomi tuuliranta)

Nearly two-and a half years after it arrived at Duxford for a major overhaul with the Aircraft Restoration Company, the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Hawker Hurricane IIc PZ865 was flown back to its base at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire on April 10 by the Flight’s new Officer Commanding, Sqn Ldr Duncan Mason. The machine has been painted as Hurricane IIc HW840, with the codes EG-S, an aircraft flown by Canadian ace Flt Lt Jimmy Whalen DFC with 34 Sqn, South East Asia Command, during 1944.

Mitsubishi A6M-3 Zero 3858/N553TT, seen over Northern California in May 2012, en route to the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage, Alaska. Owner Masahide Ishizuka is now trying to get the fighter registered in Japan, a country where nobody has so far managed to register a Second World War “warbird”. (mike shreeve)

Japanese businessman Masahide Ishizuka has announced a goal of operating his airworthy Mitsubishi A6M-3 Zero, 3858/N553TT, in the skies over its homeland reports Mike Shreeve. 

Ishizuka is based in New Zealand, where he operates a flying jacket company, and acquired the Zero about three years ago. After being used during the filming of the movie Pearl Harbor during the year 2000, N553TT was flown to the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Southern California Wing’s base at Camarillo, California. During the spring of 2012 it was loaned to the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage. Ferried north by CAF Zero pilot Jason Somes, on July 28-29 it flew during the 2012 Arctic Thunder Air Show at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress Doc seen outside the old Boeing plant at Kansas in 2011. It has now been moved back inside as work recommences. Mike Shreeve

The previously moribund project to restore the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Doc to flying condition has resumed at Wichita, Kansas, reports Richard Mallory Allnutt. A new non-profit group, known as “Doc’s Friends”, took ownership of the bomber in February, and will now push things forward with renewed support from both Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems. A litany of prominent Kansas aviation industry leaders presides over the board, which should allow the restoration to continue unfettered. The B-29
is now back in active hangar space donated by Boeing, and volunteers are already at work on the bomber. It will take a little time for the rebuild to gather pace again, but the aircraft is in good shape with most of the difficult structural work completed.

The bomber, 44-69972, has no known combat history, and gained the nickname Doc in the mid-1950s while serving as one of nine TB-29’s with the 4713th Radar Evaluation Flight at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York. Each aircraft took its sobriquet from one of the famous Disney characters in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Among the squadron’s responsibilities were missions to evaluate the North American continent’s defensive radar capabilities. The US Navy took ownership of the B-29 in March, 1956, and deposited it, along with dozens of others, at the China Lake range in the California desert. Many B-29s were written off during weapons testing, but somehow Doc avoided destruction, becoming a forgotten survivor in the wilderness (see The Ghost of China Lake, August 1998 Aeroplane).

The truly historic Miles Gemini, formerly G-AISD, pictured at Håtunaholm, just north of Stockholm. Jan Forsgren

The sixth production Miles Gemini, c/n 6285/G-AISD, is currently up for sale in Sweden. Owned by Stefan Sandberg and Håkan Wijkander and based at Håtunaholm, just north of Stockholm, the machine went to Sweden in 2010 in part-exchange for Percival Proctor III SE-BTR/
G-AKEX, which is currently under restoration to fly in Essex (see Percival Paradise, November 2012 Aeroplane).

Rebuilt to a very high standard in the mid-1980s at Exeter by John Homewood, the machine was originally registered in November 1946 and made its maiden flight at Woodley with Miles test pilot Hugh Kendall at the controls on March 27, 1947. A few days later, on April 3, Alex Henshaw began an epic ferry flight to Nairobi, Kenya, in G-AISD, flying via Marseilles, Tunis, Castel Benito, El Adem (where he arrived on one engine, a piece of cotton having found its way into in the carburettor main jet), Almaza, Wadi Halfa, Atbara, Khartoum, Juba and Entebbe, arriving at Nairobi on April 9. After giving a display the following day, Alex left for Dar es Salaam, where he gave another demonstration, before heading for Lusaka on April 12. On March 13 Alex arrived at Germiston, just east of Johannesburg, after a total flying time of 65hr 9min. Alex gave a further display at Germiston on May 20,  which must have impressed potential customers, the aircraft being sold two days later to Noon and Pearce Air Charter in Kenya, becoming the first of six examples operated by the company. In early 1952, registered as VP-KDH it suffered a wheels-up landing and was returned to the UK for repair and overhaul by F.G. Miles Ltd, Redhill.