Warbird Walk Around @ the Steventon Gallery - 22nd September
Come along to the gallery to meet historic Second World War fighter aircraft!
Join us on Sunday 22nd September for a special 'Warbird Walk Around' and the opportunity to get up close and personal with a number of WW2 aircraft including...
P-51D Mustang 'Miss Helen' (G-BIXL) was built during 1944 by North American at their Inglewood, California plant. Assigned to Captain Ray Littge of the 487th Fighter Squadron, 352nd Fighter Group - one of the most famous and successful Groups of the 8th Air Force.
On the 17th April 1945, Littge took off in Miss Helen as the leader of Red Flight on a ground attack operation from Bodney. Littge along with the rest of his flight, made several strafing passes on flak positions at the German airfield of Plattling, effectively silencing the enemy positions but taking severe damage to his Mustang in the process. Littge, in the damaged Miss Helen, proceeded to attack the airfield in seven strafing passes, destroying two Me262s and 4 BF109s. With 6 confirmed ground victories from the attack, Littge managed to get the damaged aircraft back to Bodney and would later receive the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions!
Hawker Hurricane Mk I R4118 UP-W was delivered new to 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron at Drem on 17 August 1940. During the Battle of Britain it flew 49 sorties from Croydon and shot down five enemy aircraft. After being battle damaged on 22 October 1940, the aircraft was rebuilt and taken on charge by 111 Squadron at Dyce on 18 January 1941. There it was flown on patrol over the North Sea and was again in combat.
Notably, R4118 was operated by two famous pilots: Wing Commander Christopher Frederick “Bunny” Currant, DSO, DFC, who flew the fighter aircraft almost daily for just short of three years, from December 1938 until August 1940, and Wing Commander Robert “Bob” Foster DFC who piloted Hurricanes during the height of the Battle of Britain.
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXe MK392 (JE-J) is a life-size replica of the Spitfire flown by Wing Commander Johnny Johnson from March 1944, when he assumed command of the 144 Canadian Wing. He scored 12 victories, 1 shared, between April-July 1944. With a total of 38 victories to his credit, not only was Johnnie the highest-scoring Spitfire Ace of the war and the most prolific RAF pilot against the Luftwaffe, but in some 1,000 combat missions, he was never shot down, and only once was his Spitfire damaged in action.
** Fly-ins are weather dependant **
