Moonlight pick-up Page 16

The future of the past Page46

21st Century aviation art Page 56

D.H.82 Tiger Moth Special Section

22 A Tiger with Two Tales For this month’s Hidden History, Alan Reber describes the twin stories behind the restoration of his Tiger Moth in RAAF colours — including a littleknown contribution to the history of World War Two 28 The Kings of Prop-Swing John Gilder relates how the Cambridge Flying Group uses its pair of distinctive yellow-and-silver Tiger Moths to train pilots “the old-fashioned way” 32 Tiger or Maggie? Which was better? The dependable, if slow and sometimes tricky Tiger Moth or the faster and easierto-fly Miles Magister? David Ogilvy, who instructed on both, compares the two 1930s primary trainers

Features

16 Getting the Message Flying Officer John “Tommy” Thomas talks to Ian Frimston about his wartime role with 161 Sqn, in which he was tasked with picking up messages in occupied France at night with just three torches as a guide, using a specially-modified Westland Lysander

20 Peter R. Arnold’s Rare Archive Colour A very rare and stunning colour photograph from the archives of Peter R. Arnold of Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXC of the Empire Central Flying School at Hullavington in 1946–47

44 Scramble! Aeroplane previews the remarkable new Battle of Britain photographic exhibition that opens at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford in April

46 Shuttleworth:

Passion and Precision Tim Skeet concludes his two-part feature on the maintaining of the world-class Shuttleworth Collection

56 Tradition & Technology Our technical artist Ian Bott examines the exciting digital revolution taking place in the world of aviation art COVER IMAGE Shuttleworth Collection Westland Lysander Mk IIIA G-AZWT being flown by George Ellis in July 2007. See page 16 for a feature on secret Lysander operations in World War Two. DARREN HARBAR photograph

THIS PAGE The very essence of “real flying” — de Havilland Tiger Moth II R5130 was photographed for The Aeroplane in 1940. Our coverage of the much-loved biplane begins on page 22 . . .

Contents

May 2010 Vol 38 No 5 Issue No 445 (on sale April 1)

Regulars 6 News All the latest preservation news, compiled by Tony Harmsworth

27 Picture of the Month This month’s image available to buy is Hatfield-built Tiger Moth II R5130

38 Aircrew James Kightly spotlights the defensive role of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress gunner. With an illustration by Ian Bott

AircrewAircrew

40 Readers’ Archive Malcolm Fife’s superb colour pictures of civil aircraft in Scotland and Wales during the 1960s and 1970s

55 From the Archives Nick Stroud revisits the aviation news and issues of 90 years ago — April 1920

92 Skywriters A selection of readers’ letters on a wide range of topics

93 Flying Visit Melvyn Hiscock interviews Maurice Biggs — Chairman of the Society of Friends of the Fleet Air Arm Museum

98 Hairy Moment Our regular spot for your historic-aviation close calls

In Database

63 Saab J 35 Draken JAN FORSGREN tells the full story of Sweden’s startling first Mach-2 capable jet fighter 64 A new shape for a new era — the genesis of the unorthodox fighter 65 Scale drawings of the Saab J 35A, Sk 35C, S 35E and J 35J, by Juanita Franzi 67 Developing the double-delta 70 Anatomy of a Dragon — the nuts and bolts PLUS cutaway illustration 73 Roadways and Russian bombers — the Draken into Flygvapnet service 76 The exports — Denmark, Finland, Austria 79 Pilot’s Perspective — Saab test pilot Stig Holmström describes flying on a knife-edge

PAGES INN- - D D E E P P T T H H H I H INN- - D D E E P P T T H H H I H ESSSESSESS PAAGGEESSPAAPAAESSSESSGEESSESSPAAGGEEPAA17IN-DEPTHPAGES17

IN-DEPTH

In News

Vulcan saved again Page 7

Grace Spitfire repainted Page 8

Hamilton sold

Page 10

Dutch Norseman Page 12

South African DC-6 Page 14

In Navigator

Our Navigator section at the back of the magazine tells you all you need to know about what to buy and where to go:

esst t a a b b l l i i s s h h e e d d 1 1 9 9 1 1 1 1 taab b l l i i h h e e d d 1 1 9 9 1 1 1 1

81 Three Greens 81 Book Reviews 84 Aeroplane Reader Offer 85 Auction update 86 Information Exchange 87 Registration Update 88–89 Airshows & Events, Lost & Found 90–91 Classified 96 Aeroplane services — back-issues, subscriptions, binders, newsagent order form, annual index and more 97 Contacts and next month in Aeroplane established 1911 Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane, founded by the legen- dary C.G. Grey in 1911 and published until 1968. It was relaunched as a monthly magazine in 1973 by Richard T. Riding (Editor for 25 years until 1998)

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