Busting tanks for Stalin Page 16 Fabulous Farnborough Page 22 Latin Lightning Page 26

ContentsMarch2010 Vol 38 No 3 Issue No 443 (on sale February 2)

Regulars 4 News All the latest preservation news, compiled by Tony Harmsworth

33 From the Archives Nick Stroud revisits the aviation news of March 1930 — 80 years ago

94 Readers’ Archive Paul Moran submits a fine selection from his RAF days in 1960s Malta

108 Skywriters A selection of readers’ letters

109 Flying Visit Melvyn Hiscock puts the usual questions to Ron Souch

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

Navigator All you need to know about what to buy and where to go: 97 Three Greens 98 Book Reviews 101 Web Review 102 Information Exchange 103 Registration Update 104 Airshows & Events, Lost & Found 106 Classified 112 Aeroplane services — back-issues, subscriptions, binders and more 113 Contacts and next month in Aeroplane

Features 16 Hitting Back at Hitler Former Soviet Sturmovik pilot Aleksander Efimov recounts his wartime memories to Oleg Rastrenin

22 Rare Colour Archive A rampful of treasure — a fascinating photograph from the 1955 SBAC Show

26 Thoughts of Midnite Michael O’Leary traces the history of an ex-Honduran Lockheed P-38L following its striking new repaint

34 Suburban Secret If the museum you crave doesn’t exist, make your own! Kevin Bowen did, with the Heathrow Trident Collection COVER IMAGE To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Bristol company, MARK POSTLETHWAITE GAvA was specially commissioned by Aeroplane to paint Flt Lt Ken Gatward and Sgt George Fern’s flight over Paris in a Bristol Beaufighter on June 12, 1942. The full story starts on page 84 . . .

In News

CENTENARY

SEC TION55PAGEPAGE55

FW 190 leaves Duxford Page 7

THIS PAGE Many readers’ most memorable experience of a Bristol product will be of the capacious and dependable Bristol 170 Freighter. Here a “Biff” of Silver City disgorges its contents, in this case a Ford Consul and a Ford Zephyr, at Ferryfield (Lydd) in the late 1950s.

39 From Boxkite to Brabazon

Br r a a b b a a z z o o n F.22BB F F i i g g h h t t e e r r a a t t B B a a g g i i n n t t o o n n i i n n 1 1 9 9 5 5 4

F.2B Fighter at Baginton in 1954

and Beyond Derek James and Philip Jarrett chronicle the origins and development of the Bristol Aeroplane Company

46 A Swedish Brisfit,

by Jupiter! Thousands of Bristol F.2B Fighters were built, but only three with Jupiter radial engines — Jan Forsgren reveals Sweden’s use of the Bristol Fighter

50 Aircrew James Kightly explains the difficult and uncomfortable job of piloting the Bristol 138 high-altitude monoplane

52 Bristol’s B-list For every Bulldog there was a Bagshot —Philip Jarrett takes a look at Bristol’s “back-to-the-drawing-board” types

56 Picture of the Month A splendid portrait of the Shuttleworth Collection’s airworthy Bristol

Enng g i i n n e e s o o f f D D isttinccttion llleennt t h h isst t o o r r y y o o f

78 Engines of Distinction We reprint an excellent history of Bristol’s powerplants, from Jupiter to Hercules, from the March 13, 1942, issue of The Aeroplane pi i t t e e r r

84 Flying the Flag for France In June 1942 an RAF Beaufighter was sent on an audacious low-level sortie to Paris — Derek James tells the story with help from navigator George Fern

89 Bristol’s Whirlybirds Rotors too! We present a selection of Bristol helicopter images from Aeroplane’s photographic archive

90 The Whispering Giant in Colour Mike Hooks shares his memories of Bristol’s magnificent Britannia

93 Bristol’s Legacy A full list of Bristol survivors in the UK

Koolhoven unveiled Page 9

MiG-3 air-to-air Page 11

Donnet-Lévêque to fly Page12

. . . and in Database 61 The Bristol Bulldog DEREK JAMES tells the full story of Bristol’s classic radial-engined 1930s biplane fighter 62 Birth of the Bulldog 63 Scale drawings of the Bulldog II, IIA and two-seat TM, by Juanita Franzi 65 The Bulldog Breed — a technical description PLUS Frank Munger cutaway 68 Tesing times — the protracted trials of the classic silver wings fighter 72 Bulldogs abroad — selling the agile biplane to friendly nations 74 Power struggles — how the Bulldog became a useful engine testbed 75 A Bulldog’s tale — the story of “K2227”

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IN-DEPTH

IN-DEPTH

Miles Martinet

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established 1911

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

Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane, founded by the legendary 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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