Aeroplane Monthly 1983-12
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P.Jarrett - Grapevine
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 44-83868 arriving over Brize Norton on October 13, 1983.
Sunday, September 18, 1983 marked the last flight of Douglas DC-3 VR-HDB Betsy from Sydney, Australia, to Hong Kong, where it has joined the Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology.
BMW of Germany has purchased Swiss Air Force Junkers - Ju 52 A-703, powered by three BMW radials, for use as a public relations aircraft. Refitted internally to seat 15 passengers, it will be flown by a Swissair 747 crew.
Lucky Australians can look forward to seeing a Bristol Beaufighter airborne. Over the last three years a Sydney-based group, the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society, has acquired the remains of one Australian-built and two British-built examples. One of the three is seen here.
A veteran airworthy Douglas DC-2 has been purchased by KLM, and is to refly the route of the October 1934 MacRobertson England-Australia air race to mark the 50th anniversary of the event. Bought from American Colgate Darden, the DC-2, NC39165, went by container ship to Antwerp, Belgium, and reached Schiphol airport by canal on September 4, 1983.
I had intended to spend my holiday away from aeroplanes - until a guide casually mentioned that a “World War Two Japanese Zero” was resting in a children’s playground in Denpasar, on the island of Bali, in Indonesia. On the last day, September 24, 1983, I managed to visit the site. The aircraft was in a sorry state, but the all-metal airframe was definitely not that of a Zero. I took a series of photographs and left identification until my return home. Subsequent investigation revealed that it was not even Japanese, but was an American Vultee Valiant basic trainer of 1940s vintage. The Indonesian Air Force insignia was still visible beneath the wings, so it may have been operated against the Dutch forces postwar in some more aggressive role.