A smoky start-up for Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat BuNo 79863 on March 27. It has been completed in the markings of VF-12, while serving aboard the USS Randolph during 1945. (Jason Fortenbacher)

The Flying Heritage Collection’s Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat made its first post-restoration flight at Everett, Washington, on March 27, reports Richard Mallory Allnutt. Steve Hinton was on controls for the 45min hop. After landing, the historic fighter, BuNo 79863, was jacked in order to remove both wheels for some remedial work on the brakes. Hinton took the Hellcat up on another flight a few hours later, and then a third time on March 27 out over Puget Sound to put the aircraft through its paces. At the time of writing, Hinton was expected to complete the test flight schedule in the next few weeks.

On one of the coldest Good Fridays in living memory, 2,554 people visited the Classic Air Force for the opening day at Newquay. Among the aircraft parked on the apron in front of the 62,000ft² hangar was the CAF’s Avro Anson C.21, WD413/G-VROE. (caf)

In excess of 9,000 people passed through the gates at the Classic Air Force hangar at Newquay Airport during the new aviation attraction’s opening weekend at Easter. Of that total, 2,554 visited on Good Friday, the opening day. This figure is very encouraging, when compared to the 7,000 visitors that visited Airbase at Coventry Airport, the previous home of the Classic Aircraft Trust (CAT) collection, during the previous 12 months. The CEO of the CAF, former Canberra, Buccaneer and Nimrod navigator Davie Payton, said: “The people of Cornwall have really taken us to their hearts, and we are confident that the initial bow-wave of enthusiasm and support will continue. We have already attracted 100 volunteers, ranging from a heart surgeon to the unemployed, and including many ex-Nimrod engineers who worked in the very hangar that we now occupy.”

North American B-25 44-30733, pictured on a sandbar in the Tanana River, near Fairbanks, Alaska, during the summer of 1969. (via richard mallory allnutt)

A mission to recover a long-lost North American B-25J Mitchell is set to unfold this summer near Fairbanks, Alaska, reports Richard Mallory Allnutt.

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.