Hangar 11 Collection Official Web Site

Now firmly established on the UK air-display scene the North Weald based Hangar 11 Collection has an inventory of very interesting aircraft in historical terms. The Spitfire PR XI PL965 is the only example of this mark flying in the world today from 450 built, and has a remarkable wartime service record. Built at Aldermaston in 1944, from October 1944 she was based in Belgium with No.16 Sqn RAF and flew 45 operational missions which included flying over German cities such as Berlin and Hamburg . After the war in 1947 she was sold to the Netherlands for £25 where she was used as an instructional airframe before being used as a gate guardian. After a period in a museum, she was eventually discovered in Deelen by a well known restorer and shipped back to the UK in the late 1980's. After restoration to flying condition she took to the air again in December 1992 flown by the late Mark Hanna and spent a number of years at OFMC at Duxford before heading north to Taff Smith's Real Aeroplane Company at Breighton in Yorkshire. She was purchased from RACo in September 2004 and flown to her new home at North Weald.

The history behind "Jumpin Jacques" remains a little bit of a mystery. Built as P-51D-20-NA 44-72035 at Inglewood California in 1944, she was accepted into the USAAF in December of 1944. She left Newark in New Jersey in January 1945 and is known to have been sent to Italy for service with the 15th Air Force. It's here that the historical trail runs cold, as there's no records of which unit she served with, or any combat details since records were only kept until the aircraft's departure overseas, and again upon it's return to the USA . On the plus side, this aircraft has been flying since she was built, and has never had a major rebuild, this allows for a closer inspection of the airframe in which some tell tail signs begin to emerge.

There are repair patches on both side of the tail fin, and to the rear of the cockpit which would seem to suggest that she did see combat. Upon opening up the inspection panels there seems to be a large amount of red paint under the fillets around the tail surfaces. Along with evidence of the red theatre markings on the nose section common to all 15th AF Mustangs, it's thought that this aircraft could be one of the legendary red tail Mustangs flown by the 332nd Fighter Group more popularly known as the " Tuskegee airmen". In a time where racial segregation was sadly the norm, this is the only USAAF group manned entirely by black pilots however their contribution has gone down as the stuff of legend.

Former RCAF P-40M Kittyhawk (G-KITT) was added in 2006 after being obtained from The Fighter Collection at Duxford. Built as serial 840 for the RCAF, she served with a number of units before retirement in 1950. She went on to serve as an instructional airframe at Oregon State University . Following a long period of storage at Troutdale Airport Oregon she was discovered in the late 70's by Tommy Camp, based in Livermore California . After restoration she flew in 1982 before being purchased by Stephen Grey's Fighter Collection at Duxford where she arrived in 1985. After twenty years with TFC and little more than 1100 flying hours on the airframe, she was bought by Hangar 11 Collection and maintains a prominent profile at both UK and European airshows.

Hawker Hurricane IIB 5403 was added to the collection inventory in late 2006 and is now nearing the end of a comprehensive re-build at Hawker Restorations Limited at Milden in Suffolk . She was built in 1942 and served in Canada with the RCAF for the duration of WWII. Discovered largely intact in Canada in the late 1990's she was shipped to the UK by HRL owner Tony Ditheridge and is now registered G-HHII. The engine has been restored by Maurice Hammond's Eye Tech Engineering, also in Suffolk and installed in the airframe in spring 2008. It's hoped that this Hurricane will be airworthy by August 2008, and will be added to the 11 existing Hurricanes flying in the world today.

Text for ths page contributed by Steve Atkin www.warbirdcolour.co.uk

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