After an absence of 11 years, a Bristol Blenheim is once again flying in the skies above IWM Duxford. On 20 November 2014, Aircraft Restoration Company (ARC) chief pilot John Romain and flight engineer James Gilmour taxied out and took Blenheim l(f) L6739/G-BPIV into the orange-tinted skies for a successful 26-minute test flight. After landing and taxiing back to the ARC engineering hangar they were treated to rapturous applause from the assembled staff of ARC and Historic Flying Ltd. L6739 is the culmination of no fewer than 11 years of repairs and re-configuration by the engineering staff at ARC with the additional support of the Blenheim volunteer team. Previously operated from Duxford on behalf of the late Graham Warner, the aeroplane was well known on the airshow circuit in its guise as a Blenheim Ⅳ, but suffered heavy damage as the result of a landing accident in August 2003. The airframe was dismantled and placed in storage, with ownership subsequently being transferred to Blenheim (Duxford) Ltd in December 2003, when a full assessment of the damage was undertaken. It was at this early stage that the decision was made to re-configure the airframe to incorporate the original nose section of Avro-built Blenheim l(f) L6739 and combine it with the existing, but damaged, airframe of Blenheim Ⅳ/ Bolingbroke RCAF 10201/G-BPIV.
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