Two more Corsairs back in the air

摘要

Graham Hosking's former Honduran Air Force F4U-5N Corsair made a trouble-free, 30 minute first post-restoration flight from Batchelor Airfield, Darwin, Australia, on May 3, with Pete Clements at the controls. The fighter, BuNo.124493/FAH608 had been under restoration for the past 17 years in the workshops of Aerotec NT at Batchelor, and is the first'warbird' Corsair to fly in Australia. It is now registered VH-Ⅲ. Hosking acquired the fighter from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum (RNZAFM) at Wigram, Christchurch during 1996 in a trade for Curtiss P-40N, 41-14205. The Corsair had been presented to the RNZAFM by the Disney Studios in California in exchange for the use of RNZAF Douglas A-4 Skyhawks during production of afeature film, The Rescue. The RNZAF never operated this variant of the Corsair, and the museum had intended to restore it to represent an F4U-1, a decision that was, thankfully, reversed.