Sea Furies - Now & Then

by Juanita Franzi
 

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Australian Aero illustrator Juanita Franzi has sent these profiles of two Beauforts, an RAF Bristol Beaufort Mk.I and an RAAF GAF Beaufort Mk.VIII, for HyperScale's Gallery:

Sea Furies - Now & Then

September Fury  NX232MB

"September Fury" won the Unlimited Class Gold Race at the 2006 National Championship Air Races at Reno, Nevada, with a speed of 481.619 mph

Originally built as a Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 (SN 41H609972), this aircraft served in the RN before moving into civilian hands. In 1995 it was bought by Mike Brown and in 1998 work began to rebuild it as a race aircraft.

Royal Australian Navy WE673

Sea Furies of  805 and 808 Squadrons, and Fireflies of 817 Squadron formed the 20th Carrier Air Group that served on HMAS Sydney during the Korean War. They were in action from 5 October 1951 to 25 January 1952.

Air Group’s flew a total of 2,366 sorties over Korea, with 1,623 of those sorties being flown by Sea Furies. In the first three days of operations the Group flew between 20 and 50 missions each day.

Sydney was hit by the full force of typhoon Ruth storm on the night of the 14th-15th October off the Korean coast. One Firefly was washed overboard and six other aircraft were seriously damaged. During the storm, the undercarriage on 135 collapsed. Although it did not break free of the tie-down, the aircraft sustained some damage.

Image and Text Copyright © 2008 by Juanita Franzi
Page Created 27 May, 2008
Last Updated 27 May, 2008

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