Cosford '12 Loose Ends

[JOHN STEPHENS]

Hi folks,

Just trying to tidy up some loose ends from Cosford Air Show, Sunday, June 17th.

Firstly did anybody get a positive ID on the display Apache?
I got within 50 yds. or so and still couldn’t make it out, even with binoculars!
You need perfect light and damn good eyesight for these - the most irritating type I can think of to ID.

Secondly, there were two dk. green A109s parked by the crowdline at the railway end.
One was the Belgian display aircraft, H-24, and the other was presumably the reserve, but what was it?

Next the Blades.
Three of them were ZXCL; ZXEL; & ZEXL, but there’s ‘a friendly dispute’ about the fourth.
Any positive ID?

Two of the Aerostars YAKs were def. HAMM & JYAK; two others were prob. CBPM & GYAK.
Any confirmation of these two and ID for the fifth?

Finally, the Great War Air Team website says they have three SE5s, but there were only two displaying.
Does anybody know which two?

I’ve got a fairly comprehensive list of everything displaying, in static, and on the flightline, (may have missed the odd one and didn’t fight my way into the museum), so I’ll try to answer queries if anybody needs.

Thanks
J.S.

[Canon Fodder]

Hello John,

I think I can help you here.

The Apache was ZJ196.

The reserve Belgian A-109 was H-44.

The Extra 300 of The Blades that you are missing is G-ZXLL.

The Yak's were as follows:

The two you know about:
G-HAMM
G-JYAK

The two you surmised correctly are:
G-CBPM
G-GYAK

The one you are missing, mainly white and red and marked as '10' was G-BTZB.

The SE-5A replicas were:
G-BDWJ (F8010 / Z)
G-CCBN (80105 / 19 / PH-WWI)

Hope that helps.

Jim

[JOHN STEPHENS]

Thanks Jim,

Very much appreciated.
Hope I can do the same for you one day.

You must have damned good eyesight to log the Apache!
Fancy painting the serials matt dk. grey (?) on matt dk. green.
Perhaps it's to confuse the enemy - it certainly confuses me!

Thanks again.
J.S.

[Canon Fodder]

Thanks Jim,

You must have damned good eyesight to log the Apache!

Having encountered this problem before, I now take a close up photograph of the aircrafts tail so that the serial can be worked out later at home

Best regards,

Jim