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A Stuka will fly again: FHCAM finally reveals their project


k5054nz

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Hi all,
Tomorrow the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum will open its newest exhibition hangar. For the past few weeks their social media team has been teasing the reveal of a new aircraft project and this week narrowed it down to either the Me262 or the long-stored Stuka. Today their social media manager shared a video on Facebook touring the new hangar, and at the end revealed the still-in-progress Stuka. The video can be seen here (apologies for non-FB people, I hope you can see it without being part of the site):
https://www.facebook.com/flyingheritage/videos/221346615247103/

Here are some screenshots I took from the video for those who don't do FB:
45755468992_2833c5d5f2_c.jpgUntitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
44891988525_36b1cbda61_c.jpgUntitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
31933950888_c13d3579fe_c.jpgUntitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
30865231167_27619096bb_c.jpgUntitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
30865231317_e27f21578f_c.jpgUntitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr
45804774971_c2d08bd85d_c.jpgUntitled by Zac Yates, on Flickr

She said there's about 18mth-2yr of work until it flies, and heavily implies the Jericho Trumpet sirens WILL be installed. Interestingly much of the original wreckage is on display - she said it's a composite of two wrecks - and the restoration will continue and be completed in full view of the public with engineers working Monday to Friday on the Stuka in the new hangar. Jason Muszala headed the project.

This is fantastic. Since I was a child I've wanted to see and hear a Stuka fly, and reading that the late Paul Allen had acquired this project was tremendously exciting to this then-teenager. A historic project that will now be completed and seen by anyone who visits!

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22 minutes ago, Paul Bradley said:

Will they add the Jericho Trumpets and dare to dive at steep angles when it's airworthy? 

Michelle Donoghue, FHCAM's marketing manager who shot the video, said a lot of people had been asking and that the answer will be revealed soon. Her tone sounded like the answer will be yes.

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10 hours ago, Paul Bradley said:

WOW! I was just thinking about whether anyone would ever restore one to flight as I watched the Spitfire documentary the other night.....!  Will they add the Jericho Trumpets and dare to dive at steep angles when it's airworthy? 

They better!

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Whoever came up with the idea of the Jericho trumpet was a twisted genius. It must have been terrifying for those below when they heard it - like the very demons of Hell were howling at them.

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It's the wrong side of the Atlantic for me, sadly, but it's great to see someone with a goal of putting a Stuka back in the air ^_^ I wonder if it will be capable of putting in the Gs to get those trumpets singing?  I doubt you can properly understand how terrifying that sound is unless you've been there.  Must have been horrible. :S

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I did read somewhere a good few years ago that once ground troops had effective AAA the psychological effect of the Stukas wail soon wore off.  From pictures it seems that the trumpets of Jericho were removed as the war wore on.

 

The late Eric Brown did say that the Stuka was the only dive bomber he experienced that could dive almost vertically.  The others not so. "I had flown a lot of dive-bombers and it’s the only one that you can dive truly vertically. Sometimes with the dive-bombers…maximum dive is usually in the order of 60 degrees.. When flying the Stuka, because it’s all automatic, you are really flying vertically… The Stuka was in a class of its own.”

 

Can't see that happening at an airshow near you anytime though......

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4 hours ago, JohnT said:

Can't see that happening at an airshow near you anytime though......

Especially not with the way the FHCAM operates their aircraft. Videos of their flying days are a little underwhelming, but I admit that's only my experience via a laptop or TV screen. I imagine their conservative approach preserves the aircraft...

 

For folks like me who care about such things, the project is taking its identity from Ju-87R-4 Werknummer 6234 L1+FW, which was at one point here in New Zealand to be restored to fly .It (along with another Stuka wreck as well as a pair of Bf110s) returned to Germany in 1996/97 for the Deutsches Technik Museum. Other parts have come from the wreck of R-2 Wk.Nr.0875709.

 

And for those wondering, Vintage V-12s in California have restored a Jumo 211 for her and it was glimpsed in a Kermit Weeks video a few months back!

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On 11/15/2018 at 5:22 PM, k5054nz said:

Especially not with the way the FHCAM operates their aircraft. I imagine their conservative approach preserves the aircraft...

 

It (along with another Stuka wreck as well as a pair of Bf110s) returned to Germany in 1996/97 for the Deutsches Technik Museum.

I imagine the G forces on a dive are quite low, and especially so if flown correctly and the pull-out is done high, low powered and done gently. Flight management throughout would be crucial - however these aircraft were designed to do this carrying a heavy load, multiple times - so I doubt there's much preventing it from happening on a display circuit occasionally.

 

Interesting about the 110. I wondered where that went to after the AFC sold it.

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I am not a fanatic about German kit, but purely due to the notoriety of the Stuka and its Jericho trumpets during the Blitzkrieg, it is a noise I would like to hear for myself at least once. In the same way that you've never really heard a Vulcan until you've been there first hand, I wonder if the Jericho trumpets have an extra layer of something about them in person.

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16 hours ago, hairystick said:

I imagine the G forces on a dive are quite low, and especially so if flown correctly and the pull-out is done high, low powered and done gently. Flight management throughout would be crucial - however these aircraft were designed to do this carrying a heavy load, multiple times - so I doubt there's much preventing it from happening on a display circuit occasionally.

From what I have read the automatic pull out designed for the Stuka to dive bomb "as advertised" was required in that at times then pilot would black out under the g force of the pull out.  The automatic pull out allowed some disablement of the pilot on occasion and the pilot resumed normal flying as the aircraft recovered from the dive.  There is a very good description of the system in the Crowood book on it.

 

I can't see the health and safety brigade allowing pilots to demonstrate dives of that magnitude using a 1930's design and certainly not in front of Joe Public at an airshow.  In this case I would side with the H & S boys.  You would not want a large smoking hole formed by the only formerly airworthy Stuka in the world before a cast of thousands.  Mind you part of me would like to see it for myself.

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23 hours ago, JohnT said:

I can't see the health and safety brigade allowing pilots to demonstrate dives of that magnitude using a 1930's design and certainly not in front of Joe Public at an airshow.  In this case I would side with the H & S boys.

If a sensible display routine was worked up by the engineers (stress forces, etc) and pilots, something could be worked out.

I'd imagine something of a 45deg dive though, not a full 90deg dive!

 

However... Getting somewhere remote so that a single dive could be done - with full high definition video recordings from multiple angles inside and outside of the aircraft, would be a great modern visual reference.

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Not only did the effect of Jericho trumpets soon wore off, as JohnT said, but the contraption frequently malfunctioned. I remember reading an article some time ago in which an ex-Stuka pilot complained about not being able to stop propeller once he had it started at the beginning of the dive. By the time he landed he was so fed up with constant wailing that he had had sirens removed. However, during May 1940 campaign Stukas undoubtedly persuaded many civilians in Low countries and France it was high time to run for their lives. By the time they too became indifferent to this kind of psychological warfare the damage had already been done as roads, clogged with refugees became impassable to military.

I wonder what was the case with whistles attached to bomb fins? No problem when bombs had been carried internally but, when attached to external pylons, those things must have started whistling the moment pilot switched on the engine. Cheers

Jure

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12 hours ago, JohnT said:

a large smoking hole formed by the only formerly airworthy Stuka in the world before a cast of thousands.  

Why shouldn't we be treated to a spectacle which delighted our forefathers dozens, or even hundreds of times a mere seventy years or so ago?

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8 hours ago, Procopius said:

Why shouldn't we be treated to a spectacle which delighted our forefathers dozens, or even hundreds of times a mere seventy years or so ago?

Not sure the householders of 82-83 Shorncliffe Road, Folkestone, would agree with you...

3EFF54BC00000578-4385842-image-a-30_1491

 

Especially as an unexploded 500kg bomb was found in the bedroom of no.83.

 

 

Edited by Beard
to correct spelling.
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1 hour ago, Beard said:

Not sure the householders of 82-83 Shorncliffe Road, Folkestone, would agree with you...

3EFF54BC00000578-4385842-image-a-30_1491

 

Especially as an unexplored 500kg bomb was found in the bedroom of no.83.

 

 

I think he was being sarcastic ,anyway bit of a downer showing us a actual photo of the damage done by said Aircraft .

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