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24 January 2017
The Navy’s last piston-engined fighter is due to resume air displays this summer – three years after it was nearly wrecked in a crash at Culdrose.
The Sea Fury came down during Air Day in 2014 when its engine packed up mid-display, forcing pilot Lt Cdr Chris Götke to make an emergency landing.
THE glorious sound of the Navy’s last piston-engined fighter will return to the skies this summer – for the first time in three years.
Not since a near-catastrophic crash at Culdrose Air Day in the summer of 2014 has the Sea Fury of the RN Historic Flight – the Fleet Air Arm’s counterpart of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight – flown, let alone performed for the crowds.
But the team responsible for keeping it – and the other icons of Naval aviation, such as the legendary Swordfish bomber – airworthy say the huge repair and restoration job on the 69-year-old aircraft is nearing completion.
They finished work on the airframe last summer and turned to the engine, stripping it, completely overhauling the components, before piecing it all back together.
Sue Eagles of Navy Wings said the Sea Fury was “on track to return to the skies for the 2017 display season”, but that the engineers at Weald faced an extremely challenging job in rebuilding the fighter’s engine.
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