Midair Squadron’s Canberra PR9, XH134 / G-OMHD, the world’s only airworthy example, saw daylight at its Cotswold Airport home briefly on 2 September for a photoshoot in its stunning new colours.
XH134 sits proudly on the Cotswold Airport runway in her magnificent new livery © Karl Drage – www.globalaviationresource.com
The all-over silver paint scheme, complete with tri-colour roundels and fin-flash and large black ‘XH134’ markings under each wing, was completed in-house by C2 Aviation – the team responsible for her restoration to airworthy condition – at Cotswold Airport. The scheme is authentic and represents the markings worn when the type entered service.
Having now completed all necessary test flights following her return to the skies on 19 July, the aircraft will appear at Jersey International Air Display on Thursday, 12 September, before the Midair Squadron team will formally introduce the aircraft’s new colours to the public at the Goodwood Revival (13-15 September), where Midair is sponsoring the ‘Freddie March Spirit of Aviation’.
With a record number of pre-1966 aircraft confirmed for this year’s Concours d’Elegance, including a de Havilland Gipsy Moth and an Erco Ercoupe 415-C, XH134 will be in fitting company to demonstrate her grace, power and precision engineering.
Joining XH134 in Midair Squadron’s fleet are Hunters XL577 (G-XMHD) and XL600 (G-RAXA) © Karl Drage – www.globalaviationresource.com
Speaking about the sponsorship deal, Midair’s Managing Director and owner of Canberra XH134, Mike Davis, said, “The Freddie March Spirit of Aviation is an exceptional highlight of the Goodwood Revival, and it is an honour to participate in the celebration of historic British and worldwide engineering. The nostalgic appeal of the world’s most authentic aircraft will complement the Revival’s glamour and allure, and this will be further enhanced by the Canberra taking to the skies above Goodwood in her official unveiling”.
Those of you in the vicinity of Cotswold Airport this coming weekend should keep your eyes peeled for the chance to witness XH134 in her striking new colours as preparations continue apace in advance of these events.
More information will appear on www.midair-squadron.com in due course, and the Midair Squadron has its own page on Facebook.
Midair Managing Director Mike Davis is flanked by C2 Aviation’s Charlie Kyle (l) and Chris Vaughan (r) © Karl Drage – www.globalaviationresource.com
Sincere thanks go to Midair Squadron’s Mike Davis, to everyone at C2 Aviation and to Inter Relations & Company.
Great to see the Canberra at the Weston-super-Mare airshow, brought back many memories having worked on this particular aircraft at RAF Wyton. As always the crowd was waiting for the Vulcan but were surprised and impressed with the Canberra.
Hello Cyril and any other ex 13sqdn members. I too remember XH134 and several other tail numbers from those days 1965-68. I’m not sure if I have photo’s of 134 but there are a few more PR9 photo’s on my website. http://www.users.waitrose.com/~g8jan/
Its brilliant to see these restored gems flying again – witnessed XH134 with an unidentifed Hunter flying over the Cotswold Water Park on Wednesday & XH134 flying over Abingdon town today in preparation for the Air Fayre tomorrow. I personally however feel it is a shame & missed opportunity that if these restored a/c are to be repainted in a former RAF scheme (& surely we all support that!) that they should go the whole hog & apply a former squadron marking that the a/c served with & in the case of ‘high speed silver’ Hunters additionally either trainer bands or dayglo. Plain silver to me is just too ‘corporate’.
I am an ex-13Sqn Instrument basher, RAF Luqa October 1965 – October 1968.
134 was one of ours and, like all other PR9s, was a grand machine which we took all over the world on detachments. All at Global Aviation are to be congratulated on this restoration of a wonderful marque.
It’s a pity we won’t ever see her here in Aistralia, in Melbourne we don’t even see the Temora Canberra. So good to see, brings back many magic memories. Thank you!!!
Thanks for the nice comment, Cyril, however, please be aware that we cannot take any of the credit for the restoration! That’s all down to the hard work of the boys and girls at C2 Aviation, and the backing they’ve received from Mike Davis and Midair Squadron.
You might like to take a look at Issue 20 of our free digital magazine, which carries an extensive article on the aircraft’s history and return to flight:
http://issuu.com/karladrage/docs/gamissue20
Kind regards,
Karl
Sad they felt the need to vandalise a historical artefact for the sake of nostalgia.
Congratulations to the whole team – amazing restoration – she looks brand new.
We have an airworthy Canberra here in Australia, your headline reads as though this one in the UK is the only airworthy Canberra in the world.
That depends how you interpret it, Steve. It says it’s the only airworthy Canberra PR9, not that it’s the only airworthy Canberra… 🙂
Well done to you all at Midair for your hard work and enthusiasm bringing this fantastic iconic aircraft back to life for the British people