Warbirds

Hawker Hurricane rebuild at Luskintyre

Did you know work is quietly progressing on a Hawker Hurricane restoration in Australia? Tucked away at Luskintyre Airfield in the NSW Hunter Valley, Canadian-built Hurricane XII serial 5481, formerly registered C-FDNL, is being worked on. Bought by an as yet unnamed buyer in the Scone district of NSW the aircraft arrived in Australia in 2014. Put in the charge of Ross Pay of Scone the aircraft was found to be in need of some maintenance work. Ross is of course well known as carrying on the warbird tradition of his late father, Col Pay. At Luskintyre the Hurricane’s fuselage fabric was removed and the fuselage stringers replaced under the supervision of Matt Webber. As yet the aircraft has not been placed on the Australian civil aircraft register.

Built in 1942 by Canadian Car & Foundry as a Hurricane IIB it was allocated the RCAF serial 5481. After service with the RCAF and upgrading to XII standard in 1944 it would later wear British (G-ORGI) and US (N678DP) civil registrations before being registered C-FDNL in Canada in 2005.