G-BTBI was a WAR Half-scale Replica P47 Thunderbolt, until recently hangared at Perth and then sold in the summer of 2006. In April 2007 she was written off in a landing incident. The aircraft went from about 70 MPH to zero in the width of a minor road, and the pilot walked away with no injuries! She started
life in the USA as N47DL, built by ex USAF and airline pilot Dan
Linkous. Tango India was imported into the UK in the 1990s and in 2002
regained her Permit to Fly after a rebuild by Chris Murgatroyd of
Bedford. The distinctive silver with checkertail paint scheme is based
on the colour scheme of the 325th Fighter Group operating in Italy
during 1944.
Until recently also hangared at Perth was another WAR half scale
replica, the Fw190 G-SYFW formerly owned by Gavin Hunter and Tim
Rayner. We were hoping to get the two aircraft flying together (even
though the Fw colour scheme comes from the Russian front, we didn't
think people would mind too much!) but the Fw190 has been sold and has
moved south to North Weald.
The methods and sequence of the construction of FW190 G-SYFW were
shown in the book "Building & Flying Your Own Plane" by Geoff
Jones, published in 1992 by PSL, ISBN 1 85260 334 8. This book also
shows a completed (different) P47.
P47 G-BTBI featured in an article in "Todays Pilot" magazine, Issue
No.10, August 2001, and in the same month, the same basic article
appeared in the magazine "Kitplanes" from the US.
Use the links page to get more information, find the WAR website
and the excellent Warbuddies website, both of which give a lot more
detail about the aircraft, plus other stuff which may be of interest.
