DH88 Comet & Percival Mew Gulls

A trio of high performance racing aircraft from the 1930s, the Shuttleworth Collection's De Havilland DH88 Comet G-ACSS and Percival Mew Gull, G-AEXF, together with David Beale's replica Percival Mew Gull, G-HEKL. This was filmed at Old Warden Airfield base during the Shuttleworth July Evening Drive In Airshow 2020.

The De Havilland DH88 Comet :- This DH88 won the 1934 England to Australia Air Race in 70 hours and 54 minutes.

After the DH88’s success, G-ACSS was evaluated by the RAF with the serial number K5084 and appeared as such in the 1936 Hendon Pageant. It suffered several accidents in the hands of the RAF and was eventually sold as scrap. However, it was rescued when bought by F Tasker and restored at Essex Aero Ltd at Gravesend. Renamed ‘The Orphan’ it gained fourth place in the England-Damascus Air Race of 1937.

After this G-ACSS was renamed yet again and as ‘The Burberry’ set a new record for the out-and-back times to the Cape, and also set a record when it travelled from England to New Zealand and home again in only ten days, twenty-one hours and twenty-two minutes.

After these record breaking flights G-ACSS was abandoned at Gravesend and spent WWII stored there. De Havilland apprentices statically restored it for the 1951 Festival of Great Britain, where it was displayed hanging from the roof. It was given to the Shuttleworth Collection in 1965 and a restoration to flying condition was begun. About fifty organisations supported the project and restoration was carried out first at RAE Farnborough and then at the British Aerospace works at Hatfield. This culminated in the first flight in forty-nine years on Sunday 17th May 1987.

Following the closure of Hatfield in 1994 the aircraft returned to Old Warden where, initially, the runway was too short to allow safe operation. The runway was lengthened by 1999 but then, in 2002, the Comet suffered undercarriage failure when landing after its first test flight and research showed that as originally designed the legs were liable to failure under certain conditions. Subsequently modifications to the structure were approved and implemented and the aircraft flew again. After successful test flights on 1st August 2014 it is now a regular performer at Shuttleworth air displays.

Percival Mew Gull:- Originally registered ZS-AHM, named ‘The Golden City’ and flown by Major A M Miller, G-AEXF was one of three Mew Gulls intended to take part in the Schlesinger Race from Portsmouth to Johannesburg in 1936. Having run out of fuel just before the first control at Belgrade and being unable to obtain a suitable grade of spirit for refuelling, Miller retired and returned to England. Here, in 1937, the Mew Gull was sold to Alex Henshaw and re-registered G-AEXF.

Henshaw won the 1937 Folkestone Trophy at 210 mph with his new mount but suffered engine failure and force landed during that year’s King’s Cup. For the 1938 racing season G-AEXF was modified by Essex Aero at Gravesend. They fitted a Gipsy Six R engine in place of the former standard Gipsy Six and a Ratier variable pitch propeller taken from the Comet racer G-ACSS. Soon the Ratier was replaced by a de Havilland constant speed propeller and the fuselage was remodelled above the top longerons to give a lower profile – with the pilot seated on the floor. With these modifications Henshaw won the 1938 King’s Cup at 236.25 mph.

G-AEXF then returned to Gravesend where a Gipsy Six series II engine, radio and long-range fuel tanks were fitted in preparation for Alex Henshaw’s out-and-home Cape record flight. He took off on February 5th 1939 and returned from Cape Town 4 days 10 hours 16 minutes later, a record that stood for over 70 years! G-AEXF spent WWII hidden in France and was returned to England, refurbished and overhauled in time to win the 1955 King’s Cup.

G-AEXF was bought in 1985 by Desmond Penrose who had the aircraft returned to its original 1939 configuration by AJD engineering – after which it was based at Old Warden. In 1991 it suffered a forced landing in a barley field, due probably to carburettor icing, in which it was severely damaged due to the crop jamming the wheels in the spats. It was again restored and later, in 2002, sold to the Real Aeroplane Company at Breighton in Yorkshire. It was then purchased by the Shuttleworth Collection and arrived back at Old Warden on 6th October 2013.

David Beale's award-winning Percival Mew Gull (G-HEKL) is a stunning reproduction of the diminutive King's Cup Air Race-winning racer. The aircraft first flew in 2013 and has been a regular fixture on the vintage airshow and event scene in the UK. It is fitted with a De Havilland Gypsy Queen Mk.1 engine, as opposed to G-AEXF, which has a Gypsy Queen Mk.2.

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