Westland test pilot Harald Penrose’s old Currie Wot G-APWT Airymouse was moved from storage in a barn in rural Hampshire to Turweston in Northamptonshire during early January, following acquisition from the estate of its previous owner by Light Aircraft Association CEO and Aeroplane columnist Steve Slater.
Originally commissioned by Viv Bellamy of the Hampshire Aeroplane Company and built by Joe Currie in the late 1950s to his original pre-war design, ’PWT was delivered to Penrose in May 1959 and named Airymouse, the Wot becoming the subject of his book of the same name, a paean to the pleasures of low and slow, open-cockpit flying. After some gentle restoration the 22ft-span, 60hp Walter Mikron 2-powered ultralight is expected to take to the skies again during the early spring.
Next month’s Hooks’ Tours feature, incidentally, will focus on the Currie Wot.
