With a back seat
Managed and run by the Grace family, Air Leasing at Sywell continues to go from strength to strength, and its latest project is a film star with an unrivalled pedigree. Chris Gilson gets up close to a Buchón made for two
At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking that the aircraft parked on the tarmac outside Air Leasing’s Spitfire Blister headquarters in Sywell was another Hispano- Suiza HA-1112 Buchón. This is the Spanish licence-built version of the famous Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter that features a 1,400hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 500-45 engine, and incredibly, remained in frontline service with the Spanish Air Force until 1966
However, a closer look reveals that this machine is a unique two-seater HA-1112 M4L variant. Wearing the ‘Red 11’ markings it carried during the filming of Battle of Britain in 1968, the fighter (registration C4K- 112/G-AWHC) gleams – testament to the hard work undertaken by the Air Leasing team that restored it to airworthy condition after 50 years in storage in the arid heat of Texas.
Richard Grace, Chief Engineer of Air Leasing is immensely proud of how things have turned out. As we walk past the wingtip, he points out a very unusual pitot head cover – a Cuban cigar tube.
