French? German? Freman??


French? German? Freman??

I’m all for increasing the number of exotic ‘warbirds’ in flying condition, but sometimes things get a little out of hand. I don’t mean that I DISLIKE Nord Pingouin IIs or that they haven’t a right to be loved by other people, it’s just that I get a little uneasy when they are painted to represent an Me108 Taifun in a North African campaign colour scheme (with the word ‘Taifun’  under the cockpit), AND the data boards in front of the aircraft state that this is a Taifun. Sadly, this is neither a real Me108 (German prewar or WW2 poduction, or postwar French production using scavenged Argus engines) or even a post war Pingouin I, which had the inline Renault 6Q-11 engine, or the original Pingouin II, which had a 6Q-10 (I know, confusing, isn’t it), both of which maintained the orginal nose contours of the design. Instead, this example is fitted with a Lycoming O540 E4, a powerful ‘flat-six’ of 260 hp, usually found in an SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 or Cherokee Six! The result is, aesthetically, to my mind, a bit of a mixed bag.

At least the aircraft is ‘feeling better’, now; it had a unfortunate accident in 2000 at White Waltham which involved the loss of the left undercarriage leg on landing!

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