• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

5 BoB Buchons up for sale...

ThinkingManNeil

ThinkingManNeil

Charter Member
Five HA-1112 Buchons (license-built Me-109G2's with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines) that last flew in the Guy Hamilton/Benjamin Fisz film "Battle of Britain" have been retrieved from a barn in Texas where they were stored forty-five years ago immediately after the film ended production, and are now up for sale.

N.
 
It's really something to see these aircraft now available for sale, having been part of Connie Edwards small air force of warbirds that he has had stored for decades. These aren't the only 'time capsules' he has for sale:

An unrestored Spitfire Mk.IX MH415 (also used in the BOB film): http://www.platinumfighters.com/#!spitfire-mh415/c12uh

An original two-seat Buchon (also used in the BOB film): http://www.platinumfighters.com/#!ha-1112-m4l/cmor

An unrestored P-51D: http://www.platinumfighters.com/#!p-51d-n38227/c132k

And the five single-seat Buchons already mentioned (all still in their original movie paint): http://www.platinumfighters.com/#!ha-1112-m1l/c12zi


Although these are advertised as "barn finds", many that have maintained a keen following of warbirds, those involved in the warbird community, and of course friends of Connie Edwards, have already known of these aircraft for years. I hope they go to the best qualified owners/restorers, who respect their provenance - for the Buchons, both their Spanish AF history and their Battle of Britain movie film history, and for the Spitfire, the fact that it is one the very last remaining Spitfires out there in the private market which is all there/complete and has never been restored.

The P-51D has been untouched since the 1970's, and like the Spitfire has never been restored since original manufacture. At one time, Connie Edwards owned quite a number of Mustangs, and this is the last one he has held onto. All of the others that he once owned, in much the same state/configuration, are now with all different owners, restored and flying. These include what are now "Happy Jack's Go Buggy", "February", "Miss Marylin II", "Kansas City Kitty", "It's about Time", "Archie", and "Red Dog XII" (and I'm probably forgetting one or two). Just imagine having seen all of those together is the same location back in the late 70's/early 80's, unrestored, along with all of the rest of these aircraft too, as it was.

As I seem to recall, he also has a lot of Mustang spares, with something like 10 P-51D canopies, tons of Merlin engines, Mustang wheels and cowl panels, etc.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the vid link, great story and completely understand his reasons to sell. Now I just need to start playing the lottery.
 
Aside from their use in the BoB film, I can't see anything special about these 'hybrids'.
Perhaps the phony paint could be replaced with the original Spanish scheme and at least they are what they are, modified Bf109 airframes fitted with Merlins.
But that's just my opinion, I prefer calling a spade a spade.
A '1954 Hispano Buchon HA-1112-M4' is not a 'Dual Control Messerschmitt Me-109G'.
:kilroy:
 
Calling them Me-109G's, is along the same line as marking them as "barn finds", which they are also not. It's all about creating more mystique and intrigue on the part of the broker (which is kind of silly, since most/all potential buyers in the warbird community will have already known of the existence of these aircraft). All of them have prices quite a bit higher than what the current market would say is the price at which they will sell. For instance, you can go out and buy, right now (through Courtesy Aircraft), the most recently restored and best available Mustang for slightly less than what the two-seat Buchon is being advertised for!


The dual-control Buchon is really quite neat, as it was originally manufactured like that, rather than a post-manufacture modification. The fuselage/cockpit was manufactured to match the rare Me-109G-12 dual control variants (though with a different canopy setup). As it is right now, it is no different than when it was in Spanish AF service, save for the movie paint top-coat. Some of said that it would be a good one for a group like the Collings Foundation, to sell rides, but it would be a real up-hill battle in order to get everything squared away with the FAA in order to allow that (right now, they aren't issuing any more new ride-exemptions to warbird types not yet covered). It does offer the same type of appeal that a dual-control Spitfire or a dual-control P-51 has, which can sometimes go for a higher market value than a stock single-seat example (depending on variant, history, quality, etc.).

Regarding the Buchons available for sale, as you can note, they are all in original unmodified form (with slight changes (some exhaust and props) as a result of getting them all flying for the movie), but they are of course being sold with the hint of the chance to re-engine them/convert them to DB engines and make theme look-alike G's, if an potential owner wanted to do so. Some have stated that they would like to see at least one of these Buchons preserved just as is - cleaned up and put on display as a memory of the movie and the history surrounding it (though there is already a Buchon flying in England in the markings it had during the filming of the movie). Some of the same people say that at least one of them should be restored and put back into Spanish AF markings and displayed and/or flown in Spain. With the deep pocket warbird buyers there currently are in Germany and some other European countries, I can see most of these being sold to buyers over there, with maybe the exception being the Mustang. I don't see too many U.S. collectors interested in Buchons, though in Germany, MeierMotors has a lot of experience with the type with owners over there, and has a literal production line going on re-engined Buchon and original Me-109 projects (currently at four right now - an original E and original G and two re-engined Buchons to become look-alike G's - one of which is a Buchon that is being converted into a look-alike dual-control Bf-109G-12).
 
Yep, that's what everyone has been saying (especially given the nightmarish reports from some of the Luftwaffe pilots who did any flying in a G-12 from the back seat) - still, they've been going ahead with it, and at pace. The basic airframe mods are well under way/nearing completion. They have an original (highly corroded) G-12 canopy set which they are using as a pattern, and they also recently came upon a lot of original G-12 related engineering drawings.

The idea is to operate the aircraft like what is being done with the Collings Foundation TP-51C, by providing rides for compensation. The aircraft is owned by a German flying collection, called Air Fighter Academy/Hangar 10, and they already have a dual control TF-51D and a dual control Tr.9 Spitfire which they offer flights in (they also were/are the owners of the European-based P-51D "Big Beautiful Doll" which was destroyed three years ago at Duxford, and an original Bf-109G-6 nearing completion to airworthy, also at MeierMotors - amongst others aircraft in their collection).

This page has all of the progress reports on the Bf-109G-12 transformation project: http://www.meiermotors.com/en/aircr...9/157-messerschmitt-bf109-g-12.html?showall=1

It, like several other current 109-related projects, will be fitted with a DB605 (a type, once thought near extinction, now seemingly coming out of the woodwork).

(Obviously some will feel compelled to post here, that no matter what sort of work is done on the aircraft it will never truly be a Bf-109G-12, but rather a highly modified/cut-up Buchon.)
 
Last edited:
Although the Me109's may be 'cut up' Bouchons, one could also relate that to the many rebuilt Spits. Don't forget the old adage - only the nameplate is original!
Its fantastic that people have the money to spend on these things.
Keith
 
In Spain they are following this sale with expectation because the HA-1112-M1L Buchón is part of the spanish Air Force History.

But now, the state only have money for rescue banks, only a few officers in the Air Force Know the existence of the Air Force Museum and the Fundacion Infante de Orleans, a foundation of warbirds, the only foundation of this type in Spain (other foundations have a few warbirds). The aerial culture in Spain is very small. And Warbirds are a niche inside spanish aviation.

And it's a bad moment, a year ago, a HA-200 Saeta had an Accident in a air demostration....The pilot died and the aerial demostrations were cancelled during one year. Now FIO have one aircraft grounded because they haven't money to pay the aircraft registration (30.000€).
Dont expect buyers from Spain.

Sadly, this Buchones, surely will be destroyed in order to create BF109G...But a Buchon reenginered never will be an original Gustav.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top