MEDWAY AIRCRAFT PRESERVATION SOCIETY Ltd

This aircraft was manufactured at its Hagerstown factory by Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation as a UC-61A Forwarder.  It was delivered to the USAAF as 43-14601 on 22 June 1943 and it shipped to the UK seven days later to be used as a 'hack' aircraft to the US 8th Air Force.  At the end of the war, it was rendered 'surplus to requirements' and was purchased by London Aero and Motor Services at Elstree Aerodrome.  Placed on the civil register as G-AIZE, it was one of 54 surplus Argus aircraft flown post war as British registered civil aeroplanes.  It made its first civilian flight from Lympne to Le Touquet on 17 June 1947 and, after a period of work in that country, was flown on to Italy.  On 5 September 1948, the Argus force-landed in a field 'owing to darkness and lack of fuel' damaging the undercarriage and propeller.  The pilot and navigator were unhurt and the aircraft was taken to Venice for repair.

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It was recertified after a test flight on 24 March 1949 with the aircraft being returned to the UK in 1951.  It was transferred to the American civil register as N9996F and purchased by a captain of Pan American Airways.  In 1955, it made a brief appearance in the film 'The Glenn Miller Story', when it was used to substitute for the Norseman that actually flew Glenn from Twinwood Farm and into a mystery that has never been solved.  After passing through a number of owners, it suffered another accident in 1964 when it landed heavily at Elstree, ripping off the undercarriage and damaging the propeller again.  After repair, the Argus flew its last flight on May 1 1966, when the certificate of airworthiness expired.  It was purchased by the RAF Museum in February 1973 and was taken into store at RAF Henlow, later moving to Cosford for storage.  The aircraft arrived at the MAPSL workshop on 21 October 1997 for restoration which was conducted over the next two years. 

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MAPSL finished the aircraft in SEAC colours before it was returned to Cosford to be placed on display.  It was the first radial engine aircraft to be restored by MAPSL.