Percival Mew Gull G-AEXF, a British racing aircraft of the 1930s, flying at Old Warden Airfield, Bedfordshire, in October 2014
The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine During its racing career it set many records & reached a speed of 265 mph on a modest 205 hp in its final 1939 form. During the late 1930s, Mew Gulls dominated UK air-racing & consistently recorded the fastest times until the war stopped all civilian flying The 1938 King's Cup Race was a 1,012 mile event & this time, Alex Henshaw's much modified E2H G-AEXF came in 1st at 236 mph. Henshaw attempted to take the England - Cape Town Record in 1939, taking off on 5 February 1939 from Gravesend landing at the Cape the next day, covering the 6,377 miles course in 39 hours & 25 minutes, averaging mph in the air. It is interesting that during all of Henshaw's adventures, this aircraft was never damaged. Sold to Frenchman Victor Vermoral in late 1939,during World War II G-AEXF was stored in a hangar in France, its owners hiding it from the Germans. In 1950, Hugh Scrope found & bought it, & with Doug Bianchi, repaired it to fly back to England. After restoration, G-AEXF continued its racing career but was damaged in a landing accident in August 1951 Somers, the next owner repaired it and raced G-AEXF again. A new owner, Ernest Crabtree, flew it last in the 1965 Manx Air Derby Eventually, the derelict aircraft, found its way into the hands of a poorly run museum, where it became damp, had its wings crudely sawn off, & many parts lost to souvenir hunters In this state, Tom Storey & Martin Barraclough acquired & rebuilt it during the late 1970s The aircraft was written-off two further times. G-AEXF was very extensively rebuilt yet again for a third time & was operated from Old Warden for some time until sold-on. In 2013, in its 77th year, G-AEXF was sold to the Shuttleworth Collection, at Old Warden, Bedfordshire, as part of the Museum.
Size: 4084px × 3156px
Location: Old Warden Airfield, Bedfordshire, UK
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -aexf, aircraft, airfield, alex, barraclough, bianchi, british, collection, cup, doug, gull, henshaw, hugh, king, martin, mew, monoplane, percival, race, racing, scrope, shuttleworth, vermoral, victor, warden
