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John Romain arrived for our meeting at the Aircraft Restoration Company'due south (ARCo) Duxford hangar facility in his blue coveralls – he was taking a few hours abroad from fabricing one of the Westland Lysander'south wings for the interview. In John'due south office, modest merely brimming with aviation books and memorabilia, a large original painting of Spitfire Mk.I P9374 – a one-time ARCo machine – is mounted on the wall behind his desk. A Campbell flying helmet and goggles had been arranged on a leather sofa; later in the afternoon he was scheduled to carry out a Display Authorisation renewal for a local Duxford pilot and across that, he was due to have the based T-28 Fennec for a late afternoon exercise display. Such is the day-to-day diverseness of ARCo's Managing Director, where restoration and flight go paw-in-hand.
The son of a de Havilland apprentice, it's perhaps no surprise that John Romain was drawn to a life in aviation. His begetter had worked on the likes of the Hornet, Venom, Comet and Sea Vixen at Hatfield, while many a weekend was spent with the family on Wheathampstead Heath watching the senior Romain flying remote command model aeroplanes. The 1969 Battle of Uk film inspired John's interest in 2d World War aircraft. To an impressionable 10-twelvemonth old, a screening at Tottenham Courtroom Road cinema sparked a fascination with the Hispano Buchón in particular. He says of them, "In that location was something about the Buchón's shape and the way it moved that was just threatening. I couldn't help but be captivated by them – that'southward really where the interest in warbirds started, although back then they weren't considered to exist 'warbirds'".
Visits to Duxford, the airfield where much of the Battle of Britain had been filmed, were commonplace from the age of 13. Though the site had fallen into disrepair during the intervening years, remnants of the shoot were withal much in evidence – the largely derelict hangars even so wore their picture camouflage, whilst the guard room was filled with picture props and relics. Fibreglass Spitfires and Hurricanes had been abased across the site, and the mock-up trenches – the ones Kenneth Moore and Susannah York dive into during the film'southward bombing raid sequence – were yet at least somewhat intact. His involvement caught the middle of the East Anglian Aviation Society, who invited John to join the group on a voluntary basis in 1972 to aid with the maintenance of the Imperial War Museum'due south large airplane exhibits and sweep the hangar floors at weekends.
It was a small starting time, but one which fuelled an involvement in aviation engineering science and historic aeroplanes. 1976 saw John begin an internship with Bell-ringer Siddeley Dynamics at Hatfield. 12 months into the internship he was awarded Apprentice of the Yr; thereafter he entered and won an endurance competition to design, build and drive a vehicle which would run on only one gallon of fuel. John'south vehicle drove the farthest, clocking an incredible one,379 miles to the gallon. Work on complex missile systems and qualification as a missile systems designer further honed a range of machining, tooling and engineering skills that gave him a solid base upon which to build his expertise.
The Duxford connection led to John working for the irrepressible Ormond Haydon-Baillie in the mid-1970s. He was instrumental in establishing an on-site shipping maintenance and restoration facility for Haydon-Baillie's aeroplanes, converting the forlorn Building 66 into a serviceable workshop. "Nosotros spent a number of months chiselling out panes of glass from surviving window frames to install in Building 66. With no electrics on-site at all, we had to set up an external generator – it was very primitive in those days."
The venture was brought to an precipitous cease by Haydon-Baillie's death in a Mustang crash on 3 July 1977. John and his colleagues set virtually assisting Wensley Haydon-Baillie, brother of Ormond, with the disposal of the many aircraft inherited by the estate, recovering Spitfires from India, T-33s from Canada, Sabres from Deutschland and the CF100 from Cranfield. Amongst the aeroplanes upward for disposal and stored at Duxford were two Bolingbroke Mk.IVs (commonly referred to as Blenheims), one of which (G-MKIV) was acquired for restoration to flying by ex-military jet pilot Graham Warner. For this monumental task he assembled a team of engineers at Duxford under the British Aerial Museum of Flying Armed services Aircraft imprint, with John Romain concluding his apprenticeship and moving to Cambridgeshire to join the project full-time in 1981. That aeroplane flew, final a restoration spanning some 40,000 voluntary man-hours, for the first time on 22 May 1987 with its Chief Pilot, John Larcombe, in control.
The build of Bolingbroke G-MKIV was unprecedented, the small team breaking new ground in vintage aircraft preservation that set an industry standard. Hence it was the cruellest of blows for all involved to see the aeroplane written off in an accident at Denham less than i month after its maiden flying. John and 'Smudge' Smith were on board, with reserve airplane pilot Roy Pullan in command; during Pullan'south unauthorised, unrehearsed touch-and-go, the aircraft swung off the rail and tip-stalled in at 50ft, clipping a tree and cartwheeling violently. Mercifully, all on board survived the crash, admitting with substantial injuries (Romain having been thrown from the shipping by the force of the impact) – the Blenheim, however, was damaged beyond repair.
"That was absolutely devastating for the whole team and Graham personally", John reflects. By that point, he had held a PPL for iii years and had started flying vintage tail draggers – Auster, Broussard and the like – under the tutelage of John Larcombe. "When I was lying in a hospital bed shortly after the crash, I decided to go a commercial airplane pilot's licence and get into airlines as I'd realised restorations were long, hard work and when they went incorrect, information technology hurt!" That licence followed in 1989, but a dearth of positions in the airline manufacture left John with "no work and a big debt to pay off from the commercial licence". Appropriately he opted to remain in the celebrated aviation sphere and focus his efforts where his truthful passion lay. In the concurrently, Graham Warner had persevered to restore a 2nd Blenheim. "I told Graham that if I was coming back to work on that project, I didn't but want to do information technology as an engineer", picks upwardly John. "I suggested we form a company together and use external work to generate the funds for the side by side Blenheim." From that proposition, ARCo was born and restoration and maintenance immediately began on a raft of client aeroplanes. The new airframe, a Bolingbroke Mk.IV T manufactured past Fairchild Aircraft Ltd in 1943, was transported from Strathallan to Duxford in February 1988 and piece of work began in earnest.
With Graham managing ARCO'south administration and financials, John spearheaded the physical restoration and maintenance. Early on projects included the major overhaul of Warner's Beech-18 Yard-BKGL, the rebuild of Morane Saulnier MS.505 Criquet Thousand-BPHZ, later which it was painted in the Luftwaffe markings of i/JG54 with fictitious TA+RC codes (for 'The Aircraft Restoration Company'), the restorations of Auster AOP 9 XR241/G-AXRR and de Havilland Chipmunk G-BNZC, and a ground-up rebuild into stock T-6G configuration of Harvard II G-BRWB with John overhauling the R-1340 radial engine, a starting time for a British-based restorer. Other Harvard projects followed and indeed, to this 24-hour interval ARCo remain specialists in the field.
Maintenance of Lindsay Walton's striking F4U-7 Corsair from the mid-1980s exposed John to the burgeoning warbird preservation and air display scene. The conquering of a Harvard project gave him a suitable radial trainer on which to gain the requisite heavy tail dragger experience; that he did nether the mentorship of Hoof Proudfoot, Mark Hanna, and conversion to the Corsair followed in 1989. "The recognised 'stepping rock' system was the Harvard and then Spitfire or Hurricane, followed past the Mustang, but I'd skipped straight to the Corsair and caught upwards on the V12s later on", he says. "The big advantage I had was that I was an engineer and I understood the aircraft'southward engine and systems get-go and foremost. In the week I was engineering the aeroplanes, ground running and taxying them. John Larcombe used to say, if y'all tin taxy an aeroplane well, y'all can fly it. In that location's a lot of truth in that and if you lot understand the mechanics of it, the flying is relatively straightforward by comparison."
The Walton Corsair became John'due south regular mountain at British airshows from 1989. Romain's fluid transition into the warbird movement precipitated an invitation to fly with the Old Flying Machine Company (OFMC) and in 1991 he stepped into a Supermarine Spitfire for the first fourth dimension to fly Mk.Ix MH434, that near famous of Spitfires, under the watchful eyes of Ray and Mark Hanna. Conversion onto the P-51D Mustang came after that year in Old Crow, then owned past the Scandinavian Celebrated Flying and now resident under ARCo'southward care at Duxford resplendent in a Purple Air Forcefulness scheme.
Experience flight Warner's Beech-18 opened more doors, this time with Duxford's Hangar 2 residents, The Fighter Collection (TFC). Stephen Grey had recently acquired B-25 Mitchell Grumpy and a blazon rating on the Planes of Fame Air Museum's B-25 at Chino, CA afforded Romain the opportunity to fly the medium bomber on a regular basis from 1992. He apace progressed through some of TFC's single-engine V12 and radial fighters; week days were dedicated to engineering and maintenance for ARCo, whilst summer weekends were spent demonstrating high-performance piston fighters and bombers for the prominent Duxford operators with tutelage from John Larcombe, Hoof Proudfoot and Mark Hanna. They were, he says, "Some of the most generous individuals I've had the privilege of flying aslope – I owe a bully bargain to their patience and pity".
Exposure to air display flight developed exponentially in tandem with ARCo'due south restoration and maintenance business. "It was just incredible, the amount of flying, the types we flew and the kind of flying we were doing every weekend", Romain says. The British airshow landscape of the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s was far removed from today's scene, with a thriving civilian airshow industry complemented by a superior number of military events. Vintage aircraft featured prominently at many, particularly so the 'Open House' weekends at the American bases. On the continent, British-based warbirds were regular attendees at major international airshows in France, Frg, Switzerland, Norway and elsewhere. TFC and the OFMC provided much of the historic element of the domestic and foreign airshows, a typical summer weekend for both Duxford-based companies involving large-scale deployments to ane or more events.
Conversion onto new types came swiftly to match that demand, John logging fourth dimension in Spitfires, Mustangs, Corsairs, Kingcobra and Wildcat in quick succession. "I remember one Autumn Air Testify at Duxford where I flew seven displays in seven dissimilar aeroplanes, from Auster to Catalina", he recounts. "That seems baroque looking back as we don't do that sort of thing any more – we generally limit ourselves to ii or three displays per day."
Romain muses, "You lot'd just conform. That's what we used to do. Sometimes you didn't know what you lot'd exist flying, where you lot'd be going or what you lot'd be doing until the eleventh hour. Mark [Hanna] in one case called me on a Thursday and asked, 'John, what are you doing this weekend? Do y'all want to fly for us?' I met him at OFMC's offices on Fri morn and he said, 'Well, I was going to put you in the Spitfire, but I remember I'll fly that. Have you flown a Corsair?' I explained it'd been a few years since I last flew Lindsay'south auto, and he said, 'Great, well you can fly the Corsair downwards to French republic with me and display it in the show'. Right – OK!
"They were exciting times. Transiting around Europe with a bunch of fighters and skillful mates – those memories stick with y'all forever", John continues. "Flying effectually the country with guys similar Hoof Proudfoot, Mark Hanna and Jack Brown, ex-air force boys who'd recently left the service and had flown Harriers, Phantoms and Jaguars depression-level. They were astonishing to just spotter – studying maps and working out low-level routes we could fly across the UK and Europe to avert general aviation traffic. Then we'd strap in and head off with a gaggle of fighters, routing low-level over the countryside at 200 knots using simply hand signals and using visual points of reference to navigate. That was an incredible learning experience for a young airplane pilot."
Involvement in airshows with OFMC and TFC engendered some sensational flying. A mid-'90s deployment to Norway was particularly memorable – ten days in Spitfire MH434 with Marker Hanna alongside in OFMC's Buchón G-BOML, taking the fighters out depression-level amongst the mountains and through fjords before heading to Oslo to meet Anders Saether and Erstwhile Crow for a 'jolly'. Another sortie saw John joining OFMC for a large-scale deployment to an airshow in the south of French republic and paired with Ray Hanna for a formation aerobatic duo. "During the brief, Ray said, 'You lot're formating on me. Ane rule – don't go below me'. On the first fly-through, I saw why. He was right downwards in the weeds! As long as he knew y'all were to a higher place him, he was happy to have you right down to merely a few anxiety off the ground."
A further trip to southern France saw Romain ferrying OFMC's Mustang Chiliad-HAEC to the venue and rostered to fly the Corsair (ferried by Marking Hanna) during the testify. He picks up the story: "A friend of the Hannas had a T-28 based there, but he wasn't a display airplane pilot. We were sabbatum at the briefing and Mark said, 'John, yous've got a couple of spare hours in the middle of the programme, you tin can wing the T-28'. I said I'd never flown a Trojan before and he said, 'Well, go off ten minutes before your slot, then come up back and display it'. At the end of the weekend, I had an hour in the T-28 and had flown three displays in 2 aircraft – that would be seen as irresponsible now, only it's what we used to do. Then on Monday morning I climbed dorsum into the Corsair and took it home with a map on my lap and Mark waving me off saying, 'Run across you next week!' I was like a sponge – I learned and so much from the veterans of the business, some of the very best aviators you could ever promise to meet. You learn fast, flight with people like that. Was I in awe of it? I suppose, to an extent. We were all friends, flying off in Second World War aeroplanes to airfields all over Europe to brandish at minimally regulated airshows. They were brilliant times.
"I learnt a lot about air display choreography from Ray and Mark Hanna", John continues. "For example, I used to wing away from the crowd on the 45 and wing a Derry reversal to come up back in. Ray once asked me why I flew a Derry plow: 'Never roll abroad from the crowd, information technology'south a waste of a manoeuvre.' From then on, I didn't." John crafted a brandish sequence that has get instantly recognisable; pairs of cuban-eight one-half-loops on the A-axis and 45 degree B-axis flow into a succession of barrel rolls, topside passes and 360 caste turns. It'due south a masterclass in energy direction, the penetrating verticals and sweeping rolling manoeuvres trading height for airspeed.
"My sequence is based effectually making sure the airplane looks expert for the punters, knowing I'm looking after the aeroplane and knowing I'chiliad looking after myself. Information technology'south a routine I tin can fly at practically any venue in any fighter without pushing my capacity. I fly half-cubans on the A-axis and on the 45 but I don't loop, regardless of the fighter I'm flying. That way I'll never be at the betoken where I'thou heading straight at the ground and having to pull out of the manoeuvres – I've watched likewise many people kill themselves flying loops; you see errors in yourself and others over the years, and you lot absolutely have to larn from it and constantly assess yourself. There will be a day where yous're non at 100% and y'all safeguard for that day. If, for some bizarre reason, I've not checked my gate height or gate speed, the one-half-cuban gives me everything I need equally an escape road every time. Even if you lot're also low and too slow at the acme of that half-loop, y'all can roll off the top and fly away from it.
"From the engineering point of view, you become a flying engineer – you lot're not a pilot who does a bit of engineering", asserts John. After decades of maintenance and restoration, he's seen first-hand the long-term effects that aggressive handling and indelicate throttle and propeller command can do to an aeroplane. "If y'all know what engine mismanagement tin can practise, yous alter how you fly", he stresses. "You know what pulling large amounts of thou volition do to the airframe. The guys who come from an engineering science background don't usually have an ego about flying and won't do things they think will impress a crowd or impress their peers. They tend to expect afterward the airplane more. If you're flying in a gentle, relaxed and understanding fashion, your display is probably better for it; if you fly conservatively, you tend to fly the aeroplane and relish it. You can exist out there giving the aeroplane a thrashing, merely for what? These are historical artefacts and equally a display pilot, you're entrusted with preserving that history. All y'all should desire to do is fly safely and protect that aeroplane."
The sheer volume of air displays and the low-level, high-energy aerobatics typically flown in vintage aircraft gave rising to a series of fatal airshow accidents in the mid-1990s. The attrition rate, John recalls, was well-nigh too much to bear. "We went through a bad period of accidents", he says, "and in 1996 alone we lost vii brandish pilots who I either knew very well or was acquainted to, and one of them was my instructor. Information technology's never nice losing anyone in life, but when you start losing friends when y'all're supposedly out having fun, information technology's a particularly sharp loss. It got to the point where that dulled the brain a fleck – it was meant to be pleasure, something we enjoy as a pastime, only there were people dying. I ended up locking it all abroad in boxes in my head, because it was the just style I could get through the 1996 season and if I hadn't, I'd have stopped, and I didn't want to terminate. It was incredibly difficult when we reached the end of the flying flavour and the lids started coming off. You starting time with the nightmares, disbelieving your own ability and fearing you're side by side. I needed to talk to someone who was devoid of the airshow world, just who understood losses. I benefited from talking to an air force medical guy, and information technology worked. One time you go it right in your caput, you rationalise it and move on mentally."
He continues: "I remember coming back from Rouen in June 2001, where I'd been flight side by side to Martin Sargeant when he was killed in Spitfire PL983. Nosotros'd lost the Vampire and Kingcobra at Biggin Hill in the 48 hours earlier, and we knew all those pilots very well. That shocked all of united states. It felt like we were coming back from a war zone, walking in the front door at habitation to see your married woman and children with a completely different mindset. You cease up thinking, I'd better protect all this – information technology could be me next time. You lot get out and get yourself insured upwardly to the hilt, and you do all sorts of things to protect the people you beloved. Yous think you've done your role, until you come home. I remember coming back from a long weekend abroad with OFMC. Nosotros'd had family friends over, and I spoke to a friend of mine at the stop of the weekend. He said, 'Y'all realise, all weekend your married woman will not answer that phone. As soon as it rings, she tells us to leave it. She tin't think near what news might exist at the other end of that line'. It makes you realise what they're going through. Information technology's not always good. Information technology's an odd affair, that what you love then dearly can cause those you love so much pain."
Throughout the 1990s, ARCo'due south performance was split betwixt Duxford's hangar T2 north and Building 66 (christened "Blenheim Palace"), with four full-time engineers (John included) on permanent staff and a number of others engaged on an ad hoc basis to cover the growing workload. Lindsay Walton'south Corsair underwent a major overhaul with ARCo in 1991, whilst maintenance of his Me 108 and Stearman connected. Ii ex-Swiss Air Force de Havilland Vampires also passed through the company for disassembly and export to Chino, CA, whilst aid was provided for the disassembly and coordination of the movement of the Avro York and Airspeed Ambassador from Lasham to Duxford. ARCo'due south preservation work extended to high-contour static restorations to museum standard, amongst them the IWM'due south Fw 190 and He 162, as well as P-51D Mustang Big Beautiful Doll, displayed prominently in the Lambeth museum for years. ARCo too dedicated considerable resource to repainting museum aeroplanes including, well-nigh impressively, the Duxford Trident and Concorde in 1990 and 1991 respectively. Their services extended to OFMC, with the Spitfire Mk.IX, Buchón, Harvard/"Zeke" and Avenger all receiving new pigment schemes.
The restoration of Blenheim Mk.IV G-BPIV also continued apace, terminal with the aircraft's kickoff flight on 28 May 1993. John was 1 of three pilots entrusted with the Blenheim from 1993 to 2003, and some fantastic moments were enjoyed during its decade of airshow appearances, including participation in the VE Twenty-four hour period flypast over primal London in May 1995. A major setback came in August 2003 – returning to Duxford post-obit a individual air display with a former ARCo aviator at the controls, the pilot-in-command had erroneously been running the ii Mercury engines on 'rich', rather than adjusting the mixture to 'lean' for more economic fuel consumption. Accordingly the aircraft burned fuel at a faster rate than anticipated, and the Blenheim essentially ran out of fuel on final to state, clipping the earth banking concern most the runway 24 threshold and ending up on its abdomen with severe structural and engine harm. To lose the second Blenheim, again through no mechanical fault of the aircraft, was a critical blow, not least for Graham Warner, who relinquished his role in any future restorations and stepped away from ARCo. The conclusion to carry out a third rebuild was taken inside months of the incident, the Blenheim this time restored into Mk.I configuration which necessitated extensive modifications to the ancillary controls and cockpit department. It flew again post-restoration on 20 November 2014 in John's hands, mark the completion of the 3rd Blenheim restoration at Duxford.
Other airworthy shipping brought nether the ARCo banner for care and maintenance were as varied every bit the Avro 504, Westland Lysander and John Fairey'southward Fairey Flycatcher replica. Though John's fondness for the lovely Pratt and Whitney 985-powered Flycatcher is still much in show, his short fourth dimension flying the aircraft was not without incident. "I was climbing out of Duxford heading due north for a display, and at that place was a bang in the aeroplane. The aircraft pitched down vertically, to the extent that I was hanging in my straps looking directly at the ground. I pulled the stick back and it snapped support, all the way to the stall. I neutralised the stick, levelled off and started relaxing the stick – I could experience it going again immediately. I looked back and the tailplane was dancing – the jack in the fully trimmable tailplane had sheared off, and the tailplane was loose in pitch. My kickoff thought was that it's bond out fourth dimension, but I didn't really want to take to do that. I tried some control assessments and found that keeping the nose loftier with ability on in a plow held the tailplane neutral in the airflow, and kept the Flycatcher relatively stable. I slowed the aircraft to landing speed and kept the stick coming back with more and more than power to stabilise the elevator in the airflow. Moving into a sideslip in the descent, I held the stick back with power on until I curved round the M11 end at Duxford and hitting the grass – and then it was all over. They discovered later that the vibrations from the Pratt & Whitney radial had acquired fatigue in the plane, and it was grounded after a fly strut failed for John Fairey. A cracking shame, as that was a lovely aeroplane when it wasn't trying to kill y'all!"
ARCo'southward profile had grown remarkably since the early days in Building 66. Concurrently, Belgian businessman and vintage aircraft aficionado Karel Bos acquired leading restoration shop Historic Flying Limited (HFL, est. 1987), and then based at Audley Terminate, and took on management of the company in 1996-97 with a view to expanding the Spitfire restoration side of the business. Bos' vision was ostensibly to larn an existing, reputable company to maintain the Spitfires mail-restoration; with a demonstrable track record and high standing in the historic aviation industry, ARCo presented the perfect potential investment. Then it was that Karel met with John Romain, pitching his proposal to acquire ARCo and utilise the company as the maintenance outfit for HFL projects. "It had never occurred to me that anyone would want to purchase information technology, or that I would ever want to sell it", says John. "I rejected the proposal and I don't call up he believed me at showtime – it was very unusual for people to say no to Karel, and he didn't reply particularly well."
Bos returned to John and ARCo several months after, having failed to identify another Britain-based company that had the resources to support HFL's fleet. After some negotiation, he and Romain agreed threefold that ARCo would take on HFL'south maintenance, the pair would work together on the new venture and a bespoke hangar facility would be built at Duxford to jointly business firm HFL's Spitfires and ARCo's fleet. With the IWM's agreement construction of the joint facility at the eastern cease of Duxford commenced. After relocation from Audley Cease, HFL pressed on with the restoration of its extant projects including, amongst others, Spitfire Mk.V JG891 and Spitfire Mk.XIV RN201.
In time information technology was Karel Bos' desire to step away from HFL, allowing John to motility into a leading position at the visitor from 2005, instigating a complete management staff restructure to identify information technology on a firmer financial ground earlier taking over the business fully in December 2007. By that betoken, Bos had met with entrepreneur Tom Kaplan at a individual fine art upshot in London. "The art dealer knew more nigh the two of them than they did about themselves and put them on the same tabular array", John explains. "He introduced them to one another as Spitfire owners, and immediately they got talking." Tom had ii early Spitfire Mk.I projects waiting in the wings – P9374 and N3200, both recovered from the sands on Dunkirk embankment – and was seeking an organisation to recreate the pair in flying condition. He was aware of HFL just understood they only restored Spitfires for the company's owner – Karel was quick to assert that he was, in fact, said owner, and that he was in the process of passing the company to John Romain. 2 loftier-profile early Spitfire projects, Bos asserted, would go along HFL and its workforce busy for several years.
Right he was – the builds of the two Mk.Is, bold the identities of P9374 and N3200, set a new industry standard and re-introduced ii stunningly realised examples of the leap 1940-era 'infant' Spitfires. Romain carried out the offset exam flights of both machines on 9 September 2011 and 26 March 2014 respectively. Experiences flight Messerschmitt Bf 109E White fourteen for Ed Russell in Canada and, more than recently, test flight the Flight Heritage and Combat Armor Museum's Bf 109E in the USA have given him unique insight into the comparable handling qualities of these former adversaries. "Once I got into flying the Mk.Is, I understood how the E model Bf 109s ran rings effectually the earlier Spitfires. The Dunkirk-era 109E had several advantages over the earlier Mk.Is – to exist able to push button yourself out of problem without the negative-g cutting the engine temporarily would accept given the 109E a big advantage in a combat state of affairs. Its armament was far superior to the Spitfire, and information technology had the edge as a flying plane if you knew how to fly information technology well.
"A lot of people inquire me, Boxing of Britain, Spitfire vs. 109E, what would y'all have gone in? At the beginning of the state of war and into the early on days of the Battle of United kingdom, I'd have gone for the 109E, about definitely. As a gun platform, the speed and manoeuvrability were phenomenal for the time. The Emil concluded up with a negative reputation, and some of it'due south true, but we discovered a lot through our operation of Ed's 109E and we found ways to tackle those bug – if the pilots are briefed and trained properly, they all go out of them and say wow, fantastic. Of course, equally the Spitfires progressed through the marks there were improvements across the lath, just in May 1940? I would selection the Bf 109E every time."
As HFL's Main Pilot, Romain has been responsible for the mail-restoration and post-maintenance testing of more than than a dozen Spitfires from the aforementioned Mk.Is to the photo reconnaissance PR.XIX variant, through V, 9, TIX, PR.XI, Fourteen, Sixteen and XVIII. Indeed, as of 2018 he has flown the Spitfire's full surviving airworthy lineage with the exceptions of Marks II and VIII, accumulating more than 1,000 hours on type since that offset flight in MH434 back in 1991. A typical test profile takes around 20 minutes and sees John taking the plane through a series of performance trials – power climbs, stalls, VNE dives, aerobatics, and systems (undercarriage, flaps etc.) tests. The testing itself comes with an inherent risk, putting the airplane closer to the fringes of its capabilities than a typical local flight or air brandish would. Years of engineering and aviating feel mitigate the risks to an extent, simply the ability to human activity in a measured, analytical fashion is fundamental.
John has experienced partial engine failures in Spitfires Mk.IX, T.9 and Eighteen – the latter, he remembers, fabricated a routine shake-down flight north of Duxford in SM845 particularly memorable. After completing a high-ability climb to altitude, John closed the throttle to bring to shipping back to the stall. "I then opened the throttle back up and nothing happened", he explains. "Your commencement impression is that the fuel's on, the fuel pumps are on and you lot accept throttle travel – you open up and close the throttle a few more times, and still nothing. Then y'all're immediately thinking, where am I going to put this? You lot're looking out for fields, obstacles, potential landing grounds. I remember seeing Bourn way out in the altitude and knowing I wouldn't make information technology if the engine didn't choice back up. I took a moment and thought, come on, what is this? I systematically went through the cockpit – on and off with the magnetos, and still nothing. I deduced that it had to be the fuel organisation, so I pulled the primer out and gave it a big shot of prime – WHOOMP. The engine came dorsum to life. It died once again a few moments later and it became clear – the fuel injector had failed. The just fashion I was going to keep this thing in the air was past priming."
That he did, using intermittent shots of primer to extend his glide path towards Bourn. "As I approached the airfield, I gave it a few more than shots of primer. My head was a blitz of thoughts – undercarriage down at the last minute, no flaps and radiator doors closed to reduce drag and go along that airspeed upward for the approach. It's all being calculated in an instant." The Spitfire hit the runway threshold at Bourn at around 120 knots, considerably higher than the standard landing airspeed. "I knew there was a ditch at the end of the runway, I'd seen information technology during training. If I hit that ditch, I'd create more harm than if I bellied in somewhere. As soon as I hit the tarmac it was flaps down, rad doors down, annihilation to create elevate. I was heavy on the brakes all the way downward the runway and rolled off onto the taxiway by the threshold, leaning onto i wheel but stopping in adequate time. I later told the airfield manager that I was worried nigh the ditch – he said, 'No need to worry, I filled that in four years ago'!
"You always need a Plan B – your escape programme", he adds. That mantra was put into exercise during a private airshow at Headcorn, Kent in summer 2014. Midway through an aerobatic routine in ARCo'south Buchón the Merlin 500-45 engine failed catastrophically, a connecting rod punching through the crank instance during the climb into a half-cuban. Immediately the aircraft lost power, the airspeed haemorrhage away chop-chop. That advisedly considered display profile paid dividends, the altitude at the apex of the one-half-loop allowing John to convert pinnacle to airspeed as he pulled the aircraft off the display line and into a large wingover to re-position to land. With the Buchón violently buffeting and oil streaming from the cowling, and the lack of thrust reducing lift authorisation and increasing the rate of descent, he had to get the shipping onto the footing without hesitation. A steeper than usual glide descent and v° of flap created a small amount of lift to mitigate against the loss of thrust. The undercarriage was lowered before the engine completely seized and the engine-driven hydraulic pump, used to operate the gear system, became defunct. "I was getting smoke and oil coming though the cockpit, and though I had close the engine down, I was worried that it would flame upwards. I was too low to bail out, and identified a big field with a hedge offset from the approach. I thought, if it catches fire, I'g going to plough away and put it into the field, and I'll take the hedge. It was very tight and I think my wheels went through the hedge by the threshold, simply in the terminate, I got back to the field. I was talking to one of the guys at Headcorn after that afternoon and explained that I had a 'Programme B', which was to put it into the field and become through the hedge. He said, 'Christ, adept job you lot didn't practice that – there'southward a pill box in that hedge! That was pretty sobering, I must say!"
The sequence of events, from engine failure to touchdown, took less than two minutes. "It's a haunting experience", he continues. "It suddenly goes quiet and you feel yourself move forward in the straps with the deceleration – it's like yous've hit something. Yous tin't become into auto mode and just dump your gear and flaps for landing because you think you lot're landing – you aren't. Information technology'southward a forced landing, a completely different environment. Going through your normal landing procedure can take hold of you out. You have to read ahead and consider what you're trying to achieve – your goal is to get you and the shipping down in one piece, only how yous get there is the important thing. Yous literally feel the lift and the elevate, assess what you have at your disposal, leave the gear until the end and don't use flap unless you lot have to. You lot encounter people in twins, say a B-25, losing an engine and dropping their gear and flaps immediately, every bit they normally would – they're only creating a whole load more drag and sacrificing airspeed, and if they lose too much airspeed, they are in trouble.
"Applied science comes into that as you sympathize what you tin and tin't do with the aeroplane, and that knowledge could salve your life", Romain continues. "There was a lot of talk after the Spitfire blow in Rouen about why the undercarriage was left down. A lot of pilots at the time said, 'Well, the engine failed and it couldn't be put upwards every bit there weren't any hydraulics'. That's absolutely right – just it could exist unlocked. The very aforementioned pilots questioned how. They'd been flying Spitfires but didn't fully appreciate the undercarriage system. Without hydraulics, yous can't select the gear, but every bit shortly as you lot retract that lever, the undercarriage pins are out. Touching the ground, the gear would fold up and the aircraft would 'belly' in. Later that, every Spitfire we had we put up on jacks, put a hydraulic rig in it, put our pilots in the cockpit and removed the hydraulics. We so got the pilots out of the cockpit to physically look at what was going on with the undercarriage. If e'er they were faced with that situation, that noesis could help them in any forcefulness landing.
"After another accident, I spoke to my father-in-police force who had been a Purple Air Force mechanic during the Second World War. He said, 'I've recovered a lot of aircraft which had suffered boxing harm or engine issues. We'd find the shipping sat in a field, maybe with a wing or tailplane missing, simply the pilot was dorsum at the Mess and the aircraft was recovered for repair. Why is it that when your guys have an engine problem, they crash and tin be killed?' I got thinking near this – if yous await at similar accidents, the pilots were stretching to go the aircraft dorsum to an airfield. Why not put it in a field? Mentally, what'south that all about? Information technology must be that they were trying to save the aeroplane higher up all else, to protect an asset and a piece of celebrated machinery – perhaps that was the chief thing. We spoke to our pilots and said, protect yourself. We know we can repair the airplane considering it will be fundamentally re-buildable – simply if you stall at 50ft or 100ft, we tin can probably rebuild the aircraft, merely we're not rebuilding you."
ARCo'due south operation expanded rapidly during the 2000s, with more than than 50 aeroplanes under its care at any one time. Golden Apple tree's T-33 Shooting Star (an ex-Haydon Baillie auto, coincidentally, flown on occasion by John) and F-86A Sabre, alongside the likes of the OV-ten Bronco and L-39 Albatross, brought ARCo into the classic jet and turboprop maintenance field, whilst the inflow of Tom Blair's aeroplanes during the 2000s – amongst them Hurricane Mk.XII, Spitfire Mk.9, Spitfire Mk.14 and Hispano Buchón (after acquired by ARCo) – further expanded the based warbird fleet. Recent years have seen ARCo contracted by the Ministry of Defence to undertake 'major plus' restoration on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's (BBMF) fleet, with most of the Spitfires and i of the Flying's two Chipmunks brought into ARCo'southward facility for a complete strip, re-spar and 'downwardly to zero' rebuild. The construction of a new facility in 2016-17, christened the 'Stephenson Hangar', facilitated the major overhaul of the BBMF'due south Avro Lancaster and the development of offices and meeting rooms for the chop-chop expanding Spitfire passenger rides market that has become and so prominent in recent years.
More 45 years after leaving Tottenham Courtroom Route movie theater captivated by the Boxing of Britain moving-picture show's Buchóns, John was engaged every bit a pilot for the combat sequences in Christopher Nolan'southward 2017 Dunkirk film, heading out to Calais, Dunkirk and Lelystad aerodromes in ARCo's Buchón, alongside three Spitfires (AR213, X4650 and EP122) and both fixed-fly and rotary photographic camera ships. Filming over the English Channel called for a combination of air-to-air combat and low-level strafing. The initial sorties were, John recounts, somewhat fraught: "We found that we were arriving on 'prepare' with the promise of an in-air brief, only that never materialised."
A frustrated Nolan soon visited the aerial unit to discuss the lack of cohesion between the corresponding teams. "Nosotros showed him the brief we'd received and he immediately saw that something had been lost in translation", Romain adds. "He said, 'From now on, I'g coming here every morning and I'm having breakfast with you. I'll tell you the shots I want and yous can tell me if that's achievable, and we tin discuss how nosotros'll practice it'. Every bit before long as he did that, information technology worked – although he had a much posher breakfast than we did, I must say!" The aerial unit after relocated to Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire for the majority of the air-to-air combat filming. "Nolan wanted the aerial sequences to be quite violent, but nosotros were flying with a highly modified Yak photographic camera ship with an IMAX camera mounted on the fly. That limited the Yak to around 130 knots, which put the Spitfires and Buchón in a very difficult position – we were finding that the Buchón'south slats were banging out in the turn, and the guys in the Spitfires were concerned with how slow we were flying.
"As a solution, we asked Craig Hosking, airplane pilot of the Yak, to dive just found the Buchón was all the same overtaking in the descent with its throttle closed. Afterward some fence we briefed Craig to pull up on our call, and we could get a lovely shot from the Yak of the Buchón and the Spitfire with the sea every bit a backdrop – that worked perfectly, but it was hard work to wing." The disparity in airspeed presented another claiming during the aerial unit's last shot. Nolan had briefed the Buchón to tuck in closely backside the Yak'due south tail for a complete coil, the rearward mounted IMAX cameras capturing the manouevre from just a few feet away. John was airborne on his eighth trip of the day: "We were all getting pretty knackered. I'd already fallen out of two rolls because the Buchón only wouldn't complete the gyre at such depression airspeed. On the 2nd of those, I recovered beneath 300ft above the water and thought, this is getting a flake silly now. Chris looked at the footage and said, 'Well, it sort of works but you fell out of frame on the terminal scene'. You could say that!" John'south proposition was for the Yak to dive with the Buchón trailing, and on his call, the Yak would climb into a whorl with the Buchón closing the gap and slotting in behind. It was an ambitious manoeuvre, and one not devoid of risk. To add to the pressure, Nolan would be joining Craig Hosking in the Yak, viewing the IMAX camera feed live from the rear seat. "We went up and I called the shot. In the curl, I was catching the Yak apace – too rapidly. As we were inverted I was only a few feet off the Yak's tail, and as we rolled out I slipped underneath the Yak and away. The shot worked, and Chris was delighted, merely the margins were uncomfortably minor – to have out one of the biggest grossing Hollywood directors would not look expert on my CV!"
John flew 40 hours in the Buchón during the filming of Dunkirk, capturing spectacular aeriform sequences that drew universal critical acclaim. The film went on to receive numerous nominations, including Best Picture at the University Awards. The efforts of all involved were recognised at the 2018 Taurus Stunt Awards in Los Angeles, with Dunkirk winning 'Best speciality stunt' for the film's extensive aerial sequences. John was there to collect the award. "That was a real honour – it'south always dainty to take your hard piece of work rewarded, and a lot of people, Chris included, worked incredibly difficult to make Dunkirk what it was."
After more than 30 years of air brandish flying and aeroplane restorations, John Romain has rendered a distinguished and dedicated service to the historic aircraft preservation scene. His accomplishments are, it's off-white to say, far too numerous to account for hither. Moreover, he'due south helped build ARCo and HFL into successful, sustainable businesses that take set standards within the international historic shipping restoration and preservation customs. Equally a attestation to his professional skill, John was the inaugural recipient of The Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators' Hanna Trophy in October 2013, awarded in recognition of 'an outstanding contribution to the art of display flying of fighter aircraft'.
"As with anything in life, there are times when I sit down and think, maybe it'southward time to retire", he contemplates. "Just every 24-hour interval at Duxford is different – there are always new challenges, and that keeps the passion alight. I sometimes walk through the hangar on a tranquillity weekend and pause to have information technology all in for a moment – stood surrounded by half a dozen or more Spitfires, the Blenheim, a Buchón, Mustangs, Hurricanes… It's pretty incredible to see how far it'due south all come since the formative years in Building 66, whittling abroad with our small team. I stood outside the hangars not as well long agone and nosotros had the Blenheim flanked by 3 Spitfires that were waiting to head off, the Mk.I Spitfire was airborne, the T.IX Spitfires were flying passengers, there was an Anson flying circuits and the P-47 was upwards for a do display. I said to one of our volunteers, 'Just expect at this – nowhere else in the globe can you feel this.'
"On the flying side, the flight testing element is something I love and I'm enjoying passing those testing skills to people like Martin Overall, Historic Flight Ltd's Primary Engineer, who is starting to become into the testing. I'm equally becoming more and more involved, once once again, in the hangar side. I've spent years putting the companies into a position where they and their staff are doing well without me having to micro-manage. I go a huge amount of enjoyment in the challenges of restorations and watching them come together, and nosotros've certainly got some interesting challenges coming up", he adds. 2018 has seen the return to flight of Spitfire PR.Eleven PL983 and Westland Lysander V9312, with John taking a leading role in the latter's restoration. The Grumman Wildcat projection is waiting in the wings, whilst other unique restorations, including that of the Fairey Firefly, continue behind the scenes. "I always want to feel that I'm justifying my position in the company – I don't want to dorsum off and expect others to put the piece of work in. I'll exist out there sweeping the floors with the apprentices. In many ways, information technology'south a reflection of where I've come from.
"My 2 boys being here is great and I love seeing them being more involved and seeing showtime mitt what's been accomplished", he continues. A life of aircraft restoration, maintenance and displaying flying took its toll on family unit life, keeping John abroad from wife Amanda and sons George and Alex. The boys, now young men, currently have total-time jobs at ARCo equally Brand Manager and Engineer respectively. "I was never around when they were children. I never really saw them abound up. It was hard, having a immature family, and I was guilty of locking it away because I had to. If I thought nearly it too much, it would be overwhelming. My married woman brought the boys upwards lonely a lot of the time. It's lovely to see George and Alex recognising how far the company has come – that doesn't brand it right, but I'm grateful to take the opportunity to spend more time with them now they are young men and I'm glad they can do good from that success."
It feels at least somewhat poetic that John'southward path has led him back to some of the aircraft he flew at the very beginning of his career. ARCo'southward Buchón, a veteran of the Battle of Uk film that lit a burn down in John'south imagination back in 1969, has become i of his favourite mounts and was central to the contempoDunkirk filming ARCo was so heavily involved in. OFMC'due south Spitfire Mk.IX MH434 at present falls under ARCo'south care and maintenance, putting John back at the controls of the first Spitfire he flew in 1991. The ex-Scandinavian Historic Flight Mustang, formerly Old Crow, is now owned by Shaun Patrick, operated under the Norwegian Spitfire Foundation banner and maintained past ARCo. Dorsum in 1991 it was the first P-51 John flew, under the gaze of Anders Saether and Marker Hanna. In 2017 things came total circle equally he was afforded the opportunity to wing the Tillamook Air Museum's F4U-seven Corsair NX1337A in Oregon – the ex-Lindsay Walton machine that was his entry point into the warbird scene nearly xxx years ago. "I remembered the scratches on the musical instrument panel from when I flew the shipping from Duxford in 1989 – they're still there. Information technology was amazing, like catching up with an old friend. We become to experience that every day at ARCo, with the aircraft nosotros now have nether our care. They're all special in their own ways."
John muses on the thought. "Information technology brings dorsum all the memories, all the people, some of whom have gone. You remember where you've been in them, the guys who flew them, the memories yous have with them, and you start missing people. Guys like Ray and Mark, Hoof and John Larcombe who we lost manner too soon. You tin can see their faces, hear their voices – sometimes it'south similar they never left. Part of them lives on with the aircraft, in a way. I occasionally have the opportunity to fly MH434. It'southward funny, all vintage aeroplanes have their ain odor, and you could put me blindfolded in MH434 and I'd know immediately. I had some very special trips in her with some very special people. Every time I sit down in that cockpit, I think of Ray and Mark and the lives we lived all those years ago."
With thanks to John Romain and the Shipping Restoration Company.
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Source: https://vintageaviationecho.com/john-romain/
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