Casa 131 Jungmann

G-BXBD / D-EQXA

 

The remains of this Casa Jungmann were purchased by the Childs family in 1998 from a company in Gloucestershire , UK. The plan was to return her to an airworthy condition within two years. Work began in the spring of 1998 with extensive repairs and reconditioning of the main spars, ribs and  fuselage. Due to their condition, the tyres, oleos and hardware were all replaced. The Tigre 125hp engine was fully stripped and overhauled, repainted and fitted with new components. By the summer of 1999, the aeroplane was covered and it wasn’t long before the Jungmann was making regular visits to the paint shop where her new livery was applied. She was completed in the year 2000 and made her maiden flight from New Farm Airstrip, Lulsgate, Bristol.

Only months later, the aircraft suffered major damage following an accident near Portishead and although both occupants escaped unharmed, the aircraft was written off. The remains came back to the Childs family (now trading as The Somerset Aeroplane Company) in 2001 and a rebuild began. New wings were acquired from Albacete, Spain, along with new undercarriage spares. The engine was again stripped down, inspected and fully overhauled. The aircraft was completed in 2002 and was based at Duxford for a time.

The aircraft was sold to German buyers in 2006 and now belongs to the Quax collection in Hamm where it is regularly flown as part of their heritage collection.



History

The livery colours were chosen to represent this wartime Bücker Jungmann that mistakenly landed in Basel-Birsfelden in 1944. German trainee pilot Ehrenfried Malkowsky was flying to Strasbourg but landed in Switzerland by mistake. After he had been informed of his erroneous landing site, he decided to remain as an internee in Switzerland rather than returning to the war. The aeroplane therefore had to be transferred back to Strasbourg by a Swiss pilot.

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