The Grumman F4F Wildcat with the UAS needed something I had…

When I was with 14 Int in Northern Ireland back in the day (re First Into Action) I was flying over a lake in a small helicopter coming back from a task when I saw what appeared to be an aircraft in the lake. I asked the pilot to take a closer look and indeed it was and it looked very old. 

So along with a few mates from the Det we got a rubber dingy and paddled out to the aircraft to discover it was a fighter from World War 2 that had crashed. Fast-forward to Christmas Eve 2019 – a news report on that aircraft.

BBC Newsline, News report, Christmas Eve 2019 on RSPB Reserve on Portmore Lough, Northern Ireland where the Ulster Aviation’s Grumman Wildcat was recovered after its crash 75 years earlier. Late pilot Peter Lock crash-landed there, and the Wildcat sat in the mud until the mid-1980s when the UAS recovered it.
Video is Copyright BBC NI © 2019
Ulster Aviation Society is a charitable association. N. Ireland. Charity No. NIC100128

To cut a long story short, I took something from the Grumman Wildcat. A souvenir. I've had it with me all these years.

I was completely ignorant of the significance when I saw the fighter rotting in Portmore Lough back in the day.

Click the Live Chat podcast for my full Wildcat story.

I’ve had the machine-gun all these years and didn’t know the aircraft had been rescued from the lake and restored.

I have finally retrieved the Mk5 Wildcat machinegun from the decommission centre – it’s been quite illegal since I took it home in 1980.
My plan is to reunite the aircraft with the gun at the Ulster Aviation Society Museum first chance. I’ll post that podcast when it’s ready.
About UAS

Ulster Aviation Society

Founded December 1968 Our aims and objectives: • Public education on aviation-related topics. • Highlight Northern Ireland's aviation heritage. • Maintain an aviation museum

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