HISPANO AVIACIÓN BUCHÓN

YELLOW 10

STARRING AS

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

MESSERSCHMITT Bf109e

Buchon G-AWHK (‘Yellow 10’) was built in Spain by Hispano Aviación in 1959. It is to all intents and purposes a Messerschmitt Bf-109 airframe, but this license-built version trades the original Daimler-Benz engine for the Rolls-Royce Merlin. The origins of the Buchon (a Spanish word for ‘dove’ or ‘pigeon’) date back to 1943 when the Spanish Government placed a substantial order with the Luftwaffe for some 200 Bf109G ‘kits’ to be sent to Spain for final assembly – owing to the increasing heavy German losses and pressures of war, various major components such as the engines never arrived so Hispano was forced to take matters into its own hands and source an alternative powerplant and propeller. Various combinations were trialled over the intervening years without great success – it was only in 1952 when Merlin 500-series engines sourced from Britain were fitted that the fighter really came into its own.

Not an enormous amount is known about this Buchon’s operational life with the Spanish Air Force aside from its construction number 223. In 1968 the airframe was acquired by Spitfire Productions Ltd and duly modified for use in the iconic film ‘Battle of Britain’ - large portions of which were filmed both on location in Spain and at Duxford Airfield in Cambridgeshire. For that whole summer, parts of Eastern England were transported back to the sights and sounds of 1940 as expansive formations of enemy fighters and bombers jostled with Spitfires. Following completion of filming, this Buchon and 10 others were shipped to the USA by renowned warbird and film pilot Wilson ‘Connie’ Edwards as payment for his involvement in the ‘Battle of Britain’ production. The aircraft was briefly flown in America with the Confederate Air Force before it was placed in a museum on static display. In 1996 the aircraft returned to Duxford under the ownership of the Old Flying Machine Company; quickly moving on to Breighton Airfield in Yorkshire, where the Real Aeroplane Company began a restoration back to airworthy condition. This concluded with a maiden flight in mid-2006 in the hands of Nigel Lamb, and the aircraft starred at several events in its debut season – in November 2006 the aircraft was purchased by the Aircraft Restoration Company and the aircraft returned ‘home’ to Duxford in due course.

The Buchon has since starred in several notable productions – ‘Valkyrie,’ starring Tom Cruise, Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ and most recently for the BBC drama series ‘SAS: Rogue Heroes.’ In both 2016 and 2018, the aircraft was shipped to New Zealand to participate in back-to-back editions of the renowned ‘Warbirds over Wanaka’ airshow and its performances drew much acclaim, not least owing to the rarity of this type outside Europe. These various roles have required the Buchon to adopt numerous temporary colour schemes and undergo several changes of identity, however the present livery for the Buchon - ‘Yellow 10’ - sees the aircraft returned to the precise colour scheme it wore in 1968 for the ‘Battle of Britain’ filming. Despite this ex-Spanish Air Force aircraft wearing Luftwaffe colours, this remains an authentic colour scheme to the airframe owing to its post-war film history.

With the additional fitting of a smoke system in recent years, the Buchon spends much of its time as an adversary aircraft being ‘shot down’ by one Allied type or another, both in flying displays and as a popular enhancement to passenger flights booked by guests with Aerial Collective, the Aircraft Restoration Company’s in-house warbird experience provider.