 The Home Pylon Air Racing News Critical Mass Restoration Progresses Historic Day ~ The original Hawker Sea Fury T-20 that became Critical Mass, the highlly-modified Hawker Sea Fury Race 10, flown by Tom Dwelle in the Unlimited Class of Air Racing. The aircraft seen above is shown in civil markings as "D-FOTE" and later became D-COTE. The T-20s were utilized for flight training and target towing duties for the Luftwaffe. Regarding our corrections to the caption above and below... Note From Ken Dwelle: "One small correction to the first photo Mark. The registration was D-FOTE from 1958-1963 and you can read that on the bottom of the wing in the snow photo. After 1963 it was D-COTE. The other thing is that I don't think the Luftwaffe operated the Sea Furies, it was German company named: Deutsche Luftfahrt-Beratungsdienst (DLB)." Note 2 ~ Added by Thomas Genth: "Ken is right, the things are a little bit complicated ! The aircraft were bought by the German government, but operated by civil companies. At the time the D-COTE photo was taken, they worked for the Deutsche Luftfahrt Beratungsdienst (DLB). Later on it was the Rhein Flugzeugbau and actually a company called Ice Air is operating a fleet of Pilatus PC9 target tugs for the Luftwaffe doing the same thing .... But it is true, they were never official Luftwaffe aircraft and there was only one trainer and the other 16 Mk 20 were all fitted with the winch for target towing!" For more on the German Civil Sea Furys/Furies and their disposition, including those converted to Air Racing, see: Thomas Genth's Sea Fury website: http://www.thomasgenth.de/SeafuryD/indexeng.html This particular website includes the Genth family history with the Luftwaffe, including the WWII and post-War eras. Photo: Thomas Genth |
