Vendor and Demo: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Newport%20Bay/195/194/26
SL Marketplace: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Hunter-Mew-Gull/24080146
The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racing career it set many records and was considered a significant, efficient design, one that eventually reached a top speed of 265 mph (425 km/h) on a modest 205 hp (153 kW) in its final 1939 form. A modern-day observer has characterised the Mew Gull as “the Holy Grail of British air racing”. During the second half of the 1930s, Mew Gulls were dominant in air-racing in the UK and consistently recorded the fastest times until the outbreak of war stopped all civilian flying in late 1939.
The G-AEXF Story
Originally registered ZS-AHM, named ‘The Golden City’ and flown by Major A M Miller, it was one of three Mew Gulls intended to take part in the Schlesinger Race from Portsmouth to Johannesburg in 1936.
Having run out of fuel just before the first control at Belgrade and being unable to obtain a suitable grade of spirit for refuelling, Miller retired and returned to England.
Here, in 1937, the Mew Gull was sold to Alex Henshaw and re-registered G-AEXF.
Henshaw won the 1937 Folkestone Trophy at 210 mph with his new mount but suffered engine failure and force landed during that year’s King’s Cup.
For the 1938 racing season G-AEXF was modified by Essex Aero at Gravesend.
They fitted a Gipsy Six R engine in place of the former standard Gipsy Six and a Ratier variable pitch propeller taken from the Comet racer G-ACSS.
Soon the Ratier was replaced by a de Havilland constant speed propeller and the fuselage was remodelled above the top longerons to give a lower profile – with the pilot seated on the floor.
With these modifications Henshaw won the 1938 King’s Cup at 236.25 mph.
G-AEXF then returned to Gravesend where a Gipsy Six series II engine, radio and long-range fuel tanks were fitted in preparation for Alex Henshaw’s out-and-home Cape record flight.
He took off on February 5th 1939 and returned from Cape Town 4 days 10 hours 16 minutes later, a record that stood for over 70 years! G-AEXF spent WWII hidden in France and was returned to England and refurbished overhauled in time to win the 1955 King’s Cup.
After suffering various vicissitudes, G-AEXF was bought in 1985 by Desmond Penrose who had the aircraft returned to its original 1939 configuration by AJD engineering – after which it was based at Old Warden. In 1991 it suffered a forced landing in a barley field, due probably to carburettor icing, in which it was severely damaged due to the crop jamming the wheels in the spats.
It was again restored and later, in 2002, sold to the Real Aeroplane Company at Breighton in Yorkshire.
It was then purchased by the Shuttleworth Collection and arrived back at Old Warden on 6th October 2013.
Some History of the Percival Mew Gull
| The Percival “Mew Gull” which will be flown by Mr. Percival in the King’s Cup Race. |  |
| Bearing the same registration letters, is the E.2 Mew Gull, an entirely new aeroplane that appeared in 1935. |  |
| The redesigned Percival Mew Gull, G-ACND is seen in front of the Gravesend control tower. Built in 1935, ‘ND competed in that year’s King’s Cup race, coming sixth with an average speed of 209 m.p.h. It was the first aircraft to exceed 200 m.p.h. in this event. It was burnt at Luton after the war. |  |
| View of the Mew Gull G-AEKL. This aircraft was rebuilt after a ground collision with a Hawker Hart at Speke and was finally destroyed by German bombing of Lympne in June 1940. |  |
| Gardner’s winning Mew Gull (Gipsy Six II). |  |
| Mr. A. Henshaw taxies his Mew Gull (a la racehorse) up to the line at Ronaldsway. He made fastest time in this machine, which was flown (with v.p. airscrew) by Major Miller in the South Africa race. Mew Gull, seen here in its original form before modifications by Jack Cross of Essex Aero turned it into a different aeroplane. |  |
| Percival Mew Gull G-AEXF is one of the most famous British racing aeroplanes of all. This photograph, probably taken in 1937, shows the Mew after early modifications made by Essex Aero during that year. |  |
| Clipping showing the triumphant arrival of Alex Hanshaw at Gravesend after a record return run between Great Brittan and South Africa from the 5th February and the 9th February 1939. |  |
| Sold to a French pilot in 1939, G-AEXF was hidden during WWII, before returning to Great Brittan in 1950. Here seen at Hendon on 21 July 1951together with a Miles Monarch G-AFJU and the Spitfire G-AISV, having the race number ’40’ on the tail. That year, the National Air Races were cancelled due to bad weather. |  |
| Damaged in 1951, G-AEXF went through a number of modifications over the next 15 years. Here seen on the 16th May 1953. |  |
| Some not very successful. In 1954 Adie Aviation Ltd built this rather unsightly canopy. |  |
| G-AEXF was raced and sold a number of times in the 50s and 60s, Not doing so well to faster, newer planes and eventually being abandoned in 1968 to a museum that flopped … 😦 |  |
| 🙂 Found and restored a decade later in the 1970s G-AEXF was modified again to a form between the E.2H and E.3H varients. |  |
| After suffering various vicissitudes, G-AEXF was bought in 1985 by Desmond Penrose who had the aircraft returned to its original 1939 configuration by AJD engineering – after which it was based at Old Warden. In 1991 it suffered a forced landing in a barley field, due probably to carburettor icing, in which it was severely damaged due to the crop jamming the wheels in the spats. It was again restored and later, in 2002, sold to the Real Aeroplane Company at Breighton in Yorkshire. It was then purchased by the Shuttleworth Collection and arrived back at Old Warden on 6th October 2013. |    |
Second Life 3D Models
Three variants of this model will be released. The 1937 model (G-HEKL Replica version of G-AEKL ), the 1939 model (Restored modern version of G-AEXF) and the 1953 model (G-AEXF).
The 1939 model (Restored modern version of G-AEXF), above, will be scripted by Shana and will have a similar flight characteristic to the Project Humboldt. Detailed cockpit, startup procedure, working flaps, acrobatic and cruise mode, adjustable seating and resize options. The cockpit is being worked on now and the model is looking good in the beta grid.
Hunter Marine 