but the aircraft?
Not since the late 1940s has an example of the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka flown, except for a smattering of scaled replicas.
Given the cash, I'd change that situation in a heartbeat!!!
Stuka 6234 crashed in 1942 in Russia, and came to be owned at one time by Sir Tim Wallis, with the intention of being restored to fly. This never came to pass, as after Sir Tim's crash in 1996 the wreck was sold to the Deutsches Technik Museum in Berlin. Englishman Glenn Lacey acquired the aircraft, again to fly......but this never happened either, as he eventually sold his large collection of Luftwaffe aircraft and artefacts. That's the REAL story. Now for my part....
Imagine, if you will, that at Omaka Aerodrome a dedicated restoration crew has been working - away from prying eyes - on Ju87R-2 werkenummer 6234. Set an ambitious five year timeframe, the team set into the task with vigour, completing the work two months ahead of schedule. Ready to debut for the 2009 airshow season, ZK-STK - temporarily painted as an Italian Regia Aeronautica machine - is rolled out on December 14, 2008.
Takeoff proceeds without a hitch, and the aircraft climbs to 2000m. Nanchang 20 is aloft with her, to act as chase plane and also cameraship, with a well-known Blenheim photographer on board.
Having reached its planned altitude, and with the pilot happy the aircraft is performing well, STK's engine throttles back, the dive brakes are deployed, and the aircraft rapidly noses over.....
In wartime Stukas dived from 6000m at 600km/h, but the test pilot is happy to do a test dive from medium height. Still, the aerodrome grows in his windscreen very quickly! Pulling up "just in time", he curls around and begins a circuit to land. An overshoot, and then around again to land.
For the first time in more than 60 years, a Stuka has flown! Once again, New Zealanders are behind the return to the sky of an exceedingly rare and exotic aeroplane.
With the aircraft parked up in front of the main hangar, the engine is shut down and several dozen beers are cracked open! A well-deserved celebratory drink for the engineers and the select few local enthusiasts who appeared.
But the pilot doesn't partake in a can of Tui......why?
All is revealed as he and the aforementioned photographer trek over to ZK-STK, climb aboard, and then start up again. Taking off, the pilot treats the crowd to a handling display, showing off the characteristics of the rare bird.
Apologies for the lack of photos, but I spent most of the time just watching my new toy fly for the first - and second! - time since 1942. Rest assured that, once the latest issue of a certain magazine is out, I'll have some more air-to-airs for you all. And, if the paint team get onto it, an all-new paint scheme too!
It's "stuka_ra.zip" on FlightSim.com. I use the old Pegasus Aviation Design FS98 soundkit that has the siren. This model is a lot nicer to fly than the others I've found, also has a very detailed 2d cockpit - the VC is very nice too, just not clickable - also the dive brakes and canopy work. The rear gun moves depending on control inputs, too 
This is, in my mind, the premier freeware Stuka available. Shame about the only available soundpack being designed for FS98 though! Otherwise it defaults to the C182 :S
, that very fuselage was displayed at the VE day airshow at Wigram in 1995 , scanning the wreck i found two intrusions on the port side .. obviously bullet holes , away from vitals or at least my inspection .. so wasnt the reason for its grounding ........ 
Nice to be back, Ian! And oh yes, I'll be glad to contribute......let me know when you approach May 1940, I see some FSRecorder in my future.....
