Back in 2009 I posted several blog posts on the unique Sindlinger Hurricane ZK-VYX which was a 5/8 scale replica of the Hawker Hurricane:
Here is a photo I took of ZK-VYX at Ashburton at the 2009 SAANZ flyin. It had been rebuilt by Bob Gibson of Dunedin from Dave Comrie's original ZK-FVW. I never knew why it was re-registered as ZK-VYX but a recent news article shed some light on why.
The news article was on the passing of the last of "the few" RAF fighter pilots from the Battle of Britain, John (Paddy) Hemingway on March 17 2025 aged 105. John Hemingway was just 21 when he was shot down and crash landed near Maastricht in Holland on May 11th 1940 while flying Hurricane VY-X (L1979) - one of several Hurricanes coded as VY-X. He made his way back to his 85 Squadron base on foot and by hitching a ride. Then he flew in the Battle of Britain and was shot down 4 more times during the war including parachuting into the North Sea and being rescued, crash landing in the Pitsea Marshes (East of London), parachuting out of a Douglas Havoc night fighter (quite rare to survive due to its high tail design), and being shot down in a Spitfire behind enemy lines in Northern Italy then being rescued by Italian peasants and hidden in fields and being led back to safety dressed as a peasant by a young Italian girl - a remarkable story of survival. He was awarded the DFC and was promoted to Wing Commander just after the war and went on to finish his RAF career as Station Commander at East Leconfield in West Yorkshire in 1966 before retiring back to Ireland.
Does anyone know where ZK-VYX is now?
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