In 1978 he was involved with the transfer of a pair of ex-Royal Moroccan Air Force T-28s to their new owners, the Honduran Air Force. After flying out to Morocco via Madrid in the company Beech 18, he and his team set about preparing the two aircraft, 51-3528 and 51-3565, for the flight across the Atlantic.
I've already posted some pics from his time at Meknes and Rabat at the start of this thread: http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=65020, so here are some of the preparations for the flight. Neither aircraft was fitted with drop tanks, so was part of the pre-flight work carried out.



Hand fuel pumps being moved from the Beech to the hangar.

For all lovers of classic French cars, here's a Renault 12 being used as a tug...

Whilst in Morocco, Phil and his team also took over an ex-Moroccan Government Dove - CN-MBB - and prepared this for its customer...

Things got a little hotter in the North African sun when the port engine caught fire during an engine run

The fire burnt away the fabric ailerons and damaged some of the engine's internals. The ailerons were replaced by using bed sheets from the Hilton hotel where Phil and co. were staying...


For those of you that have flown into Malaga airport, this is the aircraft that now sits looking very sorry for itself having been used by the local fire station for practice.
In the next thrilling instalment, we'll follow the aircraft on their perilous journey across the North America and meet a surprise visitor along the way...