The BELLES of BARBEL

Maiden Voyage          L29B Russian Jet Trainer

After three and a half hours of instruction in the L29 at Kaluga, Barbel became the first Western woman to solo a Russian military jet. Her instructors were impressed indicating that she had soloed in less time than any of their previous Russian students.

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Barbel acknowledges she has had luck, both good and bad and regrets none of it.

Her message is a simple one. "I would like to give women the courage to do something different when their children have grown up. Something intellectually and maybe physically challenging. Not to sit back and let life pass them by. The more you do the more you are alive".

When one first meets Barbel Abela, her avid enthusiasm for historic aircraft and flying is immediately evident.

It was a different story before when, for Barbel, commercial flights were something to be endured rather than enjoyed. A pilot friend suggested that taking a flight training course might both overcome Barbel's dislike and provide a stimulating challenge. Thirty minutes in a Robin over the South of France proved to be a tasty appetizer for a concentrated course which saw Barbel gain her licence in a mere four and a half weeks.

On returning to the UK and having also developed an interest in vintage tail-wheel aircraft, Barbel set about finding an instructor who could improve her flying skills and introduce her to historic aircraft. Enter Len Perry. Len's passion for historic aircraft gained him the reputation that led to an introduction to Barbel and subsequently the formation of Bar-Belle Aviation.

"Len is a tough instructor, he doesn't let me get away with anything" asserts Barbel. Conversely, when it came to thier entering the first Round-The-World Air Race, it was Barbel who led the way. "Len called and told me about the race on 18 July, 1991, and I immediately decided I wanted to take part and what's more, take part in a bomber".

First they had to find one and a stroke of luck led them to the small town of Saratoga, Wyoming. There they found a Beech C-45 Expediter that had lived in a hangar for 23 years.  Originally built in 1946 with a Beech rebuild in 1953, the aircraft only had 1,970 hrs on the airframe and was in excellent condition. Although not a bomber it was too good to miss and they snapped it up and it was flown to Southwind Aviation for repainting and a little necessary renovation.

Barbel and Len soon dropped the idea of using the Beech for the race because it would have needed modifications and they decided to keep it as a genuine and authentic C-45G. In New Smyrna Beach, Florida they found an A26C Invader that had undergone a conversion to executive transport configuration. It was the perfect choice, comfortable but unmistakably a warbird and so N7079G was ferried to Southwind Aviation for repainting as the Bar-Belle Bomber.

The visit to Southwind revealed a host of problems including corrosion, non approved parts and most serious of all a cracked main spar. Both Len and Barbel are full of praise for Southwind's pulling out all the stops and accomplishing two year's work in six months in order to get the Invader airworthy. Unfortunately the Bar-Belle Bomber wasn't ready in time to compete in the race but they did tag along for the final few stages. Then they were back in the air heading East via Helsinki for Moscow where Barbel became the first woman to land an American Bomber.

After returning to North Weald via Bremen, Barbel's hometown, Len flew the Invader to the US where Barbel later joined him to attend the giant annual fly-in at Oshkosh. "We were received very well indeed" according to Len. "Barbel and the Invader attracted the media to a point where we almost felt bad because we were cheating others out of coverage".