Some Fifties British civvies

Albert Ross noted that Twin Pin G-AOEO was at Farnborough in 1957, I remembered that was the year my first visit (of not that many visits) to Farnborough and that I had taken a few b&w (grainy) photographs so here is C/N 503 taking off during the show. It had returned from Swissair earlier in the year and left on a sales tour at the end of the 1957. Sadly it crashed in Tripoli with all on board perishing. This was the second Twin to crash as result of fatigue in the wing vee brace.

My guess is Farnborough SBAC Show 1956

Think you would be spot-on there! G-AOEN wasn’t there in 1957, it was G-AOEO. Incidentally, the ‘Belvedere’ in the background is in fact the Bristol 173.

Nice pictures. Did me good to see them.

My guess is Farnborough SBAC Show 1956

A further photo of Twin Pioneer G AOEN in the de Kroonduif colors may be of interest.

Given the prescence in the background of what looks like a Bristol Belvedere I would guess it is at Farnborough in 1957.

g45

Twin Pioneer G-AOEN in the de Kroonduif livery

Hi
As you will see by my first post that I’m new to this – I’ll read the entire thread before bursting into print next time.
For the record, Constructor Number 502 first flew on 28APR56, it was a SAL demonstrator. It toured South America, then appeared at Farnborough in 1956 (corrected as per Papa Lima) (in de Kroonduif livery). It was converted to a Series 3 in JUL59 and while on a sales tour in Mozambique, leaving Luabo with a take off weight close to max., No 1 was feathered at 700ft. With No 2 at max power, the aircraft began to lose height. At 300ft, attempts to restart No 1 were unsuccesful, in the forced landing on an island in the Zambesi, the aircraft slid 75yd on soft ground with the result that the main gear collapsed and both wings became detached.
Ron

A bit of a blast from the past here! Thanks for the info Twin Pioneer.

Geoff
(formerly ‘von Perthes’)

Twin Pioneer G-AOEN in the de Kroonduif livery

Hi,
G-AOEN was painted in de Kroonduif livery for the 1957 SBAC Show at Farnborough.
Regards

Jur,

G-AOEN was indeed c/n 502, according to the source mentioned in my last post. As it was almost certainly photographed at an airshow, I’m assuming (based partly on your last post) that it was painted up in these colours by Percival, perhaps for an ‘Farnborough’ type display.

Geoff.

Geoff,

After some searching on the internet I’ve found that De Kroonduif has used 4 Twin Pioneers in the period 1957 – 1963:
JZ-PPW, Twin Pioneer 3, cn 579, 1961-1963
JZ-PPX, Twin Pioneer 1, cn 509, 1957 crashed ’57
JZ-PPY, Twin Pioneer 1, cn 510, 1957-1963
JZ-PPZ, Twin Pioneer 1, cn 511, 1957-1963

I’ve also found out that Twin Pioneer G-AOEO carried construction number 503, so it seems fair to assume that G-AOEN on your photo carried cn 502. This seems to support your assumption that G-AOEN indeed was used as a demonstration aircraft and was never delivered to De Kroonduif.

Jur,

Thanks for the info on the Twin Pin, ‘British civil aircraft registers since 1919’ has no info against this aircraft regarding it leaving or being restored to the UK register, which is a puzzle if it was used abroad. Could it have retained its UK registration? Can we confirm that this actual aircraft went overseas, and the reason it was DBR? Just wondering if it was a demo aircraft painted in the Dutch colours for some reason, and never went outside the UK.

Geoff.

The Twin Pioneer shown above was used in former Dutch New Guinea by ‘De Kroonduif’, which was a KLM daughter. New Guinea (West Papua) became Irian Djaja on October 1st, 1962 when the area was transferred to Indonesia. Possibly the UK registration on this aircraft was used before delivery to De Kroonduif.

Certainly looks like a Hurricane to me too!

G-ACDC

G-ACDC is definitely still around. It’s owned by the Tiger Club at Headcorn, and I’ve flown her. It’s supposed to be one of the oldest Moths still flying, but as it’s been rebuilt a number of times no one is sure what’s original!

YR

Nice pictures. 🙂

The aircraft overhead the Tigers looks very much like a Hurricane. Possibly PZ865, then going under the civilian identity G-AMAU.

Intrigued about the Dutch writing on the side of a G registered Twin Pioneer. Anyone know what that’s all about?

Nice line-up, wonder how many of them still survive (other than ‘DC). Anyone ID the aircraft displaying overhead?

G-AHEB, ex RL923, pic taken Feb ’57, to F-BHVQ Apr ’57. Current status??

EP-9, G-AOFU w/o 3/11/62.