British Civil Aircraft Registrations

And here is how its done……wheels belong to a Piel Emeraude.

Martin

Post war, the CAA regulations were that the registration letters had to be applied ‘below port and ‘above starboard’ wings, read from the rear. It was in the mid to late ’60s that the requirement for the registration to be painted above the starboard wing was relaxed. Examples included BEA’s airliner fleet in the ‘red square’ livery which all had their wing registration letters painted in those positions during 1960-68. In 1968, BEA changed their livery to the ‘Speedjack’ scheme and subsequently left off the registration letters above the starboard wing.

How in the heck do you get your aeroplane out?

John

I thought someone would ask that question!

The airframes are positioned with rollers that are attached to the mainwheels and then the aircraft are carefully pushed into position. The same devices are used to move cars in showrooms.

I’ve got a photo at home, showing such items and will try and post this evening.

Martin

and down the right hand side of the hangar are:

Martin

That’s a delicious little collection of machines. I guess the only way to get an aircraft out is to lift it through the roof.

How in the heck do you get your aeroplane out?

John

and down the right hand side of the hangar are:

Martin

Phew, just had a look at a photo taken last Saturday and the reg is now not on the top wing. G-AMMS is the Auster at the top of the photo, facing towards the right.

Martin

A very interesting photo……will have to take a look at the top of the wing of this very aeroplane and report back this weekend. Think that it doesn’t have the registration in this position now….or might have to eat a slice of delicious humble pie!!

Best wishes to all,

Martin

G-AMMS

Look behind you guvnor!

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=88959

As a postscript, we were talking today about this thread and there sat infront of us was proof that it did happen.

Best wishes to all,

Martin

Thanks to all with all your information and comments – it all makes interesting reading. Think can say that for the majority of aircraft types that the use of the registration on the top of the starboard wing, died out in the early 1960s?

I now remember seeing pictures of Gemini(s) with registrations on the top surface, but didnt know about the others. The Austers then at my local, I presume are all later rebuilds or recovers.

Again, its much appreciated to read on the subject.

Best wishes,

Martin

G-ASSV has it’s registration on the top of the starboard wing facing forwards and unusually the registration on the lower port wing faces backwards! It seems that it was common practice to do this in the early to mid-1960’s as all the Rollason Turbulents had registrations painted as such.

Chris

Here’s an example – DH Dove G-AJLW

With the establishment of civil aviation after WWI the first regulations stated that the registration letters were to be in black and displayed on a white panel – fuselage sides, wings upper & lower, with the national identity letter on the vertical tail.

By the mid 1920’s the white panels were no longer required and the letter on the tail was dispensed with, wings still carried the reg’n full span upper & lower.

By the mid 1930s the requirement for black (or silver) lettering was still there but being ignored in many cases as manufacturers used colours to match the colour scheme of the aircraft. The upper wing markings were often dispensed with (although technically still required).

In the early post WW2 era manufacturers (and those converting ex-military a/c) tended to follow the 1930’s standards with full-span lettering but by 1947 Miles Aircraft and de Havilland were using the lower port and the upper starboard wings for relatively small registration letters. By the 1950’s most a/c no longer carried the upper starboard letters.

(I’ll post some photos when I have a chance to scan some)

With pre-war aircraft it was common place to have it spread across the upper surface of both wings G-A on one wing and the remaining three letters on the other wing but virtually always read from the rear. With biplanes and parasol wings of course it spread across one surface without the interuption of a fuselage.

T6flyer.. I am sure you are right about the modellers using some artistic license: also exemplified on some of the prewar diecast Dinky models in terms of the registrations selected e.g. G-RACE on the deH 88 Comet.

Planemike

All the DH88 Comets had the registrations on the top surface of the wings as well.

But wasn’t that full-span, e.g. “G-A” on the port wing and “CSP” on the starboard?

Some more examples of the whole registration facing forwards on the starboard upper only include:

G-AOSE (DH Dove)
G-APDA (DH Comet 4)
G-AOJJ (DH Tiger Moth)
G-ANVP (Convair 340-D2)
G-AODF (HPR3 Herald)

I think we can safely say that the reg’n on the starboard upper post-war is not an uncommon feature.

All the DH88 Comets had the registrations on the top surface of the wings as well.

Wot about Miles Aircraft?

I think you’ll find that post-war Miles Aircraft, certainly the Gemini, tended to have their registrations on the top of the starboard wing facing forwards, a couple of examples off the top of my head include:

G-AKKB (Gemini)
G-ADNL (Sparrowjet)

They also painted exported aircraft in the same manner.

Oddly, the prototype Gemini, G-AIDO, carried it facing forwards on the top of the port wing!

I agree with John, very rarely facing forwards. To me it looks odd and you have the feeling someone has made a mistake.

Planemike

My thoughts entirely – I dont think I’ve personally seen any aircraft with the registration on the top of the wing. Where I fly from, there are a number of Austers and none of them have the registration in this position, just under the port wing and on the fuselage sides.

Perhaps some of these modellers are just using a little bit of artistic license, but it would be interesting to learn what is correct or not.

Thanks for the replies,

Best wishes,

Martin

I agree with John, very rarely facing forwards. To me it looks odd and you have the feeling someone has made a mistake.

Planemike