Even more early 1950s Box Brownie shots

I visited the Museum of Berks Aviation in March 2008 and have to say I don’t recall seeing a Marathon fuselage section, tho I stand to be corrected.

Could this be it?

I have flown in The nearest one “Millersdale” GW.

John

Blimey two Marathons together! A lovely, if under utilized type.

I noticed earlier that there was confusion over types and dates.
The M.60 was the original Miles Marathon which first flew on 19 May ’46.
The design and part of Miles was taken over by Handley Page and went into production as the HPR.1 (HP Reading) Mararthon I.
The M.69, HPR.2, Marathon II that PL got confused with was the 2 x AS Mamba turbprop powered version, first flying in ’49. It later became the Alvis Leonides testbed for the Herald project.

Not one but two, courtesy of Colin Louries collection.

Extant Miles/Handley Page Marathons

Have just been trawling the net, and apparently the museum of berkshire aviation, at Woodley, have (or did in 2000) a large upper fuselage section of G-AMEW / XA265 Marathon …………. Keith.

I visited the Museum of Berks Aviation in March 2008 and have to say I don’t recall seeing a Marathon fuselage section, tho I stand to be corrected.

Great shots, evocative of the 50’s. I’ve flown in a Marathon and there was one in the static park at my first airshow at RAF Newton. And yes the Auster is a Plus D.

John

G-ALUB Marathon post #11

This appears to be at LAP (LHR) alongside the early public enclosure (up to 1952)….can just see a TCA North Star behind the gent in the suit

SMS88, Hello again, Yes have been trying to make something of what little is available re this logo ! Looking around various viking pics, they seem to have random flags, badges, logo’s etc all over with no two the same ! I have found the Airwork logo and will try posting it ????? Keith.

Thats close enough for me – mine is an Airwork Viking but not the same one as in your pic.WELLDONE thankyou!

SMS88, Hello again, Yes have been trying to make something of what little is available re this logo ! Looking around various viking pics, they seem to have random flags, badges, logo’s etc all over with no two the same ! I have found the Airwork logo and will try posting it ????? Keith.

SMS88, Yes i take on board what you say re viking, I will try to post a pic I have of a viking of Airwork, which when I zoomed the emblem below the cockpit window looks similar ? Could be, as I said earlier, someone else’s markings ? mmmm ? Keith

re the emblem,it looks like a similar but different black outline cartoon – yours shows 2 eyes, mine has 1, could be part of the same fleet although airline name typeface appears more squared off rather than slanting

SMS88, Yes i take on board what you say re viking, I will try to post a pic I have of a viking of Airwork, which when I zoomed the emblem below the cockpit window looks similar ? Could be, as I said earlier, someone else’s markings ? mmmm ? Keith

Not quite as interesting as the other discussion, but the large factory building in the background of the Beverley/Nord photo is currently being demolished

OK lots of history on most of SMS88’s pics ! But no memtion of the poor old viking ? I have spent a few hours trawling through many viking pics (sad), and am prepared to have a stab at ………. “AIRWORK of LONDON” maybe Blackbushe or Bovingdon late 50’s early 60’s ? the shape and position of the cheek line is good, the position of the registration letters seemed to vary a lot, and of course in those (wonderful) days aircraft such as this flew with many parts of other people’s colour schemes ! I placed the photo in another prog to enhance it, and am convinced I can see the last N of London beneath the prop blade ? What do you think ? Keith.

I have looked at the print and there is a downstroke at 60 degrees to the prop blade – could only be a thick central stroke of and N if the very thin outer verticals didnt register on the print but the triangle at the base makes me think the last letter is an A. Surely the heart shape with a blob in the centre under the open window is a clue too ?
I cannot rrread the Valiant number, it appears to be most likely WP 223 from the list of choices,but its too fuzzy to do more than a guess -W is easy, then circle like a D or P, 2 shapes like 2 or 7 then something with a dark centre like a 4, maybe 8 or 3

OK lots of history on most of SMS88’s pics ! But no memtion of the poor old viking ? I have spent a few hours trawling through many viking pics (sad), and am prepared to have a stab at ………. “AIRWORK of LONDON” maybe Blackbushe or Bovingdon late 50’s early 60’s ? the shape and position of the cheek line is good, the position of the registration letters seemed to vary a lot, and of course in those (wonderful) days aircraft such as this flew with many parts of other people’s colour schemes ! I placed the photo in another prog to enhance it, and am convinced I can see the last N of London beneath the prop blade ? What do you think ? Keith.

And the two a/c sold to Japan were still extant in the late 1960s. JA6009 (c/n 136) was in the Terminal Building of the old Nagoya Airport at Komaki (Aichi Prefecture) and JA6010 (c/n 137) was at Tama-Tech. This is a theme park which now hosts the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix so maybe there’s a chance its still there?

Anyone read Japanese ? http://www.mobilityland.co.jp/tama/ :confused:

Funny you should mention that as a friend was only telling me a few weeks ago about efforts to find one of these in recent times (maybe last 10 years or so).

From what they were able to find out one was in bits stored somewhere (think they knew which area) but after that information dried up….. I did think about trying to pick up where they left off and carrying on the hunt but where would you start? Its thousands of miles away and I dont speak Japanese – otherwise a great plan lol 😀

Jon

Oops, sorry, I was looking at M.69 Marathon, can’t remember where I got the 1949 from. However my database does have the May 19, 1946 date for the M.60 Marathon.
This makes the Marathon precede the Ambassador in a way, although taking into account the probable differences in design periods, I would guess that the Ambassador began design first.

Papa Lima, Miles M60 Marathon first flight, 19 May 1946.
Handley Page HPR 1 Marathon first flight 1949 ? even stickypedia doesn’t have a definate date. Keith.

Airspeed Ambassador first flight of prototype July 10, 1947
Miles Marathon first flight 1949 (does anyone have the precise date)?

Lovely pics SMS. Box brownie did bloody well!

I think the Marathon came well before the Ambassador.

Let’s see some more of your pics mate.

Bri 🙂

Have just been trawling the net, and apparently the museum of berkshire aviation, at Woodley, have (or did in 2000) a large upper fuselage section of G-AMEW / XA265 Marathon …………. Keith.

And the two a/c sold to Japan were still extant in the late 1960s. JA6009 (c/n 136) was in the Terminal Building of the old Nagoya Airport at Komaki (Aichi Prefecture) and JA6010 (c/n 137) was at Tama-Tech. This is a theme park which now hosts the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix so maybe there’s a chance its still there?

Anyone read Japanese ? http://www.mobilityland.co.jp/tama/ :confused: