Old Aircraft Questions

Thanks to Blue Robin’s excellent pointer, here’s a link to a bunch of shots of ‘The Irish Swoop’ on the Flight archive page.

Flight, 1934

RAF Sealand’s Morris Ambulance

Just thought I would add this for general interest, it’s the “Blood wagon” at RAF Sealand in the early thirties. The only other Siskin pics I have at Sealand are 41 Sqn and a very damaged neg of a Siskin being started with a Hucks starter, the rest are a wide coverage as Sealand was the RAF packing depot for aircraft going overseas as well as training units. Please note that these pictures are John Adams collection and have never been published.

John

Finally

Paul,
Finally found Jack’s registration, thank you. Bex

I searched Times Digital Archive – Which is not freely availale via inter-web-net. You can get to it via some Public Libraries

death registry info came from free BMD Index at ancestry.co.uk

Paul,
Thank you very much for the infomation, 1 final question….. I hope LoL Where are searching, as each time I try a search I come up with an American Colonel called Jack Treadwell!!!!

Paul,

Thanks for that bit about Jack, however, time for a new question, I have a copy of Jock’s obituary which mentions the crash and his actions, however the question is this:

What was Jacks surname, as you have mentioned him twice now as Jack Treadwell & the Obituary I have states TreadGOLD?

Bex

I can confirm 100% it was Treadwell – Same surname in 3 newspaper reports and in UK death registry for 1932

I have a number of photos taken at RAF Sealand by a Medic assistant in the early 1930’s and amongst these is a Siskin crash. This is probably not “your” Siskin (as I,m sure it’s a single seater) and may have been one of the few photos he took at Cranwell. I do remember my informant did say this was also a fatal. But if gives some idea of the awfullness of such a crash.

John

I have a crash at Sealand on June 11th 1930 – Don’t know the type but aircraft crashed and burst into flames. P/O Thomas King Injured

a New Question

Paul,

Thanks for that bit about Jack, however, time for a new question, I have a copy of Jock’s obituary which mentions the crash and his actions, however the question is this:

What was Jacks surname, as you have mentioned him twice now as Jack Treadwell & the Obituary I have states TreadGOLD?

Bex

Just found out;

Treadwell succumbed to his injuries; Friday June 10, 1932

Paul, well this certainly explains why I was having trouble tracking things down, especially not knowing where Sealand was and being confused by 2 different places being combined into one bit of infomation……..

John, I imagined that it would have been a horrendous crash, just from what Jock told me, mind you he’d never told me that Jack had died 2 weeks after the crash, but being about 10 at the time I can understand why he’d been a bit cagy about the exact details. But having seen your photo, ruddy ell, grabbing an asbestos blanket and nowt else, well the mind boggles. Bex

Siskin crash

I have a number of photos taken at RAF Sealand by a Medic assistant in the early 1930’s and amongst these is a Siskin crash. This is probably not “your” Siskin (as I,m sure it’s a single seater) and may have been one of the few photos he took at Cranwell. I do remember my informant did say this was also a fatal. But if gives some idea of the awfullness of such a crash.

John

Paul,
Well that certainly clears it all up, specially the aerodrome bit. So would I be right in saying then that the link that Moggy has posted is the correct one? Bex

Yes.. Details on GC Database are wrong;

Accident occurred at Barton Aerodrome (see Moggy Link)

Aircraft from RAF Sealand see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Sealand

Paul,
Well that certainly clears it all up, specially the aerodrome bit. So would I be right in saying then that the link that Moggy has posted is the correct one? Bex

G-ORDY, that photo is great thank you. Im amazed this stuff is on the net, although I keep coming up blank on the RAF Barton bit. I dont even know where Sealand is to be honest. In those days Jock was doing silly things with aeroplanes so anything is possible LoL Bex

Hi all,
I have a couple of questions regarding old aircraft that had a connection to a long friend old friend of mine, can anyone help please?

1. What was a Siskin (he rescued a friend of his from a burning one in 1932)

2. What was a Ballenca (He was supposed to fly one in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race)

3. ANyone know where Barton Aerodrome was (Above Siskin crashed in there)

Thanks in advance

Bex

This incident occurred on Tuesday, May 24, 1932 at Manchester Corporation Aerodrome, Barton, Manchester

Sgt Jack Treadwell aged 29 pilot seriously injured, LAC William Patrick Lane aged 22 (who was under instruction) killed

Sadly Sgt Jack Treadwell died in hospital 2 weeks later

2 Seat Siskin was from No. 5 Flying Traing School, Sealand, near Chester

Crashed from a spin, burst into flames.

Flt Sgt Eric Watt Bonar RAF Reserve, Chied Pilot of Northern Air Transport Limited) awarded Medal
of the Civil Division of the Orde of the Briish Empire (Announced Aug 5th 1932)

Serial of Aircraft is unknown to me at present

The Irish Swoop

The best shot I have of it I’m afraid (taken by Geoffrey Wikner at Eastleigh where it was assembled after having been shipped in from the USA)

It was a Bellanca 28-70, powered by a 700hp P&W Twin Wasp Junior SA-G. Bearing c/n 902 it was specifically built for the 1934 England – Australia Air Race. After it failed to start it was shipped back to the USA, re-registered as NR190M and named “The Dorothy”. As such it was used by Jim Mollison to break the Trans-Atlantic record in 13hrs 17mins from New York to Croydon on 30 October 1936. On arrival it was re-registered as G-AEPC.

He made an unsuccessful attempt on the London – Cape Town record, starting on 29 November 1936, but the aircraft was shipped back to Croydon where it remained until flown away in 1937.

I don’t know its final fate – although this website http://aerofiles.com/bella-flash.html suggests it was sold to Repubican forces in the Spanish Civil War.

(I would think that Barton is the Barton near Manchester, my Dad was an instructor at Sealand and Barton was not that far away – at least not by Tiger Moth!):)

Here’s a link to information on the air race itself: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882277-1,00.html – must dash, oddly enough one of my jobs is at Mildenhall and I drive on and off the base a couple of days a week … I’m just off there now! (The race is commemorated in the stained glass windows of the base chapel with a lovely red D.H.88 Comet)

(Makes a change from Spitfires – just finishing the chapter on the Mk.XVI survivors if anyone’s interested!)

Please Help

I know Ive goofed a few times and upset the odd forumite with my daft sense of humour but Id really like your help folks, this RAF Barton near Sealand Id like to track down, also any help with Northern Air Transport Limited & 1934 MacRobertson Air Race REALLY be appreciated. Jock meant a lot to me and the last time I saw his family was at his funeral in 91, my dad & I were the only ones there in Uniform.

See my other post here:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=70232&highlight=bonar

Bex

Final Thank you

Thanks to all who have helped me out here, even more so as Ive just found a photo of my dear friend. Bex

http://www.gc-database.co.uk/recipients/Watt-BonarE.htm

James K, thank you very much, thats him and the plane, Eric Watt “Jock” Bonar. I know the question was a bit vague, but as mentioned before things are a bit hazy after 20 odd years. Bex

No problem, it was easy, given you’d remembered the essentials! There’s a fair amount on the web, on the Swoop have a search. The story is fascinating, and Aeroplane’s editor at the time, C.G.Grey, had some stunningly anti-Irish comments; but then he was a thoroughly unpleasant man who’d never let facts get in the way of a good racist rant. Worth tracking down the issue – mid – late 1934… it’ll be available at any good aviation library – museum or county.

If I find it, I’ll let you know.

It’s a make – a bit like asking ‘what’s a Boeing?’

The probability is it was the (in)famous ‘Irish Swoop’ entered but scratched:

http://www.dc3airways.com/1934-1.html

Failed to start:
Crew: Fitzmaurice and Bonar Number: 29 Type: Bellanca 28-70 Name & Reg: “Irish Swoop” EI-AAZ

James K, thank you very much, thats him and the plane, Eric Watt “Jock” Bonar. I know the question was a bit vague, but as mentioned before things are a bit hazy after 20 odd years. Bex