In addition to his Avro 504K G-AARV, which was destroyed in a crash landing at Bekesbourne on 2 January 1931, Kent solicitor, amateur pilot and gentleman racing driver Sydenham Armstrong Payn is said to have been the owner of a S.E.5A. However looking through my albeit incomplete records of UK civil registered S.E.5As, I can find none registered to Payn. If anyone has access to more comprehensive records, can they either provide the registration of Payn’s S.E.5A or say that he is not recorded as having been the owner of a S.E.5A.
By: avion ancien - 12th November 2024 at 21:43
Thank you, MM. I’m inclined to think that the contemporary newspapers confused him with Dr E. D. Whitehead, who owned two S.E.5As – G-EAZT and G-EBCA – both of which were based at Bekesbourne in the twenties.
By: Mothminor - 12th November 2024 at 20:19
Hi AA,
I can’t see any reference to Sydenham Armstrong Payn in the civil-registered section of Ray Sturtivant’s Se5 File. He isn’t listed in Air Britain’s British Civil Registers either other than with the Avro 504K.
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November 12, 2024 at 6:00 pm