ianwoodward9Thanks for the tip (rather, tips) – very helpful. In a completely different context, I’m currently working though some airline flight schedules for 1966, but, later today, will check out the links you posted. Many thanks, again.
Meanwhile, here’s something I found earlier. The image is not great quality. It’s from an American newspaper for 29 June 1939 and shows ‘Dixie Clipper’ leaving New York the day before. The captions are self-explanatory. It was a Page One story but this image was on Page Three, where there were other reports about flying boat operations at that time.
ianwoodward9On my trawling (by way of the inter-NET) for that “Ferry Command” piece in LIFE, I did come across this – a Pan Am Clipper on the cover of the 20 October 1941 issue:
ianwoodward9A question.
The photo of 43-38327 is attributed to “LIFE ‘Ferry Command’ June 1942”. There is website called ‘originallifemagazines.com’ (offering old issues – but quite pricey) that allows you to check the contents of each issue. I have been through all five issues for June 1942 (and a few issues either side of that) but can find no mention of an article or “photographic essay” on Ferry Command. There was one on “Atlantic Convoy” (7 July 1942) and one on “Air Cargo Transport” (10 August 1942) but I didn’t find “Ferry Command”.
Maybe the photo was taken in June 1942 but appeared in a much later issue – so to the question …..
Does anyone know which issue of LIFE carried the “Ferry Command” piece?
ianwoodward9Thank you, both ericmunk and longshot, for your contributions. I really enjoy getting additional information like that.
The caption for the LIFE photo that ericmunk posted says that it is 43-38327 and a C-48-DO, not a designation with which I am too familiar, I have to say. The caption also says that it is c/n 2147 and a DC-3A-149H, which supports the comment made by longshot.
ianwoodward9Thank you for your reply, Duggy. Your suggestion sounds very likely.
The image below shows another aircraft that , in a very different way, did not reach its ‘destination’.
It’s a DC-3 that was originally ordered by KLM (as PH-AXH Havik) but not delivered. The photo shows it in 1945 at Chicago Municipal Airport in the colours of United (N25675). Again it looks as though it had a starboard-side passenger door, though it’s not absolutely clear. (I suppose, had it been delivered, it could have ended up on the Lisbon run).
ianwoodward9Let me start by owning up; ‘twas I who span this thread off on to Catalinas in the Far East. I plead that it was inadvertent in that I only intended to draw attention to the simultaneous bearing of both civil registration and Air Ministry serial numbers on these BOAC/QEA Catalinas.
Moving on, I just love it when I find out about things I didn’t know before and especially when it prompts me to examine why I had particular thoughts in my mind.
In respect of the proving flights, AJ Jackson wrote (in 1959), “….‘FL made the first of a number of proving flights to Swan River, Perth, Western Australia, with an R.A.F. crew on 3 November 1942”. Peter Moss (in 1975) said the same and in very similar words, “From Ceylon, G-AGFL (not then named) made the first of several proving flights to Swan River, Perth, on November 3, with an RAF crew”. It is quite possible that one drew on the other or both drew on the same source – whichever, I drew on both and, if both were wrong, then subsequent research has presumably overtaken their assertions.
HMSO’s “Merchant Airmen” refers to, “ … some Catalina flying boats, seconded from military duties with the R.A.F., …… flown from Britain by crews of British Overseas Airways and handed into the charge of an R.A.F. squadron at the flying-boat station of Kegalla, in Ceylon”, followed by a lengthy description about how idyllic “Kegalla” (sic) was: “everything is sunshine and the southern seas”. It then goes on, “The R.A.F. squadron flew the first seven experimental flights in the Catalinas between Ceylon and Perth, Western Australia”. Since “Merchant Airmen” was prepared by the Ministry of Information, it may not be regarded as an historically authoritative source but it reads as though the RAF used the BOAC Catalinas for the “experimental flights”.
As regards the photo of G-AGIE, that certainly looks like an RAF fin flash to me but it looks a touch smaller than the fin flash on the Catalinas when they became ‘numbered’; maybe that’s just my imagination. I cannot see a military serial number there, either.
G-AGKS arrived quite late on the scene and, after half-a-dozen flights, suffered fuel leaks. By the time this problem was resolved, Liberators had taken over the route.
There we are; I’ve got us back to Liberators again.
ianwoodward9This post is a touch tangential but it does mention Catalinas in Western Australia, so I hope you will allow me a little leeway. I’ll start with a bit of background.
Some years ago, I found myself in the company of Mickey Jones, who is a rock(‘n’roll) drummer. In his career, he played behind Trini Lopez, Johnny Rivers and Kenny Rogers, amongst others. Mickey was Trini Lopez’s drummer when they were on the same bill as The Beatles during a three-week stand at L’Olympia in Paris in early 1964 – two or three shows per day! For a few months in 1966, Mickey was on tour again, drumming behind Bob Dylan. The Australian leg of that tour ended in Perth, Western Australia, and the European leg was due to start in Stockholm a few days later but the Australian government had requisitioned QANTAS’s aircraft to ferry their troops to Viet Nam. The touring party found themselves hanging around Perth for a few days waiting for a BOAC flight to Europe.
Mickey used the spare time to follow up a family matter. His father had flown PBYs in WWII, based just north of Perth. After making a few enquiries, Mickey not only visited the site but also managed to get some WWII photographs taken there from a local newspaper. On his return to the United States, he was able to pass these photographs on to his father.
If there is a moral of this tale, it’s probably that similar photographs may be out there, still to be found in slightly unexpected places.
To end on an aviation matter, the touring party left Perth on BA715 at 3 pm on 26 April 1966, stopping at Singapore, Rangoon, Delhi, Beirut and Zurich – 45 minutes on the ground being scheduled at each stopover. At Zurich, however, they got off the 707 and waited for an SAS flight (via Copenhagen?) to Stockholm, where they arrived, by Caravelle, at 4 pm on 27 April 1966
ianwoodward9That’s a great story, Duggy, and completely new to me – and a great photo, too (also new to me). The title of the thread is “WWII flights To Lisbon” and that’s what it was.
I have this image in my mind of a P-38 moving swiftly along taxiways towards a take-off runway hotly pursued by a posse of six horsemen in plumed hats, all waving their sabres. It could have been a Hollywood film – it probably was.
And do you know why the second Lightning had to land in Lisbon?
ianwoodward9The PC seems to running more slowly than normal tonight – maybe that’s (part of?) the problem.
This is at least the third time of trying.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: At last! Hurrah! Four small photos of BOAC Boeing 314As. I’ll repeat the ‘captions’:
The top two photos, consecutive shots from the same roll of film, I think, seem to show G-AGCA landing.
The bottom two photos (the left-hand one sadly omitting the tip of the nose) show G-AGBZ at rest.
ianwoodward9I think I’ve found the problem, so let me try one more time.
I’ve mentioned some large photos I was given in my youth. I also got some much smaller photos, of which four are shown below. They are all of BOAC Boeing 314As. I suspect that they are quite common.
The top two photos, consecutive shots from the same roll of film, I think, seem to show G-AGCA landing.
The bottom two photos (the left-hand one sadly omitting the tip of the nose) show G-AGBZ at rest.
EDIT: I don’t know how to delete and replace an image, so I’ve repeated the image in landscape format in the next post
ianwoodward9IGNORE THIS POST
I’ve had a problem loading a set of 4 small photos and, with luck, you’ll find them in a later post
ianwoodward9I meant to respond sooner, jur, but I have been otherwise engaged – and likely to be so for the next week or so, I’m afraid.
That envelope (‘cover’ as the philatelists call it) is lovely piece of memorabilia to own and you must be very pleased to have it. The triangular stamp on the right looks so unusual in itself.
ianwoodward9Thank you, lazy8, for your contribution. I wasn’t really suggesting that there was a ‘correct’ style, only that here was an example of both forms of ‘identification’ on the one aircraft. Your postng prompted me to do a little more digging.
As I understand it, all five of the Catalinas owned by BOAC but operated by QEA across the Indian Ocean, carried both civilian registrations and military serial numbers, in addition to being numbered ‘1’ to ‘5’ (the example in the photograph being ‘2’, the second Catalina allocated to the BOAC/QEA service). Furthermore, in recognition of the need for radio silence and thus reliance on astro-navigation, they were each named after southern hemisphere stars.
I was aware that their flights across the Indian Ocean took more than 24 hours; I was not aware that,in extremis, they could be airborne for up to 36 hours, The longest flight duration was just over 31.5 hours.
The Catalina in the photo (No.’2′) made the first ‘commercial’ crossing in July 1943, but it was apparently No.’1′ that undertook the proving flights. These had started in late-1942, using military crews; were these crews from 413 Squadron?
ianwoodward9There was discussion, a while back, about whether BOAC Liberators bore civil registration numbers or military serial numbers. Here’s a Catalina wearing both:
ianwoodward9This is from a newspaper column listing mail deliveries to and from New York in mid-July 1939. From this, you can see the six-day schedule for the Dixie Clipper:
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