ianwoodward9This is a BOAC advertisement placed in a British newspaper in January 1941. “BRITISH AIRWAYS” is proclaimed prominently and is included in the body of the text, while “British Overseas Airways Corporation”, as can be seen, appears almost as a footnote… The ‘Speedbird’ is shown circling the globe.
To show the whole advert in a legible form would require a large file, so I have typed up the text of the advert as close to the layout in the original as possible.
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ianwoodward9In the previous post, i wrote that the change in the number of Liberators in the BOAC fleet during the course of 1943 needed further analysis. The position in respect of Liberator II fleet is particularly troublesome, with different sources giving different information.
The situation in respect of the Mark III Liberators is more straightforward but not without the odd difficulty, as in the next paragraph..
The BOAC fleet for late 1943, as given in Post # 406, includes five Liberator IIIs, namely G-AGFN, G-AGFO, G-AGFP, G-AGFR and G-AGFS. My difficulty relates to the beginning of the year, however,when it is stated that BOAC had two aircraft in the Liberator III category. G-AGFN had been available since the end of 1942, so presumably is one of these two, but, since the other four were apparently not ready until much later in 1943, which is the second?.
Can anyone help me with this?
ianwoodward9This chart attempts to show the changes in BOAC’s fleet during the course of 1943.
Tony Doyle’s research, as already presented in Post # 367 of this thread, is shown in the columns on the left. The numbering system used in Post 367 is preserved but the aircraft types not operated by BOAC at all in 1943 are now omitted. The training aircraft in the January 1943 list (the Oxfords and the Beechcraft) were not included in the December 1943 fleet list. Their omission from the December list does not indicate that BOAC had ceased their use, only that the later list is limited to service aircraft.
The column on the right is based on the BOAC fleet list that was published in early 1944 and included in Post # 406.
The principal changes are as follows:-
[1] Six aircraft types operated in the early part of 1943 are not in use by BOAC at the end of the year. Shown in italics to the right of the right-hand column, they are the Whitleys, the CW20, the Frobishers, the Hudsons, the Wellingtons and the Catalinas.
[2} The most notable change is the introduction of Dakotas to the fleet – 20 in all
[3] In terms of increased numbers of aircraft types that appear in both lists, there are four additional Mosquitos (for the Stockholm Run) and seven additional Sunderlands.
[4] The changes in the Liberator fleet probably need more analysis.
The remaining changes in the BOAC fleet during 1943 are perhaps less significant in terms of the aircraft types flown and their numbers.
Please feel free to add flesh to these bones. Comments and/or corrections would be most welcome.
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ianwoodward9Returning to ‘WWII Flights to Lisbon’, this photograph shows the Portuguese Minister for public works (and his wife, presumably) at the new Portela Airport. They stand in front of G-AGBD. operating the BOAC service from Whitchurch. G-AGBD shows its KLM ‘origins’ quite clearly in this photograph. The caption didn’t identify the man coming out of the aircraft but gave the date as 15 October 1942. The caption also said that G-AGBD was the first plane to come into the new Portela Airport.
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ianwoodward9To return for a moment to BOAC fleet numbers, the attached list was published in mid-January 1944 but was compiled in late 1943, as explained in the next paragraph. Compared with the March 1945 fleet list [see Post # 392], it excludes “about a dozen trainers” but does include the three Lodestars owned by the Norwegian Government, namely G-AGDD, G-AGDE and G-AGEI.
The inclusion of Lodestar G-AGDE, which was lost over the North Sea on 17 December 1943, returning on a flight from Stockholm, shows that the list was compiled at least a month before publication, possibly in early December 1943.
By my count, there are 107 aircraft listed but perhaps the most interesting aspect is the change in aircraft types compared with the list that resulted from Tony Doyle’s researches (see Post # 367].
ianwoodward9Ensigns out of British hands
A most interesting set of photos, longshot. I read somewhere that the Gerrmans wanted the Ensign’s engines more than the airframes. Is there any evidence for that?
Croydon By Night photographs
I’ve continued a little more digging in respect of the “Croydon By Night” photographs (see Posts 394, 396 and the subsequent three posts about the dating of the photos).
The one posted by longshot (see Post 396) appeared on Page 5 of the January 1939 edition of IMPERIAL AIRWAYS GAZETTE. The attached image shows the front page and pages 4 and 5. According to Peter Moss in the articles to which lazy8 referred, at least one of the Ensigns in the photos wasn’t taken on to Imperial’s books until 24 November 1938.
Therefore, it seems likely that the “Croydon By Nigh” photographs were taken either at the very end of November 1938 or in the first (say) half of December 1938. This is still a little speculative but it’s narrowing the date down bit by bit.
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ianwoodward9On reflection, I based my assertion that Harriman and Churchill had travelled together to Moscow on this photograph, which is more indicative than definitive.
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ianwoodward9I just came across an article in a British Sunday newspaper dated in mid-March 1941 in which the following paragraph appeared:
“Mr Averall Harriman, whose business will be to expedite the provision of material help to the British Empire, arrived at Britol Airport yesterday from Lisbon”.
His arrival date would have been on 15 March 1941 but what is more relevant to Post 438 is the fact that Bristol is mentioned as his point of entry by name in a British newspaper rather than the “somewhere in the west country” phrase. Harriman was a banker and a businessman, a politician and a diplomat, and he accompanied Churchill to Moscow in August 1942 on the flight in the Liberator “Commando”.
ianwoodward9Thank you, lazy 8, for the above. The detail about the camouflaging (and the “de-camouflaging”) of the Ensigns was fascinating.
The two Peter Moss articles on the Ensigns were terrific. I suspect I read them some time ago and recalled some of the content. I found the image of the roughly-camouflaged G-ADSS filed away on my PC, likely pinched from the Moss article; and just needed to adjust the tones a bit before posting it here.
The contemporary press reports on the withdrawal of the Ensigns for modification said they were under-powered. After the first modification, it was reported that the Ensigns could maintain 15,000 feet on three engines and 7,000 feet on two. Imperial Airways’ statement, around the time the modification work was completed had more about the modification to the controls to make them less tiring for pilots on long journeys.
The refitting with the Cyclone engines came later, of course.
ianwoodward9[1] Many thanks for your comments, longshot. In a 1942 article, an American journalist en route to London noted several airlines with offices at Sintra. Swissair was not among them, though Ala Littoria was. Just prior to WWII, Ala Littoria did have a route to Lisbon but it ran via North Africa rather than direct across Spain. I wonder what the route would have been in June 1941?
[2] Incidentally, the first name of the actress in question appears to have been rendered with a double-L in American newspapers – hence Lillian Harvey in the article I posted before. Lilian appears to be the original/correct spelling and this form was adopted in all the British newspapers I’ve seen so far.
[3] The day after that first newspaper article was published, it was reported that Lilian Harvey had broken her foot while walking in Switzerland and that she intended to leave Lisbon on 5 June. It transpired that she stayed on there for a week longer than that. She left Lisbon at dawn on 13 June aboard Atlantic Clipper, which was then held for 24 hours at Horta because of “inclement weather” before continuing the journey.. It was due into La Guardia Field at 2.45 p.m. on 15 June 1941.
ianwoodward9The newspaper cutting below concerns an actress called Lilian Harvey (correct spelling of her first name). The name didn’t ring any bells with me but a quick look at Halliwell’s WHO’S WHO IN THE MOVIES intrigued me enough to resort to Wiki, – and then IMDB. It all makes quite an interesting read.
An actress and singer and dancer, she was born in London of an English mother and a German father and she became a very big star of German cinema in the 1930s, though she also made films in Hollywood and London. She fell foul of the German authorities, escaped first to France, where her last film was made in 1940, and then to the USA, where she was a volunteer nurse in WWII.
The clipping shows that she arrived at ‘Sintra Airdrome from Switzerland’ on 2 June 1941. There are no details of which airline or whether it was direct flight or not. Thoughts, anyone?
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ianwoodward9Still with Ensigns but slightly more back on track. The attached shows G-ADSS in a rather -ahem! – basic camouflage scheme.
The Ensigns were first dispersed to Baginton, where some did have a crude camouflage applied, before moving to Whitchurch, where I believe this photograph was taken – can anyone confirm this?
I.m not sure about those white objects to the right of the photograph but I think they could be ‘posh’ seats that have been removed from the interior to save weight. Does that sound right?
Overall, I tend to the view that this is G-ADSS soon after it arrived at Whitchurch from Baginton. It bears very ‘rough-and-ready’ camouflage markings and is perhaps undergoing equipment changes to make ready for its war work. That would then put the photograph at some time in the second part of September 1939.
This last part is all pure supposition on my part. If anyone knows any better, I would be pleased to be corrected.
ianwoodward9Herewith, a couple of brief news clips showing the Ensign, both from mid-October 1938
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA4YCNSMWOF60QCBLCEKI3GLS94-ENSIGNS-TRIAL-FLIGHT/query/Ensign
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/new-airliner-croydon/query/Ensign
ianwoodward9Further to the previous Post, a little digging shows that, on 15 January 1939, the Ensigns , five of which had been delivered by then, were withdrawn from service for ‘modification’. They did not resume service until early June 1939. This prompts me to revise the date of the “Croydon By Night” photographs which must have been taken some between the end of October 1938 and early January 1939 – and there is a little more information that may support this.
I found a newspaper report of a demonstration flight by the Albatross “Frobisher” on 11 November 1938, out from Croydon over Brighton into the English Channel and back again. In this report, it says that,at the start of the trip, “Frobisher” was on the apron at Croydon next to the Ensign “Elsinore” (G-ADST), which had been stripped of its internal fittings, ready to fly the Christmas mail out to India. As far as I can discover, two of the five Ensigns operated the Paris route and three were for the mail route to India. The indications are that five Ensigns were in operational service well before the end of 1938
ianwoodward9I wonder if it is possible to narrow down when the “Croydon-By-Night” photos in Posts 394 and 396 might have been taken.
Since the clock shows them to have been taken before 9pm and since it is very dark, this suggests the aircraft were photographed some time in the winter. The one original photograph is stickered, “Imperial Airways” (with a reference number) and has a description, “Three Imperial ENSIGN air liners at Croydon by night”. Since the NAC took over, after the declaration of war, around September 1939, the photos predate that. The Ensign first came into commercial service on Friday 21 October 1938, so the photos post-date that and, probably by a few months, given that several Ensigns are shown in one shot.
This only narrows the time-frame down a little, to the winter of 1938-1939 and most likely in the first few months of 1939 but it’s a start.
Since Imperial Airways engaged a professional photographer and since the original photograph was clearly printed for publicity purposes (the sticker on the back permits free reproduction as long as Imperial Airways is given acknowledgement) , it seems likely that one or more of the “Croydon By Night” photographs was published somewhere. If so, it would helpful to establish the date of publication.
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