The last two letters of the under wing registration are obviously KD. G-ABKD was a DH60T Moth Trainer which would have had a forward facing exhaust system. The aircraft in the picture clearly has a long exhaust pipe exiting behind the cockpit which makes it a DH60G Gipsy Moth and therefore I think that it is safe to assume that it is indeed G-AAKD.
Looking at my old spotting books, I see that I first saw G-ABUS at Sandown IOW on 29/5/67. I can’t remember its colour scheme at the time.
The first Swift I saw was G-ABUU at Portsmouth on 3/10/65 at a fly-in. I do remember its colour scheme being red with black striping. For a while it was my favorite aircraft until I saw Cosmic Wind G-ARUL “Ballarina” at the Kings Cup at Baginton on 13/8/66 which was love at first sight! I remember that I was quite upset when she was written off at Halfpenny Green later that month. A few years I saw her “recreation” in a hanger at Duxford I knew that she existed but it was a surprise to see her. Although wearing the same registration, I understand that little or nothing of the original Ballarina lives on in her and she has lost something it not having the ribbed control surfaces..
Obviously, Kings Cup winners did not get to keep the cup itself. My understanding is that the replicas were given to the winners to keep. So this one would have been given to Schofield, the pilot of the 1934 winning aeroplane.
“Yak 3” F-AZIM has now been parked on the grass at Lee-On-Solent for over a week. The long standing red star on the fin has now been over painted with the Ukrainian flag and crest.
Spit TR9 SM520/G-ILDA was doing circuits to-day so probably doing pilot training rather that joy rides.
My initial thought was the front (of three) nose gear door from a Beech Turbo Mentor. However, having looked a photos of Turbo Mentors, it isn’t that. I do feel that it’s a U/C door off something.
My immediate thought was Ford Trimotor or possibly a Fokker Trimotor which was very similar given the likelihood of some inaccuracies in the drawing. The fin however is much more Ford like.
Some hunting around the web brings up that the Liberian air mail service was started with a single engine Waco before a Ford Trimotor replaced it. So a Ford Trimotor it is then.
There seems to be something odd about the serial number. It looks like it is a digit short. The only copy of the picture that I have is low res and therefore I can’t enlarge it to have a good look. Maybe it was a running ground only instructional airframe. Did the Fleet Air Arm of the time use different serials for instructional airframes? Also the cowling seems be off a different aircraft with the two tone paint scheme.
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