TransportraitsPhoto of Superfreighter G-APAV in SABENA livery
Herewith the picture, as promised. Taken at Southend 25 Nov 1964.
TransportraitsI’m coming into this a bit late, but here goes. I worked for Aviation Traders in the 1960s, the firm being part of the Air Holdings empire, whixch also included British United (and its Air Ferries offshoot). So, we were responsible for servcing both the B.170s and Carvairs at Lydd and Southend. The Southend-Ostend route was formally a joint operation with SABENA, but as the later did not actually contribute any aircraft, one of the BUA Superfreieghters was always painted in SABENA livery and used as far as possible on that route. G-APAV, the 212th and last B.170 built, was one of four so painted. Lacking the correct SABENA blue, it was painted at Southend in the ‘best match’ Dulux shade that we could find! Hence, the blue does not quite match the official SABENA colour. Whther the previous three aircraft were also painted with Dulux colour I cannot say.
I have a rather nice photo of G-APAV lifting out of Southend in volume 1 of the second edition of A J Jackson’s ‘British Civil Aircraft Since 1919′, pubvlished by Putnam qwuite some years’ ago now. I will try and locate it in my collection and put it up here shortly.
TransportraitsCorrect – N898AT is c/n 20, originally converted for Ansett-ANA as VH-INK. It has had a number of US identities and also one actual and one abortive New Zealand registration. Current owner is Brooks Fuel of Alaska.
TransportraitsGetting back to the original question, the Miles high-aspect ratio winged Aerovan was officially recorded as the Miles HDM.105 (‘HDM’ standing for Hurel-Dubois Miles, of course). It was a conversion of a formerly standard Miles 57 Aerovan 4 G-AJOF, c/n 6403. The aircraft retained its original 155-hp Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 engines on the all-metal HD wings, which increased the span from 50 ft 0 in to 75 ft 4 ins. The Aerovan 4 tail surfaces were replaced by those of larger area as fitted to the Aerovan 6. The beast received a new c/n, 105/1009 and first flew from Shoreham on 31 Mar 1957 under B Conditions as G-35-3. It was allocated the appropriate registration G-AHDM and received its Cert of Airworthiness on 20 May 1957. Test and demonstration flights continued until it was damaged on landing at Shoreham in Jun 1958, whereafter it was dismantled and some of the parts used in building the mock-up of the proposed Miles HDM 106 Caravan.
Performance trials generally showed little difference between the 105 and a standard Aerovan 4. The 105 was heavier at 3,219 lb empty compared to the ‘van at 3,070. but could lift a payload of 2,781 lb compared to 2,730. Cruising speed was slightly better at 116 mph against 110 mph. Take-off at 6,000 weight was 284 yards against the Aerovan’s 285 at 5,800 lb. The 105’s climb rate was significantly better at 560 ft/min against 455 for the ‘van, both at the same take-off weights as above. I don’t have any figures on landing runs. The costs of construction and flight-testing were shared by Miles and Hurel-Dubois.
TransportraitsHi, Jamie.
I knew both Chris Mundy and the other casualty, Jack Pilgrim, as work colleagues. At the time I was employed by Aviation Traders in the main Approved Aircraft Stores and Chris and Jack were the firm’s two stock checkers, so they were very freuent visitors to the store, sometimes ‘camped out’ there for saeveral days while they counted and weighed items on a never-ending checking cycle. we all chatted and swapped stories as men do in such situations. I found them both genuinely pleasant guys whom you could share a joke with and always seemed to be in good humour. Along with all my fellow storekeepers and others at ATEL, I was absolutely shocked when it emerged they had been killed in the accident.
I knew the other man, too, ‘Mac’ McGrevy was senior storekeeper of the Commercial Stores and he was often at the ill-fated compound, as it held stocks of metal beams, bars, tube, etc. and considerable quantities of oils, greases, paints and similar products. ‘Mac’ was off work a long time, but did eventually return and resume his duties.
Best wishes to you and yours,
Richard Goring
(Transportraits)
TransportraitsIt’s photography, Jim (read as Steve), but not as we know it!
I’m not a great fan of the ‘everything new must be better’ philosophy, and certainly early digital photography was pretty poor at all stages, but as with all things high-tech now, it is getting better and better. My daughter and her partner having invested in a fair quality camera and a well-researched printer lately, together with some really good software, has started knocking out prints that are almost breathtaking in their sharpness, detail and coplour rendition. And as I see more and more press and other professional photographers taking up digital cameras as their main ‘weapon’, it is clear that there lies the future. And for those of us with old negative and slide collections, the latest film scanners seem able to actually improve the general quality of negs and slides – they do a good job at ‘removing’ scratches, pinholes and dust/hair shadows that were always the bane of b&w printing. And once scanned, you can fiddle with contrast and brightness, etc. before finally printing off. Just a different, and altogether quicker, less painfull and chemical-free way of doing what we used to achieve in the darkroom.
I do almost no aviation photography these days, but if I was to take it up again I would definitely give serious consideration to embracing digital. I am certainly scanning my historical negs and slides with the intention of storing the images on cd or a memory stick and producing all future prints from my pc via an inkjet.
TransportraitsSomeone remembers me! Cor! Well, b&w was very much the thing then – much cheaper than colour, you could do all your own processing and printing and almost no magazines published colour shots anyway! There were times when I shot something in the day, processed and printed in the evening and caught the midnight collection from Southend’s main Post Office and the picture would be on the ‘Aeroplane’ or ‘Flight’ editorial desk by 9.30 the next day (we had a good and reliable postal service then, of course!). But if I’d known then what I know now….
Actually, as I often had two cameras on the go, I did shoot some colour, slides of course, and almost none have ever been published. I am in the throes of scanning and digitising my negative and slide collection, so in the fullness of time… It may take several months (even years), but I will get there. And there are some Carvairs, including the odd ‘action shot’ amongst the slides.
TransportraitsBlimey! ‘The Black Sheds’!!! Do I remember them well! Actually, they were fairly standard pre-war RAF type hangars (don’t ask me the pattern number). The one used by ATEL was engulfed by the large complex that is still there to this day and which eventually more than doubled the floor space. As Old Fart says, we built the noses at Southend and they were moved to Stansted by road on a special trailer – invariably this journey took place on a Sunday morning (years before any thought of Sunday Trading, so the roads were always quiet) and with a police escort.
The prototype G-ANYB was converted at Southend, as also was the eleventh, G-APNH (actually the twelfth to fly, as its conversion was a distinctly unhurried affair – commenced Feb 1963, first flight 4 Jan 1965) and the twenty-first and last, Ansett’s VH-INM. The Stansted ‘production line’ had closed by the time this one was ordered and we had to bring on of the three unused noses there back to Southend for the job.
I have masses of photos of Carvairs which I shot around Southend during the 1960s and 70s. Here’s a taster – G-APNH lifting out of Southend on 4 Aug 1966 in the then still quite new BUA/BAF two-tone livery. Note that the quaint symbol following the BUA legend is pointing rearwards instead of forwards – ‘NH was the only Carvair so mis-painted.
TransportraitsFor those of us who are members of Air-Britain, the Viscount crash is one of those listed in the ‘Casualty Compendium’ column of the latest issue of ‘Archive’. The next issue will then identify the aircraft and give details of the accident and, possibly, also have one of the photos I took of the partly burned-out wreck, still lying on top of the oil drums and steelwork in the boundary compound. The registration is clearly visible on the unburned rear fuselage. I guess I have one of the few photos of this Viscount (such as it is) in G- marks, as it had only been rolled-out of the Channel Airways hangar a day or two before the accident (having been delivered to Southend some weeks back in US markings) , which was its one and only (rather short) flight in British marks.
TransportraitsNo-one has yet mentioned the Lockheed Constellation and its derivatives – surely one of the most elegant aeroplanes ever? All those curves, triple fins, big engines….. Or how about ‘The Whispering Giant’, the wonderful Britannia, an aircraft that managed to serve BOAC many years without killing a single passenger. Or further back in time, Handley-Page’s marvellous HP.42, de Havilland’s also elegant Flamingo, things from Convair, Douglas, Fairchild…. I struggle to think of a ‘favourite’ – I just love ’em all ! And I certainly agree the chunky old C-46 is much under-rated.
TransportraitsNo, Colin, the British Historic Aircraft Museum had been open quite some years prior to 1972. I have many photos which I took there dated 1967-68. I had an article published in ‘Air Pictorial’ around the same time, detailing the origins and establishment of the Museum, along with a note of its initial acquisitions. One of these was the SAAB J-29F 29640, which I photographed on its delivery on 13 Jun 1967; another was the Lincoln G-APRJ which can be seen through the mesh in your photos and which arrived on 9 May 1967. So the launch year would seem to be 1967. It managed to hang on a number of years, but almost all the aircraft were sold at auction in 1983.
TransportraitsFollowing-up on the suggestion, I found similar envelopes called ‘Claer Front’ quite widely available and used by cigarette card and postcard collectors. I bought a quantity sized 3.50 x 2.25 ins and others 4.50 x 3.00 ins. The former are closest to the old negative wallets I used to be able to buy, but are just too tight a fit for 6 x 6 cm negs. Rather than re-package all my existing negs into the larger size, I have set aside all my remaining old stock for 6 x 6 use and use the new, slightly smaller envelopes for 35mm and other small format negs. If I were starting from scratch, I would go for the larger size, as not only is it more than okay for the 6 x 6 (or 2.25 ins. sq. in old money) and 6 x 7 cms, but will also take the old 116 size negs, of which I have a number.
I bought these envelopes from Rob Roy Cards, Crosshall, Chelsfield Village, Nr Orpington, Kent BR6 6EN, for the princely sum of £1.00 per 100 for both sizes, plus postage. They have a website at http://www.robroyalbums.co.uk where these wallets can be ordered and paid-for by credit/debit card. I have no connection with this firm other than as a so far satisfied customer. One thing to note is that the Clear Front wallets do not take ball-point, felt tip or other inks at all well. I solved that by buying a reel of 1,500 suitable-size white sticky labels on eBay for just over £2. The labels stick very firmly to the clear or the opaque side of the wallet and accept all the above ink types, plus pencil.
TransportraitsI was at the 1953 air races at Southend! I still have one or two photos from the day, though the quality is not good enough to be worth posting (I was only about 11 and the camera was an ancient box Brownie). There was a tragedy on the day and my memory tells me it occurred in the final event, the King’s Cup itself, when two Proctors collided over the (still) open land to the south-east of the airport, having just passed over Warner’s Bridge (a road bridge over the Southend-Liverpool St rail line) and over the crowd immediately prior to that. One of them, G-AKWV, fell to earth and instantly burst into flame. The pilot was killed. The other aircraft landed safely, with a damaged leading-edge if I recall correctly. The Navy Dragonfly (WS-51) was scrambled to the scene, but by the time it had started-up, lifted-off and got there the Proctor had all but been consumed. Along with a horde of other morbid souls, I tramped over there at the end of the day, to see an aeroplane-shaped patch of blackened earth with the engine sitting at the front end and a few bits of charred wood and metal fittings. The police had thrown a rope barrier around the scene, but it was only a few feet from the outline, so we could all see the details quite clearly.
If I am right as to the race, then the event mentioned by Merlin3945 in an earlier posting was not the one and only time there has been a death in the King’s Cup. Come to think of it, Miles Falcon Major G-AENG crashed at the foot of Scarborough Cliffs during the 1937 King’s Cup, with the loss of both crew members.
The course flown by the aircraft in the races that day at Southend may have varied according to event, I do not know, but all of them saw the participating aircraft flying across the airfield from north-west to south-east, along the line of what is now the unused ‘short’ concrete runway (Southend was all-grass in 1953) several times during each race. The open-to-the-public area ran from the old clubhouse near the current control tower round the southeast corner and along the eastern boundary by the rail line up to a point somewhere near where the Vulcan G-VJET is current parked. I guess the rope barriers ran more or less where the current taxi-way lies. So every race saw entrants passing straight over the crowd (and it was quite a public turnout) every lap and the finishing line was quite close to the front og the public enclosure near that southj-east corner. If you think all that a touch hairy, it was nothing compared to the French Stampes doing formation stall turns time after time right over the crowd! At the bottom I doubt they were much more than 20 feet above our heads and the images remain very vivid in my memory.
The one other memorable event of the day for me was the solo Sabre breaking the sound barrier (in a shallow dive, of course) aimed at the airfield from the south-east. The ‘boom’ was most distinctive and we all clearly saw the aicraft pulling out of its dive. Sonic booms were still a rare novelty then, so one was deliberately built-in to air shows and the like (so long as an intended participant was actually capable of achieving Mach 1) as a public ‘amusement’. Ah, those were the days……
TransportraitsHello, Albert.
Thank you for the kind words about my Carvair and other shots in Air Pictorial way back when. Those were good days, I was younger and fitter and as I worked at Southend Airport I was able to get out along the runway and got many good pictures, plus hours hanging about the public road at the south end of the runway and the golf course or railway line at the north end. Almost impossible now, thanks to over-protective Health & Safety Regulations, to say nothing of fears about terrorism.
I am not very active photographically these days, but tend to shoot colour slides myself now. Still have most of mt b&w negs though, especially the ‘action’ pictures.
Anyway, many thanks for your suggestion. Sounds good and I will certainly follow-up on it.
Regards,
Richard Goring (alias John Goring, alias Transportraits)
Transportraits‘Broken Wings’ also gives VZ510 of 263 Sqdn but incorrectly gives the location as ‘Westfield Park Drive, Westcliffe-on-Sea’ – hopefully it has identified the aircraft correctly! The photo of the fuselage piece in the ‘Southend Standard’ which I mentioned in my earlier posting may well show the serial and confirm the matter.
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