Two Lancastrians VH737 and VH742 were fitted with Nenes in the outboard positions only, in 1946, Merlins remained inboard.
I suspect it was the high fuel burn of the jets that made this impractical, they would have gone like the clappers but only for a short while, an indication might be in the fuel carried, 740 galls for the Merlins and 2,385 galls of kerosene for the Nene,s.
The same was said of the Jet Viking, that had the range for a quick trip to Paris but not much more.

Richard

The second picture is of a Douglas C133 Cargomaster.
Not sure but the registration on the fin looks like 62001 which makes it a C-133A full registration 56-2001.
These were fantastic aircraft with a very distinctive drone sound that could be heard for ages as it passed by at altidude. They suffered from severe airframe fatigue especially the foreward fuselage and consequently had a short life.
Although one was operational in Alaska until recently. Used for moving outsize loads to remote airfields.

Richard

For an aircraft to be considered ‘preserved’ it it must be in a storage condition that protects it from any damaging influences, ie humidity,sun light,fire,vermin,insects and vandalism. So that in 50 or 100 years time it will be substantially the same as it is now.
Any aircraft that is flown is not in this catagory as for one it is at risk of accidental destruction due to crash/fire.

Richard

A friend visited RAF Aston Down in Gloucester when he was working at Boscombe Down, there he found numerous Harvard parts including mainplanes, many useful bits were liberated back to Boscombe for their aircraft, others swopped for much needed spares.
He said that Aston had an enormous amount of stored aircraft components in the 50 odd hangars dotted all over the site but this was a few years ago, probably 18 or 20. Is it still there.
One hangar was full of green goddess fire engines, where a couple of chaps spent their entire time replacing batteries, tyres and engine oil so they were ready to go at a moments notice, not due to use, just a constant maintenance scheme.

Richard

JohnH
I always understood that the cause(I stand corrected if its wrong) of Ormonde’s crash was Torque roll at low altitude. He performed a slow fly past and then applied power too quickly, the aircraft rolled and struck the ground inverted, he and a German boy passenger died instantly.
A very sad loss, especially as it happened only a week or so after he was a star at the Greenham show.
Richard

The Blanik airframe life was as a result of their use in Australia where the weather was soarable virtually all year round, consequently the aircraft built up considerable flying time. Unfortunately this let to a couple of accidents where the wings folded due to fatigue failure of the structure.

Richard

The doped on fabric is to improve strength and water proof the float, but the fact that someone made it out of wood in the first place seems to indicate a special requirement, metal construction had become the norm in the Mid 1920’s. Wooden propellers are often fabriced and doped for the same reasons.
During development of racing aircraft for the Schneider Trophy, float design would have been very much trial and error in and attempt to get the best compromise between bouyancy, directional stability, aerodynamic drag, strength etc. Perhaps its from some of these trials.
Only other use I can think of is a Hydoplane of some sort, this being one of a pair if floats.
AIRMAC Can you confirm whether it is symetrical as its difficult to tell from the pics, especially around the step. And is that a piece of wood making some sort of fixed rudder?

Richard