I swear I haven’t been drinking but ….the thing in the middle looks like a knight holding a shield and flag/weapon to me!
Could it be something personal to the pilot rather than a unit badge?
Any idea what it says underneath the badge?

Yes, the devil’s in the detail as the saying goes.
“Plane coloured white. 52” or “plane coloured – white 52”
Not that I’m saying for a moment that it is that Turkish one – I’d very much doubt it, but it would put a different slant on what you are looking for!

Hi Laurence,

Just linking to this website for a comparison of the Blenheim undercarriage. It shows the wreckage of a French Blenheim – a mk IV I think – about halfway down the page. Click the pics to enlarge. There’s more too if you click the March 2013 link below them.

http://www.fjexpeditions.com/frameset/oct04.htm

Civilian plane coloured white. 52

I still wonder about the possibility of it not being RAF. And whether something has been “lost in translation” – could it be “Friendly plane serialled white 52” ?
Would the Turks be sending any aircraft down Sharjah way for any reason? Again halfway down page under Blenheim V/Bisley –

http://www.ole-nikolajsen.com/TURKISH%20FORCES%202004/bristol%20fotos.pdf

Fantastic selection! Thanks very much for posting 🙂 Something for everyone in there. Those foreign museums have some real rarities!
You could pop a link to this in Commercial too – there’s a lot that would interest the guys there.

Just found out this evening what a horrible weekend it’s been for aviation. Very, very sad news 🙁
Thoughts go out to all concerned here and abroad.

Is that their DC3?

Hi Meddle,

Strictly speaking no but they certainly have similarities! The Lisunov Li-2 was the Soviet DC-3 and the Il-12 was developed to replace it but had engine problems and was superseded by the Il-14.

Very nice! Glad you gave this its own thread as I only occasionally look in on the How Low one. Thanks for the link to the pkk avia page too – some great pics there. The Morava looks lovely 🙂

Mothminor:
Turning to The Sky is Ours – I concede my theory about the RAFC band only appearing on Chipmunks after around 1961 is clearly wrong . The markings are obviously in transition when this film was taken – incidentally nowhere in the credits could I see a date. I’ve pored over this film for hours; the quality and degree of colour varies, but it almost seems that there’s a lack of yellow trainer bands! Does WK556/”DF” seen at 10:34 have any bands at all? Again, when WP868/”JM” , now sporting the blue fuselage band, banks away from the camera at around 12:00 I’m struggling to see yellow wing bands. I can’t be definite given the quality of the images, but what do you think?

Hi Rod,
I can’t see yellow bands at all either. Certainly not on “DF” or “JM”. Agreed though the colour quality doesn’t help in places. There is no date in the credits – the Pathe site lists it as 1955 but in the National Archive website it is 1954 – 56. The Swift WK207 at the end of the film was only in service 1954 to mid- 1958 so it was definitely between those dates!

Re. the rudder being a trick of the light I am inclined to agree as I’ve just tried converting to B&W some photos of Chipmunks and it can make the rudder look a different colour.
Don’t want to post an example myself as the ones I tried were off the internet and I’d rather avoid upsetting anyone!