This guy was lucky, but didn’t exactly have a distinguished flying career. From the book “The Lafayette Escadrille” by Narayan Sengupta:

Chicago native Courtney Campbell joined the Escadrille on April 15. He thought himself the comedian of the unit, but the truth was that he was a terrible danger to himself and others. The Escadrille should have booted him from the unit, but for some reason it did not.

History fails to record the exact date, but at some time while the Escadrille was in Chaudin, Courtney Campbell took off in his Nieuport 17 and threw it into a series of hard loops right over the airfield in plain view of his mates and everyone else who happened to be around. He came out of each loop aiming his plane at the hangars. He probably thought that it was rather funny to do so. With each loop, he climbed and pushed the Nieuport harder and harder. Finally, on the fourth loop the strained Nieuport lost its lower left wing at the point where it had met the fuselage. An ambulance was prepared for the inevitable fatal crash, but Courtney was leading a charmed life. He avoided attempting to land at the aerodrome, as most other pilots instinctively would have done. It was a smart move since the turns required to circle down to the field would have meant losing speed at every turn. Instead, he glided straight ahead which resulted in a safe landing in a turnip field ten kilometers from the aerodrome. To land safely having lost so much of one’s wing was a unique, albeit dubious accomplishment.

On June 15, Campbell decided to play games with Ted Parsons by riding his own plane practically right on top of Parson’s tail while the two were flying around. Parsons was unable to shake him, but the two made it back safely. In various other incidents, Campbell would later cause a collision between himself and another plane, destroying both, and then almost kill Arnoux de Maison-Rouge by punching his wheels into Arnoux’s top wing while the two were flying together. Campbell finally managed to extricate his plane from Arnoux’s wing and then landed safely though Arnoux was thoroughly shaken.

One of the greatest and most important aviators the world has ever known and a wonderful human being. Condolences to his family, RIP and blue skies Sir.

Here’s another one with a Meteor engine that’s not quite as ugly. Beautiful teak boat tail, and it sounds great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiyszl2cKAA

I guess you’ve already seen this Duggy:

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/20124

Ian, the third picture in your original post shows a vehicle registration of “RAF 106062” on the rear, but on the driver’s side door you can see other numbers. Possibly “698” or “598”. Could these be the last digits of their AMES unit? Were unit numbers found on the doors of these vehicles, or was it something else? And just how numerous were the AMES units by 1946?

What have you found regarding Drake’s service record and the units he served with? You have a known RAF radar operator and a hand-drawn map showing some movements of his unit, can that be cross-referenced with the ORBs?

Your picture is of Squadron Leader H. J. L. Hallowes, CO of No. 122 Squadron with his Spitfire Mk. Vb at Scorton December 1941.

Thanks for posting all of these great photos, some really great shots that capture a lot of history. Pictures 1 thru 4 are of the Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster at Friendship Airport, Baltimore, MD. This aircraft was restored at Beacon Field in Alexandria, VA. in October, November, and December 1959. Beacon Field was closed on Oct. 1st, 1959 but the unfinished CBY-3 remained there while work continued. On December 12th, 1959 Paul Zimmer was doing taxi tests when the aircraft lifted off the runway and he flew it to Friendship Airport Baltimore. Judging by the condition of the plane I would say your pictures are from early 1960 or later.

The rest of the pictures (5 thru 19) appear to be from the NAS Oceana Airshow open house. NAS Oceana didn’t host an open house in 1959 or 1961 so I would guess your pictures are from 1960, or possibly 1962. Among other things your pics show the Blue Angels F-11 Tigers, Thunderbirds F-100C Super Sabres, and the Canadian Golden Hawks F-86 Sabres.

The Thunderbirds started flying the F-100C in 1956.

The Golden Hawks were established in 1959.

The Blue Angels started flying the F-11 Tiger in 1957. In 1957 and 1958 they were the short-nose version and they had a yellow stripe on the nose. Your pictures are of the long-nose variant with no yellow stripe that were first used by the Blues in 1959. Since there was no open house at Oceana in 1959 (or 1961) I think the earliest possible date for your pics would be May 1960. NAS Oceana’s first Air Show Open House was held in May 1953 and it was traditionally held around Armed Forces Day.

Also seen in your pictures is Vulcan B.1 XH502, which was converted to B.1A standard in August 1962. It still appears to be B.1 configuration, so it is possible that the pictures could be from May 1962.

Thanks again for the great shots.