How about an AW Whitley??

How about a AW Argosy?
Ray

Dont trust everything that you buy on Ebay!

I sold two Albemarle tail wheels on Ebay last year, can’t remember where they went to, but every little helps!

Looking at my copy of ‘British Bombers since 1914’ by Francis k Mason I checked my memory against the book. I was right the A.W ALBEMARLE was fitted with a tricycle undercarriage and had no tailwheel even for a nosewheel high landing.
Ray

More European C-46’s!

The C-46 was rare aeroplane in Europe

Fred Olsen used them for a while but probably for England the best known were the Capitol machines used by Lufthansa one in their livery and I think there was another US outfit with some based in Germany.

These were small numbers…..single figures….perhaps just two or three at any one time.

BOAC did have an early model very briefly.

Alaska has become quite a haven for older rarer types and must be quite an exciting job flying theses type in that environment.

Garry

Have just found my copy of CURTISS-WRIGHT C46 COMMANDO by A.B. EASTWOOD published by A LAAS INTERNATIONAL in 1971.
Yes BOAC did have one of the CW 20 prototypes registered G-AGDI in September 1941 and named ‘St Louis’. It was reduced to scrap at Filton Bristol on the 29-10-43. I was amazed to see that Handley Page registered a C-46A-60-CK MODEL on the 26-7-66 as G-ATXV, it was stored at Fort Lauderdale in Florida! Come on you Handley Page buffs tell us the reason why!
The Swiss nearly had two but HB-AAE (Aeropa) was not taken up(ntu), subsequently being registered to Transair(Sweden) Ltd. as SE-CFF on the 5-6-59 at Stockholm. Crashed at Thyville airport Congo on the 13-1-64! HB-AAF was ntu by Aeropa but registered in the USA as N4086A to Aeropa and sold to Oman Farnsworth Wright. Was he any relative of the Wrights?
Italy had I-SILA owned by Societa Aerea Mediterranea(S.A.M.) from 31-1-62 a C46A-45-CU until 7-68 when sold to the USA. S.A.M. also owned I-SILV from 5-62 until 7-68. It was a C 46A-45-CU and was leased to the United Nations for some time until sold to the USA in July 1968.

I believe it was the Canadians who were the first to re-fit a ventral gun, after they became convinced of the reality of ‘schrage musik’, which Command was still in denial about. That would be late in ’44.

Incidentally, I read once that the .50 gun was the prefered weapon of the RAF when they were considering the replacement of the Gladiator. At a meeting in ’32/’33 (can’t remember which) the Treasury insisted that .303 guns would have to be used because there were millions of rounds of .303 ammo left over from WWI that had to be used up before a change of calibre could be considered. Does anyone know any more about that?

In Anthony Furse’s biography of Sir Wilfred Freeman the man who did so much
to ensure that the RAF had the aircraft needed and the aircraft industry had the production and repair facilities to acheive it. On page 127 it states that the Air Ministry had recognised the need for 20mm cannons to replace .303 machine guns as early as 1937! But assumed that the cannons would be too heavy to be fitted into the wings of the new single engined monoplanes. Thus twin engined aircraft were developed namely the Westland Whirlwind and the Bristol Beaufighter with cannons in the nose. Of course we all know that the monoplanes were developed to carry cannons in their wings.

Hey Chris, what sort of rolls could take a Me 110? Have been trolling my way through the Flight archives! Could not get into the October 1940 issue which has a report on the Me 110 but could enter November 1940 for the He 111.
I shall quote verbatim on the landing speed ‘ It’s landing speed, whilst not low, is not so high as to be difficult.’ Maybe nobody wanted actual figures during the war!
Captain Eric Brown covered most WW2 aircraft in his books, could he have such info?
Ray

More big bangs!

The Ju87 could carry that nasty load. IF my readings are getting it fight, the Ju88 and the He111 could carry the beast externally, one at a time. Later in the war, a beefy version of the Fw190 could carry one!

Dont know about the Ju 88 and the He 111 at the moment but the only German aircraft to carry internally two SC1800 bombs at a combined weight of 7936.6 lbs was the He 177!
Ray

The only aircraft artifact I posses is the rotor brake operating handle which I removed from a SIOUX helicopter at RAF Ternhill during a Major Service in the early 70’s. It is somewhere in the garage I hope.
Ray