Not much to laugh at in ‘F-100 Sabre Dance’….what happened and why no ejector seat?

A small shot of MA925 with 31sqdn RAF out east….a pre-war civil DC-3 with RH pax door and Wright Cyclone engines

and 2 shots of KLM’s DC-3 registered with KNILM as PK-ALW which kept up the service to the Far East from Lydda Palestine where the photos were taken

Teddymax isn’t the only fan of the VFW-614 which must have lost VFW-Fokker and Rolls-Royce tens of millions of pounds.[

D-BABE Cimber Air Paris Airshow LBG 1975

VFW-614 and F-27 I-ATIC Farnborough 1974

I-ATIC F-27 Farnborough 1974

I-ZERD Dart Herald East Midlands ca.1987

By October 1938 Imperial Airways was considerered a ‘laughing-stock’ along with the ancient aircraft they operated. Their new British landplanes, the Ensign and Albatross weren’t ready. No doubt the Germans were aware that the RAF had a large order with Lockheed for the armed version of the Lockheed 14 Chamberlain used on the 2nd and 3rd trip (the Hudson).
Interesting details about Robinsons crash…..I wonder if it was connected with the rapidity with which British Airways Ltd fitted the permanent wingtip slots to their Lockheed 14s at Heston, reportedly working from pencil sketches ahead of the arrival of Lockheed drawings
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1939/1939%20-%201037.html?search=british airways lockheed wing modification

http://www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl/obraz/179030:1/ right-click for larger

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/a5e441d0122f1075.html

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H12701,_K%C3%B6ln,_Vorbereitung_M%C3%BCnchener_Abkommen.jpg

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photographic-Prints-Flowerday-Robinson-Raf/dp/B006J88DEM/ref=sr_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1358000527&sr=1-2

During the Munich Crisis, Chamberlain actually made three flights to Germany, the details here (scroll down a bit):

http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?6155-Unit-flying-Neville-Chamberlain-to-Munich

All three flights were made in Lockheed Twins of British Airways. That they were made in American planes operated by a private airline caused some comment then and since. Why that choice of carrier and planes?

The 2 Sabena DC-3s had served Shoreham during the phoney war in neutrality orange and manage to escape when Belgium was invaded. Painted in camouflage but still marked OO-AUH and OO-AUI they served 24 sqdn RAF during the Fall of France. .Some sources record OO-AUI(2094) as having been shot down, several photos suggest it was captured only slightly damaged after a forced landing so may have been destroyed on the ground? OO-AUH(2093) assisted the French evacuation to Algiers where it was acquired from the Vichy French by Italy as I-EMOS, MM60520 and later to Germany as D-ATZP, so served with the British, French, Italians and Germans.
OO-AUH at Shoreham early 1940, two civil registered export Blenheims at rear

OO-AUI N.France June 1940?

alertken….Note on Fokker supplied DC-2s or DC-3s….they were all built and flown in the US by Douglas then flown to US East Coast, wings and props unbolted for sea-shipment then erected by Fokker at airfields convenient to the port of landing (e.g. Cherbourg, Antwerp, Rotterdam). Fokker did buy manufacturing licences but never used them…they made a nice percentage commission instead as the sole European sales agent for the DC-2 and DC-3 :). The queries I have about them are 1) did the DC-2s and DC-3s come furnished by Douglas, ready to use (I suspect they did)
2) did the sole Air France pre-war DC-3 come via Fokker (with commission:)?) as it was delivered to South America for use by AF there
3) did the Bristol Pegasus engines for LOT’s DC-2s get shipped to California for fitting or were they fitted in Europe?

Says its made by Bill Vanderkloot, Churchill’s favourite pilot