Fabulous quality (what camera?)….I like the BA Dornier and especially the 146 Avroliner thingie….those clouds in the background are seriously stuffed with rocks! 🙂

Culdrose 2010

And some smaller fry. I think I saw at least one of theTiger Club’s Rollason Turbulents being built at croydon when I was at school!

Culdrose 2010

Snaps with a compact Fuji S5600 bridge camera. Didn’t get a shot of the the 10-ship Balbo (3 Sea kings, 3 Merlins, 4 Jetstreams)…apparently the last year for the Jetstreams

The second shot (with the bird) must be catching the maximum downflex of the wing as the A380 touches down……great shot!
Edit …I’ve levelled your 3rd shot in photoshop and put a little space in at the front (attached)

Civilian DC-2s and DC-3s with RAF WWII

THe A-B DC-2/3 book lists 21 DC-2s and 10 DC-3s used by the RAF…I’ll see if I can list them usefully at the weekend.
I think the only RAF ‘sleeper’ was LR233 c/n1923 ex NC17313 a DC-3B which was a Wright engine model unique to TWA with just the front half of the cabin convertible to sleeper berths with the little DST windows high-up and it arrived via PAA-Africa and was ‘H’ with 31Sdn.
The DC-2s (purchased by the British Purchasing Commission) seem to have been sea-shipped direct to India, or to Capetown. Others were later air-ferried by Pan Am via Brazil and West Africa. 8 of the 10 DC-3s came via PAA-Africa
PAA-Africa was set up while America was still neutral under a contract from Churchill to build up the Airway across Central Africa and was equipped in a hurry in 1941 with second hand DC-2s and Dc-3s …as military production C-47s and C-53s became available for PAA-Africa(which was later taken over by the USAAF MATS ) the ex-civilian oddities were passed on to the British
Of the DC-3s LR234 is listed as a C-53 acquired via PAA-Africa, but MA928 and 929 are C-53s delivered USA-UK-Egypt-India…C-53 ‘Skytrooper’ was basically the DC-3A with P&W engines and a LH passenger type door

The aircraft in the top photo ‘PW’ seems to be a miltary variant (C-47 or C-53) with P&W engines and rifle ports in the side windows

Heston Phoenix photo….Lord Sempill

Two more photographs from the Southend area. Both taken by my Grandfather who was a photographer for the Southend Standard. Can anyone tell me what year these were taken and who might the three chaps be?

Graham

I took the liberty of cross-posting the Phoenix pic to the Heston Airport Yahoo Group and a hawk-eyed member has identified the central figure as William Forbes-Sempill (Lord Sempill from Feb 1934), organiser of events at Hanworth Air Park including the Zeppelin visit(s)…it checks out with photos of Sempill on the net. No info yet on the other two in hats….look a bit roguish like car dealers?

Air France/Modern Air CV-990 link

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1035788/