WT308 forlorn at Predannack 2006

Airframes at Predannack, Culdrose’s satellite field, are used for fire training and sheet metal repair practice

Pics of sabena airliners on
http://www.baha.be/Webpages/Navigator/Photos/CivilPics/civil_pics_ooaaa_ooczz/sabena_junkers_ju_52.htm

Map of Allies trans Africa route attached (from HMSO Merchant Airmen 1944)….in August 1940 BOAC’s Clyde flew a diplomatic mission to get French Equatorial Africa to abandon Vichy and side with the allies which ‘unblocked’ the route

I’m reading ‘African Experience – Story of an RNZAF Ferry Pilot’ by Trevor Howells, where he was ferrying British aircraft on the route from Takoradi to Cairo. In the bit where he wrote about flying back from Cairo to the west coast of Africa he talks about the airlines operating across the continent that they would use.

These included BOAC flying Empire flying boats, Lockheed Hudsons, DC3’s and Ensigns (whatever they were); The American Transport Corps using DC-3’s, DC-4’s and Liberators; Pan American using DC-3’s; the RAF using Venturas and DC-3’s and lastly Sabena (the Belgain airline) flying Junkers 52’s.

I am wondering if Sabena flying German aircraft (Junkers 52) caused any problems with Allied fighters or AA gunners, etc., spotting them? How were they marked to denote airline status? Does anyone have a photo of a Sabena Junkers 52?

747 at 40

A few old ones

Link to the BOAC 747 taxying large (squiggles in paint under BOAC are reflections of port-side engines in brand new paint!)

http://www.airliners.net/photo/BOAC/Boeing-747-136/0775455/L/

BOAC 747 rotate
http://www.airliners.net/photo/BOAC/Boeing-747-136/0963285/L/

also Pan Am rotating A.net 0786369

Air-India screen change

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-India/Boeing-747-237B/0775444/L/

The Valiant was the ‘short straw’ in the V-Bomber development wasn’t it. Produced as a very basic design that could be got into manufacture quickly, Thus ensuring that we had something to mount our big A-bombs in by 1952-53.
The other two were viewed as being ‘very adventurous’ at the time and therefore ‘risky’-a big delta wing jet and a crescent wing one.
I think the Victor remains ‘ultra modern’ looking, not only because of the wing but that fantastic futuristic nose. But then I still think the Vulcan is beautiful, but I really prefer it in ‘atomic white’!

The Valiant’s that came to and fro to Woomera were still thrilling to see but had, by the early 60’s been pushed aside by the other two. Perhaps the ‘all silver’ with no markings of any sort didn’t help the ‘self esteem’ either. The white V-Bombers had a great wow factor in those years.
DT

Have you read ‘Bombers of the West’ by Bill Gunston, Postfade? quite an old book now but contains an excellent comparison of the V-bombers….worth checking the Valiant B.2 which only flew as a prototype but was a solution to the low level flying later found necessary for the V-force

Longshot:

Indonesian Albatross 301

I believe this is early December 1962 as the film also has pics of the Brit commandeered to get troops to Labuan in a hurry when the Indonesian’s attacked Brunei.

DT

Wow!Magic, Postfade!!! 🙂 Thanks for that!

Longshot- yes that’s the Samoca camera I had.
I was given it by my dad shortly after arriving in Singapore as I guess he could see that he wasn’t going to get his old Agfa camera back now that we lived directly above the aircraft park.

I have an Epson 4870 scanner bought on eBay. I scan the 35mm negs at
2400dpi and leave them as ‘colour negtive film’-which they obviously aren’t!
I hope that keeping all the RGB detail until I print will help with any ‘post production’ I may need to do. Next I need a good printer, another Epson I think.
I do have to spend sometime with each picture in Photoshop, because even the scanning adds dust etc but some of the negs are scratched, unavoidable I imagine after over 45 years. Often there are also uneven ‘sky’s’ from poor development.

Photoshops even saved a few negs from impossibly bad processing marking, so I’m now convinced about ‘digital’!

David

Thanks Postfade I think you had a good little camera in the Samoca! and you knew how to use it!!….were you using FP3 film?….did you get any shots of Indonesian Albatrosses out there?….they’ve just been mentioned on the A-B abix forum