More Historical aircraft Pics and history.

[Phil Perry]

I saw this picture. and whilst I guessed the type correctly, I really couldn't figure out the 'Ramp' idea. . .and it isn't really explained in the link below either. I am thinking that it may have been to transport aircraft from the factory up to the test runway, but this would only be a guess, as the site at Longbridge Austin Car works near Birmingham has altered such a lot over the years. There is a note about the ramp under this photo in the link. . . but not Why it is there. . .

 

L4935 was the very first Battle, made in 1937.

 

 

http://www.austinmemories.c..

 

 

[Phil Perry]

'Just Saw' ( ! ) THIS tonight too. . .Mad Guy Martin. . .and his Merlin engine . . .this bloke is mad as a box of frogs and twice as funny. . .Met him on the Isle of man at the TT Festival 4 years ago. . .Brother ad I had a tinny with him. . .really ( mad. but ) down to Earth Mr. Nice bloke.

 

I believe he got the idea of owning a Merlin after taking part in a TV show about restoring a Spitfire. If you Goggly 'Guy Martin - Spitfire' you should find that programme. . .

 

 

 

[planedriver]

The above link was a real interesting read..

 

My main interest was in Lancaster NX611 which I looked over shortly after it arrived at Biggin Hill and I distingtly remember it had a kangaroo roundel on the nose of the fuselarge..

 

Apparently it was an interesting ferry flight from Oz, and arrived virtually on two engines. One was shut down and another was destined for the sick bay.

 

My old Dad had been an industrial chemist on paint development before he joined the Met Police Force, and after 32yrs in the job, retired and went back to the paint business.

 

I went with him to Biggin Hill as he was to give an estimate for the paint to some guy from The Historical Aircraft Preservation Society when they were planning for it's repaint.

 

I crawled through to the rear gunners position which was a bit of a challenge, and thanked my lucky stars that I had not had to be there in times of conflict.

 

Thanks for posting that link Phil, it bought back memories to me.

 

Rgds. Planey

 

 

[old man emu]

Fairy Battles in the RAAF

 

ADF Serials - Fairey Battle

 

Lancaster NX611: History of Lancaster NX611 - Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

 

 

[Phil Perry]

The above link was a real interesting read..My main interest was in Lancaster NX611 which I looked over shortly after it arrived at Biggin Hill and I distingtly remember it had a kangaroo roundel on the nose of the fuselarge..

Apparently it was an interesting ferry flight from Oz, and arrived virtually on two engines. One was shut down and another was destined for the sick bay.

 

My old Dad had been an industrial chemist on paint development before he joined the Met Police Force, and after 32yrs in the job, retired and went back to the paint business.

 

I went with him to Biggin Hill as he was to give an estimate for the paint to some guy from The Historical Aircraft Preservation Society when they were planning for it's repaint.

 

I crawled through to the rear gunners position which was a bit of a challenge, and thanked my lucky stars that I had not had to be there in times of conflict.

 

Thanks for posting that link Phil, it bought back memories to me.

 

Rgds. Planey

Hey, no probs mate,. . I always post that stuff here when I find it. . . I KNOW what you mean about the rear turret though,. . .some years back, I crawled into the rear turret on a Lanc at RAF Fairford. This one belonged to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight . . my cousin was one of the retired RAF mechanics keeping it flying voluntarily. I sat there in that turret, where the poor blokes could NOT wear a parachute, without going back into the Fuselage to fetch it. . No wonder so many of them died when their aircraft became unflyable, and if the turret lost hydraulic pressure whilst it was turned to one side, you couldn't get out of it at all. . . WELL , YOU SORT OF COULD. . .but without your parachute. . .! . Terrifying thought. . .

 

 

[Birdseye]

. There is a note about the ramp under this photo in the link. . . but not Why it is there. . .

I think your guess about the ramp is correct. There is more info on other pages in that link, including a plan that shows the 'inclined road to the airfield'.

 

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I think your guess about the ramp is correct. There is more info on other pages in that link, including a plan that shows the 'inclined road to the airfield'.[ATTACH=full]52631[/ATTACH]

I hadn't seen that pic before . . .thankyou Birdy. Appreciated. . . .I troll through so many historical links that I have been known to miss the odd few ( hundred ) Doesn't explain why that particular aircraft was facing the wrong way around on that ramp pic though . . . perhaps it had failed some tests, and was being sent back into the shop for mods ?. . who knows.. . .all the peiple who knew are no longer with us and we can only go on what they left behind for us. . .

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I just posted a pic of a Gloster Meteor here,. . .was supposed to be fighting the ME-262 in 1945 but I can't find any stories about any dogfights between the two,. . .which would have been fairly evenly matched at the time. . .still looking. . someone must know summat about this. . Although, from March 1945, they only had two months to do it until the end of the war. . .

 

 

[Birdseye]

I hadn't seen that pic before . . .thankyou Birdy. Appreciated. . . .I troll through so many historical links that I have been known to miss the odd few ( hundred ) Doesn't explain why that particular aircraft was facing the wrong way around on that ramp pic though . . . perhaps it had failed some tests, and was being sent back into the shop for mods ?. . who knows.. . .all the peiple who knew are no longer with us and we can only go on what they left behind for us. . .

I reckon it would be a fair guess to say that it was to commemorate some milestone and was facing forward purely done for the camera's benefit.

 

 

[bull]

I saw this picture. and whilst I guessed the type correctly, I really couldn't figure out the 'Ramp' idea. . .and it isn't really explained in the link below either. I am thinking that it may have been to transport aircraft from the factory up to the test runway, but this would only be a guess, as the site at Longbridge Austin Car works near Birmingham has altered such a lot over the years. There is a note about the ramp under this photo in the link. . . but not Why it is there. . .L4935 was the very first Battle, made in 1937.

 

[ATTACH=full]52630[/ATTACH]

 

http://www.austinmemories.c..

Your right as if you scroldown the photos and stories in the link , you will find a photo with an explaning sentence underneath saying this is a hurricane on the ramp about to be lifted to the airfield................

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I just posted a pic of a Gloster Meteor here,. . .was supposed to be fighting the ME-262 in 1945 but I can't find any stories about any dogfights between the two,. . .which would have been fairly evenly matched at the time. . .still looking. . someone must know summat about this. . Although, from March 1945, they only had two months to do it until the end of the war. . .

I recall reading of an amazing meeting of Meteor and Me-262. It was before the war ended and the Meteor pilot (who may have been Australian) acted on the assumption that the fight had gone out of the Germans. He brashly landed at a Luftwaffe airfield and was received with courtesy by the commandant, who commented on the impressive workmanship of the allied jet. He showed the RAF pilot over a Me-262 and even allowed him to taxi it around.

I believe this account was towards the end of a book about 617 squadron and their awesome bombing accuracy.

 

Near the end of the war a couple of their blokes drove a jeep miles ahead of the allied advance to inspect the damage their precision bombing had done. The Germans were demoralised and couldn't believe that bombs had penetrated (from memory) 25m of concrete to destroy their U-boat pens.

 

 

[Birdseye]

I recall reading of an amazing meeting of Meteor and Me-262. It was before the war ended and the Meteor pilot (who may have been Australian) acted on the assumption that the fight had gone out of the Germans. He brashly landed at a Luftwaffe airfield and was received with courtesy by the commandant, who commented on the impressive workmanship of the allied jet. He showed the RAF pilot over a Me-262 and even allowed him to taxi it around.

Nah he wasn't an Aussie, it was Bigglesworth.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Your right as if you scroldown the photos and stories in the link , you will find a photo with an explaning sentence underneath saying this is a hurricane on the ramp about to be lifted to the airfield................

Er, not a Hurricane in the picture above. . . as it has the prototype 'Battle's Ident number under the stbd wing, L4935 . . .( I didn't read all the sub-links in that story, got interrupted by the Boss Lady. . ! )

 

 

[bull]

Er, not a Hurricane in the picture above. . . as it has the prototype 'Battle's Ident number under the stbd wing, L4935 . . .( I didn't read all the sub-links in that story, got interrupted by the Boss Lady. . ! )

Not the photo you published ,I know that was a battle, but further down in the story there is another photo of a hurricane going up the ramp

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Anyone remember Con Air? Tonight ABCTV news showed a Con Air 4-engine plane being returned to Alice Springs for restoration. I can't find a link to the clip, only these:

 

Connellan Airways at the rock

 

Connellan Airways staff

 

Connellan air disaster survivor commemorates anniversary

 

My sister worked on Elcho and had lots of stories about Con Air, including pilots landing with no idea where they were.

 

The standard joke was Darwin Tower asking incoming aircraft for an ETA.

 

QANTAS: 1624.

 

TAA: Twenty past two.

 

Con Air: Tuesday arvo.

 

 

[willedoo]

I just posted a pic of a Gloster Meteor here,. . .was supposed to be fighting the ME-262 in 1945 but I can't find any stories about any dogfights between the two,. . .which would have been fairly evenly matched at the time. . .still looking. . someone must know summat about this. . Although, from March 1945, they only had two months to do it until the end of the war. . .

Phil, I'd guess the two were quite an even match, as you say. By the time we had the Meteors in the Korean War, they were outclassed, but 77 Squadron did a mighty job with what they had. The Meteor can claim the world's first combat ejection using an ejection seat when W.O. Ron Guthrie ejected from his Meteor after being shot down by a Russian MiG-15 pilot.

 

He bailed out with the Martin Baker MK.1E seat, which was the first generation, pre automation MB seat. The only automatic feature was the static line activated drogue gun which deployed the drogue chute. After that, it was all manual - undo the seat restraint belts, push yourself away from the seat then head on down. Options were to ride the seat to a more oxygen friendly altitude of around 10,000 feet before seat separation, or to separate early and freefall if you had the skill. Ron Guthrie chose the third option and separated from the seat at high altitude, pulled the D ring and got a canopy happening at an altitude in the high thirties. His theory was to try and drift out into the bay and get picked up by friendly forces, but the wind didn't go his way and he was captured.

 

The MK.2 modification didn't come along until the end of the war, but it provided barometric controlled seat belt release, seat separation, and personal recovery chute deployment. This was a big step, as a pilot could be injured or unconscious after ejection and still survive.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

More on Con Air:

 

Hopes to remember Australia's forgotten outback airline

 

 

[facthunter]

Connellan,( Connair) had a network in the North with total route miles greater than BEA.( British European Airways.) Yes it was subsidised. It wouldn't have existed without that subsidy.. The Heron is deHavilland's four engined version of the DOVE..

 

I got very close to working for Eddie Connellan. I had tickets( paid by him) and a starting date, but got a short notice offer from another Airline in the meantime.. My interview with Mr Connellan was in a pub in Sydney and I found him a very approachable bloke with a hands on approach to running an airline. He even had a crankshaft grinder at his place..

 

One of their DC3 Captains (a Lady) used to knit while flying. Someone will recall her name.. I often ponder how different my life would have been. had I not had the second offer.. I always liked meeting country folk when I was ferrying, charter in remote areas...

 

Connair deserves to be remembered well. The last time I went through Alice Springs I followed a lot of leads with connections to Connair events. to try and sort out a few things... About 3 years ago . Nev

 

 

[onetrack]

I wasn't aware that Eddie Connellan imported two new Beech Staggerwings, one in 1941 and one in 1944 - and promptly had them both confiscated and impressed into the RAAF upon arrival!

 

The stupid part then, was - Eddie was contracted to survey all the new aerodrome sites from Townsville right through to W.A. during February 1942, for the RAAF and USAAF - using a Staggerwing that had been confiscated from a Jas Loneragan, of Mudgee, NSW!

 

Eddie must have been really peed off when he tried to get his second Staggerwing back - the RAAF had effectively ripped it apart!

 

Eddie finally got it back in many pieces - but it was 1956 before he finally got if fully assembled, and flying again!

 

BEECH 17 STAGGERWING IN AUSTRALIA

 

 

[red750]

Looking through the Staggerwing link above, I came across VH-FNS. Here is a photo I took of that aircraft at the RAAF 100th Anniversary Airshow at Point Cook four days before my cancer operation in 2014. A couple of months later the aircraft was seriously damaged. From the Aviation Safety Network, this report: Accident date 31/05/2014.

 

The light aircraft went down in a paddock adjacent to Ferguson Road, Dardanup. The 1942 Beech D17-S Staggerwing biplane sustained substantial damage. The sole occupant received serious injuries.

 

 

 

[old man emu]

I remember FNS coming over from WA to Camden where it was hangered at Airborne Aviation and worked on by Dent Aviation. Had a real lot of trouble trying to get the brakes to work. It was a really beautiful aircraft with a great, round-engine sound.

 

 

[old man emu]

Found this picture whilst trawling through old PIX magazines ( The popular tabloid Pix magazine now online! )

 

 

What is so sad going through these old magazines is that the hot bods in the pictures are now wrinkly old dears in old people's homes.

 

 

 

[Charlie Harper]

Lovely engine, have dreams (nightmares?) of building my RW9 around one of these...