ANY HISTORICAL PICTURES ? (Aviation subject preferred but not essential )

[willedoo]

This is a fairly scratchy old photo. My Great Uncle took it when he was a Trooper in the 5th. Light Horse Regiment. Shows a bunch of LH troops checking out a badly parked aeroplane. Not sure of the location - he was in Egypt, Palestine, Syria etc., so one of those countries.

 

 

 

[old man emu]

Did you see the Light Horseman (circled) making off with the saddle off that nightmare?

 

 

[willedoo]

Did you see the Light Horseman (circled) making off with the saddle of that nightmare?

 

Can't see anyone circled. Do you mean the trooper walking in front of the wing roundel?

 

 

[old man emu]

It's a joke, Joyce.

 

 

[facthunter]

You're not wrong, Narelle. Nev

 

 

[willedoo]

It's a joke, Joyce.

 

I guess I would have figured that out if I'd read the last half of the sentence. Never got past the circled bit - thought you might have really good eyesight.

 

This is another one from the same collection; not sure of the story behind it. Appears to be all British troops.

 

 

 

[red750]

One of those clickbait links to a (long) series of pages, the one "The Worst Planes and Helicopters ever Designed." had this photo of a Fairey Battle, which it described as a 'bomb', and the most disappointing aircraft in RAF service, with nearly 100 shot down in one week.

 

 

 

[old man emu]

Perhaps not one of the "worst", just too early in the evolution of military monoplanes.

 

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/fairey-battle.html

 

by the time the Battle had entered service, its features had been rendered entirely obsolete by the fast advancement in aircraft technology at the time. 

 

Its original specification issued by the British Air Ministry in April 1933 was not commensurate with the needs of 1940.

 

The birth of the Battle came after the issuance of Specification P.27/32 . The Specification required a monoplane day bomber that would have the capability to carry 1,000 lb bombs over a 1000-mile range at 200 mph. This aircraft would ultimately replace the Hawker Hart and Hind biplanes which were in service with the RAF.

 

 

[facthunter]

 Yes it was out of date at a time when things  evolved quickly. They were still flying biplanes in Malta,( Gloster Gladiators.) It was a bomber not a fighter. Plenty about it on wikipedia  Nev

 

 

[willedoo]

This colourised photo is of female U-2 pilots from the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Regiment in Crimea, 1944. Looking at what they are doing, it must be a posed PR/propaganda photo. They're probably supposed to look like they are pushing a bogged truck. It looks like the pilot on the left hand corner of the truck has lost her hand-hold and is about to fall on her backside in the mud. No wonder the people in the background are laughing.

 

It's amazing how they can colour these old b&w photos; even the resolution quality seems way better than the original. Must be good software.

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

Does anyone remember Col Paye? It seems he ran a crop duster back in the sixties.

 

This pic was titled 'Col Paye loading his crop duster.'

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Col Paye is certainly a legend around these parts. Lots of pilots mention learning from him and many have stories about his adventures.

 

His "crop duster" business still operates out of Scone, but now focuses on restoring warbirds and operating a fleet of water bombers. 

 

Surprisingly, his namesake Judy Pay is also in the warbirds business- at Tyabb- but I believe she is no relation.

 

 

[Methusala]

Col Paye restored a Spitfire. When asked would he do it again he replied that restoring one was enough. They were an extraordinarily complex bird.

 

 

[old man emu]

Unfortunately he died whilst training for fire fighting duty.

 

https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/478451/air-legends-fatal-flight/

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Col Paye restored a Spitfire. When asked would he do it again he replied that restoring one was enough. They were an extraordinarily complex bird.

 

He and his company obviously got over that pretty quickly. I've been thru his Scone operation to inspect Hurricane, FW-190 and several Spitfires in the process of restoration.

 

[Methusala]

I think that Col died testing an experimental rig designed to scoop water into a fire bombing a/c whilst in flight. Not a detailed memory but?...

 

 

[facthunter]

That's what I recall as well. Nev

 

 

[willedoo]

Came across these photos of Oymyakon Airport terminal in Eastern Siberia, roughly due north of Japan. Apparently Oymyakon is one of the coldest permanently inhabited settlements on Earth with temperatures from -70 to +30. I couldn't find any photos of the strip, but Google Earth shows it as unsealed. The airstrip was built during WW2 as part of the Alaska-Siberia ferry route for lend lease aircraft supplied by the U.S.

 

According to the history, U.S. pilots would ferry the aircraft to Fairbanks in Alaska for handover to Soviet ferry crews. The Soviets had five ferry regiments, each flying a separate leg of the journey from Alaska to Krasnoyarsk in South Central Siberia where they had a training base. The 3rd. regiment flew from Seymchan to Yakutsk with five stops in between, Oymyakon being one of them. Single seat aircraft like the Aircobra and Kingcobra flew in groups escorted by a pair of B-25's or Douglas A-20 Havoc's. Pilots were then ferried back to their starting point in C-47's. Oymyakon is one of those dying post Soviet towns. The population is down to about 900 people and most likely serviced by An-2 or at the largest, An-24 aircraft.

 

 

U.S. and Soviet personnel with the first Kingcobras in Alaska.

 

 

 

A condition of the lend lease deal was that the P-63 Kingcobras were not to be used against the Germans. There's evidence that the Soviets did, in breach of the deal. Eyewitness reports from German pilots claimed they encountered P-63's on the Eastern Front.

 

 

[pmccarthy1]

Tullamarine airport, 1968 before it opened. (Hope I didn't already post this)

 

[pmccarthy1]

Four Aussies training to be pilots in the Empire Training Scheme, Canada 1942.

 

[Old Koreelah]

During the war thousands of war planes were flown across the northern route to the USSR. It was a dangerous business, with many losses. Our friend in Yukon set up this museum to preserve some of that heritage.

 

 

 

 

 

[willedoo]

During the war thousands of war planes were flown across the northern route to the USSR. It was a dangerous business, with many losses. Our friend in Yukon set up this museum to preserve some of that heritage.

 

Looks interesting, Old Koreelah. Do they have a website for the museum? Googling the subject brings up a lot of information about the Soviet leg of the trip, but not much about the U.S. ferry route to Alaska via Canada. That would be a story in itself.

 

Not sure how accurate the figures on this site are, but they list 13,208 U.S. aircraft and 4,613 British aircraft under the lend lease scheme.

 

https://ww2-weapons.com/lend-lease-tanks-and-aircrafts/

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I'll try to find out for you, Willy.

 

What's wrong with those yanks who have to put an s on aircraft?

 

 

[nomadpete]

Merkans don't speak English, old mate.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Looks interesting, Old Koreelah. Do they have a website for the museum?

 

Not much use, Willy. All I can see is the downed radio tower, located near the log cabin radio shack.

 

http://gjmuseum.com/exhibits

 

More about the route:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Staging_Route

 

http://www.alaskahighwayarchives.ca/en/chap4/4routercairforce.php