Posting from the obscure corners of aviation history! Ex-@RoyalAirForce, former Curator of @MuseumTangmere, now a volunteer aviation specialist @PDHeritageCent.
Living in the past!
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A lovely image of a pre-production Supermarine Scimitar about to launch from the steam catapult of HMS Ark Royal in 1957.
The aircraft later had a rather 'troubled' operational career, which was unfortunate, for the last aircraft built by the company that produced the Spitfire.
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Looking about as elegant and svelt as its namesake...the Sopwith Rhino!
Built as private project in 1917, the triplane featured a water-cooled Galloway Adriatic engine providing a stonking 230 HP! The aircraft flew about as well as it looked! 馃槀
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The 'geodetic giant', the Vickers Windsor was too late to see service in WW2.
A rather bizarre aircraft which featured several unusual aspects, such as two remotely controlled defensive 'barbettes' aimed by the 'rear gunner'...who's glazed workstation in the tail had no guns!
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Just a thought, would the Sud-Aviation Caravelle have been as sexy as it is here...if they'd designed the nose section themselves and not used one from the De Havilland Comet?? 馃
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Yesterday, 'X' sent me an official looking email saying somebody logged on to this account from sunny Bali (I wish it was me) and I should change my password. Despite the links looking very genuine, apparently it's another 'scam', so if you too get one too...just ignore it.馃槨
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Dazzle camouflage dates back to the Great War, when it used to disguise the outline of ships.
The idea was re-visited in WW2 by the USAAF in America. This early P-51 took part in trials involving air-to-air combat. Working up to a point, this unusual camouflage wasn't adopted.
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An unusual steam powered 'glider' built in 1887 by a Mr Hayfield of Kent.
Sitting on a flatbed railway wagon, power was fed by steam from the train locomotive, in this proof of concept experiment.
At 40 mph, the machine was briefly lifted aloft, but minus Mr Hayfield!馃槀馃槀
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Looking at these two images and you'd be excused for identifying them Sikorsky Blackhawk variants. They are in fact both land and sea based variants of the Chinese Harbin Z-20 helicopters. Look like a good layout works, whichever side you're on!
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The dawn of budget air travel!馃槈
An image of the experimental Polikarpov R5 troop carrier! The type was successfully used in a number of roles in WW2, but I believe this was a 'one off'! Battery hens sprung to mind, only the Soviet Union would treat its troops like this.
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The Blackburn 'Blackburd' (I think they thought spelling its name that way would make it stand out!) was a single engine torpedo bomber prototype. It was ousted from production by the (aptly named) Sopwith Cuckoo! 馃槀
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The Blackburn B 22 was the looser in a competition to supply a carrier based anti submarine attack aircraft for the Royal Navy in the 1950s. It lost out to the better looking 馃ス Fairey Gannet!
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Possibly the last image of Tupolev TU-144S (CCCP-77102) seen performing a final flypast at Paris Le Bourget on the 3rd June 1973.
Moments later this aircraft broke up at crashed at Goussainville.
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The Bloch MB-135 was a pre-World War II four-engine medium bomber prototype.
To my eyes, it looks like a four engine development of the Lockheed Hudson! Only one was built.
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A very 'un-politically correct' poster, at least measured by today's standards, but refreshingly unusual for a 1950s airshow advertisement. This airfield was only 30 minutes drive from my childhood home, but flying stopped before I could visit it. It's now an Open Prison!
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One of the loveliest airlines I've flown on, Palmair (1993-2009) was owned by Peter Bath, of Bath Travel.
Every single departure was seen off by Peter (in person!)and they also provided super free meals, together with alcohol, on their short haul holiday destinations in Spain.
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Looking a little like an F1 car on a Friday!
A British flying laboratory using an Avro Lincoln bomber airframe fitted with a Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprop engine and a water spray system frame for testing the engine in icing conditions during 1956.
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Aircraft spotters in the 20th Century often took things to extremes that today's enthusiasts would probably not even consider! 馃槀
This could be Eastern Europe or perhaps they were expecting the Tupolev and made a special effort to see it at close hand!
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Sixty years ago, spotters at London Heathrow were treated to this beauty. The Carvair was an extreme adaptation of a Douglas DC-4, used to carry a mixture of cars and their passengers, mostly across the Channel. This Irish example was rarer, flying on various routes until 1968.
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