Less Common Transport Aircraft

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A friend of mine, now deceased, was adamant that he saw a Convair Tradewind flying boat over the Wirral in the 1950s. The sighting was never proven but I wonder if anyone knows if any of the few USN examples ever reached Europe.

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R3Y Tradewind

A friend of mine, now deceased, was adamant that he saw a Convair Tradewind flying boat over the Wirral in the 1950s. The sighting was never proven but I wonder if anyone knows if any of the few USN examples ever reached Europe.

Don't know , but here's a pic!

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[QUOTE=battle_damaged;1334810]Hmm...where might that have been? Not the former British Eagle hangars by any chance...??
Alan

No, southside , behind Fields.... where T4 is now.... the Howard 500 is on the taxiway block 94/97

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Miles Wartime Transport Projects

Don Brown's Miles Putnam contains details of the many airliner projects(with blended wings) for the post WWII world but only the little Miles M.30 X Minor was built and flown in 1941....it carried one passenger (on its first flight, Don Brown with FG Miles piloting!)
Illustrations from the Putnam

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Piper Apache Evolution

The Piper Apache evolved from the Twin Stinson design which Piper bought....pic and data panels from Janes 1952/1953. The 1959 Apache demonstrator was at Kidlington at a Shackleton sales weekend.......in those days desirable Pipers had to be imported into Britain via Eire

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Piper Apache Evolution continued

Customised versions like the Vecto /Seguin Geronimo conversion were available....Piper themselves added more power , more seats a swept tailfin in the short-nosed Apache 235 predecessor of the AZTEC

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Macchi 320

Some slight similarities to the Piper Apache , but much much rarer. Pic and info from Janes A.W.A 1952/1953. Some sold to East African Airways

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Nice stuff Longshot!

I can offer these two pics of a bevy of Ford 5AT-Cs, taken from Fordair UK's 25th Anniversary booklet.

G-ABHF was eventually sold to Australia in October '34 as VH-UTB. She was originally registered G-ABFF.

Another was ABHO, sold the following year as VH-UBI

cheers
Alan

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Fords at Ford?

Excellent 'Battle Damaged' !....I know the Apache wasn't 'less common' but it had interesting origins and development.....your pics would be at Ford's custom built factory which became RNAS Ford after Ford's abandoned making aircraft?

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Correct indeed, Ford it was, in fact, if you look at the sign on the left-hand hangar...:)!

I was wondering what the earliest UK Apache was, and found G-APCL, but I see there was APBD too, though it had a higher c/n. Irish-registered PA-23s were also abundant as you so rightly mention. Perhaps that was what lead to Lord Caryll Waterpark's connection with CSE, or whatever they were in the beginning...

brgds
Alan

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Does anyone have any photographs of the Kenyan registered Macchi 320s? Particularly keen to obtain a copy of VP-KIT, this was not an EAAC aircraft. The EAAC machines were VP-KJD, KJG & KJJ.

PLanemike..........

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Correct indeed, Ford it was, in fact, if you look at the sign on the left-hand hangar...:)!

I was wondering what the earliest UK Apache was, and found G-APCL, but I see there was APBD too, though it had a higher c/n. Irish-registered PA-23s were also abundant as you so rightly mention. Perhaps that was what lead to Lord Caryll Waterpark's connection with CSE, or whatever they were in the beginning...

brgds
Alan


Import restrictions on American light aircraft into the UK were removed in 1959....Pipers had been coming into the UK via Irish Air Charters in Dublin....Vigors Aviation commenced at Kidlington in 1959 becoming CSE aviation in the Sixties....Lords Waterpark and Kildare and Tim Vigors were involved (maybe G-APBD was reserved but G-APCL was painted up first?)
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959-1883.html

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1129325/
http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1064934/

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Thanks for the links - I believe I was with Robin at the time he shot 'PBD. We were both in the Blackbushe chapter of Air Britain, later to become B.A.R.G., but I left when it was in its infancy. I rekindled our contact just before Christmas last. We always got excited at seeing those crates of Pipers, and hoped they would open them while we were there. Otherwise it meant another visit within the next few days!

Yes, I had forgotten Lord Kildare, a very gentle person. Then there was Rex Smith, with whom I had many a healthy dogfight over advertising (in my later business mode of course). Believe he was elected to the Board of the CAA eventually. Good fun.

cheers
Alan

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Some comments on previous posts to this thread

Accountant built by Aviation Traders at Southend registered G-ATEL. This was one of the first out of sequence registrations, not far behind was G-AHDM for the Miles HDM105.

I think JEA were using a Twin Pin on their Shoreham to Jersey route in the mid to late 80s, using the TwinPin now owned by Air Atlantique

Channel Airways was operating the Shoreham - Portsmouth - Jersey service with Dragon Rapides in 1956 and changed about 1958 -59 to Doves. The only one that I remember was G-ANVU and also G-AO??

I remember seeing the 4 x Leonides Major engined Herald spending two days at Shoreham sometime during the period 1958 - 1960 for rough and unprepared airfield trials

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I remember seeing the 4 x Leonides Major engined Herald spending two days at Shoreham sometime during the period 1958 - 1960 for rough and unprepared airfield trials

...........and if this was during the winter months and after prolonged rain, my understanding (not recollection - I was pre-school age at that time) is that Shoreham's grass surface was as rough and unprepared as Handley Page Reading could wish for!

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Do you have any further information or photos of JFA airlines. my late father ran Portsmouth Airport in the 70's and i am trying to search for any information i can as over the years the photos he had have been lost.

many thanks for any help.

regards

John Slack

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Do you have any further information or photos of JFA airlines. my late father ran Portsmouth Airport in the 70's and i am trying to search for any information i can as over the years the photos he had have been lost.

many thanks for any help.

regards

John Slack

John, I suspect that you'll get a better response if you start a new thread (or threads) entitled JF Airlines and/or JFA and/or Jersey Ferry Airlines and/or Portsmouth Airport in the 1970s, so that the subject in which you are interested is displayed on the historic aviation forum front page. That way others on the forum with an interest in or information about the subject will become aware of and can respond to it. If you confine your enquiry to this thread it will only come to the notice of those subscribed to it or those who search against your subject. I hope that this suggestion is helpful.

AA

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I just found a picture I took of this beast at Stansted in 1991, I can't remember what it was or what happened to it, was it unique?

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo101/petetruman/stans1.jpg

I'm sorry, but the Belfast was captured parked up behind it and running up his engines, I couldn't resist showing it, fairly rare type though.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo101/petetruman/stans2.jpg

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JFA/Portsmouth Airport

The two events which interested me about Portsmouth were the demonstration visit of the Yak-40 jet to Jersey Ferry airlines about the time I photographed G-APHY in 1971 and the two runway over-runs in Avro 748s

Do you have any further information or photos of JFA airlines. my late father ran Portsmouth Airport in the 70's and i am trying to search for any information i can as over the years the photos he had have been lost.

many thanks for any help.

regards

John Slack

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15 years 8 months

Posts: 316

What about this?

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