Aeroplane Monthly 1993-06
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Personal album
A Hawker Tempest II of 30 Sqn on detachment at RAF Santa Cruz (No 56 Staging Post) from Agra. The squadron converted to Tempests in June 1946 and retained them until its disbandment in December that year.
Hawker Tempest II PR747 of 152 Sqn at RAF Risalpur, pictured in November 1946. This Tempest was transferred to the Royal Indian Air Force in September 1947. No 152 Sqn received its first Tempests in July 1946 and retained them until January the following year.
Avro Lancaster III ME545 from the Central Signals Establishment pictured at Santa Cruz, Bombay in the summer of 1946. This Lancaster was initially delivered to 218 Sqn.
Frank Blazek’s Fokker F.III, formerly the property of flamboyant Bert Acosta, arrived in the USA with its maker, Anthony Fokker, in 1921. Fokker had plans to open a factory and the F.III, with its comfortable closed cabin, was detailed to carry VIPs here, there and everywhere. It was later used for aerial mapping and finished its career in the service of a rum-runner. It is seen here at Roosevelt Field, circa October 1929.
Airspeed Oxford NM672 of 22 Army Co-operation Unit at Santa Cruz in the summer of 1946.
A Short Stirling V of 1588 Heavy Freight Flight low over the vicinity of Juhu Beach near RAF Santa Cruz in the spring of 1946.
Taylorcraft Auster V TJ626 at Santa Cruz in May 1946.
Avro Anson I LT674 of the RAF Santa Cruz Workshops Flight, pictured in the summer of 1946.
Pilot Sqn Ldr Marvin at left, Cpl R. Hedges in the right-hand seat and navigator Fg Off Richards facing the camera, airborne in Anson I LT674 from Santa Cruz in April 1946.
Avro York MW128 at Santa Cruz in April 1946. This York was initially delivered to 511 Sqn, passed to 1359 Flight, and spent some time with 24 Communications Squadron before ending up with 241 OCU. It was sold for scrap in April 1951.
Beechcraft A17F NC12583 with Bob Fogg at the controls. Howard Hughes acquired this Staggerwing in 1935, using the brute to sharpen his skills for an attack on the landplane speed record.
A chagrined NAT mail pilot endures the probing of the idle curious while waiting for someone to fetch a ladder. The heavily-loaded Curtiss Carrier Pigeon, firmly secured by its propeller, had attempted to taxy over Roosevelt Field terrain softened by winter rain and melted snow.
One of the first Brunner-Winkle Bird As being demonstrated at Roosevelt Field in 1929. Designer Michael Gregor, formerly of the Imperial Russian Air Service, subsequently collaborated with Sasha Seversky on the SEV series.
Igor Sikorsky’s S-36 gets an airing from Charles A. Lindbergh at Roosevelt Field on January 27, 1928. N3699 was leased to Pan Am for a brief period and is thought to have been dismantled by the factory upon completion of the S-38 prototype.
Frank Blazek, the proud owner of nearly-new Mohawk Pinto 6832 in June 1931.
A dismal day in the life of Frank Blazek. His Pinto spun during a turn on finals for Plainfield, New Jersey, putting Blazek in hospital for seven weeks. A spectator found the pilot’s pocket camera by the wreck and took this photograph!
Hunter Boyd’s first R&D project, the Model A, was built in 1925. It was a melding of technology and theology, its realisation being attributed to the power of prayer! Of all-metal construction, the A featured variable-camber wings, which also folded - intentionally, that is!