Air Enthusiast 1994-09
A.Wood - Airline at War
Hurricane I Z4769 ‘3’ on delivery from Takoradi to Fayoum Road, late May 1941. Note the long range tanks and the high visibility panels.
Takoradi in 1942 with two Hurricanes and a Tomahawk awaiting the next leg of their ferry flight. Note the white rear decking and tailplanes for high visibility.
Blenheim IV 77633 of the Free French Air Force.
Another Free French combatant of the time, Lysander P9134.
AW Ensign II G-ADSV Explorer of BOAC at Takoradi, circa 1943. Wellingtons in the background and a most impressive refuelling truck in the foreground.
Wellesley L2714 of 223 Squadron at Khartoum, 1940.
Khartoum airfield August 21, 1941 showing the after-effects of a storm. Bombay ‘P’ of 117 Squadron lies wrecked.
Another view of Lodestar G-AGDD showing the underside application of the registration and the red-white-blue ‘underlining’.
BOAC Lodestar G-AGCT circa 1944/1945.
Impressed Lockheed 18-08 Lodestar G-AGDD Lake Losna in late 1941. It survived to join the Royal Norwegian Air Force in July 1945.
Short S.23 G-ADVB Corsair of BOAC, 1943/1944.
Former British Airways Electra L.10A G-AEPO was impressed for service with the RAF as W9106 in April 1940. It served with 24 Squadron at Hendon until 1942. It was dismantled for spares recovery at Hendon in June 1942.
Another view of Lockheed 10A Electra W9104 of 24 Squadron.
Lockheed 10A Electra W9104 of 24 Squadron. It had previously served with British Airways as G-AFEB.
Electra G-AEPN undergoing maintenance in the British Airways hangar at Heston. In the background are four Lockheed 14-WF62s, including G-AFMO which was destroyed in a crash-landing at Heston on January 15,1940.
Loading mail into G-AEPN in classic British weather!
The crew for the Helsinki flight pose in front of their aircraft at Heston, September 1939: left to right Captain D S King, F/O J W S Beach, R/O J W Elliott, F/Clerk B R Bryan and F/E Bonici.
Lt Col Sir Francis Shelmerdine, Director General of Civil Aviation, addresses the crowd in front of British Airways Lockheed 14-WF62 G-AFMR at Heston, prior to the inaugural flight to Warsaw, April 17,1939.
The Author’s photograph of the demise of Lockheed 14 G-AFMO, at Heston on January 15,1940. A miraculous escape.
Another view of the wreckage pattern of G-AFMO.