Spitfire VIIIs of No.136 Squadron in the Cocos Islands

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VI / VII / VIII - ВеликобританияUnited Kingdom - 1942

We could not resist printing the photo on the back cover. The scene is Calshot and the boat is a target launch. Its crew appears to be prepared for gas bombs and/or sunstroke since close examination will show that his headgear is a pith helmet and not a tin hat.
These launches had an armoured cabin which protected the crew of three and the topee was to protect them from concussion while gas masks were worn as a protection from CO fumes in the battened-down cabin.
Calshot's target boats used a range in Christchurch Bay, an area obviously treated as a plague spot by local motor boat owners. An obvious parallel was flying one's Moth near a naval force expecting a Queen Bee.
It was these launches that AC.2 Shaw (Lawrence of Arabia was his better-known designation) helped to design, according to his biographers and they were obvious candidates for radio control. Two Singapore IIIs and a Stranraer are in the back ground, or should we say backwater?

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Short Singapore III / S.19 - ВеликобританияUnited Kingdom - 1934Supermarine Stranraer - ВеликобританияUnited Kingdom - 1934

The history of Manston in AM.1/80 has caused Peter Green to dig out the above photograph of the north-west corner taken around 1928. On the airfield are Virginias of No.9 Squadron and the hangar in the background illustrates 'shallow' design where the depth of the hangar was considerably less than the width, in contrast with most hangars constructed from 1925 onwards which had doors on the narrow ends.

Самолёты на фотографии: Aircrafts on the photo: Vickers Virginia - ВеликобританияUnited Kingdom - 1922