A SERIES OF PICTURES OF INTERESTING AIRCRAFT, SOME WELL-KNOWN, OTHERS LESS FAMOUS. SELECTION IS FAIRLY RANDOM ALTHOUGH A THREAD LINKS THE SUBJECTS AND THERE ARE CROSS-REFERENCES TO OTHER LINKS ON THE WEBSITE.
CONTINUING WITH FLOATPLANES, CESSNA 172F G-DRAM WAS SEEN AT THE ANNUAL AYR FESTIVAL OF FLIGHT IN 2025.
G-DRAM IS BASED AT PRESTWICK AIRPORT IN SOUTH-WEST SCOTLAND. THE AYRSHIRE AIRFIELD OFTEN HOSTS INTERESTING AIRCRAFT OWING TO ITS FUNCTION AS A MAJOR FREIGHT HUB AS WELL AS IT BEING THE GATEWAY FOR ATLANTIC CROSSINGS. IN 2019 TEN C-47s OF THE D-DAY SQUADRON VISITED PRESTWICK EN ROUTE FROM THE USA TO DUXFORD FOR THE COMMEMORATION OF THE NORMANDY LANDINGS. PLACID LASSIE WAS ONE OF THOSE C-47s AND, FIVE YEARS LATER, SHE RETURNED TO PRESTWICK PRIOR TO THE 80th. ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION OVERLORD.
THE 2019 GATHERING OF C-47s, DC-3s AND AN Li-2 AT DUXFORD COMMEMORATED THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1944 OPERATION OVERLORD NORMANDY LANDINGS IN FINE STYLE. AS WELL AS THE HUGE COLLECTION OF C-47s, DUXFORD ALSO HOSTED MANY OTHER HISTORIC VISITORS: HARVARDS, C-45 EXPEDITORS, DRAGON RAPIDES, TIGER MOTHS AND B-17 ‘SALLY B’ TO NAME BUT A FEW. THE NEXT PHOTO DOCUMENTS D-DAY SQUADRON’S EXCELLENT DAKOTA ‘FLABOB EXPRESS’ ALONGSIDE DRAGON RAPIDE G-AKIF.
THE D-DAY COMMEMORATION OF 2019 BROUGHT A WHOLE FLEET OF DAKOTAS (PLUS AN LI-2) TO DUXFORD PRIOR TO CROSS-CHANNEL FLIGHTS TO NORMANDY TO CELEBRATE THE SUCCESS OF OPERATION OVERLORD, 1944. THE DAKOTAS HAD A LARGE SUPPORTING CAST OF WW2 VETERANS INCLUDING RAPIDE G-AKIF (ABOVE), TIGER MOTHS, A C-45 EXPEDITOR AND A HARVARD TRAINER. WHILE PRODUCTION NUMBERS FOR C-47s ARE VERY EXTENSIVE, THE HARVARD WAS EVEN MORE PROLIFIC – INDEED IT IS PROBABLY CLOSE TO JOINING THE TOP TEN MOST-PRODUCED AIRCRAFT EVER.
SNAPSHOT 5 WAS ALSO TAKEN AT DUXFORD ON JUNE 6TH 2019 AND FEATURES CANADIAN-BUILT HARVARD G-BDAM.
HAVING CHECKED-OUT ONE OF THE MANY HARVARDS STILL FLYING IN THE UK, SNAPSHOT 6 TAKES A LOOK AT ANOTHER GREAT HARVARD-OPERATING COUNTRY – SOUTH AFRICA. THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN AT YSTERPLAAT AIR BASE, CAPE TOWN, AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SAAF.
THE YSTERPLAAT AIR DISPLAY IN 1995 SHOWCASED THE HARVARD OF SNAPSHOT 6 BUT ALSO ANOTHER GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN AVIATION INSTITUTION – THE C-47 DAKOTA AND ITS MORE RECENT EVOLUTION, THE AMI ‘TURBO DAK’.
SNAPSHOT 7 FEATURES SAAF DAKOTA 6832, A TRUE REFLECTION OF A WW2 MILITARY TRANSPORT. WHILE EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF THIS OLD WARRIOR, I FOUND THE HISTORY OF THE TYPE IN SAAF SERVICE FROM WW2 UNTIL THE 1980s JUST TOO INTERESTING TO PASS OVER. THE BACKGROUND MAKES AN ATTEMPT TO SUMMARISE THE DAKOTA’S MILITARY HISTORY AND ALSO EXPLORE SUBSEQUENT CIVILIAN USE OF DEMOBILISED EXAMPLES.
SNAPSHOT 8 CONTINUES THE THEME OF LONG-SERVING PROP AIRCRAFT OPERATED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE. THE SHACKLETON FLEW WITH THE SAAF BETWEEN 1957 AND 1984. AS THE SURVIVING FLEET OF SEVEN SHACKLETONS APPROACHED RETIREMENT, IT SEEMED LIKE MANY WOULD BE PRESERVED. HOWEVER, MANY OF THE AIRCRAFT INITIALLY PLACED ON DISPLAY ENDED-UP BEING CUT-UP FOR SCRAP. THIS PICTURE SHOWS A PICTURE OF SERIAL 1719 WHICH WAS RETIRED FIRST TO STELLENBOSCH AERO CLUB AND, SUBSEQUENTLY, TO THE CAPE TOWN WATERFRONT.
SNAPSHOT 9 CONTINUES THE THEME OF GREAT AIRCRAFT BUILT BY BY A.V.ROE IN BRITAIN. THE AVRO ANSON WAS BUILT IN GREATER NUMBERS THAN EVEN THE LANCASTER AND WAS PRODUCED IN MANY DIFFERENT FORMS RANGING FROM COASTAL DEFENCE AIRCRAFT TO TRAINER AND LIGHT PASSENGER TRANSPORT. THEY WERE BUILT BETWEEN 1934 AND 1952 AND ONLY RETIRED FROM RAF SERVICE IN 1968.
THE SUBJECT OF THE PICTURE IS E.K COLE’S G-AGPG, A WELL-KNOWN ‘BIG NOSE’ ELECTRONIC TRIALS AIRCRAFT WHICH REMAINED IN SERVICE UNTIL 1971. THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN AT LUTON IN 1968.
THE ABOVE PHOTO OF G-AGPG WAS TAKEN AT LUTON AIRPORT IN 1968 OUTSIDE THE AUTAIR HANGAR.
SNAPSHOT 10 (AND 11) WAS TAKEN AT LUTON ON THE SAME SUNNY AFTERNOON AND FEATURES AUTAIR’S DAKOTA III G-APPO PAINTED IN ‘FUJAIRAH AIRLINES’ COLOURS.
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