Friday - July 24, 2009

WHAT PEOPLE LEAVE BEHIND …. AIRCRAFT AND SHIPS OF WW2.

Over the last few weeks and only a little bit at a time, the wife has been uncovering millions of bits of things left by her late mother.
The old lady was a major pack rat.  Over two years ago, when the BIL was here for a visit, the three of us, he, the wife and myself, dug out the garage and discovered much junk.  Things I couldn’t believe anyone would find trouble parting with. Things she didn’t even know she had anymore.  But as my wife would remind me, once her mom got her hands on something, it never left.  She even had her report card from the age of 12.  No harm in that I guess. But so many things were stored so haphazardly and exposed to not just the elements in a leaky garage, but rodent piss and crap up in the attic among all her saved letters and cards.
Any card or letter for any occasion that she ever got, was saved. Well, not saved properly but stuffed away in bags and left. Any card or letter from anyone and not just her own kids. 

Tucked away in a corner of this desk drawer is a small packet containing impossibly small brown photos and letters from her late first fiancée, whose plane was lost on a mission during WW2. The tiny packet contains the letter from his commanding officer, who knew him and wrote comforting words altho I’m not sure there are words in that kind of situation. But anyway, they’re still here in a desk that dates from the same period.

An aside.  Doesn’t mean a thing really but.  His name was Roy.

Recently, a new house was built next door and the new owners name is Roy. 

So, about these photos.  While clearing out yet more savings, and fortunately saved in a dry room and sealed for years, the wife came across these photos that date from the war.  All but two are post cards.  There are two plane cards that are identified as, RECOGNITION CARDS.  On the back of them are also the words, “The Proficiency Test Series.”

Unfortunately, they were all apparently glued at one time, into a photo album. Whoever did it sure used a lot of glue because there are large splotches of black paper stuck to the back.  Right exactly where all the technical data is.  Size, speed, engines etc.  Unless I can figure a SAFE way to remove the black paper to read the info under it, most of the info is lost to me.  Altho actually it could easily be looked up in Google I suppose.

While this tiny collection isn’t very dramatic, no ME109s or Spitfires, I find them a treasure anyway.  And so I thought you might like to see them too.
When I did the scan, the file was so large that I reduced them to what you see here.  Hope I didn’t spoil anything and they show up ok on your computers.

ID Info for aircraft below.
TOP LEFT:  THE IMPERIAL AIRWAYS FLYING BOAT “CALEDONIA” used on the two-way Atlantic Mail Service
TOP RIGHT: THE MAYO COMPOSITE PLANE - MAIA

...  LEFT: SHORT “SINGAPORE” ...............................  RIGHT:  SHORT “SCION SENIOR”

The following info provided on the front of the cards.

TOP LEFT:  (no name or id given)
NEW MILITARY HIGH SPEED PLANE FLYING OVER THE FLEET

TOP RIGHT: “OXFORD” AIRCRAFT (no other info or id)

BOTTOM LEFT:  AIRCRAFT RECOGNITION CARDS
Part of the back that’s readable has following info.
“Proficiency Test Series”

THE DONIER DO 24
GERMAN RECONNAISSANCE FLYING BOAT.
Three 880 hp BMW 132 (? covered) radial motors. Crew of 6. Gun turrets in nose. Bomb load, 12 bombs of 110 lbs can be carried under wings.
MAX SPEED 195 at 13,000 ft.

RIGHT:  AIRCRAFT RECOGNITION CARDS
“Proficiency Test Series”
THE De HAVILLAND FLAMINGO
Two 930 hp Bristol .......?  all the rest is covered up.

Ships in the extended part below.

Posted by peiper     on 07/24/2009 at 09:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff • History • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles • UK •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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