Shipbucket

Islamic Republic of Iran, Bell 212

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In your dreams. ~ Yae Miko
報園-872 (方義鑑銃)
Patriotic Presentation Number 872, Q-102 (A6M3-32 captured in Buna, New Guinea)

Some new aircraft that I did earlier this week:
Boeing 757 - American Airlines (1989-2020)

Airbus A310 - TAP Air Portugal (1988-2008)
Interesting fact: CS-TEI was the airframe that performed a high speed low pass at the Portugal Air Show 2007 in Evora, Portugal.


P.s. I'm interested in feedback.

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- Ukraineball

The A310 Saga Continues!

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- Ukraineball

de Havilland DH.88 Comet

G-ACSS is such an iconic airshow aircraft that we forget how vibrant the 5 DH.88's built were in the otherwise drab late 1930's.



De Havilland agreed to build 3 aircaft for private buyers for the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from the UK to Australia. All three competed, with G-ACSP had an engine failure over India after using automotive fuel and dropped out of the race, G-ACSR suffered an oil leak at Baghdad and so was delayed - but still gaining 4th place, while G-ACSS famously won the race despite a rough running engine.
After the race G-ACSS was taken on charge by the RAF for tests, before being written off in a landing accident. After being rebuilt it rejoined the civil register and was passed between several owners and continued making long-distance flight records.
Another civil DH.88 was also built and was used to attempt the London-Capetown record, but an engine failure over the Sudan led to the crew parachuting to safety.
G-ACSS is still flying, and G-ACSP is currently in restoration.

DH.88 Comets in foreign service

After the MacRobertson air race both G-ACSP "Black Magic" and the unnamed G-ACSR were sold to foreign buyers.



G-ACSP was sold to the Portugese government where she was reregistered and renamed "Salazar". It was hoped to use the aircraft to establish a Lisbon - Rio de Janeiro speed record, but was damaged during the take-off in Portugal and the attempt cancelled. Amy Johnson attempted to buy the aircaft back from Portugal, but was unsuccessful, and the aircraft languished, forgotten, in a hangar. But the hulk was rediscovered, and the aircraft is currently undergoing restoration in Derby, UK.
Interestingly a flying replica of G-ACSR (the green Comet) is also being built, so potentially all 3 MacRobertson Comets will soon be flying again in the UK.



G-ACSR came back to the UK, and was used to deliver the Christmas mail to the Belgian Congo, having been named "Queen Astrid" for the event. It was then sold to France and modified to receive a baggage bay in the nose to be used as a mailplane to West Africa. The limited payload however meant that the aircraft was not suitable for the task. France also order the production of another Comet, also with a baggage nose bay, and this became the only "commercial" aircraft, rather than "racer" built. The French investigated using the Comet as a military aircraft, but like the RAF, found the DH.88 unsuitable.
Both French Comets were then pushed to the back of the hangar at Étampes. Photos from German "tourists" of the hangar in 1940 clearly show the 2 dilapidated airframes, and they would have been disposed of during the Occupation.

Caudron C.64 series Typhon

Can't cover the DH.88 Comet without covering France's attempt to duplicate the concept.



First flying in 1935, the Caudon C.640 attempted to add commercial viability to a Comet-like racer by increasing its size to give it a greater volume for payload, the C.640 was hoped to be a high-speed long-range mailplane. Eight airframes were started, with six completed as C.640's. Unfortunately the C.640's aerodynamics were not as favourable as the DH.88's, was wings were too flexible at high speed and suffered from excessive vibrations.
Like with the Comet in Britain, attempts were made to interest the French air force in the Typhon. And, like the Comet, the Typhon was not accepted.
The 5th aircraft weas modified to become the C.641 with a revised cockpit for better pilot visibity. This aircraft was used to attempt speed records, and flew in the 1937 Istres–Damascus–Paris Air Race.



The 8th airframe was completed as the second C.641, and sold to Prince Anton Bibescu of Romania, as his personal aircraft. The machine was further modified to reshape the upper fuselage.

Excellent additions Sheepster, the DH.88 was certainly a good looking aircraft.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Republic of Finland, Valtion Lentokonetehdas Pyörremyrsky

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In your dreams. ~ Yae Miko
報園-872 (方義鑑銃)
Patriotic Presentation Number 872, Q-102 (A6M3-32 captured in Buna, New Guinea)

Caudron C.670

Final gasp of trying to turn the Typhon into a military aircraft.



As the standard C.640 was unable to excite the French air force, the uncompleted 6th airframe was modified into a 3-seat military type. The revised airfame was now extended with seating for 3, and to be fitted with 2 guns in the nose. While combat capable, it was not specifically a "fighter" itself, the C.670 was to be a flying command aircraft. In these pre-radar days France was experimenting with the idea of having a fighter group commander in the air with his fighters, and from watching an unfolding massed dogfight control and coordinate the meleeing fighters.
This concept was as flawed as it sounds, and the C.670 progressed no further than the prototype.

USN/USMC/USCG Sikorsky S-58

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A.K.A. Das_Schlemm