Jet & Prop by FalkeEins

Saturday, 16 November 2013

Soviet DC -3 in Berlin 1940 - Ebay Daily photo find #14

" Arrival of the first Russian aircraft - a Douglas DC-3 - in Berlin after a test flight (Probeflug) Moscow to Berlin during January 1940.." Aeroflot DC-3 seen on arrival in Berlin after a Moscow-Berlin route proving flight in early 1940

http://www.ebay.de/itm/FOTO-FLUGZEUG-1-Russischer-Flieger-Douglas-D-C-3-in-Deutschland-8-1-40-/190966963435

Thursday, 14 November 2013

French types captured during the Westfeldzug (campaign in the West) at Rochefort - Luftwaffe Hs 126 pilot's album - Daily Ebay photo find # 13

great photo album from a Luftwaffe Hs 126 pilot here covering the campaigns in Poland and the West including France. The album sold for 2,770 Euros (55 bids).

Top Foto Album Flieger 2.WK Polen, Belgien, Russland usw. viele Flugzeuge !! | eBay

If you missed it or if the pictures are no longer available to view , here is a small selection of the French types that appear in the album, photos taken in Rochefort on the French Atlantic coast (south of Nantes), currently home to the French Naval Aviation Museum. Some of them I've had problems identifying - SNCASE Romano 82 anyone? - and had to enlist some help over at the ww2aircraft.net forum..

The SNCASE Romano 82 (below) was a twin-seat pre-war biplane trainer, privately designed and developed before the French aviation industry was nationalised in 1936. Some 150 examples were delivered to the French Air Force and Navy.
Second picture down may well be a Schreck F.B.A. ( Franco-British-Aviation) Type 293 seaplane according to at least one French correspondent , while the third image shows a Levasseur PL. 10

Currently on special offer (-45%) at the Avions website; " La Débacle - May-June 1940". A 96-page A-4 softback devoted to wrecks and relics of the French campaign by Denes Bernad, comprising some 150 original photos taken by German soldiers during the Westfeldzug - the campaign in France during May and June 1940, including many previously unpublished. Includes detailed English-language captions by this blog author.

http://www.avions-bateaux.com/en/catalogue-avions-catalogue_990.html

..another view of the Schreck FBA Type 293

Macchi C.200 Eastern Front colour - Daily Ebay photo find #12

among a selection of colour slides from the Eastern Front these two nice images of a Macchi C.200, almost certainly one of the 51 Macchi's from the Gruppo Autonomo Caccia Terrestre comprising the Italian Expeditionary Corps. The first C.200s arrived at Tudora near Odessa during August 1941..click to view full screen. At the time of posting these images were still on offer here

Monday, 11 November 2013

Vought OS2U Kingfisher - "Avions" magazine issues 195 & 196

The Vought OS2U Kingfisher was a US catapult-launched observation and rescue floatplane, a compact mid-wing design with a central float and small stabilising floats. Performance was modest, because of its light engine. The OS2U could also operate on fixed, wheeled, tail dragger landing gear. The OS2U was the main shipboard observation type used by the US Navy during WWII and 1,519 of the aircraft were built. It served on battleships and cruisers of the US Navy, with the US Marine Corps in Marine Scouting Squadron THREE (VMS-3), with the US Coast Guard at coastal air stations, at sea with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy and with the Soviet Navy. US Navy Kingfishers based in Alaska were regularly deployed on dive-bombing or low altitude bombing sorties carrying 159 kg bombs due to lack of more suitable types in this theatre during the Japanese landings of June 1942. On 15 July 1942 two Kingfishers of VS-9 participated in the sinking of U-576 off Diamond Shoals, North Carolina.

Issues 195 & 196 of leading French aviation magazine "Avions" feature an extended two-part series on the Vought OS2U Kingfisher by Rene Francillon, chock full of fabulous colour photos and artwork by Thierry Dekker. A selection of the photographs in the articles courtesy of editor/publisher Michel Ledet. Click to view large..

Below; about to embark for a training sortie from the Pensacola NAS training school during 1942. Note the adhoc boarding 'plank'. The pilot, left, is in full flying kit, while the ground crews are more appropriately attired for the hot Florida sunshine. Note the two Consolidated P2Y-2 of VN-4-D8 in the background - USN photo via RF

Corpus Christi (Texas) NAS Kingfisher in the standard camo scheme circa 1942 (Blue Grey and Light Grey) with areas of orange yellow on the wings denoting training aircraft. Note the wingtips in blue-yellow-red. Just visible is the red safety stripe on the central float to highlight the passage of the prop blade...

Above; OS2U-2 "32" preparing for a training sortie from the Pensacola NAS training school during 1942. The instructor crouched on the wing gives his final instructions to the student pilot.

Polikarpov R-5 Daily ebay photo find #11

courtesy of Ebay.de seller Marco (koelsch333), these images appear to depict an enclosed passenger cabin variant of the Polikarpov R-5 (ARK-5), note too the underwing containers or Kassetta. These images are taken from the album of a veteran of the (German) 254th ID, see the link below if contemplating a bid.

The R-5 was a 1930's Soviet biplane in the Wapiti mould, an unequal-span two-seater constructed largely of wood with fabric covering. The R-5 reconnaissance light bomber first flew in prototype form in 1928. Pilot and observer/gunner were seated close together in tandem open cockpits - the pilot beneath a cutout in the upper wing trailing-edge. The type saw action in Mongolia against the Japanese, fought with the Republicans in the Spanish civil war and against the Finns during the Winter war. Service continued well into WWII where it was employed as a night time nuisance raider. Click on the images to view large.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-russischer-Doppeldecker-Polikarpov-Beute-Flugzeug-Nebel-Raketen-254-ID-/310792366731?pt=Militaria&hash=item485cab2a8b

The BMW VIb in-line engine of the prototype was replaced by the 507kW Soviet-built M-17B in production aircraft. The R-5 could operate on skis or twin-floats (the latter designated R-5A or MR-5), as well as on the more normal axle-type fixed undercarriage. Standard armament was a fixed 7.62mm PV-1 machine-gun and a DA-1 weapon of the same calibre operated by the observer. Up to 250kg of bombs could be carried on underwing racks.

Many variants of the R-5 were used in the Soviet Union. These included the single-seat R-5T torpedo bomber; the heavily armed R-5Sh ground-attack aircraft; and the SSS of 1934 with 533kW M-17F engine, spatted landing gear and new ShKAS machine-guns. Civil versions were the P-5 and P-5A, the latter with cabin accommodation for four passengers, and an enclosed pilot's cockpit.

Some 7,000 of all versions of the R-5 were built. Military operations included the Spanish Civil War (31 R-5s serving with the Republicans), the campaigns in 1938-39 against the Japanese in the Far East, the 'Winter War' against Finland, and the fighting against Germany from 1941. At the time of the German invasion most R-5s had been relegated to training and liaison duties, but several hundred returned to first-line duties to equip light night-bombing 'nuisance raid' units alongside the ubiquitous Polikarpov U-2.

Sunday, 10 November 2013

The Assassin - Su 17 fighter-bomber

From the publisher's blurb;

" The first Soviet aircraft with variable geometry wing, a fighter-bomber that remained in the ranks for a quarter century. As a result of deep modernization of the legendary Su-7B (in addition to improving take-off and landing characteristics, the new third-generation strike aircraft received airborne computer, laser target illumination system, teleindikator for guided weapons, etc.), the Su-17 received its baptism of fire during the Arab-Israeli War of 1973 and then fought all over the world - from Lebanon, Angola and Peru to Iraq, Yemen, Chad, and the last of its combat use cases recorded last year in Libya and Syria. But the type's "finest hour" was the Afghan war - joining the battle after the Soviet invasion, "Seventeen" fulfilled the full gamut of fighter-bomber sorties, whether direct fire support, the destruction of pre-identified targets, "free hunt" or mined from the air and its intelligence modifications were the "eyes" of the 40th Army. Despite significant losses (in the midst of war - for 20-30 aircraft per year, mostly not from MANPADS, whose effectiveness is greatly exaggerated, and from the hand of small arms fire, the ANC and anti-aircraft installations in the mountains), the Su-17 proved itself in Afghanistan as an extremely reliable machine - its engines functioned without interruption on the poorest quality fuel even during dust storms, and lined and emergency aircraft could return to action after heavy damage ...

This new book compiled by leading Soviet aviation historians pays tribute to this distinguished veteran that is less known to the general public than the more "representative" MiG-29 and Su-27, but its formidable silhouette was the last many thousands of "spirits" saw in the bloody dust thrown up from its bombing assault strikes.."

Eksmo | 2013 | ISBN: 5699625321 | Russian language | 178 Pages but no colour