The Ongoing Mystery Aircraft Thread Part Deux.

[pomme homme]

Exactement, Uli - it is the Gadfly when it had conventional ailerons. I believe that the photograph was taken at Penshurst. It's one of a collection given to me by the son of the gentlemen who took the photographs - which presumably date from April/May 1929. But enough of this and over to Germany.

[giruXX]

Great! Let’s try this (it should be straightforward):

[Moses03]

Lot of contenders in the Curtiss/Great Lakes/Martin/Douglas Navy line but in this case I would say the Douglas XT3D-1.

[giruXX]

... in any case, I can confirm the Douglas XT3D-1

[Moses03]

Thanks Uli.

Moving right along...

[lefty]

Curious motor - looks like a 12-cylinder inverted 'Y' - now there's an engine for you !

[fabulousfour]

The craft has some very Nieuport-ish lines, especially the sesquiplane-wing faired to the undercarriage.
The engine is probably an inverted Hispano 12Gb or a related type, but I can't get any further with this at the moment.

[lefty]

Yes I've been through the Nieuport book with a fine toothcomb too !

Also, Kevin has photoshopped out a disc of some sort on the fuselage - made me think it might be Oriental ?

[fabulousfour]

I think I have it.

Probably the Letov S-8, a Czech racer from the early twenties.

[Moses03]

Well spotted Robert, it is the Letov. I removed the number "4" from the fuselage to make it more mysterious.

http://www.airwar.ru/enc/law1/letovs8.html

[fabulousfour]

So neither a plane from the Nieuport stable nor an engine from Hispano-Suiza. I think I need new glasses.

And what kind of "sail-plane" do we have here?

Sorry for the grainy picture...

[lefty]

A Savoia S.16 ? Maybe Pinedo & Campanelli's 'boat' ???

[fabulousfour]

Correct on all accounts!

The S.16 that flew to Australia with an auxiliary sail. It would have been used in case of an emergency water landing.

Over to you, Mike.

[Baragouin]

Correct on all accounts!

The S.16 that flew to Australia with an auxiliary sail. It would have been used in case of an emergency water landing.

Over to you, Mike.

Hi Robert!
Perhaps not everyone knows that the S16Ter was called "Gennariello" in honour of the patron Saint of Naples San Gennaro and that the words "Funicolì Funicolà (the famous neapolitan song) were printed on the bow...
Cheers
Carlo

[lefty]

Thanks Robert - and Carlo for his lovely piece of Italian nostalgia......

Now here's something quite different and much more brutal -

[Moses03]

That is the sleek Wildfire Unlimited Racer. Not sure of it's status now.

http://www.wildfireairracing.com/history.htm

[lefty]

That's the one - had difficulty researching this one as it had a few changes of identity. Most commonly known as the Statler Wildfire (but not in Aerofiles!)

Over to Texas -

[Moses03]

Thanks, it had a composite look to it so that led me to the Reno racing scene.


Now here is a curious one...

[lefty]

Everything except the centre strutting looks like the Bakeng Deuce...

[Moses03]

Not the Deuce Mike. This one had a very odd lifespan which actually started around 1930! (Note the anachronistic rudder design).

[fabulousfour]

The design seems to have been mixed a little.

[Moses03]

Thought Walter might have chapter and verse on this one.

Robert is right in that it is a mixed build. It started out as the MacManaman 1930 Parasol. It was then stored until 1948 and rebuilt as the DeLong Little Mixer (N631).

Open board then.

[cthornburg]

Something from Eastern Europe figured you could already tell that from background

Chris

[wout]

Hi Kevin
There is also an entry of N631 in aerofiles.com as the Lee Inman Flying School L-1P-S.

[wout]

Hi Chris
Your Eastern European girl is the 1950 SG-2 Kékmadár all-wood 2-seater designed by Béla Samu and Pál Gönczy.
HA-BKF is now in the Közlekédesi Museum in Budapest.