HELP, can you identify these aircraft

[hairy]

Still plodding away with the scanner and have come up with a few for which I have no idea what they are.

No info on this one at all, I kinda like it though.



I have a date and rego for this one but it still doesn't help. It would be hard to build a smaller twin rotor helicopter.
NX21762, May 17 1946.




For these ones it boils down to the fact that I am hopeless at identifying anything from this era.
1.On the back - "Aircraft being transfered to ship by lighter."

2.

3. On the back of this one it has "Machine, man and hangar blown" (away?)

4.


Help me please.................somebody........................anybody?

[Bruce]

That little helicopter is a neat wee thing... very cute
with the 4x older photos, #1 is a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter
#2 looks like a Spowith Pup on the early rear deck of HMS Furious (before it got a "through deck"
#3 is probably another 1/2 Strutter
#4 is probably a Parnall Panther (the first prototype was "N.91.").
www.aviastar.org/air/england/a_parnall.html

[hairy]

Thanks Bruce, looking at your link I tend to agree with you on the Panther.

[fletcherfu24]

The helicopter is a Landgraf H-2.

[Dave Homewood]

Jun 2, 2008 19:36:54 GMT 12 Bruce said:

#4 is probably a Parnall Panther

A type that always makes me think of that high profile rapist from Parnell...

[hairy]

Jun 2, 2008 19:49:59 GMT 12 @fletcherfu24 said:

The helicopter is a Landgraf H-2.

Cool, thats another one identified, any takers for the first one?

[bazzaboeing]

It looks like its an Ercoupe.http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=393

Cheers Barry

[Bruce]

Whilst it does have "ercoupe tendencies" The aircraft above appears to be fabric covered and has a much higher turtledeck than the Ercoupe (which has an all - metal fuselage). The wing also seems to taper (the Ercoupes is constant Chord) and the undercarriage and cowls look quite different. I had thought maybe something from Culver or Mooney, but the type records from these companies dont show anything like that (although Mooney built Ercoupes for a while...)

[flycookie]

Jun 2, 2008 19:12:37 GMT 12 hairy said:

2.

The ship is HMS Furious, a converted cruiser which had launch and recovery decks in front of and behind the centreline superstructure.

Texts usually refer to its a/c being Sopwith Pups, so maybe that's the answer.

[hairy]

Thanks guys, exellent results. That first one is proving to be a real doozy, keep up the good work.

[Dave Homewood]

Is that first one perhaps a French design?

[hairy]

It's too pretty to be French....................and it can't be British because it has a nose wheel and flat engine. ;D



Naughty step?

[Bruce]

My current train of thought (which is easily derailed) is that the mystery aircraft is a variant of the Bellanca 14 Cruisair series, perhaps the 14-12 which had fixed tricycle gear. the only drawback is the Cruisairs had unusual triple fin arrangement..... I am having trouble finding more info to confirm or otherwise....

[stu]

Jun 4, 2008 21:47:18 GMT 12 hairy said:

It's too pretty to be French....................

Insert very bad Inspector Clouseau type French accent - "Sacre Bleu Monsieur, you ave eensulted ze petite Robine." ;D

Ok, personal bias on that one and agreed, there are/were some "interesting" designs that originated in France

[stu]

Re: the first aircraft ... there's something annoyingly familiar about it but after a good trawl through several books, magazines and the internet I've drawn a blank.

For some reason Erco, or Ercoupe is niggling in the back of my feeble mind (although you've got me wondering otherwise now Bruce). Does anybody know if there were ever any modified or experimental Ercoupes produced - possibly in the 1940s?

Cheers,
Stu.

[b10m]

I looked at wiki

[Dave Homewood]

For those like me that took a while to work out what b10m's statement above was about, you can click on the word wiki and go to what he looked at! Stupid me...

[Peter Lewis]

Looks like there were some experimental Ercoupes, but lacking photos it's a bit hard to tell.

Despite all the fame, only two Ercoupe have actually arrived in NZ, both second-hand.
The first one, a Ercoupe 415C-1, was initially registered in the USA to the manufacturer before being exported to Belgium as OO-EXC. Bought by Harold Newton ( a Kiwi), he then flew the aircraft from Antwerp to Auckland in 1947 - quite a feat at the time! The aircraft then kicked around the scene for quite a few years (including suffering a bad crash at Magere in 1951) before ending up in the ownership of Peter Beck of Onehunga in 1972. It was withdrawn from use in 1991, and last I heard was stored at Onehunga - any news since?
At Ardmore 28Jan1967 (the nearest angle I have to the above photo):


Many years later, a second example was imported by Murray Newton (Harry Newtons son?) and with a sense of history this was registered ZK-EXC in 1994. This Erco 425-D Ercoupe had spent its previous life in the USA. The aircraft was sold to J K Holworthy, Auckland, in 1995 and was active at Ardmore for some years. The registration is still current, however, I have not seen it for some time and as Jack Holworthy's current address is Hong Kong it may also be stored.
Ardmore 1995:


I remember a local marketing push for the Fornaire Aircoupe in the late 1950s, but none actually arrived here.

[hairy]

If anyone knows of another place where we might get an answer, feel free to right click and post elsewhere and let us know how you get on.

[Bruce]

EXC is currently at Classic Flyers in Tauranga - not sure of its Airworthiness status at the moment though.