1924 Gibraltar RAF biplanes and 1941 Indian bi's

Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:52 pm

I know I can hit my head against the wall on this issue, but I would love to find out what kind of planes the RAF was using during 1924 in Gibraltar?
Also, i would like to know some of the squadron facts If possible.
The second one is in India, what kind of biplanes were RAF using in 1940's over there and are there any details available?
If there is anyone who has any answers to this, I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
AL

Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:29 pm

Can you be a bit more specific, as you've clearly got something in mind!

Gibraltar had a significant Fleet Air Arm presence, when the fleet was in, or near. I'm not sure, but I'll see what I can dig up.

Biplanes in India in the 1940s would mostly have been pre-war hangovers, and types used to set up the Indian Air Force. So Wapati, Hind, DH-9 and so forth, with conversion to Lysander, Hurricane Mohawk occurring. Again a bit more precision over where, when and why might help.

Having a look at Jagan's website, that might give a few leads too.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/

Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:39 am

OK, the one in Gibraltar had an open (no front engine cowl) radial engine and it is hard to tell because of the angle of the shot. It was taken in May 24th,1924 on Gibraltar airfield.
The other one was shot somewhere in India during 1940 and it looked like Demon 2, but again was hard to tell since the front cowling was off probably for the maintenance.
The reason why I am trying to find some info is because my friends grandfather was building engineer for RAF back in the days and he would like to find out some more about which squadron did he belong to etc...
Any hint would be great!

AL

Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:45 am

Air Luchador wrote:OK, the one in Gibraltar had an open (no front engine cowl) radial engine and it is hard to tell because of the angle of the shot. It was taken in May 24th,1924 on Gibraltar airfield.
The other one was shot somewhere in India during 1940 and it looked like Demon 2, but again was hard to tell since the front cowling was off probably for the maintenance.
The reason why I am trying to find some info is because my friends grandfather was building engineer for RAF back in the days and he would like to find out some more about which squadron did he belong to etc...
Any hint would be great!

AL

Fascinating sounding stuff. The first one could be a number of types, but I'm sure we could nail it if we could see the shot.

The second will probably be a Hawker Hind or Hart - again, viewing the pic should enable answers to most questions. (What do you mean by a 'Demon 2', BTW? I'm assuming you mean a Hawker Demon...)

Assuming it's OK to post low res online versions, if you don't have a photobucket account, send them to me and I can post them up for discussion - there's a couple of other forums I'm sure can help if we don't get it streightaway.

JKightly AT yahoo.com.au - no spaces and 'AT' becomes @ of course.

HTH