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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2015 0:04:38 GMT 1
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Post by viscount on Dec 23, 2015 0:53:47 GMT 1
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Post by calflier on Dec 23, 2015 9:46:05 GMT 1
You are correct Viscount,it is G ARWI!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2015 11:52:43 GMT 1
Ah OK - apologies! My problem is that having moved no less than 23 times (including two spells overseas) since I left Speke Road, stuff has gone missing on each move, including all the notes which I had to go with the b&w photos, so I bow to the superior knowledge on this forum  Perhaps the most important thing is that most of the photos have survived, in better condition than they should have. In one case I was horrified to discover that they had been stored in a container which was outside in a yard for six years! |
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Post by viscount on Dec 23, 2015 12:28:32 GMT 1
Totally agree that the best thing is that the photos have survived, a great record of how things were and sights no longer possible.
In contrast I have moved once in my life, which is why I have so many surviving records - and a rather 'over-full' house!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2015 16:25:47 GMT 1
So, back to the title of the thread, and this seems to be an appropriate place put a little story about G-APIN. Those of you who have been reading the '60s thread about Speke will have seen the picture of her wearing her ONU colours on the north apron, and read of her subsequent demise. Parallel with this, I sent a photo to Viscount of what I believed was G-APID after it made a 'wheels-up' at Liverpool. On closer inspection, this turned out to be G-ARJY at Dublin. The weird thing is that I was on the balcony when G-APID did the 'wheels-up'. It was on a crew training flight - say no more! I was sure that the picture was of 'ID, but it turns out that it was 'JY at Dublin. I used to go to Dublin a lot on the Fed Fruit Anson and after thinking about it, I realised why I had that photo. We had taken the guy from Starways over with a pot of paint, to paint out the titles! However, we weren't finished yet! In my picture, 'JY is sitting in a field, yet it actually came to rest in the middle of the western perimeter road at Dublin. There is a two-minute Pathe News video (without sound) here: link. This caused even further confusion, so I contacted a former Starways engineer and ex-colleague of mine, Bernie McKenzie, who confirmed my story. Because it had finished up on a main road, it had to be moved quickly and thus explains why my picture has it in an adjacent field and perhaps why I thought it was the 08 end at Speke. In the course of the contact with Bernie, we discussed the demise of G-APIN in Kamina, formerly part of the Belgian Congo and the base for the UN operations there. I knew the story, but he mentioned that he had some photos of it after it had been shot up. He has sent them on to me and given the discussion on the thread, I thought it was worth uploading them:       [all images courtesy of Bernie McKenzie] The damage, as can be seen, is severe. No doubt the residual fuel in the tanks added to the damage caused by the strafing from the Magister, but the DC-4 was a solid aircraft and when I saw the photos, I was surprised by just how badly damaged India November had been. Thus poor old Starways lost two DC-4s (their mainstay of the fleet at the time), within a week. |
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Post by viscount on Jan 16, 2016 17:20:54 GMT 1
'Found' on an earlier thread in this 'Nostalgia' section a photo of G-APIN being prepared for delivery to the Congo with ONU titles on an otherwise standard Starways colour scheme. In early 1961 Starways readied one of their C-54 Skymasters, G-APIN for charter to the United Nations Organisation (in French form ONU) to support peace keeping in the Belgian Congo, seen here at Speke 3rd April 1961 before departure. The aircraft never returned, being shot-up while on the ground, 18th September 1961 at Kamina by a Katangan Air Force Fouga Magister.  |
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Perhaps the most important thing is that most of the photos have survived, in better condition than they should have. In one case I was horrified to discover that they had been stored in a container which was outside in a yard for six years!