Name that Flying Machine
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First thoughts were North American Harvard but the windscreen framework is all wrong, Second thoughts it could be a the remains of a Vultee BT-13 Valiant See link;-Valiant Genealogy ? A Vultee BT-13 Returns Home ? Hangar Flying
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Yes, I had discounted Harvard for the same reason - that's a likely candidate from the canopy structure. The engine cowling looks different - looks a bit shorter than your picture. Would they have had different engines at any stage. I don't suppose it all has to be the same aircraft. The drop tank, if that is what it is, is clearly different and it may all just be some bespoke collection of jumble.
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But I bet it is just a Harvard / Texan. All kinds of canopies were used.
Gnome de PPRuNe
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I agree, the canopy is Vultee Valiant...
Anyway, thanks for the probable solution.
Whilst we are on types unknown to the person posting it, can anyone identify this aeroplane?
It was posted on another forum (not in a quiz/competition), but so far no positive identifications. The engine appears to be a British Anzani V-twin.
The original poster said the aeroplane belonged to his grandfather who operated it from various small fields in Kent. The owner worked at Shorts (presumably in Rochester) during the war.
The propeller, still owned by the original poster, is date marked September 1924.
Unknown aeroplane, possibly with a British Anzani V twin.
It was posted on another forum (not in a quiz/competition), but so far no positive identifications. The engine appears to be a British Anzani V-twin.
The original poster said the aeroplane belonged to his grandfather who operated it from various small fields in Kent. The owner worked at Shorts (presumably in Rochester) during the war.
The propeller, still owned by the original poster, is date marked September 1924.
Unknown aeroplane, possibly with a British Anzani V twin.
Vultees had a 2/3 + 1/3 cowling
Whilst we are on types unknown to the person posting it, can anyone identify this aeroplane?
It was posted on another forum (not in a quiz/competition), but so far no positive identifications. The engine appears to be a British Anzani V-twin.
The original poster said the aeroplane belonged to his grandfather who operated it from various small fields in Kent. The owner worked at Shorts (presumably in Rochester) during the war.
The propeller, still owned by the original poster, is date marked September 1924.
Unknown aeroplane, possibly with a British Anzani V twin.
It was posted on another forum (not in a quiz/competition), but so far no positive identifications. The engine appears to be a British Anzani V-twin.
The original poster said the aeroplane belonged to his grandfather who operated it from various small fields in Kent. The owner worked at Shorts (presumably in Rochester) during the war.
The propeller, still owned by the original poster, is date marked September 1924.
Unknown aeroplane, possibly with a British Anzani V twin.
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Assuming that the gentleman in the foreground is not a giant, then it strikes me that you'd need a midget to pilot that machine. Even allowing for perspective, the depth of the fuselage, at the trailing edge of the wing, appears no greater than the distance between the gentleman's knee and heel - probably about 50cm. Could it be what today would be described as a large scale flying model aircraft? It might be interesting, Mechta, to enquire of the original poster, on the other forum, the dimensions of the propellor which he/she has and says originated from the machine depicted in the photograph. The propellor dimensions might help to give context to the machine.
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Possibly taken at the Lympne light aeroplane trials?
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Well going through Arthur Or-Hume's book "The Lympne Trials" I could find no reference or photographs of the aircraft only two aircraft fitted with a British Anzani v-twin are listed and they were an ANEC II, G-EBJO and a Hawker Cygnet I G-EBMB . The OP states that the aircraft was operated it from various small fields in Kent. So presumably it was registered.and possibly around 1924.
I did have a look at the various Lympne trials aircraft over the years, and as Allan Lupton says, its none of them. I can't find pictures of the unfinished RAE Scirocco, which wasn't ready in time though, and is recorded as 'never completed'.
I also had a look for Vauville designs which was the French equivalent of the Lympne Trials, but no luck their either.
Fauteil Volant, the idea of it being a large model is interesting, but IMHO unlikely. Colonel CE Bowden was the most well known power model flyer at the time, and his biplane 'Kanga' had 'only' a 28cc Wall engine. Anything larger would be unlikely to have gone unnoticed by the modelling press. Your list of unregistered aircraft provided a fascinating hour of education. The Worsell Monoplane listed as being at Sevenoaks, looked like it might be a contender, but it was made from Boulton and Paul P.9 bits, which look too large and the wrong shape.
The cutouts in the wing leading edge roots of the mystery aeroplane are a significant feature, plus the very substantial and wide track undercarriage. I do wonder if its is a 'bitsa', but bitsa what?
Buying the V-Twin engine must have been a substantial investment, on a par with buying a Rotax microlight engine these days, which suggest it must have been a serious project, especially as it is claimed to have flown on several occasions.
Do please keep searching. The answer must be out there somewhere!
I also had a look for Vauville designs which was the French equivalent of the Lympne Trials, but no luck their either.
Fauteil Volant, the idea of it being a large model is interesting, but IMHO unlikely. Colonel CE Bowden was the most well known power model flyer at the time, and his biplane 'Kanga' had 'only' a 28cc Wall engine. Anything larger would be unlikely to have gone unnoticed by the modelling press. Your list of unregistered aircraft provided a fascinating hour of education. The Worsell Monoplane listed as being at Sevenoaks, looked like it might be a contender, but it was made from Boulton and Paul P.9 bits, which look too large and the wrong shape.
The cutouts in the wing leading edge roots of the mystery aeroplane are a significant feature, plus the very substantial and wide track undercarriage. I do wonder if its is a 'bitsa', but bitsa what?
Buying the V-Twin engine must have been a substantial investment, on a par with buying a Rotax microlight engine these days, which suggest it must have been a serious project, especially as it is claimed to have flown on several occasions.
Do please keep searching. The answer must be out there somewhere!
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Your reasoning is cogent, Mechta, but how do you reconcile that with the apparent scale of the aeroplane? I can't see how anyone of a 'normal' size could get into it in order to pilot it. And if it is a pilotted aeroplane, dating from c.1924, I'm at a loss to understand how the machine could have remained 'off the radar' for nearly a century.
Your reasoning is cogent, Mechta, but how do you reconcile that with the apparent scale of the aeroplane? I can't see how anyone of a 'normal' size could get into it in order to pilot it. And if it is a pilotted aeroplane, dating from c.1924, I'm at a loss to understand how the machine could have remained 'off the radar' for nearly a century.
I am slim, ok, but not extremely so, 181 cm tall, 73 kg, and people were smaller 100 years ago than they are today. I don't know what it is either, but it doesn't look like something from the Lympne trials.
Your reasoning is cogent, Mechta, but how do you reconcile that with the apparent scale of the aeroplane? I can't see how anyone of a 'normal' size could get into it in order to pilot it. And if it is a pilotted aeroplane, dating from c.1924, I'm at a loss to understand how the machine could have remained 'off the radar' for nearly a century.
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My comments on size related, principally, to the depth, rather than the width, of the fuselage. Whilst making no admissions as to the assertion that, a century ago, people were generally slimmer, I don't think that the same can be argued for their height and, more specifically, their leg length. But I suppose it can be argued that the pilot may have sat with his legs in a horizontal position - or even that it was flown by a prone pilot!
Are the dimensions of the extant propeller known?
P.s. can you, Mechta, provide a hyperlink to the other forum where first this photograph appeared?
Are the dimensions of the extant propeller known?
P.s. can you, Mechta, provide a hyperlink to the other forum where first this photograph appeared?
