OK - to the challenge................ this is a very tenuous trail..............

Looks like a civil Avro504K to me - only 300 on the register so....

last letter of the Reg looks like it's a L - if so (Very big IF) we have

G -EAWL - which seems to have operated for the Welsh Aviation Co out of Neath - can't find a single picture of the company or the old airfield,

EAUL & EAOL were owned by Vickers and I doubt they have had a big AVRO sign on the side

same goes for those owned by Handley Page G-EATL & EASL,

sort of leaves G-EALL that operated out of Northolt & Shoreham for Central Aircraft Co as a trainer

The hangars in the challenge look a bit more Northolt than Shoreham to me

Well here are a couple of images to go on with and I'll put a decent clue on at bed-time.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4bb1f9ebe1.jpg


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0edd8ba391.jpg

Bristol Whitchurch?

Sorry Chevvron not Whitchurch. I follow your logic but that clue is a bit of a red herring that will become clearer in the morning if not sooner.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....026837b0b7.jpg
Not our Aerodrome - but somewhere in Germany. A distinguished visitor is on board (without gloves).

Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle?

Count Von Zeppelin. The Commander is thinking about something else.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....54819c3136.jpg
"They don't like it up 'em!"




https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5b7710817d.jpg

Assuming that's Peter Strasser, Great Yarmouth (target of first Zeppelin raids?) Not sure about the Fry's cocoa or Britannia statue, though... will need another of your fascinating commentaries to explain!

p.s. OH if correct.

Well done Max Tow. RNAS Air Station South Denes, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Active 1913-19 but used as an airfield up until the 1930s.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....72b050520f.jpg
Destroyed over The North Sea near Wells Next Sea Norfolk on August 5th 1918 by Major Egbert Cadbury DSC DFC (Pictured previously. Later Managing Director Fry's Chocolate) with Captain Robert Leckie DSO DSC DFC in the rear cockpit of their DH4. They were stationed at Great Yarmouth.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f114d281a1.jpg

Fregattenkapitan Peter Strasser, Commander of The German Airship Service, perished.

Photographs of the Great Yarmouth Air Station are a bit difficult to find so I hope you will tolerate all these pics:


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fddee68260.jpg


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a98d532106.png
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4f8917548c.jpg
Photographed in 1947. A far from ideal aerodrome for land planes. A ridge, just discernible, ran down the spine of the field, so most activity took place to the east of it. Another hazard was the fishing nets left out on the field for drying and repair. Note Nelson's Monument in foreground, both a hazard and a landmark (its top sometimes visible in a Sea Fret.) A request from The Navy to Yarmouth Corporation to illuminate the Trident was turned down.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e5e3b452a9.jpg
A more recent image looking north. Photo Credit Capt W.H. Farnham.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0af5d14c92.jpg
Sopwith Anzani Sea Plane Great Yarmouth 1913.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....cc0ee7c39a.jpg
Sopwith 80hp SS3 Single Seat Scout Great Yarmouth April 1915
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....67a8153f9c.jpg
Sopwith 100hp Gnome Float Plane No 880 Great Yarmouth May 1915.

All photographs of Sopwiths credited to Kingston Aviation website.


Finally the first aeroplane to arrive at Great Yarmouth in 1913. Thought to be the Maurice Farman F7 Longhorn Number 69 which saw stirling service with the RNAS at Great Yarmouth.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....beabb7a22b.png
Photo Credit Norfolk Museums Service (Great Yarmouth Museum).


A reminder OPEN HOUSE.

Great Challenge!

I can place your clues except for the first AVRO 504k.
Do you know the registration number of that one?

Well Asturias did a lot of splendid spade work but there were very many 504ks with the reg starting G-EA. That particular aeroplane was photographed at South Denes in 1919. It is from a Postcard. I wondered whether it was G-EAOE of Martin Aviation of Cleethorpes which was written off in 1922. However it seems that this livery was not uncommon and of course one can't read the whole registration. Here is a snap of a similar 504 taken on the Airfield at Cottenham Cambridgeshire. Undated. Probably Pleasure Flying. Best Regards.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3b1d835883.jpg

Like there appears to be a larger spacing at the top between the 2nd and 3rd letter.
There also appears to be a larger spacing at the bottom between 3rd and 4th letter.
Then G-EAFE is the most likely candidate.

Yes, that makes sense. However I guess we will never know for sure.

That was one of the best challenges for a long while. The Fry’s ad had me looking in the Bristol area as well

This one should be easier:


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a364016a7f.png

Can you post a slightly bigger picture I42?

Are we in N America?

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a364016a7f.png
Great minds think alike!!

or Italy, perhaps?

That's the largest size I have. We are in North America.

Same mountain, different era, but same airfield of departure as the F-18:


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....23e234b0f3.png

Mount St Helens or Mount Rainier?

Well - not USAAF so quite possibly RCAF...........