No not Sopwith either......... I must admit it was a new one to me

Not in several "standard" refernce books I have - tho I'm sure Noyade has all the drawings on file ;)

I discovered “London and Provincial” built some trainers using Anzanis. Hadn’t heard of them til now, but any closer?

God! There's another I've never heard of!!

Everyman and his dog must have been cranking out aircraft in WW1. It's not London & Provincial but a similar operation.

This one was a different (even a very different) take on a well established formula

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8553db1b4b.jpg

there's a clue if you look closely at the pictures...................

Is that an engine at the front but a pusher prop?

Could be... could be... its very strange...............................:cool:

Ah I found it, but shall let others have fun and claim the glory!

Amazing machine, although perhaps a schoolboy error, eh Asturias?

Please claim the Glory!

It really is an odd one - but no doubt it seemed like a good idea at the time......................................

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3a5ed66ea2.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d82d84ea0.jpeg
Well OK. It would have interesting when that chain failed!

I'll twiddle my thumbs for a few hours -

as you say interesting - I once worked in a factory as a Student where they had some very long chain saws - maybe 15m long. The operator sat in an armoured glass cabin at one end. There was a bloody great dent in the wall above it where the chain had arrived one day at speed when it broke. And a great brown stain under the cab..................

Ouch, although I would have liked to have worked in a Mr Kipling bakery too.

Well I managed to screenshot, edit and paste that wikipedia page earlier but now it just freezes when I try one of my photos, so either Asturias stops thumb-twiddling and does another one, or open house.

Sorry - the rules are I have to wait 24 hours to confirm if you are right or wrong . Older posters will know I was banned (on a Christmas Day!) for breaking that rule by 4 hours.

And it was 2 months before i got my privileges back.

The rule (which really needs changing) was to stop people posting rapid challenge after challenge and allow those not in the W European time zone a chance. One guy was posting continuously effectively so we all suffered as a consequence. :(

Personally I think it would work if only one post per person a day was allowed and once someone got it right we could move on immediately - but the Mods have decreed something else and I'm not risking another ban. here's another picture

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0c35c39b54.jpg

Ah sorry - I thought it was 24hrs from the challenge posting, not the correct answer. Yes a little strange, but it’s their train set.

Cheers from Thnarg (old 1990s lurker, new poster)

time has passed and I can confirm Thnarg is correct

Mann was part of Mann Egerton who built a lot of aircraft in Norwich by other designers in WW1

They designed a couple of aircraft themselves which were conventional. This one was based on the idea that you could adopt a conventional engine up front to a pusher and retain the forward firing position . Problems with the efficiently of the chain drive meant it was seriously underpowered.

Over to Thnarg!

Thanks Asturias, and I remember seeing Mann Egerton selling cars when I was a fledgling.

Away from home for a bit, so open house…

Not sure RF Mann was associated with the Mann Egerton Group.
Anybody know what he moved on to ??

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7e6c508e28.png

Many of them were stored at Fairoaks where Alan Mann was the airport owner.

I learnt to fly there in the Doug Arnold/Brymon days and remember Mann Helicopters but didn’t make the connection. Anyway meleagertoo has given us a pretty little challenge so let’s get back to that.

Alan Mann bought Fairoaks from Doug Arnold in '73 and sold it to Erinaceous in 2008.
At the time Doug was selling Fairoaks, AVM Don Bennet was selling Blackbushe and Peter Cadbury (who operated firstly from Crutchfield Manor then Preston Candover and was heir to the chocolate company) was keen to buy it. When I spoke to Peter, he told me that he had arrived at Blackbushe with a cheque in his hand and met Doug coming out of the door having already done the deal.
There's no telling what would have happened subsequently had Peter (who went on to form Westward TV and Westward Airways) been just 5 minutes earlier.