Unknown Aircraft
 

Another puzzler....

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

Hi,
french civil plane used by armee d' Air. I think the "A" tell about ty general type of plane (number of engines etc.)
h.

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

While it certainly shows a crashed impressed civil aircraft (no I am not able to identify it) the letter A simply represent the main French register system at the time and does not identify as such neither the type nor the number of engines.
Cheers
Stig

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

Thank you gentlemen. This is an area of which I have no knowledge.

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

This original photo is in my possession. I cannot identify it, though.

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

This picture puzzles me.

"F" would be the civil register in France
(military aircraft had letters but other types of markings).
and the next letter "A" would position this picture in the 30's.
For example, the famous Caudron in which Saint Exupery went lost in the Lybian desert was marked F-ANRY.

However, the roundel is a military one.

Could we have a civil aircraft that was taken by the French army in 1940 ?

A real mystery stands in this picture.

GC

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

Gilles

There is no mystery in that photo if we except we don't know the type...:)

Large number of civil aircraft were impressed by the French Government in 1939-40 after the war broke out. Large number of photos exist of civil registered aircraft now decorated with the French military roundels.

That the 'A' visible in itself should identify an airplane from the 1930s is not correct (even if it is very likely). The introduction of the F-Axxx register came about already in 1920, the earliest one known carrying F-ABAB was registered in May that year. For a while the second letter identified the year, ie F-ABxx being 1920, F-ADxx being 1921, F-AExx being 1922 etc. This system was dropped at the end of 1925 and from then on a straight register system was begun regardless of year. For some reason the F-ACxx block was dropped.

This does not bring us any closer to what we are looking at, unfortunately.

Cheers
Stig

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

Dear all,

upon checking with my French colleagues, I received the following suggestion:

Amiot 370 "F-AREU", which was scrapped in 1947;

that would make sense, don't you think ?

GC

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

Sorry Gilles, not to me

There is a photo of F-AREU at Tolouse in 1945 where it no longer carry any military roundels. Since it was non flying for about three years at that point, it makes no sense to me for it to be re-painted and just scrapped.

The aircraft was very briefly painted with French roundels in 1940 but after the armistice reverted back to pure civil marking (ie no roundels). After its accident at Athens 13.3.1942 it returned to France and was still under repairs at Tolouse-Blagnac when the Germans occupied the rest of France in Nov 1942. It probably never flew again and in 1945 was still quite intact but no roundels anywhere.

The photo above is not, as far as I can see, an aircraft being scrapped, it is one that has crashed and probably also burned.

Cheers
Stig

Re: Unknown Aircraft
 

Hi Stig and others,

the French team is working hard:

- the Caudron aiglon has been eliminated due to the fact that it was made of wood, whereas this wing is metallic, and the thickness of the wing also;
- the Dewoitine 338 was contemplated, and it could have made sense, in a way that they were requisitioned by the French Armée de l'air, so, roundels with registration marks were in favor of that, but the shape of the aileron don't match ;
- the lastest option envisaged is the Wibault 282 (or 283) see photo attached;

So : we are progressing but the A/C type of this picture still remains an open question.

GC