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The Aviation Historian
The modern journal of classic aeroplanes and the history of flying
®
GOLDEN YEARS
A LIFE FLYING WITH THE RCAF
ISSUE
32
2
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
Issue No 32
Published quarterly by:
The Aviation Historian
PO Box 962
Horsham RH12 9PP
United Kingdom
Subscribe at:
www.theaviationhistorian.com
The Aviation Historian
The modern journal of classic aeroplanes and the history of flying
®
Editor’s Letter
FIRST, AND MOST importantly, we hope that all our readers,
contributors, advertisers, supporters and followers in the UK
and around the world are managing to weather the Corona-
virus pandemic and are keeping safe and well.
Thankfully for us here at
TAH,
it’s been very much business
as usual. Although (maybe even because) there have been no
airshows to attend, nor museums or restoration workshops
open to visit, we have seen a healthy uptick in the number of
people ordering subscriptions and back-issues (even full
sets). This pause in normal life has evidently provided us all
with time to catch up and even expand — finally — on the
reading we love to do. Silver linings and all that . . .
Nevertheless, it has been a strange three months since I sat
down to write my
Editor’s Letter
for
TAH31
in late March, just
as we were being instructed here in the UK to prepare for an
indefinite period stuck indoors, with similar directives being
issued more-or-less globally. Now, 86 days after the
beginning of the lockdown as I write this, there is cause to be
hopeful that things may be returning to some semblance of
normality. On the downside, although this year sees a
number of significant anniversaries — including the 80th
anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the 75th anniversary
of both VE- and VJ-Days — it seems extremely unlikely that
we will be able to celebrate and commemorate them as we
might wish. In this issue we mark the first of those
anniversaries with Greg Baughen’s tribute to “The Few”,
forced to fight a different war from the one they had been
preparing for, forging fighting tactics “on the hoof” almost
daily — which makes their contribution to Britain’s survival
all the more remarkable. His article leads us off on page 10.
Finally, the usual reminder that everything we cover in
TAH
— including artworks and book reviews — is included
in our index, available (FREE!) as a PDF download from the
TAH
website. It’s well worth exploring.
Best wishes for blue skies and happier days.
ISSUE NUMBER 32
(published July 15, 2020)
TM
EDITOR
Nick Stroud
e-mail nickstroud@theaviationhistorian.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Mick Oakey
e-mail mickoakey@theaviationhistorian.com
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Amanda Stroud
FINANCE MANAGER
Lynn Oakey
For all telephone enquiries:
tel +44 (0)7572 237737 (mobile number)
EDITORIAL BOARD
Gregory Alegi, Dr David Baker, Ian Bott,
Robert Forsyth, Juanita Franzi, Dr Richard
P. Hallion, Philip Jarrett HonCRAeS,
Colin A. Owers, David H. Stringer,
Julian Temple, Capt Dacre Watson
WEBMASTER
David Siddall Multimedia
www.davidsiddall.com
Published quarterly by
The Aviation Historian,
PO Box 962, Horsham RH12 9PP, United Kingdom
©
The Aviation Historian
2020
ISSN 2051-1930 (print)
ISSN 2051-7602 (digital)
While every care will be taken with material
submitted to
The Aviation Historian,
no responsibility
can be accepted for loss or damage. Opinions
expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect
those of the Editor. This periodical must not, without the
written consent of the publishers first being given, be
lent, sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a
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If you do not wish to keep your copy of
The Aviation Historian
(impossible to imagine, we know),
please ensure you recycle it using an appropriate facility.
Printed in the UK by
The Magazine Printing Company
using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers
www.magprint.co.uk
FRONT COVER
Corporal George Hardy’s breathtaking photo of the
RCAF’s Golden Hawks, led by Wg Cdr Fern VIlleneuve AFC, in their
gleaming Canadair Sabres, inverted over Niagara Falls in 1959.
DND
MADE IN BRITAIN
BACK COVER
The sole SIAI-Marchetti S.84 at Zürich. Maurice Wick-
stead’s history of Italy’s airlines continues on page 22.
VIA ROB MULDER
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
3
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THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
Issue No 32
34
CONTENTS
3
EDITOR’S LETTER
6
AIR CORRESPONDENCE
10
1940: THE BATTLE OF . . . KENT?
74
114
Issue No 32
Greg Baughen commemorates the 80th anniversary of the
Battle of Britain by comparing the war the RAF had been
preparing for with the war it found itself fighting in 1940
22
ITALY’S FORGOTTEN AIRLINES Pt 2
Airline historian Maurice Wickstead continues his series
on the history of Italian airlines with the consolidation of
the inter-war operators into Ala Littoria, ALI and LATI
34
SHORTS: THE PERENNIAL THORN
In his latest article tracing the political history of Britain’s
post-war aircraft industry, Professor Keith Hayward FRAeS
turns his attention to the uniquely problematic Short Bros
42
CES HOMMES MAGNIFIQUES:
LOUIS BLÉRIOT
Louis Blériot needs no introduction to
TAH
readers — but
his patents for early VTOL concepts and a prophetic “aerial
runway” may do; Jean-Christophe Carbonel investigates
In February 1943 the USAAF and Luftwaffe fought a crucial
— but little-known — air war war over the settlement of Sidi
Bou Zid in Tunisia. Dr Andrew Arthy opens a forensic
two-part account of a vital 48hr — for both sides
48
TWO DAYS IN FEBRUARY
82
62
MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN
Top-hats in the noonday sun in Africa? We ponder an
intriguing collection of photographs from the
TAH
archive
of the antics of BOAC staff in Kenya in the early 1950s
64
HEINKEL’S LAST FIGHTER
Based on an original German-language article by Wolfgang
Mühlbauer, Tony Buttler examines Heinkel’s post-war
mixed-power He 31, which remained a “paper project” only
74
THE SHAH’S JETSTARS
48
102
In January this year the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
retired the last example of the Lockheed JetStar in military
service; Babak Taghvaee traces the type’s career in Iran
82
TUESDAY THE 13th
70 years ago the behemothic Cierva Air Horse helicopter
crashed after a catastrophic failure of a vital component.
Nick Stroud takes a look at the accident and its causes
92
FLYING THE “BATHFIRE”
The British could have developed a significant wartime
advantage with the fielding of Canadian Bill Franks’s “anti-g
suit”; Dr Peter Hobbins reveals how they failed to do so
The remarkable flying life of legendary RCAF pilot Wg Cdr
Fern Villeneuve AFC concludes with his recollections of
the Golden Hawks — and his near-fatal crash in a Sabre
102
HAWK ONE Pt 2
10
114
SWEDEN’S PARASOL FIGHTERS
Jan Forsgren chronicles the short, undistinguished career
of the obscure and little-lamented FVM J 23 and J 24/24B
120
ARMCHAIR AVIATION
125
LOST & FOUND
126
HAWKER’S STAR DESTROYER
While researching in the Hawker archives at Brooklands,
Chris Gibson discovered a wildly ambitious 1950s VTOL
flying-boat powered by “pinched plasma”. What?
130
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Issue No 32
THE AVIATION HISTORIAN
5

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