Oberfeldwebel Karl Hier of I/JG 76 had to land his Bf 109E at Wœrth, Alsace on 22 November 1939. It was test-flown by the French at Orléans - Bricy, then handed over to the RAF on 2 May 1940. In 1942 it was shipped to the USA for testing at Wright Field. Note the faux swastika painted on by the Americans - they liked to dress up captured aircraft and amazingly, even in this stage of the war it was apparently not a safety concern. We found information that the photo was taken at LGA during the filming of a propaganda reel. P-40E 41-25026 is seen on the right and a P-39 Airacobra, probably 41-7249, on the left. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

About to be hoisted onto a barge 'for shipment, by Erickson and Remmert, to Czechoslovakia, at pier near Floyd Benett Field'- probably near the Coast Guard seaplane ramp. The Bata company's first L-10A Electra, also registered OK-CTA (c/n 1068) was damaged in Chicago on 4 April 1937. To complete his trip, shoe king Jan Bata immediately bought OK-CTB (c/n 1091). It has been assumed that OK-CTA (c/n 1068) was repaired, but it is clear now that Bata received another airframe (c/n 1114). Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Following the racing success of the DGA-6, the DGA-7 prototype first flew in 1936 and the Howard Aircraft Company was formed to produce the DGA-8 series for the executive market. Note overpainted NC reg and North Beach Airport sign. This small airfield was soon expanded to become La Guardia. LGA soon proved insufficient, prompting the construction of Idlewild (JFK). Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Designed for the Bendix Trophy, the DGA-6 won the 1935 edition from Burbank to Cleveland and surprisingly this four-seat aircraft also won the 1935 Thompson Trophy pylon race. Mister Mulligan is apparently seen here before the start of the 1936 Bendix from NY to Los Angeles, during which it crashed in New Mexico due to a propeller failure. Pilot Ben Howard lost a leg. The wreck was salvaged 34 years later and used to build the first of two DGA-6 replicas. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

The last winter of the war left the western half of the Netherlands in German hands, with a starving population cut off from food supplies. On 28 April 1945 the Germans agreed to food droppings by Allied bombers. Taken towards the sea, this picture shows Valkenburg airfield. Reportedly named Liquid-8-Or, 44-6954 was scrapped at Kingman, Arizona in November 1945. Photo from: US Air Force

Photographed over Lake Roxen near Linköping, this old Seversky fighter was transferred to F3 wing in 1947. It was struck off charge in 1949. Photo from: Flygvapenmuseum

The first couple of Swedish Harts, imported from Britain, were designated as S7 reconnaissance aircraft. The designation was changed to B4 in 1937 and this airframe received the new serial 702. It is here 302 with a prefix for F1 wing. Photo probably taken at Malmen. Photo from: Flygvapenmuseum

ABA's sole Ju 86 airliner, SE-BAE, joined the air force in 1940 as the Tp9 transport. It served until 1958 and is flying in formation here with a Saab S18 reconnaissance aircraft of F3 wing. Photo from: Flygvapenmuseum

Formerly TD-QW of the Luftwaffe. Cartographic aircraft delivered to Sweden as late as 1944. Last flight on 27 June 1955. Photo by: Å Östlund / Flygvapenmuseum

A copy of the Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 by a maker of mincers and scales, the W-A played a major role in Dutch naval aviation as testified by the many photos available of the type in service. W62 and W69 are also visible. Photo from: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

The first Vega NR869E. Jimmie Mattern and Bennett Griffin, whose names are marked in the circle on the fuselage, flew this plane from Floyd Bennett Field to Berlin in July 1932 as part of a round-the-world attempt. They crashed in Belarus as the cabin door came off and struck the tailplane. Smaller parts of the wreck were returned to the USA and used in the refurbishment of Mattern's second Vega, ex NC106N, with the reg NR869E, too, carried over at his request. Both aircraft went by the name Century of Progress, but it is not worn here. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Stanavo was the aviation fuel brand of Standard Oil (Esso). This airframe was originally Vega 5 NC7440, c/n 20. It was rebuilt in September-October 1929 and the new c/n 118 was issued. 'Originally painted white, red lettering, then with eagle outline and later with full length eagle paint job, red on white.' When Jimmie Mattern acquired it in 1933 it was presumably in a dismantled state. It was refurbished using only a few parts of his crashed Vega NR869E (c/n 69), but Mattern wished to retain his old reg. He crashed the new NR869E in Siberia in June 1933. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

The second Vega NR869E. The first (c/n 69) crashed during a round-the-world flight. Salvaged parts were used to prepare this plane, ex NC106N with Standard Oil, for a second attempt. The Stanovo eagle on the fuselage formed the basis for a spectacular red on blue livery. Jimmie Mattern departed solo on 3 June 1933, but found navigation difficult and crashed due to the use of tractor fuel following an unscheduled landing in Siberia. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

A CW-19R multi-purpose aircraft for Cuba, presumably pictured before delivery. We found some information suggesting that five examples, 50 through 54, arrived in Cuba in August 1937, and that the serials had already been changed when three of them paid a visit to Mexico in September 1938. Photo from: San Diego Air & Space Museum

In front of the Coast Guard hangar at Floyd Bennett Field. The source gives the same 6 July 1940 date for this as Rudy Arnold's other shots of this aircraft, but the special paint makes clear it was likely taken in February 1941, towards the end of its flight through the Americas. Rios Montenegro and Rivery Ortiz arrived at NOP on 4 February 1941 and departed for Havana via Miami one week later. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Lt Juan Rios Montenegro and Sgt Frank Media were happy to turn their plane around for Rudy Arnold's camera. With Oscar Rivery Ortiz, Rios Montenegro made a Pan-American flight through 22 countries in this aircraft between October 1940 and February 1941. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

The Cuban navy, then the Marina de Guerra Constitucional, used this aircraft - not a DGA-8 - for a grand tour of the Americas starting on 12 October 1940. It is seen in New York earlier in 1940. Aviation photographer Rudy Arnold was based at Floyd Bennett Field and this is the north side of the airport, with the old Mill Basin Bridge visible on the far left. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

'Saturday 24th July is the day for the much anticipated 1920 Aerial Derby and over 10,000 people turn up at Hendon to see the latest machines compete over two laps of the course, a total of 200 miles. Just in time for the race Handley Page Ltd have recorded three more surplus Boulton & Paul built Sopwith 'Snipe', J453, J455, J459, on the civil register as G-EAUV, G-EAUW and G-EAUU.' Only G-EAUW finished, Capt William Jordan taking fifth place. Jimmy James was third in his Nieuport Nieuhawk G-EAJY / 10, chequered in yellow and blue. This was a modified Nighthawk. Photo from: Hagley Museum and Library

Westland's big apple, the Westminster was based on the Sikorsky S-56's dynamic systems with Napier Eland turbine engines. G-APLE had an open steel tube frame, which was nicely clad in fabric over wooden formers a few months before the project was cancelled in 1960. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Not the real Jacoba, Countess of Holland, arriving at the Keukenhof flower gardens, flown in by Sabena helicopter boss Anselme Vernieuwe. This was even before the Belgian airline's helicopters became popular in the Netherlands by coming to the rescue after the 1953 North Sea floods. The landing spot seems to be a pasture well away from the park, with the church of De Zilk in the background. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)