In 1955 the Dutch bought 17 former US Navy PBM-5s for the defence of Netherlands New Guinea, which was claimed by Indonesia. The Mariner turned out to be a death trap - six of the large amphibians crashed with considerable loss of life. An Avenger is seen on the right here. Photo by: Wim van Rossem / Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

FK.46s in use with the National Aviation School, probably at the Schiphol branch. The airframe on the left is PH-NLS (c/n 4602). Photo by: Willem van de Poll / Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

The S.II trainer (S for School) had side-by-side seating which was unusual for its day, 1922. Note funnels of ships in the Waalhaven harbour on the left. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

The Jetliner was nearly the world's first true jet airliner, first flying on 10 August 1949 - only two weeks after the DH Comet. Its main drawback was the high fuel consumption of its four Derwent engines. Only this prototype was completed. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

Swinging the propeller for another coastal patrol flight. Photo by: John Collier / Library of Congress

Registered to D.G. Sims and Sons, Milton, Brisbane, who traded as Brisbane Aircraft and Automotive Engineering. G-AUEW was registered to Courier Aircraft in January 1927 with the plan to deliver newspapers by air. It was unsuccessful and the Avro was sold in Papua New Guinea in October 1927. Crashed into sea off Lae on December 18 that year. Restored to the register in October 1928 and withdrawn from use a year later. Photo from: State Library of Queensland

The Ju 160 was an improved development of the Ju 60, an unsuccesful competitor to the Heinkel He 70 Blitz. Seating was for six passengers. A total of 47 Ju 160s were built. Schakal (jackal) crashed in Czechoslovakia on 22 July 1936, only a few months old. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

Transadriatica from Venice operated the first postwar commercial flight in Italy from Venice to Rome on 14 April 1947, and on 16 December 1947 it inaugurated the first international service from Venice to Zürich - Dübendorf. Here we see the arrival of a negotiation party. The company used converted C-47s loaned by the Italian goverment and I-TRIS, formerly 43-49446, later served in the Italian air force as MM61799. Note the repetition of the I for Italy on the rudder in 1920s fashion. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

An early S-55, delivered in April 1951. To NACA in 1953. Seen here with an X-15 drop model. Later to N4781S. Photo from: NASA

Used by NACA's Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland in efforts to improve the Allison V-1710. Likely pictured at Lewis Field, now Hopkins International. Photo from: NASA

Loongana on its belly after the crew failed to lower the undercarriage. On 15 Nov 1954 the pilots of the Sydney-Brisbane flight were practising a new landing drill. The co-pilot was flying the aircraft and the captain handling flaps and gear. Despite warning horns, the captain was certain he had extended the gear and ordered the co-pilot to land. No injuries. The captain, with 23,000 hours in his logbook, was forced to resign from ANA. After minor repairs, VH-ANF ferried to ANA's Melbourne base for final repairs. During this work it was converted to freighter and remained in service until 1967. Sold to CAT in Taiwan as B-1811. Photo from: State Library of Queensland

Bar Harbor Municipal Airport opened in 1934. In WWII it became a coastal patrol base and the Civil Air Patrol 'arrived in force' in August 1942. The US Navy replaced these men a few months after this colour slide was taken. Photo by: John Collier / Library of Congress

The USA presented 44-76310 to King Farouk of Egypt in March 1945, straight from the factory. It is seen here with 476310 in both Western and Eastern Arabic numerals, but was later reserialled to F3, and then to 113 when used by Nasser. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

Prototype of the four-engined DH.86, one of a few examples built for single-pilot operation. Later G-ACPL. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

The Cutlass was cutting edge technology. This airframe spent the summer of 1955 at NACA Ames for testing. Photo from: NASA

The first ever visit of Soviet aircraft to Switzerland, flying in a delegation to demand the return of Soviet citizens who were somehow interned in Switzerland during WWII. Built by Douglas Oklahoma the front C-47, US serial 44-76715, was delivered to the Soviet air force as late in the war as April 1945. To civil on 28 April 1945. It seems to have washed-out white titles. The C-47 parked behind is CCCP-Л960 (c/n 26336 ex 43-49075) with what looks like a roughly painted out red star on the tailfin. CCCP-L976 / CCCP-Л976 came in the following day. Photo from: ETH-Bibliothek Zürich

Short Calcutta flying boat on the Nile before departure with King Albert of Belgium on board who was travelling to the Congo. Photo from: Library of Congress

NASA Ames conducted tests to compare the Hiller YROE-1 Rotorcycle's handling qualities with those of larger VTOL aircraft, long after the Marines had rejected it as dangerous to fly. The red box underneath the pilot contains an instrumentation package. This example was later N777MV. Photo by: Dave West / NASA

Used for VTOL research at NASA Ames. Photo by Lee Jones / NASA

Lockheed's experimental VTOL project. Two were built, but the design never managed vertical take-off. The project was cancelled in 1955, leaving the second aircraft (138658) incomplete without an engine. The flying prototype 138657 was donated to Hiller Aircraft for further VTOL testing, but its fate is unclear. Reliable sources say that only parts (engine and props) of this aircraft survived these tests, others say it is the aircraft that went on display in Florida in the mid 1990s, and that for reasons unknown it was painted as 138658...
Note: this design is often quoted as "XFV-1 Salmon", but it was in fact unnamed. Salmon was the name of Lockheed's test pilot for the project. Photo from: Library of Congress