The G.50 prototype, first flown at Turin on 26 February 1937. By October it had been modified, armed with two machine guns and repainted in a three-tone splinter camouflage scheme of sand, dark green and brown, with light grey lower surfaces. On the floor is an early Fiat BR.20 bomber, MM20308. Photo from: Fondazione Fiera Milano

The He 112 fighter, flown circles around by the Messerschmitt Bf 109 in trials. The V4 prototype was the first He 112A-0. Construction number also given as 1293. Photo from: Fondazione Fiera Milano

VR-HGF makes Cathay Pacific's inaugural flight from Hong Kong to Perth. Flights staged through Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta three times a week arriving at midnight and leaving nine hours later. Cathay Pacific was the first and only airline to operate Convair jetliners on scheduled services to Australia and they served only Perth. When Cathay Pacific expanded to other Australian cities it was with Boeing 707s. VR-HGF left the fleet in 1975, becoming N88CH. Photo from: State Library of Western Australia

The fate of NC23056 is not known. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

First J4F for the US Navy. Struck off charge in 1946 and sold as N58832. Still current in 2023 as N23456. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

This aircraft was transferred to the UN Navy in January 1941 as BuAer 00372. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

The first international aviation exhibition in Milan. In the foreground is a Savoia-Marchetti S.73, I-ENNA, in the centre a Ro.37 and in the background a Cant Z.501 Gabbiano flying boat, I-AGIL. Behind the Stösser are a Gotha Go 145, D-ILTO, and a French Potez 540 bomber, No 39. Photo from: Fondazione Fiera Milano

The short-lived Stratoliner prototype in a steep climb-out. Photo from: Life

Withdrawn from use in 1972. Photo from: Library and Archives NT

The sole Valetta was a research aircraft built to compare with flying boats, in particular the Short Calcutta. Made an African survey flight with Alan Cobham in 1931. Then converted to landplane and seen as such at Hendon in photo 571319. This photo was published in October 1930. Photo from: Biblioteca Central de Marinha

The first aircraft to cross the Atlantic has arrived in Lisbon. The skyline is dominated by the Panteão Nacional, the dome of which was not completed until 1966. Photo from: Biblioteca Central de Marinha

W-12 force landed on remote Gimbat Station after being struck by lightning on March 26, 1947. Towed more than 400km to Darwin through bushland, across rivers and along the gravel road from Katherine to Darwin as seen in the photo. Was to be shipped to Sydney for rebuild but offloaded at Brisbane for KLM to use as a wingless engine test rig at its Archerfield base. Sold in 1950 and the fuselage fitted to a truck chassis to make a motorhome. Still is use today with the Queensland number-plate VHDAK. Photo from Library and Archives NT

This was the sole G-32A. It first flew in 1938 as NC1326 and was used by Grumman. It was impressed into the USAAF in 1942 as UC-103 42-97045. Registered as N7F in 1956 then to N100TF in 1970. It crashed in 1971 and was rebuilt. Registered as N100TF again in 1990. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Only one Monocoach H was built but it acquired many names. It was sometimes the Twin Monocoach and also the Monocoupe H Monocoach, Zenith and Zephyr, the last of which applied to the Menasco-powered version in the photo . The name used here is the manufacturer and model in the US civil register. Lambert was acquired by Monocoupe and it continued to promote the aircraft. Jane's called it a Monocoupe but no aircraft were built by that company. Monocoupe was the registered owner when N15433 was cancelled in 1948. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

The second Fairey IIID used for the first flight across the South Atlantic is delivered off the little port of Fernando de Noronha. Wearing c/n F.401, it was Portuguese navy s/n 16, christened either Patria or Portugal. The given date is just nine days after the crash of s/n 15 at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rocks. Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral backtracked to the Rocks on 11 May to continue from there, but then lost this aircraft too. The third, 17, set out from Fernando de Noronha towards Recife. Thus apparently the stage between the Rocks and Fernando de Noronha was only covered by this aircraft in the opposite direction. Photo from: Museu de Marinha (Portugal)

Reregistered VH-GBT in March 1964 and its registration reallocated to a Cessna 210-5. Photo from: State Library of Western Australia

Registration cancelled in 1949 as sold in Mexico. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho arriving in Rio de Janeiro in their third Fairey IIID, completing the first flight across the South Atlantic. They alighted near the Ilha das Enxadas, then home to Brazilian naval aviation. Photo from: Museu de Marinha (Portugal)

Apparently returned to service from MASDC after 1978. To civil as N8064Z in 1995. Reported at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, Oregon. Photo from: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

Portugal's first Fairey IIID departing for the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic with Artur de Sacadura Cabral and Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho, the navigator. Serial 15 and aircraft name Lusitânia are not painted on, but c/n 400 is. This plane was lost while landing at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rocks, 500 nautical miles off Brazil. Its replacement was also lost, but s/n 17 Santa Cruz completed the flight to Rio de Janeiro. Photo from: Museu de Marinha (Portugal)