'The King's Cup Air Race starts on Friday next and finishes on Saturday. Last minute preparations were made by pilot[s] on the Percival planes at Luton aerodrome as all planes must be at Hatfield by tomorrow (Thursday). O.P.S. Capt Percival, who is flying the Viscountess Wakefield of Hythe's Percival Mew Gull in the air race, giving the plane a trial spin.' Percival took third place in the race. The E.3, or E.3H, was different from the earlier Mew Gull racers and was called the Super Mew.

Alongside the four-engined HP.42 (Hannibal class), HP designed a smaller, three-engine airliner that Imperial Airways didn't order, but was reworked as the HP.43 bomber-transport. The sole prototype first flew on 21 June 1932, but was found to be lacking in performance and heavy on the controls. J9833 was extensively rebuilt as a twin-engined monoplane, the HP.51, which led to the HP.54 Harrow. The original caption suggests that this nice photo was taken during the Friday rehearsal for the 1933 RAF Display, but the public don't fit the description of schoolchildren.

The Short Bomber was a landplane development of the Short 184. Over 80 Bombers were built, including a few by the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company of Bradford. The type served both in the RNAS and RFC. This airframe has an N for 'number' in front of the serial but it is RFC 9834.

A good print of a well-known picture of the first prototype of the Sturgeon reconaissance bomber for the Royal Navy, first flown from Rochester on 7 June 1946. The type only entered service as a the Sturgeon TT.2 and TT.3 target tug. The ugly Short SB.3 submarine hunter was developed from it.

Only one example was built of the Clipper two-seat touring monoplane, first flown in December 1932. After participating in the 1933 King's Cup Race it became a hack aircraft at Saunders-Roe, which took over Spartan. It was destroyed in air raid on Cowes in 1942. It is seen here at Hendon at the 1933 RAF Display, as proven by the Vickers 210 Vespa VII, K3588, wearing show number 9. That aircraft, although built in 1925, had set a world altitude record of 43,976 ft in September 1932, powered by a supercharged Bristol Pegasus engine.

The second Brussels Aero Show took place just a few weeks before the outbreak of WWII. Britain displayed this 'Speed Spitfire', the heavily modified 48th Spitfire I. It had demonstrated a top speed of 657 km/h (408 mph) but this was not good enough for a world speed record attempt. Its radiator was then replaced with an evaporative cooling system. Meanwhile though the He 100 V8 and the Me 209 brought the world speed record to 746 km/h and 755 km/h (469 mph) which the Type 323 could never touch. K9834 was converted to a photo recce Spitfire but it range was too short to be of use. In the background is the Reid and Sigrist RS.1 Snargasher trainer, G-AEOD.

Dutchman Frits Koolhoven led production of the Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2 at Armstrong Whitworth and designed the FK.3 as an improved aircraft that would be easier to build. 500 production FK.3s were built by AW and by Hewlett & Blondeau at Luton. They mostly served as training aircraft although the type was used operationally by No 47 Sqn which was based in Thessaloniki to fight on the Macedonian Front.

First flown on 26 June 1934, the Envoy prototype appeared at the SBAC trade show at Hendon just six days later. Behind it appears to be Hawker Hind G-ABMR, which is preserved today as "J9941" here at Hendon, but was a factory demonstrator.

14 new Seattle-built B-17Fs seen at the USAAF Modification Center in Tulsa, located at Air Force Plant No 3, run by Douglas. The left row are 41-24614, 41-24611, 41-24623 and 41-24615. Middle row: 41-24606, 41-24605, 41-24607, 41-24614. Right row: 41-24612. 41-24616, 41-24619, 41-24620, plus two more. All made the Atlantic crossing to England safely.

Men in suits relaxing in the grass at the 1955 Farnborough show. The crude Sperrin had been developed as a backup in case the V bombers failed. It had two pairs of engines stacked above each other. This is the second of the two prototypes built, which served as research aircraft.

Towards the end of the First Indochina War in 1954, the USAF sent a maintenance detachment to assist in the upkeep of French C-47s at Do Son, near Haiphong. After the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, four C-46s of the 315th Troop Carrier Wing, based in Japan, were sent to Do Son to carry out an evacuation if necessary. The small coastal airfield was a 'very poor strip' of steel planking. 44-78381 crashed on 14 June after its landing gear struck the seawall on approach. The aircraft was written off. The Americans quit Do Son on 29 June.

The Potez 56 was an executive aircraft and small airliner with a six-seat cabin. Its first flight took place on 8 June 1934 and in May 1935 the Air Minister of France, General Victor Denain, piloted this C.560, registered to the state, himself on a trip to Rome. It was used by Air Afrique later on. Production of the Potez 56 series amounted to 72 aircraft, including military versions.

Built in 1956. To Thai air force in 1967. Converted to S-58T by 1982.

Multirole aircraft for reconnaissance, bombing, torpedo bombing and casualty evacuation. Pilot's cockpit slightly offset to port to allow medical attendant to move to forward casualty cabin which doubled as station for navigator or bombardier. Sole prototype first flown 29 March 1934. By late June it was in the depicted Mk 2 bomber form with Tiger engine, lengthened fuselage and wheel spats. Wears Fairey test reg F-1. A Russian website seems to confirm c/n F.1926 on tail. Number 12 probably for Hendon display. RAF serial K3905 allocated. Specification won by Vickers 253 biplane, but Wellesley developed instead.

A sharp shot of the first Hart of a batch of 50 Harts ordered and built in 1931. The location seems to be Martlesham Heath where A&AEE used to put a six-foot ruler in official photos.

Mishap on arrival at the ELTA exhibition, due to the soft ground. Provisional reg G-5414 derived from O/400 s/n F5414, but only the tail of that wrecked bomber was used in this new-built airliner. To G-EAAF, the sixth entry in the G register. According to some this aircraft flew the very first international passenger service later that month, departing London for Paris on 25 August at 8.40 am, carrying eleven pax. In 1920, G-EAAF was shipped to the United States.

One of ten or so Senior Skyrockets built by the mother company - a dozen more were manufactured in Canada after the war. Assumed photographed when new, the aircraft wears an unidentified logo which seems to depict a torch. During the war, NC15300 assisted the US Army Corps of Engineers in constructing the Canol pipeline to Alaska. It formally became N15300 in April 1948, but the reg was cancelled one month later.

Wasp prototype on trial with No 771 Sqn, landing on the flight deck of the frigate Ashanti. News photo stamped 28 February 1962. The helicopter crashed a few days later, on 4 March. 'XN334 struck the edge of the deck of HMS Ashanti, and toppled, nose first and inverted, into the English Channel, seven miles southwest Portland Bill, Dorset. Both crew were rescued but the observer was injured.' Airframe in FAA Museum Reserve Collection.

The King's Flight became official in July 1936. After the abdication of Edward VIII later that year, this Envoy was ordered to replace aircraft privately owned by him, such as Dragon Rapide G-ADDD which wore a similar red and blue livery. Enlisted as L7270, the Envoy was operated by No 24 Sqn at Hendon, but the military serial was not applied until the outbreak of war. Print stamped 3 May 1939. L7270 used by Fairey Aviation from 1944. Aircraft sold to Sweden in 1946 as SE-ASN. Crashed at Visby on 6 July 1955. Photo by: Charles E Brown

The only Courier to survive the war, G-ACVF was pictured over Southend in March 1947, flown by East Anglian Flying Services boss Jack Jones. The landing gear had been locked. It was withdrawn from use nine months later. Photo by: EJ Riding