Geoff Hahn wrote:
Knowing almost nothing about old planes I was naturally drawn to
anything British, specifically an SE5a:
http://www.geocities.com/tucson_british_car_register/cfi-se5a.jpg
Upon closed examination, the prop hub says...
http://www.geocities.com/tucson_british_car_register/cfi-se5a-prop.jpg
Anyone know if there was a connection between these famous planes and
the Standard firm?
In John Davy's book, The Standard Car 1903-1963 - there is mention on pages
22, 24 & 25 about Standard's involvement in aircraft production in WW1. I
quote one brief paragraph.
"By Sept 1916, the skeleton steelwork of the buildings on the Canley factory
formed a new landmark on what had hitherto been a quiet piece of
Warwickshire countryside. The BE-12 aircraft could now be erected in these
spacious shops and soon they were joined by RE-8 and Sopwith models which
were made in quantity. No fewer than 1,600 aircraft were made at Canley
before the Armistice."
On the following page is a pic of an RE-8, partly completed. On the next
facing page is a picture of the despatch shed in about 1920 and the caption
says 'note: the tail rudder left over from aircraft production on the far
wall.' Not being intimately aware of the specific shapes of aircraft
'bits' - I think they could well be for SE5A's. Comparing them with pix of
the SE5A on the web, there are some disturbing similarities. I can scan
these two pix if anyone's interested.
To 'compete' on an aeronautical scene, all I can offer is an ex-Standard
Motor Company workbench! One of 250, made in Coventry (at the factory) to an
Air Ministry design in 1942, it was later used for the construction of
various bits of Mosquito. It still has the working vice, weighs about 600lbs
and is painted Mozzy blue (the underside paint used on all British WW2
aircraft. Currently doing excellent work in supporting a spare 2000
gearbox!!!
Jonmac
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