Weekend extra.
KL632 -B.V1 ;ex 44-49804;MCn43-24 ;left Dorval for ME 4.5.45;engine failure led to forced landing ;complete engine change by 20.5.45 ;retd to USA for experimental work 12.6.45 retd to Dorval 23.8.45 fitted with SCA.51 [ILS] and Sperry A-12 Gyropilot ;to UK; SAL Prestwick ;RAE 6.3.46 ;to MoS change 1.4.46 ;experimental work on ILSby TFU ,leading to automatic landing trials ;A&AEE 5.6.46 ;BOAC Development Unit Hurn 28.6.46 retd to A&AEE working with BOAC ,18.12.46 ;to Nairobi 19.12.46 ,retd 2.47 ;handed back to BOAC 20.2.47 ;automatic approach and ILS trial demonstrations at Prestwick 4.5.47 .also at Heathrow 16.5.47 19.5.47 and 6.647 ;various Transport Command demonstrations 6 MU 1.8.47 ;SOC 16.11.47.

Wednesdays photo,s.
A TBM-3W in flight over Boca Chica Key West Florida.

And General Motors TBM-3E (BUNO 69465) 18 January 1946, at Patuxent River, Maryland. This unusually configured conversion of a production TBM-3 torpedo bomber wears allover glossy dark blue finish and carries a white painted AN/Aps-4 search radar pod beneath the starboard wing. The ventral gun position and after "greenhouse" have been removed to make room for personnel and electronic equipment.

Fridays photo.
And a well known one from the IWM collection.
15 May 1943. Air Vice-Marshall Keith Park about to taxi out in his personal Spitfire V to mark the opening of Malta's new airstrip in Safi.

Weekend extra, & staying with Spits and the "Med".
Spitfire Vb Trop BR390 ZX-N of 145 Squadron.

Wednesdays photo.
And a very crisp shot of the prototype Arado Ar-95 D-OHEO taken in 1937.

This weeks photo.
The first YP-61 Black Widow night fighter to arrive at Orlando Army Air Base, November 1943 is met by a 349th Night Fighter Squadron Douglas P-70 "Black Magic".

This weekends extra.
In 1946, a single Vampire F.1 began operating on an evaluation basis in Canada at the Winter Experimental Establishment in Edmonton. The Vampire F.3 was selected as one of two types of operational fighters for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and was first flown in Canada on 17 January 1948 where it went into service as a Central Flying School training aircraft at RCAF Station Trenton. Operating a total of 86 aircraft, the Vampire F.3 became the first jet fighter to enter RCAF service in any significant numbers.

The Vampire had the function of introducing Canadian fighter pilots not only to jet propulsion, but also to other amenities such as cockpit pressurisation and the tricycle landing gear arrangement. It proved to be a popular aircraft, being easy to fly and often considered a "hot rod." In Canadian service, the Vampire served in both operational and air reserve units (400, 401, 402, 411, 438 and 442 squadrons). During the late 1950s, the type was retired and was replaced in RCAF service by the Canadair Sabre.

Midweek photo taken 45.
A PBM Mariner makes a Jet Assisted Take Off from an unidentified body of water. Image is part of a photograph album of naval aviation operations in the Azores and Port Lyautey, French Morocco, North Africa.

This weekends pics.
A Grumman TBM "Avenger" Is launched, with Jet assisted take off, from the deck of USS ALTAMAHA, on 1 March 1944.

And Grumman TBF-1 "Avenger", Takes off with "jet assist"(JATO) from USS MAKASSAR STRAIT (CVE-91) during training operations off Hawaii on 9 January 1945.

The mid-week photo.
A surrendered Savoia-Macchetti S-79 parked in dispersal area on an American Air Base in Sicily.