If it's british, and the fingers of one elbow is the count, then it just has to be th D H Comet!

(Boy, was I too cocky now) Tony

Neither, I'm afraid. One more clue: think biscuits.

haha vickers viscount?
mmmm minty!

The Sander-Roe Saltine?

Vickers Viscount it is! Apologies there to anyone who doesn't have a clue what we're on about - biscuits, indeed. The legend goes that the terribly stuffy British company boasted of the Viscount having its own supply of "potable water" (as opposed to lugging it on in bottles, I suppose - good thing we've advanced to the point where we, er, still have to lug it on in bottles). The Americans burdened with selling the thing to their customers had no idea what Vickers were on about and corrected the "typo" to "portable water" - which must have confused matters even more.

The other legend is that the brochure had to repeat at intervals "pronounced Vye-count". As Kenny Everett sang, "O-o-oh, you say to-may-to, and I say to-may-to ..."

OK, JP, over to you again.

I have to hand it to you - you brits are still entertaining, even though it's a long time since Basil mentioned the war, and got away with it!

Tony

Great my next guess was going to be a Percival Prince remember them? Yum.

Haven't time to look for photos so just a wee teaser.
why would a corsair shoot down a mustang? Where did this take place?

That must have been the "football war" between Honduras and El Salvador in the late sixties. Apparently the last prop-fighter dogfights in the world.

Tony

Yep there was at least one instance of a mustang/corsair dogfight.
1 mustang was shot down.
On you go tony.

Woohoo! Got to think a little bit. Question comes later.

It seems to result in odd combinations when planes are phased out. France apparently replaced Nakajima Oscars with Hellcats in Indochine in the late forties. No idea if they ever flew together though.

Tony

Ok, the question is........



.....what happened to this?

Tony

Hi Tony

That's the Italia, which crashed on the return flight after Umberto Nobile claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1928.

All the best

Rowan

That's right Rowan. But i thought I hid the answer so well, not using swedish connections.

Over to you Tony

Hi Tony

Well, there is a definite (if convoluted) Scandinavian connection - and I initially thought it was the Norge, but the give away was your phrase "what happened to..." - I remembered a TV documentary about the ill-fated expedition.

OK - digging into my files... what's this beastie?:



All the best

Rowan

Is it a Farman Longhorn variant?

Hi Graeme

No, not a Farman.

All the best

Rowan

Hi there

No more ideas yet? OK, hint #1 - it's British.

All the best

Rowan

Merlin, is that FE2B?

Hi Tuomas

Not an FE2B either.

All the best

Rowan

Oh, these oldies that I know nothing about . But a name sprung to mind. Could it be a Vickers Gunbus?

Now, isn't that a name Jack Sparrow would have adored? Tony

Hi Tony

No, not a Vickers Gunbus - but you're getting close...

All the best

Rowan

Hmm. Now that I google I see three types of Gunbusseses-es. The FE2B and the FB5 have I heard of, now that I think about it. But the FB5 seems to be called "Vickers Gunbus", and you say it's not a FE2B either, so then it's only the Sopwith left.

Right, wrong or hall of shame?

Tony

Hi Tony

Well reasoned, Sherlock! You've nailed it!

All the best

Rowan

To me the double bogie undercarriage marks it as a handley page.
No idea which model though. The HP Gunbus I'll call it