Aircraft of a bygone era

I've been greatly entertained by the Flickr photostreams of a South African user, Etienne du Plessis. Being a former South African myself, some of his pictures have brought back many memories, and I'll be referring to more of them in forthcoming articles. Tonight, I wanted to draw your attention to two of his collections related to aviation history.

First, there's 'Propliners of the South African Airways'. Here are a few examples of the 106 photographs currently in the set.

Avro York, in service from 1945-46

Lockheed Constellation, late 1940's

Douglas DC-7B, 1955

Next, there's 'Aircraft of the R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) and S.A.A.F. (South African Air Force) during World War II in Colour'. Again, here are some of the 350 images he's collected so far.

Captured German Junkers Ju 188, Italy, 1944-45

Early model Lockheed P-38 Lightning undergoing evaluation by the Royal Air Force

Supermarine Spiteful (proposed successor to the world-famous Spitfire), 1945

Many of the images in both sets can be viewed at much larger sizes than I've reproduced here. At each Flickr page linked above, click on the thumbnail image that interests you, then click on the larger image displayed. This will bring up the same image on a black background, with a link in the top corner saying 'View All Sizes'. Click on that, and you'll be able to view the image in a range of sizes. Use your browser's 'Back' button or command, or the links above, to return to the photostream page.

My sincere thanks to Mr. du Plessis for two wonderful collections of rare images. I can see I'm going to get a lot of pleasure - and use - out of them!

Peter