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Devon Air Race 1937


rossm

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The Devon Air Race took place on 24th July 1937, starting and finishing at Plymouth (Roborough). There was a two page article in Flight magazine but it didn't give any registrations. I've tracked them down for most of the entrants but 2 or 3 escape me:-

 

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So can anyone help please with registrations for the two Eagles and one Whitney Straight?

 

Next, and more difficult is modelling them - I'm ok with the Mew Gull, Comper Swift and 504N but I don't know colours for the others. I know it's unlikely the information is out there for all of them.

 

There are 1/72 kits for Mew Gull (conversion), Comper Swift, Avro 504N (conversion), Swallow (conversion of Klemm L25), DH.60M, and Eagle but are there any for Whitney Straight, J-2 Cub or Spartan Arrow? The Dart Kitten and TK.2 were one-offs so I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be for those.

 

Although it will take me years I'd like to build as many as I can so any help would be appreciated.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The T.K.2 was originally scarlet with a white trim panel on the fuselage and solid white or silver registrations.

By the time of the Isle of Man races in June 1938 it was in its final pre-war configuration and colour scheme, which was black with white wing tips, stripes, and registration outlines.

 

It was photographed at the Lympne International Meeting in August 1937 without the 1938 modifications to the wings but with outlined registrations.

I can't say if it was red or black at this point but the style of the letters is certainly consistent with the black colour scheme.

 

 

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Tommy Rose flew BA Eagle G-ADID in the Isle of Man air races a few weeks before this so maybe it's safe to assume this was the aircraft used in Devon.

 

Alington's Dart Kitten was silver and red at the time of the 1938 IOM races but it's possible that it had been repainted after the 1937 season.

 

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Looking at the few photos I found online, I think it's reasonable to suppose that BA Eagle G-ADID had the same colour scheme as G-AFAX- red fuselage and wing registration, silver wings, fuselage registration, and fuselage stripe.

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2 hours ago, Zephyr said:

Looking at the few photos I found online, I think it's reasonable to suppose that BA Eagle G-ADID had the same colour scheme as G-AFAX- red fuselage and wing registration, silver wings, fuselage registration, and fuselage stripe.

 

You've done better than I did, I only found one photo but it looked as if it could be what you've just described and would heve been my guess. Thanks for the additional support. My kit should be on the way from Dekno but I'll have to see if Arctic decals can print the silver fuselage registration for me.

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You could always ask Albert at Dekno about G-ADID.

He did a lot of research when he was designing the kit.

 

I look forward to seeing the results of your project.

I'm looking for any more info I might have- I'm pretty sure the colours of many of the BA/British Klemm Swallows have been published somewhere.

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1 hour ago, Malc2 said:

@rossm Have you considered contacting Arthur Ord-Hume?

His specialist subject is British light planes and he has an extensive photo collection.

 

M.

I haven't, I'm new to this area of modelling so don't know much about how to research it. I got the Flight articles on the opening of Plymouth airport and the air race before the archive went offline and that was it until the last few weeks when I got the Putnam civil aircraft and racers books.

Another thing on my to-do list is to go into Plymouth museum and maybe try the local papers although I suspect their records will have gone in the Blitz.

Is Arthur easy to contact?

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On 03/02/2023 at 17:21, Malc2 said:

I would try though his publisher MMP books, if you google his name it should be the top hit.

He has written several books on the subject and countless articles for Aeroplane Monthly.

 

M.

Most of his books are published by Stenlake Publishing https://stenlake.co.uk/book_publishing/?page_id=55&page=1&section=Aviation

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  • 8 months later...
14 minutes ago, Malc2 said:

Glad to see this pop up again, how are you getting on with making the models for it?

 

Malc.

It's going slow, I've started an Arctic Decals Comper Swift but not touched a model since April, it's really a winter activity. I've also bought a Dekno BA Eagle and Mew Gull so just need to get cracking - the (re)starting gun is when the clocks change this w/e.

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