Guess the Aircraft Type...

[TheGreenAnger]

What aircraft type is this?

[Rossian]

Noratlas?

The Ancient Mariner

[Boac]

I'd go with that. Certainly looks slab-fronted enough.

[TheGreenAnger]

Both correct!

Unmistakable lines of the Nord 2501F-3 Noratlas are more than evident in this view of n° 105 (F-AZVM) at Melun-Villaroche Aerodrome, just to the south of Paris.

This photo was taken exactly 73 years to the day since the prototype took to the air from the same airfield in the hands of company test pilots Claude Chautemps and Georges Détré. Operated by the L’association Le Noratlas de Provence out of Marseille Provence Airport in the extreme south of the country, the sole airworthy example of the twin-boom transport was among the stars of the recent Paris Villaroche AIR LEGEND Airshow. Nicknamed ‘Le Grise’ – or ‘The Grey’ – this aeroplane is powered by the only flightworthy Bristol Hercules engines in existence.

Rolling off the manufacturer’s production line at Bourges in central France sometime in early May 1956, the aircraft took to the air on the 24th of that month before entering operational service with the French Air Force in June.

By the time n° 105 was withdrawn from use 30 years later, on June 10, 1986, it had clocked up 10,772 hours in the air and served with ten units across almost every French operational theatre, including the Suez, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Chad Reunion, Madagascar, and Comoros.

Delivered to Aix-en-Provence Aerodrome in the southwest of France, the aeroplane sat dormant for nearly a decade before returning to the skies on May 29, 1995, following a monumental three-year, 24,000-hour restoration. On February 26, 2007, it was classified as a Historic Monument of France. It’s an incredibly impressive machine with a ‘soundtrack’ on par with the Spitfire!

- FlyPast Magazine

[TheGreenAnger]

At the risk of being an "anorak!"

[John Hill]

Few things in life are better to see than a pair of nicely presented Bristols!

[ExSp33db1rd]

Like the Astrodome too, used one of those. Maybe I'll show it to the young lad in our aero club, who recently asked me What's a sextant ?

[PHXPhlyer]

Like the Astrodome too, used one of those. Maybe I'll show it to the young lad in our aero club, who recently asked me What's a sextant ?

If it has sex in it, it must be OK.

PP

[Woody]

A bit more up-to date

[TheGreenAnger]

A bit more up-to date

The Cirrus Jet eh Woody!

[Pinky the pilot]

TGA; A Ffrench made aircraft with British designed and made Engines????

I am amazed, I tell you!

[TheGreenAnger]

TGA; A Ffrench made aircraft with British designed and made Engines????

I am amazed, I tell you!

Viva Concorde!

The jet I am thinking about, the Cirrus Vision SF50 is very American.

[CharlieOneSix]

I must have lost count of how many times in my teens I pushed this aircraft in and out of the hangar - registration photoshopped out.

61-1.jpg (25.79 KiB) Viewed 526 times

Its owner was a Silver City Bristol 170 pilot, John Pothecary, and in the same hangar he also owned a Comper Swift, G-ABUU.

abuu.jpg (14.48 KiB) Viewed 526 times

[Ex-Ascot]

Well it looks like a Tiger Moth but Mrs Ex-Ascot says no.

[k3k3]

Not a Tiger Moth, wrong engine, tail, undercarriage, and only only one cockpit.

[CharlieOneSix]

No, not a Tiger Moth. This one has side by side seating and you can fold the wings back against the fuselage.

[Mrs Ex-Ascot]

Not a Tiger Moth, wrong engine, tail, undercarriage, and only only one cockpit.

No, not a Tiger Moth. This one has side by side seating and you can fold the wings back against the fuselage.

So I was right then.

[Ex-Ascot]

Hawker osprey is my next guess but don't think that I am right.

[CharlieOneSix]

Not the Osprey! A rare type - only 12 built and this is the only survivor. It's not airworthy at the moment but is being restored yet again in the UK.

[Boac]

you can fold the wings back

Trust an airy-fairy to come up with that