Miles M.14 Magister, part two, American and African users.

 

The Miles M.14 Magister is a two-seat trainer monoplane designed and manufactured by Miles aircraft which was used by various Commonwealth users around the globe, among them, the following ones:

• Canada: The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) employed an unknown number of Magisters as basic trainers. As we couldn't find graphical evidence, the drawing should be considered as speculative. 
• Egypt: Forty-two Miles Magisters are known to have served with the Royal Egyptian Air Force (REAF). They constituted the main trainer of the REAF during World War 2 and the immediate post-war period. 
• South Africa: Many Magisters are known to have served with the South African Air Force (SAAF) as elementary trainers. They served along the M.2 Hawk, which was the earlier variant of the type.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Magister

2. Scale Aircraft Modelling - October 1997 - Miles Military Trainers

3. Putnam & Co. - Miles aircraft since 1925 

Junkers Ju.52/3m in South Africa

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German transport aircraft that was designed by Ernst Zindel, manufactured by Junkers and thanks to its flying characteristics, it saw great success with many exports users. 

One of those users was South African Airways (SAA) which was founded on 1st February 1934 when the South African Government acquired Union Airways together with a small fleet of passenger aircraft, among them four Junkers F.13 (one of them leased) and a single Junkers A.50. In order to modernise the fleet, SAA ordered three Ju.52/3m which entered service in October 1934 and entered service in just 10 days.

These aircraft could carry up to 14 passengers with a crew of four and covered the route Durban-Johannesburg three times a week with weekly services on the Durban-East London-Port Elizabeth-George Mossel Bay-Cape Town route. From July 1935 another weekly Rand-Kimberley-Beaufort West-Cape Town route was set up and, in April 1936 every Rand-Cape Town service was taken over from Imperial Airways, all these routes were being covered by the Ju.52/3m for which, an additional fourth one was added to the fleet.

As the company was swiftly expanding, another ten Ju.52/3m were ordered raising the total number of SAA Ju.52/3m to fourteen, though three of the older models were sold when the newest models were bought. The airline enjoyed a rapid expansion, though in July 1937 the company suffered its first accident when one of the new Ju.52/3m crashed after taking off from Rand with one reported fatality. 

The company kept on growing, however at the start of the World War 2, its operations were paralysed and the ten Ju.52/3m were pressed into the South African Air Force (SAAF).

Serving with the SAAF the Ju.52/3m was used mainly by the No.50 Squadron SAAF during the whole duration of the war operating mainly as shuttle services from Nairobi, in Kenya to Egypt, Middle East and back to South Africa. When serving in this role, some of them were re-engined with American Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp engines placed straight instead of being splayed outwards. Some sources claim that they were also used as makeshift bombers during the East African Campaign.

In 1944 South African Airways restarted domestic air routes and the Ju.52/3m were put in storage until the late 1940s when they were mostly sold or retired when the company bought 28 Lockheed Lodestars.

One of them, a Spanish-built CASA 352L was bought in 1984 from England to celebrate the 50th anniversary of SAA and it's nowadays one of the few airworthy Ju.52 remaining.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_52

3. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234969613-junkers-ju-86-z7-saaf-revell-conv/page/2/

4. http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/aircraft/174/ju-523m

5. https://ju52archiv.de/Ju52.pdf

6. https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Junkers_Ju_52/3m

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Squadron_SAAF

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airworthy_Ju_52s. 

Airspeed AS.6 Envoy, part two

The Airspeed AS.6 Envoy was a British light, twin-engined transport aircraft designed and built by Airspeed Ltd. in the 1930s. It was exported to many countries, among them:

• Finland: On 1st March 1942 the Finnish Air Force acquired one Airspeed AS.6E Envoy III from Germany which previously had belonged to Ceskoslovenske Statní Aerolinie (CSA - Czechoslovak's National Airline). It was given as a compensation for the De Havilland DH.89 'Lappi' (registered as OH-BLB) that the Luftwaffe shot down erroneously. The aircraft was used until 1943, when it was damaged beyond repair on 31st July 1943.
• South Africa: Seven exemplar were ordered for the joint use of the South African Airways and the South African Air Force. Three of them were delivered in a military form, and four of them were delivered in a civilian variant. They were used to cover the air route between Johannesburg-Bloemfontein-Port Elizabeth, which opened on 12th October 1936. Each of those aircraft could be transformed by a small work crew and in just a matter of hours, into the light bomber or reconnaissance version with a dorsal turret equipped with a Vickers K gun. Some transport versions were used in the East African Campaign as reconnaissance aircraft in 1940-1941.
• Slovakia: The Slovak Republic received the ex-Czechoslovak machine registered as 'OK-VIT' that had belonged to the Vitkovice Mine & Steel Company. It was delivered in the spring of 1940 and operated with the Slovenska Letecka Spolocnost (National Slovak Airline) operating from Bratislava. On 3rd May 1943, it suffered port engine failure and crashed on landing at Nozdrkovce airfiled, in Trencin, Slovakia. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Envoy

2. https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/airspeed_prewar.pdf

3. http://www.saairforce.co.za/the-airforce/squadrons/12/60-squadron

4. http://britishaviation-ptp.com/airspeed_as6.html

5. http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?2462