Two Thousand Miles Non-Stop

In 1934, the French air ministry issued a specification for a long-range flying boat to be used by Air France to operate services over the South Atlantic between Dakar in Senegal and Natal in Brazil.

As such, the specification required that the new transport be capable of flying 3,000 kilometers (1,900 mi) at a speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) while carrying a payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). Lioré et Olivier received an order for a prototype of its design to meet this specification, the LeO H-47 on 10 August 1935.

The H-47 was a conventional, high-wing design with the cabin and flight deck fully enclosed within a streamlined hull. The four engines were mounted in two tractor-pusher pairs on the upper wing.

The prototype H-47 first flew from Antibes on 25 July 1936, and was destroyed in a crash in May 1937 that was attributed to a wingtip float breaking away whilst the aircraft was in flight. Nevertheless, Air France went ahead with the purchase of five similar (though strengthened) machines, designated H-470, which were put into service as mail planes. These machines were impressed into the French Navy at the outbreak of the Second World War.

 The four remaining aircraft remained in use with the Vichy French Navy following the French Armistice, being used for transport between France and Tunisia, before being transferred to Dakar in Senegal in June 1941. The last H-470 was scrapped in August 1943 when stocks of spares ran out.

Source: Wikipedia

Pulse Dialer

The Amtsanschließer 33 was used to connect an army field telephone to the 'conventional' network.

It could also serve as an independent telephone set.

 And it can be still used today, with the networks where Pulse Dialing is enabled.

Source: LA6NCA German WW2 Radio Collection

Green Finger

A splendid example of the "Southern Electric" style of publicity used by the Southern Railway of England during the 1930s, when the company was engaged in the large scale electrification of many of its South East England rail lines. The use of the finger to emphasise the stylised electrified lines along with the lightening flashes employed by the Southern as a 'house style' is eye catching.

By mikeyashworth @ Flickr

Labor Palace

A proposal for the Palace of Labor in Moscow (1923)
Architects: AA Vesnin, LA Vesnin, VA Vesnin

For Professionals Only

Russ Gerow demonstrates the Fairchild K-4 aerial camera mounted for oblique photography in the middle crew station of Continental Air Map’s Douglas M-4. With a 1924 military sticker price of $2,628.62, the 46-lb. K-3 was the first camera to solve the vexing inter-lens shutter and film-spacing-system problems that plagued earlier aerial cameras. Offering selectable shutter speeds of 1/50th, 1/100th and 1/150th/sec, its standard 7” x 9-1/8” film yielded 115 exposures per 75-foot roll of film. Introduced in 1925, the $3,516 K-4 camera was basically a K-3 with an 8-inch lens cone and a heftier price tag. Photo taken at Long Beach, c. 1930-31, photographer unknown.

Russell T. Gerow Collection

Leone Class Scouts

Leone, Pantera, and Tigre were designed as scout cruisers (esploratori), essentially enlarged versions of contemporary destroyers. They were initially ordered in 1917, but postponed due to steel shortages, and re-ordered in 1920.

Each ship of the class carried, for its size, an extremely heavy armament of eight 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns, paired into four powered turrets on the centre line. While only two guns could aim directly fore or aft, the all-eight-gun broadside was not matched by any other destroyer-type ship until the American Porter class destroyers of 1936.

The ships were outfitted for colonial service, and by 1935 they were deployed in the naval base of Massawa, Eritrea. The ships were reclassified as destroyers in 1938 and fought in WWII, when the Italian entry in the war left Italian East Africa isolated from Italy.

 The only appreciable action in which the destroyers were involved was the attack on the Allied convoy BN 7, on the first hours of 21 October 1940. Leone and Pantera, along with the Nullo and Sauro, shelled the convoy and its escort, inflicting some splinter damage to the leading transport ship, and launched at least two torpedoes aimed at HMAS Yarra, which successfully dodged them. The attack was nevertheless repulsed by the cruiser HMS Leander, who fired 129 six-inch rounds on the Italian destroyers.

The destroyers remained at dock in Massawa until the very end of ground operations in East Africa. Their commander ordered them to steam out on 31 March 1940, for a naval bombardment against targets around the Suez canal, in a mission without return. Leone ran aground off Massawa, and was sunk by her sister ships. After being spotted and harassed by British aircraft, Pantera and Tigre reached the Arabian shores, where their crews scuttled them.

Artwork: Sandro Degiani

(Source: Wikipedia)

To the South

1930s