Monday afternoon, while Brother Baker and I were chewing the fat with the guys down at Lancaster, SC, the Airport Manager approached our little gathering, hoping to identify the airplane in the above photograph. Neither of the Zimmers (father or son) had a clue. I cast my vote as some sort of Italian job. Brother Baker studied the photo for a while and proclaimed: "I see a F - "something" on the underside of the wing, so it must be French. Bob, take a picture of that and email it to me. I know a guy!" Well folks; when Brother Baker says: "Jump!" I say: "How high?" If he can teach an old airline guy how to fly a Luscombe, then he surely knows how to find the one guy that knows what we were looking at!
It took Brother Baker less than a day:
OK folks, the experts have spoken. This is a Bleriot SPAD S.56. And further, it is either a -4 a -5 or a -6. Prior to the -4 model, the cockpit was located behind the cabin. The -4s and later relocated the cockpit to between the cabin and the engine. This is a little of an oddball bird in that it has a license-built Bristol Jupiter engine. The British engines turn the other way, hence the prop's apparent backwardness. Gnome-Rhone built these engines, which is basically the same engine used in the Westland Wapiti.
Precious few images of the thing remain. Remember, though, that these were not days of high volume production! Even here in the US, only a handful of certain significant aircraft were built. About 12 Boeing 314s (the big Pan Am flying boat), and even fewer 307s, the first pressurized airliner. Ten of those were built.
About 20 of these, in all models, were built. One was even used to tow banners!
And there you have it!
Joe
And you folks think I make this stuff up!
So for all of us that don't have Brother Baker's resources, here is a shot of the Westland Wapiti:
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