G-AFTL
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Type: | L-12A Electra Junior |
| MSN: | 1203 |
| Previous Identities: | NC16077 |
| Subsequent Identities: | NX21707 VP-TAI N1161V N12EJ G-AFTL |
| Owner: | Fighter Aviation Engineering Ltd., Dunmow, UK |
History:
| Although it is policy to include on this site only aeroplanes which took up an Australian identity, an exception has been made in the case of this aeroplane as it was owned and made famous by an Australian identity, Sidney Cotton. |
| This history was researched and written by Vic Smith on whose website it appeared previously. Vic has kindly given his permission for it to be hosted on The Lockheed File as his own site is now closed. The following chronology is copied verbatim from Vic's file with the only change being the reformatting of the dates. It should be noted that not all wartime flights are known. |
|
01OCT36
| Became NC16077 to Lockheed Aircraft Corp., Burbank, CA two 450hp P&W Wasp Junior SB2 engines, s/ns 505 and 506 | |
|
03OCT36
| Continental Oil Co., Ponca City, OK | |
|
31OCT36
| Accident near Hunt, TX, repaired by makers, total flying time (f/t) 70.50 hours | |
|
MAR37
| Repaired by Spartan School of Aeronautics, Tulsa, OK | |
|
APR37
| RCA radio compass installed by Booth-Henning Inc, Love Field, Dallas, TX | |
|
18JUN37
| Inspected at Tulsa, OK, 151.20 hours f/t | |
|
09AUG38
| Inspected, 518.05 hours f/t, engine s/ns 491, 520, | |
| (Reportedly owned by Herschbach Drilling Co. - not in FAA file) | ||
|
24APR39
| U.S. marks cancelled, sold by Gillies Aviation Corp. to F. Sidney Cotton, London, England, U.S. Export CofA E.4978, 658.49 hours f/t | |
|
28APR39
| Shipped from U.S.A. on S.S. "Aquitania" | |
| Assembled by Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft Ltd., Eastleigh, Southampton, painted light green for camouflage reasons | ||
|
11MAY39
| Local flight at Southampton, Cotton, R.H. Niven (also all other pre-war flights unless shown), to Heston same day | |
|
15MAY39
| Became G-AFTL, Certificate of Registration No.9098 to British Airways Ltd. as a cover | |
| Returned to Cunliffe-Owen for installation of two 70 gallon tanks, work completed by Airwork Ltd., Heston, AUW 11,300lb., range 1,600 miles, fuselage hatches for F.24 cameras fitted | ||
|
08JUN39
| Aeronautical Research & Sales Corporation Ltd., Heston | |
|
11JUN39
| Certificate of Validation No. V.195 issued | |
|
14JUN39
| 08.57 left Heston for Malta | |
|
15JUN39
| Photo sortie over Sicily from Malta | |
|
16JUN39
| Malta-Cairo via photo sortie over Dodecanese Islands | |
|
19JUN39
| Cairo-Kamaran Island via photo sortie over Massawa, to Aden same day | |
|
20JUN39
| Photo sortie over Italian Somaliland, second abortive sortie same day | |
|
21JUN39
| Aden-Kamaran via photo sortie over Eritrea | |
|
22JUN39
| Kamaran-Atbara via photo sortie over Massawa, to Almaza, Cairo same day, then | |
| to Heliopolis, Cairo | ||
|
24JUN39
| Heliopolis-Malta via photo sortie over Libyan coast | |
|
25JUN39
| Malta-Lyon-Heston | |
|
08JUL39
| Le Bourget-Heston-Birmingham-Heston | |
|
12JUL39
| Heston-Brussels-Heston | |
|
15JUL39
| Local flight at Heston, to Ramsgate next day | |
| At this period fitted with Leica cameras in the wings | ||
|
26JUL39
| Heston-Templehof, Berlin, returned next day, photo sorties on both flights | |
|
28JUL39
| Heston-Brussels, Cotton, with C.G. Grey ("Aeroplane" editor), then to Frankfurt, with Niven, Margaret Gilruth | |
|
29JUL39
| Local flight from Frankfurt, Cotton, with Commandent of Templehof Aerodrome, used to photograph Mannheim area | |
|
31JUL39
| Frankfurt-Brussels, to Heston with Cotton only | |
|
05AUG39
| Heston-Lempme (possibly Lympne ?)-Heston | |
|
13AUG39
| Heston photo sortie over Jever aerodrome and Wangeroog, then Heston- Le Touquet-Heston | |
|
17AUG39
| Heston-Templehof, returned on 19th, photo sorties on both flights | |
|
19AUG39
| Heston-White Waltham-Heston, Niven | |
|
22AUG39
| Heston-Berlin, photo sortie | |
|
24AUG39
| Berlin-Heston, the last private British aircraft to leave Germany, photo sortie | |
|
26AUG39
| Heston-Paris-Dinard-Heston | |
|
27AUG39
| Photo sortie over Nordeney, Heliogoland and Sylt, Cotton, Niven and Miss Pat Martin | |
|
29AUG39
| Photo sortie over Wilhelmshaven and Schillig Roads | |
|
04SEP39
| Heston-Shoreham-Paris and return, Cotton and Winterbothom | |
|
12SEP39
| Photo sortie to west coast of Ireland | |
|
15SEP39
| Photo sortie to Flushing and Ymuiden, landed at Farnborough for photo processing | |
|
20SEP39
| Heston-Farnborough-Heston, Cotton, also on 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 30th | |
|
OCT39
| Attached to Photographic Development Unit, Heston, retained it's civil status | |
|
02OCT39
| Heston-Farnborough-Heston, F/Lt Niven | |
|
07OCT39
| Heston-Farnborough-Heston, Cotton | |
|
12OCT39
| Heston-Farnborough-Heston, Wing Commander Cotton, had photographed the Belgian coast | |
|
16OCT39
| Eastleigh-Farnborough-Heston, Cotton | |
|
18OCT39
| Heston-Farnborough-Heston, Cotton, also on 20th | |
|
09NOV39
| France-Farnborough-Heston, Cotton | |
|
13NOV39
| Heston-Farnborough-Heston, Cotton | |
|
20NOV39
| Heston-Challerange, France | |
|
24NOV39
| Heston-Farnborough-Heston, Cotton, last Farnborough logged movement | |
|
27MAR40
| At 16.00, Heston via Shoreham to Dieppe (log of Observer Corps, No.19 Centre, Bromley) | |
|
12APR40
| Photo sortie from Heston along English south coast to test efficiency of aircraft reporting system | |
|
18APR40
| Heston-France | |
|
09MAY40
| Coulommiers-Heston | |
|
11MAY40
| Meaux-Le Luc | |
|
12MAY40
| Le Luc-Corsica-Le Luc | |
|
15MAY40
| Le Luc-Coulommiers-Tigreaux-Heston | |
|
06JUN40
| Flown to Le Luc, to Hyeres and Ajaccio, Corsica next day | |
|
08JUN40
| Ajaccio-Le Luc-Coulommiers | |
|
09JUN40
| Coulommiers-Chateauneuf, Orleans | |
|
11JUN40
| Chateauneuf-Marseilles | |
|
14JUN40
| Marseilles-Chateauneuf-Poitiers-Heston | |
|
15JUN40
| Heston-Poitiers | |
|
16JUN40
| Poitiers to Fontenoy-le-Conte, to La Rochelle, Le Luc, Poitiers and Fontenoy | |
|
17JUN40
| Fontenoy-Chateaurroux-Bordeaux-Fontenoy-Jersey | |
|
18JUN40
| Jersey-Heston | |
|
25AUG40
| Certificate of Validation expired | |
|
19SEP40
| At 22.55, badly damaged when a parachuted mine hit the hangar at Heston | |
| Shipped to Lockheed, Burbank for rebuilding, sold | ||
|
21NOV42
| Became NX21707 to Lowell Yerex, 9 Rockefeller Plaza, NYC for a ferry flight | |
|
21NOV42
| Flown from Burbank to Brownsville, TX | |
|
24NOV42
| U.K. registration changed to Lowell Yerex, Tegucigalpa, Honduras | |
|
05JAN43
| Became VP-TAI to British West Indian Airways, U.K. marks cancelled on the same date | |
|
DEC44
| Withdrawn from service for major overhaul in USA | |
|
30JAN45
| Weighed at Lockheed factory for Balance Report | |
|
10APR48
| Sold to Dan Hartman Airways Inc, Harrisonburg, VA, became N1161V | |
|
20APR48
| Dan Hartman and W. Clayton Lemon, Roanoke, VA | |
|
c.
MAY48
| Trinidad marks cancelled | |
|
21OCT48
| Morrison Drilling Co. Inc., El Dorado, KS for $20,000 | |
|
12JUL50
| Old Dominion Box Co. Inc., Charlotte, NC | |
|
06DEC52
| CofA renewed, 4,286.15 hours f/t | |
|
04DEC53
| CofA renewed, 4,396.00 hours f/t | |
|
08FEB55
| CofA renewed, 4,446.10 hours f/t | |
|
15MAR55
| Gregory-Poole Equipment Co., Raleigh, NC | |
|
12SEP55
| W. Clayton Lemon, Roanoke, VA | |
|
26OCT55
| The Babb Co. Inc., Newark, NJ | |
|
01MAR56
| CofA renewed, 4,546.50 hours f/t | |
|
29MAY58
| M.M. Sundt Construction Co., Tucson, AZ (registered 23JUL59) | |
|
14JUN60
| Hudgin Airservice, Tucson, AZ | |
|
21OCT60
| Place & Place, Architects, Tucson, AZ | |
|
23MAR63
| Arthur Eugene Magee, Tucson, AZ | |
|
24FEB64
| Smyer Aircraft Co. Inc., Arkansas City, KS | |
|
19SEP65
| Landed wheels up in California | |
|
25MAY69
| George D. Rice and Dolores A. Rice, Corona, CA, approved for dropping skydivers | |
|
10JAN74
| Arthur E. "Art" Scholl, dba Art Scholl Aviation, Riverside, CA | |
| Fitted with 3-bladed Hartzell propellers, approved 18APR74 | ||
| Used in Warner Bros film "Doc Savage", also in a NBC film on Amelia Earhart, | ||
| CBS "Spencer's Pilots" series and an EMI TV Howard Hughes film | ||
|
19JAN78
| Transferred to Special Purposes CofA, 5,994.5 hours f/t (possibly for testing Nav Flite II autopilot installation) | |
|
27APR78
| Reverted to Standard CofA, 6,011.2 hours f/t | |
|
by
MAY80
| Based at Rialto, CA | |
|
JAN83
| Wind damage to tail section repaired | |
|
24APR87
| Judith A. Scholl, dba Art Scholl Aviation, Rialto, CA (after Art Scholl's death while filming for "Top Gun") | |
|
13MAR90
| Blackacre Land Co., Livingston, MT | |
|
10JUL90
| Steve R. Oliver and Suzanne Asbury-Oliver, Forest Grove, OR | |
|
29OCT90
| Became N12EJ, same owners | |
|
11MAR91
| Seen at Space Centre Executive Airport, Titusville, FL, still marked N1161V | |
|
APR92
| Seen at Bartow, FL as N12EJ | |
|
JUL01
| Seen at Oshkosh, WI | |
|
DEC03
| Purchased by Sally Runyan as a present for her husband Ben Runyan, a retired Delta Airlines pilot who delivered it from Georgia to their private airstrip, Green Mountain Airport in Clark County WA. The aircraft was known to the Runyan family as "Sidney" in honour of Sidney Cotton. (Source: The Columbian, Clark County, Washington of 31MAR16) | |
|
03MAY04
| "Sale Reported", Vancouver, WA, sold to Ben Runyan. | |
|
AUG15
| Sold by Sally Runyan to a private collector in France. (Ben Runyan and his son Ben Jr were killed in the crash of a Yak-52 in MAY08). (Source: The Columbian, Clark County, Washington of 31MAR16) | |
|
01APR16
| Due to be delivered by air to the new owner in France. (Source: The Columbian, Clark County, Washington of 31MAR16) | |
|
29MAY19
| The aircraft was reported to be "in pieces in Tailspin Tommy’s hangar at the Jefferson County Airport in Port Hadlock, Washington. ... Cotton’s plane came to Tailspin Tommy’s for what is called annual maintenance after it was purchased by three French antique collectors." (Source: The Leader, Port Townsend, Washington of 29MAY19) | |
|
26MAR22
| Arrived at Ultimate Warbird Flights, Sywell Aerodrome, Northampton, UK for restoration on behalf of a new unannounced owner. | |
|
29MAR22
| The aircraft returned to the UK Register under its original registration G-AFTL registered to Fighter Aviation Engineering, Dunmow, UK. (Source: G-INFO) |
|
Sources:
"Aviator Extraordinary" by Ralph Barker "Yerex of TACA" by David Yerex, 1985 Federal Aviation Authority (USA) archives Civil Aviation Authority (UK) archives RAF Museum archives Public Record Office files |
|
Sidney
Cotton owned several Lockheed 12As and one his lesser-known aircraft
did come to Australia. See VH-FMS.
|
|
See
also Sidney Cotton's Kolossal Lockheeds
|
| Issue | Date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 08OCT24 |
Added
four recent images of the aircraft flying in the UK thanks to
Alan Flett.
Also updated details of the registered owner. |
| 5 | 03APR22 |
The
aircraft has arrived in the UK for restoration. Image
|
| 4 | 26SEP19 |
Added
a report that the aircraft is still in the United States.
|
| 3 | 14APR16 |
Added
details of a change of ownership, Thanks to Pete Clukey.
|
| 2 | 03APR16 |
Refreshed
page layout with no change to data.
|
| 1 | 12JAN05 |
Original
issue. Researched and written by Vic Smith. Thanks Vic!
|
Return to the Electra Menu
Return to the Lockheed File
