I
have
collected aircraft photographs for the past sixty years.
My interest lies primarily in civil aircraft and hence 90% of the
images here will be of such machines. I began by placing many of
them on the website of my good friend
Ron Dupas at http://www.1000aircraftphotos.com
However, in late 2004 I decided to share them with all you
folks with out there on my own web site.
So here it is. A word of warning: I have scanned them in
only at low resolution so
they won't be suitable for doing anything with, other than viewing.
If you need clearer images, or any other data regarding these
aircraft, please email me at eddiecoates@msn.com.
Also,
remember to scroll down on each page as oftentimes more images are
appended at the bottom. One last note.
The basic criteria for inclusion in this collection is for the aircraft
to have been registered before
December 31,1970.
The collection is
broken down into six main groups:
1. Australian
Civil (VH-)
2. New
Zealand
3. U.S,
(N,NC,NX,NL) Civil
4. Canadian
Civil
5. Rest of the World:
The
Caribbean & Latin
America
Europe
Africa
Asia
6. Military
Aircraft
April
2007 Note:
Although military aircraft are not really within my sphere of
interest, I do have a small collection of historic machines in the
1920-1960 era. I decided, now that the bulk of my civil
collection has been displayed, to put them out here (Section 6).
I shall not,
however, change the titling on this page since 90% of this site is
devoted to civil aircraft.
My own selection of Australian (VH-) shots were all taken in the
1930's, 1940's and
1950's, and as such depict what today would be classed as 'Classic'
or antique aircraft. After that time frame I emigrated to the
USA, so
you won't
find many VH- photos from my own camera lens in the 1960-1980
era. However, after I had mounted my own images I decided
to assemble and edit shots of other enthusiasts in the "post Ed Coates"
era. To this end I am greatly indebted many photographers, and in
particular Geoff Goodall and Greg Banfield for
allowing me to share in their vast collections.
Additionally,
there are several shots taken by my good friend Richard Maclean and
also
his brother,
Barry. Like myself, both have now retired, Richard led an
interesting career flying for an air ambulance company and also flying
Metros and Saabs for Kendell Airlines. Barry spent his
career with the Australian Customs Service at Essendon (at first)
and then, of course, at Tullamarine. Richard and I worked
together at (what was then) the Department of Civil Aviation in
Melbourne. I have also been greatly assisted by Phil Vabre of the
Airways Museum and Civil Aviation Historical
Society, and by Peter Gates in Brisbane, Barrie Colledge in Melbourne
and Ian
W. O'Neill in the U.K for much of the Auster material. I
continue to welcome contributions from whatever
source. To that end I have obtained permission from most of
the State Library collections in Australia to show their images and
have been assisted in finding many of these rare gems through the
sleuth-work of Graeme Parsons, for which I am extremely grateful.
Full credit will, of course, always be given
to any contributor.
Note:
Several of the VH-Uxx series come from the A.J. Jackson
collection.
A.J. and I corresponded and exchanged negatives extensively in the
1940s and 50s. This
collection has now been taken over by the Brooklands Museum and will
henceforth be known
as 'The A.J.Jackson Collection at Brooklands Museum'. For details
of
the
content of this collection go to:
http://www.ajjcollection.co.uk.
The Brooklands site can be found at
http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com
The New Zealand collection was taken mainly in the summers of 1954 and
1955, and I am also indebted to David Molesworth for providing many of
Jim Dyson's shots of the same era. I traded extensively with Ken
Meeham in this period and many of his efforts appear. Finally, along
the way several other images have been added from other sources and for
these I am thankful. Full credit is, naturally, always
given.
Although I have completed my own
Australian and New Zealand collections, I continue to receive
photographs which are
'in the period' (namely from the beginning of time to about 1970) on an
almost daily basis and will add these as I get them. In fact, the
website title is now a bit misleading inasmuch as a fairly significant
percentage of the photos were not taken by me at all. Clearly I
cannot (or don't want to) change the website name (just as Ron Dupas
cannot change 1000aircraftphotos.com, which is now approaching
6,000 photos). I could rationalize it, I suppose, by saying that
I have assembled
the collection! Currently (late 2008) I am
concentrating on putting up photos of Australian registered civil
aircraft registered in, or before, 1970. As an
interesting side note; I have managed to assemble some 60% of all
the VH-U registered machines. Not bad, considering the last one
was issued some 70 years ago!