Photographs of Travel by Air to East Africa
Click on the small image to enlarge it. Some photos may enlarge further (click icon in lower right corner of the image). To return to this page, click the Back Arrow.
This page includes maps and photographs with a connection to this site. To add your photo, please contact East Africa & put Kenya Photos as the subject. Another great site with photographs of trains and aircraft is East Africa: Kenya & Uganda 1952-62
Travel to and from East Africa by Air
Nairobi's First Aircraft
To enlarge the photos or writing, please click the spot in the album. The driver of the car is given as Lorna Green, and the bottom of the page says "The Greens". There are no other names given, nor is there an indication of the actual location or the date the event took place. Any information would be appreciated. Photographs supplied by Elisabeth Bush
This interesting picture of Mombasa/Nyali was taken by Colin Patience, Flight Engineer in an RAF Hercules in 1974. (Photo supplied by Kevin Patience.)
Eastleigh Airport |
Embakasi Airport | |
 Aircraft on runway, 1949 (Photo: Gordon Mumford) Air Traffic Control Tower, 1949 (Photo: Gordon Mumford) |
 Air Traffic Control Tower, 1949 (Photo: Gordon Mumford) |
 An East African Airways plane on the tarmac, 1968 (Photo: Gordon Mumford) |
The photographs show two of four R.A.F. Fairey IIIDs at Dagoretti airfield on the return journey from Cape Town on the first long distance flight by the RAF. The flight started at Cairo on 1 March 1926 and finished in England on 1 June having flown 14,000 miles. The planes landed in Nairobi in mid-May. The flight was led by Wing Cmdr Pulford who was awarded an A.F.C. for his services.
The following information about the Cairo-to-Cape Flight by the RAF in 1926 was supplied by Geoff Pollard. He lived adjacent to Kololo Airstrip in Kampala in the 1960s, and last year decided to delve into its history:
Most of what I knew was anecdotal, and most of it wrong. I found some interesting documentation at the PRO in Kew, and also the British Airways archives. Part of the process was proving the opening date of the airfield at Entebbe (Uganda), and for that I had to research the RAF flights as they were the first aircraft to use the Entebbe airfield in February 1929. The RAF did a number of flights, the first in 1926. The Flight archive for January 13, 1927, comes up with the following:
"... 30th Stage, May 12-15—Kisumu-Nairobi (178 miles). Time, 2 hrs. 7 mins. [The course to Nairobi lay via Mau Summit (10,500 ft. above sea level) past Nakuru and over Lake Naivasha.]
It rained most of the time at Nairobi, and the local Africans gave the Flight a variety of names, such as "The Birds", "The King's Birds," and some even went so far as to call them "Matthew," "Mark," "Luke," and "John."]
31st Stage, May 15-18—Nairobi-Kisumu. [The aerodrome was water logged, and columns of spray rose as each machine took off. Owing to low clouds everywhere the course was shaped west, south of the N'Gong Hills, then north via Kericho Valley. Heavy bumps were encountered. A passenger during this trip was a snake, which found a seat on the spokes of the leader's port wheel.]
32nd Stage, May 18-19—Kisumu-Jinja (116 miles..."
Later they quote the aircraft registrations, which backs up one legible in the pictures:
"... The engine times for the four machines were as follows : No. 1102, 186 hrs. 48 mins. ; No. 1103, 190 hrs. 0-07 mins. ; No. 1104, 184 hrs. 22 mins.; No. 1105, 183 hrs. 24 mins. The total distance flown by each aircraft was approximately 14,000 miles........"
The aircraft look like Fairey III's, and from the dates above it would appear that the photos were taken between May 12 to May 15, 1926. The log of the entire journey was published in Flight on January 6 and 13, 1927: it appears Nairobi was only visited on the return journey back to the UK, and not on the way out. * * *
FIRST AIRCRAFT TO BE REGISTERED IN KENYA
The last of three de Havilland DH 51s built in 1925 was bought by John Carberry and shipped to Kenya in September. It first flew at Seremai near Nyeri on 4 April 1926. In June 1928 it was bought by Tom Campbell Black and on 10 September named 'Miss Kenya' and became the first aircraft registered in the colony as G-KAA, but with the change in the registration system, it was re-registered VP-KAA.
He sold the aircraft in 1933 to D.A.G. Onslow who flew it until 1937. The aircraft was stored during the war and later refurbished by G.F. Baudet who wrote off the undercarriage in gusty conditions in 1951. The remains lay derelict until purchsed in 1954 by Jack Trench who rebuilt and flew it until 1962 when it was presented to the Shuttleworth Trust. In 1965 the aircraft was flown to England in an R.A.F. Beverley and handed over for a major rebuild. In March 1973 'Miss Kenya' took to the skies once more and has been flying ever since, making it the oldest de Havilland type still airworthy. The original four bladed propeller hangs in the Aero Club in Nairobi.
Thanks to Kevin Patience and Geoff Pollard for their input.
To re-connect to old friends, join the Kenya Korner List | Return to Home Page for East Africa
