Description
Object description
Photograph albums covering the RFC and RAF service of Squadron Leader G H Padley between 1915 and 1926. During this time Padley served primarily in Egypt, Palestine and India.
Album 1 covers: Padley's departure from Devonport on the troopship SCOIAN in December 1914 and arrival in Egypt; the Rest Camp at Sidi Gaba; RFC Aircraft Park HQ at Abbassia; views of the Aircraft Park; aircraft transportation railway truck made for the RFC by Eygptian Railways; local labourers unloading stores at Abbassia; British armoured cars; motor transport at the Aircraft Park; arial view of airfield at Heliopolis, the Pyramids and Cairo; testing guns on a Bristol Scout; various aircraft types including BE2C, Martinsyde Elephant; Aircraft Park animal mascots 'Jacko' and 'Bonzo'; Cairo Zoo; informal portrait and group photographs of RFC officers (including Padley, Alcock and van Reynveld), two 'formal' portraits of Padley taken at Karachi 1925 for his passport and other formal portraits of Padley, Major General Holman, Lieutenant general Fitzpatrick and Squadron Leader Whitaker in India during 1925 and 1926; Muslim ceremony of taking the holy carpet from Egypt to Mecca (photographs show departure from Cairo); the Egyptian Camel Corps; RFC wireless section in the desert near Mersa Matru.
Album 2: Aerial view of the Sind Desert; RAF officers bathing near Karachi; a sand yacht made by the Aircraft Depot at Karachi; Padley with Major General Holman and Colonel Buckland after an inspection of the Aircraft Depot; also Flight Lieutenant Kemp (Adjutant of the Aircraft Depot); Padley and fellow officers on a shooting trip in Sind; officers, including Padley, outside the Officers' Mess at the Aircraft Depot; aerial and groud views of the Aircraft Depot, Karachi in 1924 (a nice record of the Depot including interiors of workshops and recreational buildings); group photograph of officers of the Aircraft Depot 1923-24.
Album 3: Padley leaving the UK for India from Southampton on 23 February 1923 on the SS BRAEMAR CASTLE; voyage out to India including passage through Suez Canal, Aden; arrival at Karachi; portraits of local people in India; a DH9A crash near the Aircraft Depot, Karachi; officers' shooting trip in the Sind Desert; various scenic views of the Murree Hills; arrival at the Aircraft Depot of various aircraft taking part in long distance flights: Lt D'Oisey (French) 1924 Franch to French Indo-China Flight, Squadron Leader MacLaren in flying boat (G-EBHO) 1924flying boats at Basra; the RAF aerodrome at Baghdad.
Album 4: Further photographs of long distance flight aircraft arrivals and departures from the Aircraft Depot: a Fokker (H-NACC) on a World flight in 1924, Portuguese aircraft that crashed in the Sind Desert undergoing repairs at the Depot, aircraft of the Air Service USA World Flight on 4 July 1924, A Fokker flown by an Argentine crew attempting an England to South America flight in October 1924, Sir Allan Cobham with Mrs Hicks and Miss Kay in his aircraft at Karachi during Cobham's first flight from England to India; Padley's voyage home on leave on the SS RAMPURA in 1925 and return to India on the SS KAISIR-I-HIND; off-duty swimming at Manora near Karachi.
Physical description
Four photograph albums with black and white photographic prints glued to the pages.
Album 1 has a cream coloued cloth cover and red leather spine binding. The front cover has the word 'Album' in gold lettering and handwritten 'Egypt & India No.1.'
Album 2 is an Army Book 138 with a light khaki cloth cover. Handwritten on the front cover is: 'INDIA No.2'
Albums 3 and 4 are brown card covered albums with the words 'Photographs' and 'British Made' printed on the front cover and handwritten 'INDIA No.3' and 'INDIA No.4' The album pages are laced into these two albums using yellow cord.