Air Mail

Sir,

I was most interested in the March Air article by “P.T.C.” — presumably P. T. Capon and wonder if he’s related to R.S. Capon the early 1930s Chief of the RAF. The Austin Whippet has a place in my early days. for in 1922-26 we had one in skeleton in the aeronautical lab of the Northampton Engineering College (now City University) and I would sometimes sit in the cockpit dreaming I was a pilot. [He was to become one of our most noted and skilled test-pilots and aeronautical historian — Ed.] Incidentally, the one and only Dove was owned by C.H. Lowe-Wylde and Hollie Williams in mid 1920s and obtained from Cowley, sold to Ogilvie in 1933 who sold it to G.A. Chamberlain in 1935 and in 1936 it was acquired by Shuttleworth who converted it to a Pup (with Camel tailplane).

Nether Compton, Dorset

Harald Penrose, OBE, C.Eng., FRAc.S, MRINA