Una prima risposta:
>"Dear Mr Sacchi,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 26 March 2005, and for your further
mail dated 31 March. The engine you have discovered is a Napier Lion
XIA. This engine was fitted to a number of inter-war Royal Air Force and
Fleet Air Arm aircraft, many of which operated from aircraft carriers in
the Mediterranean, and from land-bases in Egypt and the Libyan Desert.
My best guess as to the unfortunate aircraft that currently rests in
the Merga Oasis is that it is a Fairey IIIF. These were fitted with the
Napier Lion XIA, and served with No. 14 Squadron at Amman, No. 45
Squadron at Helwan, and No. 47 Squadron at Khartoum.
These aircraft entered service in 1927, and were retired in 1935. This
would mean that the crashed aircraft would fit with these dates.
If the aircraft is not a Fairey IIIF, it is possibly a Blackburn Ripon
II, IIA or IIC. However, given the number of Fairey IIIFs in service at
the time, my best guess would be that this is a Fairey IIIF in RAF
service.
To check and possibly confirm this, you would need to contact the
Department of Research and Information Service (DoRIS), at the Royal Air
force Museum, London. You would need to look at the accident report
cards that detail the losses of Fairey IIIF aircraft, and see whether
one is reported to have crashed at this location between 1929 and 1935.
The contact details of the RAF Museum can be found here:
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/research/contact.cfm I hope that this information is useful. I apologise that I can only
guess at the type of aircraft, and I wish you the best of luck in
tracing it. Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything
else I can help you with.
Yours sincerely,
Carl Warner
Assistant Exhibitions Manager
Imperial War Museum, Duxford
01223 497986"<