As I collect photos and information, certain questions keep arising for which
I have not yet found an answer. Hoping for input from others, I present them
here.
If anyone can provide information about any of these - I would be most grateful if you would
send me an email at Gunars Thank you!
Latvian Green - Some latvian aircraft were painted green, others
had only their upper surfaces painted green. Does any evidence (ie- scrap
of material, rare colour photograph or reliable colour drawing) exist which
would definitively provide us with the correct shade of green?
Daugavpils Nometne - For many summers the latvian air force
would rebase temporarily to an airfield near Daugavpils where they would
practice gunnery, bombing, artillery spotting, etc. Referring to the first
two photos in the Fiat CR.1 section - are these photos taken at Daugavpils? That
distinct background appears occasionally and I would like to identify it for certain.
What happened to Irbitis' I-12 'AW+17'? - During the German occupation,
one of Irbitis' I-12s was given the german serial number 'AW+17'. Among the handful
of photos which exist of this aircraft thus marked, one of them shows a Romanian aircraft
in the background. What, ultimately, happened to AW+17? Was it sent to
Romania or was the Romanian aircraft unrelated and simply in transit elsewhere?
The Jevlampjev court martial - N.Jevlampjevs was a respected veteran of Tsarist
Russian and, later, Latvian aviation. He ended his career in command of the
Naval Aviation division. Suddenly, in 1925, he was relieved of his post 'at his own
request' and in 1926 he faced a court martial. Witnesses were called, a decision
was made, and nothing was made public. What is the story behind the resignation
and the court martial?
RESOLVED - for details, see Jevlampjev's biography page.
Riga's Temporary Airfields - During the battles for independence, the first
few latvian aircraft operated from temporary airfields near Riga. By now, these
locations have been overtaken by the city. Does anyone know today's actual locations
(street intersections) of these temporary airfields?
The Polish Flotilla - When the Germans invaded Poland a flotilla of about 80
aircraft (mostly private, sport types) fled to Latvia. These were eventually collected at Daugavpils and most ended up
in storage in Riga. A number of the RWDs were used by the Latvians as trainers in the
final days of independence. Does anyone have a list of these refugee aircraft, or even a
partial list of types matched up with serial numbers?