Flying Binghi

On 13/08/2021 at 11:03 PM, onetrack said:

Somewhere in my 6 cabinets of thousands of books, manuals, brochures and historical information, I have several copies of the Australian "Wings" aviation magazine from 1932 - and in a couple of them, there's advertising and information about the Lascondor aircraft and the Larkin Aircraft Supply Co. I'll have to go hunting and see if I can find those copies of Wings and extract the information. 

The Lasco aircraft truly were the peak of Australian aircraft designing and building in the early 1930's, but the Great Depression ensured that aircraft designing and building would only be done by the Govt, after the Lasco era.

 

Herbert Joseph ("Jimmy") Larkin was the driver behind the Larkin Aircraft Supply Co, he was a decorated WW1 Veteran who initially joined the Royal Australian Engineers as a sapper, and was wounded in the chest by a Turkish sniper at Gallipoli. He was evacuated to Britain to recuperate.

 

Somehow he ended up becoming a Signals clerk for Gen. Sir John Monash and Gen. Sir Henry Chauvel (Signals were merged with Engineers in 1911, before becoming a separate Signals Corp again, in 1925).

Larkin joined the RFC in early 1916, was appointed a Temporary Second Lieutenant, then a Flying Officer - then he became a flying ace of WW1 with 11 confirmed victories. He was awarded the DFC by Britain, and the Croix de Guerre by the French.

He built his aviation business initially from around late 1919/early 1920, on a Sopwith agency. But when Sopwith folded in the Post-WW1 Depression of 1921-22, Larkin renamed his business LASCO and went on to greater and greater aviation enterprises all through the boom years of the 1920's - even starting a flying school in 1931.

 

However, Larkin was noted for an impatient and tactless nature, and these attributes, as well as the impact of the Great Depression on aviation activities, contributed to his total downfall. A defamation lawsuit was launched against him by Western Mining in 1934, after Larkin published some scathing and untrue information, and he lost - and his LASCO business was liquidated around the same time.

He claimed in his bankruptcy examination that he had personally lost his £1000 mustering-out payout from the end of WW1, plus a £20,000 inheritance, in his investment in LASCO - not to mention around 15 years of work!

 

He left Australia in 1937 and went to Europe (it seems that may have been France, but details are sketchy). With WW2 looming, Larkin joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in July 1939 and was appointed a Flt Lt in the General Duties branch. He was promoted to the position of Sqdn Leader in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch on 1 December 1941. In April 1943 he relinquished his RAF commission under some pressure related to revealing sensitive information to the press - and then reputedly served with American Forces as a purchasing officer - but once again, details are very sketchy.

His post-WW2 career is even sketchier, but he is reported to have worked in France, Switzerland and Germany, initially selling WW2 surplus, then Peugeot cars - until he retired to the Channel island of Guernsey in 1956, where he apparently indulged in his lifelong interest in horticulture, and he even published a book on Bonsai culture, in 1968. He died on Guernsey on 20th June 1972, in his 78th year, after leading quite an extraordinary life.

 

His very full life is recorded in the link below -

 

https://airscapemag.com/2019/05/20/going-by-air-part-4/

 

Fair bit about Larkin in Trove. Of interest the Western Mining damages were about 50 quid. 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/94903605?searchTerm=Herbert Larkin

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For the times, the aircraft present well from the front quarter view, though, that tail is butt ugly...

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Nice looking aircraft. 

In the first photo, the dark blue machine, looking at what I assume to be the drop tanks it looks like the centreline tank is way out of whack with the wing tanks... strange to have what would apear to be a high drag set-up.

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