Details of Air Union's F-GEAB are given on Photo 651334. Also depicted is Imperial Airways' Vickers Type 170 Vanguard G-EBCP c/n.1, the only one of its type. Registered 19 April 1922, first flew 18 July 1923 as Type 62 for the Air Ministry, later Type 103 before being re-engined as Type 170, to Imperial Airways 1925. Withdrawn from airline service 1928 for a new tail unit to eliminate control problems. On 16 May 1929 while on a test-flight from Brooklands, it crashed and burned at Shepperton, killing the two occupants. The tail unit had failed, attributed to excessive rudder force.

Depicted are two Farman F.60 Goliaths, F-AEFC of Messageries Aériennes in the foreground and F-ADDT of Grands Expresses Aériennes in the background. Both companies were merged into Air Union on -1 Jan.1923. F-ADDT f/f 1920 and registered 28 Sept.1921. Named Languedoc with Air Union, on -6 Aug.1924 the port engine failed while en route from Paris to Croydon and it forced landed near Tonbridge, Kent. The aircraft was dismantled, repaired and re-entered service. On 23 Apr.1931 it crashed at Widehurst Farm, Marden, on take off from Marden with a cargo of mail. It was DBR and cancelled -7 Dec.1932

Registered June 1921. Later converted to F.63bis standard. Fate not known.

Previously operated by G.E.A. It crashed while attempting to land at Lympne -8 Feb.1925 after an engine failed over the English Channel while operating a cargo flight from Paris to Croydon. Later repaired and returned to service. On 24 Nov.1927 it was badly damaged in a forced landing at Yaldham Manor, Wrotham, Kent but was again repaired and returned to service. On 31 July 1929 it made a forced landing near Smarden, Kent while flying gold bullion from Croydon to Paris. It may have been yet again repaired and returned to service, as the registration was not cancelled until -1 June 1932.

In 1921 the Aéro-Club de France organised a contest for transport aircraft. One of the three time windows for the trials was in February, with F-YHMF the sole participant. Nocturnal flights to Lille were attempted, but the crew had to turn back to Le Bourget each time. According to artwork, F-YHMF was painted pale blue. It was owned by the manufacturer - F-*HMF registrations were for the Henri & Maurice Farman company. In 1922 it was operated by the Messageries Aériennes airline for a couple of months. Photo from: Bibliothèque nationale de France - Gallica

Registered August1922. Previously operated by Messageries Aériennes. On 11 March 1928, after broadcasting a Mayday it crashed in the English Channel nine miles from Folkestone, killing both crew members. It had been operating a scheduled flight from Paris to Croydon but had landed at Saint-Inglevert airfield to await an improvement in the weather before continuing, the passengers then opting to continue their journey by boat. Cancelled March 1928.

Picture taken by a KLM photographer. Photo from: KLM

The Farman F.60 Goliath was a French airliner and bomber produced by the Farman Aviation Works from 1919. It was instrumental in the creation of early airlines and commercial routes in Europe after WWI. This Goliath crashed at Wadhurst, East Sussex when flying between Paris and Croydon, with three passengers killed and two injured. The museum website suggests the aircraft was repaired and returned to service to fly around the Alps. This is supported by the fact that its registration was not cancelled until June 1932. Air Union was one of the four airlines that merged to become Air France,

Two Farman Goliaths of Air Union, F-ADDT Languedoc and F-AECU Normandie, dwarf two smaller airliners at Croydon. Those are Blériot-SPAD S.33 F-ADBI, also of Air Union, and Fokker F.III H-NABG of KLM.

'A regular night air mail service between Paris and London has just been inaugurated by Air Union, a heavily-laden aeroplane reaching Croydon at four o'clock this morning... The mails were immediately rushed to the GPO by motor car for early delivery in London.' The Goliath crashed near Paddock Wood railway station on a daytime cargo flight on 19 May 1929.

The original caption mentions that aerial travel between London and Paris got a boost from a general strike in England at this time. This Goliath served from 1922 until 1928, originally with the Messageries Aériennes company. On the right is a Danish Farman Jabiru, T-DOXB.

Designed as a heavy bomber, the F.60 Goliath with its bus-like fuselage was easily transformed into an important early airliner, seating up to twelve passengers. The second prototype, painted green, departed Paris in the morning of 12 August 1919 and landed at Soesterberg 3.5 hours later, bound for Copenhagen. As F-GEAD this plane was involved in the world's first mid-air collision between airliners, with DH.18A G-EAWO over Picardie on 7 April 1922. All seven people on board the two planes lost their lives. Photo from: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

Crashed at Wadhurst Sussex on 16.10.1925 when operating the Le Bourget - Croydon service. The damaged fuselage was fortunately recovered for preservation. The large passenger biplane type remained in service from 1919 until the late 1920s.