• BAL-AMi Flying Showroom
  • BAL-AMi Flying Showroom
  • This photo (kindly supplied by Iain MacKay) shows its sad demise, ready for scrap. This photo (kindly supplied by Iain MacKay) shows its sad demise, ready for scrap.
  • Here is the plane's registration history, showing that Balfour owned the aircraft from 1955 until its demise in 1962. Thanks to Mark Hall for sourcing this. Here is the plane's registration history, showing that Balfour owned the aircraft from 1955 until its demise in 1962. Thanks to Mark Hall for sourcing this.
  • BAL-AMi Flying Showroom

BAL-AMi Flying Showroom

This aircraft, Miles Marathon M60 HPR 128 G-AMGX, was used by Balfour Engineering between May 1955 and August 1956 as a flying showroom around the UK for BAL-AMi jukeboxes.

Sam Norman also learned to fly and owned his own Miles Gemini, which was based at Southend airport, along with his newly-acquired Marathon. Flight magazine during August 1955 informed readers that the aircraft was “…now being prepared for a tour of North America”. It departed Heathrow on 18th August bound for Canada and the USA, but it seems those plans very quickly came to nothing. Departing on the proposed tour, it was found that the installation of the heavy jukeboxes had reduced fuel capacity to such an extent, that the aircraft was now unable to fly the leg from Scotland to Iceland, and so it turned back to Southend.

The aircraft was one of 42 of this particular model built at Reading aerodrome between 1945 and 1947. It was eventually scrapped in 1962 at Southend airport, its Certificate of Airworthiness having expired in August 1956.


loading