F-AQAA    Airspeed Airspeed A.S.6J Envoy III                            (c/n 70)

                                               

                                      When the Basque country in the northeast of Spain was cut off from the French section during
                                      the Civil War in 1936, the Basques decided to create an airline to connect Bilbao with several
                                      different cities as a means of keeping contact with the outside world.  .        A small airline, Air
                                      Pyrenees was formed with no less than six Aircpeed Envoys.           They also had a couple of
                                      Caudrom C.449 Goelands.   The above image is from the Airspeed company, taken probably
                                      before delivery.  The titling "Air Pyrenees' was made in large black lettering below the cabin
                                      windows.  The juxtaposition of this shot does not show whether this had been applied at that
                                      time or not.  . Although based in Bilboa, the aircraft were registered in France, possibly to
                                      present them as "foreign" owned.  However, this did not stop the nationalists from shooting
                                      down several of them.  When Franco's nationalists won the war, the remainder of the fleet
                                      passed to LAPE.