Post WW1 "Imperial Gift"

[Dodger67]

After the First World War hundreds of surplus Royal Air Force planes and related equipment were donated to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and India.

I'm looking for good sources to write an article about this history.

Information about New Zealand and India's shares of the "gift" is particularly hard to find.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Tee_Centre_10]

Straight off the top of my head for Australia would have to be ADF Serials.
The site records the serials of all ADF aircraft back to the AFC of WWI (and the CFS pre-war), and the post-war creation of the RAAF in 1921. ADF serial numbers have gone through three "Series" and the one you would be most interested in is the first.

The information isn't very in depth as to the full history of the aircraft and units you understand. It shows the dates the aircraft are delivered, usually the units the aircraft flew with (sometimes with dates), and the fate of the aircraft (crash/loss/disposal/etc). Sometimes there is information on the life of the aircraft after its service. There are often great photos accompanying the entries.

There is also a New Zealand section.

It's a great resource that I often find myself utilising and is a credit to the people who maintain it.

 

[Dodger67]

Thanks! It's a great source! It fills quite a few gaps in the material I have so far.

India is still a black hole though
All info I have is that most of their planes (60 x Airco DH.9 & 40 x Avro 504) were allocated to various colonial government departments or sold to civil operators.
Only 20 of the Avro 504s went to the RAF in India. (It was still British ruled at the time, so India did not establish it's own Air Force.)