Prone to misfortune?

摘要

Whenever an enthusiast peers around the doors of Windmill Aviation's hangar at Spanhoe, Northamptonshire, the Reid and Sigrist RS4 Desford provides an instant indication as to the depths of their aviation knowledge. Its bulbous, glazed nose peeking out from behind other, more familiar inhabitants can elicit the question, 'What on earth's that, then?' It's hardly surprising. Having manufactured cockpit instruments since its 1928 establishment, before training pilots and repairing Boulton Paul Defiants, the company only briefly dabbled with aircraft design and manufacture. Between 1939 and 1945, just two aeroplanes were built by Reid and Sigrist before the UK's intelligence services handed it a welcome distraction - the blueprints and patents to the Leica ⅢB and ⅢC range-finder cameras at the end of World War Two.