<p>c/n GAL/42/111.
Built 1940.
Designed as a civilian light aircraft, the original Cygnet had a conventional single fin and tailwheel undercarriage. Only a single prototype was built before the improved Mk.II with twin fins and nosewheel went in to production. Although only ten were built, five were impressed to RAF service acting as trainers. Their (then) unusual layout was ideal for pilots who were to fly other nosewheel types such as the Douglas Boston.
This Cygnet was one which saw RAF service and was given the British military serial ES915. Postwar, she eventually joined Sir William Roberts collection at Strathallan and was kept airworthy. She was flown until 1988 when the final Strahallan aircraft were auctioned off. The museum was bidding on the Cygnet but bidding went beyond their budget. Petrochemical entrepreneur and car enthusiast Victor Gauntlett, also famous for reviving Aston Martin, purchased the aircraft and immediately donated it to the museum. 
It is proudly displayed in the Civil Aviation Hangar at the National Museum of Flight (part of National Museums Scotland).
East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian, Scotland.
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13th September 2017
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/65001151@N03">Alan Wilson</a> from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajw1970/25990183538/">General Aircraft GAL.42 Cygnet II ‘G-AGBN’</a>