F**king f**k! I know you’ve probably seen this clip before (and if you haven’t you’re in for a treat!) but I just couldn’t spend a month celebrating Spitfires and not include it. It never gets old. I’m sure the presenter, noted racing driver Alain de Cadenet, has never forgotten his brush with that high-performance vehicle! It’s fun to note that the Spitfire was climbing by the … Continue reading The inimitable Mr. Hanna
‘Don’t change anything’ You’ll hear this story a lot at the start of every March – on the 5th of the month, 1936, Vickers’ Chief Test Pilot ‘Mutt’ Summers took the prototype Supermarine Spitfire, K5054, for its first flight. On landing, he’s widely reported to have said ‘Don’t change anything’ – or words to that effect. There’s been a lot of speculation about this brusque … Continue reading The man inside K5054
Picture this You’re still a child, asleep in your upstairs bedroom. You’re probably dreaming you can fly… but the tranquility is suddenly ripped apart by a thundering roar outside your window. You draw back the curtain to look out and, right there, literally metres away, is the nose of an Aérospatiale Alouette helicopter with your father inside motioning that it’s time you got up. Beyond, … Continue reading ‘Nose Art’ by Manolo Chrétien
Luftwaffe Fighter Force The View From The Cockpit Edited by David C. Isby We’re extremely lucky, these days, to live in an age when former enemies can be be widely reconciled, respected and remembered for the honour of their service. Among other things, it means we can read countless thrilling memoirs by the aerial warriors we want to study and admire. But it wasn’t always … Continue reading Luftwaffe Fighter Force
“She went out of there like a fighter jet.” Of all the great things that have been said about Boeing’s mighty 747, that simple observation probably says more for the people who designed, built and maintained the Queen of the Skies than any other. Specifically, it was made by a Mr. Robert Craig Butler about the way 747-122, tail number N4713U, roared out of Honolulu for … Continue reading UAL 811: The untold story
Ernest K. Gann (1910 – 1991) Of course Ernest K. Gann should need no introduction to the aviation enthusiast ( – in every pilot, or the pilot in every enthusiast). But time marches on and knowledge falls off, so it’s worth making sure Fate Is The Hunter remains at the top of the ‘must read’ lists. For many years, tattered copies of Fate lived in … Continue reading More than love
The Arnold AR-5 In August 1992, an ex film-maker from Northern California set the normally studious world of aerodynamics ablaze. It wasn’t just that Mike Arnold had designed and built his own plane in a cramped former restaurant, or that he’d set an official world speed record for aircraft under 300kg (FAI Sub-class C-1a/0) of 343.08 km/h over a 3km straight course. It wasn’t even … Continue reading Why It Goes So Fast
A few weeks back, the hugely admirable John Mollison posted a new Old Guys & Their Airplanes clip to accompany his finished illustration of F/L John Wilkinson’s Spitfire Mk.XIV. Perhaps I should have that the other way around… Anyway, John’s post, clip and artwork reminded me that I had a pilot’s review of the XIV in my collection, and it seemed appropriate to share it. Unlike … Continue reading Flying the Fourteen
“…But Bolts couldn’t make it back with the remaining fuel. She headed towards an island for an emergency landing. Her position was radioed to aid in the rescue of her crew. Then Bolts gave out of gas. She sat down in the water a few hundred feet off shore… Members of her crew swam to safety and later were rescued by a submarine. Beyond saving … Continue reading The loss of ‘Old Bag of Bolts’
Eagles over North Africa and the Mediterranean 1940 – 1943 by Jeffrey L. Ethell To be completely honest, I’d sort of forgotten that this review copy of Eagles was on it’s way to me. So it’s arrival was a rather pleasant surprise. In fact, it was an extremely pleasant surprise: This book, part of the Luftwaffe At War series (see below), is an absolute gem. … Continue reading Small wonder
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