It’s amazing what can turn up just off the beaten track. . . In this case, the beaten track is known as Transmitter Road, Eielson Air Force Base, near Fairbanks – “The Golden Heart” of Alaska. (Remember that soubriquet, it’ll come up again.) And while it won’t amaze everyone, what’s just off that beaten track is this: Deep in rumour Yes, it’s a B-29. … Continue reading A real lady
With the first-ever Boeing 727 (727-22, serial N7001U, c/n 18293/1) making its last-ever flight from restoration at Paine Field to a permanent home at the Museum of Flight, now seems like a fitting time to look back at one of the coolest airliners ever built. I recently read a presentation called Web Design: The First 100 Years, which proposed that most of what we … Continue reading 727 departures
This is just a short post to tide you over (i.e. buy me extra time) while I research and write some bigger stories I’m working on. I also wanted to bring a great short film to your attention – one that should be required viewing for anyone with an interest in Australia’s aviation history. Big Sky Country Aircraft At Work was part of a Transport in … Continue reading Time Flies
Now, I dislike greedy, counter-productive litigation as much as the next person (especially if the next person happens to be X-Plane’s Austin Meyer), and I’ve always been somewhat troubled by the Wright Brothers’ aggressive patent actions around “their invention” of the aileron. So I was very intrigued to find the following article in the November 4th, 1911 issue of Flight magazine. . . … Continue reading Roll models
Back in March 2014 (yeah, where has THAT time gone??) I attended the Centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force at Point Cook, armed with nothing more than my iPhone. Surprisingly for some, it was a calculated move. I knew I’d be frustrated, then disappointed, by the performance of my entry-level DSLR – especially the tendency of my zoom lens to go ‘soft’ in the … Continue reading The airshow
As Ron Rapp commented after Part One of this feature, supersonic business jets work to entirely different economics than airliners. For private flights, the main driver is time saving and the enhanced productivity that comes with it. There’s no pressure to share the cost of a flight between as many passengers as possible, or to keep the ticket price competitive at the cost of catering and … Continue reading Sound barriers
It was always a matter of “when, not if”, according to Aerion Chairman Robert Bass. He was speaking after the September 2014 announcement that Airbus Group was staking significant resources in the development of his Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet. That backing, and a firm $2.4 billion order for 20 aircraft by FlexJet LLC certainly gives the high speed limousine a real air of inevitability. … Continue reading Fast company
With the B-17’s brave but beleaguered WW2 service in the Pacific and its epic contribution to victory in Europe, along with the B-24’s ubiquitous duty in every corner of the conflict, it would be easy to forget that the RAF also operated both types. Indeed the British were the first to use the American heavies in anger, and their combat experience would profoundly shape the development and … Continue reading Heavy going (Pt.1)
In Heavy Going, Part One I shared a British pilot’s impressions of flying the RAF’s “American heavies” during World War Two. However it’s never easy to understand which B-17 and B-24 models the British used when. They didn’t simply follow the American alphabetical system, and the Mark numbers they did use were largely assigned in the order that the purchase agreements crossed some overworked Whitehall clerk’s desk. Still, an outline of … Continue reading Heavy going (Pt.2)
A while back, I shared Indicator’s impressions of flying the De Havilland Mosquito – and promised to bring you more from that Flight magazine series. Time to make good on the offer… So, following our recent jaunt across America in four Fairey Swordfish, it seems most relevant to share a quick sketch of the venerable ‘Stringbag’. Time off for good behaviour One of the more pleasant wartime holidays from … Continue reading Time off for good behaviour
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