Fighter Pilot – a history and a celebration by Philip Kaplan Published by Aurum, London, 1999 ISBN 10: 1854106147 / ISBN 13: 9781854106148 Most lovers of aviation already own every book ever written on the subject, right? All that’s left for them to do is wait for shiny new titles to be released and diligently reviewed, before they head to their local bookshop to … Continue reading Best book ever
airscape doesn’t usually ‘do’ livery photos, but then it’s not that often you see one so, er, not-usual. This is 787-9 Dreamliner ZK-NZE in Air New Zealand’s ‘All Black’ livery. Air New Zealand was launch customer for the 787-9 and this was their first airframe. Incidentally, the ‘all black’ and silver fern are both recognised New Zealand motifs, while the ‘koru’ on the tail … Continue reading Black Beauty
The New York World has paid $10,000.00 for Mr. Curtiss’ ticket from Albany to New York – when it might have brought him down by train for just $4.65. The Birmingham News June 1st, 1910 Quite an undertaking To fly from Albany to New York City was quite an undertaking in the summer of 1910. I realised that success would depend upon a dependable motor … Continue reading Hudson Flyer
If you ever want to convince someone that flying is magical, just remind them that scientists still can’t explain exactly how a wing produces lift. Theories abound. For a long time it was all thanks to Daniel Bernoulli and the idea that an airfoil accelerates the airflow, which means it must lose pressure perpendicular to the wings, thereby sucking you, your airplane and your credit cards … Continue reading Need a lift?
He was born on a Pembina, North Dakota farm on May, 17th 1923. He died today, Christmas Day, in 1944. Donald J Emerson enlisted as a US Army Air Forces armourer as soon as he’d finished high school. Early the next year, 1943, he learned that entry requirements for pilot training had been lowered and he jumped at the opportunity. By January 1944 he … Continue reading On Christmas
I’ll try to keep the Beauty Shots short and sweet, so if you’d like to read a little more about these vapour cones, you’ll find the info here. Click for the bigger picture, obviously… And if you’d like a big, clean copy of this shot for yourself, you can get it here. But don’t be fooled… As an interesting aside, there’s a YouTube video that keeps popping up … Continue reading Rapture
All this talk of future commercial airplanes rings with echoes of the past. Of course the 1940s’ Horten and Northrop flying wings are well known. But Britain was pushing on the technological ceiling at the same time – with their Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52. A grand vision While not a true flying wing (it had vertical surfaces at each wing tip for yaw control) the A.W.52 was … Continue reading A.W.52
An avweb flash entitled Smaller Aircraft Tails Possible caught my eye back on December 5th. It linked to a story from CalTech, called Sweeping Surfaces for Greener Planes – relating how researchers at that eminent institution hope to reduce tail sizes (and weight, and drag, and fuel consumption) by using active flow control air to supplement the authority of a smaller rudder at low airspeeds. Changing the … Continue reading Airline futures
An insightful, if somewhat raw, quote from Eastern Airlines’ boss Eddie Rickenbacker. Clearly a design connoisseur, the irascible WW1 ace made the comment in 1958, on being shown proposed seat covers for Eastern Airlines’ new Lockheed Electra fleet. And here’s another view of VH-VXB with a bit more info (click to view full sized)… Continue reading Seat Cover
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