Seaplane pilot and instructor makes the transition to flying landplanes and converts to nimble – if war-weary and unreliable – Mitsubishi A6M ‘Zero’ fighters. Translated by Nicholas Voge. Continue reading 4. Like a fish out of water
Masa’aki Saeki and his squadron-mates arrive at the secretive Konike air base and learn the reality of their mission. They also see their Yokosuka MXY-7/K-1 Ohka suicide bombs for the first time. Translated by Nicholas Voge. Continue reading 3. Our coffins were painted pink
Continuing the memoir of WW2 Japanese suicide pilot, Masa’aki Saeki. In this chapter, Saeki ‘volunteers’ for a secret mission and is transferred north for training Jinrai Butai, Imperial Japanese Navy. Translated by Nicholas Voge. Continue reading 2. Another guy died
Enter the mind of a WW2 Japanese volunteer suicide pilot… This is the extraordinary diary of Masa’aki Saeki, trainee Yokosuka MXY-7/K-1 Ohka pilot, 721st Kōkūtai Jinrai Butai, Imperial Japanese Navy. Translated by Nicholas Voge. Continue reading 1. Finally, we depart for Kashima
Marie Marvingt In March 1915, an injured pilot of the French Aéronautique Militaire was transported to a field hospital behind Verdun, 200km east of Paris. There, one of his nurses learned he had been the only pilot available to fly an important bombing mission. Within days, that nurse would become history’s first female combat pilot. No ordinary nurse This was still the early days of … Continue reading Eagle & dove
After our epic 1925 trip from Adelaide to Sydney and back (and apologies for the long interlude) it’s time to meet the man behind the Larkin Aircraft Supply Co or LASCO, and Australian Aerial Services Limited. Herbert ‘Jimmy’ Larkin Like WW1 flyers from all over the world, the Australian soldiers who came home as aviators were determined to create careers in their new-found element. But … Continue reading Going by air (Part 4)
We’ve been travelling with a reporter from the Adelaide Register newspaper, on the nascent Australian Aerial Services airmail flight between Adelaide and Sydney – a direct distance of some 630 nautical miles. (As a comparison, London to Paris is 184 nm, New York to Albany is 117 nm, and L.A. to San Francisco is 292 nm.) The land along the route was slowly being occupied, … Continue reading Going by air (Part 3)
In Part One a reporter from the Adelaide Register newspaper joined the Australian Aerial Services airmail service between Adelaide and Sydney in June 1925. The service was exactly a year old at the time – having started in June 1924 as the first inter-state airmail service in Australia, the first between major cities, and the first in the relatively populous southeast. When we finished last time, … Continue reading Going by air (Part 2)
Combat Over The Trenches Oswald Watt, Aviation Pioneer by Chris Clark Published by Pen & Sword Aviation, ISBN 978 1 52671 501 2 Originally published in Australia as The High Life of Oswald Watt; Australia’s First Military Pilot (Big Sky Publishing Pty Ltd) this Pen & Sword reprint brings a hugely important Australian aviator to the world stage. And, while the new title Combat Over … Continue reading Oswald Watt
Fallen Eagles By Norman Franks ISBN 978 1 47387 996 6 A book should be about the size of an airport terminal. Not too rudimentary, and not too overblown with distractions either – but still big enough to deliver all the anticipation, preparation, challenge and satisfaction you’d expect for your planned flight. That’s not how this one works though. Rather than take us from the … Continue reading 99 Ways To Die
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