Pilot notes on the P-39 Despite rising indications to the contrary, the US Army Air Forces went into the 1940s convinced that the country’s air forces would be well-served by their trio of new pursuits – the P-83, P-39 and P-40. The twin, turbo-supercharged performance and concentrated fire-power of the P-38 would make it an outstanding weapon in all theatres of the spreading conflict. The … Continue reading Unconventional Airacobra
Flying in focus Right from childhood spelling lists and maths tables, we learn by rote that learning by rote is education’s equivalent to doing time. So there can’t be many interests or art forms where learning by rote is actually a source of real satisfaction and pleasure – to the point where you’d spend good money to indulge in more of it. And yet, last … Continue reading Concentrated learning
Maelstrom Eighth Bomber Command launched 969 missions between August 1942 and May 1945 and, as the force built up, over 2,000 fully loaded four-engine bombers would be swirling upwards through the fog and cloud above their bases in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. That’s 2,000 unguided aircraft in an area about the size of Greater New York City or the Blue Mountains in NSW. A … Continue reading Raising the colours
Mitch Peeke has kindly sent the following report from the unveiling of the memorial he organised, for the crew of USAAF B-17 Serial 44-6133, lost in collision overhead Allhallows, Kent on June 19th, 1944. If you haven’t yet read Still with us, you may like to start there. A Wing and A Prayer by Mitch Peeke So, the day finally arrived. Saturday June 22nd 2019 … Continue reading And with us still
This article first appeared in one of the few way-back-when iPad issues of airscape. (Which was a real joy, by the way, and which I’d start again tomorrow if your aviation business was prepared to sponsor it…) It remains an incredible story of skill, from the dedicated workers who built B-17s to the men who flew them in combat. Plus, given that the mythical versions … Continue reading Down in one pieces
Honouring pilots past In a perfect world – the one where my employers lets me work on airscape whenever I feel like it, but keeps paying me regardless – I’ve long planned to move toward a monthly theme. In this perfect world, in fact, I’d already be doing just that. A month to remember I ‘committed’ (it’s a relative term) to the first couple of … Continue reading Monumental days
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)
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)
History in the making Late one English midsummer afternoon, eighteen young men fell out of the sky over Allhallows, Kent, in England. The date was June 19th, 1944 and they were the victims of German flak. Not from the ground below, obviously, but from a target area half an hour and 83 miles behind them. Closer to their Kimbolton base than the combat zone, they … Continue reading Still with us
Valuable lesson Everyone should watch the video clip below. Just over half a million people already have, but ‘everyone’ is over 14 thousand times more people than that. Even the world’s piloting community is a more than 500,000 people strong, and they should definitely all watch it. Besides, I’ve watched it three times already so two people are missing out right there. Mustang down In … Continue reading Decisions, decisions
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