The Lost Aviator The True Story of Bill Lancaster I just want to quickly share with you this trailer for The Lost Aviator, a documentary film by director Andrew Lancaster – investigating the life, flying, murder trial and disappearance of his uncle, Bill Lancaster. The 90 minute feature was brought to my attention by Chrystopher Spicer, whose The Flying Adventures of Jessie Keith ‘Chubbie’ Miller … Continue reading True Story
The invention of the news helicopter From What Goes Up by Jack Hitt Extracted from Epic Magazine All photos courtesy of Jerry Foster, via Epic Magazine, unless noted otherwise. At least since that swarm of choppers followed OJ Simpson along LA’s freeway system in the most un-Hollywood chase scene since, well… ever, we’ve kind of taken live helicopter news coverage for granted. But, like everything, airborne … Continue reading Breaking news
Cool reception For a generation of Westerners, the first words of Russian we learned were Mikhail Gorbachev’s offers of glasnost (гла́сность – openness) and perestroika ((перестро́йка – listening) which culminated in the end of the Berlin Wall, the USSR and, theoretically at least, the Cold War. So you may be surprised to learn that as you read this, two pairs of RAF fighter pilots are … Continue reading QRA encounters
Thunder and Lightnings As promised, here is John Bentley’s account of his English Electric Lightning flight, from Flight International for April 23rd, 1970. In what would certainly get a well-deserved ‘#bestweekeva’ tweet today, Bentley joined 29 Squadron during their month-long deployment to RAF Akrotiri on the southern coast of Cyprus, to report on their mobile Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) capabilities. It was a textbook example … Continue reading Ride of a lifetime
“I’m going to make this thing fly – do you hear me? Then I’m going to set it a-fire and never have another thing to do with airplanes.” Clyde Vernon Cessna, 1911 If you’ve ever felt like you were struggling to nail something, spare a thought for Clyde Cessna: He learned to fly at the School of Hard Knocks, and his only instructor was the … Continue reading The Cessna Lesson
Taking off While Melbourne Australia’s airport at Tullamarine might not glow with the aviation heritage of, say, NY–La Guardia or Paris-Le Bourget, it’s still a good index for the world’s ever-expanding demand for aviation connections. And, as recent stats from YMML show, global aviation is definitely not shrinking. Flights, city pairs, available seats and airline fleets are all growing astronomically. At the beginning of June … Continue reading Movement area
Turning the corner While I was doing some extra research for last week’s Flying Boats article, I found this particularly historic photo of Boeing’s ‘big fours’ flying together. The unique formation brings together the prototype B-17A, at this stage still the 14th Y1B-17 and the 15th Type 299 (c/n 1987), in formation with the prototype Type 314 Clipper, NX18601 (c/n 1988) – two massive projects that were … Continue reading Boeing’s big moment
A good day at the office To tell the truth, it’s been so long (see the fabulous Bird On A Wire) since I did a post like this I’ve almost forgotten the drill. At least the idea is simple: There are so many great photos languishing out there; let’s share them. Today’s offering dates from Exercise Cope North in 2010 – specifically February 15th, 2010. … Continue reading 50,000 ft/min
War Birds: The Diary of a Great War Pilot Elliott White Springs Annotated by Lieutenant Horace Fulford. Introduced by Mark Hillier. Published by Frontline Books, 2016. ISBN 978-1-47387-959-1 I imagine most Great War aviation enthusiasts are more or less familiar with Elliott White Springs’ War Birds – Diary of an Unknown Aviator. If it isn’t actually out of copyright, the internet is doing a grand … Continue reading Dying to fly
Over the years, the age of the giant flying boats has been romanticised into a gilded memory of glamorous, spacious and luxurious air transport that finally conquered the world’s greatest oceans. But if the era was really so fabulous, why was a gifted aircraft designer (and experienced air traveller) like Dr. Beverley Shenstone convinced that it had to end as quickly as possible? And why … Continue reading Down On The Water
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