Orion rising The first thing you notice is its size. In fact, the most common reaction is ‘Oh. Wow!’ Although it’s hardly enormous by modern standards, the Lockheed Orion’s ancestry in the Electra turboprop is a vivid reminder that even small airliners are not small aeroplanes. To walk from SAAM’s darkened restoration workshop into a display hangar that is dominated by a retired RAAF AP-3C … Continue reading Home for a hunter
Duty Cycle I spent the other Sunday fulfilling my quarterly obligation to perform a day’s desk duty at the South Australian Aviation Museum. Actually, ‘obligation’ is hardly fair. As the only thing expected of SAAM volunteers apart from a modest annual membership fee, I see my quarterly desk duty as excellent value for money. A Sunday spent greeting visitors and chatting with a couple of … Continue reading Aviation Museum
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
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
A century ago, World War One changed the course of history. Total, global, industrial and mechanical, it was a new kind of conflict that redrew maps, destroyed families – from royal to rural, helped emancipate women, and hand-propped the infant aviation industry. For the first time in history, young men would wheel simple but surprisingly advanced machines high above the mud-bound stalemate of artillery and trench sieges. And … Continue reading Southern Knights
I came across an amazing image when I was preparing an earlier post, Without A Trace. Even then, I knew I wouldn’t be able to let it rest with a 20 word caption. It was of a Mosquito – a truly great aircraft that is familiar fare for airscape. But much as I’ve studied the DH98 – the ‘Wooden Wonder’; the ‘Timber Terror’ – I’d … Continue reading Bang!
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
While it’s easy to be unkind about the big, heavy and expensive F-111 Aardvark, it was definitely a multi-tonne Mach 2 marvel for its time. So as a special treat, here’s a bit of a walk-around of the Royal Australian Air Force’s A8-134, now thoroughly ‘de-fanged’ and permanently retired. #134 (cn D1-10) is a General Dynamics F-111C on long term loan from the RAAF to the … Continue reading Big Pig
. . Rule for Life #4: Keep your eyes open (because it’s amazing what you’ll find when you’re looking for something else) I was hunting for photos of Spitfire production when I happened across this incredible photo of Spitfire destruction. It came from a 1942 newspaper file and carried the slug ‘AUSTRALIAN PILOT WINS COMBAT WITH HALF DESTROYED RUDDER’. Needless to say, my curiosity was aroused, … Continue reading Tail chase
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