Superlatives flow—almost as smoothly as the lines of this unique and airworthy Lockheed L1049 Super Constellation. Thanks to the Super Constellation Flyers Association (SCFA) of Basel, Switzerland, European enthusiasts can now see and fly in this unique piece of 1950s commercial aviation history again. In 2009, this Europe-based Super Constellation was grounded following identification of [...]
Del Rio was several times a movie set for a West Texas border town. It’s windy, and the weather tends toward extremes. A large U.S. Air Force Base 6 miles east of town was named after Jack T. Laughlin, a B-17 pilot and Del Rio native killed over Java within a few weeks of the [...]
My name is Edgar McElroy. My friends call me “Mac”. I was born and raised in Ennis , Texas the youngest of five children, son of Harry and Jennie McElroy. Folks say that I was the quiet one. We lived at 609 North Dallas Street and attended the Presbyterian Church. My dad had an [...]
A few guys have asked why I haven’t added my tale to the sea stories. Here it is, in a nutshell: I screwed up a night approach, blew up my F-8 on the ramp, flopped in the water, and was picked up by a tin can. I’m not particularly proud of wrecking a machine I [...]
“‘Jud you’re on fire, get the hell out of there!” Needless to say that startling command got my attention. As you will read in this report, this was just the beginning of my problems! It had all started in the brilliant sunlight 20,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean as I nudged my F-8 Crusader jet [...]
In those ancient days, the blue skies of Western Florida were kept clear of hordes of Commie bombers by airplane drivers who wore spiffy blue flight suits, gaily checkered ascots, and shiny black flight boots. Each day, they launched their mighty delta-shaped craft into the stratosphere over the Gulf, skillfully following the electronic chess moves [...]
Greetings Slacker Landlubbers, Hey, I felt the need to share with you all the exciting night I had on the 23rd. It has nothing to do with me wanting to talk about me. It has everything to do with sharing what will no doubt become a better story as the years go by. So, there [...]
The engineers were trying to build the lightest airplane with the biggest motor and still make it capable of surviving carrier landings. To do this, they designed the wings lighter and weaker than normal but intended to shed about three feet on each side should it be overstressed. It could fly back to the carrier [...]
