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Douglas F4D Skyray

The first United States Navy and United States Marine Corps fighter that could exceed Mach 1 in level flight, the Douglas F4D Skyray was an American carrier-based fighter/interceptor. Although it was in service for a relatively short time and never entered combat, it was the first carrier-launched aircraft to hold the world’s absolute speed record, […]

Super Stearman Saturday

What do you get when you take any airplane and more than double its horsepower? For one thing you get much bigger grins every time you move the throttle forward for takeoff. The 450 Stearman, the so-called “Super Stearman,” is a classic case in point. Originally born with a puny 220 hp, W-670 Continental radial […]

DeHavilland Comet: Wooden Artistry

In 1934 the public still viewed aviation as something special. In fact, air racing had become a worldwide obsession, which, like NASCAR many years later, offered great publicity opportunities for the sponsors and the participants. Australian millionaire Sir MacPherson Robertson, recognized the public relations value of air racing and announced he was sponsoring a race […]

A P-40 Fighter Pilot’s Inspiration: six year old Georgie Boy

The “greatest generation” as a whole did not need a reason to fight. Provoked by a ferocious Axis that threatened to enslave the world, hundreds and thousands of young men answered the call to arms. Preserving freedom, peace and security for future generations were the primary reason men signed up for service. Others saw it […]

Friday Fighter: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

One of the all time famous fighters to come out of WW 2, the P-40 was conceived as a pursuit aircraft and was agile at low and medium altitudes. However, it suffered from a lack of power at higher altitudes. At medium and high speeds it was one of the tightest-turning early monoplane designs of […]

Wednesday Warbirds: Hawker Hurricane

A young man, his Hurricane and the Battle of Britain

Heavy Metal Monday: Focke-Wulf Fw 190

More commonly referred to as the Butcher Bird by pilots that went up against this fierce fighter, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (Shrike) was a German single-seat, single-engine aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s. Widely used during WW2 along with its Luftwaffe counterpart, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Fw 190 became the […]

On this day in Aviation History

December 17, 1903 116 years ago, Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane, made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. From 1905 to 1907, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical […]

First Flight Dec. 14, 1984, the X-29 advanced technology demonstrator aircraft banks over desert terrain near NASA Dryden. (Credits: NASA Photo) Two X-29 aircraft, featuring one of the more unusual designs in aviation history, were flown at NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (now Armstrong Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The demonstrators […]

GeeBee R-1 and R-2: Air Racing with the World’s Fastest Pony Kegs:

Today it’s impossible to think of the golden age of air racing without an R-1 or R-2 Gee Bee roaring across the mind’s eye. To the aviation public, the Gee Bees air racing — and vice versa. And that’ s only right. When Granville engineer, Pete Miller, drafted the first lines for the “R” series of […]