From the Magazine Archives - Page 12 of 17

Runt of the Litter

I was only 5 feet 4 inches tall when I graduated from flight training in 1943, but my instructors saw something gigantic inside of me. I was one of 60 Second Lieutenants selected out of 400 to go into fighters—P-47 Thunderbolts to be exact. When I first saw the airplane I would fly in combat, […]

Messerschmitt at the Beginning: An Icon is Born

At the age of 15, “Willy” Messerschmitt, who would eventually become a near-legend during WW II, started his apprenticeship with a group of “free-flight” enthusiasts in his hometown of Bamberg, in Bavaria. It was 1913; some 10 years after the Wright Brothers had flown, when Messerschmitt joined with the 33-year-old architect Friedrich Harth in experiments […]

Before Its Name Was Mitchell: Free Wallpaper

In response to a 1938 USAAC request for a twin-engine light attack bomber, North American Aviation submitted a prototype they designate NA-40. Powered by two P & W R-1830s eventually developing 1,600 hp each, the prototype crashed. But we would hear from it again. Visualize the NA-40 with a much wider fuselage and side-by-side cockpit […]

Escape From Agana Harbor

On June 6, 1944, while the Allies landed at Normandy, the greatest American combat fleet yet seen in the Pacific sailed from Majuro anchorage. Its goal was the Mariana Islands, 1,800 miles to the north-northwest. Seven heavy fleet carriers and eight light carriers of Task Force 58 under Admiral Marc Mitscher would support 535 ships […]

The Rearwin Speedster

While not a top-tier airplane manufacturer, Rearwin Airplanes Inc., founded in 1928 in Kansas City, Kansas, produced a line of rugged high-wing cabin monoplanes that are fondly remembered, culminating with the postwar-era Commonwealth Skyranger 185. One of its least numerous models, however, forever holds a special place in the hearts of modelers and pilots alike: […]

Iconic Firepower: Seeing Eye Bombs

In 1908, novelist H. G. Wells wrote The War in the Air, anticipating aerial fleets scourging enemy populations with weapons of undreamt power and accuracy. As an amateur scientist, he probably knew something about cathode-ray tubes, although he probably did not realize how they would ultimately influence aerial warfare. A century en route Experiments with […]

Bird Biplane – Lindbergh’s pick for Anne

In 1929, Brunner-Winkle had a hit with their Bird model A biplane, but by the end of the 1920s, even the seemingly inexhaustible supply of surplus Curtiss OX-5 engines had begun to dry up. Airframe manufacturers were scrambling to find new engines, and at the same time, engine manufacturers had seen the writing on the […]

Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon

The Little Known Warrior The Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon was probably one of the least known bombers of the Second World War, but it is certainly not the least important. In fact, its work as a reconnaissance and patrol aircraft conducted principally in the Pacific Theatre and the difficult sector of the Aleutian Islands, was vital […]

The A-10 Warthog vs. Politics: Aviation Insider

You cannot participate in any tactical aviation forum these days without getting caught in the controversy over the monthly on again-off again retirement and resurrection of the A-10 Warthog. No new arguments are being forwarded on either side. All has been said over and over since the early 1970s, and the fight is not so much in the military arena but rather in the political arena; so what else is new? The two basic arguments seem to be whether the A-10 is the “only” viable close air support platform and whether the USAF really wants to do the CAS mission. I’d like to explore that controversy from the point of view of someone whose 1,800 hours in type qualifies as having “been there.”

Curtiss Hawk P1 Free Wallpaper

Designed from the successful Curtiss racers of the early 1920s, the Curtiss P-1 was the first Aircraft to carry the “P” fo Pursuit, designation, The classic lines of this taper wing with the powerful Curtiss D-12 aero engine, gave birth to the iconic Hawk line that would be carried on, up through WWII with the […]