Media Archives - Page 12 of 22

Today in Aviation History: Corky Meyer Test-Flies the F9F Panther

Sixty-seven years ago today, Flight Journal’s old friend and former Grumman test pilot Corwin H. (“Corky”) Meyer took off from the company’s 5,000 foot runaway at Bethpage, Long Island, New York, in the first prototype XF9F-2 Panther, Bu. No. 122475. In this article, he takes the reader along on some wild rides. Corky was world renown as […]

No Tailhook? No Way!

Out-of-fuel Spitfire and a Carrier: No options As the Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vc approached the stern of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7), Pilot Officer Jerry Smith, RCAF, knew he was quickly running out of options. His first approach had been high and much too fast, and the 21-year-old fighter pilot knew that unless he […]

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 […]

A Minor Point

Another great issue! But let me raise a relatively minor, but often mistaken, point. The engines of the PB4Y-2, and all US combat engines, were supercharged (mechanically driven), but not all were turbocharged, as was the B-24, and others. All turbos (exhaust driven) blew into superchargers, usually via intercoolers. Keep ’em comin’! Joe Deck Well…it’s […]