Mini Pilot Reports

by Budd Davisson The F-16 Falcon, AKA Viper, is a maverick, borne of mavericks and for years was at odds with much of the Air Force establishment. They resented the fact that the airplane had been literally rammed down their throats by congress as the result of the persuasive lobbying efforts of what has become […]

Big Legend in a Small Package by Budd Davisson Trying to characterize the Monocoupe in only a few words is like trying to explain icons like Jimmy Stewart, George Patton or the P-51 Mustang in twenty-five words or less. In its time, the Monocoupe stood tall as the first truly high performance airplane available to […]

by Budd Davisson Hereís an interesting question: of all the airplanes still being flown regularly by the U.S. Armed forces, which is the oldest? There are still a few Phantoms out there. They arrived on the scene around 1959. Of course the old ìBuffî, the B-52 first spread its mighty wings an unbelievable 52 years […]

Aviation’s Pick-up Truck by Budd Davisson Personally, Iíve always been a sucker for blue-collar airplanesó those birds that work for a living and always look as if they have grease under their fingernails. And that pretty well describes the Cessna 180 . In 1952, when Cessna decided they needed to pump some testostrone into their 145 […]