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A formation of colorful AT-6 Texans line up for a photo pass.

The AT-6 Texan — from the Cockpit

The best indication of how good a trainer the AT-6 Texan was/is can be seen by the fact that here we are forty years into the jet age and there are still countries around the world using the North America aerial classroom as first-line trainers. As recently as five years ago, major air forces still […]

Warbirds: Do They Have a Future?

With the prices of restorable warbirds escalating out of sight and new restorations taking to the air almost daily, we often lose sight of the fact that at one time, most of those airplanes were cast off as junk. There were few museums and almost no private collectors who tracked historic aircraft down and saved […]

The Grumman Avenger

This impressive Grumman TBM-3E Avenger is based at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale, Long Island, NY. The museum is located at the Republic Airport. The Avenger entered U.S. service in 1942, and first saw action during the Battle of Midway. Despite the loss of five of the six Avengers on its combat debut, it […]

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 […]

Spitfire Pilot: Teenage Geoff Wellum relates his adventures

One of the “Few” Remembers. The mood was, “We’ll have a go at you.” You didn’t allow yourself to dwell on the losses, or the seriousness of the situation. You had tomorrow morning to look to. You made a resolve to do the best you could. The thought of defeat never entered our heads. Nobody […]

An Interview with a Warbird Pilot–From RC to Full-size

If you know about giant scale RC, then you’ll recognize the name Ziroli, and the father and son team of Nick Sr., and Jr. Nick the elder is known for being the father of giant scale warbirds and Nick Jr. continues to be a driving force in the RC industry. Nick Jr. took over “Ziroli […]

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 […]