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New Zealand Rail freight train waits for a Fieldair DC-3 topdresser (crop duster) to clear the runway

A sight seen nowhere else in the world: a New Zealand Rail freight train waits for a Fieldair DC-3 topdresser (crop duster) to clear the runway before proceeding across at Gisborne Airport on the east coast of New Zealand. This is believed to be the only place in the world where a main trunk railway […]

A Close Encounter North of Hanoi

It was 1967, I was an F-4 IP at the Air Force Fighter Weapons School (FWS), assigned there in May 1965. My area of expertise was conventional weapons and I had two combat tours in Vietnam flying A-26 (Douglas Version) and AT-28Bs out of Bien Hoa and satellite locations. Out of the blue I was […]

No Power, No Ejection Seat, No Altitude

It was a nasty early winter day in the Florida Panhandle, with fog, drizzle, and occasional rain as its norm. I had been directed to fly an AT-28 B [ Navy trainer converted to fighter with nearly P-47 performance ] from Hurlburt to Eglin AFB and get the aircraft there on that day. The ferry […]

Aviation History | History of Flight | Aviation History Articles, Warbirds, Bombers, Trainers, Pilots | Laser 200: The Monoplane Legacy of Leo Loudenslager

Laser 200: The Monoplane Legacy of Leo Loudenslager

by Budd Davisson You can no more talk about Laser 200ís without mentioning Leo Loudenslager than you can talk about Pitts Specials and not talk about Curtis Pitts. These landmark airplanes are the direct result of the landmark people behind them. Leo is the primary reason for the demise of the Pitts Special as the […]

Aviation History | History of Flight | Aviation History Articles, Warbirds, Bombers, Trainers, Pilots | Jon Sharp and Nemesis: The Unbeatable Combination

Jon Sharp and Nemesis: The Unbeatable Combination

by Budd Davisson In Formula One racing there are fast airplanes, there are really fast airplanes, and then there is (was) Nemesis. Itís now resting in the Smithsonian, buyt not a racing pilot on the planet doubts that should pilot/designer Jon Sharp decide to pull his now-dusty racer out of the display case to challenge […]

Aerial Walkin’ With the Spacewalker

As I was reaching down to the sides of the little cockpit for the seat belts, I found myself asking what seemed to be a logical question: If you built a model airplane that is on a 1:1 scale, where do you draw the line between model and real airplanes? Certainly the Spacewalker begs that […]

Edge 540: Man Carrying RC Ship

by Budd Davisson If you ever want to know exactly how the little plastic pilot in an R/C pattern ship feels, go strap on an Edge 540. In truth, no 1:1 scale airplanes give the three-dimensional freedom a pattern ship has because of the power-to-weight ratio, but the Edge comes terribly close. The Bill and […]

The Beechcraft T-34: Better, not Older

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 […]

Cessna 180 Skywagon

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 […]

F4U Corsair: The Gullwing Legend

by Budd Davisson A peanut. Thatís what you feel like after youíve scaled the side of a Corsair and into the cockpit. You are so small and inconsequential compared to the airplane that you feel like a peanut. This thing is BIG! And intimidating! If looks could kill, you wouldnít even have to fire it […]