Main Categories Archives - Page 3 of 269

DRACO: The Ultimate STOL Bushplane

Short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft have been in development since the mid-1930s, when the Germans produced the Fieseler Storch. The Storch was famously used to rescue deposed Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini from his 9000ft high mountain-top prison in the Gran Sasso Massif in Italy, and was flown by Hanna Reisch on a trip to […]

Robin Olds was born to be a fighter pilot and his career began in the P-38, where he made good use of the firepower concentrated in the nose. (Photo by John Dibbs/facebook.
com/theplanepicture)

Lightning Ace! P-38 legend Robin Olds

I knew about Muroc Dry Lake because my father had been involved with building a bombing target there in the late 1930s. It was still there. Considering the ongoing rivalry at that time with the admirals in the surface navy, it didn’t surprise me that the target turned out to be a large wooden replica […]

The amazing rescue of Fango 45

On 8 April 1982, the following crew conversation takes place inside Fango 43, an Idaho ANG RF-4C flying a twilight low-level radar mission over eastern Oregon: PILOT: “Ground speed set at 480.” WSO: “Okay, turn right to heading two-zero-three.” PILOT: “Steady two-zero-three.” WSO: “Okay, come one-half degree left and hold that.” PILOT: “Rawj.” WSO: “Clear […]

Peter Teichman pulls in close to the cameraship
in his Mustang, painted as “Jumpin’ Jacques.” Teichman’s Mustang, his first acquisition for the
North Weald, England-based Hangar 11 Collection,
is unique as it is one of only a few Mustangs with
combat history. It still carries the field repairs from battle scars she received while flying with the 332nd Fighter Group. (Photo by John Dibbs/facebook.com/theplanepicture)

South Pacific Warrior: A rare combat Mustang

“We’d fly over the target, level, and the target would go under the wing. We’d be slowing down, and slowing down, pull up, and just do a wing over. Slightly beyond the target, pull over, and then come straight down. We had a gun sight, but [we’d] just line the target up on the seam […]

Grumman Wildcat: Free Online Artwork

William Wylam was the past master of the detailed three-view drawing. For nearly forty years, he produced amazing pieces of artwork, many of them for Model Airplane News, Flight Journal’s sister publication. Some of them go back to the 1930s. The detail, accuracy, and clarity are awe-inspiring. This time around, we’re posting his drawing of the […]

Post D-Day Fighter Conference

What we have here is an executive retreat held in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, home of the 361st FG, August 1944. It is a get-together of all fighter group COs in the 8th Air Force and represents a who’s who of Post D-Day fighter aviation. Front to back: 20th FG (Col. Harold Rau’s Gentle Annie), 352nd FG […]

A US Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II, Minnesota ANG 66-647, cruises in the wild blue yonder.

Trolling for SAMs

It was another humid day, with the smells of Thailand heavy in the morning air as I walked into the Triple Nickel Fighter Squadron building at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) in northeast Thailand. The 555th was the top MiG-killer squadron, but hunting had been scarce since I joined them earlier in the […]

Burma Banshees

The 90th Fighter Squadron in the CBI In the beginning of June 1944, while the 90th Fighter Squadron was based at Moran in India, the unit started to receive brand-new P-47s to replace its tired and obsolescent P-40Ns decorated with a painted skull on their hoods. On June 8, Lt. Col. Albert L. Evans Jr. […]

P-39 Airacobra: Up Close and Personal [VIDEO]

For over 20 years, Pioneer Aero Limited, based at Armore Aerodrome in Auckland, have been one of New Zealand’s (and the world’s), foremost restorers of Second World War aircraft. In this video, director Paul McSweeny discusses the Bell P-39 Airacobra restoration that Pioneer is on the verge of completing for Jerry Yagen’s Warbirds Aviation Museum […]

Hellcat at Work – free wallpaper!

The mighty Grumman F6F Hellcat needs no introduction. It carried the fight to the enemy throughout the Pacific and emerged as the most successful fighter of the Pacific Theater of Operations. More important, it was the airplane that could be counted on to bring a pilot home almost regardless of the amount of damage it […]