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P-61 Black Widow Restoration

On January 10, 1945, a P-61 Black Widow night fighter crashed into the slopes of Mount Cyclops on the island of New Guinea. Forty years later, a team from the Mid Atlantic Air Museum set out to recover the wreckage and restore the rare aircraft to its original flying condition. Here, The Mid Atlantic Air […]

Long Island Flybys!!!

When it comes to seeing impressive WW II warbirds, for aviation buffs in the Tri-State area, nothing comes close to the American Airpower Museum. There are several amazing warbirds in their collection and many of them are flown by Nick Ziroli Jr. From the DC-3 Skytrain and B-25 Mitchell bomber, to the P-40 Warhawk and […]

2020 Sun ‘n Fun Canceled

The 46th annual Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo will not take place this year due to efforts to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. According to show organizers, the 46th annual event will be moved “to join with the 47th Expo in April of 2021.”

On this Day in Aviation

1 April 1939: Mitsubishi Kokuki K.K. (Mitsubishi Aircraft Company) Chief Test Pilot Katsuzo Shima made the first flight of the prototype Mitsubishi A6M1 Navy Type 0¹ fighter at the Kagamigahara air field (now, Gifu Airbase). Completed about ten days earlier, at the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company factory at Nagoya on the island of Honshu, the prototype […]

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 […]

Republic F-84G Thunderjet

Intended as a replacement for the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the F-84 Thunderjet was a turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 USAAF proposed “day fighter”, the F-84 first flew in 1946 and it entered service in 1947. Initially, the Thunderjet was plagued with so many structural and engine problems that in 1948, the U.S. Air […]

Museums’ Me 262 Gets its Colors

Thursday, May 10, 2019. The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) unveiled the paint scheme of its highly anticipated Me 262 project. The Me 262 was acquired by the museum back in 2000 and its restoration has been kept very quiet until now! FHCAM is excited to unveil, to you for the first time, […]

April 30: On this Day in Aviation History

1962: The Chief Research Test Pilot at NASA’s High Speed Flight Station, Joseph Albert Walker, flew the first North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research aircraft, 56-6670, on its twenty-seventh flight. This was Flight 52 of the NASA X-15 Hypersonic Research Program. The purpose of this test flight was to explore aerodynamic heating and stability at […]

April 26, On this Day in Aviation History

1962 – The first flight of the Lockheed A-12. When the shooting war of WWII was replaced with the Cold War in 1947, it was imperative for the United States to have eyes in the sky to keep track of military activities inside the Soviet Union. Immediately after the war, the US began flying reconnaissance […]

In a Tiny Corner of a Huge World: What Are the Chances?

Sadly, I recently attended the funeral of our friend Nancy, who was 80-something. Sitting with the other mourners, I couldn’t help but think about an obscure, meaningless fact that I was certain her son and I were the only ones in attendance knew. We alone knew her connection to one of aviation’s enduring controversies: Who […]