June 2020 Articles

• No, this is not a scene from any movie where the hero staggers away from a “good landing” on Mindoro, Philippine Islands, after being shot down by a Japanese Zero; it is an actual photo of Lt. S. F. Ford walking away from a virtually new Lockheed P-38L-5-LO Lightning that he crash-landed, probably some time […]

  

  A good landing is one you can walk away from

  No, this is not a scene from any movie where the hero staggers away from a “good landing” on Mindoro, Philippine Islands, after being shot down by a Japanese Zero; it is an actual photo of Lt. S. F. Ford walking away from a virtually new Lockheed P-38L-5-LO Lightning that he crash-landed, probably some time […]
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• Piloting one of 21 Fw 190s of II. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 1, Oberleutnant Wolfgang Kretschmer, during the March 6, 1944, Berlin Air Raid, took part in the noon head-on attack on the 13th Combat Bomb Wing. As he emerged from the rear of the B-17 formation, he instinctively glanced back at the receding enemy bombers and […]

  

  And in the end …

  Piloting one of 21 Fw 190s of II. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 1, Oberleutnant Wolfgang Kretschmer, during the March 6, 1944, Berlin Air Raid, took part in the noon head-on attack on the 13th Combat Bomb Wing. As he emerged from the rear of the B-17 formation, he instinctively glanced back at the receding enemy bombers and […]
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• Can you believe it’s been 34 years since we first saw Tom Cruise catapult off a carrier deck and up into the danger zone as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun? We previewed the first Top Gun movie in our August 1986 issue (and correctly predicted that the Tomcat–and Tom Cruise–would become American heroes). […]

  

  Top Gun Maverick: The iconic ’80s aviation action classic returns to thrill a new generation

  Can you believe it’s been 34 years since we first saw Tom Cruise catapult off a carrier deck and up into the danger zone as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun? We previewed the first Top Gun movie in our August 1986 issue (and correctly predicted that the Tomcat–and Tom Cruise–would become American heroes). […]
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• Of all the questions I have been asked about the P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang, this has been the dominant one: “Which one was the best: the ‘Jug’ or the Mustang?” Even though I devoted a couple of paragraphs in my book, Target of Opportunity, to this popular subject, there were still many details […]

  

  Mustang vs. Thunderbolt: A 78th Fighter Group combat pilot’s inside analysis

  Of all the questions I have been asked about the P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang, this has been the dominant one: “Which one was the best: the ‘Jug’ or the Mustang?” Even though I devoted a couple of paragraphs in my book, Target of Opportunity, to this popular subject, there were still many details […]
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• Ninety minutes before daybreak on February 17, 1944, Operation Hailstone was launched from three U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the South Pacific. Hundreds of American warplanes ravaged the Japanese-held island airfields and harbors of Truk Lagoon, one of the most formidable Japanese naval air bases in the Pacific. The low-flying torpedo bombers and dive bombers […]

  

  The Secrets of Truk Lagoon – Project Recover locates three missing World War II aircraft

  Ninety minutes before daybreak on February 17, 1944, Operation Hailstone was launched from three U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the South Pacific. Hundreds of American warplanes ravaged the Japanese-held island airfields and harbors of Truk Lagoon, one of the most formidable Japanese naval air bases in the Pacific. The low-flying torpedo bombers and dive bombers […]
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• Editor’s note: Every aircraft that goes into service is accompanied by controversy. This was especially true for the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Super Hornet. With the long-anticipated Paramount Pictures movie sequel, Top Gun: Maverick coming out in June, we noted that in the original 1986 movie, Maverick was flying the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, but in the […]

  

  Battle of the Superfighters: F-14D Tomcat vs. F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

  Editor’s note: Every aircraft that goes into service is accompanied by controversy. This was especially true for the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Super Hornet. With the long-anticipated Paramount Pictures movie sequel, Top Gun: Maverick coming out in June, we noted that in the original 1986 movie, Maverick was flying the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, but in the […]
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• The Monocoupe Corp. built only seven Monocoupe 110 Specials (or 110 SPL), also called the Clipwing Monocoupe. The most famous was flown by legendary airshow pilot Woody Edmundson, who, in 1946, replaced the original 145 hp Warner Scarab engine with a 185 hp one that had an inverted flight carburetor and an Aeromatic propeller. He […]

  

  Gallery: Clipwing Monocoupe

  The Monocoupe Corp. built only seven Monocoupe 110 Specials (or 110 SPL), also called the Clipwing Monocoupe. The most famous was flown by legendary airshow pilot Woody Edmundson, who, in 1946, replaced the original 145 hp Warner Scarab engine with a 185 hp one that had an inverted flight carburetor and an Aeromatic propeller. He […]
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• The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is my all-time favorite airplane. I have other favorites too, but the P-51 got me through WW II so well that it is the obvious choice for nostalgic reasons alone. The Mustang is a beautiful airplane to look at, and it has such a great, distinctive sound. There are […]

  

  Flying the North American P-51 Mustang – A triple Ace reports from the cockpit

  The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is my all-time favorite airplane. I have other favorites too, but the P-51 got me through WW II so well that it is the obvious choice for nostalgic reasons alone. The Mustang is a beautiful airplane to look at, and it has such a great, distinctive sound. There are […]
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• North American Aviation in the Jet Age: The California Years, 1945–1997 By John Fredrickson Schifferbooks.com During the waning days of World War II, a race was underway in rubble-strewn Europe as U.S. and Soviet forces sought to grab advanced weapons technology developed by the Germans. Over the next quarter century North American Aviation (NAA) would […]

  

  Review Runway

  North American Aviation in the Jet Age: The California Years, 1945–1997 By John Fredrickson Schifferbooks.com During the waning days of World War II, a race was underway in rubble-strewn Europe as U.S. and Soviet forces sought to grab advanced weapons technology developed by the Germans. Over the next quarter century North American Aviation (NAA) would […]
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