June 2025 Articles

• The seemingly endless air war over Europe did not stop when the sun went down. The skies over England came alive almost every night as British Bomber Command sent wave after wave of medium and heavy bombers to selected targets all over the Nazi-controlled continent. These bomber crews had to deal with an onslaught of blinding searchlights, deadly flak and the ruthless night hunters of the Luftwaffe. The Germans had perfected the use of aerial electronic equipment in their single- and twin-engine fighters to assist them in locating the British bomber stream. To counter the Luftwaffe’s nightly terror reign over […]

  

  Hunting the hunters – Memories of a night intruder pilot

  The seemingly endless air war over Europe did not stop when the sun went down. The skies over England came alive almost every night as British Bomber Command sent wave after wave of medium and heavy bombers to selected targets all over the Nazi-controlled continent. These bomber crews had to deal with an onslaught of blinding searchlights, deadly flak and the ruthless night hunters of the Luftwaffe. The Germans had perfected the use of aerial electronic equipment in their single- and twin-engine fighters to assist them in locating the British bomber stream. To counter the Luftwaffe’s nightly terror reign over […]
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• When the name Stearman is mentioned in aviation circles, the first thought that comes to mind is of the popular World War II PT-13, PT-17 and N2S biplane military primary training planes that introduced thousands of military pilots to flying. However, for the most part, those airplanes were actually Boeing Model 75 Kaydets. The Stearman Aircraft Company was founded by Lloyd Stearman at Venice, California, in 1927 and then re-organized a year later in Wichita, Kansas. However, in 1934, the Stearman Aircraft Company became a subsidiary of the Boeing Airplane Company, and in 1939 it became known as the Wichita […]

  

  C3B The Original Stearman

  When the name Stearman is mentioned in aviation circles, the first thought that comes to mind is of the popular World War II PT-13, PT-17 and N2S biplane military primary training planes that introduced thousands of military pilots to flying. However, for the most part, those airplanes were actually Boeing Model 75 Kaydets. The Stearman Aircraft Company was founded by Lloyd Stearman at Venice, California, in 1927 and then re-organized a year later in Wichita, Kansas. However, in 1934, the Stearman Aircraft Company became a subsidiary of the Boeing Airplane Company, and in 1939 it became known as the Wichita […]
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• Here’s one classic that was saved from an ignominious end … This beautifully restored Boeing P-12E (serial number 31-559) is on permanent display within the Early Years Gallery of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It is adorned in the markings of the U.S. Army Air Corps 6th Pursuit Squadron based on Wheeler Field in Hawaii in the 1930s; it was retired from service in 1940. It was later discovered abandoned in a Midwestern barn, its nose protruding out from it. The barn had begun to collapse, with one of the barn doors resting atop […]

  

  Boeing P-12E

  Here’s one classic that was saved from an ignominious end … This beautifully restored Boeing P-12E (serial number 31-559) is on permanent display within the Early Years Gallery of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It is adorned in the markings of the U.S. Army Air Corps 6th Pursuit Squadron based on Wheeler Field in Hawaii in the 1930s; it was retired from service in 1940. It was later discovered abandoned in a Midwestern barn, its nose protruding out from it. The barn had begun to collapse, with one of the barn doors resting atop […]
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• It was late late—or maybe early early—and Robin Olds was holding forth as only he could. After the bar had closed, Robin was still talking fighters, specifically the F-4 versus the MiG-21. He pounded a fist on the table. Then, in that deceptively soft voice with Yosemite Sam overtones, he said, “The best flying job in the world was a MiG-21 pilot at Phuc Yen. Hell, the way we fought that (bleep)ing war, if I had been one of them, I’d have got 50 of us!” In a war where the MiG-17, -19 and -21 were code-named Red, White and […]

  

  Tales of the 21 Lethal Cold War icon

  It was late late—or maybe early early—and Robin Olds was holding forth as only he could. After the bar had closed, Robin was still talking fighters, specifically the F-4 versus the MiG-21. He pounded a fist on the table. Then, in that deceptively soft voice with Yosemite Sam overtones, he said, “The best flying job in the world was a MiG-21 pilot at Phuc Yen. Hell, the way we fought that (bleep)ing war, if I had been one of them, I’d have got 50 of us!” In a war where the MiG-17, -19 and -21 were code-named Red, White and […]
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• Most iconic air transport of all time? The Concorde, Boeing 747, and DeHavilland Comet are all candidates, but the hands-down winner has to be the Douglas DC-3. Briefly: more built than any other air transport (16,079), longevity (80 years since first flight in 1935 and still flying), design innovation (combination of engines and airframe) and, probably more important than anything else, its public perception and appeal. Because of the DC-3, air transport was suddenly acceptable to the masses and became what it is today. A complicated genealogy is to be expected with such a huge production, including construction in Russia […]

  

  The Gooney turns 90 – Still one of the most important transport aircraft of all time

  Most iconic air transport of all time? The Concorde, Boeing 747, and DeHavilland Comet are all candidates, but the hands-down winner has to be the Douglas DC-3. Briefly: more built than any other air transport (16,079), longevity (80 years since first flight in 1935 and still flying), design innovation (combination of engines and airframe) and, probably more important than anything else, its public perception and appeal. Because of the DC-3, air transport was suddenly acceptable to the masses and became what it is today. A complicated genealogy is to be expected with such a huge production, including construction in Russia […]
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• “I would still assess the Wildcat as the outstanding naval fighter of the early years of World War II … I can vouch as a matter of personal experience that this Grumman fighter was one of the finest shipboard aeroplanes ever created.”—British Royal Navy Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC First Wildcats (“Martlets”) At the onset of World War II, the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) had only 232 frontline aircraft on its strength. By 1940, the FAA was in desperate need of a modern carrier-capable fighter to replace and supplement the largely obsolete aircraft in service. […]

  

  Royal Navy Wildcats – Grumman’s carrier-based fighter excels in His Majesty’s Service

  “I would still assess the Wildcat as the outstanding naval fighter of the early years of World War II … I can vouch as a matter of personal experience that this Grumman fighter was one of the finest shipboard aeroplanes ever created.”—British Royal Navy Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC First Wildcats (“Martlets”) At the onset of World War II, the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) had only 232 frontline aircraft on its strength. By 1940, the FAA was in desperate need of a modern carrier-capable fighter to replace and supplement the largely obsolete aircraft in service. […]
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• “When you’re in a holding pattern flying over a thousand houses that are now just foundations, it kind of slaps you in the mouth,” Capt. R.K. Smithley says, describing his emotions and the view from the cockpit of the DC-10-30 as he was flying for 10 Tanker Air Carrier just above the fires that devastated Los Angeles in January. “But when it’s your turn to go in and drop, it’s all business for the three of us flight crew,” Smithley adds. “We’re putting retardant right where they want it to try to save a hundred or a thousand houses. And […]

  

  Big Juicy – R.K. Smithley battles the Los Angeles Wildfires in a DC-10 fire bomber

  “When you’re in a holding pattern flying over a thousand houses that are now just foundations, it kind of slaps you in the mouth,” Capt. R.K. Smithley says, describing his emotions and the view from the cockpit of the DC-10-30 as he was flying for 10 Tanker Air Carrier just above the fires that devastated Los Angeles in January. “But when it’s your turn to go in and drop, it’s all business for the three of us flight crew,” Smithley adds. “We’re putting retardant right where they want it to try to save a hundred or a thousand houses. And […]
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