INTERNATIONAL AIR RACES AND POLITICS—1920
THE ROAR OF the Roaring Twenties could well have been airplanes setting new records. World War I aviation technology would be transformed into peaceful endeavors of air mail and the … Continue reading
AN ENGLISH ECCENTRIC PART 2
NOEL PEMBERTON-BILLING, pioneer aviator, aeroplane manufacturer, outspoken adventurer, succeeded and failed a goodly number of times in his early years. Founder of Supermarine, Pemberton-Billing built no aeroplanes as renowned as … Continue reading
AN ENGLISH ECCENTRIC PART 1
MY INTEREST IN Noel Pemberton-Billing arose from my GMax/Microsoft Flight Simulator hobby: It was Pemberton-Billing who designed the 1913 P.B.7 flying boat which I modeled. Here, in Parts 1, 2, … Continue reading
AIRLINE MAPS: A CENTURY OF ART AND DESIGN
DAUGHTER SUZ Christmas-gifted me with Airline Maps: A Century of Art and Design. What a find! As its title suggests, it describes how airline maps changed cartography. Here are tidbits … Continue reading
IDZ! POLSKIE WILGA! IDZ!
IN POLISH, THE WORD wilga describes a golden oriole; also, the Wilga PZL-104 is a Polish aircraft of notable STOL (short-takeoff-and-landing) characteristics. Its first variant having flown in 1962, the … Continue reading
1911 VALKYRIE MONOPLANE PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE HAD Horatio Barber’s Valkyrie demonstrating its short take-off capability by charging directly at admiring crowds. Today in Part 2, the Valkyrie continues to entertain, becomes the world’s first … Continue reading
1911 VALKYRIE MONOPLANE PART 1
WELL, HERE’S a pleasant surprise: the combination of an old aeroplane and Wagner’s Ring Cycle. What’s more surprising is finding a detailed article on that aeroplane from 1910. The tale … Continue reading
