NAPIER-HESTON RACER—IN SEARCH OF A RECORD
DESPITE INNOVATIVE DESIGN, plenteous funding, and meticulous fabrication, the 1940 Napier-Heston Racer failed to fulfill its purpose of setting a World Air Speed Record. The onset of World War II … Continue reading
BESSIE COLEMAN—A COURAGEOUS WOMAN OF SOARING AMBITION PART 2
HERE’S A WOMAN who rose from a http://wp.me/p2ETap-az9 sharecropper family to being called “the world’s greatest woman flier” in 1922. Today in Part 2, we find Bessie returning to the … Continue reading
BESSIE COLEMAN—A COURAGEOUS WOMAN OF SOARING AMBITION PART 1
MORE THAN 100 years ago, a young woman heard about pioneer aviatrix Harriet Quimby and thought flying might be fun for her too. The young woman had two challenges: her … Continue reading
THE CURTISS AEROPLANE CO. 1912–1913
A CURTISS BROCHURE describes the aviation state of the art for 1912–1913: “The aeroplane, having progressed from the experimental to the practical stage, and, by means of aviation meetings and … Continue reading
GENERAL AVIATION—A HALF-CENTURY PERSPECTIVE PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE STARTED leafing through the November 1966 issue of The Flyer. Today, we continue with this general-aviation magazine’s coverage of a “10-Engine Magic Carpet,” an instrument tutorial, a woman’s … Continue reading
GENERAL AVIATION—A HALF-CENTURY PERSPECTIVE PART 1
SORTING ONE THING and another, I came upon the November 1966 issue of The Flyer magazine, Vol. 6, No. 8, 40¢. It offers interesting insights about general aviation of more … Continue reading
CELEBRATING A STEAM PUNK ZEPPELIN BUSTER PART 2
NOEL PEMBERTON BILLING had a fertile imagination, exemplified by his four-winged P.B. 31E Zeppelin buster. We continue the tale of this quadruplane in Part 2 today and view one in … Continue reading
CELEBRATING A STEAM PUNK ZEPPELIN BUSTER PART 1
THE 1917 P.B. 31E Nighthawk was Supermarine Aircraft’s first design, an utterly bizarre steam punk Zeppelin buster, from this English firm destined, two decades later, to produce the legendary Spitfire. … Continue reading
LOUIS BREGUET—A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME PART 2
THE NAME BREGUET is associated with time, but French pioneer aviator Louis Breguet was ahead of his. Here in Part 2, we see him as aviation entrepreneur, visionary, and theoretician. … Continue reading
LOUIS BREGUET—A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME PART 1
FRENCHMAN LOUIS BREGUET was the great-great-grandson of famed horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet. By contrast, Louis Breguet was an aviation pioneer, yet very much ahead of his time. Indeed, one of his … Continue reading
