LIZZIE’S FRIEND BARBARA PART 2
BARBARA AND TONY Bertram ran a British Intelligence “secret house” for French Resistance operatives during World War II. Her memoirs, French Resistance in Sussex, recount “the excitement, anxiety and love … Continue reading
LIZZIE’S FRIEND BARBARA PART 1
IN RESEARCHING THE Westland “Lizzie” Lysander, I learned about Barbara Bertram. During World War II, she and her husband Major Anthony Bertram lived in Bignor, a tiny Sussex village not … Continue reading
IMAGES FROM AVIATION’S GOLDEN AGE
THE GOLDEN AGE of aviation is regarded as being the 1920s and 1930s. As noted by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Airplanes evolved from wood-and-fabric biplanes to streamlined … Continue reading
SOPWITH CUCKOO
TOM SOPWITH HAD a way with words in naming his World War I aeroplanes: the Camel, the Dolphin, the Pup, the Salamander, and the Snipe, to name five of the … Continue reading
LIZZIE TAKES AIM
THE WESTLAND LYSANDER is, according to U.K. Air Ministry documents, “a two-seater single-engined high-wing monoplane… designed and equipped for army cooperation.” Lizzie entered service in 1938, her initial role in … Continue reading
GMAX AND THE WESTLAND LYSANDER PART 2
TODAY, MY GMAX rendering of the Westland Lysander continues. As noted yesterday, the more documentation, the more to model. Modeling the Powerplant. The image in Cutaways, plus Internet research, prompted … Continue reading
GMAX AND THE WESTLAND LYSANDER PART 1
IT ALL STARTED with my renewed interest in GMax. I hadn’t fooled with this freeware model-building for several years. In fact, in relearning its subtleties, I found myself researching online … Continue reading
CURTISS MODEL F—A FLYING BOAT OF FIRSTS
GLENN CURTISS was the first in the U.S. to take off and land on water, January 26, 1911. And within a year, he commercialized this achievement with the Curtiss Model … Continue reading
CHAPLIN-AIR-LINE PART 2
IT DIDN’T TAKE long for Syd Chaplin, Charlie’s half-brother, to add aviation to his entrepreneurial set of ambitions. A hundred years ago, Los Angeles was a center of aviation development, … Continue reading
CHAPLIN-AIR-LINE PART 1
TODAY, THE INTERSECTION of Wilshire and Fairfax is a Los Angeles cultural focus: The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Architecture and Design Museum>Los Angeles … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 