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Category Archives: Vintage Aero

HOLLYWOOD STUNT FLYING IN THE TWENTIES

BY THE 1920S, FILMMAKERS recognized Southern California as an excellent place for filming outdoors year around. Movie goers had fallen in love with aviation flicks. And the First World War … Continue reading

July 9, 2022 · 2 Comments

THE AIRCRAFT DRAWINGS OF DOUGLAS ROLFE PART 2

YESTERDAY IN Part 1, we examined two of the aircraft illustrated by Douglas Rolfe in his Airplanes of the World: 843 Planes, From Pusher to Jet 1490-1954. Here are two … Continue reading

May 16, 2022 · 5 Comments

THE AIRCRAFT DRAWINGS OF DOUGLAS ROLFE PART 1

RECENTLY I WAS IDLY LEAFING through Douglas Rolfe’s Airplanes of the World when I realized how many of my GMax projects had been rendered in Rolfe’s illustrations. Indeed, his book … Continue reading

May 15, 2022 · 4 Comments

AVIATION HIGHLIGHTS—A CENTURY AGO

AVIATION EXPANDED OVER land and sea in 1922. Here are tidbits of 100 years ago gleaned from Chronicle of Aviation, together with my usual Internet sleuthing. Paris and East. The … Continue reading

April 5, 2022 · 1 Comment

PIERRE PRIER—FIRST NONSTOP LONDON/PARIS PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, my perusal of The Aeroplane magazine, July 28, 1950, introduced me to pioneer aviator Pierre Prier. In 1911, he was the first to fly nonstop from … Continue reading

March 12, 2022 · Leave a comment

PIERRE PRIER—FIRST NON-STOP LONDON/PARIS PART 1

PIERRE PRIER’S APRIL 19, 1911, FLIGHT was the first non-stop from London to Paris. I’ve only recently learned of the achievement; this, in reading a 70-year-old magazine. Here, in Parts … Continue reading

March 11, 2022 · 1 Comment

AIRWAYS OF AMERICA—1933 PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE FOLLOWED a 1933 airways route from New York to San Francisco, based on A.K. Loebeck’s book Airways of America Guidebook No. 1 United Air Lines. Here in Part … Continue reading

February 24, 2022 · 1 Comment

AIRWAYS OF AMERICA—1933 PART 1

“THE SENSATION OF FLYING is not what most people imagine…. There is perfect calmness, possibly a feeling of exhilaration, never one of fear.” This, from cartographer and artist Armin K. … Continue reading

February 23, 2022 · Leave a comment

TUPOLEV’S SST PART 2

YESTERDAY’S PART 1 discussed Russian aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev’s various responses to Soviet “requests.” A most recent one involved Supersonic Transport competition between Russia and the West. Today in Part … Continue reading

November 26, 2021 · Leave a comment

TUPOLEV’S SST PART 1

RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT DESIGNER Andrei Tupolev was familiar with Soviet “requests.” His 1932 ANT-20 Maksim Gorki was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this Russian writer’s first publication. This vast aircraft’s … Continue reading

November 25, 2021 · Leave a comment