VE DAY, 70 YEARS AGO, 20 YEARS AGO
THIS PAST week, May 7, 2015, was the 70th anniversary of VE Day, celebrating the end of World War II on the European Front. And, as I write this, a … Continue reading
BRITISH AERO-LIMOUSINES
AIR TRAVEL got a real boost in Britain directly after World War I. A half-dozen aeroplane designs were more than simply WWI craft with makeshift seats installed for hardy travelers. … Continue reading
AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER MADE OF ICE?
I WAS researching the aircraft of Sir Winston Churchill (a tale that’ll appear anon) when I encountered the story of a proposed World War II aircraft carrier made of ice. … Continue reading
AUTOGYROS IN SONG, LEGEND AND THE NEWS
OUTSPOKEN ENTHUSIASTS of fixed-wing aircraft claim that helicopters don’t really fly, they’re just so ugly that the Earth repels them. I wonder if this same opinion applies to another form … Continue reading
DOMINGUEZ HILL 1910—AMERICA’S FIRST AIR MEET
AIRLINE PASSENGERS using LAX, Los Angeles’s major airport, may not realize it, but they’re near historic ground in pioneer aviation. The first air meet in the U.S. took place January 10 – 20, … Continue reading
BROOKLANDS AERO
IT WAS like having the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk nestled in the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Brooklands, 25 miles southwest of central London, 12 miles south of Heathrow … Continue reading
EARLY LIFTING-BODY AIRCRAFT
WHAT A tantalizing idea: Use the fuselage of an aircraft for lift, not just its wings. Lifting-body aircraft have recurred throughout aviation history (the Space Shuttle, for instance, glided to … Continue reading
JUNKERS JUMO AND ITS NAPIER DELTIC OFFSPRING
DIESELS ARE boring, some say. Here are two, however, that are anything but. The German Junkers Jumo was (almost) unique in providing diesel power for airplanes. The English Napier Deltic … Continue reading
HENRY FORD’S FIRST FLIGHT
HENRY FORD was 64 years old before he took his first airplane ride. Not that aviation was of little interest to him: Ford had already invested in an aeroplane (albeit … Continue reading
THE REDHEAD WITH DISTURBINGLY ROUND GOGGLES, PART II
YESTERDAY, TONY Jannus’s 1914 flight across Tampa Bay turned into something even more disturbing than his passenger’s disturbingly round goggles. Chapter 3—A new place, and a new friend THIS was … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 