THE REDHEAD WITH DISTURBINGLY ROUND GOGGLES
A ROMANCE starring Tony Jannus, the Benoist XIV Flying Boat and the Redhead with Disturbingly Round Goggles. Chapter 1—No longer a lazy day FOR pilot Tony Jannus, it seemed just … Continue reading
FLYING ROME TO TOKYO—IN 1920
THE FIRST flying machines seen by thousands of people across Asia could have been two Ansaldo SVA.9 biplanes. Italian pilots Arturo Ferrarin and Guido Masiero, accompanied by their mechanics Gino … Continue reading
SMUGGLING AND MOTORSPORTS
FULL DISCLOSURE: Here I do not mean mere smugglers, of drugs or whatever, who happened as well to participate in motorsports of one kind or another. Instead, I celebrate two … Continue reading
OPERA AND AVIATION
A RECENT mention of the John Adams opera Nixon in China (http://wp.me/p2ETap-2Rh) got me thinking of other links of aviation and opera. One of today’s links is a classic, two are … Continue reading
PRESIDENTS ALOFT
THE TALES of U.S. presidents in the air extend from a joy ride of Teddy Roosevelt to a flying date of Barak and Michelle Obama. In between, there are international … Continue reading
VIVA EL MICROPLANO!
MEXICO ENJOYS “the distinction of being the first country to have employed aeroplanes in actual warfare.” So says the authoritative Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, 1919. See also “Masson’s Mexican … Continue reading
HOLD ON TIGHT!
IT WAS four years before the earliest pilots of heavier-than-air craft invited anyone else aboard—more properly, atop—their flying contraptions. Once passengers tried it, a good number took up flying on their … Continue reading
FLYING AROUND THE WORLD—IN 1920?
A WONDERFUL poster came my way through Facebook car/aviation colleague Tom Heitzman. The Lake Aero Corporation of Bridgeport, Connecticut, proposed an ambitious plan to fly around the world—in 1920. Lake … Continue reading
BUGATTI U-16 ENGINE
ONE OF Ettore Bugatti’s more exuberant engine designs had logic, if not luck, in its favor. This engine was a U-16, a pair of Bugatti inline-8 designs aligned in two … Continue reading
MAPANARE—IN THE TROPICAL FOREST AND IN THE AIR
THANKS TO a Facebook colleague sharing aeronautical and flight-simulation interests, I came to learn about the mapanare, a species of pit viper found in the tropical lowlands of northern South … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 