SAVOIA-MARCHETTI SM.55X
A WINGED armada of 24 Savoia-Marchetti SM.55X flying boats transported Italo Balbo and his 96 colleagues in their mass flight from Orbetello, Italy, to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair (www.wp.me/p2ETap-1q1). One … Continue reading
ITALO BALBO’S CHICAGO VISIT
IMAGINE THE sight in Chicago at 5:45 p.m., July 15, 1933: To the east over Lake Michigan, an airplane comes into view, then another two droning just aft of its … Continue reading
A QUEST FOR LATERAL CONTROL: THE GOUPY II
EARLIEST AIRCRAFT were on a quest for control, especially laterally, from side to side, in roll. Wing warping was one choice; ailerons were another. Major court cases ensued (for the … Continue reading
A “SPRUCE GOOSE” FANTASY
HOWARD HUGHES disliked the term “Spruce Goose” for what he preferred to call the Hughes Flying Boat. And indeed, spruce was only one of the woods used in the Hercules … Continue reading
HARRIET QUIMBY—AVIATRIX, AND SO MUCH MORE
HARRIET QUIMBY was the first woman in the U.S. to have a pilot’s license, indeed, only the 37th person in the world to have one. But she was also a … Continue reading
POLIKARPOV PO-2 AND THE NIGHT WITCHES
HEROINES OF the highest order—and one of the world’s most successful aircraft designs—bedeviled the Nazis during World War II. The tale of the Night Witches and the Polikarpov Po-2 is … Continue reading
AIRCRAFT IN JAPAN, 1910-1945
FLYING MACHINES, both lighter- and heavier-than-air, came early to Japan. The country’s heritage of civil aircraft is wonderfully documented—in both Japanese and English—in one book in my collection. Another book, … Continue reading
DORNIER DO-X
THE TALE of the Dornier Do-X flying boat has technicalities galore, an impressive world tour—and even a bit of post-Versailles skullduggery. In the early days of aviation, the efficacy of a … Continue reading
SCHNEIDER TROPHY, PART 3
IN THIS, the last of three mini-essays on the Schneider Trophy seaplane races, there are contrasting technologies, contrasting views on sportsmanship—and a moral victory for risk takers. As its title suggests, … Continue reading
SCHNEIDER TROPHY, PART 2
WHEN LAST we visited the Schneider Trophy seaplane races (virtually yesterday, http://www.wp.me/p2ETap-1ct), the Italians had choice of venue for the 1920 event, the fourth of an eventual 11 competitions. They … Continue reading
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