A CENTURY OF AIRLINE COMFORT
IT’S TIME to celebrate the 100th anniversary of airline comfort. Things have changed a great deal since 1913’s first commercial scheduled passenger-carrying heavier-than-air flight (all these qualifiers are useful). Here’s … Continue reading
TUPOLEV ANT-25
WHEN STALIN said “Jump,” Soviets were wise to respond “How high?” Famed aircraft designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev was no exception. In fact, I’ve already recounted two of his technical leaps, … Continue reading
DAYTON-WRIGHT RB RACER
THE LAST of the James Gordon Bennett Cup air races, held in 1920, had an amazingly advanced entry, the Dayton-Wright RB Racer. By any measure, the RB should have won … Continue reading
AVRO TYPE F
PILOTING—IN or out? This was a fundamental question during the first two decades of aviation. Some said a pilot needed intimacy with the air flow to optimize control. Others thought … Continue reading
STOUT BUSHMASTER 2000
WILLIAM BUSHNELL Stout designed the Ford Trimotor in the mid-1920s, but I doubt he imagined that—three decades later—he’d update his design and call it the Stout Bushmaster 2000. The story … Continue reading
CONCORDE VS QE2
THE CONCORDE Supersonic Transport and Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth 2 were already classic craft when we at R&T had our 1988 experience with them. Each craft was a fantastic technical … Continue reading
BUGATTI 100P
ETTORE BUGATTI combined artistry with his engineering of cars, boats, railway transport—and an airplane, the Bugatti 100P. In the mid-1930s, he teamed with Belgian aeronautical engineer Louis de Monge to … Continue reading
OPEL’S RAKS
WHEN WE last visited the German aviation industry (in 1922; see http://www.wp.me/p2ETap-W8), the Inter-Allied Commission had demanded—and got—destruction of the Zeppelin-Staaken E-4/20. This passenger liner was simply too advanced, potentially … Continue reading
ZEPPELIN-STAAKEN E-4/20
A DECISION made shortly after World War I likely delayed aircraft technology by more than several years. In its structure, power and utility, the German Zeppelin-Staaken E-4/20 was simply too … Continue reading
TUPOLEV MAKSIM GORKI
“GO BIG or stay home.” In 1932, Josef Stalin wanted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Russian author Maksim Gorki’s first publications. So Stalin asked his favorite aircraft designer, Andrei … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 