JENNY LORE
THE CURTISS JN4-D “Jenny” was the iconic biplane of the Twenties, the aeroplane of choice for an entire generation of barnstormers including Charles Lindbergh. If it was good enough for … Continue reading
FLYING 1918
WHEN LAST we encountered our intrepid—albeit only virtual—aviator, he/I had studied flying, 1909 style (http://wp.me/p2ETap-GO). I can now report that the Blériot has been good fun. Building the Blériot for … Continue reading
LEARN TO FLY
A SHOW of hands, please, of all who have ever wanted to learn how to fly. I thought so. And, like me, maybe, what with one thing and another, you’ve … Continue reading
SPITFIRES IN RANGOON
AIRCRAFT HUNTERS hope to find as many as 36 Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft that were buried next to a Burma airfield at the end of World War II. According to … Continue reading
AERO CLONING
NEWS EARLIER this week reported that an American “small commercial aircraft” was forced to make an emergency landing at Ahvaz International Airport, the busiest airport in Iran. Two subtexts are … Continue reading
HENRI COANDĂ’S JET?
DID ROMANIAN Henri Coandă fly the world’s first jet aircraft? Or was it a ducted-fan design? Maybe it didn’t fly at all. The answer, at least in part, depends on whether … Continue reading
GABRIEL VOISIN VS THE WRIGHT BROS.
WELCOME TO today’s debate. Its topic, who invented the aeroplane? The Wright Bros. of Dayton, Ohio? Or Gabriel Voisin of Billancourt, Paris, France? In composing the Wright Bros. argument, I used … Continue reading
THE WRIGHT BROS. VS GLENN CURTISS
ON DECEMBER 17, 1903, on the windy sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the world’s first pilot-controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight. Others before had piloted … Continue reading
TRANSAVIA PL-12 AIRTRUK
ODDITIES OF aviation usually exist in ones and twos. Yet the Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, one of the oddest, had a production run of 118 examples over a 27-year period, 1966 … Continue reading
BERLIN AIRLIFT
AVIATION ATTAINED a high point of humanitarian achievement—and a major victory in the Cold War—with the Berlin Airlift. For almost an entire year, June 26, 1948, to May 16, 1949, more … Continue reading
