ST. PETE FLIGHTS, REAL AND VIRTUAL, PART 1
TWO HIGHLY significant events in aviation history involved the cities of St. Petersburg, one in Russia, the other in Florida. What’s more, they happened within months of each other in … Continue reading
ARTFUL VULTEE BITS
JUST ABOUT every U.S. pilot in World War II trained in a Vultee BT-13 or one of its variants. I share a dual affinity with these aviators, first through friendship … Continue reading
CROSS-COUNTRY TRAVEL TAKES OFF, SORT OF
TRANSCONTINENTAL Air Transport, TAT, for short, initiated the first scheduled coast-to-coast travel on July 7, 1929. Only a portion of the 48-hour trip was by air, but it still beat … Continue reading
CROSS-COUNTRY FLIGHT, TAKE 1
IT’S AMAZING how quickly aviation technology progressed a century ago. The Wrights flew 120 ft. in December 1903, yet by July 1909 Louis Blériot won the London Daily Mail £1000 … Continue reading
ENDEAVOUR 2012, MAIA/MERCURY 1938
CALIFORNIA IS home to a lot of the space industry, and many of us here were wacko about seeing the welcome-home flybys of the Space Shuttle Endeavour atop its Boeing … Continue reading
WHERE’S MY PROP? PART 2
IT WAS disquieting enough when a prop disappeared, as it did in the transition of Saab 21A to 21R (see http://wp.me/p2ETap-dW. Yet in the early days of aviation, there were … Continue reading
SAAB 21—WHERE’S MY PROP?
THE NAME Saab stands for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, Swedish Aeroplane Ltd. In fact, this company founded in 1937 didn’t built cars until a decade later. And two of the most … Continue reading
GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO: POET, PATRIOT—FLYGUY
GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO, the Italian poet and patriot, also became enamored with aviation. At the 1909 air show in Brescia, in northern Italy, d’Annunzio conned his way aboard flights with aeronaut … Continue reading
MILLIKEN M-1 TAKES TO THE (VIRTUAL) AIR
BILL MILLIKEN built and flew his own airplane. Maybe that’s not so remarkable, but he was a college student at the time and the year was 1933. And this is … Continue reading
CECIL B. DEMILLE—AVIATOR
THE NAME Cecil B. DeMille conjures up thoughts of Hollywood epics, not to say the classic film set comment, “Any time you’re ready, C.B.” Or, if you’re into old time … Continue reading
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