FLYING THE ALPS IN A SMALL PLANE—AND I MEAN SMALL PART 1
EVEN TODAY, FLYING the Alps can be an exhilarating experience. Imagine what it must have been like in the early days of aviation. Here today and tomorrow in Parts 1 … Continue reading
THE SIAI-MARCHETTI-NARDI FN-333—FOR PIRATES OF THE RIVIERA PART 2
YESTERDAY, THE FN-333 RIVIERA’S heritage was described here as a rare amphibious aircraft, 26 produced in Italy, perhaps six in the world airworthy today. Here in Part 2, I offer … Continue reading
THE SIAI-MARCHETTI-NARDI FN-333—FOR PIRATES OF THE RIVIERA PART 1
IN “THE COOL World of Seaplanes,” Flying magazine, June 1966, James Gilbert summed up the FN-333 Riviera, “The ads talk about your being a private pirate in the Riviera, but … Continue reading
CHRONICLE OF AVIATION—1921
THE ROARING TWENTIES followed the roar of warfare, the latter including unprecedented combat in the air. Bombers were converted to passenger service. Surplus fighter planes gave barnstormers a peacetime career. … Continue reading
THE ANTONOV AN-2—A CLASSIC SOVIET
AIRCRAFT, BY VIRTUE of their technology and engineering, are sleek and well-finished. Unless they’re the Antonov An-2, affectionately known as the “Aннушка,” “Annushka,” “Annie.” Close up, an Aннушка looks like … Continue reading
BEECHCRAFT PREMIER I BUSINESS JET
IT HAS BEEN almost 15 years since I held the controls of a Beechcraft Premier I business jet, briefly at Flight Level 410 and also during our descent into Beech … Continue reading
ALOFT IN PARIS PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we began our time travel above Paris with the Opéra Garnier. Off in the distance at about 11:35 was the Grand Palais along the Seine. The … Continue reading
ALOFT IN PARIS PART 1
PASCAL ORY’S BOOK Legend of the Skies: Images and Objects From the World of Aviation offers images of Paris from the air, circa 1910. With the help of Google Maps and … Continue reading
BEL GEDDES AIRLINER NUMBER 4 PART 2
NORMAN BEL GEDDES had a grand design evolving between 1929 and 1932: His Airliner Number 4 was envisioned as a flying hotel traveling non-stop between Chicago and London in 42 … Continue reading
BEL GEDDES AIRLINER NUMBER 4 PART 1
IT’S A SIGNIFICANT understatement to call Norman Bel Geddes an industrial designer: His designs were artistic, innovative, eccentric, flamboyant, occasionally bordering on the wacky, hardly just “industrial.” Here in Parts … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 