Aviation

Great Article In The Wall Street Journal Asks The Big Questions About Flying.

by Daniel Russ on November 28, 2012

“Why has the regulation remained in force for so long despite the lack of solid evidence to support it? Human minds are notoriously overzealous “cause detectors.” When two events occur close in time, and one plausibly might have caused the other, we tend to assume it did. There is no reason to doubt the anecdotes […]

The Bell P-59 Airacomet. It Saw Little Action But Taught Us Volumes.

by Daniel Russ on September 21, 2012

There’s a rusty spavined Bell P-59 Airacomet sitting in the museum bone yard at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mohave Desert. The sun bakes and preserves this old dinosaur that at one time represented the hopes of a nation just entering the exciting jet age. The fact is only 66 of thee […]

The Handley Page 115 Testbed.

September 5, 2012

The British in the late 1950s were in a race along with everyone else to produce the next generation of jet fighters and bombers. So test aircraft were built for very narrow technological purposes. The Handley page 115 was one such plane. In fact its narrow mission was to compile airflow data […]

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Neil Alden Armstrong, First Man To Walk On The Surface Of Another Heavenly Body, Dies.

August 25, 2012

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the surface of the Moon has died. Before he piloted the Lunar Module, Neil Armstrong was a Naval aviator and a test pilot for the United States Military at Edwards Air Force Base. Among the aircraft he flew was the F-100 Super Sabre, the F-101 Voodoo, […]

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The Rockwell-XFV-12A

July 5, 2012

The Rockwell XFV-12A was a prototype United States Navy fighter built in 1977. On paper, designers thought it would easily be a Mach 2 fighter and utilizing the AIM 7 Sparrow it would be a world beater. One more advantage this plane had was a VTOL capabilities. Powered by the Pratt & Whitney […]

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The Amazing Lillian Boyer. Wing Walker.

June 12, 2012

Lillian Boyer was born on June 16, 1901 in Hooper Nebraska. She died on February 1st 1989 in San Diego. From 1921 to 1929 Lillian Boyer walked out on top of a wing on a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” Army Trainer biplane while aloft. She was working as a waitress when a friend invited her […]

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The Caproni-Stipa Ducted Fan.

May 13, 2012

It looked kind of cool actually, like a barrel and when you consider that Italians built it in 1932, it’s really really cool. The Caproni- Stipa was basically a hollow tube ducted fan engine. It’s performance was mediocre so the Italian Air Force demurred further advancement on the ducted fan experiments. This is proof […]

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The SAAB J21

April 22, 2012

It was 1947 when Saab began making almost 300 copies of the pusher/puller dual propellers and twin tail J21 aircraft. Sweden wouldn’t have been able to acquire an air force and so they attempted a domestic expenditure to create a fighter aircraft of original design and capable of taking on a plane […]

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The De Bruyere C1.

January 27, 2012

In many ways the invention of its designer, Marcel de Bruyere, the De Bruyere C1 is a preview things to come in the future of air combat. I think about the A-10: engines in the back, radical design, unimpeded cradle for a gun in the front. Heavy gun made for anti armor role. In […]

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Russian Aircraft Museum (Horrible Music- Turn Sound Down)

May 25, 2010

Related Posts:Sukhoi-47 Berkut, Forward Swept WingsStalingradGreat Article In The Wall Street Journal Asks The Big Questions About Flying.The Corkscrew Tank.The Bell P-59 Airacomet. It Saw Little Action But Taught Us Volumes.

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N-20 Aiguillon

May 17, 2010

An attempt to put into the air a jet fighter without rear horizontal stabilizers. Many felt this was inspired by the Vought F4U Cutlass, certainly the strangest aircraft ever to be produced by the US. Scale models of the Aiguillon flew but when the Swiss saw the cost of the project, it was canceled. Related […]

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Bell X-14

May 16, 2010

This is the only open cockpit X plane ever built. Built in 1957, this was one of the first planes to sit horizontally, not on its tail. It flew well, and performed well, but was canceled for other better VTOL X planes on the drawing board. This plane is in the US Army Aviation Museum […]

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Canadair CL-84 Dynavert

May 15, 2010

A private venture from Canada in the 1960s to create a vertical lift gun platform. While the first prototype crashed, new prototypes were ordered, built and tested in Canada and in Maryland. Eventually crashes ruined the program and it was canceled. One model is on display at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottowa Source: X-Planes […]

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Boeing YC-14

May 15, 2010

The USAF Advanced Medium STOL Aircraft was an attempt to replace the venerable C-130 Hercules transport. Oddly this plane performed very well, but it was developed at a time when funding was unavailable, and so was canceled. It was remarkable in that the plane used upper surface blowing, where jet exhaust surrounded the wing surface […]

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Convair XC-99 Heavy Lift Prototype 1949

April 16, 2010

“The Convair XC-99, 43-52436, was a prototype heavy cargo aircraft built by Convair for the United States Air Force. It was the largest piston-engined land-based transport aircraft ever built, and was developed from the B-36 bomber, sharing the wings and some other structures with it. The first flight was on 23 November 1947 in San […]

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Soviet Kalinin K-7 Heavy Bomber

April 3, 2010

Believe it or not, this plane actually flew in 1933. The prototype later crashed and the program was canceled. Related Posts:No Combat Aircraft Has Ever Been Manufactured In Greater Numbers. The Russians Made 40,000 Polikarpov Po-2s.Sukhoi-47 Berkut, Forward Swept WingsGreat Old Soviet Private Collection Of Occupation Of Afghanistan.Great Article In The Wall Street Journal Asks […]

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The Amazing Number Of Experimental Nazi Aircraft.

March 13, 2010

Related Posts:What Aircraft Is This?The German War, A Nation Under Arms, 1939 – 1945. Nicholas StargardtGreat Article In The Wall Street Journal Asks The Big Questions About Flying.General “Lightnin” Joe Collins On How The Japanese And German Soldiers Differed In World War II.So Many Nations Capitulated To The Germans Early On, Hitler Was Itching For […]

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The X13 Vertijet

March 13, 2010

Related Posts:Great Article In The Wall Street Journal Asks The Big Questions About Flying.The Bell P-59 Airacomet. It Saw Little Action But Taught Us Volumes.The Handley Page 115 Testbed.Neil Alden Armstrong, First Man To Walk On The Surface Of Another Heavenly Body, Dies.The Rockwell-XFV-12A

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Name This Aircraft

March 11, 2010

Related Posts:The Incredibly Low Landing Patterns Of Airliners At Maho Beach Airport on Sint Maarten Great Article In The Wall Street Journal Asks The Big Questions About Flying.The Bell P-59 Airacomet. It Saw Little Action But Taught Us Volumes.The Handley Page 115 Testbed.Neil Alden Armstrong, First Man To Walk On The Surface Of Another Heavenly […]

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X Aircraft

March 10, 2010

Related Posts:Great Article In The Wall Street Journal Asks The Big Questions About Flying.The Bell P-59 Airacomet. It Saw Little Action But Taught Us Volumes.The Handley Page 115 Testbed.Neil Alden Armstrong, First Man To Walk On The Surface Of Another Heavenly Body, Dies.The Rockwell-XFV-12A

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