This next installment of Tony’s Short Stories comes from a magazine in his extensive collection of aviation memorabilia. Join me as we journey back to August 1945. Do you have a favorite military aircraft? I have a few, but no American warplane deserves more respect than the P-38 Lightning. My father would disagree, being a…
Are you still interested in some early aviation articles? I hope so because in this episode of “Tony’s Short Stories,” we’re returning to 1912. The article “Aviation in the Italian Army” by W.E. de B. Whittaker, published in The Aeroplane on January 4, 1912, discusses the growing significance of airplanes in military operations. At a…
As a kid, I spent many hours flying in my father’s Cessna 310, but the most memorable trip was to the Bahamas in the early 1970s. We developed an oil pressure issue and had to land at the North Bimini Airport. After determining that a loose oil drain plug was the issue, my father decided…
In the early days of aviation, flying was as much an adventure as it was a test of skill, courage, and resilience. Lady Heath, a pioneering aviator and one of the first women to hold a commercial pilot’s license, stood out as a shining example of these qualities. In this article, originally published in Popular…
Few developments in aviation history have been as pivotal as the evolution of the pursuit, or fighter, airplane. This article, penned by Major Hoyt Vandenberg in September 1941, offers an in-depth exploration of the technological advancements and strategic considerations that shaped fighter planes of the era. As a seasoned military aviator and graduate of the…
I’m digging deep into my father’s collection of magazines for this piece, way back to 1916, when he was just four years old. So obviously, he wasn’t reading these articles just yet. So he must have acquired this collection of aviation magazines later in his life, or maybe someone in his family saved it for…
Have you ever wondered why diesel engines were never introduced into aviation? I didn’t give it much thought, and honestly, it never crossed my mind—until I discovered a fascinating article in my father’s aviation magazine collection. In the late 1920s, the aviation industry was on the cusp of a technological revolution. The rapid advancements in…
I have many vintage aviation magazines from my father’s collection and will be looking for interesting articles to share with you. This next short story is from the November 1927 issue of Popular Aviation with a connection to Buffalo, New York—specifically, Leslie Irvin of the Irvin Air Chute Company. The article “A Foreign Plane…
Today, I’m featuring a quick biography on Igor Ivan Sikorsky that I found between the pages of Tony’s scrapbook. Although technically not a short story, it’s still an interesting piece of aviation history. The article focuses on his early career before producing the first successful American helicopter, the VS-300, a groundbreaking achievement that revolutionized aviation….
“Glory Takes Wings” by Harry A. Bruno with WM. S. Dutton explores the lives of pioneering aviators who made significant contributions to aviation history but later faced obscurity and hardship. The story begins with Rene Fonck, a forgotten war hero in Paris, highlighting the fleeting nature of fame. It recounts the struggles and disappointments of…
