I have little experience with control line aeromodelling, at least as an adult, but I have been building and flying RC planes since 2018. They are nothing fancy, just simple foam board and hot glue airplanes designed by Josh Bixler at Flite Test. Let’s step back to where it all started. As a kid in…
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…
This clipping captures a moment in military aviation history when air forces were beginning to modernize and adopt new technologies that would become crucial during World War II. The emphasis on camouflage and bomber capability reflects the evolving strategies in military aviation. The training flight route between Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Dayton, Ohio, suggests demonstrating…
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…
The Fairey Hendon was designed in response to an Air Ministry specification for a long-range, all-metal night bomber. It was Fairey’s first monoplane bomber design and one of the first all-metal monoplanes built for the Royal Air Force. The prototype flew in 1930, and the aircraft entered service in the mid-1930s. The Fairey Hendon was…
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…
The Eighth Annual Aircraft Engineering Research Conference held at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) facility at Langley Field, Virginia, in May 1933, was a significant event in the early development of aeronautical research in the United States. This conference was part of a series of annual meetings organized by NACA, which brought together…
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…
It seems my father was fascinated with military pursuit planes, so it didn’t surprise me to find a newspaper clipping on the Curtiss P-6E in his scrapbook. The above clipping features an image and text regarding Curtiss P-6E Army Pursuit Planes flying in formation over Selfridge Field, Michigan, dated May 1933. I’ll divide this into…
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….
