If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve heard of Waco aircraft. The name derives from the last initial of its one of founders, George Weaver, and an abbreviated form of Aircraft Company, hence Waco.
Weaver and his partners set up business in Ohio in 1920 under the Waco name. The company became Advance Aircraft for awhile, but the biplanes are called Wacos, pronounced Wah-co, not Way-co. [Read more…]
Ever since the Wright brothers used a falling weight from a tower to accelerate some of their early aircraft on takeoff when winds alone were not enough, the need to apply external energy to achieve flying speed has been recognized and pursued in different ways. The Wright’s device was an early form of a catapult, a system much-modified and used by aircraft carriers still.
But another takeoff booster found favor because it could be attached to many types of aircraft and did not require a modified runway or takeoff surface. Commonly known as JATO, for jet-assisted takeoff, it is also called RATO for rocket-assisted takeoff. You get the idea from either acronym — a special thruster helps accelerate the aircraft to give it flying speed more quickly. [Read more…]
The first generation of jet aircraft during World War II involved a nearly universal rush to produce a viable fast fighter aircraft. Germany’s Me 262, America’s P-59 — and more operationally suitable P-80 — and England’s Gloster Meteor all had the fighter mission as primary when they were designed.
After the war, purpose-built jet bombers were a logical step in the accelerating turbojet revolution.
But the world’s first jet bomber design was a 1944 German product from the Arado company, the Ar 234B. Some writers delight in using gutturally-pronounced German military names in articles describing wartime technological advances made in that country, and one of the Ar 234B bomber’s monikers sounds like something out of a movie script: Schnellbomber.
It means Fast Bomber, a promise the Ar 234B delivered. Otherwise, the Ar 234 was known as the Blitz or Lightning. [Read more…]
Frederick A. Johnsen, General Aviation News’ Of Wings & Things columnist and the man behind Airailimages, just posted his favorite video clips from 2018 on YouTube.
“In addition to military action in places like Star Wars Canyon, we have favorite air shows like Warbird Roundup in Nampa, Idaho; the incomparable EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; SUN ‘n FUN in Lakeland, Florida; Planes of Fame at Chino, California; and Gunfighter Skies over Mountain Home AFB, Idaho,” he says.
“And now we’re gearing up for the adventures that 2019 brings,” he adds. [Read more…]
An eternally flowing spring of aviation development, technique, and romance stems from one date: December 17, 1903.
That’s when Orville and Wilbur Wright, aided by the staff of a local U.S. Life-Saving Service outpost, made their first powered flights in a piloted aircraft near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The selection of that date may have been part chance and, ironically, part of the original case of pilots experiencing “get-home-itis.” [Read more…]
The art and science of aerial firefighting is at once simple and not so simple.
The concept is easy: Use aircraft to release water or fire retardant liquid on or next to wildfires for suppression. [Read more…]
Every time the pilot of a 16-ton F/A-18 Super Hornet plants the jet on the deck of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, an unbreakable thread of history stretches from that landing back over more than a century to the first shipboard landing.
The year was 1911. The Wright brothers’ celebrated accomplishment at Kitty Hawk was barely seven years earlier. Some observers in the U.S. Navy sensed the airplane would have a military application, but for the moment that application was largely unformed.
Airplanes and automobiles defined the new century, and those who were drawn to the mechanical marvels of either machine often crossed over and embraced the other. Eugene Ely first became a road race driver, chauffeur, and automobile salesman. When a Portland, Oregon, automobile dealer began selling Curtiss Pusher biplanes, the transition for Eugene Ely came quickly. [Read more…]
The world’s only flying On Mark B-26K Counter Invader turned heads at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018.
Warbird enthusiasts respond to the restorations that fly in to events like EAA AirVenture. Some warbirds are all sleek and shiny sex appeal; a few are gritty working machines. The B-26K at Oshkosh hit the sweet spot with meticulous attention to detail that makes this bomber a time machine.
And that’s part of its new mission. Scott Carson, whose credentials include Air Force service in Southeast Asia, told a crowd of several hundred at a Warbirds in Review session that this B-26K has the mission to honor veterans of the war in Southeast Asia and “bring these guys home.” [Read more…]
Warbird Roundup 2018 brought the cream of American warbirds and pilots to Nampa, Idaho, on the weekend of Aug. 25-26 for a rousing flying display hosted by the Warhawk Air Museum.
The weekend also featured standing-room-only presentations by World War II ace Bud Anderson, while Steven Hinton gave inspiring talks, describing what it takes to modify and fly the fastest piston-engine aircraft in the world.
And the hardware — oh yeah, the hardware: Hinton flew the modified Mustang “Voodoo” on a rare appearance outside of its California home; John Maloney flew the P-47D Thunderbolt “Dottie Mae,” and a host of pilots and owners came together to put aloft a five-ship formation of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. [Read more…]
If Consolidated’s PBY Catalina flying boats and amphibians set the tone for U.S. Navy seaplanes before and during World War II, that company’s larger four-engine PB2Y Coronado flew in relative obscurity.
Budgetary math did not favor the big Coronado; the first six PB2Y-2 models ordered by the U.S. Navy in March 1939 cost as much as 18 twin-engine PBYs.
More than 200 PB2Y-3 variants were built. Some served as patrol bombers, others underwent modification to become long-range transports. [Read more…]
