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…]
About Frederick Johnsen
The first shipboard aircraft landing and takeoff
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…]
A new mission for the B-26K Counter Invader
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 features world-class fliers and aircraft
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…]
Consolidated Coronado seaplane flew in relative obscurity
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…]
The Lighter-Than-Air Army
If the U.S. Navy and Goodyear gained icon status as operators of blimps in the United States, the U.S. Army was a big player in the interwar years.
U.S. Army lighter-than-air aircraft can be traced to reconnaissance balloons used during the Civil War by Thaddeus Lowe in support of the Union Army.
In 1921 the U.S. Army operated the semi-rigid Italian-built airship Roma, the largest semi-rigid design in the world at the time, with a length of 410′.
Buoyed by hydrogen, the Roma came to grief near its base at Langley Field, Virginia, in 1922 when the nose collapsed during high-speed flying, and the ensuing hydrogen fire gave the U.S. military the resolve to fill all of their future airships with nonflammable helium instead. [Read more…]
Vintage and vanishing military helicopters
The use of helicopters in the U.S. Air Force predates the Air Force as a separate service.
In World War II, limited numbers of Sikorsky R-4s flew for the Army Air Forces. But with the separation of the Air Force from the Army in 1947, both branches of the military coveted helicopters to do certain jobs better than fixed-wing aircraft. [Read more…]
Yak-110 debuts at Gunfighter Skies
The Gunfighter Skies air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base, about 50 miles southeast of Boise, Idaho, saw the triumphal air show debut of the unique Yak-110 twin-fuselage aircraft on June 3, 2018.
The Yak-110 is made from two single-engine Yak-55s joined at the wing and tail, with a jet engine added beneath the wing center section to make a unique trimotor air show aircraft. [Read more…]
A journey in the future to honor the past
Imagine more than a squadron of Douglas C-47s winging across the Atlantic in three-ship formations, joining up with 15 more from Europe and as far away as South Africa. The armada will sweep across France 75 years after the Normandy invasion of June 6, 1944.
That dream is the goal that animates Moreno “Mo” Aguiari, executive director of the non-profit D-Day Squadron.
Mo and others from the Squadron came to SUN ‘n FUN with two of the C-47s that are scheduled to make that historic flight next year. And both of those Douglas transports are pedigreed veterans of the original Normandy landings.
This is no last-minute lark. It’s a serious venture estimated to need a lot of donations and volunteers if it is to execute its mission. [Read more…]
That’s a Standard, not a Jenny
Popular history has a way of making icons of some aircraft and almost ignoring others.
In the case of American World War I biplane trainers, the Curtiss JN-4 and JN-6 Jenny series of biplanes are undisputed icons of their era.
But there was another American trainer of 1917-18 that all too often gets lumped in with the Jenny in well-meaning but erroneous photo identification. It is the J-1 Standard biplane.
Its general configuration bears some remarkable similarities to the Jenny, but there are also some salient differences. [Read more…]