World-class pilots and aircraft flocked to Idaho for Warbird Roundup 2018 hosted by the Warhawk Air Museum.
Consolidated Coronado seaplane flew in relative obscurity
More than 200 Consolidated four-engine PB2Y Coronados were built, but the seaplane flew in relative obscurity as patrol bombers and long-range transports.
The Lighter-Than-Air Army
The U.S. Army experimented with the use of lighter-than-air blimps for a variety of needs.
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Planes of Fame warbird show fills the sky
The annual Planes of Fame air show at Chino, California, on May 5-6, 2018, was not your typical air show. It was non-stop warbirds, warbirds, and warbirds. Yes, there are some good non-warbird aerobatic acts, like Sean Tucker’s Oracle team and Rob Harrison, but nowhere else can you find nearly 50 warbirds flying throughout the […]
Twin Beech with a twist
You know the classic Twin Beech Model 18, right? It has twin tails, a tailwheel, and a bit of a pug nose. That is until Pacific Airmotive took it into its Burbank shop and created a tricycle-gear, single-tail, high-forehead pointy-nose business aircraft and commuter airliner in the 1960s from this pre-war design. Called the Tradewind […]