At war’s end, statistics showed the race to produce German jet fighters like the Me 262 was ramping up.
Planes of Fame Air Show brings out the best
The Planes of Fame Museum presented its 2017 warbird air show at Chino, California, on May 6-7, with practice flights and arrivals on the preceding Friday. The museum, a long-time pillar of the busy warbird scene at Chino, has earned a reputation for attracting top warbirds from several states for its annual air show, in addition […]
Nat Browne’s attempted Tokyo flight
Aviator Nat Browne had a plan he figured would enable his single-engine Fokker Universal to fly from Seattle to Tokyo before anyone else could do it. Browne’s Universal was modified to remove steel tube wing struts and part of the landing gear, using flying wires and simplified gear struts instead. It was the end of […]
Prime movers for airplanes
There comes a time in the life of every airplane when it cannot feasibly move under its own power. Ways of towing aircraft have been varied and ingenious since the early days of aviation. When tailskids ruled the day, hand-operated, two-wheel dollies could cradle the skid, permitting manual movement of the airplane over typical airfield […]
Of Wings & Things returns
This is the inaugural relaunch of a grand tradition, the wonderful and eclectic “Of Wings & Things” column created in 1972 by aviation historian and renaissance man Peter M. Bowers. For more than three decades, Pete blended a series of photographs with his encyclopedic knowledge of aviation to create an interesting story in each column. […]