As the fledgling U.S. Army Air Service was still figuring things out, in 1924 it created the C-Class of aircraft to include cargo and personnel transport, doing away with an earlier T-series that indicated Transport.

And C-Cargo it has been ever since, starting with the original Douglas C-1 biplane, introduced in 1925.

The McDonnell Aircraft Company expressed a fondness for paranormal or spooky aircraft names.

This may date back to the company’s ambitious XP-67 fighter design during World War II occasionally referred to as the Bat or Moonbat, although the official nature of such a moniker is unclear.

Nonetheless, McDonnell — later McDonnell-Douglas and now part of the mega Boeing holdings — ran through a list of names with its ensuing jet fighters, including Phantom, Banshee, Goblin, and the F3H Demon.

A lot of moving parts characterized the development of aeronautics from 1941 to the end of World War II in 1945.

For the U.S. Navy, the creation of the twin-engine XF7F-1 Tigercat design in the summer of 1941 was a blend of technology and tradition.

A century ago in May 1919, three huge seaplanes set out to be the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic, albeit with stops en route in Canada and the Azores. One of the three, designated NC-4, completed the journey, reaching the final destination of Plymouth, England, on May 31.

The aircraft that proved capable of crossing the Atlantic in 1919 was born in desperate times during World War I. The German navy had perfected its U-boats in that war, and Allied shipping paid a terrible price. The U.S. Navy sought a far-ranging flying boat to combat the enemy submarines at sea.

Designed by Glenn Curtiss in collaboration with Navy engineers and pilots in the fall of 1917, the resulting seaplane was too late for wartime service. But its great range made this aircraft a natural for long overwater flights.

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…]