Aircraft manufacturers and users have a penchant for picking names for their machines. Sometimes, a name is so good or so universally associated with a manufacturer that it gets recycled on a new design. The Chance Vought company’s first Corsair was in 1926. It was an observation biplane, the O2U, supplanted by the O3U. Fewer […]
Of Wings & Things
How airplanes became aerial ambulances
If World War I showed the nations of the world how the airplane could vault over ground emplacements to strike at an enemy, the combatants also came to appreciate the efficacy of using aircraft as ambulances to surmount obstacles and save precious time flying away from the fray. During that war, U.S. Army aviation devised […]
‘Cobras come calling
It was rare — almost like lottery-winning rare — as three World War II Bell P-63 Kingcobras and one predecessor P-39 Airacobra landed at Wittman Field in late July for EAA AirVenture 2017 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. These aluminum ‘Cobras have become more furtive than their reptilian namesakes. To see one at an air show is […]
Want two, three, or no engines with that Gooney Bird?
It was not uncommon for mass-produced aircraft of the 20th Century to stick with one type of engine, albeit with model advances as the engines improved. All production B-17s except the Model 299 prototype flew with some version of the Wright R1820 radial; B-24s were loyal to Pratt & Whitney R1830s. The Douglas DC-3/C-47 series […]
Jenny a century later
The World War I Curtiss Jenny trainer evolved from less-than-optimal JN-1 and JN-2 models of 1915 to the definitive JN-4D that found its stride 100 years ago. In the spirit of centennial commemorations, a look back at the Jenny is in order. The earliest Jennies employed control wheels. By the advent of the JN-4D, a more traditional […]
End of an Air Force: Germany after World War II
At war’s end, statistics showed the race to produce German jet fighters like the Me 262 was ramping up.
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. […]