Through the 1970s, air shows in the Northwest U.S. and across the border in British Columbia could count on a roaring, rousing opener performed by McDonnell F-101 Voodoo interceptors.
Of Wings & Things
Albin Longren: The aviation pioneer you don’t know
Longren did not have any formal education as an aeronautical designer and engineer. He also lacked any flight training. Neither stopped him from achieving success with his original biplane, the Longren Topeka.
Martin bombers: From World War I and beyond
Glenn Martin, characterized by some biographers as a prim and proper son who doted on his mother, was also an aviation visionary who leapfrogged his early bomber successes into a growing line of warplanes for the Air Force, Navy, and foreign customers.
A toast to the importance of aviation
“Aviation is even more widely interesting than prohibition.”
Several lives remain for this restored Cat
There’s a brand-new-looking Grumman Hellcat on the scene that is the oldest of the F6F breed extant.
Supersonic soda for cola Concorde
One of the battles in the “cola wars” involved painting a Concorde supersonic transport in Pepsi colors.
75 years of the T-28
Three-quarters of a century ago, in September 1949, the North American Aviation XT-28 chugged into the sky, launching a production run of nearly 1,950 of the big single-engine, tricycle-gear trainers that became air show favorites after their military careers were over.
Eberhart: Somebody else’s airplanes
Formed in 1918 to make airplane parts, Eberhart gained a U.S. Army Air Service contract to rebuild British S.E. 5A biplane fighters and French SPAD S.XIII biplanes.
Plane Panels Part Two
Here’s another installment in “Can you pick a panel for a plane?” in which our Of Wings & Things columnist pairs some grand old Air Force cockpit photos with examples of the aircraft depicted, including the exotic German Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.