Next in this popular series is a look at perhaps the most iconic of the USAAF fighters of the second world war, the legendary P-51 Mustang. The D model is now the most prevalent and recognisable example of the type with the improved visibility of the teardrop canopy representing a design improvement from the earlier high … Continue reading Learning the Legends: Flying the P-51D Mustang “By the Book” World War 2 Pilots Notes Review
Grumman made an undoubted name for themselves throughout the Second World War with their famous “Cat” series of aircraft, culminating with the Bearcat and Tigercat, arguably the pinnacle of piston powered flight. In the late 30s however, Grumman almost created another twin engined legend. Grumman presented a design for a new twin engined carrier based … Continue reading Grumman Fast Twins Part 1 – The XF5F “Skyrocket”
Following on from my introduction to Mr. Curtiss himself I wanted to feature a modern day operator of Curtiss types to offer a pilots insight into flying and operating these special machines. I was lucky enough to be able to catch a few words from Kermit Weeks, who operates a number of Curtiss types at … Continue reading The Curtiss Story Part 2: Curtiss According to Kermit – Kermit Weeks on flying Curtiss Aircraft
Headcorn has been a magnet for exciting and rare aircraft for many years now, as has been highlighted on a number of these posts in the past, on the most part these aircraft have all come from civilian operators or owners. While the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight have visited by air a number of … Continue reading AB910 Drops in to Headcorn
Part two of the Warbird Tails jets series takes a look at the other British jet which took its first flight in 1943, the de Havilland Vampire. In the early days of Jet power, two engines were considered to be the minimum for succesful designs. This is evident in a number of the early jet … Continue reading Cold War Jets Part 2: The de Havilland Vampire
Keeping in with previous first flight anniversary posts, this week takes a look at the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, which first flew on the 27th January 1939. Early Design: At first glance its hard to believe that this design, from the legendary hands of Lockheed's Kelly Johnson, is now 76 years old. The P-38 is one … Continue reading P-38 Lightning: The “Fork Tailed Devil’s” Birthday
Flying Legends is always a highlight of any airshow season, the team behind the show always manage to secure something we haven’t seen before. 2004 was certainly a vintage year for Legends, rather than a review of everything that happened at the show, I thought I would use it to illustrate just how much the … Continue reading Ghosts of Airshow Past 1 – Flying Legends 2004
Warbird Tails 