As can and does happen in historic aviation, the weather can often put an end to best laid plans. Travelling great distances to watch old aeroplanes, particularly pre-WWII types, fly is always a challenge. Frustratingly, though most days I was in the states, even on the East coast, the weather was quite pleasant. That was … Continue reading Museum Profile – Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome
It is no secret that the Curtiss Hawk line of fighters is one of my personal interests in the warbird world. I have long loved the Hawk 75 based at Duxford with the Fighter Collection and the various P-40s that have shared Hangar Two over the years. … Continue reading Aircraft Profile: Curtiss P-36C G-CIXJ/38-210
Continuing on from the previous post based around the P-47 operations manual and how a new pilot would have been expected to approach that type. This post adds to the Curtiss series of this site with an insight into how a new pilot would approach the P-40. It should be noted that though this post … Continue reading Learning the Legends – Flying the Curtiss P-40 “By the Book” – WW2 Pilots Notes Review
The P-36 design showed great potential in its early testing, but it quickly became apparent that the airframe was limited by the radial engine up front. The basic Hawk airframe was always designed with speed as a target, with the wing design having great development potential. This potential was tapped as part of the testing … Continue reading The Curtiss Story Part 9 – Birth of the Underdog: the “Long Nose” P-40s
In aviation circles, there are a number of airfields and collections around the world that capture the imagination and become almost mythical as part of aviation folklore. Old Rhinebeck is most certainly amongst those legends, especially for those with an interest in those early years of aviation right through until the 1930s. Delicately nestled between … Continue reading Warbird People – Alex Jameison: Learning to Fly the Old Rhinebeck Collection
This month’s “Warbird People” sees me speak with Ed Vesely, the Commemorative Air Force’s (CAF) Helldiver pilot, a self-described “caretaker of history” who takes on the responsibility of flying this unique airframe and keeping history alive telling the important stories of the veterans that flew the SB2C. Curtiss aircraft throughout the company’s history maintained that … Continue reading Warbird People – Ed Vesely on Flying the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver
This post marks the fourth Airshow Moments 2017 post to feature a display from a Duxford airshow. This is hardly surprising given the incredible quality of display flying at the venue this past season. https://www.flickr.com/photos/127965535@N04/38605188941/in/album-72157688820126531/ The September show was set to see a pairs display from the Curtiss Hawk 75 alongside the P-40C, a pairing … Continue reading Airshow Moment – Curtiss P-40C at Duxford
In 1935, America was starting to look for the next step in commercial passenger aircraft. This was a time before the DC-3 ruled the skies and Curtiss threw their own hat into the ring with a design known as the CW-20. The proposed aeroplane would hold 36 passengers in a pressurised cabin with the capability … Continue reading The Curtiss Story Part 8 – C-46 Commando
As well as the long running Curtiss series which has formed much of the recent Warbird Tails reflection, I also wanted to focus in on a number of unsung types that narrowly missed their chance to have time to shine and enter production. https://www.flickr.com/photos/127965535@N04/34660976833/in/dateposted-public/ I previosuly took a look at the XF5F Skyrocket, the aerial … Continue reading Gloster F.5/34 – What Might Have Been
This week (18th September) marks the third anniversary of the first post going live on Warbird Tails. Almost 260 posts on I still thoroughly enjoy updating this site regularly with Warbird news, history and stories. To mark the occasion I wanted to take a look back at three of the posts I'm most proud of … Continue reading Warbird Tails Turns Three
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