Category: History – Page 11
The Worst Aircraft Ever Constructed
Dr William Whitney Christmas (1865-1960) loved planes. He claimed to be one of the first aeroplane pilots: Dr Christmas said that he made his first flight in 1908 but he burned the aircraft in order to protect his design secrets. In his lifetime he patented 300 inventions to do with aviation. This, despite the fact…
Read more… 14 Sep 12
Clyde Cessna: Changing the World of Aviation
This week’s post is an account of Clyde Cessna and the early days of the Cessna Aircraft Company which was written by Dana Rasmussen, a friend of mine who works for Jet Charters. It’s a fascinating story which I’m sure you will enjoy. Before the turn of the 20th century, a young boy living on…
Read more… 29 Jun 12
B-29 ditching in the Pacific 1945
Vincent “Enzo” Romano is a historian and researcher who has created the “most complete Italian private digital archive related to American History, from the end of the 19th century to 1970.” Included in his collection is a stunning video from March 1945 in which Captain Bernard “Barney” McCaskill Jr ditches his B-29, the Hopefull Devil,…
Read more… 18 May 12
Lest We Forget
The 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association have created a truly wonderful website to share their stories and memories with a wider audience. The next time you see Kipling’s words “Lest we forget” on Remembrance / Veterans / Memorial / Anzac Day, take a moment to savour treasures such as this one. The 398th was a…
Read more… 11 Nov 11
The B25 Bomber and the Empire State Building
On the 28th of July in 1945 a B25 crashed into the Empire State Building. The photographs look like something out of an old King Kong movie, with flames licking up the building. But the fire was extinguished within 40 minutes, still the only fire at such a height that was ever successfully controlled. And…
Read more… 28 Oct 11
History of Commercial Flight
Today, I was going to write an involved analysis of an accident report that I’ve been reading this week. Then, someone who was once considered a friend sent me this link: List of firsts in aviation – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and the next thing I knew, the day had disappeared. Thanks a lot! Seriously,…
Read more… 23 Sep 11
Accident Analysis
The Anatomy of an A350–CRJ Collision at Atlanta
On the 10th of September 2024, an Airbus A350 took the tail off of a Bombardier CRJ at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, USA. Delta Air Lines flight 295…
Why KLM Cut the Steering Cables on Two Perfectly Functional Boeing 737s
Last month, we looked at the night of 28th of November 2004 at Barcelona Airport. KLM 1673 ran off the runway at high speed, stopping just short of a canal.…
Demystifying
How Important is Having a Sterile Cockpit?
This question was posted to r/flying by a private pilot who wanted to know: do airline pilots ever engage in small talk about irrelevant things during taxiing, run-up, takeoff, and…
Someone has to write the TAF
It turns out that there a person sitting there deciding what the weather is going to do. Which seems obvious, except that I had somehow never asked msyelf who “someone”…
History
The CIA's Shark Screen
Today we have a guest post from the CIA! In their archives, researching something completely different, I found the answer to a question I never thought to ask. I immediately…
The First Jet to Land on an Aircraft Carrier (Deliberately)
“The Vampire was the first jet to land on a moving aircraft carrier deliberately.” This quote from Airshow Luke, our MC at the Legacy of Liberty airshow, made me almost…
Fun Stuff
Bird Strikes, Balloon Landings and Falling in Love with a Boeing 777
The exciting news on Fear of Landing this week was a huge scare about critical vulnerabilities in PHP. PHP is widely used on the web, including in WordPress, which is…
Petrified, Petrified, Petrified
There’s been some interesting reporting in the UK media about a “near disaster” over Canary Wharf involving the captain having to intervene (the horror!) after air data systems failed on…
