Plane Tales

The Vulcan bomber only had ejector seats for the two pilots... the rear crew made do with an escape slide, a level if inequality that killed many and resulted in questions being asked in Parliament. This is the story of the Vulcan and a look at the USN Skyknight which had a similar escape system. The rear crew compartment of the Avro Vulcan   Malta   Malta   The Vulcan   The Vulcan air brakes   The crash site   Avro Vulcan XV770   The Vulcan rear crew escape hatch   The F3 Skynight   Skynight bailout trials   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Isaac Bee, Anton Zelenov, NASA, DFST, RuthAS, the RAF, Roland Turner, US Navy, Ultra7 and the USAF.

The noise of flying machines can be a source of joy or annoyance. Let's have a look at what makes that noise and how much progress has been made over the years! The F-84F Thunderbirds team   The XF-84H 'Thunderscreech'!   The Boeing Dash 80, prototype of the B707   Noise creating vortices coming from an airliner's flaps   The Bypass section of a RR Trent   A possible Airbus blended body design   An APU exhaust   The Gyrodyne Rotorcycle   Images are displayed under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Dreamstime.com - Airbus, the USAF, Boeing Dreamscape, David Monniaux and the US DOD.

The final few letters of a look at aviation through the alphabet.   A model of the original Flettner 282 Helicopter   Flettner helicopters have the unfortunate potential to decapitate the unwary!   A cutaway of the Spitfire with it's remarkable Rolls Royce Merlin V12 engine.   The Allison V-1710 V12 engine   The Daimler-Benz DB600 V12.   The X Planes   The Napkin ring   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Raobe001, Ball wallpaper, the National Archives UK, the Smithsonian archive, the USAF, NASA,

The language of aviation is treasured by those of us who use it, especially since it separates us from those poor earth bound souls who don’t spend their lives with their eyes cast skyward. In the spirit of fairness, particularly to spouses who stand impatiently, eyes rolling as we converse with our avgeek friends about how pretty that Wedgetail is, here are a few pointers to help you join in the conversation.   The axes of an aircraft   Flight Bag     Drag!   An Empennage   Flaps   A Chinese Follow-Me car   A world record hail stone   Hi is for Hangar   The angle of incidence   The F8 "Last of the Gunfighters'.   The Jetway!   Images under the Creative Commons licence with thanks to M9matr0902, ZeroOne, Comicship, Olivier Cleynen, NiD29, NOAA and Wallsworth.

I apologise to you all but it’s time for my tatty old RAF log book to come out of the cupboard again. It was a sad, sad situation but for the recently promoted Flight Lieutenant Anderson, his departure from flying the Phantom on 43 Squadron was a reality that he had to face up to. Central Flying School is an august establishment that will proudly inform anyone with an interest (or not) that it is the world’s longest existing flying training school. It was to this anachronistic institution that I was bound! The crest of the Central Flying School of the Royal Air Force   The Staff of the Central Flying School   The Red Arrows   The island of Anglesey   The Britannia Bridge   The BAE Systems Hawk T1   Flying the Hawk   The Great Orme and Llandudno Pier   Llandudno Pier   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to CFS, the RAF, the National Library of Wales, Tim Felce, Defence Imagery, Google Maps, Noel Walley and images within the Public Domain.

The subject of UFOs became a very popular theme in the press, on the television and in film, something that Intelligence services quietly encouraged. There were many, very secret projects that the US Government was investing enormous resources in, and any alternative explanation was preferable than the truth. One such project was the Silver Bug, a US Black version of the Canadian Avrocar. However, the Silver Bug's true capabilities were about to be discovered!  But beware... not everything may be as it seems! Sightings given credibility by the Swedish Air Intelligence Service   Everyone was caught up in the new UFO phenomena   Henri Coanda, discoverer of the Coanda effect   Jack Frost of Avro, the designer of the Avrocar   USAF regulations relating to UFOBs   The Canadian Avrocar during tests     Groom lake in Area 51   Technical Report on the Silver Bug   The Silver Bug's special Jet Stream aerodynamics The Silver Surfer   The Silver Surfer accelerates   The Silver Surfer crosses the

It takes about 12 seconds for the human body to reach terminal velocity.  At that speed they will see the earth’s surface approach them at 177 feet or 54 meters every second.  These are the stories of a few survivors who have fallen from an aircraft, without opening a parachute... and survived!   The remarkable Juliane Koepcke   Nicholas Alkemade   RAF Lancasters   The Ju88 nightfighter     The Il-4   B17 Flying Fortress bombers on a mission over Europe   The B17 ball turret   Vesna Vulović and a JAT DC9   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the RAF, SDASM, IWM and clipperarctic.  Other images are in the Public Domain or considered Fair Use.

The landing gear, or undercarriage, of a big airliner is a massive and powerful system. In modern times stowaways, have frequently attempted to hide within the undercarriage wheel-wells of airliners. The chances of surviving such an ordeal are remote in the extreme as the hazards are many. If someone attempting such a dangerous journey isn’t crushed by the movement of the gear as it stows or fall to their death when the undercarriage doors open to raise or lower the gear, then the environment will present an almost insurmountable hazard. Some, however, still survive! The landing gear of a B747   The forces that the undercarriage assembly is subjected to are considerable   The landing gear assembly and doors of a B747   FAA guidance on times of useful consciousness   Stranded near Newfoundland in the ice   A Douglas DC8   The DC10   Japanese troops in Timor   A 1950's airport similar to Kupang   A Netherlands Air Force C47   Darwin Hospital   Images under Creative Commons licence with th

The Hovercraft is something of a rare beast. This story examines the many engineers and scientists who contributed to the development of a vehicle that is lifted on a cushion of air and is capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, tarmac, sand and many other flattish surfaces.   The Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg is known to have sketched the first hovercraft design in 1714. Dagobert Müller von Thomamühl's Luftkissengleitboot, a surface effect boat.   How a hovercraft functions.   Ford's efforts at hovering cars.   The L1 hovering tank.   Charles Fletcher’s Glidemobile.   Cockerell's hovercraft patent.   Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell.     SRN1.   SRN4.   The US Navy LCAC.   The Soviet Zubr class ACV, the biggest in the world weighing in at 555 tons.     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to those in the Public Domain, Technical Museum Vienna, Messer Woland, the Ford Motor Company, Ad Meskens, GB Patent Office, The National Archives UK, USN, Andrew Ber

Out of the gloom of thick cloud, through their windscreens, the pilots suddenly saw the tops of pine trees but it was too late to pull up. They ploughed through them as the branches smashed into the left wing shattering the navigation light. One of the passengers onboard was the President of the airline, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker... this is his story. An Eastern Airlines DC3   Atlanta had poor weather and it was close to midnight when the aircraft crashed   Eddie Rickenbacker   The findings of the inquiry   Racing in San Francisco   Rickenbacker becomes CO of the 94th, the Hat in the Ring gang   After receiving many decorations, Rickenbacker returns to the US a hero   The Rickenbacker motor company   Rickenbacker survives a second crash, this time in a Boeing B-17   Capt. E.V. "Eddie" Rickenbacker wearing the Congressional Medal of Honor   Images published under Creative Commons Licence with thanks to Jack Delano, the Library of Congress, CAB, SF Public Library, NARA, Rickenbacker Motors

This is the final part of the Red Flag tales which carries on directly from Part II where we heard some exploits from participants of Exercise Red Flag. If you haven't listened to the previous taleson this subject, it would be worth going back them.  My thanks to Jaguar Pilot Nij, Tornado pilot Gasher, Tomcat RIO Scott and RAAF F111 Nav Abs.           The E-3 Sentry AWACS.   Break Right Chuck, there's one in your 6 o'clock!   A Smokey SAM.   Live weapons being dropped during Red Flag.   A Tornado drops flares.   An RAAF F111 puts its wings back and goes!   The Jaguar pilot's favourite dance.   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the USAF, Photo-Concepte.de, the RAF, the USN,

In the first part of the Red Flag tales we talked about the reasons for the formation of the USAF Fighter Weapons School and the subsequent creation of Exercise Red Flag. Now we get a chance to hear from some of the participants.  Firstly there is Nij who took time off from his Nuclear QRA duties to fly his RAF Jaguar in Flag exercises.  Then we have a Tornado GR1 pilot, Gasher, who also participated on behalf of the RAF.  Jack was an F15 pilot who took part as a wingman, formation leader and also as a Fighter Weapons School graduate.  Scott was a Tomcat RIO who was part of Red Air during Flag exercises and Abs, a navigator from the Royal Australian Air Force flew with the F111 force and was even a Blue Force Commander during the exercise. An RAF Jaguar   An RAF Tornado at Nellis   The mighty F15 Eagle   The USN F14 Tomcat   The RAAF F111   The Nellis ranges with Area 51 marked in red   The Nellis Air Force Base   A Red Flag briefing   The symbol of Exercise Red Flag   The EF-111A Raven  

The Korean War had been a successful period for the US Air Force but a decade later in the Vietnam war their success rate had gone from 10:1 down to 1:1. Something had to be be done.  This is the story of the creation of the USAF Fighter Weapons School and Exercise Red Flag!   The F86 in Korea   The F4 Phantom II Wreckage of a B52 in Hanoi   The Weapons School graduate patch and an example of dissimilar combat between an F16 and Mig21   A Soviet Surface to Air missile system   A captured Soviet Mig in USAF markings   The F5 Aggressors   Richard Suter   The Nellis Ranges   A 'Smokey SAM'   IAF F15s, one of the many nations that are invited to take part in Ex Red Flag     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the USAF, Mark Limb, US DOD, US Gov, US Defence Imagery, USMC, Finlay McWalter, National Museum of the Air Force and Srđan Popović.

It is the beginning of 1981 but for me it was the conclusion of my first front line tour of duty. When my posting came I was devastated. I had been sent to instruct at No 4 Flying Training School, RAF Valley on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. A remote corner in the middle of nowhere doing a job I didn’t want. An F4 Phantom FG1 of No43(F) Sqn.   The Hawker Harrier GR1.   Survival Scramble.    The A10 Warthog.   The BLC Malfunction emergency checklist.   Greek Gunboats!   My posting to become a QFI loomed!   My much loved Yamaha along with our poo coloured Rover!   Climbing Mt Snowdon.   Dave would perish during Exercise Red Flag when he crashed his RAF Jaguar avoiding a simulated SAM engagement.   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Mike Freer, Senior Airman Matthew Bruch, CC BY-SA 3.0, the USAF, the RAF and myself!

The Sound Barrier was first broken in 1947... by 1949 Convair had submitted its initial bid for the USAF's first supersonic bomber. So much had to be learned in that time… the aerodynamics of supersonic flight, the construction materials that would be required and the engines that could power it were only part of the technological challenges that would be faced. It was truly a remarkable effort. The pilots that were chosen to fly this tricky Mach 2, 70,000 ft capable aircraft that could climb at over 45,000ft a minute, were highly skilled and Lt Col Henry, John Deutschendorf was one of them.   The opposing sides of the Cold War   The first generation of US and Soviet ICBM nuclear missiles   The B-58 Hustler   The Hustler's escape pod   The three B-58 cockpit hatches   John Denver   The Long EZ   Ghostbusters II   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Kingkingphoto, the USAF, NOAA and Impawards.

Whether the weather be cold, Or whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not! Nowadays, however, we are blessed with more ways to get the weather than one can shake proverbial sticks at and, certainly in the world of aviation, it's all remarkably accurate even if it’s presented in a rather archaic code. Of course even that is pretty advanced when compared with the early days! Hippocrates   Galileo's thermometer   Early weather forecasting equipment!   The wrecking of the Royal Charter on the Island of Anglesey   Robert Firzroy, the father of met forecasting.   Gp Capt Stagg who forecasted the weather for Operation Chastise   The US Bureau of Metrology   An early radiosonde met balloon   A decode aid for aviation forecasts   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, NOAA, Fenners and the RAF.

The pride of the Air India fleet, their first Boeing 747 was named after the Emperor Ashoka. The first of the Maharaja-themed aircraft it epitomised luxury and was, “Your palace in the sky.” On this New Year's day, however, its flight would last only a few seconds. The Emperor Ashoka Boeing 747   The cockpit   The Engineer's station.   The interior of a Maharaja-themed Air India aircraft   The famous Jharokha styled windows   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Air India PR, Oliver Cleynen, Snowdog, Mitchel Gilliand, Shahram Sharifi, Dharma and Searchtrail67.

'Twas the night after Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...                                             All images produced by Nick Anderson Photographic

It’s starting to look its age, it’s frayed at the edges, wrinkled and has bits that might fall off. No, not me, my first venerable old Royal Air Force logbook. So before it comes apart completely, I think it might be time to punish you again with a few more stories from its pages.     The Westinghouse AWG 11/12 radar.     43 Sqn F4 Phantom FG1 on QRA.   Engaging a USAF EC130.   Engaging a USAF EC130.   My treasured Blue Peter badge.   The Boy Pilot, John, Ballex and Budgie... heroes of the Blue Peter Special!   The AEW Avro Shackleton.     Another Bear.   The F5 Aggressors in their distinctive Soviet camouflage.   You can't meander around a Leander! An RN Frigate.   Hunting Jags over the wilds of Scotland.   The RAF Piddle Pack!   An RAF goon suit (aircrew Immersion Suit).   Images under Creative Commons Licence with thanks to Daderot National Electronics Museum, the Royal Air Force, UK Crown, Mike Freer of Touchdown Aviation, USAF and the US Gov.

Many of my aviation heroes are complicated people of nuance and contradiction but not this man. As I reflect on his life, so recently ended, I remind myself of his uncompromising, direct manner but also of his enormous courage and skill that brought Charles Edward Yeager to the world’s attention. Yeager grew up helping his father out on gas drilling rigs.   Yeager joined the Air Force as a Private and became a mechanic but he soon made his way into pilot training.   He was initially given a P39 Aeracobra to fly.   He was sent to Europe to flight, flying the P51 Mustang.   He named his own aircraft Glamorous Glen.   He qualified as an Ace in one day and then shot down a jet powered Me262.   After the war Yeager qualified as a Test Pilot.   Even as a very junior Test Pilot, Yeager was offered the chance to pilot the Bell X1.   Yeager finally took the X!, now named Glamorous Glennis, over Mach 1 becoming the first to break the sound barrier.   Yeager completed a long and successful career in t