Plane Tales

The RAF Chinook helicopter has proved to be a versatile and determined workhorse for the British Armed services but none more so than the airframe Bravo November. This remarkable machine was the sole surviving Chinook of the Falklands war and it continued to operate in many operations in the Middle East. Even more remarkable was the bravery of it's pilots, four of whom received the Distinguished Flying Cross.   A US Army CH47A.   An RAF Chinook.   Argentinian forces invade Stanley.   British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.   Government House at Port Stanley.   HMS Invincible leads the task force out of British Waters.   The Atlantic Conveyor embarking aircraft.   The Argentinian submarine Santa Fe, previously USS Catfish.   An RAF Vulcan.   The sinking of the Belgrano.   The sinking of HMS Sheffield.   The sinking of HMS Antelope.   An Argentinian Super Etendard.   The Atlantic Conveyor ablaze.   Bravo November... the last Chinook.   Commandos marching across the inhospitable

When examining pilot deaths in WWI it was discovered that 90% were put down to pilot errors whereas only 2% were due to enemy action! Things didn't improve in WW2 either. A lowly 23 year old analyst challenged the assumption that cockpits should be designed to fit the Average Pilot. This is the story of Human Factors in Aviation.   An RAF pilot's annual assessment of ability.   Quételet, the man who invented averages.   The University of Ghent.   It was the study of Astronomy that gave rise to the first calculations of averages.   The study of the average Scottish Soldier.   Very few deaths during the First World War were due to enemy action.   The Second World War also saw an unacceptable number of deaths due to accidents.   The USAF conducted a large study into the size of their men to discover the dimensions of the average pilot.   Lt Gilbert Daniels discovered that not one USAF pilot matched the average!   The study of ergonomics let to better cockpit design.   Human factors also cov

Having recently talked about of couple of embarrassingly awful US World War 2 aircraft it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t mention some from my side of the Atlantic that were knocked together in the jolly old British Isles! Sadly, there are way too many to cover so I’ll just take a deep breath and mention a few!   Adverts for Boulton and Paul garden sunrooms.   The Wonderful Airfix Defiant model.   The ungainly Rhino parachute that the Defiant gunners wore.   The Sopwith Camel that Boulton Paul built under licence.   Boulton Paul had become well known as a turret manufacturer.   The ungainly Rhino parachute that the Defiant gunners had to cope with.   Boulton Paul Defiants lined up on the ground.   Taken out of front line operations the Defiant found a place as a target tug aircraft.   The large and slow Fairey Battle.   The Battle's bomb aimer's position.   Bombing up a Battle.   How many apprentices does it take to push a Fairey Battle?   The Fairey Swordfish.   The aircraft due to r

It was in the early predawn that Pilot Officer Richard Pryce Hughes crashed his aircraft on the heathland a little less than 500 yards from where I live. That was 78 years ago and I was yet to be born and where my house is was still a pine covered heathland. A marker has been erected to show the location of the crash and as we approach the 11th of the 11th my wife or I place a cross on the small monument in remembrance, lest we forget. The heathland upon which Pilot Officer Richard Pryce Hughes crashed.   RCAF recruitment poster.   The Handley Page Halifax.   A painting depicting a 1,000 bomber raid.   The 10 Squadron winged arrow - approved by King George VI in September 1937.   The Bomber Command memorial depicting a typical crew.   A Halifax during a raid.   The fate of a heavy bomber hit by flak.       The Bristol Blenheim.   The De Havilland Mosquito.   The graves of the two brave Hughes cousins.   The Canadian memorial to their bomber crews at Nanton.   The marker placed in

Orford Ness is a remote spit of marsh and shingle covered land that sticks out into the North Sea. Part of the chilly, windswept Suffolk coast of East England it became the secret location for a place where boffins could work on the latest experiments in aviation and nuclear weapons. It was also the place where one of the very last pilots to die in WW I would meet his end. In ancient times, Orford Ness was home to smugglers!   Orford Ness in modern times, not far from Bungay!   The village of Orford with its medieval castle and Norman church.   The RFC version of interrupter gear.   A Martello tower.   A Heath Robinson cartoon.   The Bristol Fighter.   Beacon tower.   The Blue Plaque.   The Orford Ness Pagodas.   The experimental Over The Horizon radar codenamed Cobra.   The grave of Lieutenant Oliver Byerley Walters Wills, R.F.C. who was killed at Orford Ness a few hours before the end of WW1.         Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Ananias Appleton, Google Ma

I’ve done plenty of Tales about the triumphant aircraft of World War 2 that fought in the skies over Europe, Africa Russia and the Far East. Quite naturally, I guess, not so much is known about the horrible failures. Not all of the aircraft we will look at were quite that bad... many were just misguided ideas, old designs or put into the wrong role! Vultee P-66 Vanguard.    The Vanguard with its original cowling design which gave insufficient cooling to the big radial engine.   The Vanguards at Karachi during their ill fated transit to China.   The Bell P39Q Airacobra.   The Airacobra with the big supercharger cooling vents that created so much drag.   The rather unusual, for a fighter that is, Airacobra cockpit door.   Guns blazing, the Airacobra was indeed quite well armed.   The RAF 601 Sqn with their renamed Caribou (Airacobra)... not much admired, the soon requipped with Spitfires.     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to SADSM, USAF, Bill Larkins, WMFerguson, National M

Any of Brien Wygle’s achievements would be enough for most of us to dine-out on for the rest of our lives. A World War 2 pilot who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy. A man who flew Hump missions in a vulnerable C-47s and who saw three of his comrades go down in a single day. A pilot who volunteered to fly bombing missions for the fledgling Israeli Air Force, who taught Howard Hughes to fly jet aircraft and who became a notable test pilot and yet was one of the most unassuming people you would want to meet. Much of Brien's love of flying came from magazines and building model aircraft.   As a young man Brien saw a formation of Hurricanes which lit the flame of his desire to become a pilot.   Brien's flying training started in the Tiger Moth.   Brien's first operational type was the Douglas Dakota.     Brien spend much time in the Far East flying dangerous mump missions and supply dro

On the 18th of June 1940, Churchill stood in Parliament and gave a speech in which he stated that what General Weyland had called the Battle of France was over and that the Battle of Britain was about to begin. In the middle of this remarkable conflict was one Raymond Towers Holmes... Sir Winston Churchill   Hermann Göring   Preparations being made for the invasion of Britain   Joseph Kennedy, the US Ambassador to Great Britain   Adolf Hitler   The Me 110   The Supermarine Spitfire   The Hawker Hurricane   The Me 109   Battle of Britain pilots   The coverage of Chain Home   Chain Home operators   Arty Holmes in his fighter   Dog fights over London during the Battle of Britain   Dornier Do 17s   The secret weapon flamethrower   The Do17 without its tail plunges down towards Victoria Station   Wreckage of the Do17 that Arty brought down     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to BiblioArchives, Bundesarchiv, the RAF, Wide World Photos, ROC, Adrian Pingstone, I

I was recently digging through some old airline paperwork and came across a delightful booklet from my old airline entitled Cabin Address from the Flight Deck - briefing notes and suggestions. The booklet is more than 20 years old so the content might, on occasions, fail to reflect current sensitivities but I thought it worth digging into so that I could share some of its suggestions with you.         Images with kind permission of cartoonist Capt John Reed AKA Figment.

Little Nellie was a rare breed of aviatrix the name of which has its origins in Ancient Greek. In more modern parlance, we have the familiar name autogyro… literally meaning self-turning. The way they work is the same way as a seed from a tree like a Sycamore flies and flying an autogyro is a novel form of taking to the air but one that saved 007! Juan de la Cierva - the First Count.   The world's first autogyro, Ciervas's C1   A replica of the C6   The Cierva C9   The Pitcairn autogyro showing the rotor drive shaft   The RAF's autogyro   A stamp commemorating the Russian TsAGI 1EA   The Fairy Rotordyne   The Bensen gyrocopter   Mailman Doug's gyrocopter on the west lawn of the Capitol after he was taken into custody.   The Focke Wulf Fw-61   Little Nellie   A modern autogyro   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to L'Aéronautique magazine, Pascual Marín, Gyromike, Diego Dabrio, Johannes Thinesen, NASA, Post of Soviet Union, NACA, Fair Use, Cheesy Mike and Asterion.

A continuation of the stories from Capt Nick's RAF Form 414... his flying logbook. BAe Nimrod MR2   The Old Pilot and a Bear   Norwegen F-5A   The Shackleton AEW2   A Canadian CL-28 Argus   The Avro Vulcan   The Skyflash semi active radar guided missile   An AQM37. The Stiletto was an air launched version.   A Skyflash missile firing from the F4 Phantom   Post missile firing treasure   Yours truly   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to The Old Pilot, Dale Coleman, Crown, Rob Schleiffert, USAF and an RAF Photographer.

Now a story about the US Navy Band may not seem to be my usual fare in Tales but bear with me and I must thank serving Band member and APG listener Tuba Tony for suggesting the topic for this story.   The United States Navy Ceremonial Band   The distant origin of the first Navy musicians.   The USS Macon   Eisenhower as a General and President   A DC3   A US Navy DC6   The Bandsmen lost in the tragic crash   Sugarloaf mountain   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to US Gov, Wiki Commons, US Navy, Library of Congress and the Washington Post.

There are many things that one might want to be remembered for. A fine physician, a pioneer aviator, a renown aeronautical researcher, an inspired inventor but perhaps not as the greatest charlatan ever to see his name associated with an airplane, even though his scout fighter the Christmas Bullet had a perfect kill record… it killed everyone who ever tried to fly it!     The AEA Redwing     One of Christmas's Patents   The Christmas Bullet   The Christmas Bullet   The Liberty 6 Engine Dr Christmas   Images under creative commons licence with thanks to the Library of Congress, US Gov, US Patent Office and the USAF.

Back in 1997, on a sliver of land wedged between a gas station and a car park, a lone C130 Hercules could be found. It was mounted there near the entrance to the National Security Agency at Fort Mead in Maryland for a good reason. Not the original aircraft, as that crashed on foreign soil, it had been painted with the tail number 60528 to represent it.   The memorial to the crew of 60528   The C130 airborne   The plot of 60528 and the track of the intercepting fighters.   A Mig 17   Gun camera film from the attacking Mig17s   Gun camera film from an attacking Mig 17 showing the C130 in flames   The crash site of 60528   A USN Neptune   A Mig15   An LA11   An RAF Lincoln   The U2 spy plane   Gary Powers   The memorial to the crew of the C130   Arlington Cemetery   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the NSA, Soviet Defence Archives, 1Lt Kucharyaev, Soviet Air Force, Kirill Pisman, Adam Jones, Garry Goebel, RIA Novosti archive and IP Singh.  

If you are anything like the usual aviation enthusiast you’ll have a list of famous names in your head that you can quote at parties to bore your friends like, Wilbur and Orville, Bleriot, Richthofen, Lindbergh, Sikorsky, Whittle, Yeager and such but I wonder if you can place some of the others who deserve recognition.   Charlie Taylor   Hans Von Ohain   Ohain's HeS8 jet engine   The He178   The He280   Gloster E-28   Olive-Ann and TravelAir   The Staggerwing   Doolittle and the Mystery Ship   Louise Thaden     Bessie Coleman   Mae Jemison   Houdini   Colin Defries   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the USAF, the Air Force Research Lab, Embryriddle, RAF/IWM, SDASM, Flugkerl2, BAC, NASA, Museums Victoria,

He is dead now but you’ll find no stone to mark his grave since he has neither grave nor marker, which is a little odd for a much decorated American hero who fought for his country with outstanding bravery... but it was his wish and his family accepted that.   Boeing B-17D   The 509th   Project Alberta   The Trinity Test tower   The world's first atomic bomb just prior to the Trinity Test   The Trinity Test fireball   Little Boy   The mission map   Detonation   Hiroshima just after detonation   The Hiroshima Damage estimation map   Enola Gay returns   Tibbits in Enola Gay   Tibbits is decorated by Gen Spaatz   Enola Gay in the Udvar Hazy   Paul W Tibbits   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the USAF, US Gov, Project Alberta, Mr98, Berlyn Brixner, US Gov DOD, Jack W Aeby, United States Department of Energy, George R Caron, U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Armen Shamlian and elliottwolf.

In 1941 the German Navy commissioned its latest submarine, the U-134 and as it slid out of harbour to join the 5th U boat flotilla, Captain-Lieutenant Rudolf Schendel keenly anticipated the mission ahead. You may be wondering why this Type 7C U Boat should feature in a Plane Tale but bear with me as I introduce the K-74. Built a year after the U-134, the K 74 came from a company with an interesting origin, the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation. This is their intriguing story.                                   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to NSA, UK National Archives, Darkone,  US Library of Congress, the Goodyear Zeppelin company, USN, Grossnick Roy A, Royal Navy and the US Naval Institute.

The ejector seat is still a subject of fascination for a lot of pilots, mainly those who have never been strapped to one. It’s often the opinion of folk not part of the small fast jet community that an ejection is a simple matter, you just pull the handle and ‘boom’ you’re safe.               Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to J Clear, USAF, USAF National Air Museum, US Navy archives, US Gov, Hanna-Barbera and Robert L. Lawson.

On April the 1st 2011, a little known story of intrigue and tension within the usually calm and placid country of Canada came to light.  This little known affair which brought the United States and Canada to a breaking point revolved around the purchase of an unusual Fighter for the RCAF. This drama of the 1960s has become notorious in government circles and is variously referred to as, “The Stab in the Back-yard”, “The Fishbed Flap” “The Redhawk Incident” or more ominously “The Canuck Invasion Crisis”.                             Images published under Creative Commons licence with many thanks to parfaits, the Government of Canada and the amazing Vintage Wings of Canada.

I’ve talked a lot about alcohol over the past few Plane Tales and mainly about the negative aspects but it remains one of the few socially acceptable drugs that we can imbibe. With our propensity for travelling the world, fighter jocks, trash haulers, airline crews and the rest, have always managed to find some fascinating watering holes to frequent to let the stress of the day gently drain away in convivial company over a drink or two. With that in mind I asked the crew to tell me about one or two of their favourite establishments.                                         Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Library of Congress, Hammersfan, Steph, Rick, Jeff, Nick and Gordon McKinlay.