Plane Tales

Lieutenant Colonel Rob Sweet, after a 33 year career flying the Warthog, completed his final flight on the 5th of June 2021 at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. As he climbed out he was met with a shower of champagne. I don’t regret going over there, fighting and getting shot down, Sweet said, that’s what I took an oath to do. The Air Force Chief of Staff, General Charles Brown said, with your retire...

Another foray into the log book as the Old Pilot starts work as a Qualified Flying Instructor at No 4 Flying Training School, RAF Valley.   Another course of newly minted QFIs   A Hawk T1 over RAF Valley on the island of Anglesey   Hawks in close formation   The Reds doing it properly in cloud and everything!   Flying solo in the Hawk   The Hawk doing aerobatics &#160...

Looking back on the final years of the second world war its easy to forget that nobody knew quite when the conflict would end. Many aircraft were constructed and flown and were thought to be the pinnacle of fighting science at the time but we know little of them nowadays because the war ended and they never made it into service… they were no longer required. Here are a few. The Supermarine Spitfir...

A favourite old tale of the checkered history that brought about the Phonetic Alphabet and Op Brevity Code… retold. A early radio   Send three and fourpence!   An early Army signals book     N for November   The NATO Phonetic Alphabet   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Army, an Unknown cartoonist, US Mint, Matthäus Mérian, Daiju Azuma,...

Air Law is something that all pilots must have some knowledge of or they wouldn’t be awarded a licence or certificate… it’s required knowledge. Having said that, it’s a long way from being simple and even a qualified Air Transport pilot will only have scratched the surface. In the Air Force, one might have assumed that things would have been pretty tight and mutiny unheard of. Let me set you...

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   Th...

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...

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...

After last week’s tale, here are a few more letters of the Alphabet to ponder on! The Martin Baker Mk7A seat with adjustable rocket pack!   The US Army working under flares   Aircraft registrations   Working on the RR Merlin engine   The aircraft convenience!   Varig Flight 820   The Queen’s Flight   Rolls Royce     Images under Creative Commons l...

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...

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 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,...

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...

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...

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. Dag...

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 ha...

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...

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 participa...

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...

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 S...

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...

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 pr...

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 A...

‘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 EC1...