Plane Tales

In the 1970’s, Germany was in the grip of a terrorist nightmare, led by a far  left militant group known as the Red Army Faction or the Baader-Meinhof Gang.  Their most audacious act was, with the aid of Palestinian terrorists, to hijack a Lufthansa Boeing 737 named Landshut.  For the passengers and crew this was the start of a 5 day nightmare during which they were subjected to awful treatm...

Wilheim Böing, emigrated to the United States in 1866 and, after becoming a wealthy lumber merchant, sent his son William to an elite school in Switzerland and then Yale University.  Now named Boeing, William followed his father into the timber business and in his spare time became one of America’s first pilots.  Soon he was putting his wealth and engineering background to the development of...

Two men who risked everything to save their aircraft and, because of their bravery, were awarded their countries highest honour.  These are stories which truly invoke the often misused sobriquet, hero. Jimmy Ward of No 75 (New Zealand) Squadron.   The hatch that Jimmy climbed out of and the holes he made to crawl over to the blazing engine.   Henry Erwin, recipient of the Medal of Honor....

It was the year 1919 and Billy Hughes, the Prime Minister of Australia, was travelling to attend the Paris Peace Conference.  He cabled his Government,  “Several Australian aviators are desirous of attempting flight London to Australia they are all first-class men and very keen, your thoughts?”  The undertaking was momental since the longest distance ever achieved by an aircraft to that point was...

The Mig-21, NATO codename Fishbed, was to become the most produced supersonic fighter in aviation history.  In the 1950s, its secrets were being tightly safeguarded and Western military forces were very keen to find out more.  Here is a spy story, more dramatic and blood thirsty than most fictional ones but one that put the new fighter right into the hands of the Israeli Air Force. Mig 007 in the...

A narrow body of water separates England from the rest of Europe… between Dover and Calais it’s only 21 miles wide.  Crossing it has become a bit of a right of passage for many forms of transport and aviators, with or without moustaches, have been no exception.  These are the stories of some of those early attempts! Jean-Pierre Blanchard rows across the channel in a balloon!   Lou...

The Upkeep mine was at last working and 617 Squadron had worked up to a level of skill that was unmatched amongst the Bomber Command units.  The waters of the Ruhr dams had reached their peak and the moon was waxing gibbous towards being full.  At last, all the preparation and training was going to be put to the test and the Dambusters raid was on! At last… Upkeep had proved itself capable o...

This is part three of a quadrilogy of stories about the Dambuster’s raid on the great dams of the Ruhr valley by No 617 Squadron.  Wallis faced an uphill struggle to convince the Air Ministry that his idea of bouncing a huge mine across the surface of the reservoirs, over torpedo nets and right up to the dam walls was feasible.  When finally given the go ahead he only had a few months to com...

A man renown for his genius as a designer and inventor, Barnes Wallis turned his mind to helping Britain to win the Second World War by creating weapons that could defeat the industrial might of Germany.  From his ten ton bomb Tall Boy to the bouncing bomb Upkeep, his remarkable talent ran from designing Airships to supersonic aircraft.  This is his story. Barnes Wallis as a young man in Naval Ser...

This is the first of the four part story of Operation Chastise, the bombing of the great dams of Germany’s Ruhr valley during the Second World War.  This Tale examines the life of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar who took on the task of forming the Squadron of Lancasters which would achieve world wide fame following the attack.  Gibson was, to some, a flawed charac...

A break from Tales of death and destruction with a little bit of aviation word play.  What was your score?

The North of Africa holds the world’s largest hot desert, known as The Greatest Desert, or more commonly by the Arabic word Sahara.  The Lady be Good’s WW2 mission hadn’t gone well and crew of the  were hopelessly lost and running out of fuel when the first engine failed. They decided to abandon the aircraft rather than risk a crash landing and they parachuted out over, what they belie...

It was a hot and sunny day at the United States Airforce Base at Ramstein near Kaiserslautern in West Germany… a perfect day for their 1988 annual air show.  One of the best parts of the show was going to be the Frecce Tricolori, the Italian formation team, doing their stunning display.   After several minutes of what was a great performance, the team started one of the most impressive manoeuvres,...

As a military aviator he was exceptional.   From a starting point that had him at a disadvantage, 40 seconds was how long it took him to get behind you for the kill! His flying skills weren’t the reason we remember Colonel John Boyd as his ideas would change the whole direction of military aviation.  A maverick who would lead a like minded group known as the Fighter Mafia, he was a brilliant...

Lokichokio, is a dusty, flyblown, Kenyan frontier town that is a long way from the tourist images of African safari lodges.   There’s an airstrip there with a few buildings, offices and compounds, one with a pool and a bar. At 6 o’clock sharp, an attractive blonde could be found there sipping a G&T while the ice tinkled in her glass.  With her short, blonde hair, good looks and brilliant smile...

The loss of his father early in his life led to David Warren’s fascination with electronics.  Although he grew up to be a scientist who specialised in chemistry, particularly aviation fuels and early rocketry, his little invention, a flight data and voice recorder, made a contribution to flight safety that has left a lasting legacy. David Warren with his original recorder device.   The...

Captain Leul Abate was no stranger to hijackings… this was his third!  An amazing story that ends in tragedy for many when, q uietly sitting by the sea sipping cocktails, the residents of the beautiful Galawa Beach Hotel see a huge airliner plough into the water only 500 yards away.   Images under Creative Commons licence and fair use with thanks to JetPix.

This story has graphic references to violence and injury and may not be suitable for all ages. For the operating crew the flight started just as it had done many times before.   They were departing from Memphis in Tennessee and flying to San Jose in California in their McDonnell Douglas DC10 freighter.   After an uneventful start, taxi and takeoff the crew were settling down to the normal routine...

  Geoff Lee started his career as an apprentice photographer for Hawker Siddeley Aviation and progressed to become the Chief Photographer for British Aerospace Systems.  His specialty was air to air photography, a field that put him in the cockpits of some of the world’s finest fighters.  His photographs have graced the covers of aviation publications and major newspapers throughout the...

Geoff Lee started his career as an apprentice photographer for Hawker Siddeley Aviation and progressed to become the Chief Photographer for British Aerospace Systems.  His specialty was air to air photography, a field that put him in the cockpits of some of the world’s finest fighters.  His photographs have graced the covers of aviation publications and major newspapers throughout the world....

Geoff Lee started his career as an apprentice photographer for Hawker Siddeley Aviation and progressed to become the Chief Photographer for British Aerospace Systems.  His specialty was air to air photography, a field that put him in the cockpits of some of the world’s finest fighters.  His photographs have graced the covers of aviation publications and major newspapers throughout the world....

Towering cumulous clouds can often be harbingers of destruction and for pilots they should be respected and generally avoided by a wide margin.   There is, however, a breed of pilot willing to court the danger present in these meteorological monsters… the violent updrafts and downdrafts, the heavy rain and hail, the turbulence, the freezing temperatures and the lightning!  This is the story of one...

As part of the 75th anniversary of the D Day invasion of Nazi held Europe in 1944, Douglas DC3s, C47s and Dakotas came from around the world to reenact the Airborne troops parachute drops that first put Allied boots on the ground. In this second part of the story, I chat to Sherman Smoot, Betsy’s Chief Pilot and Nick Comacho, a pilot of the C47, Betsy’s Biscuit Bomber.   Nick does...

As part of the 75th anniversary of the D Day invasion of Nazi held Europe in 1944, Douglas DC3s, C47s and Dakotas came from around the world to reenact the Airborne troops parachute drops that first put Allied boots on the ground.  In this interview I chat to Nick Comacho, a pilot of the C47, Betsy’s Biscuit Bomber, that had flown over from the States to Duxford in England to take part. &#16...

I take another dip into my flying log book, RAF Form 414. We catch up with the young ‘Old Pilot’ as he joins his first operational squadron, No 43(F) Sqn, The Fighting Cocks!  I was faced with a further 6 months of training to become a fully Combat Ready fighter pilot.  Relying on my faltering memory I said that the jamming Canberras were on 100 Sqn… they were, of course, actuall...