The Aviation Show

On our recent journey through Ohio, we visited the WACO Museum in Troy, Ohio, and looked at the history of the WACO aircraft company and the museum’s preserved material from the original plant. We check out some early WACO aircraft, the wildly unsuccessful RPT trainer, and the wartime CG-4 Hadrian glider, including its construction, production, and combat use. We also cover later aircraft such as...

Join us as Jason Capra and the Vintage Wing Inc. team show us around 'Beach City Baby', a C-53 Skytrooper with an incredible history that takes in the early days of airlines in the United States, Air Transport Command's efforts in North Africa and her role in the growth of civil aviation in Ohio. She is getting a new set of wings, and you can find out how you can help too! Check out al...

I promise this is the last video on autographs and signatures, but I recently bought a mostly lovely print of Frank Wootton's Typhoon Squadron, which had had all the signatures cut out of it. This led me down a rabbit hole of looking at the commoditisation of these signatures and autographs, where the very rarest are now sliced out and added to both new and old artwork, all in the name of "exclusi...

Dr Philip W. Blood, author of 'Birds of Prey', joins us in this follow-up to our recent episode where I erased the noted Luftwaffe ace, Gunther Rall, signature, off of a print by Robert Taylor. Phil and I delve into the truth about Luftwaffe complicity in the crimes of the Nazis during the Second World War and discuss the uncomfortable relationship with the regard to which those who survived were...

The final Convair B-36J Peacemaker ever built, 52-2827 'City of Fort Worth', has been moved to the @PimaAirSpaceMuseum restorations hangar for some TLC after nearly 20-years in the Arizona sun. Scott Marchand, the Pima Air and Space Museum's CEO, joins us from the cockpit of the B-36 to discuss what is going to happen over the coming months as the B-36 is stripped back to bare metal and...

In 1955, Paramount Pictures released one of their tentpole VistaVision epics, Strategic Air Command, starring James Stewart and directed by his longtime collaborator, Anthony Mann. Strategic Air Command is peak, high-resolution, widescreen 1950s propaganda at its finest, and while not a great film (David and I argue about that aspect too!), its time and place in the building of the mythology of Cu...

The new documentary, Beyond Blue Sky: The Untold Story of the First Private Astronauts, tells the story of Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites journey into space. In this episode we are joined by the film's director, Kevin Curran, and SpaceShipOne's Project Engineer, Matt Stinemetze, to discuss this incredible project that went from Burt Rutan announcing that they were going to space to winning the $10...

The Sun is constantly changing; it is not just a constant ball of fire. Dr Ryan French joins us to tell us about the Sun's behaviour, space weather, and the impact of space hazards on Earth. So if you've ever wondered how solar activity affects our technology, the risks of space junk, and the future of space safety, then this is the show for you! Check out Ryan's YouTube channel here: https://www....

The Hawker Typhoon and the 3" Rocket Projectile, the RP-3, have a special place in the annals of the Second World War. In this first part of a series looking at the Hawker Typhoon, we take a deep dive into the RP-3 and some of the realities of this legendary, if wonderfully inaccurate, weapon. Check out The Aviation Historian website and get your copy of the new annual edition here: https://www.th...

I was recently given two prints by the renowned aviation artist, the late Robert Taylor. One is going on the wall, the other... Well, that is the focus of this video, as why would I want the signature of a man like Günther Rall, an ardent servant of fascism, hanging on my wall? You can listen to both parts of our Birds of Prey discussion with Dr. Philip Blood via The Aviation Show website here: ht...

The B-1B Lancer has been in service for 40-years and her later life has been incredibly busy. With the Lancer's replacement, the B-21 Raider, taking to the skies, you would think the B-1B could look forward to a well earned rest. But, as Kenneth P. Katz brings up to date on the B-1's story, we see that the Lancer's story is far from done. Buy The Supersonic BONE: A Development and Operational Hist...

A new president brings a new future to the B-1 Lancer program as the Reagan rearmament program sees development of the B-1 accelerated. The concurrent development and production brings its own headaches as the Lancer matures in time for a twenty year period of constant operations over Afghanistan and Iraq. Buy The Supersonic BONE: A Development and Operational History of the B-1 Bomber by Kenneth...

The B-1 Lancer was a highly innovative design, capable of high-speed, low-altitude flight and potentially could have been a vital buttress to the United States Nuclear Triad. But as we discuss in this second part of the B-1 story, post the Vietnam War, military spending was very much at the forefront of turbulent economic times. New President Jimmy Carter had to make a crucial decision about the f...

In this Bonus Episode, we've re-editted our conversation with Ken Katz about the B-1 from 2022 as the aircraft returns to the forefront of operations. The B-1 bomber is an aircraft that captivates all aviation buffs, a true creature of politics and engineering. The B-1's journey to nearly 40 years on the front line of the US Air Force has not been straightforward. Join us as Kenneth P. Katz, autho...

On Wednesday 25th March 2026, a collection of Sir Barnes Wallis', the inventor of the Bouncing Bomb and many other things, will do up for auction at Denhams in West Sussex, England. Leo Denham kindly invited us down to explore this incredible collection and get a closer look at some of the increibly important historical artifacts that Wallis kept in his personal collection. To find out more about...

The North American Aviation A-36 was a dive-bombing development of the Mustang I that had been specified by the British during the Second World War. The dive-bomber was ordered by the US Army Air Force to supplement their attack aircraft and saw service in the Mediterranean and the China-Burma-India theatres. But the A-36's story is overshadowed by its fighter sister, and matters get even more com...

In 1919, four British teams arrived in Newfoundland to attempt to be the first to fly across the Atlantic non-stop, the Big Hop, and claim the Daily Mail's £10,000 prize. Author David Rooney joins us at the Science Museum in London to discuss John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown's incredible flight with the aircraft they did it in, the Vickers Vimy, which is on display at the museum. Buy The Big H...

The Science Museum in South Kensington, London hold a bit of a hidden gem of an aircraft collection. On the top floor of the museum, some of the great aircraft of Britain's aviation heritage are displayed, like the Vickers Vimy that completed the first crossing of the Atlantic, Britain's first jet aircraft, the Gloster E38/29 and Amy Johnson's Jason, to name but a few. Doug Millard, the Deputy Kee...

For forty years, NATO and Soviet Naval forces patrolled the world's oceans. Retired Tornado driver and author Michael Napier joins us to discuss his latest book, Over Cold War Seas: NATO and Soviet Naval Aviation, 1949-1989 , which looks at the four-decade duel for control of the world's sea lanes and the aircraft that flew above them looking for what lurked above and beneath the waves. Buy Over C...

Best-selling author and imaging specialist Andy Saunders follows up his remarkable Apollo Remastered with Gemini and Mercury Remastered. Gemini was NASA's highly ambitious 20-month sprint to prove that they could get to the moon in time to meet President John F. Kennedy's challenge. Andy's remastering of the first space photography allows us to see our world the way NASA's Mount Rushmore of astron...

Over the course of 20 months, NASA flew 10 vital Project Gemini missions that proved everything needed to get to the Moon in time to meet President John F. Kennedy's challenge. Apollo 13 co-author Jeffrey Kluger joins us to discuss the unprecedented sprint that was Project Gemini. Buy Gemini: Stepping Stone to the Moon - The Untold Story by Jeffrey Kluger via our US Bookshop.org or on Amazon below...

Col. Eileen Collins, USAF Rtd., had a fantastic career before joining NASA. Her dream to go to space led her to become not only the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle but also the first woman to command a space mission. In Spacewoman, a new documentary directed by Hannah Berryman, Eileen's career and its impact on her family are brought to light through a series of very open interviews, result...

In part two of our look at "The British Century Series" (not a thing), Joe Wilding and I continue iour look at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum in West Sussex, England's collection and move onto the backbone of the RAF jet fighter force in the 1950s, the Supermarine Swift, English Electric Lightning and the incredible, wonderful and frankly perfect Hawker Hunter. Visit the Tangmere Military A...

When Joe Wilding and I first took a look at the US Air Force's Century Series 18 months ago, we always wanted to take a look at their British equivalent, and now we have! In part one of our look at "The British Century Series" (not a thing), Joe and I convened at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum in West Sussex, England and had a look at some of the super unique aircraft in their collection, s...

Our tour of the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum continues as we check out the progress on the restoration of the former Red Arrow support aircraft, Folland Gnat T.1 XR571, and the recently completed De Havilland Vampire T.11 XH313. Visit the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum website here: https://tangmere-museum.org.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559899811674 Instagram:...