The Aviation Show

The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor was a savage airliner. Kurt Tank's elegant design evolved from a luxurious civil aircraft into a feared maritime reconnaissance bomber and transport aircraft. Naval air historian Matthew Willis joins us to look at the operational life and legacy of the Condor. ★Buy Matt's book, Eagles of the Luftwaffe: Focke-Wulf Fw 200 , at The Damcasters Bookshop. 10% of each sale go...

Welcome to the SPOILER FREE Damcasters review of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hank's new Apple TV+ war series, Masters of the Air. In this review, Boney looks at the first two episodes, out on the 26th January, and his feelings about the series. Get subscribed for episode deep dives each week! Many thanks to the Apple TV UK Press Team for all their help. ★ Sign up for Apple TV+ here or via the app: ht...

War historian James Rogers joins us to discuss his new book, Precision: A History of American Warfare , as we look into what precision actually means and what lengths have been gone to achieve it over the last 100 years. ★ Follow James on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/jamesrogershistory/ Check out James' website at: https://www.jamespattonrogers.com/ Buy Precision: A History of American...

How has the portrayal of the fighter pilot on film reflected and refined the image of the pilot we know today? Military historian Abby Whitlock joins us as we look at the OG flying films Wings (1927), Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930) both Dawn Patrols (1930 and 1938) and Aces High (1976) to see how the First World War in the air shaped the image of the fighter pilot down to Top Gun and Blackadd...

Host Matt Bone tackles a variety of topics from a different perspective, adopting an 'Ask Me Anything' format. Following a brief discussion about delayed scheduling and cyberpunk 2077, Matt responds to listeners' questions via Patreon and Twitter. The conversation ranges from general queries about Matt's background and interest in the Typhoon to more complex queries about his research for the podc...

We are back! It is a new year, and I'd love your feedback as the planning spreadsheet gets filled up. There are also updates to our Patreon levels, so now is a great time to become a Damcasteer! Plus, with Masters of the Air mere weeks away, we highlight a great novel of the 8th Air Force, Robert Radcliffe's Under An English Heaven. ★Become a Damcasteer today on Patreon! Join from just £3+VAT a mo...

Historian John Concagh joins us to look at the experience of Black volunteers in the RAF in the Second World War. This episode delves into the experiences of Black West African and Caribbean volunteers in the RAF during WWII. John explains their hardships, victories, and post-war influence in their home countries' fight for independence. ★Follow John on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/BadSocialism...

Dr Kit Chapman, a science historian from Falmouth University, takes us into the historical context and significance of atomic cloud sampling, a dangerous method employed during the Cold War era. The focus is on the Ivy Mike nuclear test in 1952, where pilots flew into a thermonuclear bomb cloud to gather data, contributing to element discovery and the development of atomic science. The ramificatio...

The Convair B-58 Hustler is regarded as one of the USAF's missteps in strategic bomber design from the 1950s and 60s. The claims that it was expensive and dangerous to fly led to its removal from service in the 1970s in favour of the Boeing B-52. But is that really the case? Former B-58 Navigator/Bombardier Col. Geroge Holt Jr. Rtd. joins us to reflect on his time on the Hustler and do some well-n...

Paul Crickmore has been chronicling the story of the Lockheed Blackbird family of aircraft, the A-12, YF-12 and SR71, for over 35 years. Paul has had incredible access to the designers, maintainers and pilots of the Blackbird over the years. Paul joins us today to tell us some of the stories he has captured in his final book, Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Mission - The Missing Chapters , w...

Mélanie Astles is a remarkable aerobatics pilot, is also the only woman to have won a Red Bull Air Race event at Indianapolis in 2017 and has just placed 5th at the World Advanced Aerobatic Championships in Las Vegas for Team GB. A passionate advocate for aviation and an ambassador for the Pima Air and Space Museum, it worked out that when Mel popped into the Museum last week, she found the time t...

Following their eventful dropping of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions on D-Day, the IX Troop Carrier Command's C-47s were not ideal. Historian Adam Berry joins us to discuss the resupply operations in Normandy, the incredible medical evacuation flights, Operation Dragoon and the resupply of the 101st in Bastogne as we look at what the IX TCC did next. ★You can follow Adam on Twitter here: htt...

Friend of the show, historian James Jefferies joins us to discuss the much maligned Bristol Blenheim. When the aircraft was developed, the Blenheim was faster than the RAF's latest fighters. But, come the outbreak of war, fighter design and the environment the Blenheim would be operating in would be very different. So, was the Blenheim really that bad? James tries to convince us otherwise. . ★You...

Amelia Earhart looms large in aviation history, but she was one of a cohort of incredible female flyers in 1920s America who fought hard to break the mould and show that they could out-fly and out-race the men at their own game and, in Louise Thaden, would claim their highest prize. In Fly Girls, New York Times bestselling author Keith O'Brien looks at this remarkable group of women who took to th...

The R101 was the great hope for Imperial Air Travel in late 1920s Britain. The brainchild of Christopher Birdwood Thomson and the Imperial Airship Scheme, R101 was the government-backed of the two grand airships, the other being the Barnes Wallis-designed R100, that were to whisk the great and good between England and India. S.C. Gwynne joins us to tell the tale of the doomed airship, the man who...

On Wednesday 21st March 1945, the RAF's 140 Wing of De Havilland Mosquito FB.VI fighter bombers, with an escort of Mustangs, attacked the Shellhus in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Shellhus was the HQ for the Gestapo in Denmark, and most of the Danish Resistance's top men were within its walls. The low-level attack would be the last in a series flown by the men of 140 Wing that feature in Rowland White'...

Hurricane Heritage has the incredible job of operating the world's only two-seat Hawker Hurricane, BE505 'Pegs'. Starting life as a Canadian Car and Foundry-built Mark XII with the RCAF serial AG287, the aircraft was converted and restored to a Mk. IIB 'Hurribomber' configuration in 2007. Just before the pandemic hit, her second conversation to a two-seat Hurricane was complete and now she operate...

Civil aviation is a vast undertaking and one that kept me in and out of trouble for 20 years of my working life. Author Ben Skipper has taken on the task of looking at the subject from the 1919 Paris Convention through to the end of the 747's service. From monks jumping off towers through Olive Beach being a badass to what comes next, join us as we take a whistlestop tour of flight without militar...

The RAF Museum sites at Hendon in London and RAF Cosford in the Midlands are home to a collection that tells the century-old story of the RAF. It is where my obsession with the Hawker Typhoon began and where I returned a couple of weeks ago to chat with the museum's CEO, Maggie Appleton. The RAF Museum has a broad story, so how does the museum manage the expectations of a wide variety of visitors...

Every Thursday, Col. Richard Bushong heads over to the 390th Memorial Museum and holds court under the nose of the museum's B-17 Flying Fortress and answers questions for all the visitors who approach him. Dick is well placed to answer them as he flew 28 missions with the 8th Air Force's 390th Bomb Group in late 1943 and early 1944. At 100 years young, Dick is a fantastic chap to chat to and offer...

The 390th Memorial Museum is a museum within the Pima Air and Space Museum dedicated to the memory of the men of the 390th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force who were based at Framlingham in Suffolk. Bill Buckingham is the museum's Executive Director. Bill kindly sat down with me during my visit to Pima to discuss the museum, the 390th and what the memorial means to him as the director and to the vis...

As the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, their forces raced south towards Australia. The evacuation towards Australia would prove costly for the Empire Class flying boats of Qantas. In part 3 of our look at the Empire flying boats, Phil Vabre tells us about the attacks on Darwin and Broome and his research into uncovering the fate of Circe. You can catch part 1 here: https://shows.acast.com/the-dam...

Continuing the story of the Empire Class flying boat, Phil Vabre returns to tell us about how Qantas were able to continue operating services in the Far East as the war in Europe started to get closer to home. You can catch part 1 here: https://shows.acast.com/the-damcasters/episodes/647e11bc73919c0011b58b36 ★You can learn more about the Civil Aviation Historical Society and the Airways Museum at...

Maj Gen Russ Violett (Rtd) had a 30-year career with the USAF, flying multiple types, including the North American F-100 Super Sabre (in which he had a 2-minute flight before punching out!) and the fantastic Republic F-105 Thunderchief, the Thud. The Thud always brought Russ home in 126 missions over Laos and Vietnam. Our discussion covers the tactics of attacking missile sites, the drawback of ma...

On the 29th April 2023, the Classic British Jets Collection re-opened their doors at their Buntingthrope base for the first time this side of the pandemic. Dave Thomas and the team kindly invited me up to chat with the team and see jet fuel turned into sweet, sweet noise. The aircraft that you will hear, in the order they pop up in the podcast, are: ★English Electric Canberra B(I)-8 WT333 ★De Havi...