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The First Pencil?

admin September 22, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: The first plane designed for mass production. Used any of at least five engines. It was all the rage in Mexico! Pressed into

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“The Wright Aeroplane and its Fabled Performance”

admin September 12, 2016September 12, 2016

Published on September 12, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare “A Parisian automobile paper recently published a letter from the Wright brothers to Capt. Ferber of the French army, in which

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Pushing the Boundaries

admin September 12, 2016September 11, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Designed at war using captured Nazi jet engines. Paved the way to 30 years of design development. Delayed as the factory didn’t know

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The Special Mission

admin August 22, 2016April 25, 2018

Published on August 22, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare Lieutenant Anselme Léon Emile Marchal took off into the gathering evening skies of France.  After a brisk turn around his airfield,

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Quadraplanes Forever

admin August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Four wings, the top and bottom ones nearly identical. A heavy night interceptor with a headlamp! A crew of four with two engines,

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Ten of My Rules for Air Fighting

admin August 15, 2016August 22, 2016

Published on August 15, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare During the Battle of Britain, in nearly every RAF operations hut, you would find a small poster on the wall entitled,

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A Weird Triplane

admin August 15, 2016August 8, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Yes, those are American insignia on the wings. Clearly inspired by the famed Fokker Dr.I Triplane. Fast and well-designed, setting speed records. Set

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Nearly 100 Years Ago

admin August 8, 2016August 3, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: A two-seat trainer that was quite reliable. Once displayed huge swastikas on the wings. Le Rhone powered, licensed rotary engine manufacturing. Flew commercial,

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The Great Air War by Stereoscope

admin August 8, 2016August 22, 2016

Published on August 8, 2016 by Thomas Van Hare On the home front during the Great War, 100 years ago, 3D viewing of photographs was very popular, the most common

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An Anti-Submarine Seaplane

admin August 1, 2016July 29, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Patrol, reconnaissance and anti-submarine roles. Deployed late in the Great War in small numbers. Successfully attacked and nearly sank a submarine! Pioneered new

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Pocket Jet!

admin July 25, 2016July 27, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: A sub-mach mystery aircraft with a short history. The ultimate “V-tailed Doctor Killer” perhaps? Seats two — a pilot and the “guy in

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The Mystery of Immelmann’s Final Flight

admin July 20, 2016July 27, 2016

Published on July 20, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare “It was 9 in the evening, when the rat-tat of aerial machine guns lured me out of my quarters, and I

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Not a Salamander

admin July 18, 2016July 18, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Form follows function and thus, it appears like a Salamander. The wings appear the same as on the Bell X-1 “Glamorous Glennis”. Never

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The Javan Rhinoceros

admin June 27, 2016June 26, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Played a key role in an early WWII battle bombing shipping. Despite its age, still the bomber with the highest performance. Once the

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A Hydrofoil-Seaplane?

admin June 22, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Featured a boat propeller at the back to get up to speed. A flight propeller at front — only one prop could operate

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A Quad-Rotor Tilt-Rotor

admin June 6, 2016June 6, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: A brilliant tilt-rotor design, yet from over 50 years ago. Yes, those are tandem wings, a rather unusual configuration. The stubbiest nose wheel

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Bat Out of Hell

admin May 30, 2016May 31, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Designed from one of the first flying wing plans that was for leisure flying. Later developed into a fighter aircraft with two cannons

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A Valiant Fighter

admin April 11, 2016April 11, 2016

This Week’s Hints to help you along: A dozen in service, only 3 to 5 at a time rose to face hundreds of the enemy. Battles raged for just a

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Backwards Thinking

admin October 5, 2015October 3, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: The designer taught himself everything by trial and error in the mid-1900s. Innovative in every way and featuring tandem wings. This was the

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USAFE’S Famed Flight Boots

admin July 28, 2015May 18, 2021

Published on July 27, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare At the height of the Cold War, the US Air Force had dozens of fighter interceptor squadrons spread throughout Europe’s NATO

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Spindles for Wings?

admin July 27, 2015July 26, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Its wings are circular spindles that spin to create lift. A 1930s era experimental plane that didn’t work so well. A motorcycle engine

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The Saqqara Bird

admin May 7, 2015August 12, 2021

Published on May 7, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare In 1898, the famed “Egyptologists” of old uncovered the tomb of Pa-di-Imen at Saqqara, Egypt.  As with every great discovery of

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Twin-Boomed Terror

admin May 7, 2015May 7, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: A twin-tail, pusher plane meant for military service. Yes, those insignia are crosses, but whose?  And when? Beautiful candy-stripe coloration on the twin-booms!

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Defection to Israel!

admin April 13, 2015May 6, 2015

Published on April 13, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare On Sunday, January 19, 1964, an Egyptian flight instructor based at Bilbeis AB in the Nile Delta, walked calmly to his

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As Easy as Driving a Car!

admin April 13, 2015April 1, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Streamlined and bearing the classic curves of the late 1930s. The exhaust pipe is a flyover in front of the windshield. Control systems

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Surrender Flight to Ie Shima

admin April 6, 2015April 7, 2015

Published on April 7, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare Most people, even most historians, would say that Japan surrendered to the United States at the end of World War II

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Not a NASA Project

admin April 6, 2015April 1, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Another wartime design, this one meant to press supersonic speeds. Flight tested as a glider successfully before the end of World War II.

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The Black and White Marble

admin April 1, 2015April 1, 2015

Published on April 1, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare On September 12, 1962, at Rice Stadium in Texas, President John F. Kennedy spoke these words: “We choose to go to

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Not Quite a Flying Car

admin April 1, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Created in tough times by one of the world’s leading design firms. Flight tested extensively but never meant for production. A product of

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Not Much More Than a Glider

admin March 17, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Set three world records between 1927 and 1930 — none for speed. Featured a 3-cylinder radial engine with  just 18 hp. Seen in

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The Cigarette Club

admin March 17, 2015March 17, 2015

Published March 17, 2015 By Thomas C. Van Hare These days, it seems that the only connection between cigarettes and aviation are signs in aircraft lavatories reading, “NO SMOKING”.  Smoke

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Hawaii to New Jersey for $75

admin March 9, 2015March 10, 2015

Published March 9, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare On March 7 and 8, 1949, former USAAF pilot Captain William P. “Bill” Odom flew a V-tailed Beech Bonanza that he named, “Waikiki

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Roswell Revisited?

admin March 8, 2015March 7, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: In a secret hangar, this flying saucer languished due to budget limitations. It was not quite in Roswell, but nonetheless Roswellian in nature

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The Right Stuff

admin February 18, 2015February 19, 2015

Published February 18, 2015 by Thomas Van Hare Did you ever wonder where the term, “The Right Stuff” came from?  Most people would say that it was a product of

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The Flying Masterpiece

admin February 16, 2015February 18, 2015

This Week’s Hints to help you along: The product of a well-mustached, wide-eyed French aviator. Just 200 kg, 9 meters long and 10 meters in wingspan. A 70 hp Gnome

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The First Flying Saucer?

admin September 29, 2014September 20, 2014

This Week’s Hints to help you along: What may be the world’s first flying saucer. Couldn’t compare to the popular Blériot planes. An innovative design from a designer who would

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A Wildly Painted Bird

admin September 22, 2014September 20, 2014

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Painted like a bird with feathers. One of the first aircraft designs to use winglets. Sometimes called the Firebird. One of the world’s

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An Air Racer Turned Deadly

admin August 11, 2014August 11, 2014

This Week’s Hints to help you along: An air racer that became a fighter plane. Scored 12 kills after it was withdrawn from service. Flew in active military service in

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An End to the Age of Innocence

admin August 5, 2014August 5, 2014

Published on August 5, 2014 by Thomas Van Hare One hundred years ago this week, the world descended into the conflict we know now as World War I.  Soon to

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A Competition Winner

admin November 18, 2013November 17, 2013

This Week’s Hints to help you along: This aircraft won numerous competitions. An innovative design by one of the great engineers. A two-seat aircraft powered by a British engine. The

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