Category Archives: Aviation History

Eastern Flight 1320

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Joe Clark

Sixty-eight passengers and a crew of five prepared for take off in the evening of St. Patrick’s Day, 1970. The flight, Eastern Airlines Newark to Boston Shuttle, Flight 1320, departed a little before 8:00 p.m. In the cockpit, the captain … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General | Tagged .38 caliber revolver, airplanes, an outstanding job of flying, deranged gunman, discipline, Eastern Flight 1320, Havana Cuba, hijacking, James Hartley, John J. Divivo, judgment, Newark to Boston Shuttle, professional pilots, Robert Wilbur Jr., St. Patrick’s Day 1970, true heroes | 53 Comments

Happy Birthday, Pan Am

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Joe Clark

Today in 1927, Key West birthed Pan American World Airways out of a small maintenance hangar near Duval Street in Key West. Kelly McGillis, the actress who co-starred with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, presently owns the building purportedly to be the … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General | Tagged 2001 A Space Odyssey, airplanes, Boeing 747, Clipper flying boats, Clipper Juan T. Trippe, Duval Street, flying, Fokker monoplanes, Happy Birthday Pan Am, Havana Cuba, Juan Trippe, Kelly McGillis, Key West, Lockerbie Scotland, Pan Am, Pan Am 103, Pan Am 73, Pan American Airways, Pan American World Airways, pilots, professional pilots, SCADTA, Stanley Kubric, Tenerife, the first Boeing 747 to carry passengers, the unofficial flagship airlines of the United States, the worst aviation accident in history, Top Gun, William Allen, World War II | 1 Comment

Have We Forgotten?

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Joe Clark

He is an old man now, the man sitting at the wooden table. His hair is remarkably dark for his age and belies the wrinkles of his face. He sits listening to the swing music, the music of his youth. … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation History, History, Life in General | Tagged an old man now, another life long ago, childhood sweethearts, England, Have We Forgotten?, I got to come home, married more than 53 years, memories, military service, old friends, prisoners of war, Saving the world, The Eighth Air Force, the good memories, the music of his youth, The old airman, the Veterans Affairs Department, the young ones, World War II veterans | 1 Comment

Fighting FIVE Takes the US Navy into the Jet Age

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Joe Clark

Sixty-three years ago today, Fighter Squadron FIVE became the first Navy squadron to land jet fighters aboard an aircraft carrier. On March 10, 1948, they took their brand new North American FJ-1 Fury jets to sea to land aboard the … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History | Tagged aircraft carriers, Curtis F6C-4 Hawk, F-14A Tomcats, F-8 Crusader, Fighting FIVE Takes the US Navy into the Jet Age, Grumman F9F–2 Panther, jet fighters, last of the true gunfighters, McDonnell-Douglas F-4 five Phantom, military service, naval aviation, Navy, Neil Armstrong, North American FJ-1 Fury, open cockpit biplanes, sailors, Sundowners, The Korean War, The Screaming Eagles, Top Gun, USS Boxer, USS Essex, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Ticonderoga, USS Vinson, VF-1, VF-111, VF-3S The Striking Eagles, VF-5, VF-51, Vietnam, World War II | 2 Comments

The Bell 47

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Joe Clark

Back in the late fifties, maybe the early sixties, there was a great TV show I really enjoyed. The name of the show was The Whirlybirds. It was a show featuring the Bell 47. Today, is the 65th anniversary of … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation History, Flying | Tagged 200 horsepower Franklin engine, 260 horsepower Lycoming engine, 8055th, 8063rd, 8076th, 8209th, 8225th, 8228th, air shows, Bell 47G, Bell Model 30 prototype, empty weight, fabric cabins, field hospitals, flight training, helicopter, M*A*S*H, medevac procedures, metal cabins, military service, open cockpits, operating weight, retired from military service, The 4077th MASH Unit, the 8054th, The Bell 47, The Korean War, The Whirlybirds, training aircraft | 1 Comment

The Lost Promises

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Joe Clark

So, Reveille sounds at 0530 this morning as it always does for me. Only I know longer hear the bugler or the voice over the 1MC calling, “Reveille, Reveille, Reveille, all hands turn…” After years of hearing the calls, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal | Tagged A plane in every garage!, airplanes, all hands, and Piper, aviation news, Beech, Cessna, Cessnas, flight training, flying, increasing insurance premiums, learning to fly, little grass airstrips, LSA Dream, Mom and Pop flying schools, new LSA airplanes, pilots, product liability, Reveille, student pilots, taildraggers, the 1MC, the American Dream, The Lost Promises, training aircraft | Comments Off

The Flying Fort Becomes Operational

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Joe Clark

One of the airplanes I have always liked is the B-17. When I was a kid, I studied as much about the B-17 as possible; I believed it was the airplane that saved the world in World War II and … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation History, History, Life in General | Tagged airplanes, Army Air Corps, B-17, B-17 Flying Fortress, Edward Curtis Wells, Europe, Gifford Emory, heroes of all of the free world, Langley Field VA, Les Tower, Major Peter Hill, military service, Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet engines, reporter Richard Williams of the Seattle Times, Second Bombardment Group, The Flying Fort Becomes Operational, the Model 299, the Pacific, World War II, Wright R-1820 Cyclone engines | 2 Comments

Look Ma! No Propellers!

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Joe Clark

Today, the jet age truly turns 65 years old. It was born when the prototype XP-84 Thunderjet flew for the first time at Muroc Army Airfield on this day in 1946. Current jets are far more powerful than the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Life in General | Tagged aerial refueling, Air Force, airplanes, Alexander Kartveli, control reversal, Edwards Air Force Base, escort, flying, ground support, interdiction, J-35-GE-15 engines, jet age, Korea, Korean War, Look Ma! No Propellers!, military service, Muroc Army Airfield, National Security Act of 1947, P-47 Thunderbolt, Republic Aviation Corporation, the Air Force demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, the United States Air Force, World War II, wrinkling fuselage skins, XP-84 Thunderjet | Comments Off

The World’s First Supersonic Ejection

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Joe Clark

In 1955, George Smith was 31 years old, unmarried, stood 6’1” and weighed 220 pounds. It was a Saturday morning just like today. He was off work and on his way to the grocery store, but he stopped by his … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying | Tagged 675 knots, 777 miles per hour, 8000 pounds of aerodynamic force, aeromedical doctors, Air Force, deceleration of 40g, F-100A, first supersonic ejection, FL 350, hospitalized for months, Los Angeles International, Mach 1, Mach 1.05, Mach 1.05 Ejection, North American Aviation Inc., rate of descent was 1140 feet per second, Super Sabre, surviving a supersonic ejection, The World's First Supersonic Ejection, wrong position for an ejection | Comments Off

The DC-9

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Joe Clark

Forty-six years ago today, the DC-9 flew for the very first time. Douglas Aircraft began researching the need for short- to medium-range airliners in the late 1950s. The original thought was to design a smaller version of their popular DC-8, … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History | Tagged airplanes, aviation history, Caravelle aircraft, DC-3, DC-8, Douglas Aircraft, flying, integral boarding stairs, low ground clearance, maximum range, McDonnell Douglas, Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofan engines, professional pilots, revenue operation, short field capabilities, smaller operators, Sud Aviation, The DC-9, the Long Beach Division of Boeing Commercial Airplanes | Comments Off

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Category Archives: Aviation History

Eastern Flight 1320

Happy Birthday, Pan Am

Have We Forgotten?

Fighting FIVE Takes the US Navy into the Jet Age

The Bell 47

The Lost Promises

The Flying Fort Becomes Operational

Look Ma! No Propellers!

The World’s First Supersonic Ejection

The DC-9

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