Category Archives: Aviation History

The T-cart

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Joe Clark

Yesterday’s blog was about The Perfect Flying Machine.  Today, it is about a very similar flying machine.  The reason it is very similar is because the same aeronautical engineer, Clarence Gilbert Taylor, designed today’s airplane, the Taylorcraft. After the big … Continue reading →

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The Perfect Flying Machine

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Joe Clark

Every time an airplane makes the news, someone makes a comment about the “Piper Cub.” Now the airplane might have been a Cessna 210, a Beechcraft A-36, maybe even a King Air, but for many in the public, if the … Continue reading →

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Jimmy Doolittle

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Joe Clark

On Tuesday, September 28, 1993, my alarm was set for 6 a.m. as usual. When the radio clicked on, the newscaster said, “Yesterday, famed aviator and American hero Jimmy Doolittle died peacefully at his home in Pebble Beach, CA.” As … Continue reading →

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The Jenny and the Barnstormers

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Joe Clark

One of my favorite airplanes is the Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny.”  Benjamin Thomas, an Englishman working for Thomas Sopwith of Sopwith aeroplane fame, designed the Jenny and the airplane went into production in 1915.  It became the most important Army training … Continue reading →

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The Mighty Eighth

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Joe Clark

If you are driving down to Florida along Interstate 95, you might see something amazing near Savannah, GA.  As long as you are not sleeping, it is hard to miss the Boeing B-47 Stratojet parked next to the highway. The … Continue reading →

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It Was Easy Enough

Posted on November 9, 2010 by Joe Clark

Eugene Ely was a pioneer aviator in the very early days of aviation.  Ely was born in Williamsburg, IA on October 21, 1879 and was only 31 years old when he became the first pilot to take off from the … Continue reading →

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Eric, Gone West

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Joe Clark

My friend, Eric, has “gone west.”  In World War I when a soldier died, his comrades placed his body on a caisson with the others who had died and the caissons passed other soldiers on the way to the rear … Continue reading →

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First Flight

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Joe Clark

If you are a pilot, or if you are not but have a serious interest in history, you owe it to yourself to visit First Flight on the outer banks in North Carolina.  This is the place where the Wright … Continue reading →

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A Very Important Flight

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Joe Clark

One of the great perils of flying is weather.  Particularly in the early part of the last century, weather was extremely hazardous.  When the weather went “down,” flying became dangerous.  It was dangerous because aviators were incapable of landing on instruments … Continue reading →

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